All About DS

Happy beginning of the week to ya!!  Hope everyone is well.  Aside from DD coming down with a doozy of a cold, all’s good on my end.  DS’s b-day was Friday…can’t believe my baby is 9!!!
The celebration lasted for 2 days and was he ever soaking the attention up.  LOL  On Friday he had 2 school friends over for a bit after school, then we took them down to see a hockey game.  One kid had never even watched hockey on TV and was SO excited.  It was a pleasure to watch him.  He told me at one point that his “spirit was on fire”.  Love it!!  Where do kids come up with these things?  It was a good game with our team winning 6-2.  I don’t have any photos from the evening because I forgot my camera.  DOH!  Saturday morning was spent doing housework and getting the rec room ready for more company as DS had 4 of his hockey teammates over to “hang out” for a few hours.  Surprisingly, there were no fights, bruises or tears!  Boys can get pretty rough, especially when they’re used to being on the ice together, so we were pleased that there were no issues.  One of the boys has a sister DD’s age so she came over, too.  Girls always have something or other to discuss, right?!  Haha!!  After the boys left we packed up and went to see Yogi Bear 3D. 
Cute movie.  It was DS’s choice and the kids really enjoyed it.  The next stop was dinner at Einstein’s Café.  Here are few photos we took while waiting for our meals:   And here are our dinners!
Bruschetta to start.  The kids stole a few pieces before I could get the camera out! They were hungry!!  My hubby had shrimp primavera which was done with rice noodles in a light sauce.  He really enjoyed it…
I went with the special; salmon with a tomato/mango salsa and a cowl of curried zucchini soup to start:
The food was outstanding!  My salmon was cooked to (my) perfection…just like butter.  Oh, my!  My hubby helped me with the soup and we both enjoyed it as, well.  The kids both had pasta; DD’s was a pesto penne and DS’s a penne Bolognese, no photos, though.  Needless to say, we were all too full for dessert!  We ended the night in our “comfy” clothes and a Shrek movie.
Sunday held exciting plans for the adult portion of our household; a trip to Lululemon and Whole Foods which is about 1 hour away.  DD was happy to go to Lulu, not so happy about Whole Foods and DS pitched a fit about the whole deal.  Luck for him, his friend called up just as we were about to leave to see if he wanted to spend the day at his house.  Crisis averted!  LOL  I was a good girl at Lulu and only walked out with 2 pairs of undies and 1 pair of shorts.  My hubby went a little crazier, but he found pretty much what he was after so all was good.  After all, we do *try* to work so we can play!  As luck would have it we reached WF at noon.  I whipped around the store finding everything I wanted before we hit the sandwich bar for food to go.  But first, the goods: Marianne blogged about the Nature’s Path cereal and seeing as she’s never steered me wrong I picked up a box.  Divine, I tell you….and for a good cause to boot!  I just love that company!  I also bought some Tortilla chips, rainbow chard, ground bison and we ground our own peanut butter.  On to our sammies.  My hubby had a ham and grilled asparagus on a ciabatta bun:  While I devoured a buffalo mozzarella/tomato/basil beauty: DD had a turkey and brie, but as usual was too busy eating it to be bothered by a photo.  We also popped into Starbucks where I got a grande NF gingerbread misto:
I finished off the weekend by making a huge pot of split pea soup for dinner which was much appreciated seeing as the temps around here are back to ridiculously freezing! Other notable eats are as follows:
DS wanted waffles for his b-day breakfast.  These had mini caramel stuffed chocolates in them!
  We had Thai after hockey one night.  Spring rolls, Pad Thai, oh my! I’m off now to read some magazines.  They’ve accumulated like bunnies lately and I promised myself 30 minutes of reading them each night this week.  As I read them I pass them on to a girl at work.  I can’t bear to throw them out so I donate them where I can!!
Have a great night…..
Bye for now!!

Soccer, Hockey and the USA

Happy last week of January, everyone!  Can you believe the month is already over?  I sure can’t!  And my baby will be NINE on Friday!  Holy smokes.  I actually had him on a Monday so technically,  9 years ago today was a pretty eventful one!  LOL
The past week has yet again been hockey heavy.  The boys are in the beginnings of playoffs now so the schedule has been erratic at best.  When and who we play depends on how the other teams are doing so there have been a few occasions where we get an email about a game that has been added to the schedule for the very next day.  Not much to do but roll with it. 
In my last post I mentioned that I hurt my back doing level 2 of Jillian Michael’s Shred it With Weights.  Thanks for all the well wishes!!  I’m happy to report that I’m back in action, but it took a full week to feel OK again.   
I kept it low key in the gym last week by doing some light cardio Tues & Thurs (walking on the treadmill at a speed of 3.5mph, incline set at 5%.  My usual is 4.2mph, incline at 8.5%) and yet another Jillian Michael’s DVD that is new to me on Wed & Friday:
I’m not huge on yoga so I really liked that although yoga moves are the basis of the workout, there’s plenty of exercises to get the blood flowing and the heart rate up.  And it was perfect for my back because no weights are involved; it’s all about using your own body as resistance.  I’m 95% sure that I will not continue with level 2 of SIWW as I do not want to injure myself again.  That being said, I really do like the workout so I may give it a go on Friday’s making sure to use a lighter weight and sticking to the modified exercises.
This past weekend was a great one!  Well, Sunday mostly.  DS had soccer practice and a uniform fitting first thing in the morning.  Here he is in his practice uniform.  
That boy just has no patience for the camera, but I harass him with it anyways!  :)  We had enough time to go home for lunch before switching gears to hockey mode.  We had an away game in a border town which worked in my favour.  *wink wink*  The boys played like beasts and came out of it with a 3-1 win which was all the more awesome because the same team beat us 4-1 on Saturday.  The boys were all “BOOYA, other team!” LOL 
After the game I bribed my crew with dinner at Panera if they put up with me at Target and Wegman’s.  A half hour later we feasted!  DS took a photo of his grilled cheese/yogurt tube.  He also ate my chips;
My hubby had the Frontega Chicken panini:
And I enjoyed a half turkey artichoke with a garden salad.
DD had a chicken Caesar but was eating it like it was her job so I left her to it!  Haha!  Here are some of the goodies that I bought at Target & Wegman’s:  

I did buy non-food related items, too, but will save them for another post.  One fun item I did find right in my own city on Saturday was this: Which was fabulous on a toasted Ezekiel muffin! And then there was this deliciousness!! Tastes like chocolate milk with a kick….a very good kick!!  :)
And before I sign off, some of my more interesting eats of the week!! And my crack is back, in the form of cinnamon hearts! Bye for now!!!