Go Diego, Go Diego!

This morning we became an animal rescue unit! Ed went out on our back patio this morning to check the water level in our fountain and he came back in and reported there was a d-e-a-d  m-o-u-s-e on our patio. He grabbed some trash bags and went back outside, but a minute later, he came back in and said, "It turned over and yawned!"

So I went outside to look at it. Turns out, it wasn't a mouse at all, but a baby flying squirrel! I got some old wash cloths and a box and picked it up. It seemed okay--not injured. I covered its little body with the wash cloths and then went back inside to call animal control and to Google baby flying squirrels. While I waited for the wildlife rescue center to get back to me, I learned that baby squirrels can't produce their own body heat, so they need to be kept warm. I got out the heating pad and put a towel over it, then put the box on the heating pad, and then put the baby squirrel in the box.

Meanwhile, the boys thought it was really neat, so they kept him company while he heated up. The rescue center called back and said there was a woman in Alexandria who rehabilitiates baby squirrels. So I called her and she said to bring him over. So we all got dressed and put a jar of hot water in the box with the squirrel and drove him to Alexandria. The woman had about 30 baby squirrels that she was taking care of. They were all so little with their eyes closed. She had small, clear plastic boxes for them, and cloth diapers that they were nestled in. It reminded me of the nursery at the hospital! The first thing she did for our little guy was check him out and then give him a shot of intravenous fluids. Then she nestled him in a box and said she would feed him in about 30 minutes. She confirmed that it was a boy and said he was between 2 and 3 weeks old. I remembered to take a few pictures of him before we said goodbye.

So the flying squirrel rescue took up the greater part of the morning, and we didn't get a whole lot done the rest of the day. I did manage to get the boys haircuts. And we checked out a toy store. And we took Ed out to dinner for his birthday. And Seth even got a nap. So all in all, a pretty good day!

Here's Seth, soaking up the last few minutes of daylight before sunset:

Now we're preparing for Hurricane Irene. Looks like we'll get a lot of rain. Maybe power outages. So we better make the most out of tomorrow and Saturday! (And get some flashlights. And batteries. And bottled water. Along with the rest of the freakin' east coast!) Hope everyone stays dry and safe!

I Felt the Earth Move Under My Feet!

Wow--we experienced an earthquake today. The real thing. Granted, it didn't last long and it didn't cause a whole lot of damage. But geeze--it was scary! I was in the basement of our building with my co-workers and the rumbling started and it got bigger and the first thought in my mind was that a truck bomb had exploded outside our building. The next throught was earthquake, and then my next thought was to crawl under my desk. But by then, the shaking had stopped. Then I called the boys' school and talked to his teacher. I asked if they had felt the shaking, she said yes, and then the alarms started going off, so we had to evacuate.

They cleared the Capitol and all of the office buildings, and after we stood around outside for a long time, they announced that all the buildings were closed until further inspections and we were advised to go home. The daycare closed, too, of course, so I went and got the boys. They had slept through the shaking, although William says he was awake in his sleeping bag. I'm not so sure, but William was upset because today was his last day of daycare and they were supposed to have an ice cream party at 3:30. Such a bummer! I didn't even get to get pictures of him with his teachers. Fortunately, I can bring him by next week. Still, not the last day we all expected.

Once we got home, I discovered some damage--some pictures on our built-in bookshelves had fallen and the glass had shattered. Ed sustained an earthquake-related injury when he was cut by some glass while cleaning up. Luckily, it wasn't serious. Also, the boys had built a "bridge hotel" out of blocks this morning before we left, but apparently, they did not follow earthquake-proof code. The blocks were in a pile when we got home. The boys thought that was pretty cool.

So that was our big excitement for the day. Thank goodness it wasn't worse. Communication was definitely an issue right after the quake happened. Cell phone service was down and it took a while before I could get in touch with Ed. We definitely need a plan for what to do if we have to evacuate and we can't get in touch with each other. In the end, I'm relieved it was just an earthquake, and not something sinister. And now we get to spend the next several days talking about, "Where were you when the earthquake struck?"

It's Really Going to Happen, Huh?

William is going to start kindergarten in two weeks. I know many of you, if not most of you, have kids who already started kindergarten, so it's yesterday's news, yesterday's emotions for you. But for me, it hasn't really hit yet. We still have two full weeks of summer. Two more weekends. A short family vacation. Time off with the boys. This summer has been awesome--everything I had hoped for. And it's not over yet. But this weekend, what did hit me was how grown up William is. He's riding his bike like a pro now, starting himself, taking wide turns, even standing up on the pedals! (He's so proud of himself for this skill.) We played "What's Gnu" today, a game where you make words, and he's really starting to figure out this whole reading thing. (Still not there quite yet, but I could see the wheels turning and the gears clicking today!) We went bowling today and he worked so hard on throwing his ball down the lane. And tonight, he asked me if he could do some homework. I wrote out some math problems (simple addition) on a pad of paper and he sat at his nightstand (he doesn't have a desk yet) in his room and figured them out and called me when he was done. Then he wrote out a bunch of "at" words (bat, cat, rat, sat, fat, mat). He can not WAIT for kindergarten to start.

I've also noticed how much better he is at problem solving and working things out. He and Seth have been playing together a lot and he really goes out of his way to acommodate Seth. It's so sweet. Of course, there is still plenty of yelling and even some hitting and pinching and shoving. But it's nice that more often than not, I see them resolve issues on their own. They realize it's a better alternative to me getting involved.

So he is definitely ready for kindergarten. But am I? I've been so involved at William's current school. I know every family there, we get daily updates from his teachers with pictures and descriptions of what the kids did that day. I know excatly who he's talking about when he mentions his friends. Am I ready for all of that to end? Will his new teacher get to know him and appreciate him like his current one? Will the other kids like him? Anxiety much?

I guess I can't dwell on any of that now. Hopefully we'll make the most of the next two weeks and cross the other bridges when we get to them.

Menu Plan Monday -- Update

Last week's menu plan went perfectly. I grocery shopped on Saturday for my between-weeks shop, and my goal was to spend less than $50. I had milk and fruit and salad on my list, along with a few things we were out of, like ketchup, and a few spices. I ended up spending $56, but if I keep next week's big shop under $200, I'll be on budget. We'll see. I'm thinking of trying Wegmans next week, or maybe checking out BJs wholesale.

Anyway, on Sunday night, we skipped the chicken stir-fry (we didn't get home until after 7 p.m. and the kids weren't hungry), but I made the meatloaf patties after they went to bed. I used 2 pounds of ground beef and made 8 patties, so I put four in the freezer for another night, and have four ready to go for Monday night. This is the recipe I use, from Southern Living:
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Old-fashioned Meatloaf

This Southern meatloaf recipe features Creole and Greek seasonings and a hint of garlic. A few tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce spice up the traditional ketchup topping.

When I made this Sunday night, I didn't have any onions or celery. So I skipped that part and used 1 teaspoon of onion powder instead. I also didn't have any Creole seasoning, so I skipped that, too. Instead of the loaf, I form the meat into patties (I make them rectangular shaped). That way, they cook much faster on week nights. Also, I just add ketchup on top during the last few minutes of baking, instead of the tomato paste mixture the recipe calls for. Not saying mine's better--I just take shortcuts when I have to.

• YIELD: Makes 6 to 8 servings
• COOK TIME:1 Hour, 7 Minutes
• PREP TIME:20 Minutes
• STAND:10 Minutes
• COURSE: Main Dishes

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
  3 celery ribs, finely chopped
  1/2 large onion, finely chopped
  2 pounds lean ground beef
  2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, divided
  1/2 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
  1/3 cup ketchup
  2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
  1 teaspoon Greek seasoning
  1 teaspoon garlic powder
  2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
  3 tablespoons tomato paste
  1 tablespoon ketchup
  Garnish: chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preparation

Melt butter in a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat; add celery and onion, and sauté 7 minutes or just until tender.

Stir together celery mixture, ground beef, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, breadcrumbs, and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Shape into a 10- x 5-inch loaf; place on a lightly greased broiler rack. Place rack in an aluminum foil-lined broiler pan.

Bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Stir together remaining 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and 1 tablespoon ketchup until blended; pour evenly over meatloaf, and bake 10 to 15 more minutes or until no longer pink in center. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Note: For testing purposes only, we used Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning and Cavender's All Purpose Greek Seasoning.

Southern Living APRIL 2005

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GET OUT!

Guess who learned how to ride a two-wheeler tonight? That's right--William is now riding a two-wheeler without training wheels. He can't quite start on his own yet, and he can't quite turn yet. But OMG--he's riding a two-wheeler!!!

This all came about because when we got home, our next-door neighbor came out with his mom and his new bike, and she started working on teaching him to ride by himself. When William saw that, he asked if we could take the training wheels off of his bike. I said sure, took the training wheels off, and I ran up and down our street holding onto him while he pedaled. (Wowzers--is my back killing me!) When Ed got home, Ed ran up and down the street holding onto him. Then our neighbors said they were going to go to a park after dinner that has a grassy slope perfect for learning how to ride a bike. So Ed took William along. They got home around 8:00 p.m. and Ed came inside and told me to come outside. I went outside and watched as Ed gave William a push and William took off down the street, riding like a pro. I was stunned! I didn't think he would catch on so quickly. I'm sure it was an awesome moment for Ed, too--the classic father thing.

The best was when William came inside, with an ear-to-ear grin on his face, and said, "Wow Mommy. I'm pretty proud of myself!" I'm so excited, and I can't wait for him to gain more and more confidence as he rides. I love that he wanted to try and that he wasn't afraid to crash. He's usually really cautious and reserved when it comes to risk-taking, so this is a big deal. Hopefully I'll catch it on video soon. Way to go, William!

Happy 7th Anniversary

Ed and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary today. Seven awesome years with the best partner a person could ever ask for. We got to get away for the weekend (thanks to Ed's parents for watching the boys) so we visited a few wineries in the Shenandoah Valley and stayed in a hotel and saw a movie (in a movie theater!) and relaxed and focused entirely on each other for 28 wonderful hours. We had a great time.

I brought the camera, but as er usual, I only took it out once. We took this picture of ourselves:

And then the nice man behind us offered to take one of us:

If we look slightly drunk, that's because we were. And that was only our second winery! We ended up staying there a while and having a cheese plate and a baguette. And we had to stay so long, we missed the third winery! But it was no big deal. Two wineries in one day was plenty for us!

Happy anniversary to the man who fits me so well. You are everything that a partner should be--funny, supportive, considerate, loving, dependable. Thank you for challenging me, loving me, making me laugh, and keeping me sane. I love you!

Making It Work

Today was a good day. Seth has been transitioning to his new classroom and this week is his first full-time week, so the drop-offs have been a little sketchy. His new classroom is upstairs, and the teacher who is normally there in the mornings is on vacation. So it has been a bit more of an adjustment than I anticipated. He cried Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning when I left him, but this morning he was fine, back to his old self.

When I went to pick them up this afternoon, they were getting ready to go on the playground and Seth really wanted to play outside. So I indulged them. It's a chance for me to talk to the teachers and see the boys intereact with their friends. When we finally got home, they wanted to play outside some more. It was a beautiful day, so we got out William's bike and Seth's scooter and they got to play outside for a little while. I managed to get the pizza prepared and into the oven while they played outside. Fortunately, our neighbor was out with his son, so he graciously watched the boys while I dashed inside from time to time to bake the crust, put the sauce and cheese on, and then pull it out of the oven before it burned. Even if he hadn't been there, I think I could have pulled it off. I would have had to make the boys get off their bike and scooter for a few minutes and play in the yard until I got back outside. But they would have been okay with that.

Anyway, when the boys were ready to go inside, we decided to play restaurant. First, the boys made their own menus. Then they sat at the table and I brought them the menus and took their drink orders. I brought them their drinks, took their orders, and gave them some crayons so they could color their menus. (This kept them surprisingly busy until I brought their food out. Why doesn't this work at real restaurants?) I brought out their food and then asked if they minded if I joined them. We all ate together (Ed was working late), and then I asked who was going to bus the table when we were done. They both volunteered, but first, I took their dessert orders and brought them ice cream sandwiches since they ate all of their dinner. (William actually ate some salad!) After we were all finished, they cleared the table and put all the dishes in the sink. I was surprised at how much they enjoyed it, and they decided to tell Ed when he got home that we had eaten pizza at a restaurant. It was really cute and it made our night really enjoyable.

Tomorrow, the weather is supposed to be beautiful--highs in the mid-80s, low himidity--so I told the boys we could take the Metro to school. They are super excited about it. Once William starts kindergarten, we won't have as many opportunities to take the train, so I need to take advantage of it when the weather is good! Ed will drop us off in the morning (to save time) and then we'll walk home. Believe it or not, I'm actually looking forward to it!

Finally, Tanika had asked (in her comment on my menu post) how I manage to cook every night. My answer is, I don't! If you look at my menu, hardly any of it is "real" cooking. Quesadillas involves putting a tortilla in a pan and putting cheese and other topping on top and warming it up. It takes 5 minutes, tops. For tacos, browning ground beef (or black beans) and adding taco seasoning takes 10 minutes. For even easier, you can make the base ahead of time and freeze, and then all you have to do is thaw and heat it up. Tonight's pizza was dough in a can, spread out on a pan, bake for five minutes, throw on sauce and cheese, and bake for 10 minutes.

On Tuesday night, I made pork piccata. Tomorrow night is steak. For these kinds of dinners, I prepare the meat ahead of time. I usually buy meat in bulk, so I had gotten a bunch of thin-cut, boneless pork chops. Over the weekend, I took the pork chops and pounded them out into cutlets. When it comes to chicken and pork, cutlets are the way to go for quick and easy meals. They cook super fast and they're versatile. After I had pounded them out, I put five in a freezer bag and threw them in the freezer. They thaw very quickly, too. So for piccata, all five cooked up in less than 10 minutes (I cooked them in two batches) and they sauce took about 3 minutes. Super simple.

A few weeks ago, I had gotten a large package of sirloin steaks. I think there were 6 steaks, and 2 steaks is usually good for one meal for us, so I put 2 steaks in a bag and added marinade and threw that in the freezer. Then I put 2 more steaks in a bag plain. And I cut the last 2 steaks up into thin strips for either stir fry or pepper steak or some other such future meal and threw those in the freezer. A little planning goes a long way!

For next week, the pork schnitzel is a little more labor-intensive because the pork cutlets will need to be breaded. But this is something I can usually rope the boys into "helping" me with. They like being involved and it's more time to spend with them. Once they're breaded, they cook up in just a few minutes.

Of course, it's a HUGE help when Ed is home so he can occupy the boys while I'm cooking. It's also easier on those nights when the boys just want to watch TV for a little while. It's hardest when the boys want to play outside. But as they get older, it's getting easier. There are some nights when the originial plan gets ditched because I just can't do both--I can't cook and do whatever it is that the boys want to do. There are some nights when dinner gets served later than I'd like. But in the end, I feel like I'm doing a good job of balancing my responsibility to feed my family with my responsibility and desire to have quality time with the boys in that short bit of time that we share at the end of the day. Sometimes I wonder if I'm too indulgent with the boys, like today, for example, when they wanted to play outside at school. I could have just said, it's time to go home, and we would have gotten home earlier and maybe it would have been easier to make dinner and play with the boys outside. But when I can, I like to say yes to them.

Anyway, in the end, I made it work today, just like I do every day, just like we all do. One thing I know for sure, things are always changing. Summer is very different than winter. Things now, in our new house, are different than they were a year ago. What the boys will and won't eat changes all the time. Activities come and go and we just have to figure out how to be flexible and consistent at the same time. We're moms and we just make it work.

Getting Old Bites

I can't believe I'm going to share this, but it's too good not to.

Before I gave the boys a bath tonight, I changed into my PJs (which consists of lounge shorts and a t-shirt, sans bra). As I was leaning over Seth, helping him brush his teeth, he reached out, touched the front of my shirt, and the following exchange occurred:

Seth: "Is that your boobies?"

Me: "Yes, but you shouldn't touch them."

Seth: "Why are they down there?"

Me: "Where are they supposed to be?"

Seth (pointing to my upper chest area): "Up here."

Note to self: You can no longer go braless around your kids!

Menu Plan Monday--Two Week Dinner Plan

That's right. You read correctly. That's a TWO-WEEK dinner plan. I decided to shake things up a bit and plan out two full weeks worth of menus. (I'm crazy like that, you know!) I'm trying the two-week grocery shop, too. This is mainly because my weekly shop has gotten so expensive! I've been going way over budget, and I'm not even really sure why. I know that Safeway's prices have gone up some, (and yes, I've tried shopping at other stores, but I'm a creature of habit, what can I say? Every time I go somewhere else, they never have everything that I need/want!) and I'm likely buying more food as the boys get older and eat more. But it seems like my spending is a little bit out of proportion, so I decided to try to do one big shop every two weeks. And then I can do a small between-shop for milk, produce, or other odds and ends. We'll see if the experiment works.

If nothing else, it has forced me to get back into meal planning. To begin the two-week plan, I wrote a list of all the meals that the boys and Ed will eat (for the most part). Then I started filling in days, putting the more time-consuming meals on the weekends, alternating meats and vegetarian meals, and accounting for Wednesday nights (swim lessons) and other special occasions (like the boys spending the night with Grandma and Grandpa on Saturday so Ed and I can celebrate our anniversary!).

So here's the two-week plan:

Sunday, 8/7: Salmon, asparagus, baked potatoes (actually, the potatoes were planned for another night, but Ed cooked dinner, and didn't know about my plan--oops!)
Monday, 8/8: Quesadillas (I ended up making black bean tacos--just mixed taco seasoning and water with black beans instead of ground beef--and William actually ate an entire soft taco! Ed ate them, too, although he grumbled a bit. Seth ate part of one, but decided he didn't like the beans. Not bad overall.)
Tuesday, 8/9: Pork piccata, broccoli, dinner rolls
Wednesday, 8/10: Cheese and crackers, hummus, carrots, fruit, popcorn (swim lessons night)
Thursday, 8/11: Homemade pizza, salad
Friday, 8/12: Steak, potatoes, green beans,
Saturday, 8/13: Boys with Grandma and Grandpa while Ed and I celebrate our 7th anniversary
Sunday, 8/14: Chicken stir-fry
Monday, 8/15: Meatloaf, (more like meatloaf burgers, which cook much faster than a full meatloaf) broccoli
Tuesday, 8/16: Pork schnnitzel, green beans or asparagus
Wednesday, 8/17: Sandwiches, fruit, cheese
Thursday, 8/18: Spaghetti, salad, garlic bread
Friday, 8/19: Tacos (with ground beef)
Saturday, 8/20: Ribs (sides TBA)

We have lots of back-up options if things don't work out. This includes frozen ravioli, chicken nuggets, waffles or french toast, deli meat, string cheese, bagels, and cereal. We'll see how this plan works out, and if I actually save money and/or time this way. But I have to say, it does feel good to have two weeks worth of meals planned!

Broken Record

My weekend report sounds like a broken record, but that's a good thing! We did a few things that were different, however. On Saturday morning, I took William to taekwondo while Ed took Seth to Home Depot for their kids workshop. Seth clearly loved it, so when William finished taekwondo, Ed took William to Home Depot and Seth came with me to the grocery store. The boys made a pencil box, a tool box, a bird house, and brought home a coasters set kit and another tool box kit. Definitely a big hit!

In the afternoon, the boys had a birthday party. And on Saturday night we had our neighbors over for dinner. We had planned to cook on the grill and hang out outside. But it poured rain when they got to our house, and then Ed's grill wasn't working correctly. So we ended up cooking everything inside, which kind of sucked. But it was all good in the end. (Guess what Ed's getting for his birthday!) After all of that, the boys fell asleep the instant their heads hit the pillow. And Seth did not wake up until . . . get this . . . 8:40 a.m.!!!!! This is a new record. William woke up at 6:30 and got into our bed and slept until 8:00--another record. I actually got up at 7:00 and had AN HOUR's PEACE. AN HOUR people. In my house. Ah-maze-ing.

Anyway, on Sunday, I took the boys swimming, and we checked out a new pool not far from us. The boys loved it, and we probably could have stayed much longer, but we were meeting another friend to see Kung Fu Panda 2. I thought it was a really cute and funny movie, and both boys did great. Neither one had to leave the theater once during the movie, despite Seth getting a little antsy

So basically, all is well in the Hahn household. William is still working away on his chart. Although now he's not sure that he wants a hermit crab, since "they're boring." Time will tell, I guess. We're really loving this summer and we're feeling pretty lucky that we don't start school until after Labor Day. That means we still have four summer weekends left. For William, it's taking FOREVER before he can start kindergarten. He's so ready. Four weekends seems like a lifetime when you're five. Thankfully, this summer seems to be moving at just the right pace for me. William's last day of daycare is Aug. 23. Then he's on vacation until school starts. Ed and I are splitting up the time. And we're taking a short family vacation during part of that time, too. I hope it's a really fun and special time for William.

Hermit Crabs

William wants a hermit crab. He really wants a snake, but since Ed told him he absolutely can not have a snake, William will settle for a hermit crab. I thought this would be a great opportunity to work on William's daily responsibilities and behavior. If he can show us that he can consistently be responsible, respectful, and mindful, then he can have a hermit crab. He has five responsibilities on his chart--get dressed, brush teeth, pick up toys, show respect, and sleep in his own bed all night. He gets a smiley-faced magnet for each responsibility that he accomplishes. He also wants one of those "red" charts, where the line keeps getting higher and higher until you reach your goal. So I have to figure out how to translate the responsibility chart to the "red" chart. I'm thinking I'll draw lines on a chart (some kind of thermometer-looking thing) and then for each day he gets at least three smiley faces, he can color in one stripe, for four smiley faces, he can color in two stripes, and for five smiley faces, he can color in three stripes. Too complicated?

We need to figure out how long we want this experiment in motivation to last. Is three weeks too long? Two weeks not long enough? He's very much an instant-gratification kind of kid, so I want to work on the whole you-have-to-work-hard-and-earn-things-that-you-really-want idea. But if he loses interest, that kind of defeats that point. Maybe we'll get the crab in stages. When he gets one-third of the way, he can get the aquarium. And two-thirds of the way, he can get the rocks and plants to go in the aquarium, and then when he reaches the goal, he can get the crabs.

Anyway, other than discussing hermit crabs and responsibilities, we've had a good week. Swim lessons were canceled on Wednesday because of rain, so we went to the library and saw a puppet show instead. Last night was the final concert in the park in our neighborhood, so we headed over there. William was NOT being respectful before we left, so Seth and I left without him and Ed, but Ed brought him a little while later. (He did not get his smiley face for "show respect" yesterday.) Tonight is swimming, and this weekend is the usual--taekwondo, grocery store, birthday party, neighbors over for dinner, a little cleaning, laundry, playing, maybe swimming, maybe kayaking, maybe a movie. I love the summer!