Dinner

Roasted butternut squash for soup.....mmmmmm

Sick Baby

Asher is not sick that much. He has ear infections a lot, but it's rare that he has an actual, bonified cold. But boy, does he have a doozy of one now. I took this picture at 1 pm today. I'm still in my pajamas. He was fine as long as I held him, or sat of the floor while he played. Getting anything else done was impossible. We were reading books when he finally conked out....and that's where I stayed while he slept.

Sunday

Sunday. The coffee will get microwaved at least three times before I get a chance to drink it. The paper *might* get read by Thursday. Asher will eat all of his breakfast and half of mine. I will pick the sippy cup up off the floor 8 times. Nina will stay in her pjs all day. Riley will go outside, inside, outsite until 11 am. He will then sleep all day. Blake will not get up until at least 10. Sunday.

Trouble

"But why can't I go to school like this....I'm sooooo beautiful"!!!

Maybe Madonna needs her for the next 80's tour......

Dinner

As my children get older, I try to look for little clues about their personalities. For example: when Nina was a baby, she never rolled over. Not once. After taking her to the doctor for about the 9th time, he assured me that she could in fact roll over, she just chooses not to. I should have heeded those words more carefully because she's still stubborn. These pictures say a lot to me. Nina can't sit still - not for one minute. She's always ready to jump into the next thing, always prepared for what's to come next.....and she never, never, ever sits still at mealtime. Asher is also always on the move, but he's more willing to just sit back and enjoy the chaos around him. He's just chilling, but has his little foot hooked into something stable.

Just 15 minutes of peace.......

Asher is napping, Nina's doing paper dolls at the kitchen table, and all I want is to sit in a comfy chair and read my magazine for 15 minutes. Is it really too much to ask???

A Conversation at Lunch

"Mommy (breath). Today is cardboard box day. Anyone who doesn't work gets turned into a cardboard box (breath). You know what (breath)? There was this man and he wasn't working, so he got turned into a cardboard box and then there was this lady who wasn't working, and she got turned into a cardboard box, but then she went to work, so she got turned back (breath). And you know what (breath)? The man who wasn't working and got turned into a cardboard box needed a haircut, so he went to the Barber, who was the lady who was a cardboard box, but then started working, so now she wasn't (BIG breath and an eye roll), but she didn't know how to cut around corners, so his hair was really flat on the sides, and kind of long on the top - you know - the man who was a cardboard box (breath). Mommy (breath)? Can I be done eating now because I really want to make the cardboard box head out of the box that you gave Asher to play with (breath)?"

waiting for hannah

Stuff that drives me crazy.......

This is the playroom. Neat as a pin. It's 4 in the afternoon, and I need to start making dinner. Notice the lack of children. Odd, isn't it?

This is me in the kitchen - stuck by the stove in the corner - the only place where I can stay out of the way, and you can't see me. And where are the toys??? Why in the playroom...duh. I swear, we could have saved ourselves hundred of dollars because all they want to play with is the tupperware and baking supplies. I guess I should be thankful that they just want to be around me. Maybe we'll have grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner because I can't get out of the corner without breaking my neck!

Easter at the Pagoda

Easter this year was a quiet one for us. We didn't have a big dinner, didn't travel, and it was all good. The kids got their baskets, and we did a small egg hunt in the backyard. For some reason, Nina's been wanting to see the Pagoda, so we took the long windy road up there and saw it up close. She thought it was pretty neat, even if it was freezing. Spring can come anytime soon.

Love

Abe Lincoln is also Uncle Scott

We send Nina to an art based school for a reason. She's very artistic, but then again with parents who have English and Art degrees, what can we expect. I suppose I should focus more on math and science, which she also likes, but I get a kick out of her creations. Lately, she's into making me fans with pretty designs on the inside. Most of them say, "I love Mommy", and I save every single one of them because the day is coming when she won't feel that way.

This is her latest creation done in charcoal and oil pastel (as she told me). It's suppose to be Abe Lincoln, but we've all agreed that it looks an awful lot like Uncle Scott (it might be the eyebrows).

Raising a "Type A" child

Nina's teacher pulled me aside the other day and said, "She must be a real challenge to parent". Oh cripe. What did she do now? I just smiled and gave my token answer, "I just keep telling myself that she'll be a really confident adult". At least that's what I hope.

Nina has always had very definite ideas about how things should be. And it's just easier if we all go along with it because there will be no peace until it's the way that she's designed it. It might seem a wimpy way of parenting, but we pick our battles. She has a very acute attention to detail, very good color matching skills, and a most annoying sense of order.

My mom made her this beautiful Alice in Wonderland costume, which Nina promptly returned because Gigi forgot to put pockets in the apron; therefore, it was unfit to be worn until that problem was fixed. Gigi also sent her a stuffed hippo for Easter. I opened the box before Nina got home from school and peeked inside. I saw the hippo and thought about removing it because I knew exactly what would happen. She would want a tutu for the hippo to wear. So, I stood there, staring at the hippo, weighing how long it would take me to make a hippo tutu and if it was even worth it. I let her have the darn hippo, and I spent some time last night making a tutu for it. She also wants hippo ballet slippers, but I "think" I have her convinced that hippos toes are much too delicate to be wrapped up in shoes. They simply cannot dance properly if they have to wear those clumsy shoes with lots of ribbons.

These are a few of my favorite things....

• flowers on anything - clothes, accessories, or just as they are



• petit fours (those little cakes)



• Vera Bradley handbags



• bunny statues



• the smell of the ocean



• rain



• anything made with pudding



• my hobbies



• the way my kids' necks smell after a bath



• Nina's kitten; although, he is very bad....which makes me like him all the more



• strawberries



• Halloween



• flea markets



• Blake's sense of humor, which is also on my "most annoying" list

Must be nice.....

So, it's 4:30 in the morning, and I can't sleep. This is not unusual. My mind starts racing about all the projects that are piled in my studio, a free knitting pattern that I wanted to print off the computer, the stack of clothes that need to get sold, grocery lists, and about a million other things. On this morning, however, something that happened yesterday has kept me up.

After I dropped Nina off at school, I stood around talking to my friend, Ginger. Our lives are similar, so it's always nice to chat with someone who feels the same pulls of family, money, lack of time....and on and on. Another mom, Sabrina, came in to drop her daughter off and told us how she was going to the King of Prussia mall today... BY HERSELF!!! Well, Ginger and I looked like deer caught in a headlight. We couldn't believe what she was saying....it wasn't a "oh, you poor pathetic thing. You have to go to the mall all by yourself" feeling. It was more of a "how in the hell did you swing that" feeling. You mean to tell me that you not only get to go out for the day without children and a husband, but you'll probably get to eat a hot lunch, most likely get to pee by yourself, and even to get try on clothes without your five year old asking (in a VERY loud voice) "Mommy. When I grow up, will I have fur on my bottom just like you"? E-gads!!! ALL BY HERSELF. Imagine. That's about all I can do.

Finally, a family picture

Here we are. It's not a great picture, but we did try.

The perfect gift....

The picture says it all.......

Colon Blow Pancakes

About 50% of my day consists of trying to make food that my children will eat. Healthy food. Not crap. It's become close to an obsession, especially with Nina. She will eat practically every fruit and vegetable that I put in front of her, but she refuses to eat meat. Every now and then, I force the issue, but mostly, I'm left with the daunting task of being creative with food. I'm not good at it. I don't enjoy it. In fact, there is such a lackluster response for my cooking, that I've given up trying all together.....with this one exception. A few years ago, I came up with this pancake recipe that's not half bad. Blake and I call them "colon blow" pancakes, but Nina and Asher both love them. Here is my recipe.


1 cup multi grain pancake mix
1 cup oatmeal
2-3 Tbs. Flax seed meal
2-3 Tbs. oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 egg
1 cup skim milk (or whatever is needed to get it right)
a dash of vanilla
frozen blueberries (for Asher)
chocolate chips (for Nina) I tried carob chips once, but they were gross

Make the pancakes as you normally would. These are dense, not super light and fluffy.