Banana Crumble Muffin Recipe

Here it is for those who asked! Click here: Awesome banana muffins

I added a 1/2 tsp vanilla and substituted 1/3 cup of olive oil for the butter to lose the trans fats : )

Go Bananas!

Remember these? There were over 150 bananas in that lovely loot. A few more than our normal 24 per week quota. : )

And since bananas go bad pretty quickly, we had to get busy. We chopped up half of them and frooze them for smoothies later on. And then I started baking. The Banana crumble muffins I made were just heavenly. Ended up making them twice last week.

Then we discovered an easy and A-M-A-Z-I-N-G recipe for bananas foster. HOLY BANANA-RONI! Had to make that twice too.

After the bananas foster I thought maybe I should try something a little healthier. I found a weightwatchers recipe for Banana Oat bread. Very hearty and quite filling.

On Sunday morning the girls helped me make banana pancakes. We topped them with the most divine homemade banana syrup. Taste bud nirvana.

Strawberry/banana and chocolate/banana smoothies were also a big hit for breakfast during our banana week.

And of course, whenever the girls wanted a snack, they still asked for plain old bananas. : )

People thought we were crazy taking home all those bananas but my Dad always taught me, "Waste not, want not. " Dad, I hope this makes you proud : )

"Collapse Complete"

That was the headline of the Sports Section Saturday morning after the Boston Bruins sealed their place in the hall of shame as only one in 3 teams EVER to lose a series after being up 3-0 after game 3. I don't know how they choked so bad but we were there to witness the final meltdown in game 7.

The house was packed, the fans were on fire. I have never been in a more fiesty and pumped up crowd. They wanted to send the Flyers packing and they were thirsty for blood!

At the end of period 1 the Bruins were up 3-0! The excitement in the arena was electric.

We were dutifully playing our part as fan wanna-bes, sporting Bruins t-shirts and waving our rally towels with hardcore devotion.

But things went sour very quickly. Philly scored twice and the Bruins fans started getting antsy. When a third goal was scored tying the game, a fight broke out in the stands next to us with a Boston and a Philly Fan slugging it out. The whole arena turned to watch the fight and then began chanting "LET HIM STAY! LET HIM STAY!" when the security guys were escorting the Boston fan out.

The fans rallied around their team for one last push. People were up on their feet, screaming, stomping, cheering those Bruins on to end. But Philly scored again and somehow the Bruins went from this score:

to the most pathetic and dismal loss I've ever witnessed. When the final buzzer went off everyone started booing and throwing their towels on the ice. People were throwing their beer too which wasn't cool when it started raining down on us. As we were leaving I heard more potty language than I have in my entire life. On the way out we saw grown men close to tears yelling things like,

"41 games of my *bleeping* time and *bleepity bleep* money! What a waste!"

"I'm Humiliated! *bleeping* HUMILIATED!"

It was sad.

Guess that's the benefit of just being a wanna-be fan. : ) Despite the doom and gloom around us were still in high spirits. We had a babysitter and we were in Boston on a Friday night! Heck yeah!

We hailed a pedicab (I've always wanted to ride one!) and weaved through the game traffic to the Omni Parker House hotel, birthplace of the very first Boston Cream Pie.

While thousands of dejected Bruins fans were drowning their sorrows in beer, we were happily enjoying this marvelous creation.

When all was said and done I learned a few important things from our evening in Beantown.

1) Boston fans are passionate and they mean business. Don't mess with them or their teams or you might get punched in the face.

2) Pedicabs are awesome, and pedicab drivers deserve every penny you pay them because they work HARD!

3) If coming out here to visit us isn't enough incentive for you, at least come for the Boston cream pie. Amazing : )

Grillin' like a Villian

Grilling weather is here and Taber is loving it.

I am too of course, less cooking for me!!

The other day he brought home some trout that a guy from work gave him.

How can an Alaska boy say no to fresh fish?

He grilled it up and the biggest surprise of the night- Teya (her royal pickiness) LOVED it!

She ate an entire fish and asked for more.

She wasn't even grossed out by the head and dead fishy eyeballs

(can't say the same for myself)

Like Father like Daughter I guess!

Run My Guts Out!

On Saturday I went into my 5K race with one goal: Run my guts out! I've put in many miles in my short running career but I've never run a race where I put the "pedal to the metal" the whole way and left everything out there on the course. On Saturday I had no intention of holding anything back. I wanted to see how fast these little legs could carry me.

Leading up to the race I did a lot of speed training and I knew I could hold an 8:00 minute pace for 3.1 miles. It was torturous and not fun, but I did it once in training and was confident I could do it in my race. That would put me in around 25 minutes, beating my old record. That was my original plan. But then a bunch of my friends ran a 5K last week and they KILLED it! All coming in under 24 minutes. These are the girls I ran the Ragnar with last year and their hardcore finish times inspired me to push myself more. I decided to shoot for under 24 minutes too. To do this I would have to average around a 7:45 min pace. I've never done that for more than 1 mile so I was nervous and definitely had some serious doubts. Still, I once heard it's better to aim high and miss then to aim low and reach your target.

At 7:30 am our babysitter showed up and Taber and I took off for Boston. We were kind of giddy in the car. It was crazy to be out early on a Saturday morning with no kids. I felt like we were in college on a date or something. Wouldn't that be a cute date? Run a 5K together? : ) Anyway, we were excited and we were strategizing about the best way for me to reach my goal. While we were talking he said something that really stuck with me and ended up helping me in the race. "When your lungs start to burn and your legs are throbbing just remember, it's only 24 minutes, and then it's OVER! You can hold on for 24 minutes, just push through the pain."

So often when I run I shy away from pushing myself beyond what's comfortable. Truth is though, sometimes there is a good pain. The kind that will be temporary but will bring you to the next level. I wanted to get to the next level, so I was determined to push through the pain.

Me and Taber in our warm up gear before the race

When we got there it was raining, but the show must go on. We picked up our numbers, warmed up, stretched out and lined up at the starting line. There were over 1000 runners and I wasn't about to weave around anyone so I lined up at the front with all the fast people. Hey, if I was gonna be fast I had to act the part right?

Standing in the rain before lining up at the start. This is the last pic we took because I didn't want the camera to get soaked, which it definitely would have.

The horn went off and my mind switched over into "get it done" mode. I zoned out everyone around me and just ran. I didn't look at my watch to check my pace, I just made my legs move as fast as they could without sprinting. I don't even think the second song on my iPod finished playing when I got to the first mile marker. There was a guy there calling out our split times. I ran by as he yelled 6:45. Holy smokes! I just finished my first mile in 6 minutes 45 seconds!!?? That made me feel partly elated at having run my fastest mile ever, and party horrified that I had gone out so fast and could very likely run out of gas before the end. At the halfway point I started getting a little light headed and as these things usually go, the farther I ran, the harder it got. By mile 2 I was fading, luckily one of my "power" songs came on and helped me pick up the pace again. Thank goodness for iPods and Justin Bieber!

The last mile is always the longest. I hate it when I see the finish line and it still looks so far away. My lungs were burning and everything hurt. Pushing through the pain sounds a lot easier when you're not actually trying to do it! Still, I held on to Taber's advice and made myself keep pushing. I reached the 3 mile mark, the rain was pouring down in torrents at this point and I could barely see, but I sprinted in that last 10th of a mile and crossed the finish line in 23:28. Average pace: 7:33 per mile. I did it. I ran my guts out!

I felt the weirdest combo of emotions crossing the finish line. I was gasping for air, my legs were shaking and my head was throbbing, but It didn't seem to matter because I was wrapped in the delicious satisfaction of reaching my goal. I tried to catch my breath for a second and then turned around just in time to see Taber cross the line less than 20 seconds after I did. Not bad for a guy who just started training! We hugged and high fived and shared a big wet kiss (Hey, it was pouring rain and we were sweaty, wet is the only kind of kiss we could give!)

The rain was coming down so hard we literally looked like we had just jumped in the ocean. We were drenched to the bone so we went back to the car, changed into dry clothes and then went to check out some of the demonstrations. The race was called the Boston Marine Corps Honor Run and it was pretty impressive to see the marines there in uniform with their weapons and machinery. Definitely gives you a sense of respect for the men and women who defend our country.

Standing with one of the few, the proud : )

They had a bunch of tanks lined up on the beach for a demonstration later that afternoon. I'm so bummed we missed it!

One last pic by these amphibious tanks. I like this one because the flash caught some of the raindrops and you can actually see them coming down.

On our way out we noticed that there were tons of bananas left over and they were just going to throw them away! Our family literally goes through about 24 bananas a week so when the lady said, "Take them" We gladly obliged! In the end it was the perfect morning. A fun date with my hubby, a new PR, and the mother load of bananas to bring home as victory loot!

Happy Mother's Day

Today I'm grateful to be a mother

And grateful for the two amazing moms in my life.

Happy Mother's Day

Friday Foto: Thinking of Nashville

This pic was taken about 3 years ago when my parents and sisters came to visit us in Tennessee. We took them to the Opry Mills Mall and Hotel as well as a quick stop at the Grand Ole Opry House. Those were always some of my favorite places to visit when we lived there.

This last week I've been overwhelmed and saddened by the pictures coming out of Nashville. It especially broke my heart to see the Opry Mills Mall, Hotel, and Grand Ole Opry house under 10 feet of water.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people in Nashville and everyone who's been affected by this natural disaster. If you want to donate or volunteer for help you can visit the Hands On Nashville website Here.

Surviving Motherhood 101: Kid swaps

When Teya was first born I had the luxury of living near family. When I went back to work after taking a maternity leave, my mom, who lived less than a mile from the school where I worked, took care of her. Things got even more convenient 6 months after she was born when we moved into my sister's basement. Suddenly I had a live in "Mommy partner" to help out if I needed to run a quick errand or just needed someone to watch her. I never once had to pay a babysitter, it was always family. For the first 15 months of her life I was spoiled rotten like that.

Then we moved to Tennessee and it was quite a shock to face motherhood all alone. I'll never forget the first time we had to find a babysitter. We were new, we didn't know anyone. There were some young women from church who we were told liked to babysit, but it's not like we knew them. I went with blind faith and picked a girl off the list and asked her if she could watch Teya for an evening for us. When Taber found out he was all panicky about some "stranger" who we'd never actually met watching our kid. I sarcastically said, "Well what did you want me to do? collect resumes and do interviews?" And in dead seriousness he said, "yes."

Needless to say we all survived the experience. : ) But then came a whole new shock when we had to shell out more money than we spent on our dinner and movie to pay for the babysitter!! We didn't realize how good we had it back home! I tried to do as much as I could just lugging Teya around with me to avoid paying a sitter after that. We even went on dates with her (and I'm sure you can imagine how romantic those dinners were ; )

But then I got pregnant with Brinley and with all my appointments and the impending overnighter in the hospital I knew I was going to need help. That's when I discovered the wonderful world of swapping. How did I not know about this before? You watch my kids, I'll watch yours. No steep babysitting fees involved! Since then swapping has saved my life. For a girl who doesn't live by family it still feels like I have plenty of "family" to help out when I need it! Dentist appointments, Doctor visits, training runs, grocery runs, you name it! I can do them all, sans children, thanks to the genius idea of kid swapping.

On the other end of it, we love having friends over when it's our turn to watch on the swap. We've had quite a few lately and though I haven't taken pictures of all of them here are some cute ones that I had to post.

We had these 3 over during the evening so we popped up some popcorn and had a movie night

Last weekend we experienced life with "twins" (sort of, these two are 6 months apart) It made me really really respect mother's of multiples!

I also tried my hand out as a mother of 5. The older boys actually helped a ton so it wasn't too bad. We rode bikes and even took the gang on a walk to the pond.

These last two are from a play date but I figured play dates are just as important as swaps for surviving motherhood because they guarantee some adult conversation in your day!

7 little monkeys jumping on the tramp!

Backyard Tent/clubhouse. Always a hit with the preschool set.

Thank you to all my mommy friends in TN, MN, and NH for being on my mommy team. Seriously couldn't do it without you ladies!

Random April Pics

It's hard to believe that April has already come and gone! Here are a few random pics from April that never made it into their own post : )

When your Dad works for a yogurt plant these are the kinds of toys he brings home to play with:

The girls enjoyed making yogurt towers and knocking them down.

By the way, if you ever need yogurt stop on by, our fridge is overflowing with it!

April gave us many beautiful sunny days. Teya transitioned from biking around the house to biking outdoors. It's cute how she likes to give her Elephy a ride in the front pouch. Brinley likes to cruise down the hill with Teya in her pink car. We sure have a lot of pink at our house.

On another sunny day we used the Volleyball pit at our friend's complex as a giant sand box for the kiddos. They were in heaven!

Grandma Karen sent some popbeads out to Teya. Awesome craft for a four year old! She spent at least a straight hour making necklaces, bracelets, and pop bead creatures.

You may also notice her new side swept bangs. Yeah, she cut those herself.

Brinley has become obsessed with dress ups. She is always asking for a "Cwown" and will bring dresses to me and say, "I pincess, I pwetty" Then she'll spin around and say, "oooo! loog ah me! pweety!"

This next picture just makes me happy. I love the popsicle and food stains on Brinley's shirt, the juice stains around Teya's mouth, and their dirty bare feet. You can tell they've had a good day. : ) I also love how happy they get when their Daddy comes home. I wish I got a greeting like that every time I walked in the door!

These last few are from the Boston Children's museum. On Friday I met my friend Melissa, who lives in Boston, down at the museum. It was awesome and the kids had tons of fun exploring all the fun hands on activities.

The water and sand tables were a big hit.

And speaking of big hits, Brinley has been getting into them lately. That's what landed her in time out in the green screen room. Little stinker!

Posing outside the museum by the Boston Harbor

April was good to us, now we're looking forward to more warm weather and sunny adventures in May!