Our friend, Kristina has decided to document her journey through her 31st year on God’s green Earth. What better way to do it than to write a blog? Check her out early and often! Good Luck, K! Here’s the URL:

http://kristinayork.blogspot.com/

Introducing a new category: Big Green Foot! Chris and I set a goal of growing something that we could actually eat this summer. We moved too late to plant a garden in the Spring like all the normal people so we are having to settle for a summer/fall garden. We built a raised bed “Lasagna Garden” that is 4×4 feet and 10 inches deep. We got it filled up and ready for plants today and so I thought it would be a good time to introduce you guys to our little patch of heaven. OK, so it’s not real lush and pretty just yet, but just you wait!!

More pics here.

1 cup dry Couscous
1 cup Chicken broth or stock
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen sweet corn kernels, thawed
1 medium red pepper, diced
6 green onions, sliced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Lime Juice
1 1/2 tsp Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Black Pepper

In a large saucepan, bring broth to a boil. Stir in couscous. Remove from the heat.  Cover and let stand for 5-10 minutes or until broth is absorbed. Fluff with a fork.

Into the cooked couscous, stir the beans, red pepper, onions and cilantro. In a small bowl, whisk the oil, lime juice, vinegar, cumin, salt and pepper. Drizzle over salad and toss to coat.

Number of Servings: 6

Chris and I have been married more than 10 years now and to celebrate we decided to take a second honeymoon.  We waited for school to let out and then headed to Sandy Tonio (as Noah calls it) for a few days of relaxation.  It was great.  We stayed in a little cabin/duplex thing at a neat little hotel.  We were the only ones there without kids…and we LOVED IT.  We spent some time seeing the Alamo, the Riverwalk, and the Missions of San Antonio.  We did some shopping and ate at a great German restaurant.  Life was good.   We took some pics and posted them here.  I can’t wait to go back and maybe even take the kids.

We just got back from Andrew’s third birthday.  The party was down at the little train by the zoo and it was Thomas the Tank Engine themed.  We had a great time, the weather was amazing, and the scenery was nice, too.  I posted some pics over on Flickr. Here’s my favorite one:

I meant to post this earlier, but I never got around to it.  Last weekend I ran a triathlon for the first time ever!  I finished it alive–which was my number one goal–and in record time.  OK, it was my first tri so of course it had to be a record, but I am really pleased with my finish.  I cut about 2 minutes off my fastest swim ever.  I think I can attribute that to my fancy speedo.  My bike was a little slow, but then again there was some stiff wind and more hills than I expected.  The first 10 minutes I was FREEZING because I was still wet from the pool.  I was exhausted going into the 5k run at the end.  My legs were dead from the bike and running past the finish area was a real downer (because I could see all those people finishing while I still had 3 miles to run!).  Anyway, I finished with a 5k time that was 20 seconds faster than the one I ran at the Cowtown.  This was after swimming 275 yards and riding a bike 12 miles!  Myra and Noah escorted me across the finish line.

My main goal was to finish without walking a step and I met that goal.  I also wanted to swim at least half the swim without stopping.  I ended up swimming the whole thing without stopping, and passing a ton of people in the process.  I’m not sure if I want to do another one of these things.  I signed up for this one because I wanted to get in shape, but also, I wanted to push my body and prove to myself that I still had it in me.  The 4 months of training was a real beating, but the feeling of crossing the finish line was GREAT!

More pics here.

It’s been a VERY long time since I last posted.  So much has happened!!  August 2009, I got a job as a “Young Pre-Kindergarten” Teacher at on of our local day care centers.  In December, I interviewed for and was offered a job as a Content Mastery Aide at Wayside Middle School.  I couldn’t refuse!  I love my job and the kids.  Yes, I get frustrated but what could be better than having a job where you are on the same schedule as the rest of your family …. and not being trapped in the house.  Don’t get me wrong, I miss “the babies” but I absolutely love walking in my door and feeling a sense of relief.  I guess that covers the “out of the home” part of the title.  Let’s move on to the single, shall we?

Monday (aka Day One):  Josh left this morning for his annual trip to Camp Goddard.  This is his third time going which makes this my third time being left alone with the kids.  This year, however, I am working outside the home.  Josh is the one who takes the kids to school and brings them home!  How is this going to work?!?  Ms F to the rescue and I can’t express how grateful I am for her and her personal bus service.  Today went pretty smooth but, I must admit, I’m dreading bedtime.   I know Myra will have plenty of tears to shed.  And I have a feeling that trying to get everyone ready for school in the morning will be a challenge.   I can’t just throw on some sweats and stuff my hair under a hat this year.

Noah says “Me eenor” when he’s trying to say “Me neither.”  It always sounds so cute.  Chris and I had a conversation today about the things that we will miss (or already miss) the kids saying as they grow up.   I’m a little torn on correcting the kids speech when they say such cute things!  On one hand, I don’t want them talking like a baby when they’re a senior in high school, but on the other, I love to hear those things and remember the days when my little ones really were…little.  I wish I could keep the kids tiny forever!  This could be related to that dang gray hair I found growing in my beard last week.

A few days ago, I went to get Noah from Ms. Stacey’s room after school.  He was really excited to show me a tiny green treasure chest.  He had pulled a tooth!  The weird thing is, we didn’t know he even had a loose tooth.  He had never complained about it or anything like that.  Of course, the Tooth Fairy visited him that night.  Now he’s wiggling every tooth he can in hopes of finding another loose one!  Here he is showing off his new space: