Smith Family Blog: February 2015

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Snow--Round 2

Second snowstorm in a week!! We got another 4-6 inches.

Holding hands to get thru the snow

Our street

Snow tree bullseye

We walked across the street to see what the beach looks like with snow....just colder and windier

Yes we built a snowman

And yes they licked the snowman

Sister LOVE 😍😍😍

They amaze me everyday how well they get along--mind you we are together now 24/7 in a small apartment. Mike and I are losing it......the kids are unphased!!

Sister Drawings

Abby drew this of Maddy

And Maddy drew this one of Abby

Swim Fun

We have been spending a lot of time at our local gym to escape the cold and cabin fever.

One of the locations has a wonderful indoor pool we use often!!

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Fun Cooking this week

Valentines Day Weekend EATS!!

French Bread French Toast + Abby's Fav......Raspberries!!

Marinated Chicken that when split resulted in a heart :)

Cut up to make Greek Chicken Salad---DELISH!!

(Marinate 3-4 butterflied boneless breasts in 1/4C Olive Oil, Juice of 2 Lemons, 1-2 Tbsp Oregano, and some chopped garlic---Let it all marinate in a ziplock gallon bag overnight to cook the next day/night. Longer the better! Normally I then grill them, but seeing as we are in an apartment with no grill.....I just cooked them on the stove and they came out great. Top the chopped romaine with chopped kalamatta olives, cucumers, Mediterranean Feta Cheese, tomato and some Red Wine Vinagrette dressing. The dish is so filling and tasty!! NOTE: Make enough for leftovers.....you'll want it again the next day!

Another great dish I ate for three days!!! Yes 3!!!

Dijon Rosemary Pork Loin-- the simplest to make--And we enjoyed it on Valentines night!

Baked in the oven at 425 for 1 hour!

Sauteed chopped carrots and parsnips and onion for 5 minutes in pan with some olive oil.

Pour these veggies into the baking pan (I used a 8x10 pyrex). Place the pork loin directly on top of the sautéed veggies. Now to make the sauce. Chop 3 tablespoons of fresh chopped dried Rosemary and mix with 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard and a teaspoon of chopped/minced garlic and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Mix this up and spread it over your pork already in the dish. Bake uncovered for 1 hour!!

Super easy and as tender as I've ever had a pork loin.

Learned from this week......good eats can come out of a small kitchen.....just takes a little more effort

(You should see how I have to cram a weeks worth of groceries into our small fridge.....Its a Jenga game getting something out)

Braiding

Bored indoors....so we tried a new braid. "Bow Braid"

Not perfect, but Abby loved it and enjoys being my test subject.

Giggly Mess

These two know how to entertain eachother.

They have had the giggles lately.....

Not sure how they keep their cool.......I'm getting cabin fever myself....

Snow Snow Snow

And it SNOWED!!!!

We got 5-6 inches yesterday.....so we are snowed in!

And it looks like the base will be closed again tomorrow since nothing melted.....another snow day!

Abby was a little under the weather......so Maddy came outside with us for some snow fun!

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Virginia Aquarium Visit

One of the hard things about being in Virginia for such a short (but really long) time of 4 months....we miss out on value annual memberships at some really fun kid friendly places in the area.

Lucky for us we have a handful of friends still living in the area who have said memberships and can get us in discounted or FREE!!!

Today we met my friend Sarah and her two kids at the Aquarium. We had a membership 5 years ago when Maddy was a newborn.....so its been a while, but this place has NOTHING on the Monterey Aquarium---I realize we were spoiled!! Anyhow we all got in free and enjoyed a 2 hour outing.

I called it Science for the week!!