Lunch making

It is no secret that I do not love making lunches.  Of course, I am down to five kids at home now, so it is not as big of a chore as in the days of making seven lunches. I just know how gross the school lunches are, and the kids are very appreciative of the lunches I made for them. So despite my negative attitude I go through the repetitive motions every school day to make five lunches.

I was talking to a friend of mine recently about this. My friend is an interesting person--very mystical and eastern-thinking. She told me that every time I use my hands to make lunches for the kids, I am sharing my energy and love with them, and it is transferred to them through the food, and the kids will feel that love. Sometimes she says some weird things, but she is usually right. She went on to tell me that when mothers use their hands to do everyday things for our kids, such as laundry or helping with homework, we are literally transmitting love through our hands to them.  Let's hear it for Chi!

Anyway, it got me thinking.  Does Noah realize that I have always squeeze mustard onto his sandwich in the shape of a heart? Do the kids know how much I love them because I make homemade chocolate frosting for their graham crackers? Sliced cucumbers and ranch, fruit snacks, pudding pack, applesauce, a sandwich, Capri Sun, and graham crackers with frosting. I don't do anything cute or fancy, but I came to realize that I was sending a lunchbox of love with them out the door each morning. 

But did my kids care? Do they have a clue? Savanna answered that for me quite unexpectedly a few weeks ago. She came home one day and said, "There is this one girl at lunch, and every time she opens her lunchbox, I can just tell that her mom doesn't love her." 

I asked what she meant. I didn't expect her answer. 

"Well, her mom fills it with ORGANIC this and ALL NATURAL that.  You just let us have good food. Her mom would never let her have graham crackers with frosting."

Girls Party 2013

Last weekend I escaped to sunny southern Utah for the annual Bradley girls party.  It did not disappoint.  I suppose I was too busy knitting and talking to take any of my own pictures, so I stole some from others.

The weekend is always filled with lots of good food, crafting, talking, knitting, and quilting.  It's pretty much my kind of party.

Two of my favorite quotes from the party this year:
"If it's cute and fun, I just buy it!"
"I didn't know I was going to make a quilt today."

Lindsey made the most delicious chocolate bowls filled with chocolate mousse.  Maybe the best dessert ever.  I mean, you get to eat the bowl.... how cool is that?  AND it's chocolate.  Genius.

 Crafting and chatting.

 Always a lot going on all over the house.

 One thing is for sure about the craft projects, is that they exponentially explode in quantity and complexity.  This family is very good as mass-producing a craft, that is for certain.  And if you need something knit, look no further.  We've got you covered.

I tried a new cookie recipe this year, Salted Caramel cookies

• 2½ cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, sliced
• 1¼ cup dark brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt
• 1 cup caramel squares, cut into ¼’s (or a bag of caramel chips if you can find them)
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• Coarse Sea salt

Instructions

1. In a medium sized bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, cream of tarter, cinnamon, and set aside.
2. To brown the butter, heat a medium saucepan to medium high heat. Add the sliced butter, whisking frequently. You will notice the butter starting to become frothy on the top and brown specks will start to form along the bottom. You have to watch it closely because the turn happens quickly and you don’t want it to burn. You will start to smell a nutty aroma and once it turns to a brown color, remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.
3. While the butter is cooling, cut the carmel squares into ¼’s.
4. In a stand mixer, combine the brown butter and brown sugar, and ½ cup granulated sugar. (The ¼ cup sugar will be used for rolling in the cookies). Mix until blended and smooth.
5. Beat in egg, yolk, vanilla and yogurt and mix until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients until combined.
6. Form the dough into a ball and cover with plastic. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or overnight.
7. Once you are ready to bake preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Measure about 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Flatten the ball and place 1-2 caramel squares inside (I suggest 3-4), wrap the cookie dough over the caramel and roll back into a ball. Make sure it is completely covered so that the caramel won’t stick to the pan.
8. Mix ¼ cup sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and roll each cookie in the mixture. Place cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt. (I used course sea salt)
9. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges turn lightly brown. The centers will be soft. Allow to cool for 2-3 minutes, and transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Monumental Marathon

We have returned from the great state of Indiana.  I was not necessarily excited to visit Indianapolis.  When I would tell people we were going to Indianapolis, they would say, "Why would you want to go there?"  I would answer, "That's a good question."  I would then explain that when we look for a marathon, we have 4 criteria, each met by the Monumental Marathon:
1) It must be flat
2) It must be near sea level
3) It must be on a Saturday
4) It must be  BIG race----thousands of runners.

We left our five kids at home in the charge of my 17-year-old son.  He insisted they didn't need a babysitter, and I figured between tracking his iphone and monitoring our home alarm system from my phone, I could keep pretty good tabs on where everybody was.   This picture shows me being a good stalker-mommy making sure the kids were where they were supposed to be.



We arrived on Wednesday afternoon, and Mark got busy putting germ-free barriers on everything in our hotel room.  He also wore a mask on the plane.  He had trained hard, and he didn't want any microorganisms wrecking his race for him.  I think if you wear a mask on a plane, that is the best way to get EVERYONE to stare at you.  I think if he had been naked, he wouldn't have attracted as much attention.

We flew into a pretty awesome storm in Indianapolis, but that didn't slow me down.  I was out walking the streets, and I was absolutely shocked to discover a beautiful, clean, awesome city.  There are historical monuments and statues EVERYWHERE.  The capitol building is smack dab in the center of 

downtown, too.  I loved walking the streets and getting to know the city a little bit.

Mark's brother Stephen met up with us the next day and had the hotel room next door.  It is always fun to travel with Stephen, and we were so glad that he had decided to come run the race as well.  The three of us went out to see part of the city so that I could show them some of the cool monuments I had discovered.  This one in the very center of town is huge!  Fountains, statues, a very tall tower, and lots of steps to climb. 

Mark and Stephen mostly rested their legs in the hotel room while I explored the city and brought back lunch and dinner for them.

In my exploration,  I found this statue of young Abe Lincoln, and I fell in love with it.  It represents the age that Abe would have been when his family moved from the back-woods of Kentucky to the back-woods of Indiana.  Bare feet and a book in his hand.  I love Abraham Lincoln, and I wished so much that I could find a miniature statue of this to bring home with me.

 Friday night was the traditional pinning-of-the-bibs photo op.  We got all dressed up to race, and I pinned the bibs on (which is my official job every time).  We decided to go to the canal on the backside of our hotel for the pictures.

 Race morning came, and we were up at 5:45 to eat our breakfast and get moving.  The race began at 8:00, and it was a very cold morning.  Luckily, our hotel was just a block from the starting line, so we stayed in our nice warm hotel room until it was just time to head to the starting line.

I loved seeing 13.1 miles of the city.  It was beautiful, and the time actually went by quickly.  Miles 4-7 are usually hard for me, because I get bored, and there is still so much longer to go.  But I ended up chatting with a guy for those miles until he split off for the full marathon, and it made the time go so quickly.  The whole pack around us was amazed when I told them I had 7 kids and had gained and lost 350 pounds over all those pregnancies.  After mile 8, time just whizzed by, and before I knew it, I was in front of my hotel with 1/2 mile to go.  I kicked it up and sprinted to the finish line.  I guess that means I saved a bit too much for the end, but I ran 2:08:36, and I was happy.  I hurried back to our hotel and got the camera and some warm clothes on, and then headed back to the finish line to get pictures of Mark and Stephen.

Mark ran the best race of his life.  I was so happy to see him come down the road with a big smile on  his face and a kick in his run.  He felt great, and was so happy with his 3:03:28.  That's a 7-minute-mile pace!  He didn't even see me there with the camera, but he posed for me anyway.

 Stephen came down the road about 20 minutes later with a smile on his face.  He had also met his goal of qualifying for Boston again in 2015.  He was happy, but he was hurting.  He was 3:23:37.

 It took me a while to find these brothers at the end.  This is a very big race, and all the finishers were wrapped in emergency blankets and had the same hats on.  I found them, and they were both so happy.  They will be running Boston together in 2015!