Random Life Pictures - Flowers, Food, Family, Fur Friends, and Fun

Flowers my sister gave Parker after his Starmites performance.

Usually we don't buy cut flowers since they die, it seems like a waste, but it is really nice once in a while. We thoroughly enjoyed these for a few weeks. Parker's Starmites performance was in early March.

Love notes from Josie with dying flower petals.

Josie made good use of the petals as the flowers started to die off. The gift that keeps on giving.

Josie being more specific with her love note.

This one says "I love you Mom" heart "Jo" (my nickname for her). She didn't tell me about these notes, I just would randomly find them and they would brighten my day.

Parker and Josie eating Thai to celebrate Parker's 17th birthday!

Back in late February, we finally went to Thara Thai for Parker's 17th birthday. It is a tradition for us to go out to our favorite local Thai restaurant during each person's birthday month. We never had a chance to go as a family so just Josie, Parker, and I went after a her gymnastics meet hosted by a local gym. It seemed like a good day to celebrate his birthday and a great meet. We have our "usual" dishes, but this time both Parker and I decided to order something new. Parker ordered Prik King Mock Duck; asparagus, green beans, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and seitan. This has now become a new favorite. I ordered (not pictured) Eggplant with Basil Leaves; stir-fried eggplant, onions, carrots, and basil. I will also be ordering this again!

Twins; Dema and our dog, Gracie.

Gracie usually sleeps on Parker's king sized bed if she isn't sleeping on a dog bed, but lately she's been joining Dema in his twin bed. It is pretty sweet.

Parker's broccoli soup and roasted Brussels sprouts.

The other day when Dema and I were walking the dogs, I asked Parker to roast some Brussels sprouts and finish up broccoli soup I had started. I left him with a soup pot filled with chopped red onions, red lentils, broccoli, garlic, turmeric, black pepper, red pepper flakes, nutritional yeast, and water. We came back to a lovely lunch. Parker is now officially in charge of Brussels sprouts. Parker grew up making broccoli soup so he went ahead and added a bunch of spices to make it his own. The sprouts he roasted at 415 degrees F with olive oil, nutritional yeast, tamari, turmeric, black pepper, red pepper  flakes, hot sauce, and a bit of iodized sea salt. So delicious and just want my brassica loving teen was looking for in a lunch.

Josie worked really hard on minimizing her clothes recently. We rarely buy any clothes for her, but she gets a lot of hand-me-downs from friends. It helps to be younger than most of your friends. Usually, she wants to hold onto everything for sentimental value since "x" friend gave it to her or "y" made it for her, but all of the sudden she has matured and she was able to get rid of five bags stuffed full of clothes. Meanwhile, I was supposed to be getting the kitchen things minimized and I got stuck on the refrigerator and everyone pitched in. Don't look at the drawers, but we did get the rest of the refrigerator cleaned and better organized. It makes me so happy to open it up and have everything where I want it!

Dema (right reddish blob) and Josie (black and white blob) playing in the Spring rain.

While we really didn't even have a winter (scary), it is still nice when spring has sprung. The rain showers and the sunny days both mean Dema and Josie playing at the park. Most people like the smell of babies and I have to admit, that is a great smell, but my favorite smell in the world is child's head just in from playing at the park.

Canine boarder, Bodie, is so funny when we won't give him a treat he twists himself into this position on our kitchen floor.

We've had Bodie as a guest three or four times now, always a couple weeks at a time. He is pretty tightly wound and we joke that he might have OCD like Dema since Bodie has some interesting habits and suffers from anxiety. He's a great dog with loads of personality and we love him.

Josie can't do anything the easy way. This is how I find her watching movies.

Gymnastics touches every aspect of Josie's life, even watching movies.

Sale vegan Valentine chocolate.

I don't think I bought any Valentine's Day treats for the kids this year, but these were on sale recently at the co-op so I thought we'd give them a try.

 I didn't realize until Josie opened her's up that the outside was chocolate with chocolate truffles inside. It took them days to eat it, but thumbs up from all of them. They prefer dark chocolate, but the vegan "milk" chocolate was a nice change of pace.

I'm always amazed at how many vegan treat options we have now!

Canine boarder, Gunner, loves our soft sided crate. Josie made a  blanket tent next to it and the two of them had a great time lounging, napping, drawing, and reading.