Painting, Food, and Food For Thought

I think I finally redeemed myself from my beach towel/ conch shell painting fiasco last night at Quench Your Palette.  My sister and I were the only ones in the class so we got the instructor's attention completely to ourselves.  It was so much fun!

They really should put better lights in there so that when people pose with their paintings, they don't look so washed out.  Oh well...

Maybe the painting went better as a result of the yummy dinner we consumed prior to the class....

I changed up my original plan a bit and made black bean-smothered sweet potato fries instead of using the whole potato.  It was my attempt to speed the baking process along and it worked.  The boys even ate their broccoli last night too.  Of course their sweet potato fries were smothered in ketchup, not black bean salsa, but they did devour their side of seasoned black beans...also dipped in ketchup of course.  

Speaking of food, that apple butter turned out to be delicious.  I could eat it by the spoonful!  Yum!

I found some other interesting things in the blogging world this morning too...

I like this idea of making your home a haven during the holidays.  I definitely want to try out her tips.

The challenge starts off with lighting a large candle in your home every day.  I'm never sorry I lit a candle, especially a festively scented one.  I think this is a challenge I can handle.

I also found this post from Tina to be quite interesting, especially in light of some comments I've heard from people lately.  She explains how we ALL have motivation.  

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I think you probably need to figure out what your dreams are first, which should be easy but I always struggle with that question, then figure out what drives you to those dreams, but I agree that it's within all of our abilities to achieve our dreams.  We just have to channel our energies in the right direction.  

Just some food for thought...

Anyways, today looks like it's going to be another beautiful day.  We're hoping to fit in a bike ride to the bagel shop, a trip to the park, a best body fitness boot camp workout, sriracha corn chowder (don't worry friends that are joining us for dinner, we're going easy on the Sriracha and have sour cream to cut the heat if its still too spicy), trick-or-treating with friends, hopefully a quick little run, and DEFINITELY lots of giggles and snuggles. 

Can't wait to see what our little superheroes think of trick-or-treating!  I hope they have as much fun collecting candy as they had eating it the other night.  Did you know you can face paint with M&Ms?

Blue streaks compliments of that blue M&M he's holding.  That's right friends, they do melt in your hands if you hold on to them long enough.

Colton didn't get quite as crazy but he sure did have a good time eating the M&Ms.  Happy Halloween!

Fall Has Come to Florida

What a beautiful day it is today!  Sunny and in the 50s.  I love it!  Looks like Hurricane Sandy brought fall to Florida, at least temporarily.  I'll take it.  My heart goes out to all the people in the northeast who are suffering the effects of Sandy though.

Our morning kicked off with hot coffee and scrambled eggs with sauteed dandelion greens.  I still haven't decided whether I like the dandelion greens or not.  They were VERY bitter.  Anyone have any tips for making them tastier??

With the chill in the air, I wanted to make something seasonal so I threw the ingredients for apple butter into the crock pot this morning using this recipe.  It smells AMAZING right now.  I can't wait to taste it.  I'm hoping to spread it on an english muffin in my near future.

Our first stop of the morning was story time where we read...

I LOVE this one for Halloween.  It's such a cute little seasonal counting book.  Don't worry, there was nothing scary in it.

This one has great rhythm and a great message about being happy with who you are.  I loved it too...and so did my boys.

Our next stop was music class with Miss Rabe.  The boys and I had a blast as usual.  I'm pretty sure Aunt Abigail did too.

We made it home in time to squeeze in a run before lunch time and the boys nap.  I had a whole running group with me this morning and I loved every minute of it.  My boys, my sister, sunshine, cool breezes, and part of the run was waterfront.  LOVE!

We're having black bean-smothered sweet potatoes for dinner tonight with a side of roasted broccoli.  I think I'll sub plain greek yogurt for the sour cream.  It will up the protein and includes probiotics too.  Score!

I have a fun girls' night planned with my sister after dinner.  Can't wait!  Trying to soak up my sister time in these last couple of days that she's here as I try not to think about her leaving soon.  I'm loving having her here.

Make it a great day!

Recovery Day

You would have thought I could have gotten a good night's sleep last night, but it was suprisingly restless.  I did, however, get out of bed feeling pretty good, considering I ran my fastest half marathon ever yesterday.  It did feel good to finally make it to the gym after running some errands this morning so I could spend some time on the elliptical and work out some of the soreness.  I love having a workout buddy here.  We finished off our workout with a routine from the Best Body Fitness Boot Camp routine.  It was another good one.  My favorite move was the one-legged one-armed rows.  I need to work on my balance so I can take it up a notch by trying it out on the Bosu ball.  All in good time...


Since I didn't sleep well last night, I decided to quit fighting getting out of bed to seize the moment and do some studying.

I'm plugging away at this certification slowly but surely.  I found the following quote in today's reading quite interesting...

I guess I'll just have to settle for the midlevel limits of performance so I can indulge in my favorite treats from time to time.  Once the boys woke up, the studying was over and it was time to put nutrition on the back burner for a bit so I could throw together some yummy treats for this Halloween week.  

These cute little ghosts were inspired by the lovely Jenny Clark.  Thanks for the idea.  She made hers using nutter butter cookies and they were adorable.  I just subbed graham crackers for the cookies.  The boys think they are so silly.

I also made peanut butter rice crispy treats topped with leftover white chocolate and mini chocolate chips.  YUM!

And I have pumpkin spice granola baking in the oven.  It smells divine.  Thank goodness we've got some friends coming over to help us devour these goodies along with some homemade hummus, crackers, and wine.  Happy Birthday Cecilia!  I'm so happy we're friends!

A Great Race Day

The weather cooperated and my body did too this morning as I finished my half marathon more than 7 minutes faster than my pre-babies half-marathon when I thought I was in the best shape of my life.  These boys have got me faster than I've ever been.  Thanks guys!  They are the best training partners.  It was a glorious morning!

Plus side of being 30--the competition is tougher.  Downside of being 30--I placed 3rd in my age group instead of first.  The fastest 25-29 year old raced in 2 hours.  Good thing I love competition--gives me something to shoot for at next year's race.

The boys were thrilled to see me cross the finish line.  Abigail made some really cute signs for them to hold.  It was awesome to be able to wave to them as I came across the finish line.

I had fun chatting with my boys while I waited for my award.  Check out all the great sponsors too!

My finisher's medal was pretty cool and featured Mickey's design.  I'm so proud of him for winning the contest.  My 3rd place trophy is a ceramic travel mug filled with candy.  What a fun idea!

Mickey's shirts are great!  I was glad I had mine to wear after the race since it was much cooler this morning.  Mickey was there in spirit.

My theme song for the last month has been "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger" and wouldn't you know, that's what came on for the home stretch of the race from my itunes shuffle.  Perfect timing!

We treated ourselves to a delicious breakfast at Jan's following the race.  I hadn't been there in forever and was pleased to discover it is still as delicious as ever.  I loved me mediterranean omelette and hash browns but was too full to eat much of my pancakes.  Just means I have breakfast all ready to go for tomorrow.  YUM!

The boys really enjoyed playing with their trucks as we sat outside watching for motorcycles until our food came.  Then it was time for them to devour their bacon.  

We spent the rest of the day lounging out by the pool, making more bracelets, playing with the boys, and riding our bikes.

Colton and I

Abigail and Mason

We came home in time to enjoy a nice cold beer along with some sweet potato tortilla chips and guacamole.  Now it's indulge in some zucchini, mushroom and swiss chard enchiladas.  

Have a great Sunday night!

Last Training Day

We've been squeezing in a LOT of fun the last couple of days.  I love that Abigail's visit coordinated with a taper week so I haven't had to worry too much about my training while she's here.  Tomorrow's the big race and I'm hoping the weather cooperates.  It was pretty windy out there this morning for my last training run.

I'm as ready as I'll ever be for tomorrow's halloween half marathon.

Here's some of the fun things we found to do the last couple of days, despite the rainy weather...

The play area at the mall is surprisingly fun.  Everything is nice and padded, a definite plus in my book.

The Ghoula last night was fun too.  My sister and I went as identical twins...not the most creative costume there, but it worked and we had a great time.

Today's Hobgoblin parade in Downtown Stuart was super cute.  I loved seeing all the kiddos outfits and we got to use our new handy dandy wagon.   We love it!

The boys loved seeing their friends at the parade.  I love our little town!

I'm sticking to my tried and true pre-long-run pizza.  We've got a homemade pie in the oven topped with fire-roasted tomato sauce, sauteed kale and mushrooms, and chicken sausage smothered in mozzarella...definitely not vegan but DELICIOUS and hopefully just the thing to power me through my half marathon tomorrow.

Stay tuned for the half-marathon recap in the near future.  Wish me luck!

Mustache Fun

Yesterday we had some fun with these goofy stick-on mustaches.  Thanks Target Dollar Spot!  You made our day.

As if mustaches weren't enough, we also got a surprise package from my sister Miriam, which included mummy and skeleton straws, stickers, AMAZING pumpkin spice puppy chow and light-up bouncy balls.  Needless to say, the boys had a very  exciting day yesterday with all their new goodies.  THANKS Aunt Miriam!

It was a gloomy kind of day so we also indulged in some spicy hot cocoa thanks to my adaptation of this recipe.  It was YUMMY!  Cayenne, cinnamon and chocolate.  What's not to love?  I actually made ours with stevia instead of the brown sugar and unsweetened almond milk instead of regular milk.  

I also finished making this bracelet.  I'm excited to play around with different colors to create different looks.  It was fun to do something hands-on.  We stocked up on more materials to help entertain us during today's wash-out from hurricane Sandy.  

It was produce day too so I got to pass out all this organic deliciousness.  I love Thursdays...so yummy!  I'm really excited to try out my dandelion greens.  I've never had them before but I do love my greens.

My two-mile run ended up having to be on the treadmill yesterday because of this crazy tropical weather.  I forgot how much I hate treadmills but I did discover a new love for the bosu ball as I completed the strength training portion of my workout.  Today's boot camp workout from Best Body Fitness called for squats into overhead presses while standing on an upside-down bosu ball.  It was a nice new challenge to attempt my workouts on a wobbly surface.  We also did our push-ups on it upside down.  It was fun and challenging to mix things up.

While all of that excitement was going on, we were also making homemade dulce de leche in the crock pot using this recipe.  It was SOOOOO good on apples.  Success!  I recommend dipping apples into it at 10 pm after splitting a bottle of wine with a great friend and your sister.  It made for a very relaxing night for me.

The plans for this rainy day are very low-key.  Perfect for a rainy rest day two days before my half-marathon.  Bring on the carb-loading and hydration!  

Stay dry and safe.

A Windy Day at The Beach and Some Fitness Updates

Whenever I have company in town, I jump at the chance to go to the beach with an extra set of eyes to watch the boys.  I'm pretty sure my company doesn't mind getting taken to the beach.  Yesterday was especially fun for the boys with all the wind from Hurricane Sandy.  There was hardly anyone there and we enjoyed the wide-open sand.  

Gotta love living in Florida!  Even a windy day at the beach is still a good one, in my opinion.  I try to never forget how wonderful it is to live in the sunshine state.

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This week has been VERY easy in terms of exercise, since the half marathon is just 3 days away now.  I am getting anxious and excited for it.  My mileage has been very low this week as I taper until Sunday morning.

Tuesday's run was just 4 miles...

Yesterday the plan called for 30 minutes of easy running.  It would have been easier without the wind blowing the stroller all around but I'll be stroller-free on race day.  

Today's plan is to complete 2 miles and also do a little strength training in order to not completely neglect the best body bootcamp training plan which kicked of on Monday.

Tomorrow is a rest day and then I just run for 20 minutes on Saturday.  Easy peasy!  I'm in the home stretch.

It's produce day so I'm off to prep for that.  I'm getting a pumpkin today and planning to make a pumpkin and honeycrisp apple soup with it.  YUM!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

Photo dump alert!  You know I love my kids which means I assume everyone loves my kids and wants to see their adorable photos from our visit to the pumpkin patch on Monday.  They had a riot running all over the place.  It's amazing how quickly they've grown and changed since their visit to the pumpkin patch last year.  It only gets more fun!

In case you're wondering, Mason is in the Beatles shirt with the drumset and Colton has the rock star shirt on.  Thanks to Aunt Abigail for joining us so we could let them really explore the place.  We love you!

We enjoyed a busy day yesterday of Story Time at Blue door where we read a couple more Karma Wilson books...I think we've almost read them all :-)  

I love her fun rhymes and and choice of illustrators.  They were a hit with the kiddos.  Afterwards Abby made us a lovely pumpkin latte.  I'm already trying to figure out a time to get back there for another one.  You've gotta try one.  She's got a magical touch with her coffee drinks.  YUM!

Our next stop was music class with Miss Rabe.  I am amazed by how well the boys are responding to music class.  They continue to be precocious!  I am so proud to be their momma.

The rest of our day was filled with meals, tutoring, playing outside and a bike ride before our lovely neighbors played with the boys so Abigail and I could enjoy some yummy margaritas and mexican food with some fellow MOPS moms.  What a treat; thanks Shaws!

Now I'm off to cuddle my kiddos and enjoy some roasted pears over waffles with yogurt.  Yum!  I'm also trying to come up with something unique to make with my broccoli today. I'm thinking of broccoli pesto again but would love to try something new...any suggestions?? 

She's Here!!!!!!!

The moment I've been waiting for for the last three weeks is finally here.  My sister arrived yesterday I am in HEAVEN!  I've got a wine drinking buddy and another set of hands for the boys.  Yippee!  I'm already feeling spoiled and she hasn't even been here for 24 hours yet.

Last night we enjoyed a yummy butternut squash and caramelized onion pizza with some yummy red wine and we just finished making a zucchini and spinach lasagna to enjoy for dinner tonight.  YUM!    I hope ours looks this good when we dig into it.

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I'm so happy she loves produce as much as I do!!

I went to a wonderful MOPS meeting this morning while Abigail entertained the boys.  It was so great to be able to chat with other moms and learn some tidbits about their lives before kids.  There were some good stories!  It made me come home and dig through old dating photos...here's some good ones of the goatee I spoke about...

Supporting me at breast cancer fundraiser back in my "3 Day" days.

Posing on his first trip to my favorite city, Chicago.

At his first Cubs came.  LOVE Wrigley field.  

We also got to discuss our book study book as well.  Rahab was one interesting, faithful woman and I'm looking forward to seeing what Ruth has in store for us in the next novela.

I've also been reading Becky Bailey's I Love You Rituals book, thanks to Ginny Luther's recommendation.  It has some wonderful tips for helping parents to maintain a good bond with their children.

I hope my other book club book is a good, quick read;  I've got my work cut out for me this month.

Today kicks off the Best Body Fitness Boot Camp.  Today is supposed to be a rest day from running on my half marathon training plan so I'm just going to stick to the upper body portion and do light weights for my legs.  This 8 week challenge overlaps my half-marathon training by one week so I'll have to make some adaptations for just a bit this week.  Oh well!  I can't believe the race is 6 days away.  I'm actually really ready for it to be over.  Almost there... I am definitely looking forward to changing things up a bit with this new book camp.  

I'll leave you with this verse that really hit home for me this morning as we discussed our book...

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Trust God!  He knows what he's doing and his plan is SOOO much better than ours.  

Party Day

It was a BEAUTIFUL out night last night, so I decided to take the boys on a walk down to the river.  They love watching for boats.  Too bad we only saw two, but we did spot a jumping fish that was pretty cool.

The fresh air must have worn them out, because this is what I found when I went to tuck them in...

It used to be that Colton who threw everything into Mason's bed but now Mason gives all the goods to Colton.  They really do flip-flop all the time.  I slept equally as good and was ready to hit the road this morning for my easy 5 mile taper run.  After a month of long runs on Saturdays, today's run felt like a breeze.

We met up with some friends after my run to participate in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk but only lasted about 2 miles before I knew I had tortured the boys enough and decided to take the shortcut home.  We got desperate and split a zone bar I had brought along...

2 1/2 hours in the stroller is LOOONG enough.  They were happy to stretch their legs and play while I ate a yummy breakfast of roasted green beans topped with dippy eggs.  I got the idea from PBFingers and it was delicious.  The runny yolks make a yummy sauce for the beans.

Then it was time to head off to a party.  Our twin friends celebrated their first birthday with a festive Halloween-themed party.  We had a great time!

Mason found a holster he enjoyed wearing but their favorite piece of entertainment was the storage box.  Those boys are strong enough to push each other in it.  They had a blast!  Hope we didn't give any of the other kids any crazy ideas...woops!  What can I say, I've got some busy boys.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

As I was checking my emails once I got the boys down from their naps, I stumbled upon this little nugget from Peak313.com

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She has a brutally honest blog post today that I think most of us married folks can relate to.  Marriage isn't always easy but I think some people expect it to be.  It's reassuring to know everyone has their struggles and obstacles, even when they're not visible to those of us on the outside.  You just have to remember you're a team.

On that note...go let your your significant other know how much you love them.