I thought this was the most clever thing I've ever seen. Enjoy!

It would seem that Banks likes his chocolate frosting with a side of toenail. Mmmmmmm toenail frosting....

tennisball

Benson loves his tennisball.

Not pictured but equally loved: His new legos.

Thanks Nana and Grandpa. He is entertained for hours by the legos, so we are all very happy.

Nie followers will have already heard about this one, but for anyone else, I just wanted to let you know that if I lived in Utah, this is where I would be Monday, February 2nd. So you should go in my stead. And then take pictures. And then blog about it.

If you can't read the poster you can go here to find out more.

post bathtime sweetness/grey day

Sometimes these rowdy boys of mine are really really sweet. Like yesterday, when a receptionist at the doctors office made me cry, Benson sat on my lap and wiped my tears and told me I was a good mommy. Banks... well he's entered the "i'm going to do whatever I want" stage and although it is very tiring in public places, he is snuggly and sweet and hilarious at home.

I have to remind myself of all of this today, as the lady in the doctor's office somehow got into my soul and stole my sunshine. As doctor seuss says, grey day, everything is grey. I watch, but nothing moves today. So, we are working on finding my sparkle and I think we might be close to putting back where it belongs, and soon my day will be happy pink.

Now if only I was close to figuring out what we are going to eat for dinner....

pesto pasta

Pesto Pasta

3/4 lb pasta (I use gemelli or spirals), cooked to al dente
1-2 chicken breasts, cooked and sliced or cubed
1/2 c. pesto (I use spinach pesto, recipe follows, but you can certainly use store-bought)
1/2 c. pine nuts
1 c. milk
1 c. half n' half
1/2 c. parmesan or pecorino romano cheese, grated
1 c. mozzarella, shredded
1 tsp. salt (or to taste)

Combine all ingredients and put in a 9x13 or similar size baking dish. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes, or until hot.

Spinach or Basil Pesto (makes 3/4 cup)

2 cups spinach or basil leaves, packed (or combine the two however you wish)
3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts, walnuts, or almonds toasted
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 T. parsley or 1 T. lemon juice (to retain color)
salt and pepper to taste

Toast garlic in a dry skillet over medium heat until spotty brown. (this mellows the flavor) Peel garlic and put in a food processor or blender with all other ingredients and blend until smooth.

I put the whole batch of pesto into the pasta dish, since there is hardly enough worth saving and I'm saucy like that.

Perfect when served with Star's bread twists. mmmmmmm

explora!

This was benson's favorite part: Building a house on the roof of the museum. Ahhh the weather in New Mexico is something quite wonderful.

We are rediscovering this place we call home. I've been known to complain a little about living here in 'burque, and so on the drive home at Christmas I made a promise to myself that I would try harder to find things I love about living here and make the best of it for whatever time we have remaining. What a difference an attitude makes! My goodness, it's such a simple thing, but my overall happiness has increased dramatically. I can honestly say there are things that are really neat about living here. And the recent discovery of the children's science museum is one of them. It really really made me love science for the day, and Benson was completely enamored by the whole thing. And while Banks loved it too, his parents didn't enjoy him in it quite so much, as it's set up as sort of a maze, and well you can probably fill in the blanks from there. Too many frantic moments for my taste.

Oh, and so sorry about the terrible quality of the photos. Darling Ben had the iso cranked waaaaay up (from the time before) and I think it made the photos noisy. Too bad we didn't notice until we uploaded the photos. Not that I know what I'm talking about when it comes to photography.

we've been doing stuff

a new fun place to visit (and watch ducks)

wii-ing!

I've been swashbuckling ben like it's nobody's business

Trying on Netflix, and finding some surprising new favorites

Vacation is almost over for Ben (and therefore all of us). It's been fun and we are sad to see the lazy together family days go, but we are excited for Ben to be in his last semester that counts! (as in, the last one to go on med school applications)

introducing

New Mexico's Airman of the Year:

My extremely handsome husband.

Next he's off to win the national title. Vote for Ben!

Good job, honey. You work hard and it's nice to be recognized for it.
We are all proud of you, and apparently so is New Mexico.

aw crap

I just discovered that my favorite store, Anthropologie, sells kids clothes.

And so far I can only find them on the sale rack.

Double-trouble.

Good thing I'm not with child, or I'd really be coveting right now. As it is, I'm feeling a serious need to buy this and just hope like crazy I do have a girl eventually.

isn't it ironic

Yesterday I shamefully turned in my library book a week late, having supposed to have read it over Christmas. Yet I barely cracked the first page.

And today I'm twiddling my thumbs and feeling insanely bored, and therefore wishing I'd kept that silly book because my library doesn't charge any late fees.

It's kind of depressing in a silly sort of way.

Sigh.

wondering

In my recent internet travels I've come across something really interesting that's got me thinking. Someone's new years resolution is to not buy anything for 3 months. Like how everyone goes on a crash diet after eating way to much over the holidays, but this is a crash diet for spending way to much over the holidays. This sounds so amazing and I'm really pretty good about not spending too much money, but I don't know if I could do it. I mean, nothing new until April? But what if there's a really really amazing deal on something? I'm thinking it over today to see if I could commit to something similar, but I just wanted to get all of your feedback. Do you think you could do it? Do you even want to?

Banks is now officially sleeping in his big bed and has wet down the potty twice since we got it out last night. What is going on? I swear he's still a baby!

train gang and bunk beds to boot

new bunk beds from our favorite store (notice they are mini to avoid broken collar bones)

too busy playing to pause for a photo

Banks actually took a nap in his new big boy bed today! I hope he'll keep doing it because it's pretty cute that he can just get up and come find us when he's done sleeping. He's getting so big.

And Benson likes trains. And I just felt like taking pictures.

story time

A couple of days ago, Benson found a little piece of paper (which used to hold earrings, incidentally) and folded it in half and called it a book. Today he asked us to write some letters in it (which we did) and since then he has been "reading" chronicles of the giant yo-yo from said book. This evening's rendition went something like this:

"Once upon a time there was a giant yo-yo. One day he went to the town and he CRUSHED everything. Then he drank the water and the swans, ate the houses and the people, and then he was done but there was nothing left. Then a guy with a wand and some crazy circles on his clothes came a fixed all the houses. But then the giant yo-yo ate them again. But THEN his teeth started to fall out and then he fell over and he died. And then all the houses, and the people, and the swans, and the water, and the tables (giggle giggle giggle) and the whole town came back to life and everyone was happy. the end."

And then I read him a story out of one of the very neat old children's books Ben's mom gave us and it went something like this:

"There was once a rich ugly guy with a blue beard. He got married to this girl, even though she wasn't really sure because all of his other seven wives had disappeared. One day he said he was going to go on a trip and he gave her the key to a tiny, mysterious room and said if she went in it she would be punished. So she went in it and you know what was in there? ALL THE OTHER WIVES STRUNG UP AROUND THE ROOM AND A POOL OF BLOOD ON THE FLOOR. And then the husband found out and told her he was going to kill her in 15 minutes and he was about to do just that when her brothers burst through the door and killed him. The end."

Ooooooookay. Children's story? Mmmmmmmm-k. Yeah. Good thing I am a speed reader and therefore had already read that part to myself before I actually got there, but seriously, it was hard to make a story out of that once I had gotten that far.

And the moral of the story is:

Let Benson tell the stories from now on. Though they may be a little violent, they're not even close to the real violence found in children's stories. Yikes.

holiday highlights:

Spending time with the whole family

Making a very tall snowman

Banksy face planting in the snow

I swear Benson was happy hunting for a tree

Caramel souffles on Christmas Eve

Sledding!

Looking thoughtful while eating snow

not pictured (but equally loved):
Playing with the other Tracy family
Rubbing pregnant bellies
Christmas morning goodies (including my AWESOME new bag)
Grandma turning either 74, 75, or 76, which I can't remember even though she told me 100 times
Attempting to teach my children the difference between soft white snow, and snow tracked in on the bottom of shoes and which is okay to eat (not sure that they ever learned that one)