Celebrate

Ross promised me he'd make me a cake with basil infused whip cream when I reached my weight goal. I mean....look at this masterpiece! I think our friends are so glad this is over. Our eating out dates have been less than awesome lately. It's no fun to go get food with someone that is obsessed with healthy food. It's just not. The long night is over, kids!

In true Ross & Lauren style...he bakes, she designs. Almond cake served on a jadite plate.

They are a perfect match.

Yay, me!!

Oklahoma bound

She never thought we'd do it....but we did! Mari, Jozianne and I piled in a car a drove down to see Kelley Wilkes. We needed to make sure she was settling in and finding friends in her new place. 

We met her new friend and we approve! She recommended the best place to eat.

I've been on RP for 3 months and haven't had anything like this in FOREVER.....it was so good, I almost cried.

Beans and cornbread....beans and cornbread! (Dad gets it)

We decided to paint...I have no idea why. It just happened. I can't ever see guys painting together after dinner, but then again, guys never do stuff together, so it's a moo point. (Joey gets it)

Like my Oklahoma Shark?

We stayed up late into the night and talked about everything, catching up and sharing all the personal stuff. Eventually one of us wandered off to bed and we all trickled off.

The next morning, we went for a walk....a freezing cold, crazy-long Oklahoma walk. I borrowed gloves and a hat and I wished I'd borrowed more. Brrrrr.

Then just like that...Kelley was making us crepes and we were heading back to Kansas.

Fun little road trip with cool ladies!

No....Kansas!

Function meets Fashion

Let me introduce you to.....

Ice pack earmuffs!!

We're heading to the patent office before someone steals our idea.

Weezer

Best. Concert. Ever.

Fluffy to fit....RP diet

The truth: I've become pretty fluffy over the last few years. I've been carrying around an extra 15-20 lbs for a while now, and while that isn't the worst thing in the world, I really was so tired of looking at myself in photos and feeling shocked at what I was seeing. That's not me!

So....Mark and I got serious and started with the RP diet. It is all app based and basically teaches you how truly awful you have been eating.

We started with a before photo and bought a scale. I felt so stupid measuring my food, but I got over it. Knowing exactly what was supposed to be on that plate took the guesswork out of it. I was sure that if I followed the rules, I'd see benefits.

So....I did.

And I tell you what.

Things started to change. The food I was eating was clean and healthy. I stopped having that itchy, angsty need for sugar after every meal. I stopped feeling bloated and tired. I started losing weight!

I started looking at the food that I am putting into my body and I started taking the time to choose and cook and care about myself. I stopped acting like trash compactor for all the food my kids leave on their plates.

I started saying "NO" to all the treats that are given to me or made near me.

It was so hard.

But I did it anyway.

And, as you can tell, I started taking pictures of my food. Because I was proud of my choices and because it was so colorful and beautiful! And...I knew I'd need to remember the things that I liked and make them for myself again.  Brussel sprouts are gorgeous, you know. And steak isn't too expensive. It's delicious and worth it and makes me excited to have a meal. And then one day I dropped below 140 and my jeans fit great and I was eating 5 times and day and working out 5 times a week and I was feeling amazing. I drank a cup of juice and got a insta-headache. THE SUGAR!! Plain greek yogurt used to taste like sour cream to me. Now it's one of my favorites....cut up with a crispy apple and sprinkle with nuts. yum!

 I learned how to eat out and not lose my mind and give up on my goals. Every place has veggies. Every place will grill meat. If they don't...go somewhere else. Making a smart choice is super hard and then makes me super happy. I feel better.

And yesterday...I achieved my goal....15 lbs gone.  

Oh....and Mark did this too! He has his own pictures and his own story...I'll let him post them if he chooses!

Winky

Now that's a teenager room to be proud of.

Tonsillectomies are the pits

I tell you what. I'm not positive we would have chosen to remove those pesky tonsils if we had known how truly awful the recover is. She's so sick of Gatorade and jello and slushies and popsicles. She is terrified of mashed potatoes and overcooked ramen noodles. She feels like her teeth are going to fall out from all the sweet liquids she's been eating and she practically wept when Ethan sat down and ate a burger and fries next to her. 

Poor little pup. 

But she's not alone. We love her and we put savory soups in the blender and wrack our brains for ideas of what might taste good to her and sooth her poor throat. 

Look at these funny girls with their crazy beadhead! This brings new meaning to, "Do unto others as you would have done to you."

This too shall pass, Meggy Moo. Someday you will be eating chips and salsa and we'll look back on this and probably not laugh. Then we'll eat more chips and salsa!

Bigguns

I am going through my photos and doing bit of a catch up on the old blogilog and I found all three of these photos taken on the same day.

And ya' know....

I really am amazed that these three are where they are.

Driving?

Weightlifting with her dad?

Holding down a job and a beard AND a mohawk?

I love these big kids. They make things pretty interesting around here.

Stuff we eat: Epic Brownies

I don't think I realized until I became an adult that you could make brownies with out a box mix.

The moment it dawned on me....everything changed.

ACCESS

Around the clock access to brownies.

And this is it...the best brownie recipe ever written and we must have it forever. We must never lose it. We must have it in our grubby recipe book in Mathew's awesome teenage boy handwriting and also on the internet...just in case we need to make brownies on the road.

EPIC Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter
• ⅔ cups of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 cup of flour
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Spray the 9x13 inch non-stick baking dish with a non-stick cooking spray.
3. Put the butter in a microwave-safe bowl and melt the butter in a microwave. Mix the cocoa powder with the butter. Whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla in another large bowl. Add the butter and cocoa mixture to the egg and mix so everything is combined. Add flour, salt and baking powder to the liquid mixture, and stir until combined (don't overmix).
4. Pour the brownie batter into the baking dish, put in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 25 minutes. Make sure it's on the middle rack, not the top one (brownies on the top rack are too close to the heating element and turn out more cakelike).
5. When the brownie cools down, cut it into squares.

Notes

Do not overbake! Even if the brownie seems a little undercooked, it is fine - it will harden in a baking dish once it cools down. Resist the temptation to cook the brownie more - it will dry out if overcooked. As long as you FULLY pre-heated the oven before putting in the brownies and use the correct size (9x13 inch rectangle) pan, 25 minutes baking time is enough.

Tonsils and SuperDad

Megan went under the knife today.

She got her tonsils removed because her body won't stop making annoying tonsil stones.

She was super nervous and probably feeling ready to run, but instead she kept her cool and acted like she was old enough to move out on her own. Stressful situations bring out the adult her. (She gets that from me 😊

She never had an embarrassing moment coming out of anesthesia....she probably could have filled out her own paperwork...if she hadn't been so tired. She never dropped a single 'please' or 'thank you'. But she konked out on the way home and let me fuss over her and make her chocolate shakes and peach jello.

Strangely, she asked for cream of chicken soup. That's not something she's ever had, so I'm kinda thinkin she might have had a little conversation with my dad while she was out. I would have known for sure if she had asked for oyster stew or kippers.

While Megan was drinking her meals and exerting supreme control over the tv, Mark spent a good 3 hours helping Mat with his computer science homework. I was snuggled on the other side of the bed and marveling at the fact that I understood exactly zero percent of what they were saying.

No idea.

But I do make a wicked batch of cream of chicken soup.

Spring Break Mini-Bucket List 2019

We did not go to the Bahamas.

Some folks do.

We is not those folks.

BUT! We most certainly do know how to have a pretty sweet time in our own backyard. Kansas City is a fun place to live, and there are loads of things to do on the cheap.

A few of our adventures:

Lunch at BD's Mongolian. There was some anxiety over choosing raw meats and letting them touch other ingredients, but the coolness of the big grill won the day.

Swimming at the community center. Only $8 a person and a few years shaved off our lives from breathing pure chlorine for two hours.

This is Anna soaking in the first hint of spring sun and eating a bowl of melted chocolate.

Lots of sister time inspired by taking the bunk beds down. There is no floor space at all, but the girls love a change! It's very slumber-partyish.

Lunch at MOD pizza...cheesy goodness.

Petting all the sweet puppies at Petland. It's free and the puppies are too expensive for us to be in danger of bringing one home. (We were never in any danger...this momma's done).

Riding the Ferris Wheel at Scheel's. Everly was not feeling that and I was more than happy to send the others with Mathew and Megan. Something about getting up so close to that ceiling is so unnerving. I was loving the sunshine streaming in through the glass. It has been such a dark and dreary winter. We are sunshine hungry!

We always have extra rides on the escalator. It's free.

We finished up the day at Freezing Moo. They flash freeze your ice cream on a cold plate and roll it up for you, then they dump on the toppings. Fun!

The girls have one more day off on Monday, Ethan has Senior Skip day and poor Mathew is the only one that has to go to school. We'll sleep in and go on a bike ride in the sun. Sun Sun SUN!