Wonderful Day of Family and Friends...

Just finished the last of the dishes and swept the kitchen floor.  We had a wonderful holiday full of good food and great company.  I'm happily exhausted, but before I fall asleep I thought I'd just share a few pictures from our day.  I realized I didn't take nearly enough pictures today.  Oh well.

 

started our day with mimosas 

 

The munchkin helping me roll out gluten free puff pastry

 

Our dog Tyson terrorizing the train passengers

 

Pie!

 

Sleepy puppy cuddled on my lap

 

Sleepy munchkin cuddled with Nana

Vegan Shepard's Pie

 

It has been a long day.  The munchkin hasn't been sleeping past 6:30 since the end of daylight savings time.  I haven't had a quiet morning to myself in a week! So I was up early entertaining him while we made breakfast.

After a big pancake breakfast, and a house logistics meeting, we spent the rest of the day cleaning and organizing.  We have a ton of books.  Four adults who love books, one of whom was an English grad student accumulate a lot of stuff.   In my child-proofing paranoia, I've started to get kind of nervous about our towering overstuffed bookshelves so I asked my family to clear them out, give some books away, sell some, archive some, and only leave out a small fraction of what had been there.  It is a major project, but we are making really great progress. 

After all that hard work we needed a really hearty dinner... so I made us a nice comforting Shepard's pie.  Lentils instead of meat, frozen corn, mashed potatoes, sprinkled with a little nutritional yeast. 

 

comfort food- nom nom nom

 

munchkin approved. 

Finally home...

after a long day.

My grandmother is in the hospital, so for the second time this week I packed up the munchkin and drove about 2 hours to Rhode Island to visit. Michy went out with me on Monday and today I went out with just the munchkin after I was done in court for the day.  In addition to seeing my grandmother, my brother flew out from California to visit so it was a chance to see him and let the munchkin get some time with his uncle, who he hasn't seen since he was about 6 weeks old. It made for a long day, but it was great to get some time with my family.  

But of course the day would not have been complete without playing with my Vitamix some more! When I woke up this morning, I made almond milk and then took the almond pulp to make almond crackers in my dehydrator. They were in there all day, and when I got home about a half hour ago they had become delicious crunchy crackers- and since I used the dehydrator they still have all the healthy benefits of raw almond.  I followed the almond milk up with some kale, spinach, carrot, celery, and apple juice... sounds like it would taste like grass- but it was surprisingly tasty.

 

Almond soaking overnight

 

2 cups of almonds, 4 cups of water

 

strained through the nutbag that came with the Vitamix

 

almond pulp

 

Delicious almond milk

 

kale, spinach, carrot, celery, and apple juice

 

playing at Nana's house

 

blocks with his uncle

 

when we got home the crackers were done

 

nom nom nom 

Another week of adventure.

Its a little gloomy this morning.  Rainy and kinda chilly.  The munchkin and I are hanging out in the living room watching "Signing Time."

We've had another exciting week.  It feels like we are constantly on the go!

 

The local liquor store (a few blocks from our house) was visited by the Budweiser Clydesdales.  I took the munchkin to see the big horses.  It was a great chance to practice a higher back carry with our Mei Tai.  The munchkin liked being able to see over my shoulders.

 

They are beautiful animals.

 

Ian met up with us, and showed the munchkin the sign for Horse. 

 

The munchkin loved the horses. 

 

This weekend we headed down to spend the day in Mystic with Michy's parents.  Here is the munchkin checking out the Beluga whales.

 

We watched lunchtime for the penguins.

 

Then headed back to Grandpa and Grandma's boat. 

This weekend is shaping up to be just as exciting.  Because we are crazy, Laurel and I are doing the Warrior Dash! I am wicked excited... and a little terrified!

 

Party at the Co-op

Yesterday was the staff party for the River Valley Market, the natural foods co-op where Michelle works.  As Michy is the guru of all things HR, she headed the party committee.  It was a family/ friends friendly event so Ian, the munchkin, and I joined her to help set up and celebrate.  I mostly munchkin wrangled.

It was a fun night.  Good food, great music (from a band made up of co-op employees), and plenty of silly games.  Micah joined us once he was done with work and we ate and danced to the music.  The munchkin loved the music.  He was bouncing around and dancing all over the place. 

Micah and I took the munchkin home around 9pm and he slept great after all the partying.

 

The River Valley Market

Playing peek-a-boo under the picnic table

 

Watching everyone set up

 

Playing with a beach ball

 

The beach ball kept him entertained a good portion of the night.  He kicked it all around the parking lot.

Tonight is the 2nd Hartford X-treme Scramble.  Looking forward to another fun race with Laurel. 

 

Happy Birthday to me! A Pic-Heavy Post

This Sunday I turned 32, but its ok... in my mind I'm still 6.

To celebrate, Mich, Ian, Micah, Laurel, the munchkin and I went camping.  I really enjoy camping and we didn't go at all last summer (the baby was a bit to young to sleep in a tent.) It was kind of a last minute decision.  We had been bouncing some ideas back and forth for what to do for the weekend and hadn't really settled on anything so Monday I called around and tried to find us a good site.  We ended up at Woodford State Forest near Bennington, VT.

Friday we packed... and I will admit that I was having a fit of grumpy, cranky, anxiousness.  Then a look at the potential weather (rain, rain, thunder, rain, with a side of rain) and I started to think wanting to go camping was a stupid idea and I should just hide under the covers all weekend. But we left anyway and once we got going my mood lifted and by the time we made it to our site I was genuinely excited.

Friday night we set up camp then headed to North Bennington to try out a pizza shop that was gluten-free and vegan friendly. score! Marigold Kitchen was awesome. I had a pizza on the most amazing vegan gluten free crust with dayia mozzarella.

 

So good. I ate the whole thing by myself (well, the munchkin helped a little) This pizza was worth a two hour drive!

We headed back to the campground and just relaxed for the evening.  The munchkin did great in the tent.  I was able to get him to fall asleep and head out of the tent to play a little magic with Micah before we headed into the tent to sleep.  

Saturday, after a failed attempt at making coffee on the camp stove, we headed into Bennington to explore the town.  Bennington was a cute little town with a nice main street area for shopping.  Unfortunately I didn't notice the storefront for Earthy Crunchy Mama until Sunday and they were closed!  Oh well, it just gives me a reason to go back.  But we were able to stop at a great gaming store, the Gamer's Grotto.  It was huge, good selection and they even had some video gaming and plenty of space in the back to play.  In fact while we were there they were having a magic tournament.  My family bought be a copy of Ticket to Ride, which I have been wanting for awhile.  We had lunch out at a local brewery, Madison Brewing Company, which was very tough for me and my dietary restrictions. I love good beer. But they did make their own root beer which was pretty awesome. 

After lunch we stopped at Spice-n-Nice, a small natural foods store to pick up some food to cook for dinner.  It was a small store but they had a nice selection and even a small produce section so we were able to get something to satisfy everyone.

It was drizzling and rainy for most of the afternoon into the evening.  With the damp, it took a little while to get a fire going.  We relaxed, read, and chased the munchkin around.  He loved walking to the nearby swingset and waving at every car that passed by.   Micah and I ducked out for a little bit to find a geocache and pick up trashy magazines for Michy. 

Dinner was wonderful.  Baked potatoes, baked beans, hotdogs for the meat eaters, and vegan, gluten free grilled cheese for me and michy.  I did mine with Jack flavored daiya and a layer of laurel-made peach preserves.  It was so yummy. 

 

Yummy dinner

 

Michy and Laurel

 

My delicious grilled cheese!

After dinner, I got the baby to fall asleep in the tent and then made one of my favorite camping treats- bananas with melted chocolate and marshmallows.  Michy even found vegan marshmallows for me at the coop.  

 

They stuck candles in mine.

 

After dessert we played my new game. 

It was pouring by the end of the night, so we headed to bed and it rained steadily all night long.  By morning it was too wet to try and cook breakfast outside, so we packed up camp and headed into town for brunch.

We spent the rest of the day meandering our way back home.  We checked out Bennington Potters, the Bennington War Memorial, and the Cemetery where Robert Frost is buried.

 

Getting ready to pack up

 

The munchkin was having a blast stacking the creamers at brunch

 

Bennington Potters

 

Playing outside the pottery shop

 

The Bennignton War Memorial

 

Robert Frost

 

And our last stop... the scenic overlook shop on Rt 9 in Vt. 

It was a wonderful weekend and a great way to celebrate my birthday.  Next year I want to go camping for a whole week, two nights is just not enough time. 

Always on the go

It was a lovely weekend here in Western Mass.

Friday started out kinda dreary... and rainy days always make me want to cook.  So when I got out of bed I made vegan potato salad, vegan gluten free chocolate chip cookies, and a loaf of gluten free bread for our planned trip to Tanglewood.  Though with the rain, I was a little nervous that we wouldn't be able to go.

 

Micah! Cookies are not for Breakfast. 

 

 

Banana Pancakes are for Breakfast.

  

Munchkin approved

Luckily the rain cleared and we were able to make the trek out to Lenox for a wonderful picnic and evening of music.  Lawn seats on fridays are only $9 and kids are free.  $9 to see the Boston Symphony Orchestra!

Turned out to be a beautiful night

 

Picnics are serious business

Saturday Micah stayed home with the munchkin while Ian, Michy, Laurel and I went to a really cool workshop at EcoBuilding Bargains on making art out of recycled materials. Got lots of cool inspiration.   EcoBuilding Bargains is an awesome store that sells recycled home building materials.

Saturday afternoon was a meeting for Transcending Boundaries.  Only three months until the conference.

After the meeting we took the munchkin to check out a different playground the next town over.  It was a great playground.  There was a sandbox area, an area for school aged kids, and a preschool area.  The munchkin had a blast! He loved going on the slides.  He particularly enjoys climbing up them and then sliding down on his belly. I just love hearing his exclamations of pure joy.

Sunday I met up with a few of my mom friends to go swimming and then out for brunch with our little ones.  The munchkin is really starting to enjoy the water.  It is a lot of fun to watch him splash and giggle.  He still wants me right by his side, but he is getting more adventurous.  He also loves digging in the sand.

 

Before brunch we checked out a really cool toy store.  The munchkin was fascinated by the trains. 

Today has been less than productive.  I went out for a meeting this morning that no one bothered to tell me was cancelled. Oh well.  Then I got home to a pretty cranky baby who is finally taking a nap.

Off to get some stuff done while he sleeps.