The Reasons I Had Kids

October 11th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Life - (20 Comments)

Today the girls spent some time with Zak’s mom Kath while he and I ventured off to a couple of open houses to peruse homes for sale. It’s likely that we’re going to blow our suburban pop stand and move closer to the crunchy granola homeschooling action in the city – closer to Zak’s office too.

When we were reunited this afternoon we took a big family walk through the fields and woods behind Kath’s house. Miss Maxine rode in the Baby Hawk Mai Tei and I almost forgot that she always falls asleep in this carrier. Today was no exception.  Read more...

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A Foodie Day

October 3rd, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (12 Comments)

It’s been a foodie day in photos to say the least.

My mom and I stopped about midway during our 2 1/2 hour drive for lunch at a Greek restaurant.

Greek Food For Lunch

Quite possibly the best tasting Vegetable Souvlaki ever. I’m sure part of the reason it why was so delicious was due to the fact that I was positively starving by the time we sat down to eat!

Veggie Souvlaki

We got to our hotel at about 3:00 – thrilled with our view of the city from our room!

View From Hotel  Read more...

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Dessert For Dinner

September 26th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Parenting - (18 Comments)

Maxine and I have had a sweet little day together. We shopped, she tapped, I smiled, she talked, I listened. I’ve come to realize just how much Ava rules the roost here and poor little Maxagirl often doesn’t get to speak in complete sentences before she’s interrupted by her very intense older sister. It’s easy to see how birth order can play a role in your personality!

We ate lunch before we left to grocery shop to avoid any hungry impulse buys.

Saturday Lunch  Read more...

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The Marathons are Over

September 16th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Party Time - (26 Comments)

A whirlwind day yesterday with so much going on, thank you all for all the birthday wishes for my baby girl!

After Maxine opened her gifts from us in the morning I got started on her cake. I used a chocolate cake recipe I’ve used in the past.

Dark Chocolate Cake
2 c boiling water
1 c unsweetened cocoa powder
2 3/4 c flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c butter, softened
2 1/4 c white sugar
4 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract  Read more...

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It Was Ladies Night

August 30th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Late Night Craziness - (27 Comments)

Blog: And just where have you been, young lady?

Me: Um, err… I was out.

Blog: out? OUT!? Where exactly is OUT?

Me: Well, let me start at the beginning.

A long, long time ago, on a Sassy Saturday afternoon…

I ate a salad.

Saturday Salad

A salad filled with red leaf lettuce, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, sprouts, cucumbers and green peppers. It was a lovely salad indeed.

After lunch I packed my bags for an old fashioned, get out your dancing shoes, life before kids, girls night out and sleepover to boot.

Bags Packed  Read more...

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Question and Answer

August 15th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Late Night Craziness - (16 Comments)

What happens when you make juice but you take too long snapping pictures of it?

Green Juice Zak can't wait

It gets snatched.

What do you call a Chocolate Breakfast Cookie eaten at 11:30AM?

Chocolate Brunch Cookie

Chocolate Brunch Cookie.

What time to do you eat your curried chick pea sandwich and steamed veggies for lunch if you eat a Chocolate Brunch Cookie at 11:30AM?

Curried Chick Pea Sandwich Steamed Veggies

2:30PM.

What do you take out the door for a snack so you don’t grocery shop hungry and buy everything and anything that looks good?

Out the Door Snack

Walnuts and Craisins.  Read more...

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Treasure Hunts

August 2nd, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Party Time - (14 Comments)

Yesterday’s party started with a treasure hunt, or more accurately, we went letterboxing!

Letter boxing

We traveled around their neighborhood following clues to find our “treasure”, which contains a stamp and a stamp pad. You use the stamp in the box to stamp your letterboxing journal, and then you stamp your own personal stamp on the pad found in the box to show that you’ve been there, for others who find the box to see.

We were instructed to start at Clue 2. Our first stop was a community garden.

community garden

Stop #2, a tree stump in another community garden!  Read more...

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Solid Food Returns

July 24th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Lunch - (4 Comments)

I set out for a hot, humid, sunny, ass sweaty run shortly after 12:00. Someone cuff me in the head and remind me why heading out for a run smack dab in the middle of a hot summer day is not the brightest idea I’ve ever had.

It was HOT! And HUMID! And did I mention I was sweaty?

I couldn’t decide how far I was going to go. I knew I wanted today to be a longer run though. I thought about 8 miles. I thought about stopping at the house after 7 for a drink and a little fuel and going out for 3 more. But once I got back after 7 miles that was it. I was done. I ran a comfortable pace and it took me an hour exactly.  Read more...

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Life’s a Beach

July 22nd, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Dinner Time - (6 Comments)

My fruit and juice breakfast wore off by about 10:30, so I made a bowl of banana and chocolate oatbran before we headed out on today’s adventure.

choc_oatbran

Cooked on the stove with water and chocolate almond milk and cocoa powder. Topped with sliced banana, almond butter and coconut.

I threw a bunch of food into our lunch bag and off we went to meet some friends at the beach.

We played in the water.

ava_water

We played in the sand.

max_sand

I’m pretty sure taking a break for lunch was my idea.  Read more...

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I Will Never Make Banana Bread Again

June 28th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Breakfast - (26 Comments)

Never again will I look at overripe bananas and think “maybe I’ll make banana bread”.

Forget banana bread. Banana bread is stupid.  Banana Whip is where it’s at.

Here, let me prove it to you.

If you’ve got even 1 banana in your house, run to the kitchen right now.  (wait.  finish reading first.)  Do not pass Go.  Do not collect $200.

Peel and then slice into cut into 1/2 to 1 inch chunks.

Slicing Bananas to Make Banana Whip

(note that your bananas don’t have to be overripe, but the riper the banana, the sweeter your Banana Whip will be – thus a great way to put overripe bananas to good use.)  Read more...

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