New recipes & the diving board

This week I've been all about trying new recipes.  Last weekend I got onto Pinterest and printed a bunch of dinner and dessert ideas that looked tasty.  For starters, I did homemade donuts.  I've never tried this before because it sounded like way too much work but the recipe I found was super easy.  It used store bought biscuits that you cut out a circle and fried in oil.  Let cool, then dip in butter & cinnamon sugar.  I knew they turned out alright because as Haden ate them he kept saying "mom, you're the best cook!"

The next recipe I tried was a quick and easy cookie thing.  The two main ingredients are bananas and quick cook oats.  You mix these together and then add in whatever else you like, then bake.  I tried mixing in raisins on some and choc chips on the other half.  We didn't like the ones with raisins and the choc chip ones were okay but it certainly didn't taste like a cookie and got this weird rubbery texture after sitting overnight.  Not trying this one again.

Last night, I made a skinny oreo cookies and cream milkshake.  This was awesome.  It was "skinny" because instead of ice cream it called for instant vanilla pudding mix and ice.  I plan to alter the recipe a little and try to make a shamrock shake, possibly adding in some Andes mint choc candy.

So, last Friday night we had talked about going to the local pool for a Friday night family swim thing and the boys were super excited.  But, it turned out that it was cancelled due to some rescheduling of lessons = sad boys.  To make up for it, I promised them we'd go this week instead.  We were all dressed and ready to go when I double checked to see what time it started, only to find out that it was not happening this week and instead it was a Sweetheart Movie swim that didn't start for another hour = very sad boys again.  We were afraid that it might be all teenage couples but since we all had our swimsuits on already we went anyways (after killing an hour at home).  We were excited to see it was mostly all families with young kids like ours and the movie playing was Despicable Me.  Haden ran into a friend from his class.  The friend had passed the "test" and could go off the diving board.  I could tell Haden was very jealous and he said he wanted to try the test.  The test consists of swimming the width of the pool and back using front crawl, wearing no goggles.  So, Haden quickly ditched his goggles and did some practice laps.  He was so nervous about the test but he did great and passed.  He spent the rest of the evening jumping off the diving board!

So, the kids are spending the weekend with Grandma & Grandpa Pearce so that w can get some more work done in the basement and have a date night.  We tried Iowa River Power Co for the first time and enjoyed it.  Kye was a bit disappointed with his prime rib (saying something about it lacking the salt rub that they usually have) but he loved his shrimp.  I had chicken parmesan and it was great.  This morning we made a trip to Menards to get more drywall and other supplies.  I hate having to help carry the drywall into the basement, but Kye assures me we'll only need about 10 more sheets to finish the basement. 

Since the kids were away tonight, I tried another new recipe that I knew they wouldn't like.  It was a cheesey taco soup and I thought it turned out really good.  It was a bit spicier than I excepted but still yummy. 

This week, my long run was a 6 miler.  I was dreading this all week and needed to do it sometime this weekend.  I put it off as long as possible so by this afternoon I knew I just needed to get dressed and go run!  It was sunny outside, but with windchill it was only 26 degrees so I never really know how to dress.  I hate getting hot, but also hate being cold when running outside.  I knew it was windy, and only felt some crosswinds during the first part of my run, but then I headed south for the last 1.5 miles straight into a very strong wind.  It was terrible and cold.  I think everytime I've run outside this year has been very windy!  I'm so ready for spring.

We have a parent-teacher conference for Haden later this week.  I'm really looking forward to seeing what his teacher has to say about him.  James is getting excited to start preschool in the fall.  If everything works out, he'll be attending the same place where Haden went for two years and I love the teachers there.  James is currently doing preschool-like curriculum at his daycare center the two days that he attends, but I think he misses a lot since he is only part time and the program is geared more for the full time kids.

Kye and I never really do much for Valentine's Day.  This year he got me an orchid.  I'm really bad at keeping house plants alive, mainly due to not knowing when/how much to water them.  The orchid is listed as "resilient" and says to only water when it gets really dry.  We'll see how long it lasts, maybe I should make Kye do the watering so that I don't drown it!

Sick kids & old junk

Well, I guess that I must have "knocked on wood" too many times when saying that our family has managed to avoid the stomach bug and flu bug this season.  James was the first casualty.  He threw up at some point Friday night.  Luckily, Kye had fallen asleep on the couch that night so he got to deal with the cleanup.  James woke me up Saturday morning and was really thirsty.  He drank 3 glasses of milk and water then cuddled up with me in the chair to watch cartoons.  About 10 minutes later, all that liquid came back up - covering both of us. YUCK!

my sick baby james

The sad part was that we had a date night scheduled for Saturday.  I was really looking forward to a night away and had reservations for a restaurant we've never tried before.  When Haden woke up, he said he was still tired but he'd been up late the night before so I didn't think much of it.  Haden and Kye headed out to ice skating lessons and then to Lowe's to do a Build and Grow project.  When Haden returned home he was still tired and laid down.  He soon had a fever and James got the fever too.  So, both boys napped the day away and just watched movies during their moments of alertness so I was able to get alot of cleaning/organizing done which was nice.  Kye and I also had some stomach issues but were not as sick as the kids.

the Build and Grow project: Wheel of Love

The kids acted okay when they woke up today, but neither would eat anything.  We had said that if they were feeling better we would go to the RV show happening in Cedar Rapids.  They enjoy going to this and walking into all the big campers and seeing boats so they both said they felt like going.  Poor little James just wasn't feeling good yet.  He was very tired and wanted to be carried most of the time.  Neither kid really ate anything for the 2nd day in a row although Haden was acting fine, so we'll have to see what tomorrow brings.

On a lighter note, I've finished week 2 of half marathon training.  Yesterday was a 5 mile run and I was nervous about that distance for some reason.  I haven't run that far since doing the Bix (7 miles) last summer, although I did a couple of 4.8 mile run a few weeks ago. 

So, a few weeks ago when cleaning out some boxes in the basement (yes, we still had a ton on unpacked cardboard boxes even though we've been in this house for almost 5 years) I ran across some old pens from my childhood.  I don't know why it was so hard to toss these out.  The ink had dried up and they were useless, but I loved pretty pens, stickers, and stationary as a kid.  I really had to toss them but I took a picture so I could remember my favorite childhood pens (mom, you remember any of these?)  Does anyone else hold onto old junk like this for sentimental reasons?  Please tell me I'm not the only one.  I also ran across a box of my old ribbons, medals, trophies for track.  I will never display these so why do I keep them?  The kids thought it was fun to look at them but what do I do with them now??