Help up the Hill

This afternoon I left work early and headed home to keep a sledding date with Ava. Ava invited a couple of friends from the neighborhood to join us on the very best sledding hill in town - a long, long, mostly gently sloped hill adjacent to the Catholic church. We've had a ton of snow over the past couple of weeks and this is a popular sledding spot, so the snow was good and packed down. We cruised down that hill! Down and back up, down and back up.

Ava was using her little saucer sled at first, but after awhile hopped in the two seater I was using. While I watched from the top of the long, long hill Ava zipped all the way to the bottom. She got up and started trudging back up the hill. The sled was a bit unwieldy and I stood there watching her struggle. Then I started to struggle. Do I go help her? Isn't part of sledding hauling the sled back up the hill after the ride? I don't want to be the mom that always intervenes, rescues, she does need to learn to do things on her own. But she's six. (Geez Kate, overthink things much?)

So what did I do? I walked down the hill to help my daughter. Because as much as I want her to be an independent person I want to be there for her more. She greeted me with a wide smile, I picked up the back of the plastic sled, she held on to the front and we trudged up the hill together. She said 'thank you momma, this is the best day.' And I felt so glad to have lightened her load.

Ava with her her friends....

Home!

Our family near and far made it home for this holiday despite the record snows that coincided with everyone's travel plans. Christmas came and went so quickly, as it often does, but we had a lovely holiday. Our family's Christmas Eve tradition has become a menu of 'kicked up bar food' and a tasty cocktail. This year we polished off 10 pounds of chicken wings and most of a bottle of pear vodka as we relished the opportunity to be together.

Lane! Home from the Navy! The subject of much adoration from the two little girls....

Mack and Kazuko, part of the extended Walton family clan, also the subject of much adoration from the little girls!

My sisters Betsy and Annie - celebrating with us on Christmas Eve....

Amelia, tangled up in the Christmas lights.

Drop Whatever You Are Doing...

And make this...

The Best Macaroni and Cheese Ever!

I subbed Gouda for Gureyre, because we had some. I added some breadcrumb topping because who doesn't need more carbs? I made a small portion without the onions because the little ones have yet to appreciate the sweet yumminess of caramelized onions. Yum! Really. Make it. It is so good....

Smug, v 2

So I am feeling particularly resourceful right now... Knowing we have a busy week coming up, knowing it is the season for conserving resources I took to our deep freeze contemplating what to serve for dinner tomorrow night. (Tonight is a Thanksgiving redux thanks to some freezer shopping and John's creativity.)

Here's the recipe concocted from existing resources:

3/4 of a pound (or so) of Rigatoni's (cooked very, very al dente)

a couple of small tupperware containers of various tomatoes (whole, diced and a can of crushed)

half an onion

3 cloves of garlic

half a ball of fresh mozzarella

some leftover fresh basil, chopped

a dozen or so fully cooked meatballs labeled 10/17 (hopefully from this year - I am pretty sure they are)

Some parmesan cheese

A sprinkle of white wine vinegar (I made bolognese sauce a month or so ago and it called for 2T of white wine vinegar. I loved the tang it gave the sauce.)

I threw it all in a casserole dish, ready to pop in the oven when we get home from work tomorrow. I hope it is good!

30 and Balmy!

After several days of intense winter weather yesterday was actually kind of nice. Temperatures hovered in the 30's and the wind was quiet. Ava spent the entire afternoon outside with her friends - sledding, playing, making forts, throwing snow balls. She went to sleep like a ton of bricks at 7:30pm.

John took Amelia out to join in the fun and the squeal that went up from these girls when they were trying to hit him with snowballs could be heard 'round the neighborhood. With some help from John the kids finished their snowman. He's a beauty!

A big dose of the white stuff!

Tuesday into Wednesday dumped 14 inches of snow, coupled with high winds, forcing most of the state to simply stay put for a day or two. John and I left work early Tuesday (early out for Ava's school) worked from home Wednesday (no school for Ava) and ventured back out into the world Thursday (still no school for Ava, but she got a bonus home day with Grandma Jo). All the sudden it became difficult to get around - driving was treacherous, we had to pack boots, shoes, snow pants.... and it was cold, cold, cold. But there is something about these winter days that is the perfect setting for my home-body-ness.

Amelia - doing her part to shovel our deck. (She was outside for about 10 minutes. It took us longer to get her dressed.)

Ava making trails and forts in the huge drifts of snow in our backyard. You can see how deep the snow was - she is standing up tall in this picture.

The scene when Ava, Ava's friend Jessica and Amelia came back in the house from playing outside.

Frosty, red cheeked Ava!

College Grad!

At 3:50pm yesterday Meghan finished her last undergraduate class! She is nearly officially a college graduate - can you believe it? What an accomplishment!

This summer Meghan was IGOV Intern #5 in the Governor's office, working in the scheduling shop. She wasn't available during the time her class of interns was scheduled to get their pictures taken with the Governor - today she came to the staff holiday party for a little BBQ pork sandwich and a photo with the Governor and First Lady.

Isn't she gorgeous?!

Bonus pic - Meghan on the Brooklyn Bridge during her first trip to New York this Fall...

Fab.U.lous!

Tonight we had dinner with friends and Ava put together a special outfit for the occasion. Really, how fabulous is she?!

PS The hat is one I wear to and from the gym in crummy weather. I plucked it out of the clearance bin for $.99 like five years ago. How does she make it look so stinkin' cute?

The Holiday Kickoff Continues

Usually I think the best way to celebrate the holidays is one at a time. Functionally this means I typically like to make the very most of Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday, the meal I most look forward to) before we move on to Christmas. This holiday weekend the two began to blend together and I am just fine with that.

Thanksgiving morning Papa Ray and Grandma Jo came over bearing gifts for the girls. A purple Christmas tree for Amelia!!

And a pink one for Ava! They are beeeeauuutifulllll!

John prepped our Thanksgiving feast for two days - I got to make the cranberries and the dessert - John picked out the recipes for both. I am not complaining because our feast was magnificent. Inspired by Meghan, Lane and John's meal at Frontera Grill in Chicago we had mesquite smoked turkey breast with adobo, chipotle sweet potatoes, seared corn with Mexican herbs, mashed potatoes, cranberry/mango relish, 'traditional' gravy and hazelnut pumpkin pie. (Oh, and margaritas) Just to overkill a bit, John also roasted a whole turkey we didn't even carve on Thanksgiving day. Here's the shot of that bird all carved up - half now stashed in the freezer, the other half we've been eating ever since.

Tonight the Governor and Lt. Governor lit the Capitol Christmas tree. Guess what?! Santa was there! Ava was beside herself when Santa said he'd received her wish list and thank you note. (Our sweet girl didn't want to just send her wish list, she also wanted to be sure Santa knew she appreciated how hard he works for children) Ava is hoping for a Nintendo DS, a bubble gum machine and the 'Black Beauty' book in hard back. Oh, and a Zhu Zhu hamster she accidentally left off her list, so she may have to wait until next year even though Santa is magic and may know she really wants one.

Amelia was a bit suspicious of Santa, both thrilled and terrified. She wouldn't let him hold her, but she would take his candy!

The Holiday's Are Upon Us!

Well, I guess it's official. We have Chicken in a Biscuit crackers, easy cheese and egg nog in the house. The holiday's are here!

A visit from Grandma

Grandma Marilyn was here to visit!!! Oh were these girls ever thrilled to see her!

We crammed a lot into her brief visit including the transformation of our basement into a 'school,' some shopping in the East Village and a home screening of a 'Star Trek' movie. Here Grandma and Amelia help John take the outside leaves off the brussel sprouts. Amelia was actually quite a good helper on this task. Oh, and so was Grandma Marilyn!

Honey Creek

Our family had a very fun get away Saturday. My office had an outing (no work, just fun) at Honey Creek Resort, about an hour South of our house. The resort is owned by the state and very committed to preserving the environment around Lake Rathbun. The main attraction for the Moorlach girls was certainly the water park, but there are also hiking trails, lake activities and a beautiful golf course that would be very nice in the summer time.

We stayed in the hotel, but there are cabins for rent at very reasonable rates. We'll definitely head back when the weather warms up!

Amelia and dad, playing basketball....

Our happy little otter, Ava Jane!

All tuckered out from 'wimming!

Didn't we just do this?

As a matter of fact, we did... Last weekend I visited Howell's Pumpkin Patch (which will soon turn to Howell's Christmas Tree Farm) with the girls. Today the weather was beyond gorgeous, John is in Chicago visiting Lane, so I was looking for a fun outdoor activity to do with the girls. Howell's website says they close for pumpkin season on October 31st, but I gave them a call on the off chance they were open and they said they were!

Normally it costs $3.50 per child for the play area, as a bonus today they were not charging. Last weekend when we were out there I would guess there were 100 families (maybe more) today there were six. We brought Ava's friend Jessica with us and all three girls spent two hours having a ball with the run of the place.

Ava and Jessica atop the hay bales....

Amelia and Ava on the 'scooters'....

Playing in the hay...

Amelia is a very fast runner!

Among the dried flowers....

Understatement...

Today was Amelia's parent/teacher conference. Her very earnest teacher, Mary Ann, told me with a completely straight face, without a touch of irony, "Amelia does a very good job of using her words to express her likes and dislikes."

Blustery Insect Themed Beggar's Night

It was windy, dark and cold, which is fitting for Halloween, but not ideal for trick or treating. Last year the weather was gorgeous and we went through 10 pounds of candy. This year our last trick or treater rang our doorbell around 7:15pm and we have about 5 lbs of candy left to take into work on Monday.

Papa Ray joined us for dinner and the festivities last night and the ratio of 3 adults to 2 children was about what we needed to contain these girls' enthusiasm!

We made a quick stop to trick or treat at Grandma Jane's house...

Then John took the girls door to door in our neighborhood where they sprinted house to house gathering up the Halloween loot.

When they were done with the trick or treating portion of the evening Ava settled in front of the door to hand out candy....

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Guts

Here we are, on the eve of Beggar's Night, a phenomenon that has children trick or treating on Halloween eve instead of Halloween night. Supposedly it cuts down on vandalism. Taking it down to the wire, John and the girls carved our pumpkin in anticipation of the massive wave of children expected to descend on our porch for candy tomorrow night. Also taking it down to the wire, I bought Ava's costume (on clearance!) this afternoon at Target. Amelia, being the youngest, will be wearing a hand me down costume. But they will certainly be the cutest bee fairy (Ava) and ladybug (Amelia) anyone has ever seen.

A Jack - 0 - lantern in traditional form....

Scooping out the guts....

The guts...

Everyone in!

Our Jack-0-lantern. Especially love Amelia lurking in the background behind the storm door. (She 'doesn't like the rain.')

Punkins

It has been one of those weeks where we have no choice but to take it day by day. A week ago Sunday both girls spiked big fevers, coupled with some respiratory symptoms that lead me to believe they've both had the H1N1 virus. The tightly choreographed dance that is our lives became even more complicated, but with help from Grandma Jo we made it through the week. Amelia was feeling better and able to return to childcare on Thursday, Ava didn't really rally until Friday - fortunately this week was her Fall intercession so she didn't miss any school. Of course Friday John was laid low by a milder, but still difficult version of the virus that has kept him close to home all weekend.

To get the girls out of the house (give John a break) and some fresh air I headed off to the pumpkin farm this afternoon with Grandma Jo. We had a great time! The laundry is not done, but both girls are sound asleep before 8:00pm. Totally worth it!

What I think was the favorite activity at the pumpkin farm - little wheelie tricycle-like bikes without pedals. Amelia was ruthless.

Posing at the top of a very long climb...

Both girls loved the slide - it shoots you out like a rocket and frankly kind of hurts your butt (ahem, bottom). Amelia only let me hold her down the slide once - after that she was determined to do it on her own.

Ava at the bottom of the slide...

Queen of the hay bales....

Swinging with Grandma Jo....

A barn cat who likes Cheetos? Who would believe it?

Pulling her sister....

Missing Something?

She looks like a whole different kid to me...

Smug

I will freely admit I used to turn my nose up at leftovers. That was until we had a year with two kids in college, two kids in daycare. Necessity meant it was time to get over myself. In an attempt to better manage our grocery budget (one of the few variables in our budget) we have become much better about planning our meals and using our leftovers. While I grow weary of the depiction that the recession has brought us all back to basics I will confess to feeling smug when I stumble across an idea, a sale, a recipe that is tasty and satisfying and stretches a buck.

Last night both my girls woke overnight with high, high fevers and coughs. The internet diagnostician in me believes they probably have the H1N1 flu, although Ava seems to be hit harder than Amelia. I cleared my work calendar and stayed home with the girls (with help from Grandma Jo). John got a little hung up at the end of the day, so I ended up pulling dinner from the freezer. As I popped my head into the deep freeze I found Bean Soup and some heat and eat french bread. It was so delicious and I was reminded of the crock pot recipe that led to having two hearty servings of this soup in the freezer. (Of course I made noodles and peas for the girls. Ava slept through dinner. Amelia ate 4 bites.)

When I was living in Washington, DC, the House and Senate cafeteria served Senate Bean Soup everyday. I loved it, ate it at least once a week, even in the summer. This recipe actually captures that soup. I combined a couple of recipes (with adaptations) from a google search when I was craving the soup a month or two ago. Bonus? It's a crock pot recipe!

1 meaty ham bone

2 cups dried cannelini beans

7 cups of water

1 clove of garlic - minced

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (about half a lemon)

1 large onion, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon of honey (a good squeeze)

salt and pepper

Wash the beans. Throw everything in the crock pot and cook on low for a long, long time. (I put all this in the crock pot at 5:00am before I left for the gym, we ate around 6:00-6:15pm) Before serving, take the ham bone out, shred the meat off the bone (this will be easy peasy) and add it back to the soup. If you want to cut down on the cooking time, soak the beans overnight in water, drain, follow the recipe and cook on low for 8 hours in the crock pot. I ran the immersion blender through the soup really quick before we ate it, but I don't know that was totally necessary, but it thickened the soup up very nicely.

John and I ate this for a couple of dinners, then I froze the left overs. Tonight we ate the soup for dinner with heat and eat bread from the freezer and it was delish. Enough to make me feel a little smug.

Des Moines Marathon Relay

The IMT Des Moines marathon was today and they have a very fun opportunity for relay teams to participate. You put together a team of five people - the first four people run 5 miles, the last runs 6.2. The rest of the team is able to jump in at mile 25 and run the last 1.2 in to the finish if they want. We put together a relay team from the Governor's office late this summer and have had fun giving each other a hard time about our training program (or lack of) ever since.

Our team - 'IGOV Running' before the race.

The race itself is very fun. They set up relay transition areas at mile 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25, so we spent the morning driving all over the route shuttling team members into and off of the course. We really felt like we got to be a part of the action and enjoyed seeing the runners at the various stages - including a woman who ran the race 7! months! pregnant! (And by the way, beat our team time) I took the anchor leg (6.2 miles) not because I am fast (I was the slowest member of the team) but because I was the only one willing to cover the 6.2 mile distance in one pull. And I was the only girl on the team.

Here I am at mile 20, taking the handoff from Jamie, who ran the fourth leg...

And I'm off!

Bo and Jamie decided to hop back in at mile 25 so we could cross the finish line together. Our team posted a 4 hour and 17 minute time, just a little under 10 minute miles. I did the anchor 6.2 leg in 1 hour and 3 minutes plus a few seconds and had a ball crossing the finish line with Jamie and Bo.

I ran the race in awe of those who were covering the whole 26.2 mile distance. Just after mile 24 (4 miles in for me) was kind of a killer hill coming out of Gray's Lake park heading into downtown for the finish. I was kind of grousing to myself and then I looked around at the people who had been running for nearly 25 miles and I got over it. What an accomplishment for them! I'm glad I got to be a part of it...