7K

Susan, Missy and I all ran the Get Lucky 7K on Saturday.  It was my first race with Team Ortho and with these girls.  I will have to say that it was an incredible experience.  Since this was my third race ever, it turned out to be the longest and most crowded course yet.  There were over 5000 people signed up for this race and the longest distance I had ever run was a 5K.  This race was so fun because everyone dressed up in St. Patrick's Day gear.  There were green tutu's, green Afro's, green shirts, socks, headbands, blinking lights, knee highs, kilts and so much more.  The atmosphere was buzzing with spirit and despite the freezing cold temperatures at the start everyone had a smile on their face.  This was also the first race I ran in which music was allowed.  Big.Difference.  Running a race where you have nothing to think about except the fried food booths that you are running past is infinitely more difficult than jamming out to some Dr. Dre, Nickleback and Lady Gaga.  I was running and singing and running and singing and 4K went by in the blink of an eye.  I will mention here that regardless of the huge green signs that marked the 4K, I still thought that it meant 4 miles and I started sprinting.  You can imagine how much of a dumb ass I felt like when the next sign wasn't "Get Lucky 7K Finish!" and instead it said "5K".  What.an.idiot.  So, I went back to normal pace and then shook my head at the irony of it all.  My body is trained to a 5K.  I can run 3.2 easy.  But, then I need to be done.  However, in this case I still had two more kilometers to go.  Arghhhhh!  I thought I had broken that body barrier with my 6 weeks of training for this race...I guess not.  The last two kilometers were still fun and I finished with a time of 39:15 which translates to roughly 9 minute miles.  Exactly the same pace as my previous two races.  I like the fact that I can add distance and still run just as fast the whole time.  I am feeling more confident now about tackling a half marathon.  I would  love to run Grandma's Half in the next year or two.  Hopefully I will still feel as confident come registration time :)

This is my first race medal.  Not only did you get a medal upon finishing this race, we got the black and green zip up hoodie that says "Get Lucky" on it and a free mug of Finnegan's at Kieran's Irish Pub.  We celebrated our amazing race at the bar sporting our green and gushing to each other about how awesome our run was!  I cannot wait to do this run again :)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Happy St. Patty's day from my three little leprechauns!

Not a fan of the time change...well, wait a minute

So, this whole daylight savings thing?  I think it stinks!  I mean really?  Instead of waking up at 7:30am I now have to get up at 7:30am(which used to be 6:30am which is waaaayyyyyy to early)...what a bunk deal.  Oh, and then top that off with trying to tell three kids that even though it feels like 7pm it really is now 8pm and you need to go to sleep now. Period.  The last three nights in our house have been rough.  I have struggled with sleep, Chadd has struggled and the kids have most definitely struggled with it.  It is 10.:05 and Chadd and I have literally argued with the kids for the past 2 1/2 hours to go to bed.  I think that they have finally fallen asleep.  Sheesh, lets hope we all get back on schedule soon...I am dying here!

On the flip side, how awesome is it that it is light out at dinner time????  I absolutely LOVE it! The mornings seem brighter and it just changes your whole outlook on the day.  Isn't it amazing how much better you feel with a bright start?  I have heard numerous people exclaim(as if this were the first time that it has ever happened)how amazing it is that it is light out for their commute home.  I am truly enjoying it.  It makes me hope for more days of sunshine, warmer weather, the scent of lilac's blooming and children playing outside.  Oh Spring, how I love you!  Now, HURRY UP!

Caboodle's

We have been so busy lately with all things dance related.  Extra practices, dad's/daughters dance rehearsal's, on stage rehearsal's, gatherings to bling our Studio 4 jackets, makeup lessons and bedazzling costumes galore.  If I never smell the pungent aroma of E6000 glue, it will be too soon. 

This is Avery's first year in competition.  There are many new experiences for her and so far she is really enjoying it.  One of the biggest things that I remember from my dance days was the prep work that goes into getting "stage" ready.  I had a gigantic caboodle that held all of my makeup, hair spray, safety pins and numerous other necessities for competition.  Since we were having our makeup lesson this Saturday, my friend Gretchen(who's daughter Sophia dances with Avery) and I decided to take the girls together to Target to get them their very own Caboodle.

It was so much fun picking them out, buying the makeup that needs to go inside of them along with a few extras that the girls had to have.  The makeup lesson went fabulous and my worries of how my 5 year old would fare wearing false eyelashes were put to rest when she saw her face all made up. 

Today, we stopped at Target to pick up some stuff to decorate Avery's caboodle.  You know, because plain pink just isn't cool enough :)  We got a few packets of scrap booking stickers and Avery went to town.

Bria was very envious, so I grabbed her little princess caboodle and let her go to town on it.  She had so much fun acting just like Avery and dolling up her very own "boodle."

And lets not forget about darling Bennett.  The boy who has grown up surrounded by women.  He comes rushing down the stairs holding his John Deere tool box and exclaims, "Mommy!  I have a boodle too! Can I bedazzle it?"  How can you say no to that?

Artichoke's

Recently, I was introduced to this fabulous vegetable known as the Artichoke. Yes, of course I had heard of an artichoke before. I had even eaten many artichoke hearts in dips or on pizza's. But, I had never ever bought a whole artichoke before until my neighbor Kristi got me turned on to the idea of actually trying to make one. I bought my first set of artichokes from the grocery store and decided to give making them a try. I read the internet for many ideas on how to prepare them, stuff them, dip them and eat them.  Armed with her personal experience and the wealth of information on the internet I gave it a whirl.  What I ended up with was a delicious side dish that my children and I adored.  I think it is great when my kids love something new and to me, the fact that they love an artichoke is even more fabulous!

I have made plenty of artichokes to date and continue to try to find new and exciting ways to eat them.  I make them at least twice a month and the kids devour them every time.  Our favorite way to make them is by stuffing them, boiling them and dipping the petals into drawn butter or olive oil.  I wanted to share my recipe with you in case any of you dare to venture outside of your "side dish box" and give an artichoke a try. 

4 medium artichokes
1 cup of bread crumbs
2-3 Tbsp minced garlic
1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese
1 lemon
Olive Oil for drizzling

Cut off the top inch and the bottom stem of your artichoke.  If your artichoke has pointy petals be careful that they do not prick you.  I use a kitchen shears to cut off the tips of all of the outside petals.  Wash the artichoke inside and out by gently separating the petals. 

Make the stuffing by combining the bread crumbs, garlic and parmesan cheese.  Use a spoon to stuff the artichoke by pulling out a petal and putting the bread crumb mixture inside.  I try to stuff each petal of the artichoke layer by layer. 

Rotate the artichoke around and around as you stuff, being sure to not miss any petals.  I put about a teaspoon full of mix into each petal.

Avery is officially the artichoke Queen in our house.  She loves to help me make them and she is just as enthusiastic about them as I am.

You can see in this picture that towards the center of the artichoke the leaves look more whitish/green.  I generally do not stuff these as you will discard them to get to the choke and then to the best part of all, the heart.

After they are all stuffed, I place them into boiling water on the stove.  I use a 4 quart stock pot with 1/4 cup of water and a lemon wedge.  Make sure that your water does not go higher than the bottom leaves of your artichoke otherwise you will get soggy stuffing...ewww!

I squeeze fresh lemon juice over the tops of each artichoke and drizzle them all over with olive oil. 

Place the top on your pot and reduce the heat to simmer for an hour.  Check your water level occasionally to be sure that there is still some in the pot.  You will know that the artichoke is done when you can put a fork into the bottom layer easily.

I serve the artichokes with drawn garlic butter.  To eat your artichoke, you will pull out a leaf and dip the bottom part of it(the part that was attached to the center)into the butter and then slide your teeth along the leaf essentially scraping off the stuffing and the very tip of the leaf.  There is not a lot of meat on an artichoke and at first it may seem futile.  Trust me, you will get the hang of it and if you are anything like me you will be addicted to them in no time.

After you have eaten all of the hearty leaves, you will get to some of the lighter colored leaves.  They will definitely have no meat and may have a purplish coloring to them.  Grab them as a whole, twist clockwise(this can be messy) and they should simply pull out exposing the hairy center known as the choke.  Use a spoon to scoop the hairy part off and you will now be at the very best part of the whole artichoke which is the heart.  I cut mine into quarters, dip into the butter and devour it. 

Voila!  That is it!  A delicious new side dish for everyone to try.  I know that this recipe may not be for everyone, so google artichokes and  trust me you will be surprised about all of the awesome information out there.  If you do try it, please let me know what you thought about all of it!  Happy stuffing!