Friday Round Up - 1/25/18 - Change in Plans, Snow!, Cousins Skate, "The Disease of Being Busy"

Happy Friday! 

The Polar Vortex is ripping its way across the Midwest.....

the temperature is expected to be approximately

 -1 with a wind chill of -19 when this post is published! 

Yikes. 

At least we like Old Man Winter around here!!

1. Change in Plans
We have some travel coming up & due to the freezing rain/sleet mixture our area had this week combined with Lulu rocking a fever.....we changed our travel plans! We virtually never do this, but our plans were flexible for once & there were very few downsides! Thankfully we are visiting my flexible sister & her girls - so our lodging didn't need to be tweaked at all!

The notable one is that my parents are taking us to the airport in the 5am hour......and I will miss my Mom's Group Dinner Club. The theme is "Dinner in the Hamptons" and everyone is making one of Ina Garten's recipes. I love the Barefoot Contessa - I love her recipes & her vibe! Sad to miss out on this theme, but it made the best sense for us.

Why punish oneself with the possibility of flight delays or worse, cancellations when your airline offers to change your flight for free??? I'm not a crazy lady - so I went with the change in plans :)

2. Snow!
We have had some good snowfalls this week! We've had enough snow to cross country ski, sled, and romp around happily!!

A few highlights of the snow this week:

I cross country skied up to one of our favorite coffee shops, Backlot to read my book and drink an oat milk latte that is, in my humble opinion, one of the best on the planet.

We met friends to sled with babies & dogs. It was cold, snowy, windy - so we didn't last too long....but we were invited back to their home for a cozy winter dinner. I love that Lulu is getting old enough to be interested in her friends. It makes my heart feel full to watch her play with some of the little people in her life!

Lulu & her friend Lilly rocking the teeter totter in the cold & dark :)

We took Owenn skiing with Lulu in her stroller with the ski attachments! What a great purchase that was - Lulu can be cozy under the cover of the stroller, in a nest of snowsuit & blankets while we get a great workout in hauling her along!

3. Cousins Skate

Despite Lulu's cousins, Aunt Tara & Uncle GR having a bonkers weekend, they invited us to skate on their backyard rink this past Monday! 

Again, cold, windy, sort of polar vortex-y, but Lulu loved it. She had so much fun being pushed around on the ice by her big cousins! She certainly doesn't have the hang of skating yet - but loves to talk about it anyway! BoBo & Bump came out to watch the antics, as did Lulu's cousins' Nana. A very fun afternoon topped off by hot chocolate made by Kane & a fire in their fireplace. Winter perfection!!

4. "The Disease of Being Busy"
I often listen to the program "On Being" on weekend mornings on WBEZ. I appreciate its commentary on faith, spirituality, religion, and all things in between. This post made me realize I should look at the program's website more often than the never that I currently do! A woman who I went to sleep away gymnastics camp with shared this article on Facebook (I'm almost sure I've read it already....can't be sure if I've shared it here.....sorry if this is a repeat!) this week & it struck a chord with me.

It seems to me I've read a hundred articles/posts about the benefits of allowing ourselves (& our kids) to be bored. To allow space for deep/big thoughts, creativity, wondering, imagining. Lots of good things can come from being bored it seems. And yet, it is so hard for us, (in the age of screens everywhere) to give ourselves this time/space.

Do you make space for boredom in your house? For yourself? For your kids? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this and the ways that you do it (if you do)! I don't know if I leave enough space for boredom - but it is on my mind, which is probably the first way I'm going to be able to accomplish the goal, right??

Friday Round Up 12/7/18 - Early Mornings, Cookie Exchange + Homemade Oreo Recipe, Reverse Advent Calendar, Snowless Sledding

Truly, how is it December already?? I am loving the extra week between Christmas & New Years to be sure - but somehow this month has crept up on me in a MAJOR way!! Again, not complaining - just feeling a bit of shock & awe!

1. Early morning time in front of the Christmas tree(s)

I have been waking at 5 (earlier if it is a bread baking day) since we put up the Christmas trees for the express purpose of sitting on the couch with only the trees/wreaths in the windows for light and reading/relaxing/drinking coffee/texting/whatever I want to do! These have been some of my most relaxing, peaceful, silent hours of the Christmas season. I am in love with these hours. I am typing this post in one of these hours. The house is silent, the light is low, the world is still dark as night, it feels like found time and it feels delightful. 

2. Cookie Exchange + New Recipe

My "back up Mom" or BUM for short, Lynn, hosts a ridiculously sumptuous brunch party each December where each guest is invited to bring 2 dozen cookies to share. 

Everyone then goes home with a variety pack of 2 dozen delicious treats!! I love the concept of a cookie exchange - what fun to share the fruits of our baked goods with a group of lovely women. Lynn is kind enough to include the Bug in the invite - but the party falls smack in the middle of nap time - so I got a babysitter this year.

See #3 for my first effort at a cookie to bring. It didn't make the cut! So I decided  to make Homemade "Oreos"! Full recipe is at the end of the post! I adapted it from a blog called Sally's Baking Addiction.

3. Reverse Advent Calendar
I don't know if that is the right thing to call it - but I decided this year for Advent Lulu & I would aim to do something kind each day. A random act of kindness, a gift, a card, whatever it may be. So far its been a complete success I'd say! I've been enjoying thinking of small ways to make December more joyful for others & though the Bug is small, I'm loving trying to involve her in the process. The most fun so far has been dropping off some homemade cookies to our local fire station. We were invited in to see the truck, engine & ambulance up close which was a huge thrill for my truck loving little one. I am trying to shift the focus of the season from getting to giving in my own mind to hopefully raise Lulu to love to give. Not that I expect her to eschew gift getting! Not by a long shot! I hope she receives gifts with great enthusiasm & excitement & appreciation. I just also hope she learns to give with the same level of excitement.

I tested a recipe for Lynn's cookie exchange & didn't love it at all. It was labor intensive & ended up being cloyingly sweet. Too sweet for my tastes. Turns out Chris loved them, so I didn't feel bad about what Lulu & I did with most of them! We brought them to our local fire station as a Happy Holiday/Merry Christmas/Happy New Years treat for the women & men who would come a running if our house ever caught on fire. They deserve some treats & recognition for the hard work they do in our community. Extra bonus? The firefighter who answered the door let Lulu into the garage to see the fire engine, fire truck & ambulance up close! Also didn't bat an eye about letting Owenn come in :) 

4. Snowless Sledding

Turns out this is a thing if you are a parent of a toddler who really enjoyed sledding during the week we had snow...........and you didn't put the sled somewhere out of sight! Each time we come into the backyard, the Bug hops onto her sled and is ready to go. We go around and around and around our postage stamp sized backyard (not complaining - perfect size for us- not too hard to kept the grass mowed, still hard to keep plants alive in the garden beds.......maybe that has more to do with my brown thumb than with the size of our yard? I digress). So this is a bit of a warning to parents out there: if you are in a snowless period, put away the sled. If you don't - you risk working really hard to pull your child on the grass :)

Homemade Peppermint "Oreos"

Yields approximately 36 sandwich cookies

Ingredients

Cookies

2 ½ cup all purpose flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (sifted if lumpy)

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons espresso powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 ½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cream Filling

¾ cup butter, room temperature

½ cup coconut oil, melted to liquid state but cooled to room temperature

5 ¼ cup powdered sugar (sifted if lumpy)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 teaspoons peppermint extract

Decoration

1 cup crushed candy canes

Directions

1.  Make the cookies. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, espresso powder, and salt. Set aside.

2. Using a handheld or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Scrape the sides & bottom of the bowl.

3. Add both sugars and beat on medium speed until thoroughly combined, about 2 minutes. Scrape the sides & the bottom of the bowl.

4. Beat in both eggs and the vanilla on high speed. Scrape the bottom & sides of the bowl.

5. Using a scoop or measuring cup, slowly add the dry ingredient mixture to the bowl. Best to add with the mixer off so you don’t send a dry ingredient cloud all over yourself and your kitchen. You’ll need to stop & scrape the bowl a couple of times while you’re incorporating the dry ingredients- it is a very sticky dough!

6. Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Don’t skip this step! Your cookies will spread and be sad if you skip this step!!

7. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees while the dough is chilling.

8. Line 4 cookie sheets (not airbake – just plain old cookie sheets) with parchment paper or silpats. You will only bake 2 sheets at a time – but you can be forming the next 2 sheets while the 1^st 2 are in the oven. Time management brought to you by me ;)

9. Roll the dough into balls, using about 1 teaspoon of your chilled dough per ball. Bake 12 per sheet. Using the heel of your hand, press down on each ball to flatten it slightly.

10. Bake for 6-8 minutes (my oven needed 7 minutes) rotating the sheets halfway through. The cookies will still look soft when done – they will have cracked slightly on the top.

11. Place the cookie sheet on a cooling rack & cool for a few minutes. At that point the cookies will have firmed up enough to slide onto the rack itself to finish cooling.

12.  Make the cream filling. Using a handheld or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and coconut oil together on high speed until creamy & fully combined – about 3 minutes. Scrape the bowl at least once as the coconut oil will firm up against the cool bowl & try to stick.

13. Add the vanilla & peppermint extracts and beat on high speed another minute or so until they are fully incorporated.

14. Add the powdered sugar (about a cup at time) to the bowl with the mixer turned off. Beat on low after each addition until it is fully incorporated. Once all sugar has been added, beat the filling on high for a minute or 2 until creamy & thick.

15. Assemble the cookies. Pair up cookies based on size, the better the size match, the cuter the cookie! Turn the cookies upside down in their pairs (flat size up).

16. Roll approximately 1.5-2 teaspoons of filling into a ball and flatten slightly using your fingers. Place on 1 cookie. Repeat until half of the cookies have filling on them. Now wash your hands :)You don’t want filling on the outside of the cookies, do you??

17. Close the cookie pairs to make the sandwiches, pressing down firmly to ensure they adhere & a bit of the filling squishes out to the edges.

18. Roll the edges in the crushed peppermint/candy cane, pressing firmly to make sure the candy sticks in the filling.

19. Enjoy the cute cookies your made!

TGIFriday Recap 11/30/18 - Christmas Trees, Cousin Love, Going Away, Toy Guide, 1st Real Snow, Cooking, Re-reading a Beloved Book

As much as I love Thanksgiving - I do love the time between Thanksgiving & Christmas!! Its such a blast to prepare for Christmas; decorate, bake, plan parties, think of great gifts & get them wrapped, be cozy by the fire with family & friends, really just all the things! So here goes - the start of the Christmas-y awesomeness

1. Christmas Trees

We had the chance to cut down a Christmas tree for Chris' parents last Friday! Rather than shop til we dropped, we hopped on a hayride with the kiddos & picked out the perfect evergreen to grace the living room!

It wouldn't be a seasonal outing without a fire & roasting marshmallows! Since we have visited this farm before - we anticipated the marshmallows & brought our own chocolates & graham crackers for legit s'mores!

We couldn't very well cut down a tree for the Kramers & then leave it naked! We helped decorate it with our niece Samantha on Saturday night before we flew home.

Once we made it home from the Kramer family Thanksgiving festivities - we had a chance to set up one of our Christmas trees! Despite the insanity of a 5:30am flight out of Philly (& the 6:20am arrival into Midway) we had a full, fun day at home! Lulu cat napped on the plane, we had delicious breakfast at my parents, played a new card game & then headed for home to officially bring Christmas out of storage and into the house!

We may not have hung any ornaments on the trees yet.....but all in due time!

We will (hopefully) cut down a real tree this weekend - it might rain - which would put a literal damper on the idea....

2. Cousin Love

Lulu doesn't get to see her Kramer cousins all that often - what a treat to be with them over Thanksgiving!

3. Going Away Playdate
I don't like the idea of the moving away- I positively detest when people I adore leave this area for all the reasons people move :( But, it was such fun to play with Cait & Alex before they (along with hubby/dad Adam) move to Boston today. Cait is in the mom's group I started & has been such a fun presence in our lives. She is an enthusiastic participant in all things mom related and I love that about her. I knew all along that her time in Evanston might be short - her husband was doing post doctoral/doctorate?!? work at Northwestern & the inevitability of a "real" job was there from the get go. I had my fingers crossed that the job would be local. Alas & alack, the dream job appeared in Boston - so off they go - flying to their new home today. We were lucky to have such a kind hearted friend here for as long as we did & she will be missed dearly.

4. Toy Guide
I really enjoy listening to the Simple Families Podcast and following along with the Facebook page of the same name. The woman behind the blog was in the Social Work program with me at Miami, which is delightful! She curates a minimalist's guide to holiday toy buying which I so appreciate! We have already purchased Lulu's gifts for the year - but if we hadn't - we would certainly  be checking out some of the offerings she suggests! I share it thinking that others may need gift ideas for your own kiddos, nieces/nephews, grandkids, etc.

5. The 1st "Real" Snow

I do truly love snow. I especially love the first snow - it fills me with such complete happiness. I love the way the snow blankets everything & dampens all the sounds.

I love the way it softens the shapes of the world so everything takes on a marshmallow quality. I love the way it forces us all to slow our rolls - you can't be in a rush on snow & ice; you'll slip & fall, crash your car, etc. The forced slowness allows me to really appreciate all the beauty that snow brings.

Winter Storm "Bruce" brought over a foot of snow to some areas near us. We got a few inches (I'm always happy for more snow - but it was great to have enough to cover the grass & trees). Happily we got to walk Chris to the train in the snow & also go sledding with friends in it!

6. Cooking - For a Crowd

I love the way that winter inspires me to cook giant batches of pretty much everything. I love having enough food to share with family, friends, neighbors. It is such a treat to make something delicious & not only enjoy it at home, but spread that enjoyment around!

This week saw a good bit of bread baking, a double batch of Sweet Potato, Kale & Chick Pea Stew, a quadruple batch of Peanut Butter cookie dough, a double batch of homemade Chex Mix, a double batch of Apple Jack Stew & phew, a double batch of Coconut Veggie Curry. Winning. Winning at winter cooking!

7. Re-reading a great book

This Christmas/holiday season I'm working hard to slow down & actually  enjoy the season rather than rush rush rush around so much & so fast that I miss all the goodness of it. In that spirit I am re-reading the book Slowing Time by one of my favorite writers, Barbara Mahany. 

She is an incredible writer who brings such a calming presence into my days. I love reading her blog as well - it is worth checking out her writing if you have time. Well, honestly, it is worth making the time to check out her writing - I can't imagine that you'll regret it.

Friday Recap 10/12/18 - Colorado Cousin Time, October Summertime, Chicago Marathon Spectating

Woof. This is late, even for me! Happy Wednesday that I am pretending is last Friday everyone!!

1. Colorado Cousin (& Sister) Time

A childhood friend of my brother in law died of cancer late in September. A terrifically sad situation given that he was not yet 40 & he & his wife have 3 little kids. A family to keep in your prayers if you have the inclination. My sister & her 2 girls are in Colorado to soak up some autumn in the mountains, but that leaves her without her usual overnight babysitter, who lives in Connecticut. So Lulu & I flew out to spend a couple of days with my sister & the girls & then a couple of days just with the girls so Marg could fly to Michigan for the memorial services and celebrations of her husband's friend.

Lulu & I had some weather whiplash (see #2 for an idea of the home weather we left) when we woke up Wednesday morning to 6ish inches of snow in town & upwards of a foot on the mountain!! It was fun & freezing & all around great. I do wish Marg & I lived closer so that we could see more of each other, but at least we get to see each other pretty often :)

Lulu has started to say her version of "Hennie" which is making my heart basically explode. As far as I know it's the first name she's really trying to say. Amazing what a few days of constant hanging out can do for Lulu's little brain!

2. October Summertime

It was crazy warm at the start of the week - I mean - over 80 degrees in mid October seems insane, right??

Sometimes public nudity is the only option.

The only choice for this weather was to walk to downtown Evanston, get ice cream & check out the renovated Fountain Square. It was a bummer that the square was closed all summer for the renovations - but I think it turned out really well. I imagine it will be a gathering place for community members long into the future. And for a city without splash pads - the splash friendly fountain is a huge bonus.

Waving to passersby :)

The memorial to veterans brings thoughtfulness and reverence to the space - but in a good way - I like that public spaces can serve so many distinct functions.

3. Chicago Marathon Spectating

Watching the wheelchair races & elite field is incredible

For the 2nd year, we brought Lulu to Lakeview to watch the Chicago Marathon. The weather was cool & rainy, not the best but certainly not the worst either! We got to visit with my wonderful friend from high school while standing outside her building & cheering on thousands & thousands of runners.

Hopping on the train before it was fully daylight :)

We cheered for Chris' colleagues, my friends & a veritable shitton of strangers!

Lulu is a really good sport - she rolls with all of our "adventures" 

Lulu doesn't like when I cheer loudly it turns out. Frightening. I guess I should've known that would be the case!! That aside - it was a fantastic day. An event that makes me well up & gives me goosebumps every time.

The rain didn't scare us away!