Football, Beer and Swimming

Today was a pretty awesome start to the weekend. Michelle and I met up for an almost 5.5 mile run this morning and if it wasn't so humid, I'm pretty sure we would have pushed past 6. The humidity is killing us though.

With only a month until the 10 miler we are trying to up our distances. I'm not terribly concerned about time right now, because we are pretty close to the target time and on race day adrenaline normally pushes us a little faster.

Today was also the season kick off game for Notre Dame. Naturally, I wore my ND shirt and the kiddos actually picked out their matching shirts to wear with me.

How cute are we? I mean really? Now to be fair we will all wear our Seminole gear on Monday for the FSU season opener, but today was all about the blue and gold.

This afternoon we headed up to Mimi and Paw Paw's and met up with my friend Michelle and her family for an afternoon in the pool. Seriously, it is so hot and humid that the only thing to do is swim and drink beer. I mean, I guess the beer is optional, but whatever. I did however have an issue with drinking Sam Adams

OctoberFest while swimming. There's just something inherently wrong with that.

All of the kids had a blast and fell asleep in record time this evening. I'm fairly certain that I will be right  behind them. This has definitely been a great start to the holiday weekend and I hope yours is going just as well!

Champs Bowl 2011

We went to the Champs Bowl last night to see Notre Dame (GOOOOOOOOO Irish!) play Florida State. Scott went to Florida State and normally I'm a FSU fan, however, since my Irish were playing I had to rock "the shirt".

Yes friends, it was a house divided. Unfortunately, as my father says, "they blew the G-damn game" and the Noles won. Regardless, it was an awesome time and we had amazing seats. Thanks again Harley and Michelle for having the hook up and getting us those seats!

By far the coolest part of the game was watching four paratroopers parachute in with the flags.

Another fun fact for this game is that the first FSU game that Scott saw was at the Citrus Bowl, with Harley, when they played Notre Dame.

We won't go into specifics on this game, because as we found out last night, it makes Scott sound like a dirty old man. Ok, we can go into specifics, Scott was a junior in high school and I wasn't even in junior high. Awesome.

I would also like to take this time to thank the old man that dressed up similar to a leprechaun in our section (he even danced), the fall down drunk lesbians in front of us for making me chuckle, and the drunk guy in front of the lesbians who probably has no voice today, but who made very valid points; EJ did play like a poor man's Brantley last night.

The weekend with the epic fails

We had a couple epic fails this weekend, and by weekend I mean Saturday. For like two weeks Notre Dame was predicted to go to the Champs Bowl here in Orlando. Can you imagine my excitement? So Saturday Scott ordered the tickets and I was pumped. Then Sunday happened and it was announced that Notre Dame would be going to the Sun Bowl in Texas. Right.... FAIL!

In a related story, anyone want Champs Bowl tickets?

So onto the next fail of the weekend I ordered Scott's Christmas present on Thursday. Being the awesome shopper that I am I saved something crazy like 80% on this gift and got free 2 day shipping to boot. Well do the math, the package was coming on Saturday, his day off. I thought I was in the clear when he went to help his Dad set up the tree but no....no....FedEx came 5 minutes after he came home and I was drying my hair. What's better you ask? It was in the manufacturer's box. I'm still making him wait until Christmas though, but I'm pretty sure he has pulled up the manual and knows all the ins and outs of the present. FAIL!

And the final fail of the weekend? I realized I didn't own National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I should be disowned from my family. No worries though, picked it up at Target last night. FAIL averted!

Thanksgiving Thursday

For those of you that don't know what Thanksgiving Thursday is, it is the one time during the week where you stop and basically count your blessings. Even if you've had one of those weeks, I promise you can find at least one thing to be thankful for, no matter how big or small.

This week I am thankful for:

• Scott giving me 2 hours to do nothing yesterday. He even took the kids to Mimi and Paw Paw's so I could have the house to myself (I was climbing the walls after 30 minutes).

• Aaron's ever expanding vocabulary, which now includes "My turn! My turn!", even if it's not his turn his turn.

• Jill's creative/artistic side, which includes acting out scenes from movies, coloring and yelling the word "arabesque" while doing one.
  

• The way my parents tell a story, I only hope I can make my kids laugh as hard as they do.

• Mimi and Paw Paw having us for dinner on Labor Day and making the kiddos favorite cookies (ginger molasses).

• Finishing my first class, I got a B, I'm not thrilled I got a B though. Should have been an A.

• My friend Jenn's son B, he is so good with our kids and they love him. Some day in the very very very far future he will make an awesome dad. Did I mention in the very very very very far future?

• An awesome librarian in the kids department. She's so sweet, the kids love her and always say hi. She even came out from the back office yesterday to say hi to them.

• Florida State and Notre Dame winning their first games of the season, let's keep it that way guys.

• All the sweet comments from my feature day.
  

• All the amazing sponsors we have gotten for the End of Summer Blog Party, we're around 25 prizes which is awesome (and they're really great prizes, one even made Lani and I say "Oh my God!").
  

What are you thankful for? Link up below:



Don't forget to stop by my review blog and enter my recipe contest. The winner receives 5 vouchers for free Van's All Natural Products!

Zucchini Bread

We had a pretty busy day today! I made some zucchini bread this morning and it is way super delicious!

Here's what you need:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 beaten egg
1 cup sugar
1 cup finely shredded unpeeled zucchini
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Here's what you do:
Grease a loaf pan and set aside.
In a medium bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder and nutmeg. Make a well in center of flour mixture and set aside.
In another bowl combine egg, sugar, zucchini and oil. Add all of this to the dry mix and combine. Fold in nuts and spoon into pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes.


This bread is so yummy! It was barely cool before Scott was digging in!



This afternoon Scott and I went to get him a tuxedo for his 4th degree with Knights of Columbus. It worked out that we were able to get the tux and shoes for just under $100. How perfect is that?! I also was able to get myself a dress for the event for $40. Gotta love the holiday sales!

The kiddos hung out with Mimi and PawPaw so we could shop and try things on in piece. They even helped cheer PawPaw's team (Ohio State) to a victory! Sadly, even though they were in their Notre Dame gear the team lost :(


Hope you had a great day, and be sure to check out our family photos from Impressions in Time!