"Money" Free Thanksgiving and Menu Plan Monday -- November 29, 2010

We had a very nice long holiday weekend. My mom came up for the weekend and Seth and William loved spending time with her. She spoiled us rotten while she was here! She took us out to dinner, bought groceries and new shoes for the boys, and then cleaned up after us. We are definitely looking forward to her next visit already!

We spent Thanksgiving Day with Ed's family. The boys loved the attention and Ed and I loved the food. (The boys did not eat anything!) As we were gathering everything to leave, we couldn't find Seth's pacifier--AKA his "money." Everyone looked everywhere with no luck. The last pacifier we had was gone. So we sucked it up and headed home. Seth missed it, but it wasn't nearly as terrible as I anticipated. (It never is, is it?) He fell asleep on the way home and then cried for it a little bit as I changed him into pajamas. He woke up that night about every two hours and asked for it, but he settled down pretty quickly each time. On Friday, he only asked for it at nap time, but got over it without too much angst. And then he only mentioned it again once in the car on Saturday. And he didn't even cry when I reminded him that we lost it. It takes a little bit longer to settle him down to sleep, and I ended up rocking him for his naps and bedtime on Friday and Saturday. But yesterday, he went down on his own for both his nap and at bedtime. So we are officially a "money"-free household! Woo-hoo. No more searching for the pacifier. So two down (crib and pacifier), one to go (diapers).

Not much else to report. The rest of our weekend was spent doing a little shopping, a little raking (Seth LOVES to work in the yard!), a little cleaning, a little Christmas decorating, and lots of playing. Ed took William ice skating on Saturday. Mom and I took William to a birthday party on Sunday. William got his haircut. Both boys got new light-up shoes. They built a very involved fort boat with our stand-up snowmen family and one of the holiday decorations bins. Mom and I played a marathon Zingo tournament with William. Fun stuff! I also managed to choke out a menu plan for the week!

Sunday: Lemon mustard chicken, green beans, bread in a can (Pillsbury bread)

Monday: Breakfast for dinner (waffles, bacon, eggs, fruit; for the waffles, I use King Arthur white whole wheat flour, and I usually do not bother to separate the eggs and whip the egg whites. I just mix all the liquids together and add to the dry ingredients. When the waffles have cooled, I put them in freezer ziplocks and put them in the freezer. To serve, I defrost the waffles first and then put them in the toaster oven. My waffle iron makes Belgian waffles, so I don't like them to get too crisp.)

Tuesday: Sloppy Joes, sweet potato fries

Wednesday: Corned beef (crock pot) and potatoes, broccoli, dinner rolls

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Pork piccata,veggies (tbd), homemade bread (in the bread machine, hopefully)

Saturday: Dinner on the Polar Express!

Show Me the Mommy--Holiday Card Edition

I'm trying very hard to put together my holiday cards this year, but I'm having two specific issues. First of all, my pictures from this year are terrible. Seth has been CRAZY uncooperative when it comes to pictures, even when I try to bribe him. I have so few pictures of the boys together, and the ones I do have are not that great. Second of all, however, I'm finding it IMPOSSIBLE to decide on which holiday card design I want to use from Shutterfly! They have a gazillion choices, from folded cards, to stationary cards, to photo cards, and a gazillion designs--sophisticated and cutesy and religious and simple and fun and elegant and scrapbooky. You name it, they've got it. Which is a good thing, because if my pictures aren't great, at least the card will be!

For the past 4 years, our holiday cards feature just out kids. But for William's first Christmas, we set up a family shot in front of the Capitol. And we designed the card using Shutterfly. So even though it's dated, here's my Show Me the Mommy picture for this week: 

Now I have to get back to designing this year's card. I'm looking for something simple, not too cutesy, but not too formal, either. Something that says "Happy Holidays," something that isn't too Christmas-y. I love this:

And this one came close:



You'll have to wait and see what I finally settle on. After cards, I'll get to work on the calendar. I love that I can use multiple pictures for each month, and that I can personalize it with all of our family's birthdays, anniversaries, and other important events. Of course, that means it takes twice as long to design, but the final product is always worth it. So if you haven't tried Shutterfly, or if you thought their selection in the past wasn't that great, check them out NOW. They have tons more to offer this year!

****DISCLAIMER****

Shutterfly is offering a promotion for bloggers--50 free cards for a blog post about this year's selection and products. Since I am a long-time customer of Shutterfly and have used them for holiday cards in the past, as well as calendars and for printing digital pictures (quality is awesome, btw), this was a no-brainer! I completely stand by my review!

Giving Thanks

As much as I'm trying to enjoy all the little moments and not cram-pack our schedule and take things "easy," time is flying by at warp speed and I'm feeling the fingers of Holiday Mania starting to take hold. Before I jump into the deep end, however, I want to be sure to count my blessings. But not just count them. I want to revel in them. To completely and fully feel joy and love for all of the amazing gifts in my.

• I have two healthy boys. Two amazing, wonderful, adorable, fantastic, HEALTHY boys.
• I have a husband who makes me laugh and wants to spend time with me and shares in all household responsibilities and manages our money and reads to our kids and makes them laugh and teaches them about responsibility.
• I have a secure job that pays well with regular hours and some flexibility and a great boss and I enjoy what I do. In 2010, this is a gift beyond measure.
• I have family that I can depend on--on both sides, mine and Ed's. Enough said.
• As of December, I have no debt. None. Nada. Zilch. I'm sure this state will be short-lived, but I'm beyond grateful that we can live within our means. And not only live within our means, but that we can also put tons of money into savings--retirement, college accounts, and money towards a new house.
• I have good health, and so does Ed. We are very, very fortunate.
• I have the most amazing friends. These women lift me up and make me laugh and inspire me every single day. Read Maria's blog for just one example of a friend who makes me want to be a better person.

So yeah, I have so much to be thankful for. It might be a cliche, but it's a cliche worth repeating. Tomorrow I hope to revel in gratitude, to put all thoughts of holiday stress out of my mind, to enjoy my kids, to eat myself silly, and to see how many times I can say, "Thank you."

Show Me the Mommy--From the Back Seat

Seth loves to take pictures while we're in the car. This is his view:

In the meantime, life is moving at a pretty quick pace. Lots to do at work, lots to do at home. Dinnertime has been a bit of a mess this week. Bad traffic = getting home late + poor dinner planning + meals that the boys don't like = dinner disasters. But such is life. Maybe I'll get back on track for next week. Life is only getting crazier, though. Just trying to hang on and enjoy the ride!

Not a Post About the Boys

I was planning to write about the boys tonight--how much they've been playing together lately, and how much less I've had to referee; how William is beginning to actually draw things other than round stick people--things like volcanoes and airplanes and walking stick bugs; how we've started making up stories in the car on the way to and from work, which is great and all, but it's pretty taxing and I'm exhausted by the time I get to work, but that's okay because I feel like it's "quality" time together; how Seth has decided that 5:15 a.m. is a perfectly good time to wake up in the morning; how William won a medal in his Tae kwon do "bopper" tournament last weekend and he was so stinkin' proud. (Or course, he had no clue that he tied for last, but we're super proud of him, regardless!); how Seth loves to hear the same story over and over and then likes to "read" the story back to you; how William wrote a bunch of letters on a piece of paper tonight and then proceeded to "read" his instructions on how we should stay away from earthquakes and call 9-1-1 and then call him because he's a scientist; how we're taking the "Polar Express" to the North Pole the first weekend in December to see Santa Claus (i.e., we're riding the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad's North Pole Express train--a steam locomotive that pulls a train full of kids and their families to a station about an hour away, where the kids get out and meet Santa and eat cookies and drink hot chocolate, and then pile back in for the ride home) and the boys are beside themselves with excitement; and how, despite all the business and exhaustion and messiness and things-that-never-get-done, I love those boys so much that it hurts.

But instead, my December issue of Real Simple arrived, so I'm going to go read that now. Maybe I'll write all that stuff about the boys tomorrow!

Show Me the Momma--Animal Style

Last weekend the boys and I spent some time playing games, one of which is a Curious George game where you have to put on masks and run and hide and the zookeeper has to come and find you. I couldn't resist taking a few photos.

These are fitting pictures considering I took the boys to a hands-on zoo in the Virginia suburbs yesterday. They had tons of animals you could feed--sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits, the usual. But they also had a safari-like ride where you take a tractor-pulled wagon ride out into a huge field and all these cool animals come right up to the wagon looking for handouts. There were llamas and ostriches and buffalo and zebras and camels and these huge cow-like animals with ginormous horns. It was very cool. The weather was flat out gorgeous and we spent most of the day outdoors.

We also spent a few minutes talking about veterans and why we should honor them and be thankful for those who serve in our military and for their families (especially the wives!) they leave behind. I told William that army guys and army girls are very special people and they make major sacrifices to protect us. He said he was going to say thank you to our neighbors--most of whom are military. Unfortunately, we didn't see any of them when we were playing outside in the afternoon, but something tells me he won't forget when we finally do cross paths.

To see more mommies, visit LauraC's Show Me the Mommy!

Quick Randomness for Wednesday

• Traffic the last two days has been God-awful. It took us almost an hour to get to work this a.m. When traffic gets bad, Seth always says, "It's taking too long!"
• Speaking of Seth, he has not been sleeping well the last two nights. Last night he was up at 11:30 p.m., 2:30 a.m., then 4:00 a.m. into our bed, then 5:30 a.m. back into his bed. William, meanwhile, woke up at 4:45 a.m. I got him back in his bed, only to have him wake up at ten 'till 6:00 a.m. for the day. God give me strength!
• Work has been really busy, with way too much to do. Meanwhile, I'm in charge of our daycare's annual holiday party, and I also got roped into being in charge of a nutrition committee for the center that is charged with revamping the snacks served to our kids. Can you say stress?
• Yesterday after work, we stopped at Target so the boys could get Pillow Pets. We saw them at the mall over the weekend, but they were knock-offs, and they were more expensive! Target only had a few choices, though. William chose the penguin, but Seth decided to hold out for a frog. William LOVES his Pillow Pet!
• William also loves Care Bears. He watched a few of the movies on Netflix while he was sick, and now he's all into them. Somehow, he got his whole class talking about them, and today is "Bears that Care" day. I guess there are much worse things he could be into!
• No meal plan this week. And I'm paying for it. We had a nice steak dinner on Monday night. But last night was popcorn, a pretzel, and apples at Target. Tonight, I got nothing. Thinking about cheese and crackers, hummus, and fruit. And leftover steak. We'll just wing it. 
• Last week's chicken and dumplings did not go over well. The boys didn't eat it, but Ed and I managed to finish up all the leftovers. 
• Tomorrow is a holiday so I'm trying to come up with something fun to do with the boys, preferably outside since the weather will be nice. Is it terrible that I wish I had arranged for a babysitter so I could go into work and get some stuff done?
• I was going to take Friday off and get the massage and pedicure/manicure that Ed and the boys got me for Mother's Day, but work is too busy. Boo for that.

That's all. Life's moving at its usual breakneck speed. But overall, things are good. Except for traffic. Traffic sucks! Other than that, all is well.

Fall Back

Usually I really hate the time change--especially in the fall when gaining an hour does not mean an extra hour to sleep, but rather, getting up at the butt crack of dawn, instead of just the crack of dawn. This morning was no exception. I woke up around 4:30 a.m., expecting to hear the pitter pat of little feet at any minute. And I was not disappointed. At a few minutes before 5:00 a.m., first one boy woke up, then the other. Both requested chocolate milk. I got the milk, hoping it would buy me some time to get back in my bed. No dice. Seth wanted to me to sit in his chair. William went into our room and got into our bed. I thought maybe Seth would go back to sleep. But he didn't. At 5:30 a.m. we headed downstairs and turned on the TV. William came down about 15 minutes later.

I'm often really cranky when I have to get up that early. But since I fell asleep before 9:00 p.m. last night, it wasn't really that bad. And as the day wore on, and I kept thinking it was an hour later than it really was, I felt really thankful for that extra hour. We took the boys to the mall and ate lunch in a restaurant and let the boys ride the train that does laps around the food court. Then we went to two open houses. And then we had time to stop by my cousin's house and visit. My cousin has two boys who are now 15 and 12. When I moved here to DC 15 years ago, it was to nanny for the 15 year old. Wow--does that make me feel old. Now the 15 year old is old enough to babysit for my kids. And William LOVES the older boys. He loved visiting them and wants them to come to our house now.

So really, I can't complain about an extra hour in my day. I mean, how many times have I wished that I had just one more hour? And today, I got it. Life is good!

Show Me the Mommy

I'm struggling with the whole picture-of-me thing because Ed simply does not take pictures. It's not his thing. So I have to find other people to take pictures of me and the kids, or I just have to do it myself. This was me yesterday, right before work. In the midst of the morning scramble chaos, I stopped to snap a few photos of myself. As I was taking the pictures, I could hear Seth saying, "Where's Mommy? Where she go?" Never a moment's peace! 

To see more mommies, visit LauraC!

Happy Bithday Dad!

My dad would have turned 78 today. Wow--that's old. That's how old your grandparents are--not your parents. Guess that means I'm getting old. I digress.

My dad died 20 years ago this month. It was a lifetime ago. He died before email and the Internet. Before cell phones and texting and DVDs and Netflix and digital anything. He would have embraced all of it wholeheartedly. My dad telecommuted long before anyone had coined that word. My mom was his secretary and worked for him out of our house. My dad loved knowledge and really, really wanted to be handy. He wasn't, but Lord knows he tried. He helped with all our science projects and loved camping. He also loved sports but wasn't very athletic. He loved books and jazz, too. He loved politics and the news. He valued education and good debate. He was philosophical and made crazy long to-do lists. I'm not sure that very much ever got done. He was intellectual to the core. And he was social--especially in his younger days.

I'm sad that Dad doesn't know me now. He'd LOVE where I live and what I do. I'm sad that Ed and the boys will never know him. I'm sad that I didn't get to know him in my adulthood, and that he didn't get to know me as an adult. But I'm thankful that I had him as my dad for as long as I did. He wasn't perfect--boy, did he have a temper--but I had a wonderful childhood. I was loved and supported and encouraged and provided for and you can't ask for much more than that. For that, I am very, very grateful.

I have very few pictures of him, and of those, I only found two that I scanned. So here they are:

I'll have to work on getting the rest of the pictures scanned. In the meantime, Happy Birthday Daddy. I miss you every day.

The New Bed

I think I mentioned last week that Seth decided he no longer wanted to sleep in his crib. So he slept on the floor in his room until Saturday, when Ed put his bed together.

I think William likes it more than Seth does.

The best part, though, is that Seth actually sleeps in it. It takes a few extra minutes--a few stern warnings to get back in bed, the threat of closing his door if he doesn't stay in bed, and sometimes actually closing the door for a minute or two--but the transition has been mostly painless.

So step one of the trifecta is done. Plans for step two--potty training--are in the works. I'm thinking the long Thanksgiving weekend, but we'll see what happens. Step three of the trifecta is the pacifier, or as Seth calls it, his "money." We're down to one, and I've told Seth that if we lose it, we're done. No more monies. I have a feeling the "money" is going to be the hardest to part with!

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Halloween Weekend 2010

Lots went on this weekend, so here it is in bullet points:

• William woke up at 1 a.m. on Friday night (Saturday morning) wheezing pretty bad. I nebulized him, but he woke up again at 4:45 a.m. I nebulized him again, but was really worried that he needed to go to the ER. At 7:45 a.m., I was really, really worried, but Ed convinced me to wait until the doctor's office opened at 9 a.m. So we nebulized him again and waited. We got to the doctor right at 9:00 and the doctor said the Albuterol was working. She didn't give him an oral steroid (which I thought for sure she would) but said to start up with the daily Pulmicort treatment again through the winter. Boo for that. William spent the whole day Saturday watching TV and getting nebulized every 3 hours. He was better by the evening, though, thankfully. He also never really ran a fever, so that was a positive sign.
• Ed, meanwhile, went to the Rally to Restore Sanity/Fear. He didn't have any trouble getting there (he drove) and he was able to see/hear everything. He said it was pretty cool, but unfortunately, none of his buddies made it. So he was there all by his lonesome. Not quite as fun as it could have been. But still pretty cool that he was there.
• Although I was home the entire weekend, I didn't get very much done around the house. I did laundry, sorted through a bunch of piles of things, and dusted William's room. I cleaned the boys' bathroom and cleaned 3 of 4 toilets. And I cut up two sugar pumpkins and made a pumpkin pie and plan to make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins tonight. I also made bread pudding using up leftover biscuits.
• Speaking of using stuff up, I threw out a third of a loaf of bread that got moldy, a pork cutlet that never got eaten, some taco meat that never got eaten, and half a grapefruit that was not very good. Overall, though. we did pretty well with food waste last week. 
• Fortunately, William was well enough to go trick-or-treating for Halloween. He was beyond excited. While we were walking around, though, there were several scary-looking costumes that he avoided like the plague. And he avoided scary-looking houses, too. He had a great time, though.
• Seth, meanwhile, got freaked about the whole Halloween thing and refused to put on his costume or go trick-or-treating. Ed's parents came over and brought glow-stick bracelets. Seth remembered them from 4th of July, and he immediately associated them with the fireworks--the fireworks that terrified him on 4th of July. No amount of reassurance would convince him that there would not be fireworks, so he stayed home and handed out candy. He had a great time, too!
• Fortunately, Seth wore his costume for a short time at his class party on Friday, so I do have a picture:

And here's my one picture of William, ready to trick or treat (I couldn't get him to stand still!):

Overall, a good weekend. William is at school today, with the nebulizer. And here's hoping that Seth won't catch the same virus. Or if he does, here's hoping it won't affect him the same way.