This past weekend my sisters and I decided to have a 'sisters-only' weekend, and met in Machias Friday evening for two days packed full of, well - whatever we wanted to do! The first thing we did was go to the gym together, and Kelsey kicked our butts with some crazy cross-training activities, and lots of ab work. Thanks to her, it now hurts to laugh. Her response, "It's not my fault you have a WEAK CORE, Hobbit!" (keep it up, Kelsey - hobbits are crafty little buggers...)
What kind of sisters weekend would it be without starting the evening out at the local bar?
This is Kelsey's "game face"...
We couldn't go to the bar without inviting mom!
Car shot:
I'm not really sure what this was, but I needed to take a picture of it:
Crazy, wild, kung foo moves:
Bedtime!
The next day, we went snowshoeing at Cobscook Bay State Park. Gorgeous!
Our mom ended up joining us for most of our weekend events. She is loads of fun, so of course we loved having her along! Good times, good times...
I am extremely lucky to have Molly and Kelsey as sisters. My life wouldn't be the same without them, and it was so much fun to just spend a weekend hanging out without having to do anything, or be anywhere else! We have to do it more often.
I've always sort of wondered why 'slumber' parties earned that name. I mean, let's face it - there isn't much slumbering going on. There's lots of squealing, giggling, eating, running, board-game-playing excitement, but not a whole lot of sleeping. I remember slumber parties from my youth. Once, my friends and I managed to obtain a tube of chocolate chip cookie dough (you know, that pre-made stuff? i'm not even sure how this happened, because my mother never would have bought pre-made cookie dough!) and my friends and I ate practically the whole thing in one sitting. I remember telling them, 'Now - this contains raw eggs, so we are taking a RISK that we might contract salmonella poisoning. Are each of you willing to take that risk?' By the time my PSA was issued, they had each dug their spoons in. I was right behind them.
Another time, my friend Heather and I decided we could create our own secret language using nothing but crayola crayon colors. (the 120 ct. box, obviously) It made it somewhat interesting because by this time, Crayola had branched out and introduced colors such as 'macaroni & cheese', and of course - 'macaroni & cheese' couldn't MEAN macaroni & cheese, so naturally it would have to mean 'eggroll'. (some other interesting Crayola color names = 'fuzzy wuzzy brown', 'banana mania', & 'razzmatazz') My friends and I had many, many brilliant ideas such as this one.
But, back to Mikayla's party...
My biggest regret is that I didn't take more pictures! It was a bit of a whirlwind night, and add 'furance misfire' and 'blender mishap' to the list and taking pictures went right out the window. But, next time - I'll do better.
Some of my favorite quotes from the evening:
"I think we've had too much sugar!" (girl #1)
"We haven't even EATEN any sugar!" (girl #2)
"I'm allergic to THREE things - glitter, dresses and makeup" (now, that's my kind of girl!)
"Let's sing 'Sweet Clementine'!" (this was too good not to capture on video...)
What a great group of kids. We finished out the evening with brownie sundaes, they settled in spread out all over the living room in sleeping bags, and watched movies into the night. I went down a few times to check on them, but they were always just chatting or giggling when I came in. I fell asleep just after midnight, and I didn't hear another peep out of them until morning, when I woke up and immediately took pancake orders. Three of them put in orders for chocolate chip pancakes, and the fourth requested 'peanut butter pancakes with bananas', which I gladly tried. (They looked great! Good idea, Zoe!)
Parents started filtering in to pick them up around noontime, and quite honestly - I could have kept them another night! (I'm crazy, right?)
Maybe, it's because I had just as much fun as they did...
There was major excitement last NIGHT when I heard the news that UMaine had already cancelled for today on 'prediction' of a major snowstorm. I'm not sure this kind of foresight has ever happened before in the history of....time. Seriously. This might be the first time ever. I was so, so, SO thrilled to know that I could sleep in this morning AND miss a particularly dreadful all-morning work meeting! YAY. So far, this has been our day:
Getting our feet wet...
Filling up the wood box, of course...
Watching the snow come down...
Admiring (cursing) the icicles that have formed on the gutter...
And, hanging our wet clothes by the toasty fire to dry...
A highly exciting day so far. Just the way I like it. ;o)
I love food more than I love most things. I love fresh, vibrant flavors and crisp vegetables and whole grains. And, I LOVE quiche. It's really the perfect food. Grain (crust...MMmmm...), protein (eggs!), cheese & milk (dairy!) and all the veggies you can pack into that pie plate. It's just SO GOOD.
(get used to capitalization for emphasis, and lots and lots of parentheses. It's just my personality. SUPER IMPORTANT things look like that, and side conversations or comments happen right here) ---> ( in here! in here!)
Back to quiche --
The perfect food.
I know, I know. There are much healthier things, but - you really are getting quite a bang for your buck with a quiche. One could argue that the crust (boo hoo! it's sooooooo yummy) and all of that cheese aren't so good for you, but I say you could do a hell of a lot worse. So, embrace the quiche. Love the quiche. TELL ME you don't want to put this in your oven RIGHT NOW and eat the whole thing:
Regrettably, I didn't get a picture of this beauty after it came out of the oven. It immediately had to make it's way into my stomach, so - my apologies.
But, for those who are interested - you can make it yourself:
crust - I make crust out of a basic 1 c flour, 1/3 crisco (all natural shortening is available at the health food store and works great) and a couple Ts of ice cold water. blend flour & shortening with a pastry blender, add enough water to bind it all together. roll it out (put plenty of flour down on your surface!) and stick it in your pie plate.
the innards - 4 or 5 eggs (farm fresh MAKES a difference! yummmmmy), a cup (or so) of milk, some (less than a cup?) grated cheese, (swiss works well, but any cheese will do), and then -- a leek, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, a spoonful of pesto, red onion, broccoli, and whatever else you'd like!
It takes about 40 min. at a 350F oven to cook through. remove from the oven when the center isn't jiggly, and ENJOY!
MMMMMmmmmmmmmm...
A few months ago our computer crashed. It was sort of tragic. But, just before it bit the big one - by some miracle I backed up some of our old pictures on a thumb drive. I was sorting through the old pictures the other day looking for some pictures of our house in East Machias. In the process, I found these of Mikayla, and all I could think about was, 'Wow - where, where, where did the time go?'
So, I had to share...
I remember this trip. It was a long, long drive to upstate New York. We tied a bandana around the headphones to keep them in place on her head, and I'm pretty sure she listened to the Lion King soundtrack on repeat for 10 hours. For some reason, she was totally obsessed with pinching her cheek.
Our little explorer. She used to tell us that she wanted to be an 'entomologist' when she grew up. (a scientist who studies insects) This was a hike at Roque Bluffs State Park.
Not all smiles and giggles...I couldn't resist sharing this one!
Pre-K graduation...
The first tooth - gone!
With Auntie Molly, after her soccer game. Love the outfit. :o)
I'm knitting a pair of legwarmers. This is big news. The last time I knitted anything that required a matching mate, it was 2 years before the 2nd one was complete. I have bigger goals this time 'round. Stay tuned. But, for now - for your viewing pleasure:
New Year's Eve - the birthday of champions! Alex and I had a wonderfully relaxing day, but the best part was trying out our new snowshoes (purchased last year after the last snow melted) in back of the house. We geared up and decided to just head out back into the woods, and - we found a trail! It was absolutely perfect, and it was so nice to be outside on such a nice day.
