Christmas before Thanksgiving and bikes....

At the Idaho Center, very large event center, they hold a Christmas show every year with all kinds of vendors, some food and Mr & Mrs Claus. It's fun to see all the stuff, and they have the best Santa around.

Yes, my camera sucks, but hoping to fix that soon. We bought the nice photo that they took.

He's watching you...
The boys have been wanting to play with the dogs, so we brought them in for a bit this afternoon and they all played for a while.

We've been searching Craigslist the last couple of days, looking for cheap bikes for the boys to keep up here, they were found!
Cody's $10 bike...

Ty's $25 bike....

Seeing the excitement and smiles: Priceless.

We'll take them for a spin around the neighborhood tomorrow.

So that's been our first couple of days in Boise, tack on a bunch of shopping for food and there you have it!

Tyler's Field trip and feast at school...

Tyler had a busy week at school, Tues was their fieldtrip to the music store and Thurs was their Thanksgiving feast.

We went here....

to learn about all different kinds of instruments.

The owner was great and showed them some different wind and stringed ones.
Then we moved over to the drum guy...

Then another guy showed us about drums from different cultures and different stringed things.

This guy showed us guitars, he was very talented.

Mrs. Suzanne showing us her skills...

Then to see the different key boards, by this point the kids were a bit finished and her songs weren't upbeat enough for the crowd, hence the faces.

After this, they were given the chance to try some of the instruments. Some had fun, Tyler had a bit of stage fright and wouldn't touch anything.

Then we headed outside to have a bit of a snack.

Thursday was feast day at school.

Circle time, singing songs...

It was Tyler's sharing day, he brought in some cars for the toy box.

Cheesy boy with his feathered hat and bead necklace, showing me his place.

The whole group...

They had a full spread of turkey, potates, rolls, veggies, salads and desserts. YUM!

More crafty...

Another post on the crafty blog:

http://acraftychristmas.blogspot.com

Let me know if you want the door unlocked.

Crafty...

Go here for a new post on my crafty blog. If you would like to see and you're not on the list, please email me and I'll unlock the door.

Cody's last game of the season...

Cody had his last game of the season this past Saturday. We're all ready for a break, but he said he had fun and wants to play next year. He had a so-so game, not really listening, but goofing around most the time. So, ahh, whatever....

Pre-game, warrior stance...

Going for it, full smile plastered on his face.

This boy next to him was a force to be reckoned with! They were all having a hard time getting the ball back when he had it, and he had an awesome foot!

Hooray! We're done!

The energy boost at the playground at the end of the game.

Cody and his friends, what he really enjoyed this year.
(Another mom sent me this)

Crafty blog on lockdown...

Okay friends and family, it's that time of year when the crafty blog gets locked down so only some eyes can see!

I'll send an email invite to those who's email address I have. If you would like to check it out, leave me a message, here or on FB and I'll let you in, seriously everyone's invited.

Okay, almost everyone. Family, sorry, you're not allowed. Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise!

So let me know and I'll unlock the door.

And the Christmas crazies begin....

There have been apples galore on sale the last couple of weeks, so I've been stocking the fridge and finally put them to use. Introducing the first thing finished for the Christmas baskets: homemade, sugar free apple sauce.

Variety is the key...

New toy, so cool!

My kitchen for the afternoon.

Mmmm, apples and cinnamon cooking...

Ran the soft apples and juices through the blender and it made perfect applesauce.

After many batches of peeling, cooking, blending we all felt a little like this. 24 jars ready for the freezer.

Next time around I'm going to try to get the right tools to actually process the jars for canning so they can be stored in the pantry. But being impatient and worried that the apples were going to go bad, I had to go today.

Cookies are next and bread to follow while up at Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving.

Halloween Fun...

We jammed in a bunch of fun in a couple of days. It started Wed night with a game night at the high school, Cody was getting sick and couldn't go, but Ty and I braved the crowd.

Quick picture before we headed in.

The gym was full of carnival games, and Ty played most of them, lots of throwing things.

Bowling...

We cut it short as he said he'd had enough. Treats in hand we were back home to watch the Monsters vs Aliens Halloween special.

Friday started out with a party with Tyler's school. More games, food and fun to be had.

Showing off his painted pumpkin.

We ate and played, then they did a costume parade around the building, ending up on stage to sing "The 5 Little Pumpkins." Super cute.
After that we headed over to pick up Cody, then went to the safe TOT in old Fair Oaks. We started off with the games, both boys had a lot of fun.



Then did some TOT around the businesses, ending up in the little court to take a few pictures.
Saturday was soccer, then we went to lunch at the IL's house. After lunch, we left Ty with Grandma and took Cody up to Apple Hill. We stopped and picked up my race packet, then headed off to explore a bit. We went to El Dorado Orchard and let Cody have a pony ride, then walked around the craft fair. On the way down we stopped at Abel's to see what they had before hitting the freeway back. Once we picked up Tyler we ran home for a quick dinner before getting ready to go show off the boys' costumes. We started off at the IL's house and then came home and set out around the neighborhood.

Pumpkins ready to great the kids.

Ready to go!

and they're off.

It was fun, the boys bags were full by the time we came home and they were ready to settle in for the night. Happy Halloween!

Apple Hill Harvest Run

Done, Finished and walked away! Yep, I motivated myself for 3.5 miles around the Apple Hill country side. (And I didn't finish last)

Before it began. It was warm this morning!

Lined up...

3.5 mile crowd...

Off we go!

I knew that the race started uphill, but damn, that was a steep hill. So there was a bunch of walk /jogging going on, probably at least 1/3 of the 1st mile. But it finally leveled off and I was able to find my pace, still slow, but there. First mile was 18:30, second 18:15, and the last 1.5 28:18, for a total time of 63: 03. The average mile time figured out to be 18:001 which is at least 30 seconds faster than anything I've done before.
The end of the race was a nice uphill as well, so walking and jogging part of that until I came around the corner and could see the finish. See here I am still moving.
Rewarded at the end with a cold bottle of water, fresh apples, cookies, apple donuts, energy bars and chips. Then found a nice shady spot to collapse!

The other reward, a cool new shirt.

So my first running race has been completed! YAY!!

Now to figure out what's next.

Halloween Crafty

Lucked out a bit this year, not much to make for Halloween costumes. Last year was quite a different story, but they turned out so cute. So I had intended to make Cody's costume this year as well, he told me he wanted to be a pumpkin. I ordered an orange hoodie online, but when it came it fit him perfectly, no room to puff it out for a pumpkin. Before I could get another one ordered, a friend came the rescue, finding a felt pumpkin costume at the thrift store. YAY!
So it needed a cleaning and a little altering to shrink it up just smidge. Then I sewed a pool noodle around the inside middle to give it form, put a big pocket on the inside behind the face to puff it out a little and the costume was done.

The real crafty came into play in needing a hat to go with it so he could have his stem.
Fail #1 came in the form of a white beanie I found at Walmart. I had hoped to dye it and sew a little stem to the top. But it wouldn't hold the dye and ended up a weird peach color with a sea green top.
Fail #2 came in the form of a bucket hat I found at Michael's. It was light tan, but I figured with enough saturation it would turn orange. It did, just the way wrong color. It was a muted orange, so back to the drawing board again.
Win came in the form of making a hat out of felt, luckily I have a big stash and didn't have to buy anything! I used the bucket hat as a template as it fit him just right and went from there. The stem is a 1 inch foam block with a pipe cleaner wrapped in batting stuck in the top to be able to bend it over.

Here's is the wrong colored bucket hat. I glued on a felt face (so we can peal it off and use the hat this summer) and Ty can wear it with his Thomas costume to add a little Halloween flair. Plus I was feeling bad that he didn't get anything made by mom this year.
The last thing in this years crafty line-up is the pumpkin shirt I made for Cody. He doesn't get to wear his costume to school, so I thought this would be fun for him. Simple felt piece sewn on with a straight stitch around the edge. Yes, it's grey, the black was too harsh against the lighter orange.
So there it is, crafty but not over the top this year.

Pumpkin Carving

It's that time of year! We've gone to the pumpkin patch and it was time to carve the pumpkins. Now, it's been a super long time since I've carved, the last few years we've either painted or did the "Potato Head" pokers for faces. We picked up the carving party pack from Walmart and were on our way. We had high hopes for our pumpkins, picking out pirate faces and such, but most of our pumpkins were a little on the small side, so we made it work.

Opening Cody's monster pumpkin, EWWW!

Tyler digging at one of his.

Cody finally getting into it, once I found him some gloves that were way to big.

Our carving was done over 3 days, first being the cleaning of the two. Then the next night, Keith was home and helped to clean out the other three and start getting pictures carved.

Tyler happy with the face he picked out.

Concentrating

Cody's ghost.

Tyler getting into carving on his 2nd pumpkin.

Tyler carving another face on his monster pumpkin.

"Take a picture of my pumpkins!"

Finished face, he did the eyes and nose, I helped with the mouth.

4 of 5...

Candle testing

3rd day was today, I finished carving my pumpkin. Had to get all fancy with it of course.

As some of you know, the boys now have a computer set up in the living room. They love it! FIL built it from a couple he had, and an extra monitor we had. It's set up so that I can surf on it on my own user, then the boys have their users so we aren't messing with each other's things!

Training: last week and this week...

Well in less than a week, I'll be jogging around Apple Hill!

The last couple of weeks have been slow on the training. I wrote my last post just after getting home from a 3.5 mile run, feeling good and working out my normal aches and pains post run. Well, one stuck around. Seams like everytime I get something going, something like this happens. But pushing through, hopefully it won't keep me out for long.

So Tues was a resting day because I couldn't walk without significant pain in my foot.

Thur I eased back in and ran 2 miles before going to school with Ty. It was fine while running, but after, and the few days after, were not the best. Paced back down to 19:22, but some of that is pushing Ty up hills, curbs and guiding him along a couple of street areas.

This weekend brought more rest, planned on running on Sunday, but it crept away. So today, Ty and I put down 3 miles after dropping Cody off at school. It felt good, but my foot hurts this evening, but pace was back down to 18:35 so improving and loving it!

The plan for the week is to take it easy, no more running until Sunday, but getting a little more time on my bike to keep endurance up.

I feel confident for Sunday, I'm not going to be speedy, but I'm going to finish.

So things are set and almost ready. Any suggestions a good running belt for storing my phone, keys, ID & cash? Need to pick one up for the race as I think the rest of the family is meeting me there.

Mom and Ty at the Pumpkin patch, Jog-A-thon...

So for the second time in two weeks, Tyler's pumpkin patch field trip had to be postponed, then canceled because of the rain. He was bummed, so trying to make the 3 year old happy, we found another patch close to the house and went on an adventure on Wed. (Pumpkin Hill on Kenneth)

Petting the llama, then it stood up and we promptly left him alone.

little bunny...

Aarrr, Tyler the pirate!

We hopped on the hay ride and went out to the fields, pretty scarce, but Ty found a nice pumpkin in this mix.

"Huh, a little tiny pumpkin"

On the way back on the hay ride, cheesy.

Really, it wasn't that painful.

Then we made our way to the bounce houses, Ty's shoes guarded our pumpkin.

Boing!

Aahhh!

He lapped around about 20 times on this thing.

On our way out we hit the rope swing.

It's a cute little pumpkin patch, if you are needing to hit one last minute. While we were there, two small preschool groups were there, so not very busy. He had fun and that's what counts.

Thurs was Cody's Jog-A-Thon at school, supposed to be last week, but the rains got in the way.

Waiting with the Kindergarten classes

Lined up, tally sheets in hand.

Working hard, he ran 8 laps in 15 minutes!

At the end, all the runners had a treat of juice popsicles, yum! It's fun to go to these sort of special events, can't wait for more.

Family Pumpkin Patch trip...

Have I mentioned how much I love this time of year? Really I do, I LOVE going to the pumpkin patch, all the fall colors and the fun that comes with Halloween. Sunday we were up bright and early, loaded up Virginia and Eli and pointed the van towards Bishops. This place get better every year, except that it's so well known it's usually packed. We got there early though, so we breezed through and were out by the time the places was super packed.

Tyler

Cody

The Barn slide

Aunt Virginia helping Ty with the scoopers.

How can you walk past without playing? Come on!
Even the adults have fun here.

Feeding the goats

Much improved from last year, Ty didn't run away screaming!

Showing of his bravery

They hay jump, mattresses under the hay

riding the train

Giant pumpkins

Virginia and Eli

The pig races, official NASPIG sanctioned race.

Don't remember them jumping last year?

When did they get so tall?

Ahh...

On the hay ride to the pumpkin fields.
Ty said it was his favorite part.

On the hunt

Found it!

The most glorious find in the fields, the official butt pumpkin..

Oh butt pumpkin, how we wish we could take you home. Alas, none of us could come up with anything that wasn't wildly inappropriate to do with said pumpkin. So it was left for someone else. 10 years and we'll be on that hunt again.

Finally, Cody settled on a pumpkin, he looks so thrilled.

All of our pumpkins

Tyler was supposed to go with his class today to a different patch in town, but the rains came and they cancelled. So we may or may not have more pumpkin fun to come!

PJ night at Barnes and Noble

A couple of Fridays ago we went to Barnes and Noble for a PJ night to benefit Cody's school. Way fun to go out in your pjs!

Highlight of the trip: the train table of course.

Excited to listen to stories.

They read "Where the Wild Things Are" so they are all showing off their monster faces.

Listening...

They topped off the night with hot chocolate, the good kind from Starbucks. Fun!

Training 10/12-10/17

Side note: I've been a very bad blogger, hope to get better about that this week. Look for another post later about the PJ party last Fri and hopefully some new shots from soccer today.

Ugh, bad training week. The rain through me for a loop and I've felt like crap most of the week. You know, scratchy/sore throat, voice in and out, feeling like an elephant was sitting on my chest, and by the end of the week it was topped of with congestion. YAY!!
So Tues I popped in my dance workout DVD before Ty went to school and we danced for about 1/2 an hour. Thur I really started feeling crappy, so I didn't do anything. So bad this week, we didn't ride our bikes once to school.

But today, Saturday, I got my booty out of bed and hit the road. 3.5 miles around the hood, running most with a couple 15 sec walking breaks to stretch and boost my attitude. The kicker in all this, by taking the week off, I told myself to push and it worked. My average mile time this morning was 18:48, finishing the 3.5 in 1 hour 5.5 minutes.
Last week's 3 mile run averaged out to 19:23 per mile.
Holy time shaving, Batman!

So, this is it, I'm going to sign up for the race this afternoon. I know I can finish it and have two more weeks to get stronger.

Holy cow, gonna go freak out in the shower now.

****Update****
I did it, I signed up for the race, sent my money. Nov 1st, 2 weeks to go!

Training week 10/5-10/10

Miles people, it's all about the miles...

Tues was the first of the beastly days of millage, starting out with 2 miles of jogging. It went well, only had two small stints of needing to do some long step, leg stretches, so I can't complain. Have mentioned how hilly our neighborhood is, um wow. So I did it, painfully slow at a whopping 40:04 for 2 miles, yep that's would be 20 min miles. But I did it!

Thur was upped to 2.5 miles, same hilly neighborhood, but with a goal to shave some seconds, and it was accomplished. Mile 1 was 19:20, the last 1.5 miles were 29:38, total of 48:58, shaving just over a minute from Tues. Yay, slow but Yay!

Saturday was the big 3 mile day. It went well and seconds were shaved, 1st mile was 19:08 (12 seconds!) the last 2.09 miles were done in 41:02 averaging out to 19:50ish, not quite 20 min.

So I now know that I can put down the mileage needed for the harvest run in a few weeks, hopefully next weekend I can get things together and enter. It's gonna be a slow race, taking over an hour to complete, but I'm excited to start and finish.

After this weeks running, I've set a new goal. I'm still going to keep training, and hit some races in the spring, but I really want to get my mile time down to a respectable time. Not exactly sure what the time is quite yet, probably around 15-16 min, then resume training for longer races, like a 1/2 marathon sometime in the late spring/early summer. I'm going to start searching out a new training program to start in January, and spend Nov/Dec getting a little faster, and hopefully a little lighter.

Landscaping and 12 weeks until Christmas!

So Sunday brought some impromptu landscaping. Not really sure why but the rocks were moved and are now all in a cluster. Next move is to put a border around them and fill the area with small landscaping rocks. There are so many roots around the trees that have surfaced that the grass just won't grow, even with the sprinklers worked. After that we'll plan to do some digging and fix the sprinklers, till the lawn up and spread some seed down.

You can see to the right where the rocks were, the bare patches.

The crater left in the front corner from the smaller rock.

Newly clustered.

In other news, it's October which means there are only 12 weeks until Christmas! Last night I pulled out a sewing project that was back shelved last year, due to me trying to chop my finger off with my rotary cutter. I'm getting back on track, making the boys floor pillows for the front room. It's a pieced together top that is a pattern meant as a dog bed, but it's cute and the boys will love them. I'm also thinking they need some super hero capes and maybe eye masks to go with them (I'll have to shop my fabric now while all the costume things are on sale!).

I've also been able to start a small amount of shopping, getting a couple of books for the boys from the 1st book order at school. This year the boys are asking Santa for cameras and scooters, making me a wee bit scared for the financials, but it's working out. With Keith's grandmother passing last month, his mom gave us her camera. It's only about 3 years old and hardly used, super simple and perfect for Cody. Then I was cruising Ebay and found the kids camera for Tyler, one I had looked for at Toys R Us for $50, found a brand new one for $20 including shipping. Score! So half of the major wish list is taken care of.

Hopefully if we can spread it out over the next few months, it will all come together.

Training week 9/28-10/3

Well, another week down and more confident each day!

Tue and Thur were the same; 36 minutes switching between 8 min run and 1 min walk. It felt good and by the 2nd time I felt as though I could go further. Tues was fun because we had Ty's field trip, so as soon as we dropped Cody off he rode his bike and I ran with him, not an easy thing. Thur was back to solo and went much smoother.
For today I was to run for 20 min without walking, then finish off the training with 10 more minutes of running and occasional walking if needed. I knew this was coming and every time I've seen it, I got a little scared and discourage Run for 20 min straight, are they nuts? But today was the day and it went fine! I ran for 20 min, then walked about 45 second as a boost and got back at it, ran some more and took another 45 second break after a couple of hills. Go me!
Starting next week, there are no longer times on my training calendar, just miles, yep, miles in the plural form. I checked and today's run was 1.5 miles, don't do the math because yes, I'm really that slow. So I will have to revise my route and start Tues with a 2 mile jog. Then, step it up to 2.25 on Thur and go from there.
The harvest run is in 4 week and it finally seams like an obtainable goal, it's only 3.5 miles, although hilly, but I run with hills now. I guess I should get off my butt and sign up already!

Now the scale, it's not on my good side at all. When I weighed on Tues it had gone down .5, alright, finally moving in the right direction! Thur it was down another 1.2 lbs, okay, that's a good thing. Then today it's back up 2 lbs, well crap! So, nothing is holding at this point, but at least it's not the 5 lbs swing it took a couple of weeks ago.

Ty's 1st Field Trip & Cody's 1st Drop of party...

Yay for more 1st times....

Saturday, Cody was invited to a Birthday party for a school/soccer friend with a Halloween costume theme. It was also his 1st time being dropped off at a party, as most of them are at this age. He had a blast. They held it at their church in the gym, set up carnival games for the kids to play and win prizes, had snacks, cupcakes and a general good time.

As we haven't had time to put his costume together yet, we pulled out the cowboy attire and he went as the sheriff.

Tyler showing off one of the prizes.

His pumpkin arm band tattoo.

Tuesday was Tyler's 1st field trip, he was very excited to finally have one of his own! His school, all three classes, went to the library and had a story time all their own, then to the park for a picnic.

Getting ready for it to begin.

Relaxing story time...

Head, shoulders, knees and toes...

Head....

Throw in soccer, a Pampered Chef party (open until Saturday if you need anything), jogging, school book orders, and general weekly stuff, we're as busy as usual!

Weekly training update...

Yay another week past and completed!

Tues was 30 min of 4 min jog/1 min walk intervals. It went well and finally about 1/2 way through it started to feel good. Ended the workout with a weights session.

Thu was 35 min of 6 min jog/1 min walk intervals. I hit my stride much sooner, but that last interval was about to kill me. Ugh, baby steps.

Sat was the same as Thur, but it went better and felt better in the end.

Moving up and feeling better about it is the main thing right now.

The scale is dancing up and down up to 4 lbs at the high/low swings, so whatever.

I did our weekly shopping today and instead of buying the 12 pack of soda that was on sale, I bout a 6 pack of mini's in hope that I can start to wean a bit. I also bought a box of an old favorite tea, so hopefully that will rejuvenate the food train.

This week we are back to our regular routine, so hopefully I can get my booty in gear and add in some more strength training and a touch of yoga, my muscles are way to tight.

Applesauce and Lasagna via Crock Pot

Mmmm, the crock pot has been put to work this week.

Last night we tried a new recipe for Slow-Cooker Lasagna, um Yummy! The flavors were great and I can see where this will become a favorite, except next time I'll stop cooking it when it's done and not let it sit on warm for 2 hours because of soccer. Sogginess is a bad thing when it comes to noodles, but it wasn't totally inedible, so I'm destined to try it again.

Slow Cooker Lasagna
1 lb ground beef (or 1/2 lb + 1/2 lb sausage)
1 jar (26oz) spaghetti sauce
1 cup water
1 container (15oz) Ricotta Cheese
1 pkg 7oz Shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
6 lasagna noodles, uncooked

Brown meat in a large skillet; drain. Stir in sauce and water.
In a separate bowl mix ricotta, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, 2 Tbsp Parmesan, egg and parsley
Spoon 1 cup of meat mixture into bottom of slow cooker; top with 3 noodles broken to fit crock and 1/2 the cheese mixture. Cover with 2 cups of sauce and repeat the layer with noodles and cheese. Top it off with the rest of the meat mixture and cover it with the lid.
Cook on LOW for 4-6 hours or until liquid is absorbed. (Best results on low, not high)
Sprinkle with reserved mozzarella and Parmesan, and cover until cheeses are melted, about 10 min.


Today the house smells of baked apples as the first batch of applesauce for the fall is cooking, can't wait to try it out!

Crockpot Applesauce

8 lg apples; skinned, cored and cut into quarters
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp vanilla
3 Tbsp brown sugar (or to taste, not needed at all if you like)
1/2 cup water

Skin, core and cut apples into quarters, place pieces into crock. Add lemon juice and water, then stir, then add the rest of the ingredients.

Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours. When apples are very tender, mash with a potato masher or large fork. The longer they cook, the less mashing you have to do.


Okay fall, this is your cue!

Cody's Game 9/19....

Cody played another great game yesterday. According to my video count, he scored 5 goals! WOW! So anyway, here's the video I shot of him playing. Yep, lots of commentary from me, so you might want to turn your sound down a bit, and I mean a lot.

FB friends: you'll have to visit my blog to see the video, they usually don't auto transfer. Weird.

Sorry it's so shaky, thought I had a better grip on that!

Lots of good playing. The kids are starting to play as a team a bit more, even better than a week ago. Couple of times it was good to see Cody be as cautious as he is, stopping before he trampled another player that fell, and stopping before he kicked the other goalie as she already had the ball. Exciting stuff!

Weekly progress report...

Trying to stay on top of things, I finished my workout for the day and figured it was a good time to get it all down.

This past week Tu/Th/Sat, were all the same as far as training, 30 min, intervals of 3 min run and 1 min walk. It went well, and by today, it felt good and I finished out the full last interval, extending the training time by 2 minutes.
Tu/Th I also did a weight set and some ab work.

This weeks goals are much the same, keeping up with the training runs, they increase gradually over the week. Continue to do some weights Tu/Th, and add in some core training 5 days.

Food is food, but I was down to one regular soda a day, and sometimes an additional diet as well. By the end of the week, I was able to cut out the after dinner snack, so hopes of more of that will get the scale moving in the right direction.

Now, I just need to find some bravery and register for the Apple Hill Harvest Run on Nov 1st, 3.5 miles. Can seriously say it freaks me out a bit, like I'm trying to jump into the cool-kids group but not quite sure I belong there. Need to register soon so there's a spot for me and I can get a cool shirt, cause really, at this point, it's all about the swag.

Tyler's 1st Day of Preschool...

Today was Tyler's first day at the new preschool. We were both excited and both a little nervous about things. We had many discussions over the last few days that he started school this week, "At my pweeskool?" he would say. Also talking about how get got to go by himself, like Cody does everyday.

Backpack on and ready to go.

In front...

Ready to go in!

We walked in and found his cubby, put his bag down and he was off to explore.
This is how I left him.

"Bye Buddy!" I said
"Okay, bye mom." and he was back to his truck.
Well, okay then.

Here is what he told me about his day:
Did you like school?: "Yeah, I got to play with other big kids like me."
What did you play with?: "Pirate Ships! Dey haf 2 like ars do!"
Did they read any stories?: "Yeah, Da Little Mouse at school one." (I saw this book sitting on the front desk, "Little Mouse's 1st day of School."
Did you sing any songs?: "Yeah, we did the Hokie Pokie!"
What other games did you play?: "Marshmallow Bingo, we eated one, it was BIG and squishy, and it was full." (I think it made him full?)
What was for snack?: "Umm, apples and juice and wa-der, and special crackers."
Did you play with the animals, or feed them?: " No, no one got to. The snake was having wa-der, but she didn't drink it." (I don't know either)
Did you find the potty?: "Yeah, there's two of dem, a big one and a little, tiny one (pinching his fingers together to show little) and it has stairs, two stairs!"

I arrived and they were all outside playing, here's his cubby/basket, full from the day.

This is how I found him...

Showing me the snake before we left.

I spoke with one of his teachers and with one of the moms that stayed and it sounds like he had a great day. His teacher said he did great and they didn't have any issues. He was quite, which I expected, but answered questions when asked. He sat at story and sang songs during circle time.

I dropped Cody off with Grandpa so he could do some cool things so Tyler and I went out for lunch to celebrate his first day.

So glad that things went well and that he let me leave. I wasn't sure he would, but he did great! Yay for starting preschool!

Last week progress.....

and deterioration.

I finished all my training days, going from 24 min to 28 by Saturday. Intervals changed to 2 min jog, 1 min walking. I also got in 1 weight training session at home. That was the good.

The bad came with the food. For the most part, breakfast, lunch and dinner were okay. For some reason I was drawn to cereal this week and in the afternoon and evening I had to have a bowl of dry Cinnamon Toast Crunch, not good. Soda was a bit of an enemy this week as well, we won't even get into Sunday.

The other good, I weigh in on Tuesdays, and the scale showed that I was down 2.8 lbs, so progress.


This week is busy with Tyler starting school, so as long as I can drop him off without issue, I have no excuses not to get my training in and then do a short weights session. Yesterday, my food was a bit better, cutting back to one soda, more water and tea in the evening. Snacks were still a little on the high side. Back to baby steps, cutting out the after dinner snacking first.

Go Tigers!

Today was Cody's 1st official league game. Both teams did a great job and it's nice to finally be at game day so they can understand what they've been practicing for. Cody had a great game, listened pretty well to the coaches, is learning to stay away from his team mates and scored a couple of goals.

Standing next to the team banner, Awesome!

Action shots...

The weather was a quite cloudy, but it only sprinkled on us a few times. This was about 5 minutes before they ended it started up some more, Cody is trying to catch the drops in his mouth.

Handshake line...

"Let me tell ya bout my beeest friend..."

The team.

And yes, I was the mom on the sideline, yelling and "encouraging." It will be fun to see if some of the shy kids will open up and see the team evolve over the next couple of months. With any luck we'll survive the season, clear through mid November!

Why is it so much?

One thing I've learned to love about our school district is that they love to give the kids time off from school. This year, they get 10 days off around Thanksgiving, Yes that was TEN days. So being that we have such an awesome amount of time, I'm thinking it would be a good chance to go see the family and friends in Boise.

Why in the crap does it cost so much to travel? Seriously!~?!?!!?? UGH!
Also, Amtrak needs to connect their train back to Boise, no train then bus, just a train!

So needless to say, I've been trying all kinds of different combos and it's just outrageous. That or I missed the sale that was going on two days ago. LAME!

So I've tried flying to Boise, then coming home to Reno and riding the train home, the next day.
Train to Portland and fly to Boise, then the same way home. Good option, except the cheap flight leaves 40 minutes before the train arrives, plus there's that 2 day to get there, then 2 days home.
I've tried routing the airplane south then north, way north then south, east then west, nothing is coming out quite right.

Hints, anything? Every time I think I have a good combo it still adds up past $700, usually around $750.

I know a lot are probably saying just drive dork. That would work out if the weather holds, then it would be a $300 trip, but I can't count on it to stay nice that time of year over the mountains. And the Jetta is only so safe in the weather, rain okay, snow, not so good.

Helpful hints are greatly appreciated.

Cody's stylin' backpack...

One thing I knew going into this year at school was that we were getting rid of the character backpack, and edging out similar clothing while we're at it. The goal being that we can get him a bag that will last more than a year, not falling into the favorite character of the moment. Not being able to really find any bags we liked, or were willing to spend the money on, we opted for him to use one we already had. So he was passed down my HS backpack, ran through the wash, looking like new. Only "problem" was that it was a big boring. So after the first day of school, we headed to JoAnn's and picked out a few patches that were put on right away. Keith found some patches this weekend, and I've been holding onto a couple that I found online, so I figured it was time to finally get them all on. With that, it's almost finished for now.

Front: Nor-Cal Speedshop (VW edition), alien dude, bike patch, race car, Trains & Dino key chains, and the soccer patch (placed to cover up the Eddie Bauer logo).

Left Side: VW dude and a dog that looks like Cocoa (IL's puppy)
We have a Boise State Broncos patch coming to finish this side off.

Something like this...

I also plan on hitting up Evangeline's in Old Sac next time we're there because I know they have a whole wall of patches. Hopefully we can find some that are Kindergarten appropriate.

Right Side: VW split window bus, NHRA drag racing starting tree, and stars (because who doesn't like stars?)

Bugs crawling across the top.

This was a lot of work, hand sewing through canvas and patches is not easy on the hands, but he loves his bag. I love it because it's not going to go out of style next year!

So there you go, head out to you local craft store, online store, or car show and get some patches for a custom backpack.

Speedy Mini Meat Loaves....

Flipping through the latest issue of People Magazine and Paula Deen has a recipe for meat loaf in the Dinner for Four Under $10 section. I have come to realize I Love Meat Loaf, if done in a very traditional way, this is it! Made it for dinner tonight and Cody loved it! (Ty's not much of a meat fan so no surprise he didn't touch it)

Speedy Mini Meat Loaves
1 1/2 lb ground beef (or turkey)
1 cup plain unseasoned bread crumbs (I used crackers)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 tbsp milk
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp minced fresh thyme
3/4 tsp ground pepper
3 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease the cups of a 12-cup muffin pan.

In a large bowl combine meat, crumbs, eggs, milk, garlic, onion, salt, pepper and thyme. Divide meat mixture among 12 muffin cups pressing meat firmly into the pan.

Place muffin pan on a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, until meat is almost cooked through. The loaves will be firm when pressed lightly but not set.

While loaves are baking, whisk together the ketchup, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. After baking, remove the pan from the oven, brush the tops of the loaves with the glaze and return the pan to the oven. Bake for 10 minutes more or until glaze has thickened and meat is completely cooked through, 30-35 minutes total. Run a butter knife around the edges of the muffin cups and pop out the meat loaves. Serve hot.

Notes: I didn't have all the ingredients fresh, but it all worked out great! I also used a silicone pan and they cooked very evenly, although I missed the part about the cookie sheet underneath. This is important because they will create juice and drip. YUMMY!

Week one of training, done and on record...

Yay me, I did all three of my training workouts for week #1.

Tues and Thurs I did my walk/jog on the way home from school, giving myself a nice 20 min warm up as we walked to school! These days were both 20 minutes, switching between walking and jogging for 2 minute intervals.

Sat was much of the same, warmed up with a 5 min brisk walk, then did 24 minutes, switching between walking and jogging for 2 minute intervals.

Eating wasn't much better than it's been, and I drank too much soda throughout the week, but this weeks goal was to start the training and finish each day to completion. That I did.

Next weeks training will be 3 more days of walking and jogging. I think each day is set at 24 minutes, but the intervals change on Thurs.

Goals for this next week include starting a weight training program at home, found a great total body workout in the latest Shape magazine.
No snacking after dinner and no soda after dinner, only tea and water.

Recipes....

STOP! Don't miss my post below about Cody's 1st game. (Facebookers, visit my blog, the link is on my info page)


Something else I'm trying to do right now, on top of everything else, is it try at least one new recipe a week. This week I've got a few new ones because I'm bored with our food and we're in a rut.

So far, very yummy!

Taco Lettuce Cups:
2 1/2 cups of Taco Seasoned Ground beef or Turkey, cooked (1 lb is close)
1 cup of chunky/fresh cut Salsa (I love La Mexicana from the cold case)
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend, divided
8 leaves Bibb lettuce (I used a butter lettuce with large leaves)
2 cups coarsely crushed tortilla chips, optional
1/2 cup sour cream, if desired

In a sauce pan mix seasoned meat, salsa and corn. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until heated thoroughly. Stir in 1/2 cup of the cheese.
Spoon about 1/2 cup of meat mix into each lettuce leaf. Top with about 1 tbsp cheese, 1/4 chips and 1 tbsp sour cream. Enjoy!

Notes: The recipe book this came from has you make up large batches of meet ahead of time to be pulled from the freezer for a quick meal, hence the 2 1/2 cups of meat. I made about a 1/4 of this, because no one else likes salsa and corn mixed in. I didn't use the tortilla chips and used less than a tbsp of sour cream. These were awesome! Didn't even miss my taco shell. I wasn't able to find the Bibb lettuce, so that's my next mission, but anything with a large leaf that you can cup will work.


Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches:
1 boneless beef roast (I found a cheapest one and it worked great!)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 beef bouillon cube
1 bay leaf
3 whole pepper corns (they have these in the bins at Winco)
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp garlic powder
water
Kaiser Rolls
Swiss/Provolone cheese

Trim meat and place in cooker. In a bowl combine soy sauce and all spices, pour over beef. Add enough water to almost cover beef. Cook on low for 10-12 hours, high 4-6 (depends on your cooker.)
Once cooked it should fall apart. Remove from cooker and shred. Grill rolls on the open side to get crispy and top with a slice of cheese. Put meat on and enjoy. This makes a lot of juice that is wonderful for dipping.

Notes: This had a really great taste to it. I didn't have any rosemary, so it was omitted and I added a few onion flakes as well. This is a good roast beef that would be yummy on it's own, with a veggie side and potatoes.

Cody's 1st game....

Cody's team had a scrimmage Wed night against another Orangevale team, a team we'll probably play again at some point during the season. So officially it's the first actual game he's played, uniforms and all. He was beyond excited and ready to get at it.

I made him pose before practice.

Before the game Tyler went and played around with the team.

He wants to be a big kid so bad!

The huddle...

As both teams are OV and have the same jerseys, our team put on the black pennies.

Here we go and he has the ball! He was down to their goal pretty quickly and scored the first goal.

Throw-in...

This was the team by the end of the game, all of them fighting over who got the ball. Hopefully they'll get over that and realized they are on the same team.

It was a good game and great for the kids to finally see what it means to play against another team. Only a few hurt feelings here and there, over all I think it went great! This is my Saturday, starting next weekend through mid Nov, wishes of sanity are highly appreciated.

Tyler on the swing...

Okay, it's a super grainy video from my phone, but so cool.

Don't run away yet...

Hi, my name is Andrea and I'm obese. Seriously folks.
Today my BMI is 38.3, healthy range is 18.5- 24.9, in real terms that's 76 lbs to lose to even dip my toes in the healthy range. (Insert expletives here)

So there it is, laid out for all to see, I need to lose about 80 lbs.
And I'm not talking stick thin here people, I'm talking healthy, and hopefully less aches and pains from all the extra I'm carrying around every day.

With school starting, it's just a natural time to get moving. Last week we walked to school one time and then rode our bikes there every day, and home a couple of times as well. It's a start to get going and being more active.

This week is much the same, riding to school in the mornings. Today started my running program, yes, fat girl wants to run. And not just run down the road, run in organized "races" with a bunches of other goofy people that like to run.

Goal number 1 is a 5K, to run to completion, just finishing. The one I'm aiming for is on Nov 1st, The Apple Hill Harvest Run, which is actually 3.5 miles, a bit over a standard 5K. According to my training schedule I should be running between 3-4 miles at that point.

Goal number 2 is to be able to run a 10K by Thanksgiving. I had hoped to do the Run to Feed the Hungry here in Sac, but with any luck, the boys and I will be in Boise that week instead. (Thanks San Juan for a 10 day Nov. break!) But I am still aiming to be able to run 6 miles by that day.

From there it progresses and hopefully I'll lose my ass along the way, in a good way.

So back to today. Tyler rode his bike to school, while Cody and I walked . Then I started my program on the way home. This week it's only 20 minutes, 2 minutes walking, 2 minutes jogging. I did it, ran for the full 10 minutes, didn't stop early at any interval. I'll do it again on Thursday, then again on Saturday. Baby steps, definitely baby steps.

I'm also going to take my MIL up on her offer to watch the boys and hit the gym. We had to drop our gym membership in the spring because of the cost, 2 adults + 2 kids in child care = way too much money! But a single membership is doable.
I had a lot of success before by going to their group weight training classes, so that's the goal, go to those 2-3 times a week. Then I'm also going to try to start swimming a couple of times a week as cross training, extremely low impact, but still has a powerful punch.
Lofty, my friends, very lofty goals here. But it's time.

My vice in this whole deal is the food, who doesn't love food? I need to learn to love it a little less. I'm not taking that I'm going to eat like a rabbit, but a few salads mixed in can't hurt, turning in my tortillas for lettuce wraps, still getting to enjoy my tacos. Still eating pasta, but switching to the better for your whole grain, adding in a veggie and cutting down the portion. Leaving the sweat treats for the weekend.

Oh and the drinking, yep it's gotta get under control as well. The Mt Dew will have to be limited, that's gonna suck, but I'm not gonna cut it out completely because that only causes a binge. More tea, more water and one soda a day, not 3. Plus an occasional coffee, but I've only had 2 in the last 10 days, so that's a much better start. (By coffee I mean White Chocolate Mocha = lots of calories!)

So yell at me, encourage me, and by all means tag along with me.

Ty's Birthday in Pictures...

Yay for another Birthday survived! We had Grandma and Grandpa Douglas down from Idaho, Grandma and Grandpa Scollay and Uncle Eli over for dinner, presents and cake. One of Ty's favorites is breakfast for dinner, so we put together a variety of quiche so that everyone would have something they liked and paired it with pancakes and waffles. Such a hit!

We started off his Birthday theme being fish, but after a trip to Micheal's he saw the soccer set and had to have it, so we did that instead for his family party.

Getting ready for presents.

Digging in the bag for the card...

"That's the one we wanted!" Dino Hot Wheels track set.

Go Big Blue! Thanks to Uncle Tim and Aunt Danna

"Whoa! One of my own, so we don't fight over them any more!" New bouncing ball.

Hiding during the Birthday Song.

Goofball!

The littlest one turns 3...

Happy Birthday to my littlest one! You've had quite a big year, going to preschool for the 1st time, learning to ride a two wheel bike (with training wheels), moving to a big bed, losing diapers and the binky, and still trying to keep up with big brother.
I'm looking forward to another fun year, especially with brother being in school giving us three whole mornings of just us!
Love ya little dude!

(Pictures to come soon...)

The Big K...

It's finally arrived, the first day of kindergarten! Cody has been so excited the last couple of weeks as we have been getting thing ready, for the last few days he has asked me repeatedly, "how many more days?"

Getting ready to head out the door.

Walking to school, we'll ride our bikes most days, but his bag was way to full for that today.

After saying a quick hello to his teacher, he was on the playground and making friends.

Off they go...

All the backpacks waiting to go home.

Getting his backpack before being released for the day, big smile.

Singing their good-bye song...

He had a great day and can't wait to go back tomorrow. He said he sat at his desk and they worked on letters and numbers, counting way past 10, sang songs, had snack and a time to play outside. He says he really likes his new big kid school.
We topped off the days events with a trip to Red Robin, plus soccer tonight as per usual on Mondays. Mom has a bit of paperwork homework to do for tomorrow, and his teacher said that they wouldn't start kids homework until after parents night in a couple of weeks. I also have a few patches to iron and sew on to his backpack as it's about the only one without a character or something on it.

End of Summer weekend....

Oh summer, how we'll miss you.

We took advantage of the end of the summer and hit the town, and out of town, and some in between.

Thursday we went to one of splash parks in Folsom. It's become a staple of our summer and wish we had one closer to home.

Ta-Da!

Being my boys, they both found friends to play with and run around and before we knew it we'd been there almost 3 hours!

Friday, Keith had the day off so we packed up the car and headed down to Santa Cruz. It's a 3 hour drive, almost 4 with the 4 potty stops we made for Tyler, but we finally made it just after the rides opened.

Totally soaked after the big log ride.

After hitting up some rides we headed down for a walk and this is the look of the rides. Awesome, minus all the smoke in the air from the area fires.

On our walk down the coastline we came up on one of the local surf spots and stayed to watch for a while.

Sea lions out on the rock.

Then we headed back to the car and grabbed our beach gear so the boys could go play.

Ty found a girl his age to play with, they chased each other around for quite a while.

Cody found a boy his age as well.

The water is Cold, so they only played for maybe 30 min.

Lots of sail boats in the water to see.

We hit a local cafe for dinner, the boys had their favorite breakfast for dinner, so it was good. We left our house at 7:30am and were finally home around 10pm. Long and fun day!

Saturday evening we went to the annual Niello Dinner, although instead of the fancy dinner downtown, they did it family style at the zoo. We really enjoyed the mellow attitude of it.

The boys drawing on the doodle bug.

They each had two rides on the new carousel.

Then we took a short spin around part of the zoo on the train.

After a bbq dinner we did a scavenger hunt around the zoo, leaving Ty with black "tattoos" up and down his arms.

The boys had a treat getting to spend the night at Gma/pa's Sat night as Keith and I were maybe going to go the Indy race at Sonoma, but after such a busy weekend, we bowed out.
Instead, we went to a quite breakfast, hit up some Birthday shopping that needed to be done, then went to see Inglorious Bastards. So awesome! If you like Terantino movies at all, you'll love it, if you think you are going to a war movie and haven't seen any Terantino movies, stay away.

So there it is, busy weekend! Now getting ready for back to school on Monday.