My new running shoes

Stress fracture of the 2nd metatarsal of my right foot.

Should be able to walk the Fargo 5K still, but the half marathon is not likely :-(

Injury

Jonathan wiped out on his bike last night.  It was the first major injury of the 2012 bicycle season.  He kept the tears in until he came inside.  There is a smaller version of this wound on his other elbow, and a miniscule abrasion on his knee.

Chopped, Round 2

Today's Chopped Challenge was Eric's meal. His secret ingredients that were randomly selected from the hat were hot dogs, carrots, and peas. Actually, he drew popcorn chicken instead of hot dogs, but Eric had just a bit of a meltdown last night when we drew ingredients. He really really wanted hot dogs. He was still crying about his terrible, horrible, no good, really bad day three hours later. I decided to let him trade, since the goal of the competition is to encourage an interest in cooking.

Eric chose to show case hot dogs in 2 ways. First, he made a typical hot dog on a bun, using Cloverdale reds. Eric topped his with relish, mustard, ketchup, and crushed tri-color tortilla chips. Next, he used Cloverdale Beef Dogs to make a hot dog salad. He sliced the dogs and stirred them up into a bed of torn Romaine with chopped apples, carrots, and peas. It was as tasty as it sounds.

 Despite the look on his face, Eric had a lot of fun cooking his meal.

Chopped

Megan thought it was delish

Eric was thrilled to participate.

 Jonathan ate his piece as well as Eric's

We have been discussing have a family "Chopped" competition for awhile.  Last night, we all listed 3 potential secret ingredients, threw them in a hat, and drew a few.  Jonathan's meal needed to include the secret ingredients of white bread, cake mix, and bananas.  After a bit of discussion, he decided to make a dessert of white whole grain toast with a schmear of funfetti cake mix dip, topped with sliced bananas.  He added a drizzle of chocolate syrup as a nice final touch.

Artichokes

I made artichokes today.  My Mom did it all the time when I was growing up.  We even had fancy plates for it.  I only bought 2 of them since they were $2.50 a piece.  Jonathan couldn't get enough of them.  Megan said 'no thank you'.  Eric said they were disgusting.

Is it Winter, or Summer?

Today we had our 2012 inuagural  running of the sprinklers.  According the the calendar, it is still Winter.  It was 79 degrees today.

St. Patrick's Day Party

Mary Kay hosted a St. Patrick's Day party this evening.  She served beef brisket, creamed cabbage, Irish soda bread, and other green and/or Irish type of foods.  Since yesterday was National Artichoke Heart day, I had some leftover angel hair pasta w/artichokes that I brought, and MK had some artichoke/spinach dip.  Her sister Kathy had all kinds of fun games for the kids, such as Hot Potato, a coin hunt, and a scavenger hunt. 

It was a little strange being outside in shorts and T-shirts in the middle of March.  Beautiful night.

Pinewood Derby 2012

Today was the much anticipated Pinewood Derby.   There was extra excitement for this year's derby since Megan and I each entered a car in the Outlaw Division.  All 4 our our cars had some sort of glitter in the decor.  Grandpa cut the car designs, and each kid painted their car by themselves.  Don took care of the wheels.
Eric got first in the Bear Den, and 3rd overall for the Pack.  Jonathan's car was closer to the bottom thatn the top, but he had fun cheering for his friends and brother.  Megan's car got 4th out of the 5 outlaw cars entered.  My car was the Outlaw champion!!!!  I won a Pizza Corner Pizza and 2L of Pepsi.

 Mom's, Jonathan's, Eric's, and Megan's cars

 Megan got the Best Roadster Design for her car

Jonathan's car was awarded the Sharpest Looking Car award

Eric's car was the overall winner for our family.  His reward is choosing where we go out for ice cream tomorrow.  He has picked McDonalds.  For the record, had I won the Family Race, I would have picked Cherry Berry.

Prom shopping

Amy, Tasha, and Macy came to stay with us this weekend.  Yesterday, we went shopping for a prom dress for Tasha.  Megan's inner fashionista was exposed.  The kid has prom dress radar.  I think she may have been more excited than Tasha was.  She wanted T to try on every pink dress she saw.  One store had sparkly and fancy shoes that put her over the edge with excitement. 
Tasha did find a great dress.  Megan was never far from Tasha's side the entire weekend.  They have bonded.

National Cereal Day

Mary Kay has started a fun little challenge to celebrate different foodie type stuff.  She sent me a list of the 'food holidays' there are in March.  Today is National Cereal Day.  Ironically, on my run today, I noticed a flag at half staff.  Is it in honor of National Cereal Day???  (actually the flags are half staff to honor a Congressman that died yesterday).

In celebration of National Cereal Day, we ate cereal for supper.  Corn Pops was the biggest hit, as the freshly opened box was near empty at the end of the meal.  Frosted Mini Wheats was the second favorite.  Cocoa Puffs 3rd.  The boys love reading the back of the boxes, especially all the jokes.   Later tonight I will make PB Cheerio bars.
I think this should be a monthly celebration, as I can serve cereal for supper without feeling guilty.  Minimal prep.  Minimal clean up.

Whitey's 40th bday

Uncle Whitey (that sounds better than Brother in Law Whitey, or even just plain old Whitey) turned 40 on Feb 17th.  We celebrated with Mexican food and Cosmic Bowling.  Megan was the winner on our lane.

Valentine's Day

I know, I know....Valentine's Day was 3 weeks ago.  I think this is the first time I have actually taken Valentine's pictures of the kids.  Eric made a Lego box.  Jonathan made a Wii.  Megan decorated a bag at pre-school.  For supper, I made heart shaped  and lip shaped personal pizzas, chocolate covered strawberries, and Love Potion #9.  Don sent Megan flowers to daycare like he did last year.  This time he go the credit for them, not the daycare staff that handed them to her.

 Eric just had a  Fun Dip, hence the blue smile

Not only was it Valentine's Day, it was also Schwann's Man day.  Megan had 2 Valentine's cards that she made for Terris.  She was so excited to give them to him.