Celebration

Ignore the previous few posts, which focus on "healthy eating".  THIS DAY WE CELEBRATE WITH ICE CREAM.  Got some really good news detailing the results of a certain PET scan, and darn it... we just had to celebrate with ice cream.  Because I love ice cream, even if ice cream does not love me these days.  I paid for it afterwards, but I didn't even care, because I'm just happy happy happy and I wanted to celebrate that with my children!!! 

Gourmet Chefs

MY BOYS made pork chops with miso butter, bok choy, jasmine rice, and marinated apple last night for dinner.  YES.   They are just good like that ;).  So, they may have had a little help from Blue Apron, which sent the recipe and all fresh ingredients right to our doorstep yesterday.  But they did do it!  Followed the step-by-step picture instructions, and made an absolutely FABULOUS meal!  And even my pickiest eater, Quinn, ate everything on his plate, which is an astounding miracle.  Blue Apron is definitely fun.  Pricey, but fun.  We may continue with it here and there, because it was a great activity for us, and let us try food that we probably would have never even thought of trying before (I still don't know what miso is, but I liked it!). 

Behold, my gourmet chefs!

Healthy Eating

I'm trying to cook healthier, so that our family eats healthier, with the outcome of hopefully BEING healthier.  Today's effort... viola!  Cilantro lime chicken and Mediterranean chicken!  Ready to be thrown in the crock on the next busy day, instead of stopping for fast food. 

We can do this, family!!

Twin Pi day

Today at school is "twin day".  Also, it's 3/14, which is "Pi" day.  Boys get extra credit for bringing in a pie for math class. 

It takes a WHOLE LOT LONGER to get ready in the morning, when boys have to agree with each other how they're going to dress.  They finally settled on black beanies (to cover up deliberate hair color differences), matching green family reunion t-shirts, matching "colbmations" sweatshirts, and black jeans.  WHEW that took forever to decide!  Thank goodness they don't dress the same every day!

Ice Skating Girls

Reagan has been dying to go ice-skating all winter long, but by the time we were finally able to make it, the Chassell rink had been de-iced.  No worries.  We still have a whole big frozen lake to skate on!  Reagan and a friend thoroughly enjoyed themselves out there!

Girl Time

Pretty pathetic when a 3 hour PET scan is the impetus for a "Girl's Getaway", but we mom's take what we can get!!  Renata was AWESOME and agreed to accompany me to the great metropolis of Minocqua, WI!  Five hours of chit-chat time in the car, (three hours in a waiting room watching HGTV), plus a visit to a cheese store, and a GREAT dinner out on the town!  THANK YOU, RENATA!!!  So glad you were able to come with me!!!  EVERYTHING is more fun with a friend!

The Pasty-Making Priest

What a blessing it is to count a priest as a friend!!!  Father Ben is just awesome.  He just is.  He asked if he could bring us some dinner.  Sure!  Who are we to pass up food, while Mom is laid up???  He was going to bring some pastys.  Great!  "How many will we need, do you think?"  Maybe one a piece, I said. And I'm not up to eating at the moment, so for the rest of you.  Maybe 5?  "OK", he texted.  OK.

Well, Father Ben does not do anything half way.  I had a hint that he wasn't merely "bringing over a few pastys" when he asked if I owned a pastry cutter.  Uhhhh... yes.  "I'll be over at 4:30 then!" 

His "few pastys" turned out to be a pasty-making extravaganza, done with his typical gusto.  Rob, Father and the kids made well over 32 pastys FROM SCRATCH.  HUGE pastys.  Venison... from the deer Father shot the day after Thanksgiving.  "I can't tell you if it's from the doe or the buck, but I can tell you it's good" he says.  They finally sat down to eat nearly four hours later, at what would normally be the kids' bedtime.  The whole family, minus Mom, got in on the act.  Reagan in particular has a very anti-onion bias, so Father specifically put her on onion cutting duty.  "To break her in and make her a true Yooper," he said.  And the kids found out that they love  rutabaga!  They kept sneaking it out of the mix!  "You realize that's been hanging out with raw venison in that bowl, right?" Father asked them.  "But we're not eating the raw meat!" the kids exclaimed.  "Just the veggies!"  They obviously haven't gotten to the microbiology part of science class yet in the 7th grade.  They will have guts of steel..... eventually.  Even Quinn, who usually eschews pastys in all forms, ate his readily (minus the crust for some reason.  Whatever.  He likes pie crust, so I don't know why he's so anti pasty crust).  And Reagan was totally fine eating Bambi.  She was even totally fine when Father explained that it wasn't butter going into that pie crust but lard.  "What's lard?" I heard her ask over FaceTime on the phone (so I could feel a part of it all from my bedroom).  "Pig fat" he said.  "EWWWWW.  GROSS." she said.  And then ate all of her pasty with gusto.

After Rob put the kids to bed, he and Father took a sauna outside.  Then after THAT... at 11:30 pm.... Father came back inside and called for me.  He had set our living room up with an altar, and was about to say his daily mass, which he normally did privately at home.  But since he was here, and since I wasn't able to go last Sunday, Mass at Casa Aho it was.  Rob was lector.  I was congregation, from a safe six feet away in the den.  We sang a capella.  And it was beautiful.  And sacred.  And intimate. 

Blessings.  We've got some. 

 Reagan's "I can't be around onions" face.

Those pastys are ENORMOUS!

Reagan and Daddy Fly In

Such a beautiful day, and such beautiful pictures