Some new favorite recipes

Pesto grilled cheese

2 pieces Favorite bread (English toasting bread or white gluten free)

Favorite cheese ( I like Gouda or Havarti)

Pesto sauce

Butter or cooking spray

Himalayan salt

Tomatoes

Roast tomatoes in oven or toaster oven for 3-5 minutes with salt and olive oil. Spread pesto on bread, cover with cheese and roasted tomatoes. Cook on griddle like grilled cheese until cheese is melted .

Emblama (stuffed Zucchini)

4 Zucchini, cored and cut lengthwise

1 lb ground beef or lamb (I use beef)

1 medium onion finely chopped (I used leek)

I small garlic, chopped

8 oz can fire roasted tomatoes

2 tsp roasted pine nuts

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped mint

1/4 cup chopped parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Olive Oil

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Add olive oil to a sauté pan on medium heat.  Sauté onion and garlic for 5 mins then add ground meat and spices.  Cook until browned.  Add can of tomatoes, pine nuts mint and parsley, combine.  Remove from heat and set aside.  Spray baking dish with cooking spray, place cored and halved squash in baking dish, add meat mixture and bake at 325 for 20 mins or until squash is fork tender.

Energy Bites (the kids love these in place of granola Bars after school/sports)

1cup oats

1 cup shredded, dried,  unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup Peanut butter

1/4 cup flaxseed meal

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup honey

add ins: chia seeds/walnuts/tiny dark chocolate chips/protein granola cereal/coconut oil

Roll into balls and put on cookie sheet for in freezer for about 15 minutes.  Transfer to container and store in fridge.

Hello February

The round of Concerts has finished and I have to say the 3rd and 4th graders rivaled the MS performers in their joy and spunk.  It was fun.  We had a fantastic day out skiing at one of the smaller mountains.  Everyone just skied together all day, no crying, no carrying, no picking up after falls......everyone just skiing together.  A milestone!  There was some air getting and some first black diamond trails attempted.  Just a really fun and memorable day.  I love that we have this sport to see us through the winter.  L says as we are going up the chairlift....."I just love being outside in wintertime".  I have to agree (even though it's the warmest winter on record).  The kids are actually sad to see the snow melt.  The rest of our days are filled with cleaning, laundry and trying new things to make or family life work.  Going to the gym and running outside with friends.  Keeping all my memories in a digital book this year.  Listening to podcasts while folding and riding in the car.     New sports are starting (basketball) and some will be finishing up (swimming, skiing).  They are changing around our local grocery store.....like completely.  Some people are super upset and annoyed and grumpy.  I'm just like, well, if finding the salad dressing is the hardest part of my day, I'll take it! Things don't come easy for any of us.  Luckily were all here to hold each other up...and then get ready for some awesome warm weather vacations!  Yes. Super exciting.  Here's to vacations and superbowl Sunday!

My favorite quotes this week....

"There is no such thing as somebody else's kids" -Momastery

Go be Awesome Today :)

The Weekend lens......Sugarloaf USA 2016

 2016 is going to be the year of the trips....for us.  How awesome.  It all started with this girl and her Maine adaptive skiing lesson scheduled for 1/16 up at Sugarloaf.  We made a last minute reservation (cause we've been horrible planners lately) for the Hotel.....Yes, the ON mountain HOTEL!  Luxury.  We were total looking forward to the trip for weeks. 

 We headed up to the resort Friday night right after work.  A lot of families in our area do this every week!  Saturday,  J and I skied with the boys.  The Quad to the top was closed most of the day due to ice and snow, but we still found all the great skiing.  Skiing in a softly falling snow all day  was just amazing.

 B finished up her all day lesson a rock star as usual.  She has such control and endurance now on her skis.  I have such an admiration to all the instructors that take out these skiers week after week.  wheelchair bound, Intellectual and physical disabilities, amputees (adults and kids), and even blind skiers.  Their motivation, teaching, and positivity.  Really there are not words enough to Thank them for doing what they do!

 In the Evening we checked out the 20 person hot tub at the hotel (we didn't want to get out....the kids LOVED it!) then walked across the village to the Widomaker pub to watch the big game and have some great burgers.  We had earned it after a FULL day of skiing.  Our team, thankfully picked up the win....Go PATS!

 The kids checked out the pool table, then we headed to bed and were all sound asleep within 3 seconds. 

 

 Sunday.......what a gorgeous sunny start to the day!  With all the fresh snow, we couldn't wait to get out.   Holy crap, we are too old to ski two days in a row.  Starting off sore right at the start is not great, plus the morning quickly went downhill from there.  Skiing with kids in kind of like giving birth.  Right after it's done, you forget the pain of the crying, the complaining, the lugging all the stuff, and end up doing it again (and again!) Trevor lost his phone while he was waiting for us to get to the lift for the first run!  Josh spent like 30 mins looking for it before we even started.  Luckily, Someone had turned it in, but we lost a ton of time in the fresh morning snow, and we were tired before we even started.  We decided to take a double lift up (we had done the day before)......only this time, there was a ski race going on, so we had to cross a steep hill and end up going down another steep hill with the little kids.  J took B down on the harness while I carried his poles.  Then for some unknown reason, L decided he didn't want to go down (even though he had been down the steep part of that trail twice the day before).  He took off his skis and started waking down! I went down below up a little bit and I couldn't see where he was (usually I stay behind the little kids, but since I was carrying two sets of poles, I had to snowplow down most of the steeper part).  Eventually a nice couple stopped to help, carried L's skis down as he hiked down).  What a disaster!  First run of the day!  Well, we eventually reached the bottom and vowed to only stay on the lower slopes for the rest of the day.  Luckily, my legs ended up getting a second wind and we ripped up all the lower trails for the rest of the day.  We always do pull off great fun.

Yep.

 

 

 T ended up skiing on his own for most of the day......which made us a little nervous, but was totally fine.  What a view from the top. 

And when we were done, we were truly exhausted.  A sign of an awesome weekend.  Until next Year....Sugarloaf.  You just have to experience it to know what we're talking about.  Our Favorite ski mountain.ever.

The Weekend Lens....Jan 11

 this weekend, Mama had to work late Friday so we decided the Early Morning Saturday departure for the Boston swim meet would be just a T and Dad affair (they had no plans to stay overnight ahead of time but ended up staying all weekend as T made the finals and they had to get a hotel close to the pool to go back and forth.  the hotel was free due to J's traveling points anyway....yay!)

 The pool was just massive, What an opportunity!  Since it was T's first New England meet (and they had 2 weeks off practice for Christmas vacation), I encouraged T to go into the meet with no expectations for times or placing.  T totally rocked his times , ended up with 5 new PR's inching closer to the state cut times for 13/14 (which are so hard to make!).  He even ended up in the finals for a few events.  Plus a weekend in Boston with Just his Dad and no siblings....a win-win. 

 The rest of stuck close to home on this rainy and blustery weekend.  B and L went to the play it again sports store and got L some new iceskates that we promplty wore to the rink for like 2 hours before the rain started.  With a stop for hot chocolate and a muffin on the way home...that was the extent of our getting out over the weekend.  Coupled with a "no electronics for not listening to your mother's requests Sunday (well except football playoff games)" made for one cranky little Boy.  Let's just say we were not best friends by the end of the weekend.  He did pull out some chocolate-chocolate chip cookies all on his own (exept for the oven part). And created a model death star out of Magna tiles.  At one point we lost power and Mama got the generator moved outside all set up and running in the pouring rain.  Yep, flexed muscles after that one.  And now the snow is almost gone....boo!

Around here, New Year 2016

 Around Here.....

There is nothing I love more than a new year......a fresh slate...goals, a good diet, running with friends, lounging around in sweatpants and drinking tea (Cause it's way too cold for jeans).  There is so much to take advantage of in the slower pace that January brings.  Introverts Unite, January is one of our favorite Months.....bring on the cozy!

 skiing!  Yes, this girl is starting her second year in the adaptive ski program and is totally rocking it. the rest of us are finally getting our equipment together ($$) and may head up to the slopes a few times  if we ever get any snow.

 He's so into painting right now.  Having a creative outlet is a necessary part of life (think air...) that we highly encourage (See anything by Brene brown or Elizabeth Gilbert).  Think....Things he can take with him his whole life.   Good stuff.  He watches "Painting with Kevin" on You tube and even subscribed to his email list.  He's so good at it already.

 Burning the (9oclock) oil in reading a ton every night....always graphic novels (anything by Raina Telgemeier he's read 14 times each at least)

 I'm pretty sure my Mom has a photo just like this of me when I was little....

 He's there.  Less than an inch to go, and I hope he way surpasses me soon.  How did this happen?  I know, it happened slowly over almost 4900 days and nights.  He's put in the work of growing and we've put in the work of parenting (quote: Elise Joy)  And God, he is one awesome kid who still loves to hang out with his Mom.

 and for another awesome kid who is stubborn, fierce and brave and doesn't take crap from anyone.  It's pretty amazing to witness but not the easiest to be his parent sometimes.  Daily we talk about character and our goals and how to get there and still get along with everyone.  It's a daily struggle sometimes, but I am proud of him and who he will become.  Sometimes who you are and how you see the world is different and more important than following all the rules.  I'm learning.  His perseverance is taking him places.

In other news....Talking on the phone to my parents about retirement (holy crap it is awesome!) and putting to writing my new years goals. We're still doing the weekly chores and family meetings.  I'm OK with it not going perfectly or consistently every week.  I think we are all learning from the process.

 

Creative goals| Project life only monthly instead of weekly.  That will free up some more of my time to get the kids school albums up to date (think one page a year) and work on some other more creative projects (Grandma's albums, family recipe book, week in the life and some other of Ali's monthly projects and classes).  I plan on a weekly blog post and then summing up those monthly in some type of album wither digital or otherwise.  Learn Adobe Lightroom for photo organization/editing instead of using Picasa(2015 goal that I never got to).  I'm on my way and I LOVE it.  I'm also doing Pic Tap Go for editing right on my phone and it's awesome.  Such a time saver actually getting to the good images I want to save on the computer (unlike the hundreds of thousands of crappy images I never went back and deleted from the last 10 years).  I Should have switched years ago.  I named My LR page: Our Life Photography.  I'll see where that takes me, I'm excited.

 

Other Goals (I borrowed the format from Elise Joy):

 

More Moving|Less sitting

More Gentleness|Less perfectionistic expectations and complaining

More Being|Less Doing

Less Demanding|More Collaborating

More creating|Less Scrolling

More Vegetables|Less Sugar

More connecting and giving back|Less Overscheduling

 

And I LOVED this post about creating rules....I'm going to work on that next.

 

So, that's all from these parts.  I'm excited and renewed and can't wait to just start the next new thing. Also there's the reminder that one doesn't need a holiday, life change or new year to live like this everyday, there's that.    Thanks for reading!

At years End.....

January.

February.

March.

April.

May.

June.

July.

August.

September.

October.

November.

December.


Oh, 2015.  What a year.  You were kind to us.  Thank you for the gift of the lessons we learned.  Your struggles helped us grow stronger.   We skied, we survived a snowy, snowy winter, we traveled, we stayed  at home and survived our spouses travel,  we played. We remembered, we grieved as we said goodbye to a grandfater, to 2 neighbors.  We listened, we tried, we were filled with joy, we camped, we laughed and celebrated with friends and family, we grew, we loved.   We toasted in the new year with our best friends.   Ones who get us without even having to say a word.  More of all of this in 2016. Yes. Please.

For 2016, new adventures await.   I can't even imagine what is in store for us.  For resolutions, of course there is always a way to better myself to be kinder and gentler with myself and others, as a wife, a daughter, mother.  Get in shape, eat healthy, feel good, yadda, yadda yadda.  For my favorite resoultion posts read here  and here.

Cheers to the best year ever.  2016, please be kind to us :)