Circles in NYC

Lauren and I searched for circles along our walk in Hudson River Park and High Line to make this collage :)

On Your Mark!

Spring swim meets have started. The first one was a little chilly, but Lauren was a trooper and gave a great swim in all four events! She's the one in the dark swim cap :) And the sunset was breathtaking.

Grow little garden, grow.

One Pot Meals

Have been in a dinner rut recently, so was on the search for something new to try. Stumbled upon this recipe for One Pot Orecchiette Pasta and have made it twice now. Pretty easy and quite tasty. My new favorite ingredient is tomato paste in a tube :)

Just dump everything in the pot, stir, bring to a boil, then cook over med-high for 12-15 min. Stir in some parmesan, and serve with arugula. Some of the recipe reviewers suggest using chicken broth in place of the water, so might try that next time for a little added flavor.

21 Days and Counting...

There's been a whole lot of walking/running around here, ever since we joined my SIL's 'Mile-A-Day Challenge'. Participants must walk/run a minimum of 1 mile every day (no exceptions!), and last man standing wins (a pool of money we all chipped in at the start). Will see how long we can keep it up :)

A Treat

We always look forward to parent/teacher conferences. We get a chance to observe the kids at work in their classroom, and always have a wonderful snack served to us :)

ALS Awareness and a little ice

Earlier this week, I was nominated by my brother for the ALS ice bucket challenge, and I made a donation to alsa.org in memory of our grandmother. However, the kids were disappointed to learn that I did not partake in the whole ice bucket thing :) So they were promptly nominated, and here we go.

First Day of School

Kindergarten and Second Grade, bring it on!

Busted

One afternoon, a few weeks ago, I was baking with the kids. We had to wait for one of the cookie sheets to be done in the oven before loading it up again with another batch of dough. So I told the kids to go play, and we'd meet back up again 7 minutes.

We reconvened, and I noticed Cole was chewing something. I asked what it was, and he said it was nothing. I asked again, and Lauren, apparently developing a conscience, said "we have to tell the truth".

After a little more questioning, Cole finally confessed to taking some chewy fruit snack packets from the pantry and eating them - in his closet. I went there to find around 10 empty packets, carefully concealed beneath some clothes on the floor. He'd apparently eaten 8 packets earlier in the morning, and just shared the final 2 with Lauren. Sneaky, sneaky.....

Unfruity Smoothie

Stumbled upon this 'frosty light' recipe on Pinterest - a chocolaty treat, and a nice break from the traditional fruit smoothie. May be hard to guess the ingredients - almond milk (I substituted vanilla soy milk), cocoa powder, chia seeds, and a frozen banana. Lots of other good smoothie recipes on her site too.