Spring Randomness

With Spring upon us here in Albuquerque (i.e., REALLY HIGH WINDS!), I thought I'd take a moment to post a few random photos of the Greenies from the last couple of months.

Starting with some running... My buddy Jennifer and I did our very first "Color Run" in March.  You see, in a color run you run a 5K (or 3.1 miles) and there are various "stations" set up along the route.  At these stations, volunteers take pleasure in dousing you with colored cornstarch powder.  After my first station, I learned that you have to slow down your run BEFORE you get into the color cloud, otherwise you'll breathe in a mouthful of cornstarch and then cough the rest of the race.  Good thing they don't time you along the route...

Here's a pic of Jennifer and I at the end of our first Color Run - called the Color Mob 5K in Albuquerque:

Then, we were silly enough to sign up for ANOTHER one - this time the Color Me Rad 5K in Albuquerque.  They didn't use just powdered cornstarch, they ALSO had power sprayers along the course to REALLY douse you!  We were completely and totally filthy after this one - see (first pic is after the yellow station, second pic is the end in an orange powder cloud):

We have one more color run in September and then I think we'll go back to "regular" races...

A month later it was time for the Run for the Zoo (May 2013).  Lucky us (Jennifer and I), we signed up to run the 10K (or 6.2 miles) to support the zoo!  In the spirit of fun, we dressed as zebras - see:

My co-worker (Rochelle - also ran the 10K) snapped this one of me at the finish line (below).  I made it!  AND, I got a new Personal Record (PR) - shaved off a whole minute from my previous 10K!  1 hour, 11 minutes!  Yes, that's slow compared to a lot of runners, but hey, since my first 10K race in Hawaii (March 2012), I've managed to shave off 10 minutes off my PR!  I guess all of this practice is paying off, eh?

Ok, let's get to some cute stuff - CARTER!  Our little guy isn't little any more.  He's getting taller every day and is turning into Mr. Independent (more on that in a minute).  He's also in to role-playing and can take on any character.  Some days, he takes on more than one at a time!  Here's Carter cooking his fish (pole at his feet) in his kitchen...oh yeah, and while wearing a superhero cape - we call him "Mr. Domestic Superhero Fisherman"!

On to some more silliness...  Last night we had a bit of a disaster in the kitchen whereby I dropped an entire canister [completely full, stainless steel] of flour on my foot.  Made a huge mess.  Matt was/is laid up with a fever, so it was just Carter and I around to tackle the mess.  In lieu of helping clean up, Carter thought a "Flour Dance" would be most appropriate for this situation:

 ...what a mess, eh?  Got even messier when Carter decided to "help" sweep up and then get some wipes to clean it up...

Mr. Independent has also decided that at age 4, he no longer needs to have his clothes picked out by his mother.  As such, he is free to choose his school outfits and on this particular day, he chose to wear his raincoat to school.  On a day with 0% chance of rain.  And a high temp of 80F.  I tried to get a photo, but this is what it's like trying to get our active 4-year-old to stand still for a picture for Grandma:

Moving on... Recently we attended the first-ever Renaissance Faire in Albuquerque.  Carter, a fan of all things with swords, had an AMAZING time!  I'll have another post on the Faire after I pull the photos off of our "good" camera (as Debbie would call it).

By far, his favorite part was bringing home a little wooden sword and shield.  I also bought him a little belt to hold his sword when he's running off to save the damsels in distress.  After the Faire, he wanted to play a little more in the back yard with his new toys:

 ...and he spent the majority of his time hacking up our dead tree (maybe there's a damsel in there?).  But boy, was it fun!

 

I'll end with a photo of Carter (posing again for Grandma) in his Christmas PJs (a hand-me-down from Amelia).  Sure, it was a warm Spring night, but that didn't stop Mr. Independent from choosing his footie PJs:

That's enough for now... I hope that you and yours are enjoying your Spring too!  Until next time...
~kerrie

Mr. Messy Face

Many of you may be wondering if we've fallen off the face of the planet... nope, we've (more specifically I'VE) been a busy, busy bee. Work, SWE, and life has pretty much just hit fifth gear and our poor blog has taken a back seat for the time being. However, there is an end in sight and I'm hoping that I'll have time to update the blog during my stay in Chicago next week for SWE.

In the meantime, I wanted to post a few silly photos from July of Carter enjoying his dinner. I present to you, Mr. Messy Face:
Hurray!
Nothing helps dinner go down than a tall glass of soy milk:

...on your head...
Hope you're doing well and enjoying the beginning of fall. I can't believe it's already October! Until the next post...(which will most likely be an exciting one about POTTY TRAINING!)
~kerrie

Chef Spidey

Two more posts before I end my blogging marathon of the day! Yes, thanks to some clever deleting skills, after these two, I'm all caught up! (Ugh, yes, I deleted some files...my bad...wasn't on purpose, I swear it...)

This weekend was jam-packed with a trip to the Farmer's Market, the Library Book Sale, and even the Hipsters Craft Fair. We typically do a lot of local supporting, but this weekend was local overload!

After a visit to the Craft Fair, I picked up Carter a cute little Spiderman apron so he can "help" in the kitchen. Plus, he's big on singing the Spiderman song ("Spiderman, Spiderman, Does whatever a spider can..."), so it was the perfect choice! And I'm only too happy to support a local crafter!

I also bought him a couple hand-puppets (to benefit a charity) and he thought they were potholders (awww, isn't that cute!). So we were cracking up as he ran around in his apron and oven mitts:
He was doing a little "cooking" too (from the bed of his semi-truck?):
Even some sharing with Daddy:
Yumm, tastes great!
And one of my favorite shots, putting his fork back into his apron pocket for safe-keeping:
Here's hoping that someday Chef Carter will prepare us a fine, home-cooked meal! We'll supply the local goods and he can do the cooking!
~kerrie

The Reverse Method

Now that the weather is warmer (read: HOT!), we've been eating some icy desserts in the evenings to cool off. You also may have heard that there's a HUGE wildfire in Arizona (google some "Wallow Fire" images and you'll be blown away!)...anyway, it's REALLY smokey over here in Albuquerque (yes, nearly 200 miles east of the fire), so we've been enjoying our meals and desserts indoors. With my weak lungs, it's been a bit rough (read: inhalers, inhalers, inhalers!), but I've managed. I've also found that ice cream really helps :)

Carter tends to agree with me that it's not really the ice cream that is the tasty part, it's the cone. Even the weird bright green (or red or yellow) ones that taste like styrofoam... Maybe it's because we're both lactose intolerant, but it's just more fun to wolf down the cone than it is to eat the actual ice cream (or orange sherbet, as shown here).

Carter's "Reverse Method" seems to be just the ticket - see?
Perhaps it's even better if you shove the whole thing in your mouth?
Nope...that's REALLY cold!
Oh well, back for more:
I'm slowing trying to catch up on the blog, but it may be a month of so before I get my act together... :) In the meantime, stay cool and grab a cone!
~kerrie

Playin' with Chickens

With the recent warm weather, Carter has been a playground fiend. As in ALL he wants to do is play "outside"... (I often joke that toddlers are no different than dogs... "Want to go outside?!")

Anyway, I had Carter in this super-sweet outfit (he was telling me that he had his water):
...and ALL he wanted was to open the back door and run free:
Except the door was locked. And he was sad:
REALLY sad (this photo is simply priceless):
So I let him out to play (even though he was dressed all goofy...).

Later we had a little dinner and Carter selected the "chickens" napkin. I've been making cloth napkins (we don't use paper) and I chose some super-fun fabrics, most are kid-friendly. Napkins help with A) the mess... and B) teaching Carter a few new vocabulary words (for instance, he learned "stripes" by using the balloons napkin!).

Anywho, a few photos (and a fun little video) of Carter telling me about chickens and "what they say"...
[and in case you don't know what a chicken says, watch this short little video - it'll help you with sheep too...]




Thanks for the laughs, Carter!
~kerrie

Psycho Bunnies

I have lots and lots of photos and stories to tell from our recent trip to Kansas for Easter. As soon as I get a third arm, 10 more hours in the day, and an assistant, they'll get posted up here... I kid, I kid, but yes, we're that busy these days...

However, I couldn't resist sharing a tale of the "Psycho Bunnies," so I'm making the time RIGHT NOW to post these pics and the tale. Here goes...

You see, my favorite bread shop, House of Bread, advertised Easter Bunny Bread back in April. Since Matt and I were making the trek to Kansas, I felt that we should bring a little Albuquerque love with us. So, we did. It was in the form of a whole grain "white" and a whole grain "wheat" bunny...

Ta-da! Mr. Wheat (left) and Mr. White (right):
Let's see Mr. White up close, eh?
And Mr. Wheat?
Aren't those just fabulous?! So life-like, eh?

So why the "psycho" label for this post? Well, you see,

THEY ARE BOTH MISSING THEIR RIGHT "EYE BALL"!!!!!

AHHHHHH!

PSYCHO BUNNIES ON THE LOOSE!!!!!

Just being silly. Hope you had a Happy Easter! More to come, I promise!
~kerrie

PS For the record, the bunny bread was mighty tasty! Just had to overlook that one-eyed thing...

How Does Your Garden Grow?

That's right folks, it's that time of year! SPRING!!!!

So what did the Greenies do as soon as it got warm enough? We planted our garden! And what sort of weather did we get the very next day? Freezing!

Happy to report that the garden is still growing and all of our plants made it out alive. Matt is a dear, dear husband and churned up the soil and planted us some tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, and marigolds (for the bees, of course, not to eat!). Carter and I didn't do much in the way of "helping," but I did take a few photos of the "fun..."

Here's Carter getting ready to help Daddy. Apparently we needed something from the roof first:
Skip the help, let's play on the swing-set (with a horseshoe game stake and the hose, of course):
Proud Daddy:
Too lazy to take any finished shots, but I'll capture some later this Spring as our plants start blooming. Happy gardening to you too!
~kerrie

The Cranberry Kid

I have OH SO MUCH to blog about, I've just been crazy busy with work, SWE, travel, and even some Spring cleaning...

But I snapped these pics the other night during dinner because Carter ate about two-thirds of a can of cranberry sauce (you know, the jelly kind). It was on the clearance rack at Target, so I snagged a few cans (I LOVE that stuff!). Anyway, most ADULTS won't eat cranberries, but let me tell you, this kid does!

First, a close-up of his cranberry-smeared face:
And second, a super-happy-hyped-up-on-the-sauce (cranberry, that is) -smiley kid... Say "cranberries"!!!!
Hope the beginnings of Spring are treating you well and you haven't blown away (or had your house, car, siding, etc. damaged by hail like Aunt Katrina and Uncle Jason did on Sunday night in Kansas...ugh! At least no one was hurt, eh?)! It's crazy windy here, but that's just how it is in Albuquerque...
~kerrie

Souper Bowl School

It appears that I'm a few posts behind and well, frankly, I don't care! Life is getting pretty busy around the Greenie house with a very-soon-to-be-two-year-old that pretty much doesn't stop moving...

And speaking of moving, have I mentioned that Carter is now in the "two's class" at school? Since he was pretty much towering over the other "one's," his teachers opted to kick him out to the next class. He is totally loving it (and the teachers just adore him)! Biggest challenge for us, no more sippy cups. That's right, our big boy uses a cup now. What does that mean for dinner time? We clean up a lot of milk...

Thought I'd post one of his final art projects from the "one's class" - yes, another let's-glue-food-to-paper-and-call-it-art project:
I don't keep his foodie projects, so I snapped the pic before it went into the trash.

I'm all out of segues, so I'll just more right into some photos from Super Bowl Sunday. Grandma C shipped us our very own antique Campbell's Soup pot so we filled it with some chili on SBS. Just check out this fantastic dinner presentation(!):
Carter was ready to chow and ate about 3 bowls of chili (see next pic). And speaking of eating three bowls of chili... Have I mentioned lately how ready I am to have him out of diapers (see that segue? Chili to diapers? Man, am I good or what?!):
Maybe next year my Chief's will make it to the Super Bowl and we'll have a big 'ol celebration and eat FOUR bowls of chili. Yeah, probably won't happen (the Chief's...we can so eat that much chili), but we'll still celebrate in style!
~kerrie