InstaFriday

Kids checking the weather out our bedroom window.  :)

Decorating "clover crowns" at the library. 

Trialed a new hatha & flow practice for beginners today and LOVED it!  I love trialing these from the library.  This is going on my Amazon wish list. 

First time using a belt/strap in practice and wishing I'd started sooner!  It's awesome!! 

Slight improvement in one week in my standing forward fold.  Better form and slight improvement to spine posture.  I'm practicing! 

This is one of my least favorite poses so far cause I feel so weak and shaky in it.  I have a lot of core and back strengthening work to do!  I'm no where near straightening my legs up at a 45.  Yoga practice is so humbling!! 

Crushing graham cracker crumbs for the dessert we're making. 

UFC 158:  GSP vs Nick Diaz.  The usual gang is over to watch the fights. 

Brutus... just chillin'. 

Warrior 2, Peaceful Warrior and Tree.  Need to square my hips a bit... 

Playing with lotus pose and a lift.  For now, I can only do lotus with the right leg on top.  My left hip is far more open than my right.  ??? 

The boy's got some upper body strength! 

First day of spring coming up and these cold temps are still making me crave "fall food".  Diced squash & apples for a sweet autumn chicken dish this week. 

Reading all 11 of our newest library books on Sunday afternoon. 

Monday was a scarf-wearing kind of day... Keeps the chillies out.  Come on, spring! 

Enjoying our weekly library stack.  A few have been added to birthday wish lists.  :) 

This is the 2nd and 3rd borrowing of these respective books.  LOVE them both and Sophie will likely be opening them next month on her birthday!   

First attempt at mermaid pose.  I've got a ways to go. 

Scenes from my morning practice.  No fancy shmancy... just some basics as I work through Surya Namaskara A.  Working on my hand-to-feet spacing in down dog. 

Chaturanga and upward facing dog.  Need to make my arms 90 in chaturanga. 

Handsomest boys I know... watching March Madness!!  After a particularly impressive dunk, Will said "that was epic!"  Haha!  Where does he get this stuff?

Miscellaneous March

Will's Kindergarten teacher has started a class blog for the second half of the school year.  The kids log on each week to answer a new question by leaving comments.  The teacher usually responds back to them and it's an exercise in navigating social media.  Still hard to believe that this will be the norm for our children's generation! 

As with pretty much all children of this generation, Will picks this stuff up so quickly!  He's going to be ahead of me in technical knowledge in no time.

No, we don't normally allow standing on chairs at the dinner table or anywhere, but sometimes she ends up partially standing to get out of her chair.  Well, this night she just started dancing her little heart out and we couldn't stop laughing and taking pictures.  :)

 

A late March surprise snow fall.  Not much, but still pretty!

Cuddling and tickling with daddy at the end of a lazy weekend lunch.  She loves to be tickled by daddy.

Love these two.

Randomly, Sophie broke out this combo of hero/fish pose and asked me to take her picture.  Love my little yogini!  They remember the names of so many of these yoga poses.  :)

I caught Sophie in a quiet moment, snuggled in her bed with a book.

Meanwhile, Craig and Will caught a BIG 10 basketball game.

Aaaand, one more from this weekend...

...yet, no words to describe:

InstaFriday

First time shooting Craig's S&W 9mm (his birthday present to himself back in October).  Craig's gun collection is still pretty small despite the ginormous gun safe we've owned for many years now.

My squinty, focus-face.  Try not to laugh.  I believe this one was his grandfather's gun?

Get ready for lots of yoga pics to become part of my Instagram posts.  It is a tremendous help to see my form in various postures and target the areas I need to work on.  This is going to be my "before" pic for wheel pose or backbend.  Going to work on straighter arms and legs as my back becomes more flexible.

Craig and I got out for TWO date nights in a row this weekend!  Woot! Woot!  On this night, we went to Revolution Grille for our brother-in-law, Steve's, birthday.  The menus were on iPads (one for each guest) and the food was AMAZING!  (Craig wasn't a fan, but his taste in food is questionable.)

Oh my goodness.  Sooooo delicious!!!  Fried Brussels sprout appetizer with pine nuts, pecorino Romano and white-truffle mustard sauce.  My drink was a sparkling kiwi grapefruit cocktail.  Oh and the bread had shallots baked onto the top and tasted like French onion soup.  I've died and gone to heaven, I think.  I want to eat here every day.

Grilled mahi mahi tacos (I'd already eaten one in this pic) and a glass of Riesling paired with.  I need a girls night here again ASAP!  Casey, clear your schedule!!  We need to go!!

Will has moved up to the 3rd grade sight words list!

This revolved triangle pose is so awkward for me as a beginner.  Pretty much any pose with the word "revolved" in it (where your upper body is rotating in the opposite direction of your lower body) is not a friend of mine right now.  And when done with effort and focus, yoga is a hell of a lot harder of a workout than I used to think!

I'm pretty comfortable in headstand.  The balance poses are my strong suit.  It's the flexibility that I struggle most with.  Workin' on it!

My completely beginner down dog.  I think my hamstrings hate me.  ;)  My heels are no where near the floor and there is so much I need to fix about this picture (bringing my head further through my arms and putting more upper body weight into my fingers rather than just the heels of my hands).

Setting the dinner table... in a tutu and ballet slippers, naturally.

Many Makings honey cashew chicken stir fry for dinner.  Yum.  I love adding nuts to cooking and baking.  Any kind.  I love them all.

Borrowing a friend's Zoya Rory (the pink) accented with my own Zoya Luna (the silver sparkle).  Dig it.

Chicken gyros for dinner.  Mmm!  Thank you, Pinterest.

A favorite read this week:  a book of homophones.  :)

Evening yoga practice.  I tried candlelight tonight.  :)

Good morning!  Trying out Shiva Rea Vinyasa Flow (a library DVD) before work this morning.  I'm not sold on this at all yet.  Maybe down the line.  But for now, it's not my style.  And p.s. - my side angle pose (bottom) is simply horrid with regards to form.  Do not take notes from these pics!  ;)

Another evening practice.  Working on back flexibility this night. 

What hot fudge sundaes at 11 p.m.?  I don't know what you're talking about.  ;)

Zoya Aurora is almost hypnotic!  I couldn't stop staring myself into a stupor!  This is another loaner but I will definitely be buying this one.

Running ALL of his knock knock jokes by me after brushing teeth tonight.  Haha!

Playing a post-bath round of an Eric Carle coloring game before bedtime.

Choke hold?  Or hug?  You decide.

Hubby's old t-shirt.  A Christmas present from me a few years ago.  My dad and brother in law have the same shirt from my mom and sis.  :)

Babysitting Mya & Stella tonight.  So it's another Friday night round of dress up!  :)  Love the babysitting trade offs with my sissy!!

My go-to dinner when the cousins come over:  BREAKFAST!  It's always a crowd pleaser.

Group hug before I take Mya & Stella home for bed.  Sophie's across from Will even though you can't see her.  Love these kiddies!!

What's For Dinner? March Weeks 1&2

{Week of March 2-8}
On the menu for this week:
1) Southwestern chopped chicken salad (found on Pinterest)
2) Mediterranean chicken skewers with feta dipping sauce (Many Makings)
3) mini meatloaves with roasted potatoes with thyme
4) brownie berry "pizza" - my fave brownie base, a thin cream cheese "sauce", and strawberries, raspberries and blueberries scattered all over the top

{Week of March 9-15}
On the menu for this week:
1) fresh homemade salsa (just for snacking)
2) BLT's
3) Italian stuffed shells (pulled from our freezer stash)
4) chicken gyros (found on Pinterest)
5) honey cashew chicken (Many Makings)