We declared the 3rd week of March "Deep Fryer Week." What a way to cook!
About once every 6 months we dig the fryer out of storage, clean it, and switch out the oil. It's such a labor intensive project (not to mention, it's not the healthiest of ways to cook). Which is why we limit it to just twice a year. But once that fryer is up and running, we like to get our money's worth out of it. And have several rounds of frying, before finally putting the contraption back in storage. And this was the week.
For our first night, Matt made his famous french fries. (Ok...maybe "famous" is an overstatement. I know I've had them. Maybe our parents too? But they are so good, they SHOULD be famous!) And we eat them "Chicago style." With chunks of raw onion and mustard. My mouth is watering just writing about it...
I know you are a bit confused... I specifically mentioned RAW onion. So why the bowl of grilled onions and jalapenos?? Toppings for our burgers of course!
Later in the week, the Ikea fairy visited our house. Our new toy storage furniture had arrived. We bought two shelving sets, for a total of 16 cubbies. Install was surprisingly easy.
The fabric bins I had ordered from Target were still in route. Pictures of the finished product will be in next week's blog. The hope is that this will transform our basement from a disorganized mess into a beautiful playroom.
It snowed Thursday night into Friday. And since driving in snow is not enjoyable for either Matt or I, we decided to forgo the Friday lunch date and instead have brunch with whole family Saturday morning. We tried a new place called Rise! and the food was phenomenal. It's not your typical diner food. It's an international gourmet take on breakfast food. For example, Kale had a German apple pancake - one giant cake 3 inches thick and baked in a cast iron skillet. I had rajas and eggs - a mix of roasted poblano peppers, onions, and potatoes served next to scrambled eggs and fresh pico. I want it again right now!
The food was perfect. The kids were a little rowdy.
We might not be ready for brunch excursions quite yet....
The plan after brunch was to take the kids on their first sledding adventure ever. Couldn't be a more perfect day. Fresh snow accumulation. Yet the sun was hot and the skies could not have been bluer.
We headed out to Fossil Creek Park.
We had many hills to choose from. We started small, and worked our way up to some bigger slopes.
I had more fun than I was expecting. It's really a treat when the "family activity" can entertain everyone. I hadn't been sledding since pre-Sage. I'm guessing it was winter of 2011.
I proclaimed to the family that "we need to sled more!" It's completely free. (Unlike skiing). And just a 10 minute drive down the road (Unlike skiing).
Sunday morning Matt made eggs. I get my eggs from my boss at work. He has chickens, and he generously shares with everyone in the office. Lately, the color combinations have been incredible. So pretty you don't want to eat them.
But then Matt sprinkles in the dill, and you just want more scrambled goodness. (A generous sprinkling of dill is our family secret to delicious scrambled eggs. Try it!)
Then I headed out the door to go grocery shopping, and while at the market, got us all some doughnuts (a standing Sunday tradition).
Kale had one. Can you tell?
A fresh outfit, and a wipe of the face... he was good-looking kid again! But I left the stickers in place. Too cute to remove. He put them on himself.
I sure do love this 18-month-old...
As the afternoon wore on, the temps steadily rose. And soon we were all outside. Just a few remaining spots of snow. Otherwise, you would never believe we had been sledding the day before.
Sage and his dad did some gardening.
Sage found a worm, and he declared "wormy" to be his best friend.
Sage took wormy on many adventures. Poor wormy. Wormy had a bath. Wormy went down the slide. Wormy went in the shed. Finally we convinced Sage that wormy needed to take a nap in the dirt. Wormy was tired!
Kale did his own strange things....
Something about this look...
I couldn't stop thinking about Mork and Mindy.
Kale of the FUTURE!!!!!!
Kale worked tirelessly to get the rest of the snow off the porch.
And with the end of the weekend upon us, and the start of yet another work week, it was time to check the gratitude meter...
Yes.. panties (in one form or another) made the gratitude board TWICE. Maybe it was more a "panty week" than a "deep fryer week"?!?
Little did we know that in 48 hours Mother Nature would give us one more great big thing to be grateful for. A SNOW DAY!!!!!
6am on Wednesday...there wasn't much to fuss about. Just a small layer.
But the accumulation picked up pace. Only took an hour for about a foot to fall. By 7am I had received a text from campus saying that classes were cancelled. Couldn't believe it. Snow days are rare for CSU, and we'd already had one this year.
I did a second take. Sure enough. Another snow day. I jumped for joy.... And jumped and jumped! (Literally - I was bouncing in the living room.)Sage looked at me and asked me what was I was doing.
"Snow day, baby. We got a snow day!"
We made our own little sledding hill in the backyard. We started organizing the toys in the basement. We did puzzles, and sticker art, and colored. We rolled up 27 pairs of matching socks, finally getting rid of that hideous pile in the corner. And by 5pm we were all exhausted from the unplanned family fun.
