Sandy Eggo

Tristen, on seeing the beach: "This must be why they call it Sandy Eggo!"

What a fabulous weekend. We didn't even rent a car -- just got a hotel on the boardwalk and went back and forth between the beach and pool. We also rented bikes a couple of days and rode the two miles of ocean front trail to Belmont Park for the arcade and rides. Total heaven.

Slideshow below. I am 20 weeks pregnant. Some of the pix are of Tristen and others on tsunami watch due to the earthquake in Japan.

Smoothie!

I've decided to add some staple family recipes to the blog now and then -- so I can just point to them when I pass them on. The genesis for this particular recipe? Eric.

Who else? :)

Berry smoothie

• 1 cup frozen berries -- blueberries, straweberries, mixed berries
• 0.5 TBSP sugar or a little more, to taste
• 1 scant scoop protein powder (Use the whey! I like Whey Factors brand. Go with vanilla! If you don't have protein powder, add a little vanilla extract for the flavor.)
• 0.5 cup some kind of milk: cow milk, soy milk, almond milk, chocolate hazelnut, hazelnut...you get the idea

I like my smoothies highly drinkable as opposed to frozen, so I try to remember to throw the berries, sugar, and sometimes the milk in a mason jar the night before -- and put it in the fridge. (Othewise, I thaw the berries in the microwave for 45 seconds.) In the morning, I add the remaining ingredients and use my immersion blender to mix it all up right in the jar. I drink it straight from the jar, too.

This recipe has around 167 calories in it. I added it to calorielookup.com at one point -- though I think the recipe included more sugar and less protein powder back then.

Sometimes I add half of a frozen banana for fun.


Berry-kale smoothie

• 1 cup frozen berries -- strawberries or straight blueberries work best, in my opinion
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped kale that has been deveined
• 0.5 TBSP sugar or more, to taste
• 1 to 2 TBSP nut butter -- peanut butter, almond butter
• 0.5 cups milk -- again, any kind

See above. Blend it all up and drink. In this case, I ready it all the night before and just blend in the morning.

For both of these recipes -- resist the urge to take them to go. I have never successfully had one without getting the berry seeds in my teeth or a smoothie mustache or both. :)

2010 holiday card

It's pretty bad when your best family photo is dominated by snowman hair and oar arms. We JUST ordered our holiday cards, so they'll be late. They say "happy new year." Why even pretend we're going to send them before February?

Meanwhile, happy holidaze to all!

Midnight Snowflakes Christmas

Visit Shutterfly.com for classic photo Christmas cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

He knows when you're awake

Tristen was getting a little tired and mischievous at REI today. He even took down a huge potted plant at World Wraps as we waited for our food. Just grabbed it by the stem and yanked!

That led to a quiet lunch; I was silently seething.

He was apparently just letting his mind wander and finally broke the silence with, "Mommy, do you think Santa Claus is awake and making toys RIGHT NOW?!" He had a big, expectant smile on his face.

But I couldn't let go. I said, "I don't know. Do you think he saw what you did to that plant?"

Then I cackled evily.

I love him for laughing, too.

Nature collage

We're working on a nature collage, the makings of which we procured from GoodWill and Ace Hardware: an old frame, some little nails, and twine. Next time you come over, bring something to add!

Last Spider-Man pic, I promise

Can anyone stand one more Tristen-as-Spider-Man pic? This one is from Joelle's birthday party at the zoo, where a professional face painter rounded out Carousel rides and the world's best cake. There's a matching Owen running around, too.

The pic reminds me of  a perplexing conversation I had with Tristen when we were shopping for a sticker book for Joelle.

"She likes princesses," he told me.

"Really?" I asked. "Joelle? Are you saying that because you know Joelle likes princesses or because you think that's what all girls like?"

"Mo-om, all my girls like princesses."

"All your girls?"

"Yeah. All my girls at Interlake [preschool]."

Curious about the expression. He doesn't think of his little boy friends as "his boys." Does the objectification start this young? Or are the girls just already so "other" that they're grouped differently. There's Owen, Aidan, Leo, Soren, and "all the girls at my preschool," shortened to "all my girls"? Let's hope.

Deck progress so far

Who knew, back when we first started, that the deck project would be this hard, take this long, or cost this much? Twelve years of home-repair and remodel projects on two different houses and we STILL haven't learned our lesson? We are a hopeful lot over here at the Marshall-Krumm house.

Hopeful, and proud. And looking forward to actually using this thing by the end of the month, when the door will be cut in. In preparation for that, Chris just tore down drywall in the kitchen, moved some light switches and outlets around, and replaced (with Rico's help!) one of the large kitchen windows. Outside, Chris needs to finish up the railing. Replacing the fence bordering the lower deck will wait until spring.

I'm super impressed by how much Chris has learned, how much work he has done, and how beautiful the product is. At the same time, I'll really be glad to have him back as a life partner and coparent when all this is over.

Washington is a neighbor and friend we hired to help get things started..

Chris and I designed the two-level deck together, over the last year.
Chris did all the engineering work, though. With input from Washington.

Tristen and I laughed our asses off watching Washington and Chris
make the holes.

This is the unwieldy tool they used. It was hard to tell just
who was in control.

Chris insisted on laying the Trex down on the diagonal: labor intensive, but
looks cool!

All framed!

Both lower and upper decks are done. Just the railings to go!