Muffin Tin Monday - Halloween

This week's theme is Halloween.  I'd hoped to be more creative for this, but Cort had a temp of 102* and was very unhappy when the time rolled around to make this lunch.  So I had to make it speedy.
Grapes with a witch pick, a "finger" roll, water, a pumpkin cookie (he wasn't allowed to eat that until after lunch), some guts spaghetti with a bat pick, and some roasted carrots and mushrooms with a pumpkin pick.

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Yes, We're Still Doing Bento!

I've been making bentos for Pierce twice a week now, for well over a month, but tend to forget to post pictures and/or blog about them.

The above bento is one of the ones we ordered special from Japan.  As Two Bears Farm, we had to have a bear bento.

Inside, I stuffed it with a smiley heart of rice with a panda full of soy for flavoring, 2 kiwi bears, baby corn and sugar snap peas.

The bottom tier had a bear egg, Annie's gummy bunnies, and skewers of olives and cheese.

This is another cute one we did in our pig bento box.  The top tier had grapes and raisins (forgot to take a pic) and the bottom tier had baby birds in a stir fry nest.  I got this idea from JDaniel4sMom, who had a link to http://www.parenting.com/ (which then had a whole list of fun bento ideas). 

Whenever I draw faces on food, it's with my food writers.  They make making food fun so much easier :-)

I'm In! More thoughts on NYC

I know.  I've know "I'm In" for a while, but when this came in the mail this week I still got excited.  Add that to the current issue of Runner's World magazine which is full of tidbits about the NYC marathon, and I'm jittery with excitement.  At times, I can't sleep at night just thinking about it.  21 days!

Today will be my last long run (and the coolest of all my runs so far - temps are finally feeling like fall).  The 20 miler.  Some might say the dreaded 20 miler.  But I try really hard not to think of it like that.  The night before, I make sure I have new podcasts on my Ipod and I load up my fuel belt with water, Gus (I prefer vanilla) and a few Luna moons (little gummy chews).  I make my pb+j which serves as breakfast before I head out, and I lay out my clothes.  In this way, I just get moving as soon as I get up and don't stop to think about what I'm about to do.  I just go.

Hopefully it'll go smoothly and then I'll be ready to start tapering for the big day. 

I'm a little nervous about injury - tapering can lead to lots of twinges and so forth.  I'm also worried about logistics - getting to the race line that morning and finding my start corral.  I know I can run the distance - I've done the training; it's just all the little details that get me anxious.

I'm also a little sad about leaving the boys.  Not that they won't be in excellent hands - oh I have no doubt about that whatsoever.  It's just that I've never left them overnight before, and I know how much I'll miss them.  But it's going to be fun.  Last time Paul and I had a vacation on our own was in April 2006 - and at that point I was 9 weeks pregnant with Pierce (which resulted in a not-so-great trip -- turns out morning sickness and taking a cruise aren't the best combination).   So I'd say we're overdue for a fun vacation!  And I just can't wait to see NYC by foot :-)

Memory Lane Friday - Halloween

 Memory Lane Friday is a weekly blog carnival where you can blog about your past memories and link up.  Some weeks have themes, some do not, but either way everyone is welcome!  This week's topic is Halloween, Part 1.  As you might guess, I really like Halloween :-)

I guess back in my infancy, parents didn't really dress up babies for Halloween.  Or if they did, they didn't waste film on the cuteness like they do today.  At any rate, I have no pictures of myself before about age 4 or 5 in Halloween costume.

So the earliest pic I have is my witch costume, which my mom made for me.  In addition to looking really green, my cheeks look really puffy, so I'm kind of wondering if I wasn't sick or something.  It was about this age that my mom made the coolest ghost cake for my class at school!  It had this delicious marshmallowy frosting, and the eyeballs were eggshells.  She had put something in the eggshells that she lit on fire, and it made the eyes glow.  I was fascinated by those eyes!  The second picture I am the dog to the left with my friend Erin in the unicorn costume.  I loved my dog costume, but I loved that unicorn costume more, so my mom made me a horse costume the following year.

My favorite memories of trick or treating are from when I was about 10 (sorry, no pics from this age either), because we lived in the best neighborhood ever for collecting candy, and I had fun kids to go door to door with - we would bring home pillowcases and pillowcases full of candy.  Then I would dump it out on the floor and organize it into little piles, depending on type of candy.  I guess Type A tendencies start at a tender age ;-)

This picture is from high school.  My barn had a Halloween costume contest one year.  Chico and I went as Robert E Lee and Traveler.  Yup, I spray painted his mane and tail with black - no worries, it washed out!

Since I have no baby pictures of myself in costume, I offer up last year's peas in pods cuteness.

Cort to the left, Reid to the right.

They won second place in a costume contest at the mall.

Not sure we'll be able to top that!

If you'd like to join in Memory Lane Friday, it's easy!  Grab the button from my side bar and add it to your post.  Then come back and add your URL to McKLinky.  Don't forget to go visit and comment on the other blogs!  Next week's topic is A Spooky Story.

Little Bear, Birthday Soup, and a Real Birthday

Today is Paul's birthday.  Happy birthday Paul! 

We decided to tie the event in with Little Bear, a book we truly enjoy.

One of the stories included in this chapter book is called Birthday Soup.

In Birthday Soup, Little Bear thinks his mother has forgotten his birthday.  He just can't find her anywhere!  Ever the industrious bear, he takes it upon himself to make soup for his friends Cat, Hen and Duck. 

Luckily for Little Bear, his mother hasn't forgotten at all, and she comes in to surprise Little Bear and his friends with a beautiful cake.

Pierce and I read the story, and then we started a cake for Daddy.  Well, cupcakes to be correct.  Brownie cupcakes.  Because Daddy loves chocolate.

While we waited for the brownies to bake, Pierce started working on birthday soup for his friends:  Bass, Tickle Toes Froggy, Baby Jaguar, and Ralph the Mouse. 

In addition to some pizza in the pot, birthday soup also seems to have included some celery, peaches, bread, bologna, and pineapple. 

Good thing I wasn't included in the samplers. 

It didn't take long for the cupcakes to come out, smelling all wonderfully chocolatey.

I frosted and Pierce did sprinkles. 

Only he kept trying to sneak and eat them.  I had to referee, otherwise Daddy wouldn't have had any cupcakes when he got home.

We wrapped a few presents too.

A fun way to take the events of our day, and connect them with some reading.

And a huge Happy Birthday to Daddy!

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Always Looking for Good Egg Recipes

We're always looking for good recipes that use up our eggs. 

I found this one off the Incredible Egg website, and it was a huge hit.

Not only is it easy and quick (as long as you have a food processor to do your shredding), but it's also healthy.

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 tsp. vegetable oil (we used olive oil)

1/4 cup water

2 tsp. instant chicken boullion

2 cups coarsely shredded carrots

2 cups frozen Western style hash brown potatoes

2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini

1 1/2 tsp dried dill weed

6 eggs

Saute onion in oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until tender, 3-5 minutes.  Add water and boullion; stir until boullion is dissolved.  Add carrots, potatoes, zucchini and dill; mix well.

Cook, covered, over medium heat until heated through, about 10 minutes.  Press 6 indentations into vegetable mixture w/ back of spoon.

Break and slip an egg into each indentation.  Cook, covered, over medium heat until whites are completely set and yolks begin to thicken but are not hard, 8-10 minutes.

As you can see, I did overcook my eggs a tad, but with babies involved it never hurts to cook them solid.

Served this with a side of turkey bacon.

A fun, economical new twist to breakfast for dinner!

Should I Tack Up My Horse for This? Rounding Up Chickens

As I have blogged before, our chickens are free range, but spend the night in a chicken tractor to protect them from coyotes and the like.  The chicken tractor is just a basic chicken coop that can move around the yard, allowing the chickens fresh ground each day.

Paul has been in the process of winterizing the chicken tractor, and during that process decided to move the entire thing more than just a few feet - but a good bit all the up a hill and across the yard.

Now this wouldn't be that big of a deal, but let's face it.  Chickens aren't exactly the brightest birds on the block.  Well, they couldn't figure out how to go to sleep in their home after it had been moved.  Instead, they rambled around in circles in the dusk, right where their chicken coop had been last.

This meant we had to round up the chickens ourselves.  Paul got the easiest two - Priscilla and Elvis.  He said we'd have to get the others together.  But I didn't think it would be so hard.

After all, they can't see all that well in the dusk.

I figured if I got their leader, it would really confuse them and make catching the others easier.

So I set off to catch Crockett.

There are some mean old roosters in the world, but luckily Crockett isn't one of them.

He's a little on the nervous side, and he still has that weak crow thing going on.

But at least he isn't territorial.

The key to catching a chicken is to move smoothly and confidently.  And do so quickly.

They really aren't hard to catch.  At least ours aren't. 

It didn't take me long to pin Crockett down.

Have you hugged your rooster today?

Off he went into the chicken tractor. 

After that, I rounded up the hens in similar manner, one by one.

Horace was the last one to let me catch her.  But even she didn't take much effort.

Hopefully they will figure out how to get to bed on their own now.

Unfortunately for us, we realized the error of our way at 4:45 am the next morning, when Crockett started crowing right under our open bedroom window.

Thinking the chicken tractor is going to have another relocation in its near future...

I'm linking up with WV Treasures' Show and Tail today.  Go HERE to participate!