Date Day!

Saturday, Brad and I were blessed to have an entire date day (broken up into two parts so that I could come home and feed Aria at lunch time). My mom came up for the day and night so that we could have some quality time together. What a blessing! Once we were out and about, though, you kind of forget what to do with yourselves. At first, it feels like we should be "doing" something, not just sitting in this coffee shop. But, that's what we don't get to "do" enough of, just sit with each other without the distractions of children and work.

Since we were going to be spending the entire day out on the town, we had to think of some inexpensive activities to do. So, we started off by going to a Starbucks in Old Town (we had a gift card). I'd always wanted to go into this Starbucks because it looks kind of retro. It's on the very corner, with a corner door, of College and LaPorte. It was fun to sit, talk and watch the people go by.

After coffee, we headed to Whole Foods for a delicious lunch (we had a gift card for there too!). Their salad bar was amazing, making it so much fun to build our own salads. Also, I am not an olive eater, but their olive bar smelled unbelievable. I have to admit, I love Whole Foods. I don't shop there, but the fact that they are selling food...I respect that. Sorry, I was having a "Zoolander" moment. Anyway, back to the date. I really do love to walk around Whole Foods and maybe get a treat every once awhile. I just like the atmosphere.

Next, after a quick stop at home to feed Aria, we headed out for round 2 of our date! We shot out to the thrift shop to rummage through their treasures and pick a present out for each other (I know, it sounds cheap...which it was! That was the point.) Brad found some cute candle holders for me and for him, some CSU bandannas. From there, we headed up north to a second hand furniture shop. I am on the hunt for cute student desks to use in our basement for the kids. Though it was a nice shop, no luck in finding the desk I was looking for. It's amazing how much you can pack into a day when you don't have 3 little ones in tow.

Our date swung back around to Old Town where we perused some of the local shops, and stopped into Mary's Mountain Cookies for a big cookie. Yum! I was happy to see lots of people walking around town, it was fun. We stopped into The Old Firehouse Bookstore which was connected to Happy Lucky's Tea Shop. Brad bought some smoke flavored tea.

We still had a few hours left in our date and credit on our gift card, so we went back to Starbucks for another coffee and chat until we felt like it wasn't too early to eat dinner. It's not that we didn't love spending the whole day together, we really did, but it's hard to think of things to do when it's cold out and you don't want to spend a fortune. For dinner, we ate at Mexicali and split a delicious sweet pork burrito and creamy tortilla soup.

All in all, a fabulous day with a fabulous man! What a treat! And, my mom survived all three kids, colds, lack of naps, potty training and all. Way to go, mom!

The weekend wasn't over, yet, though. We were blessed to have more visitors on Sunday. Bill (Grampy) and Karen (Granny/MomPom) drove up for church, lunch and a visit. The kids loved seeing them and we always love to see them. Always so much to chat about and not enough time. What a terrific weekend!

Gifted Children

I'm not sure where Cadence's clothes went, but I guess it's easier to move and groove without the restrictions of clothing.

Here are our gifted children dancing to the "Remarkable Cows" song. Aria's watching in wonderment.

Here's a Cadence solo. I love the pan over to Finn, where he decides that taking pictures works better if you turn the camera around and take a picture of your eye. Yes, that's much better.

Belated V-Day

So I'm a little late, but Happy Valentine's Day! For the kids Sunday School lesson I had a very heart/love themed lesson. To go along with that, I made some heart-shaped English muffins. It was my first time making them, and they were quite easy and delicious. They took more time than just grabbing the store bought ones out of the fridge (which aren't heart shaped), but if I had the time it is actually cheaper to make my own. Anyway, the kids really liked them. I gave them (3 kids) a tupaware full of them and there were only 2 left! Yeah! Success!

My new Secret Sister is a sewer, so I made her this heart tape measure to go in her Valentine's package. Brad did the crocheted edge for me. I really should learn how to crochet. Perhaps, one day.

Aria is all about standing up, these days! She got her first tooth and she is pulling herself up on anything and everything. It's great! Hopefully, she'll learn to walk soon. She does many cute things. Brad and I agree, she is our silliest kid so far. But, one cute thing she does is, when she's crawling and really motivated to get to something, she tucks her head down (for better arrowdynamics) and bolts forward. She is pretty zippy! She is our little mop-head.

Is it wrong to love a skillet? Well, I do! I love my new cast-iron skillet. I really love my non-stick skillet, too, but that's not what I was cooking this meal in. I have to admit, I wasn't always so wild about a pan. In fact, Kevin always raved about cast-iron pans (he and Mimi even brought, or should I say lugged, one to cook breakfast in on our fabulous Glenwood Springs trip) and I didn't get it. Well, Kevin and Mimi, now I do! Even though cast-irons are super heavy, it is amazing how evenly they cook meat. And I love how you clean them, basically just wipe it clean. These "Tart Apple Porkchops" were sooo yummy. Oddly, my favorite part was the onions. They tasted so sweet and yummy. This was a weight watchers recipe, which don't always turn out as flavorful as they sound, but this was better than I expected. You should try it! The apples and pork were really good too. Even the kids ate them.:) I don't have the porkchops in these photos, I was just so happy about my cast-iron at that moment.

Recipe Highlight:

Tart Apple Pork by Winner's Circle, from Weight Watchers Publishing Group Course: light meals PointsPlus™ Value: 7 Servings: 4 Preparation Time: 10 min Cooking Time: 30 min Level of Difficulty: Easy Apples and fresh herbs complement the pork, giving it the moisture and flavor her husband wants. Ingredients 16 oz lean boneless pork chop, center-cut, trimmed of all visible fat 1 Tbsp rosemary, fresh, chopped 1 Tbsp thyme, fresh, fresh, chopped 1/2 tsp table salt 1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground 2 tsp canola oil 2 medium apple(s), Granny Smith, peeled, cored, and sliced 1 large onion(s), thinly sliced 2/3 cup(s) apple juice, unsweetened variety 2 Tbsp honey mustard Instructions Sprinkle the chops with the rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper. Heat 1 teaspoon of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chops and cook until browned and cooked through, 4–5 minutes on each side; transfer to a plate and cover to keep warm. Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon oil in the same skillet over medium heat. Add the apples and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and golden, about 8 minutes. Stir in the apple juice and honey mustard; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the sauce thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Return chops to pan and cook, turning once, to heat through, about 2 minutes. Yields 1 chop with 1⁄2 cup apple mixture per serving.

Sophie and Clara

Happy birthday, Sophie, Clara and Kelli! This is the month of birthdays for the Park family. We weren't able to make it to Clara and Kelli's birthday dinners, but we were with them in spirit. This past Saturday we went down to Denver to celebrate Sophie's 4th birthday. She is one popular girl. Cadence and Finn were so excited to go. Sophie's birthday is all Cadence has been talking about since we got her birthday party invitation in the mail, about a month ago. When the big day finally arrived, it didn't dissapoint. There was a face painting station, a bean bag toss, bowling, a balloon animal guy (oh yeah, that guy was Brad), delicious pizza and cake and a princess castle pinata (which had to finally be broken by one of the older, stronger boys).

Cadence was waiting the entire party to break open that pinata. Look at the determination in her face.

Granny painted Finn's face. He was trying to eat everyone and we were all running away from him so that he wouldn't get red face paint on our clothes. He thought it was fun.

I was looking for something to knit Sophie and Clara for their birthdays and I found these adorable dolls.

I didn't think they would really appreciate them, but Kelli sent me this picture of Sophie sleeping with hers. I'm so glad that she likes her. Now, I have to make one each for Cadence and Aria. Cadence wants hers all pink, the skin, clothes and hair. I don't think I can bring myself to do that, but I will incorporate as much pink as possible.

Let's Go Bowling

Did anyone catch the reference in this title? I will give you a prize if you know it!

We went bumper bowling this past weekend. It was pretty fun, though didn't hold their attention for even one game. Next time, we will just pay for one person to bowl and they can take turns. They only last for about half the frames anyway. Finn was more interested in the arcade racing game.

The bumpers were cool. They automatically came up when it was one of the kids turns to bowl and went down when it was my turn.

They had these ramps that the kids used to push their balls down the lane, since they couldn't push it with enough power on their own.

Cadence dressed in her finest bowling alley attire, feather boa and all. She was the winner, with a score of 95.

I was using the little kid balls, so I couldn't get a good grip. I was worried my fingers were going to get stuck. I would have been quite the embarrassment to my former bowling league teammates, the "Pinheads". I'm sure if I had my personalized bubblegum pink bowling ball and shoes, which I think are at my parent's house still, I would have bowled much better.:)

Aria was a great spectator! You can see Finn in the background, I think he is kissing his ball for luck. Very sanitary. We thoroughly hand sanitized when we got back in the car. Afterwards, we went out for a celebratory dinner to Applebees. I tried one of their Weight Watchers meals and it was pretty good. It is nice going out to eat and not use up all your daily points in one meal.