It's like nothing else the way these boys greet their dad when he comes home. There is usually a chanted string of " daddy!, daddy!, daddy! Followed by one or both boys leaping into his arms, or wrapping their arms around his legs.
One time Roman jumped head first through the open car window onto Aaron's lap before he could even get parked in the driveway.
Last nite was like any other, they were just generally gleeful and ready to be carried and hugged, I manged to get this quick pic to capture the love.
Sometimes I'm jealous that Aaron gets that kind of greeting at the end of the day, but mostly I am in awe of the bond between the boys and their super patient, super strong and always loving dad.
My path on Meatless Monday is generally an easy one. Even when on the go I can find the non meat option and enjoy it just the same. Dinners are usually large mixed green salads, with nuts, hard boiled eggs, cheese or falafel on top. Frozen spinach raviolis work great too. Barley is my new favorite grain and can be stuffed into a bell peppers or put in a chili, it's hardy, freezes well and is low cost. But on this meatless Monday I met the devil, he was offering fresh samples of maple sugar bacon while I was trying to do my shopping at Costco today. And I totally caved, didn't even think twice about going back for a second and darn it, maybe even a 3rd bite. Doh.! I didn't cave in enough to actually buy the giant $12 package of sweet, fatty deliciousness cuz I worried I'd go home, sizzle it up and devour it in one sitting;) That said, I had also made a conscious decision on this meatless monday trip to Costco that I would buy no red meat. Our freezer shelves are close to bare and usually I'd restock on ground beef, lamb chops, and maybe splurge on a couple of rib eyes. But in an effort to be both more health and budget concious I decided our biggest protein purchases would be lean boneless skinless chicken and wild sockeye salmon. Can't say the bill at checkout was shockingly lower than average, but maybe our waist line and arteries will thank us later.
I recently took a long weekend away from the family to visit a near and dear old friend from college. The kind of friend that knew me probably before I "knew" myself. When I met her back in the day ( late 90's) at Dominican University we were fellow English major- library clerk- dorm living -marlboro lite smoking- perpetual daters. Since I came on the University scene as a late blooming transfer student she warned me about certain teachers, the goofy number taking lady at Calerega dining hall and that the boy I was hanging out with before poetry class in front of the library was kinda strange.
Later she became a catalyst for my move out to Colorado, my bridesmaid, my magazine fairy and later, and later due to distance in homes, jobs, husbands etc, we relegated the friendship to e-mail penpal-ship.
She moved to another planet called Crestone just as I was too moving to another planet called Longmont. She has open space, unobstructed majestic mountain views, elk that wander freely, and UPS man that know her birthday and a custom built art studio. I have Super Target ;)
This is her studio.She is a sculptor, I have one of her "early" pieces, worth more at this point than the TV it resides above I'm sure. To see more of her work all shined up and pretty go here.
After a 4+ hour solo road trip from my planet to hers, I could feel myself unwind a off as I turned onto Road T, the main, uhh only road into Crestone from HWY 17.
Crestone's playground is the Sanddunes National Park, and the Sangre de Cristo mountains. It's an hour jaunt away from Alamosa and a 2 hour jaunt to Taos, NM. My friend knows Taos like the back of her hand so we decided a girlfriends getaway was in order, complete with spa treatments, a foodie dinner at Byzantium and loads of chic- boutique shopping and gallery browsing.
On the way to Taos from Crestone you pass over the Royal Gorge "Don't look down" unless you are freaked out by drop offs -like me- then by all means confront your fears and take a peak!!!!
We got a bit of the stink eye at a fancy boutique because I was childishly trying on a $150 fake fur cat head hat, earmuff-scarf thing and I made Deana take my picture so I could compare and contrast it to another image of me wearing a similar head dress. I immediately sent this pic to pal Melanie cuz I know she'd think it was as hilarious and Deana and I did.
We walked, talked, and reminisced & rested. The drive was quick ( as quick as my husband hybrid roller skate woudl take us) , and a bit surreal and inspiring.
The Earthship community just outside Taos was a highlight, and not unlike stumbling across a sneak peak of what the earth will look like by remaining inhabitants in 100 years.
I'd definitely like to return to New Mexico by way of Crestone again, so much more still to absorb!
Thank you dear friend Deana for taking on me on such a great trip. I'm glad we were "let" free. We've come a long way since the Fanjeaux breezeway!
I just found out my sons school district does "Meatless Mondays" within their school lunch program!
Hey so do I! I mean, sort of. I started meatless Mondays then the whole bit of... well there are left overs from a meat dinner in the fridge, or oops I forgot to plan ahead.. and there is burger already defrosted so I 'll make it anyways took over.
Now I have a renewed interest and inspiration in going meat free at least once, if not several times a week, if an entire school district can pull it off, why can't I?
Tonight will be: pita sandwiches with pre-made falafel and Tiziki sauce, hummus and sliced veggies and a simple greek-ish salad.
And the best part is: it's all in the fridge and ready to go, easy peasy mac-n-cheesy!
For lack of a more original opening, I'd like to just say " wow, the summer sure did fly by! "Four months since my last my post, shame on me. Gee what could have been keeping me so busy, so anti-writing, so non-reflective. Let's do a quick review since my last post on Romans 5th birthday. After his birthday we quickly descended into:
End of school year festivities, as co-room parent for Romans pre-k class there were gifts for teachers to prepare ( photo scrapbooks from the class and I got them something hand made by my artistic cousin).
I tackled the task of lining up summer play dates, camps, swim lessons and activities with Alpha Mom intensity.
Aaron and I ran the Bolder Boulder ( my 3rd time, his second) I got a personal best time of 66 mins.
We talked a lot about buying bikes, but never got around to it.
I took the boys back to CA for a week.
Developed a Mad Men obsession and got all caught up to current season.
Celebrated my 7th wedding anniversary with some pampering at the Spa at St. Julien
I worked out, I played with the boys, I bought farm fresh eggs, made mojitos, tequila sunrises, pina coladas, lemonade from scratch and sat on my back porch watching 3 rows of mammoth sunflowers sprout.
We did not do a lick of camping, or boating, or any major home or landscape work. But with the smattering of day trips, hiking, amusement parks, pool time, BBQ's and of course gardening and tropical drink-drinkin', it sure felt like summer.
The 2 boys are playing together more and more, their laughter is infectious, their messes are unfathomable at times, and their energy unending, I kept busy keeping them busy, entertained, enriched. We indulged in the occasional snow cone, and took many " time outs " both them and me, but all in all " Camp mom" was good, I'd take my camp again if I were a kid.
Till next time, which wont be 4 months from now, I hope!
Get out the kleenex cause my 1st baby boy just turned 5.
He once looked like this: Roman @ 1 day old.
Now he looks like this:
Roman @ 5 years old, he has been wanting to be 5 since he was 3
He has been called: button, kiddo, baby boy, Ren, and Renny, Rentastic, ( he was not able to say his name correctly at first he called himself " Ren" and it stuck ) I also call him from time to time, bubba scoob, Romonster, Ro-Ro, love.
A lot has happened to me as an individual, a mother, our family has grown, have had the usual and not so usual up and downs, risks have been taken, crisis averted, a smattering of hospital visits and some long, dark tearful nights. But the last 5 years of Romans life have been amazingly fun, gleeful, challenging in ways I could have never imagined...and yes he makes me crazy, he's turnign into a little boy, but he still puckers his lips to kiss me, wants to be "snuggled down" and read to and I think he still thinks I'm pretty neat sometimes, when I am not being " always mean and never nice "
I'd like to take a brief pause before the next 5 years fly by to highlight some Roman-isms I compiled in a journal of the last couple of years.
Starting with:
" You are my best heart "
" Mommy way strong "
" Brownie and poop Rhyme?!"
"That cloud looks like an alligator " ( His first cloud picture siting)
"This piece of ice looks like a dog bone."
"I think you ate the baby that is why it is in your belly".
A conversation that took place one morning when he needed me to fix something went like this: I said, " Mommies can fix almost anything, except broken hearts" he stepped back, looked at me and said very assertively "Hearts can't break mom!" I said, " no, I guess not when you are 3 years old" he replied, big eyed, all five fingers raised, "Not when I am 5 either mom!. "
" One day when I grow up to be a MR. Daddy, I can ride a motorcycle and have a squirt gun. "
" I had a weird sleep last night"
" I see the tooth fairy, I see a shooting star!"
after the first time getting an ice cream from the neighborhood icecream truck he proclaimed " I didn't know they( Icecream trucks) existed in this world "
" I have a wishing finger"
" Where do wishes go?"
when asked where or from who he learned something he might reply "My brain told me"
" Mommy, the baby is ALWAYS looking at me!" ( Ryan was about 4 months old, we were in the car)
" I didn't know the baby would love me" ( One day while gleefully playing together, it dawned on Roman that Ryan really liked him ;)
Started calling Ryan "silly rainbow"
Up until just recently he used to tell us he loved us and that we were his "best friend, all the time, anytime the mood struck him, even if that meant yelling it from on top a play structure. I sure miss that.
So when I need ingredients to put in the “one day to be famous” said granola I go to Simply Bulk Market in downtown Longmont, CO.
I like this place, even though it’s on Main St and I drive there dreading the whole parallel parking chore. I was completely enamored with this store on first visit when greeted with a stack of wicker baskets in which to place my purchases in. The tagging and bagging system is clean and simple, you can weigh your bags to in case you are like me and have no idea what a pound of slivered almonds looks and feels like. You will find just what you need, or atleast I found what I needed. I shouldn't make promises. But this market has promise as being as useful as a trip to costco.
I did a lot of browsing on my first visit and I took note of all the staples one could pick up such as coffee, soaps, a variety of flours and beans, and plenty more you'd never think you needed, but now can not live without, like chocolate covered espresso beans, hand made soap and spicy dried mangoes (to name just a few of the goodies that now fill my cupboards). Ok, the scoop of chocolate covered espresso beans never made it home to the cupboard, but they were delicious as a car snack. Also, I finally stumbled upon dried blueberries, and man, do they sure make a tasty addition to my granola.
I’d love to see more recipes and products ideas scattered around- maybe a recipe rack or wall of product use ideas… maybe a workshop on bean soup making or something. I don’t know just throwing it out there.
I overhead the proprietor say his highest expense after rent is credit card processing- so use cash/ check when you can – help a local business out!
