Dear Blog,

Hi. How are you? I am fine.

That’s a big fat liiiiieeeee I ammmm insssssaaaaannnneeeee!!!

*ahem*

My Dearest Blog, I’m terribly sorry that I’ve been neglecting you in recent days – please know that I am here and still love you. We’ll be moving into a new house together in just a few days so please hold tight and know that I still love to run, eat healthy food, write crazy posts and return library books late. My daily insanity will return when real life insanity subsides – I promise.

So Blog, the very least I can do is fill you in on some of things I’ve been up to when I’m not packing, carrying all our worldly possessions out to the car in boxes or wiping cobwebs from the basement out of my eyebrows.

First, we’re still doing our homeschooling thing.

Yesterday we hit a park that just so happens to be right down the street from our house. This would be the same park where I ran trails this fall and found a big wad of cash on the ground. Remember that, Blog? Good times.

We had a lesson on gravity, potential energy, kinetic energy and selected a sacrifice to be an example and show the rest how a catapult works.

Another lie. Well, really – a joke. They just played. They’re kindergartners and preschoolers for crying out loud.

Maxine actually did pretty well at the start of our trail walk, but before long was cranky and into the sling she went. I considered signing her up to be the next catapult sacrifice but we moved on to other things before the sign up sheet came around to us.

Right after I took this picture she cried “Don’t take my picture! Did you take my picture??”

No honey, I definitely did not take your picture.

I’m up for mother of the year, did you hear?

Our trail walk ended with a little ice skating booting in the woods – fun for kids and adults a like.

As far as food goes, all you’ve been missing out on Blog is lots of cinnamon raisin Ezekiel toast with almond butter and bananas and giant salads too. When the going gets tough, the tough make a salad.

I did buy a green Kombucha today though.

A 10 day course of antibiotics (thank you infected tooth) is my excuse to spend $3.49 on a bottle of this stuff thanks to it’s probiotic magic.

I also like the Multi-Green variety because of all the B vitamins it’s got from the blue green algae and other sea shrubbery. Given my quasi-vegan lifestyle I like to believe drinking seaweed helps out with some essential B vitamins I am otherwise missing out on.

I should probably be taking a supplement but I hate supplements. I’d rather get it from food. I’m happily living in the dark and hoping my b12 stores are holding strong. What can I say, Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt. Or wherever the hell the Nile river is.

That’s right I am HOMESKOOLING ! I am totaly kwalified to teatch these kids.

I can’t forget about the vegan-minded man in my life either! I had a little one-on-one time with my boyfriend Brendan today too.

This Whole Food Energy Bar came from Vega and was one of many that was sent a while ago. It’s been in hanging out in my stash of the bars and I snagged it as I ran out the door today to make my 174th trip to the new house in the last 13 days.

Oh Brendan, you still rock. Thanks for everything you’ve taught me, I still think about your advice daily!

Sorry about the glare on your face, bro.

I do like these bars and they definitely do a good job of quelling hunger pangs on the run.

I’ve been eating a ton of oranges lately too (just one today though), much like the rest of the produce loving world. It is winter after all.

So Blog, that’s what’s been happening around here. We are slipping ever closer to the brink of insanity as our moving day continues to inch ever closer.

Wait, what do you mean Friday is CHRISTMAS?? All I’m thinking about is Saturday!

And to all my fellow blogs out there in blogland that I know and love – I miss you and will be around again soon.

Yours truly,
Alison

• Sweet Tooth Fairy
• Our Sunday Best
• Like a School Girl

For the last week or so I feel like I’ve been walking around with my head in the clouds. I barely recognize my life right now. I’m so distracted it’s almost like I’ve got an innocent little crush on my new house. Moving to the new house seems more real now as our official Moving Day draws ever closer and our whole life revolves new house excitement.

It’s funny because as giddy as I am about the new house, I still love the house we live in now. We’re not moving because we’re unhappy here; we’re moving from the burbs to the city to make our homeschooling lives easier.

Still, I can’t help but feel a little guilty as I walk through the rooms of my current house daydreaming about what life will be like in the new house.

Fortunately we had something pretty easy on the agenda for today. I don’t know that I’m worth much in the way of brain power right now.

We hit up The George Eastman House (of Eastman Kodak fame) to tour of their annual Sweet Creations Gingerbread house exhibit with some friends today.

The Sweet Creations exhibit is a collection of Gingerbread creations made by local people and groups around the area.

Let the drooling begin.

A Gingerbread House after my own heart.

Why am I suddenly in the mood for something with frosting?

Chocolate Covered Pretzels are my Achilles heel – just in case you ever wanted to attempt to take me down.

See that crooked “T” in the “MARKET” of “PUBLIC MARKET” written in gummy letter font? I snapped this photo just as I had finished swatting a certain three year old and her snaky little tongue off that T. Who needs a flu vaccine when you can just lick a gummy letter that 500 grubby little hands have surely touched?

Grubby Hands? Observe.

Sugar Buzz? We have lift off.

Someone even made a Gluten Free Gingerbread House!

Looks like I’m not the only one that’s got a warm and fuzzy feelings toward a sweet little house.

OK gang, it’s time to buzz off.

We’re outta here.

We’ve got a lunch date with the new house!

We hit up a bagel shop on the way from the Gingerbread exhibit which just so happened right in between the museum and our new house. (Have I mentioned how I excited I am about living in the city!?) I snagged a veggie bagel sandwich and then we all went back to new house to have lunch together.

Everything Bagels are my other Achilles heel – just in case I haven’t given away enough secrets tonight.

I only ended up eating half of the bagel along with the last of the leftover black bean and salsa soup and I took the other half home for a snack later.

After lunch we did a little ice breaking.

And had a little fun that we won’t be able to have once the furniture arrives next week.

For some of us though, the ice breaking activities were just a little too intense and we decided it was time to call it a day.

We returned home to find a fun package from FoodBuzz and Pace waiting on our doorstep! Two bottles of Pace Picante salsa for us to try and review.

The timing of this package couldn’t have been better given my mental frailty. Someone scribble meal planning on my list of my New Years Resolutions please? (Just put it right there underneath “Always return library books on time”.)

I cracked the jar of medium salsa to complete a very simple bean burrito dinner.

A whole wheat tortilla, spicy vegetarian refried beans, corn, black beans and Pace Picante salsa.

Salsa makes anything taste good. I’m glad I’ve still got a bunch left in the jar to do something a little more creative with at some point in the near future. I predict that I will no longer be feeling like a school girl with her head in the clouds once I get back to the realities of moving and packing tomorrow.

• Pastry Drills
• There’s Always a Silver Lining
• The Reasons I Had Kids

Guess who’s coming to our house for the first time tonight?

That would be the Tooth Fairy!

(You try and get a 5 year old to smile in such a way that she holds her lip out of the way! Go ahead! Just try!)

So yes, Ava lost her first tooth today! It came out just a half hour before we left for an OrKIDStra presentation of The Snowman this afternoon.

The Snowman by Raymond Briggs is a children’s book that was made into a short animated film. Like the book, the film is wordless – but has an orchestral score.

We got all dressed up for a kid friendly trip to the theater.

The Snowman was being shown on the big screen while the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra played the score live.

The movie (and book) are very sweet and we all enjoyed the entire performance – from listening to the orchestra play holiday music before the film began to the holiday sing along after the film was over.

Feeling pretty Christmas-y after our holiday outing, I decided to make some not-quite-raw, vegan, no-bake Gingerbread cookies. I was inspired by Cindy’s version of Averie’s Raw Vegan Gingerbread Cookies and got to work on them this evening.

No-Bake Vegan Gingerbread Cookies

1 cup raw cashews
6 medjool dates
3/4 c rolled oats
1/4 c ground flax seed + another 1/4 c ground flax seed, set aside
2 Tbsp agave nectar
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 Tbsp black strap molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger – to taste

My dates were REALLY hard, so I soaked them with the raw cashews in a bowl of water for about an hour. Once the dates softened up I added them along with the soaked cashews (which also softened up) to the food processor with the rest of the ingredients listed above. Averie’s original recipe didn’t call for molasses but Cindy used it and I loved that idea.

Black strap molasses has a pretty potent taste but I love that it’s such a good source of iron and calcium too.

After all the ingredients were thoroughly processed, I transferred the dough into a bowl for rolling into balls. In a separate bowl was the remaining 1/4 c of ground flax seed for dusting the cookie balls with, to help with the stickiness factor.

These cookies are perfectly sweet, and I love that they are vegan too. Although most of the ingredients I used are raw, rolled oats are not technically raw because oats are steamed before being packaged to keep them from going bad. I felt like these needs a little more “something” to them though and decided to use oats, therefore “No Bake” is the best I can do.

They are tasty and healthier than your typical butter and sugar filled holiday cookies. Make no mistake, I’ll still be eating my share of butter and sugar laced cookies this holiday season – but it’s nice having healthier treats around too. The molasses and ground ginger were such great flavors and have a very festive taste.

They’ll keep in the fridge for at least a week – although there’s no worry that ours will last nearly that long.

Now I’ve got to go see how much money the Tooth Fairy has in her wallet. Here’s hoping she’s got some small bills – I’m not sure how a No Bake Vegan Gingerbread Cookie might hold up under Ava’s pillow all night.

• Like a School Girl
• Dear Blog
• Choose Your Own Homeschooling Adventure

With an active day in store for us, I used my workout time this in morning to make some head way on packing and other turning-our-lives-upside-down prep work. I got my heart rate up a couple hours later during an outdoor homeschooling mid-morning adventure with 28 extra pounds strapped to my back.

She looks thrilled, no? Let’s let this picture be a little cranky pants foreshadowing.

We met up today with our friends for a hike through the woods and to build a shelter made with sticks.

There was stick collecting, but there was also a lot of running, jumping, balancing and playing too.

After our walk and some physical labor, it was time to bust into the sack of snacks.

Can you make all of that out in there? Just the essentials for surviving in nature.

Two Kashi granola bars for Thing 1 and Thing 2, a container holding Maxine’s spilled and then retrieved the Kashi Heart to Heart cereal, a buried orange, a PB&J Larabar, a random slice of cheese, some raw (obscured in the white dish) cashews, a cell phone, a small container of mashed curried chickpeas with carrots and onions, and Kashi crackers to go with it. (Sheesh – three various Kashi producs with me today? I should be buying stock in Kashi.)

My curried chick pea snack/lunch was practically camouflaged in the leaves! Where did my lunch go??

Like I was saying, just the essentials. Nothing more, nothing less.

Maxine’s whiny-ness increased exponentially when she was freed from the warmth of Mei Tai during our lunch break. She wouldn’t stop asking to go home, despite extra layers and the offer to split the dividends of my Kashi stock. She told me she had to speak with her stock broker first, so until then – no deal.

This was the last look I got of the shelter before heading back to our friend’s house to warm up the monkey on my back. I let my first born stay behind with the other kids and parents. Together they finished covering the shelter with more sticks and leaves.

Dinner was inspired by an awesome sandwich idea from Erica at Itzy’s Kitchen!

It began with sauteing a red pepper, red onion and canned artichoke hearts in a little bit of olive oil and just a splash of Good Seasons Italian Dressing.

Once the veggies were soft, I loaded Ezekiel sprouted grain buns with the veggie mix and topped it with a little Organic Valley mild cheddar cheese and popped it into the toaster oven to get all melty.

Veggie sammies for two!

One for Zak and one for Alison. Can you tell them apart?

Artichokes were such a great idea for a veggie sandwich! It was fast and easy, the artichokes had a great meaty texture. We both agreed these will be moved into regular meal rotation.

At least I get to keep all my Kashi stock earnings. I’m going to use it buy stock in artichokes! I suggest you do the same.

• Greetings From the South Pole
• Eating Out of Their Hands
• Two Lefts Don't Make a Right

Homeschooling Ice Skating started today.

If you decide to go, get your act in gear.
If you decide to stay home, stay in your pajamas.

OK! Let’s get our act in gear! Time to go ice skating!

If you decide to abandon your oldest and send her out by herself with blades strapped to her feet, be sure to take a picture of it.

*Click*

If you decide to stay behind with Strawberry No Shorts, Smirksalot and a lone yellow crock, find a dear soul to go fetch the stranded big one.

Hooray! The dear soul happens to teach ice skating lessons to wee ones! At a mere $1 a minute she will teach your child to march on the ice. Sold! 10 minutes please.

If you choose to go with the rest of the homeschoolers and take off your skates, leave the rink.
If you choose to beg and plead to stay and watch the Zamboni, stay and watch the Zamboni.

If you have an eggplant in your refrigerator, make eggplant parm for dinner tonight.
If you don’t have an eggplant in your refrigerator, choose something else.

If you made eggplant parm, bake it at 375 for about 30 minutes.

4 servings, 182 calories per serving.

If you have Ezekiel buns in your freezer, make an eggplant parm sandwich.
If you prefer pasta, make pasta.

If you like beets, steam them.
If you have a husband who doesn’t like beets, make him corn.

If you have 3 minutes until The Office comes on, click Publish.

• True or False
• Thanksgiving is Officially Over
• Sweet Tooth Fairy

It’s been one of those days.

What exactly does that sign mean you ask? No yelling.

Now don’t get me wrong, I try not to yell. But you might say that I’ve been known to raise my voice. Sometimes I yell more than or louder than I’d like to admit. But I promise that I DO TRY not to yell. Some days I’m more successful than others.

Today when I scolded Ava because she purposefully hit Maxine in the head with a hair brush, she ran off upstairs in tears and got to work on some signs while I got to work on lunch. She came back down a short while later and we both apologized for our less than stellar behavior. Then she got to work merrily hanging up her signs up all over the house. The living room, the kitchen, the dining room. I see a couple upstairs now too.

I enjoyed signs while I ate my homemade garlic hummus smeared on toasted sesame Ezekiel bread topped with salsa.

And another with my spinach banana smoothie.

I asked her, “What does ‘Dai Oim’ mean? Does that mean ‘DIE MOM’?!”

Fortunately, no, that’s not what it means. It just says “Please don’t yell at me.”

I also asked if she made any signs for herself, because she yells too. (Funny how they not only pick up on your good habits, but they pick up on ALL your habits.) She replied that no, it was my job to make those signs for her.

Alrighty then.

Kidding. Kidding! I said I was kidding!

This is either going to save us both years of therapy or we’ll be declaring bankruptcy due to outrageous mental hospital bills.

But onto the splash park!

Want to play Where’s Waldo Ava? (Her suit is blue and green!)

Apparently everybody and their mother had the same idea we did today. We didn’t stay long.

Afternoon snack unintentionally turned into an early dinner.

Fruit.

Fruit.

And oh yeah, more fruit.

I think “Turkish Apricots” is latin for “These are kind of brown but don’t be alarmed they still taste the same.”

Some corn on the cob a little later too.

In other news, our monarch caterpillar survived the night!

And much like a breastfed baby, we know he’s getting enough to eat because he’s pooping. A lot.

I’ll leave you tonight with this important message:

Dai Oim.

• True or False
• Sweet Tooth Fairy
• Like a School Girl

True or False? (Mouse over pictures for answers.)

T/F: Today’s lunch was consumed at the computer.

T/F: Greek yogurt and maple syrup make a great dessert.

T/F: I gave Maxine PB Cups today for no good reason.

Zak and Ava caught a catapitter caterpillar today.

Click here for a close up.

T/F: I invented this idea.

T/F: Grapes with seeds are cool.

T/F: Apples with cinnamon rock.

T/F: Ava picked 1000 green beans from our garden today.

T/F: I ate so many green beans before dinner, I had no room for any more vegetables.

These are “Z’s” stamped on these Newman’s Own Organic Chocolate Bars.

So? How’d ya do?

• Choose Your Own Homeschooling Adventure
• Can't You Read the Signs?
• When the Garmin Strikes Midnight