Living in Munchkinland

We had a quick, busy Saturday and Sunday last weekend. We attended Michael's cousin Logan's wedding on Saturday night in Austin. It was so wonderful to get to spend time with the Walter family and to meet Logan's bride and be part of their ceremony (the walters all got up and sang during the lighting of the unity candle). Michael and I left the kids with a sitter and got all dressed up and had a marvelous time. The next morning we got up and went to church and the ran home to tidy up before soup swap. Michael hung out with the kids and my dad at my parent's house and I hosted the swap at our house. We had seven soups to swap and they were all delicious. I totally forgot to take a single photo, but I assure you, the pile of soups on the table were a beautiful sight and we ladies had a great time.

This is the best stir fry I have ever made, and being vegan, I've made a lot. It's from my new cookbook, "Isa Does It", by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I think it is so good because of the cast iron skillet. I added a little bit of daikon radish and broccoli greens because that was what was in my CSA. It was delish! Now go make it! If you feel you must have meat, feel free to use that instead of tofu. Sauce ingredients: 2 tablespoons hoison sauce 2 tablespoons mirin 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon soy sauce (or gluten free tamari) 1 tablespoon agave syrup 2 tablespoons water For the stir-fry: Peanut oil (in a spray bottle if you’ve got it) 14 oz tofu, cubed (press it if you have the time, otherwise just blot with a paper towel to remove moisture) Salt Fresh black pepper 1 lb broccoli, cut into florettes, stems sliced 1/4 inch thick 1 small red onion, sliced into half moons 1 bell pepper (red, yellow or orange), sliced 1/4 inch thick 2 teaspoons fresh...

The kids participated in their cub scout Pinewood Derby on Saturday morning at Dick's Classic car garage. Davis made his car ALL by himself this year. His theme was the clone wars. He was really hoping to win for speed this year. Samuel sanded and painted his car all by himself, but I helped him with his mardi gras theme by cutting and placing beads and making a sign. He was hoping to win for creativity. We took the cars to impoundment on Friday night and on Saturday morning we donned beads and clone wars masks and drove to the race. It was really fun and exciting. Martha and Clark met us there to cheer the boys on. Neither boy won for speed, but we all enjoyed the race and getting to visit with our friends. The creativity awards won't be announced till the end of February so Samuel is still holding out hope. Pinewood derby is a really fun event and I'm always glad the boys get to participate.

We had a big freeze last night. We stayed up late betting that school would be delayed and helped the boys finish their pinewood derby cars. Davis is going for speed and Samuel is going for creativity. I had so much fun working on Samuel's car. We woke up late and found out that school was not only delayed, but cancelled! We put on layers and built a fire and had a very busy, very rewarding day. Michael got to telecommute in and stay home! I made waffles and then went to work out, while the kids read and did homework. Then I worked on travel a little bit while the kids practiced piano and guitar. Then I made eight quarts of soup for my soup swap. I made a huge pot of lemongrass stock and then made a carrot thai soup using the stock. As I did, I also helped the kids work on their school project that is due in a couple of weeks. It's almost done! Then I folded laundry while the kids played star wars. We realized it was almost snack time so the kids and I made sugar...

Katie came in for 24 hours and I spent as much time with her as possible. She stayed out our house and I kept her up late chatting in the lounge. This morning we went to brunch at the Root Cellar (delish!) with my dad and met Cheris there. It was so great to get a chance to spend time with my Katie. I love her so and wish she would move closer!

Catching crawfish with Grandpa Building a Cubmobile Coyote spotted on the ranch Listening to Gypsy Moon at Palmer's. Dad on a walk around the ranch. Bookgroup at mom's house The boys studying their star wars books. Sometimes there are special moments in our lives where I snap a pictures, but it doesn't fit into a neat and tidy blog post. I thought I would put some of those "daily life" pictures here.

We just had a beautiful weekend at the beach. The weather was gorgeous- warm, sunny, low seventies, amazing for January. We drove down on Friday after work and met the Liffords at the condo. We put the kids down and stayed up talking. Saturday morning, after muffins and pajama time, we took the kids down to the lawn and let them skate on the side walks. The sun was warm and the kids happy, so Cheris and I made a picnic and brought it down and we all ate outside. After lunch, we went upstairs, changed the kids into swimsuits and gathered up all the beach stuff and headed down to the sand. We spent all afternoon beach combing, building sandcastles, playing frisbee and jumping in the waves. Our friends, the Santos' came over to meet us and we all played together. When the sun set, we made our way upstairs and had lots of delicious tacos. The Santos family had some friends come join us and we were a very merry group. I fell asleep very early that evening. Sunday morning ...

I am sitting at my desk. I dropped off the kids at school and I have the day off work and I have ten thousand things to do at this desk and I can't get motivated. So I figured I'd journal a bit. There are a lot of things going on in my life that are private. I just can't blog about them because they are personal and this place is too public. I'm torn because this blog is my record. I am the historian of my family and each year I print out the year's blog book and keep it as the photo album/journal/baby book for my family. We are coming up on my seven year anniversary of blogging. I sometimes want to put things up here that I just can't. I need to start journaling, maybe, but then I would never have time to keep up both and I'm afraid this blog would lose. So there's that. Gosh, I am so cold. We are having a major cold front and I feel it in my bones. I really miss summer. I wonder if it's because I've lost weight or because I've...

Cheris and Rob invited us up for a play date and dinner on Saturday. We had such a wonderful time spending time with our friends. Davis and Violet announced that they were going to have a wedding. They had spent time in their room making real wedding rings with a jewelry kit Violet had received for Christmas. Graham was the ring bearer, Cheris and I were photographers, Samuel and Michael were audience and Rob was the officiant. It was a beautiful wedding and Rob declared them "playfully wedded". We LOVE our friends. ;)

We are home now from Taos and I have a moment to write and reflect. We had two days of "just us" time in-between our families in Taos. The first day, we cleaned and worked and rested. The second day, we took the kids ice skating and then to Twirl, where the kids made snowflakes upstairs and I made us a cruise booking for next New Year's Eve. Then we drove to KTAOS where we had a drink to celebrate and then home. The next day we had lunch at Orlandos and then that afternoon my family arrived! We all sat by the fire and opened Christmas gifts from each other. That night it snowed! Michael and the boys and Tiff and Keith and Kade got up the next morning and headed up the mountain. The boys had two more days of snowboarding lessons and everyone else went to ski and snowboard. I hung out at the house with mom and dad and read by the fire and then went for a long walk in the snow. It was beautiful. In the evening, we made chili and Keith and Michael and I stayed u...