Lster Bday Party had the Force

Lster wanted a boys Star Wars party.

Lster brought all his friends to table to show them how to make Yoda origami. He is very good at folding Star Wars characters.

Once everyone arrived we had the boys run through a Jedi Obstacle Course to make sure their bodies were in tip top Jedi shape.

Next we searched for Moon Rocks. 

The boys eagerly anticipated the light saber cake.

Tada...

Somebody left the cake eating to go check out his presents. I found him ogling the treasure.

Somebody's dad really likes him and gave him a SUPER BIG second helping of cake.

It was time for light saber fun. They had to pop bubbles and keep balloons in the air.

Eventually it turned into a daddy made game of tag.

I kept the little one entertained while Cster got a lot of little boys really, really worked up (and hopefully tired for their parents)

Daily Musings

Kster and I were making dinner and I was cutting up some cube steak. We get our cow from a farmer and it comes in butcher paper.

Kster: Can kids touch raw chicken?
Me: Its not chicken, its cow. Grown ups need to cut the cows.
Kster: How do the cows not get frustrated when you cut their skin?
Me: Because they are dead.
Kster: They are dead? And they don't come back to life?
Me: Yep
Kster: Why do they have to die?
Me: They die so that we can take off their meat. This is meat, not skin.
Kster: Wow!

Fairness

"10 minutes! That's not fair. Last time I spit in Nikster's face I only got 5 minutes time out."

Year of Dates - June

Mster is the master planner. She plans big ideas all the time. She currently has a plan to start her own business wherein she will cook you dinner and deliver it to your house. She's still sorting out some of the details. One of her great ideas was to invite every girl she knew from age 6 to 12 to our house to make cookies and deliver them. We decided to scale it down a bit and have her invite 2 friends and have it be part of her date with Cster. 

This is them making cookie tags.

Lster and I went to Manitou Springs to check out the Penny Arcade. Its not truly a penny arcade but the machines cost the same amount as they did when they first came out. So there are pinball machines for a dime and if you want to see a little bear dance through a small hole it will cost you a penny. There are little kid rides and there are games with tickets. Games with tickets are every kids crack. At least they are my kids crack. Must get more tickets. 

Before we discovered the ticket games Lster went for a ride.

What better way to spend your tickets than on candy also known as the other crack.

Super fun time.

And we saw a deer driving home. 

Kster and Cster went to dinner and a movie Much candy was eaten and a whole 40 minutes of the movie was watched before Lster deemed it too loud and asked to go home. No pictures were taken but still much fun occurred.

What happens when Mom goes on a date with her kids?

The older kids learn how to Stick Pull. They teach Kster when we get home from mini-golfing. Mom's broom is sacrificed in the name of fun! 

8 yr old girls are not too embarrassed yet to wear Cheerio boxes on their head.

Babies are kept safely in their high chair where no brooms can harm them.

Year of Dates - May

These dates are a little late in getting updated as I'm was waiting for the pics from Cster. Even if we posted them in July, we still did the dates in May.

The thing about our year of dates is that the kids see what each other are doing with us and then they want to do it too. So off me and Mster went to go rock climbing and we had a blast. 

She made it to the top!

On our way to the gym is a new miniature golf course. Kster talked about it all the time. So we went and had a blast. Kster was very good at getting the golf ball into the air, and onto other holes. That boy's got a wicked swing. 

Kster does a very good monster impression.

And we had to go for some yogurt after.

Kster got a pretty good shot.

Lster and Cster had a good time glow-golfing. Picture to come...eventually. :) 

Boot Camp!

I joined a gym a few months ago. I never thought I would but I really liked my free trial week and now I really like working out there in general.

The gym this week was offering a free trial Boot Camp Week. 3 days of Boot Camp. I signed up with some friends. Tuesday I had company so I could go and Thursday the instruction dropped his motorcycle on his hand and was at the hospital so I was left with my one and only class today.

It.Was.Intense.

We started our warm-up with inch worms, superman push-ups and group push-ups. Then we moved into the stations section. Stations were 5 minutes each with 1 minute rest. 5 minutes doesn't seem like a long time but they were the longest 5 minute sections of my life.

1. Lift a pallet over your head (with a partner) and do squats
2. Plank walk while flipping over a 45lb weight (they let me have a 35lb weight so I could actually do it)
3. Rope shaking in plank position
4. Pallet row lifts (with partner)
5 Carry a big tire (with partner) down the road and back
6 Run with Sandbags

Then our group of 6 people flipped a 500lb tire across the lot.

Then we climbed 26 steps and on each step we had to do full range calf raises for whatever number of step it was. So, step 1, 1 calf raise. Step 2, 2 calf raises.

And then we were done.

Craziness.

Family Photo Shoot

Year of Dates - April

We had some serious fun this month!

Mster initially wanted to go to a baseball game but after consideration decided that a day of cooking with Dad, uninterrupted, was a way better idea.

She has to have a towel over her shoulder like Dad. 

First course - Artichokes. They were a big hit with everybody. 

 And I do mean EVERYBODY. 

Is that Risotto? Why, yes, it is and it was so, so delicious. While we were eating our tasty bowls, we all went around the table to come up with a name for the recipe. It had procutto and celery and pistachios and other delightful additions. The decision making was pretty quick when Mster came up with MVP Risotto. We thought it a great idea since it was so delicious. She thought it was a great idea because the dish had Meat, Vegetables and Pistachios. We are still laughing that we got to have a lesson on what MVP really means.

Homemade rolls and steak, yes please!

There was peach pudding pie too but by that time our bellies were getting full and our bodies were getting tired and the camera was put aside to carry little ones to bed.

Lster and I had the perfect set up for our date. I had a free membership at a gym that had a Rock Climbing Wall. And we had some good times climbing. 

This is us, a little nervous, but definitely excited to try something new. 

Lster went first and after a few stumbles at the beginning he totally got the hang of it way fast and made it to the top over and over again. It didn't matter the difficulty of the wall, he tried and tried and tried and made it. Every. Single. Time. It was so great to see him try and not give up. I've even used that as a teaching moments this week when he's told me something is too hard. 

Kster never wants to be left out of the fun. So the boy who refusing to eat fish was determined to go eat Sushi with Dad since Lster did it the month before. We talked to him about it over and over again. Are you sure? Do you know what sushi is? He was DETERMINED! Cster even took him to Safeway on their way to the restaurant and showed him packaged Sushi and said. "this is what we are going to go eat. Do you still want to go?" Kster was adamant that he was going. So off they went to go eat some Sushi. Well, off they went for Cster to go eat some Sushi because once it was in front of him he wanted nothing to do with it.

He did eat deep fried shrimp heads. Go Figure.

And they had a trip to Sonic for him on the way home to play Wii Lego Star Wars (remember he did not want to be left out).

And new rule - no staying home and playing video games on your date. 

Storing Dry Food - Can I think of a more boring title?

I cook and bake a lot. We, therefore, go through a lot of dry goods. I had to find a way to store my pounds and pounds of dry goodness.

So, here's what I do...

What I Store?
Wheat
Rice
Sugar
Quick Oats
Rolled Oats
Black Beans

How I store it?

1. I buy dry goods in bulk. For the most part I buy them here. There are locations in most major cities and anyone can walk in and buy stuff. Usually their hours are way shorter than a regular store so I would call first. They come in mega bags. This is an oats bag.

2. I get buckets from a bakery department of my grocery store (In my area Ive found only King Soopers/Krogers will give you their buckets) They are going to be covered in shortening laden frosting so you'll have to do some major cleaning and drying out before you start to store). Another option is to buy buckets and lids (they usually are stored separately) from a hardware store like Home Depot. Just make sure their buckets are food grade. When I researched it a few years back I think Home Depots were but Lowe's weren't. But I would do your own checking because things can change quickly with different suppliers and you don't want to mess around with food safety. That's why I like the bakery buckets. They already had food in them and they are free. It is some work to clean them out for the first time but once they are clean you can reuse and refill to your hearts content.

3. Label. Nothing more frustrating than opening up 5 buckets just to find some sugar.

4. Cook and Bake away knowing you will always have the staples.

Pinning that works

Here is my second installment of Pinterests that Work. If you want to see my first post on Pinterest, go here.


Easy Pad Thai

We love this recipe. Well everybody but Mster. But 4 out of 5 is not bad for our house. I double the recipe and follow the directions exactly.




Korean Beef

My family loved this the first time we ate it and haven't loved it since. I'm not sure if I'm doing something different but I've heard other families really like this one too so I thought I would add it to the list.





Chicken Avocado Salad

This is really really yummy. Especially for a girl who does not like mayo. I have the amount of avocado. Delicious.





Southwestern Quinoa Salad

I make this over and over and over again. I haven't introduced it to the kids yet and I've changed up the dressing a little bit.

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp of lime juice
1/2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste.




Steel Cut Oats in 5 minutes

I can't tell you how much I love this oatmeal. Its so easy and so gooood and takes so little time.
I make the oatmeal according to directions and then put it right in the fridge. (I read the comments and wasn't ready to die over a bowl of oatmeal). But I love the texture. Its a little chewy, which I like, I mean love. I don't feel like I'm missing out at all.

I usually add some cinnamon and raisins or defrosted frozen blueberries or even fresh berries with a dash of cinnamon. I do like cinnamon and oatmeal.

I cook it for 2 min in the mason jar (lid off) and dump in a bowl to stir in my add ins. My older 2 kids love them too and they are great quick breakfast before school.




French Toast Bake

This is the poster picture for unhealthy breakfast. I've made it twice for special occasions in our house. It really is very very easy.