Entertaining

I'm a day late and a dollar short on wishing Ed a happy Father's Day on my blog, but hopefully, his actual Father's Day was at least a little pleasant and relaxing. He got to sleep in while I took the boys to Home Depot at 8:00 a.m. to get his gifts. (Nothing like waiting until the last minute! But Home Depot at 8:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning was SO worth it! Hardly any customers and employees offering assistance everywhere we turned!) We stopped and picked up bagels and lox for him on our way back, and then left him to enjoy his bagels, coffee, and newspaper on the back porch in peace while the boys and I had breakfast at a local diner with our neighbors. I think we ALL enjoyed the morning. And I hope that Ed knows how much we love him and appreciate him and that we think he is a hella awesome father! (In fact, Seth repeatedly tells me that Daddy is the best. Go figure!)

After our leisurely breakfast, it was time to get busy, as we hosted Ed's whole family for a cook-out on Sunday afternoon. There were 18 adults total, and we grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and had baked beans, potato salad, fruit salad, ceaser salad, and chips on the side. Everything turned out really well, even though I forgot cheese for the burgers and the watermelon that Ed's grandparents brought. Oops! Fortunately, the weather was okay--cloudy, but no rain, and comfortable enough to sit out on the back porch. Can't ask for much more than that!

On Saturday night, we also entertained. We had our good friends over for dinner and it was really nice to catch up with them. They have two daughters--one is William's age, and one is almost 18 months. They are both gorgeous and adorable and spending time with them gives me a teensy tiny twinge of wishing I had a little girl. But it's only teensy tiny. I think I'm a much better boy Mom. Although William, unfortunately, was not on his best behavior while they were visiting. He's been totally flipping his lid lately, so we're trying to get a handle on it. But sometimes you'll have that. It makes me feel doubly guilty about all the times I've flipped my lid, because of course the more he sees me fly off the handle like that, the more likely he is to fly off the handle. But I told him that we can both work together to not get so worked up and angry.

So basically, that was our weekend. On Thursday, the boys and I leave for Florida for a week of "relaxation." I'll get my girls' weekend while my sister and nieces take care of the boys. They are super excited about riding an airplane and seeing their cousins and visitng the beach. I'm super excited about girls' weekend and playing on the beach with the boys and spending time with my sister and brother in law and nieces. After a week, my mom will drive the boys and me to Charlotte, NC, to visit with her and my brother and Ed's sister and brother in law and the boys' cousins. Ed is meeting us there, we'll celebrate 4th of July there, and then we'll drive back to DC. I have a feeling I'm going to look forward to getting home! In the meantime, I have a lot of organizing to do before we leave. I'm hoping I'll get at least one more blog post in before I leave. And I'm hoping to blog a few times while we're gone. But if none of that happens, I'll see you when we get back!

The 'Hood

I know I've said it before, but we LOVE our neighborhood. I don't know that I can really call it a neighborhood when it's just a street, but it's so much more than I had even hoped for. Everyone is so friendly. And the fact that there are families with young children is icing on the cake. But what is really awesome is how quickly we've developed a relationship with the other families. Before we moved, I would hear people talking about how they hung out with their neighbors or had dinner with their neighbors and I would feel so wistful for that kind of relationship--for real friendships rather than polite acquaintances. I know that it's only been a few weeks, so I shouldn't make a lot of assumptions, but so far, I feel so comfortable with the other parents on our street.

The weather has been really nice, and just about every night when we get home, we've been hanging out with the other parents while the kids play and ride bikes. It definitely affects our routine in terms of when dinner gets served and when the boys get to bed. But the boys are expending so much energy in the evenings that they are sleeping better than ever before. And they LOVE it. Our next-door-neighbor is Charlie and he is 6 years old and he and William have become buddies. William adores him and Seth adores his older brother Jack, who is 9 years old. Tonight, after we finally got the boys inside and in bed, we heard a light tapping on the front door. Charlie and his brother were in the front yard in their pajamas catching fireflies and they wanted to see if William was awake. Since William was, in fact, awake, and Seth was too, I let them go outside for a few more minutes to watch the fireflies and the bats. William was SO excited.

Earlier in the evening, another neighbor and his son (also named William, age 3.5) came over and hung out on the patio. It was really nice talking to him while the kids played. I ended up serving them all dinner on the patio (the kids) and we didn't come inside until 8 p.m. But we were all having such a good time. I guess I didn't realize how much I've been craving this kind of social interaction. Even Ed--a true introvert--is enjoying the socializing. (Although the chaos of coming home and having 6 kids instantly want to come inside your house to play with your toys before you've even set foot inside your door can be a bit disconcerting.) Bascially, we are in our element, I think. And I'm so thankful that we chose THIS place. I have to give Ed the credit for holding out and biding his time. I was pretty put out at times during our whole search process, but in the end, he was right. Of course, when we put down our offer, we had no idea if ANY kids lived on the street. So we got lucky, for sure. For that, I am very grateful!

Awesome Summer Weekend

Our summer is off to an awesome start. We marked several things off our list this weekend--we made pudding pops, went to the pool, and explored two local parks/playgrounds and part of the W&OD trail. I was also very productive, managing to get laundry done, sweep, vacuum, mop a few floors, clean a bathroom. Ed got quite a bit done on our patio. (Progress to come on my Decorating Challenged blog!) And I even got to relax a little bit on the back porch. And I almost forgot--we had professional pictures taken of our family around the Capitol. I had purchased a Groupon last summer for an hour-long photo shoot, so I finally cashed it in. I'll get the proofs in about 6 weeks. Can't wait to see if he got any money shots!

The pool was tons of fun for the boys. I was having a dilemma about where to swim this summer. The local neighborhood pools are pretty pricey--several hundred bucks to join, and then several more hundred bucks for the summer. And on top of that, most of them have long waiting lists anyway. I got on two waiting lists, but in the meantime, since our weekends are always so packed, and we will be traveling some, I was trying to figure out how often we'd actually have a chance to go to the pool. There's a regional group of pools that charge daily, or you can buy a "bounce" pass for the summer and you can visit any of the pools whenever you want. I decided to hold off on the bounce pass this year, and just to pay the daily fee if/when we make it to the pool. Although I would love to be able to spend every weekend and every evening at the pool, it's just not practical for us. The advantage of joining a pool for the summer is that even if you just make it to the pool to swim for 45 minutes, you don't feel like you're wasting you money, unlike paying daily. When we pay to go the pool each time, I want to make each visit worth our while and stay as long as possible.

Anyway, we visited the regional pool near us and the boys had a blast. There was a wading pool and a separate pool that ranged from 2 feet to 3.5 feet (perfect for little swimmers), and then a full sized pool with lap lanes. They also had a big splash pad. It was fun, but crazy crowded. There's another regional pool near our old place that's similar, but it has a sand area that William LOVES, so I think we'll go there for our next pool outing. That pool didn't seem to be nearly as crowded, either. On days when I can manage to leave work a little earlier, we'll try some evening pool time at the closer regional pool.

Besides the pool, our other big venture was exploring two neighborhood playgrounds and part of the W&OD trail. William rode his bike and Seth rode his scooter. I pulled the wagon, knowing how quickly little legs get tired. I must say that venturing off of our quiet little street into the greater neighborhood was pretty stressful for me. First of all, the street that we have to cross to get to the neighborhood parks is crazy busy, and there's a light down the block, but even that intersection is a bit hairy. Once we crossed that street, we were in a really nice residential area, but the streets are a little bit hilly--enough that Seth would go careening down a hill, looking completely out of control. I was terrified that he would crash into a parked car, or a car would turn a corner and crash into him. It was definitely a challenge to navigate the streets and sidewalks with both of them, but I think they both ended up having a lot of fun. We found a creek that William really wanted to explore more. And we found two playgrounds--one with a sandbox. And the paved trail was fun for Seth to ride with his scooter. He didn't have to worry about cars as much. Although there were a ton of other bicyclists on the trail who often had to dodge Seth.

The trip back home turned into quite a workout for me. I ended up with both boys in the wagon, with Seth's scooter, and William's bike towed behind. (By sticking the front wheel in the caddy at the back of the wagon.) Remember the hills I mentioned? Yeah--that was fun. But really, it was fun. The whole weekend was awesome, and I realized for the umpteenth time how happy I am that we made this move. I love our house and our neighborhood, and I think that the beginning of summer is the PERFECT time to move!

Summer To-Do List

I've gotten started on our Summer to-do list. I can't believe that all of June and the first part of July is already accounted for. But that's the way it is. I'm keeping our list simple in the hopes that we can fit it all in. And I might be adding new things along the way. Yay for summer! (Although wow--it's HOT already. Yikes!)

1. Go to the pool as much as possible!
2. The boys learn to swim
3. Make pudding pops and homemade popsicles
4. Join library summer reading program
5. Go to the farmer's market as many Saturdays as possible
6. Explore the parks in our area
7. Explore the W&OD trail (maybe go bike riding)
8. Take the boys bowling
9. Go to the beach
10. Go to Great Wolf Lodge
11. Go to a minor league baseball game
12. Stay out late one Friday night to hear the Army band on the U.S. Capitol Lawn, or attend local concert in the park on Thursday night
13. Go canoeing
14. Plant some vegetables
15. Try making different flavors of homemade ice cream

The Home Tour

I finally downloaded my pictures of the new house, but I know that part of the reason I've been putting it off is because I'm not particularly happy with how things are arranged or with what we own, and I'm impatient to make things look better. But my problem is that I lack three things: time, money, and vision.

So, as we've all been reminding me (including me), I need to take things slow and just focus on little bits at a time. I also need to get Ed on board with what little vision I do have, but that's a whole 'nuther story. Anyway, I've started another blog to try to help me stay organized and to keep track of the changes we make. I won't promise that the blog will last long, or that I'll update it very often, but maybe it will help. I actually started it weeks ago, when we first bought the house, but I wasn't quite ready to go "public" (with all ten of you, lol) until now. Anyway, here's a tour of the house as is right now on Working It Out, with a running commentary on things I'd like to change. I plan to flesh all of that out on the other blog (called Decorating Challenged). I already made a master list of things I want to do and buy for the new house over there. But I think it will help if break it down room by room and get more specific. So look for that!
Back to the present.
When you walk in, you see this. (It's a terrible picture, but it's all I've got. If you go to the other blog, you can see the house the way it looked before we moved in.)

Looking the other way, you see this:

I bought the basket for shoes and the door mat a few days after we moved in. I looked for a bigger basket, but ultimately, I'd like to put a bench there, so that basket will do for now. We'll also upgrade the door mat when we find something we like. I can't tell if the stair runner is black or dark blue, so it's hard to figure out a color scheme! I'd also like to paint the wainscotting and trim white, and choose another color for the walls--maybe soft gray.

Anyway, moving on. The first door to the left is the study/guest room.

It's orange. We will definitely be painting it. Soon. The room also needs a rug and some side tables for the sofa. Here's the view looking towards the door. Note that Ed would like a new desk. That was the desk that he used as a kid!

Here's one more view of the room. Note the ginormous plantation shutters on the windows. I'll get a bit more into those in a moment. Also note the ugly couch that we would like to replace with a truly comfortable sofa bed, since this is the official guest room. Who knows when we'll be able to afford that!

So moving on. To the right of the front door as you walk in is the living room. The house has a living room and a family room, but we opted to use the family room as a playroom. So the living room is our TV-viewing area. The only problem is that it's small, and with the piano in the room, it's too small for our couch, entertainment center, and other seating. I'm definitely struggling with this. We will likely get rid of the entertainment center, which will save some room, but it still doesn't allow for a good configuration. I really want the couch to be across from the TV, not perpendicular to it. It's also a challenge because the path to the kitchen is through the living room and dining room, so I don't want to block the space all up with furniture. I'll go into more detail about my design dilemma and various options in my design blog. For now, here are pictures:

Looking from the front door into the living room:

The view from the dining room:

Another angle:

As you can see, I haven't even bothered to take down the previous owner's valences. As for the plantation shutters, I want to get rid of them. They're nice, but they're too big and they really block the windows. Plus, I can't open them up with the couch in that position. Other things I want for this room (other than to figure out a furniture arrangement) are a new rug, end tables for the sofa, light, simple curtains for the windows (simple panels with a decorative rod across the top), a potted floor plant of some kind, and I want to turn the coffee table into an upholstered ottoman. I've been thinking about a gray/yellowish-gold color scheme.

Moving on, to the dining room, view from the living room:

We moved the table over to one side of the room to leave a path to the kitchen, since this seems to be the route we take the most from the front door. (You can also go down the hall and into the playroom.) This also leaves some room on the other end of the room for the piano. I would like to move the piano there, but Ed is a bit resistant to the idea. Give me time! Here's where it would go:

I also forgot to mention that we decided to put our kitchen table in the dining room instead of the seating area in the kitchen for now because a) the set is a wee bit big for the kitchen space; and b) while the kids are young, their toy kitchen set fits in the space nicely, and it gives me some extra room to do laundry. So here's a picture of that part of the kitchen, looking in from the dining room:

And here's a shot of the laundry room and pantry, at that end of the kitchen. both closets have bi-fold doors.

Here's the kitchen looking the other way. Although I'd ultimately like to lighten up the color of the cabinets and walls, it's not a project I'll tackle any time soon. I would like to replace all the gold pulls for brushed nickel ones, though. I also plan to replace the blue scatter rug. I may use a second runner that matches the one on the left. Right now it's in the hallway, but it's really to short for that.

So now we get to the playroom. The only thing I want to do in there for now is to lose the plantation shutters and add some panels with curtain rods. I also need to decorate the mantel and put some more art on the walls. (Obviously, we need art everywhere!)

I look forward to eventually turning this into an actual family room.

Also on the first floor is a full bathroom:

It's a bit dark for my tastes, but it's kind of low on the priority list. Eventually I'd like to remove the wallpaper and lighten it up a bit.

There are two other spaces on the first floor that we adore--the front and back porches. We need to buy furniture for both. For now, we put the camping chairs on the back porch, and also put the boys' playhouse there. Here's a picture of the back porch the way the previous owners had it set up:

So much potential! We already love the porch, so I can't wait to really fix it up!

So that concludes the tour of the first floor. I'll have to come back for the second floor another time.

I know, I know

I desperately need to update my blog, but we've been so busy! And I had a cold last week that pretty much wiped me out. Excuses, excuses, I know. And I don't have any pictures today, either. But suffice it to say, we're getting settled. We spent more time with neighbors this weekend. On Friday night, our next-door neighbor Charlie came over for movie night. William was ecstatic. Charlie also came over on Sunday afternoon for a little while. On Sunday evening, our other neighbors (across the street and a few houses down) invited us over for dinner so we trooped over there with beer and wine and brownies and the boys had a blast. They have a 3.5-year-old boy and a 14-month-old girl (who is absolutely precious!), and we're all in a similar place in life so it was really fun to get together with them.

In the meantime, I'm not sure if I've mentioned the fact that my office is being renovated this summer, so we're packing up to move out of our space on Friday. We'll be in temporary space until after Labor Day. So no sooner had I unpacked all the boxes at home then I had to come into my office and pack everything up. Ugh. I'm soooo tired of looking at boxes!

So other than "settling in," there hasn't been a whole lot of new stuff going on at our house. I tried to install a corner tension rod shelf in our shower and it didn't go very well. Ed took a hack at it and got it in, but it's definitely not rigged the way it's supposed to be. This does not bode well for my grand DIY plans in the future. (I want to add decorative picture frame trim to the dining room walls, and I want to make an upholstered headboard for our bed, and I want to turn our coffee table into an upholstered ottoman.) Who am I kidding, though? When will I ever have the time for DIY projects? At this point, I don't know when we're going to do all the painting!

So for now, progress is slow, but I need to just stay focused and try to do little bits at a time. Ed is planning on painting when I take the boys to Florida at the end of the month. We're starting with William's room, Seth's room, and the study/guest room. Hopefully Ed will be able to do the boys' rooms while we're gone. But that means we have to pick out colors for them, and paint. So I need to get it together. Like I said, focus! I'll try to be better about my updates, too. Lots more to say about the boys, as always!

Unpacking . . . Unpacking . . . Unpacking . . .

Actually, we are COMPLETELY DONE unpacking. Can you believe it? It helped tremendously that Ed's parents kept the boys until Sunday afternoon. The move went really well and we are pretty much settled. Still lots of decorating and arranging to do, but that will come with time. For now we're just living with it for a while, and working on priorities.

As for the new house we LOVE it. For the most part, all of our stuff fits in the house. The playroom is a little cramped, and the living room needs some very creative thinking, as our piano takes up a huge chunk of space. But I'm loving my kitchen. And the bathrooms and closets are super roomy. (Too bad we can't fit the piano in one of those!) We're especially loving our porches, and I'm thinking that acquiring porch furniture might move to the top of our priority list.

As for our neighborhood, we REALLY LOVE it. Everyone has been so friendly. One neighbor brought us homemade chocolate chip cookies. Another neighbor brought sparkling cider. There are several families with young kids--mostly boys. The family next door has a six year old boy and a nine year old boy and a beautiful yellow lab. The six year old is a grade ahead of William and goes to William's school and will ride the bus with William. There's also a 4.5-year-old boy across the street, and a 2.5-year-old boy a few houses down. And there are two girls, ages 8 and 10--potential mothers' helpers. We spent Sunday late afternoon on the front steps talking to the grownups while all the kids played in the yards and in the street. Our street is a dead end so there isn't a lot of traffic and the people who live there are used to driving slow and watching out for the kids.

Our commute to work has been awesome, too. But I think that's because it's a holiday week and traffic is light. We'll see how it goes next week. But I'm pretty sure it won't be any longer than my old commute. And if it stays the way it's been so far this week, we're looking at 30 minutes door-to-door. And that's with two lanes closed on Constitution Avenue, which I drive down to get to Capitol Hill.

So that's how things are going. I have some pictures that I took during the move. But I'm tired and I think I'm coming down with a cold (which William and Seth have, too). So I'll try to do a pictures post tomorrow. My only disappointment so far is that despite the porches and fenced-in patio, the boys still insist that I come outside with them. I know that one day, they will not want me anywhere near them, so I should cherish this time. But oh-my-God-the-neediness-makes-me-want-to-tear-my-hair-out. Not to mention the fact that I HAVE STUFF TO DO! So as I'm working on making them a wee bit more independent, I just grit my teeth and remind myself (over and over and over) that they're not this little forever. It helps.

Packing . . . Packing . . . Packing . . .

Ed left the house with the kids at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning and didn't come back until 6:45 p.m. Sunday evening. I used that time to finish up our packing. And I'm happy to say that that's pretty much what I did. All of the toys (save a basket of cars, a basket of construction vehicles, a group of big construction vehicles, and Seth's tools) are packed. The kitchen, including the pantry food, is packed. (I left out the bread, hot dog buns, chips, vitamins, ibuprofen, Motrin, Ovaltine, cereal, crackers, and a few other snacks.) Our closets are packed. I left out some towels and a set of sheets for the boys' beds. And there are odds and ends all over. My jewelry, our alarm clocks, bathroom stuff, some sippy cups for the kids, laundry detergent, cleaning supplies. But there is a box set aside for all of those things, and I anticipate a quick final packing session on Thursday night/Friday morning.

The boys have handled things pretty well so far. Seth has asked for his weed whacker and his blower a few times, both of which are packed away. He doesn't like that they are packed up, but I've been able to distract him. William is fine with the things that have been packed. He is looking forward to living in the new house.

They also had an awesome weekend with their daddy and were not at all bothered by me staying home. Seth, in fact, has formed an attachment to Ed and wanted Daddy to help him put his pjs on tonight and read to him before bed. That's a new twist! But I'll take it. On Saturday they went to Taekwondo, Starbucks for breakfast, the Air and Space Museum, and then to Ed's parents. On Sunday they went to Uncle Craig's farm, where they rode the tractor and the ATV, and William rode a horse! They came home absolutely exhausted, so I know they had a great time.

Overall, I feel pretty good about where things stand. Ask me how I feel on Thursday night, and it might be a whole different story. But for now, things are good. I started the process of registering William for kindergarten tonight by enrolling him online. Then we get to make an appointment to bring in the paperwork and take a tour of the school. I can't wait!

T-Minus One Week and One Day

We will be moving in one week and one day. This is a small sampling of what our house looks like right now:

There are packed boxes and empty boxes everywhere. It feels chaotic, even for me. The boys, however, are doing pretty well with it. They love the boxes and I keep finding random toys in the empty boxes. They use the boxes we haven't used yet (they're still flat) to "build" things. We haven't packed many of their toys yet, but they have been asking questions about when they will see their stuff again. This Saturday is the day we plan to pack up all the toys in the basement. We'll see how they react to that.

Although we've gotten a lot done, we still have a long way to go. The toys, the kitchen, my closet, the bathrooms--all still need to be packed. We have managed to get rid of most of the items we posted on Craigslist. We sold two dressers, a dining room table and chairs, a book shelf, a cabinet, a desk, two filing cabinets, and a table saw. We did not sell 2 chairs, an ottoman, a coffee table, and a book case. But we'll donate the chairs and coffee table to Goodwill, and keep the book case. All in all, it's been a pretty good experience.

I'm pretty excited to get this move on! A bit overwhelmed, but excited. The closing is Thursday, May 26. Moving day is Friday, May 27. On Saturday morning, we'll have the carpets cleaned at the old place. And then we'll have Sunday and Monday to get the old place all clean and walk-through ready. The boys are going to go to school as usual on Friday morning, and then I'll take them to Ed's parents' house Friday night. Ed's parents will bring them to our new house on Saturday afternoon. But maybe we can talk them into keeping the boys until Sunday.

So that's our plan. For now, I've got some packing to do!

The Birthday Party

William's birthday party was a big success. Like Seth, he had it at Pump It Up, and all the kids had a blast. The pizza ended up being about 25 minutes late, so we decided to go ahead and serve the cake first. Then right as we started passing out the cake, the pizza came. Not a total disaster, so all was well. And since it wasn't my fault, I wasn't stressed about it at all. But note to self: Plan all future birthday parties in the afternoon so the only thing you have to serve is cake! (Duh.)

Anyway, the cake turned out pretty well:

And I only stayed up until 10:00 p.m. Friday night making it. Not too shabby! Although the party cost us an arm and a leg, and then the other leg, I think it might have been worth it not having to stress about anything, and not having to wake up early to make anything or clean anything. And during the party, I got to talk with all the parents while the kids played. It was great.

Here's the birthday boy while we sang Happy Birthday: (That's his new favorite shirt, btw, paired with camouflage pants. He must have inherited his father's sense of style!)

Not the greatest picture, but he had a great time. Still trying to wrap my brain around him turning 5. After we got home, he said, "I sure am getting big, aren't I?"

You sure are buddy. You sure are.

Happy 5th Birthday William

Dear William,

Today you turn 5 years old and my mind is spinning with how quickly your life has passed before my eyes. I could not be prouder of the little boy you have become. Your fifth year of life has been a good one, filled with new experiences and friends, with new found confidence and a thirst for knowledge, and with your ever blossoming imagination.

You have been taking Taekwondo for almost a year now, and you love it. I’m proud of the way you follow directions, pay attention to your teachers, and try your best at every class. (Well, almost every class!) Your favorite part of Taekwondo is “Ninja Night Out,” when the kids get to spend an evening at the Studio playing Super Mega Dodge Ball, eating pizza, and watching movies. Mommy and Daddy love Ninja Night Out, too!

Your love for drawing has really taken off this year and you have created some pretty amazing pictures. You love to draw space ships and animals being rescued and race cars and people. Sometimes you get frustrated when your pictures don’t turn out the way you want them to, but once I remind you that drawing takes lots of practice and patience, you settle down.

Your interests in your fifth year have bounced from space and rocket ships and planets to ancient Egypt (and all things Sphinxes and mummies and pyramids) to volcanoes and earthquakes to missiles and trains and snakes, and of course, to construction sites and equipment. We have started reading The Magic Treehouse series, and you can’t get enough of those stories. And every time we visit the library, we have to go to the nonfiction section so you can get a few books on your interest of the day. I love how interested you are in so many things and how you want to learn more and more about everything. You are just starting to read and sounding out what letters are in words. You sometimes ask me what letters make certain sounds. (“What letter makes ‘uh’ Mommy?”) You worked very hard one day to spell out, “I can do whatever I want.” I was very proud of your effort and amused by your sentiment!

I also love that you are such a good big brother to Seth. You are getting good at compromising with him (especially when I remind you!) and I’m so impressed by how well you share with him. I know it isn’t easy. And as much as you two fight, I see how much you love him and how often you include him in your play and how important you make him feel. Sometimes you even stick up for him, and you’re protective of him, too. I hope that you and Seth will always love each other the way you do now.

In your fifth year of life, you’ve developed a great sense of humor and you love to make up jokes. You love to be silly and make other people laugh. Your laugh is infectious, and I often find myself having to suppress a giggle when I’m trying to get you to do something and you’re goofing off. Beyond the silliness, though, you are very thoughtful and sensitive and caring. You are a good friend and a deep thinker. I love all of those things about you.

In just a few weeks, we will be moving to a new house, and in just a few months, you will be starting kindergarten. A new chapter in our lives will begin, but I have absolute confidence that you will make new friends, that you will love school, and that you will adjust well to all the changes in your life. You always surpass my expectations when we face something new, and I hope that never changes. I hope that you will always be excited by new situations and ready to face new challenges. Daddy and I will do our absolute best to help you and support you and comfort you and guide you with gentle hands and strong hearts.

So happy happy birthday to the most amazing 5 year old I know. I love you more than I ever imagined was possible, and I can’t wait to see what your sixth year of life has in store for you. But along the way, I’m going to work a little harder to hang on to each and every moment that we share together. Because time passes much too quickly, and I don’t want to miss one second of your 5-year-old awesomeness.

Birthday Party, Procrastinator Style

William's birthday is in two days. As in day after tomorrow. His birthday party is on Saturday. As of today at 11:00 a.m., I had no plan for how to celebrate his birthday at school on Friday, and no plan for the birthday cake or the party favors.

As of 9:30 p.m. tonight, I have a plan for Friday's school celebration. Friday was deemed "camping day" by William's teacher, so after the boys went to sleep tonight, I headed to the grocery store and bought nut-free granola, chocolate chips, marshmallows, raisins, and Cheerios for the kids in William's class to make their own trail mix. I also bought the ingredients for homemade ice cream (half-and-half, heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla) to make with his class on Friday afternoon, since ice cream is one of William's favorite treats, and the one thing that he requested to share with his friends.

As for the birthday party cake and favors, earlier today, I decided I would make a rocket ship cake and a moon cake, since William is so into space. On the way home, however, William decided that he wants a Spiderman and Iron Man cake. Uh, okay, sure. No sweat! I'll just pull that one out of my arse, since it seems like that's pretty much how I pull everything off these days. This is going to be my model:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sismiss/4795721395/

But I'm going to try to make Iron Man look more like this: http://connect.in.com/cake-man/images-cake-dengan-decor-butter-cream-kitchen-craft-cake-6-678653990502.html because I think it's less complicated than option A.

As for party favors, I got some sidewalk chalk and bubbles, and I guess I'll try to find a moment tomorrow evening to run to the party store for little bags. I'd use ziplock sandwich bags if I had some. But I don't. The party favors have nothing to do with Iron Man and Spiderman, and I'm using the plain paper plates and cups that come with the party package at Pump It Up. So nothing will be coordinated or "cute." But no one really cares. I'm just impressed with myself that I've gotten this far. Nothing like a little last-minute planning!

The Birthday Gift

Seth received a gift card to Target from my brother and his wife, Uncle Mitch and Aunt Cheri. After much deliberation, this is what he chose.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Needless to say, he loves it! Thank you Uncle Mitch and Aunt Cheri, two of the most thoughtful and generous people we know. I am absolutely awful about acknowledging all of the wonderful gifts they have gotten for the boys over the years, but I hope they know how much we appreciate them. The boys are very aware of the toys they pick out using the gift cards. William has chosen a solar system fact finder, a make-your-own volcano, a dinosaur excavation kit, blocks, markers, books, and other toys. Seth has gotten a toy blender, construction trucks, blocks, dinosaurs, books and other toys, and of course, the guitar.

So thank you, thank you, thank you! We hope to see you guys soon!

Mother's Day Goodness

I had an awesome Mother's Day weekend. The highlights included:

• Impromptu visit to Old Town, Alexandria, where the boys and I strolled along the river, fed ducks, ate ice cream, and enjoyed a beautiful day.
• Many errands and chores accomplished, including library visit, getting Mother's Day prints for family (nothing like waiting 'till the last minute!), grocery shopping, laundry, and packing.
• Sleeping until 8:00 a.m on Sunday morning while Ed took the boys to breakfast, to fill the car with gas, and to buy flowers for me. Awesome!
• Spending time with Ed's family, and watching the boys open birthday presents. William got a Leapster and another Bruder truck. (This time, a snow plow. He already has the garbage truck, the cement mixer, the mobile crane, and the excavator.) He was ecstatic. Seth got a new scooter. It's a lot more advanced than his old one. It actually glides and you have to lean left and right to steer, so it teaches balance and coordination. Good stuff!
• Going to sleep on Sunday night feeling so incredibly lucky and happy to be a mom to two adorable, amazing boys. The overwhelming joy of being a mom does not hit me all the time. And being a mom has not been as easy or natural for me as I thought it would be. But when the moments come--and they do--I feel exhilarated and terrified all at the same time. I hope that my best is enough for them. I hope that they feel loved, supported, protected, encouraged, nurtured, and accepted. Because making them feel all of those things is my job. I hope that I can keep getting better and better at it.

Show Me the Mommy--From the Kids' Perspectives

William and Seth both love to take pictures with my point-and-shoot camera. And boy, have they taken some doozies! This one cracked William up (gotta love 4-going-on-5-year-old humor).

This is Seth's perspective of me in the morning:

This is usually what I'm doing while the boys are taking pictures--surfing the 'net:

Finally--a semi-decent picture! Too bad it's only three-fourths of me!

Well, I guess it's good to see what they see once in a while, even if it's not always the most flattering view!

More Random Thoughts on Packing, and Other Stuff

I still can't seem to get back on the blogging bandwagon. Maybe that's because I'm reading Little Bee and I'm really enjoying it, so I just want to read in the evenings. Or because we've started packing. Back when we moved out of our house and into our current place, I wrote about the differences in Ed's and my packing styles. Ed is a "get 'er done" kind of packer. He packs quickly and efficiently, but he doesn't pay any attention to what he's putting into boxes. And he doesn't label the boxes, other than to write in what room he wants the movers to leave the box. I, on the other hand, am a very methodical and organized (i.e. slow) packer. I go through everything first to purge. Then I pack things according to room, and I label the boxes with an inventory of what's in each box. This is especially important to me this time around, because when we moved two years ago, a large number of boxes ended up in our storage room that we never even unpacked. Slowly over time, we opened them up here and there, and I found things that I had been looking for for ages. And we found a lot of things that we could have thrown out. Had I known what was in each box, we would have been a lot better off.

So Ed has started packing up our books. Except we haven't taken the time to really go through the books and decide what we want to keep and what we want to recycle. So as he tapes the boxes up and stacks them neatly, I drag them down, open them up, fish out the books we don't want, and then repack them. This weekend, I also went through several of the boxes in the storage room that had only been halfway unpacked from our last move, if that, and that Ed had just taped up to move to the new house, and I consolidated stuff, got rid of some stuff, and labeled each one very carefully. Ours is not the most efficient system in the world, but I guess it's okay for now, since we still have some time.

Another thing that is driving us both nuts is the Goodwill pile. Ed wants to throw everything away. I keep salvaging things from the garbage pile and putting them either in recycling or in the Goodwill pile. He just wants the stuff out of the house and thinks that although the intention to take stuff to Goodwill or to recycle it is good, we won't ever get around to it and the stuff will be piled up in our house until we're on the cusp of moving, and then we'll end up throwing everything away in the end. He can be so dramatic! He's not winning that argument. He took an old monitor and surround sound system to Best Buy for recycling this past weekend, and I'm making a run to Goodwill on Saturday. I'm sure I'll make a few more Goodwill runs before all is said and done.

In the meantime, things are moving right along. Tonight, we got home from work at 6:15 and I was so happy to see that Ed was already home. He played outside with the boys while I cooked dinner in peace. It is so hard to come home and to have to make dinner while also attending to the needs of the boys and to know we have less than 2 hours to play, cook dinner, eat dinner, do nebulizer, take bath, brush teeth, read stories, and give kisses goodnight. So it is awesome when Ed is home when we get there. And I can not WAIT until we move to the new house and the boys can play on the patio while I make dinner. I know I've said that before, but with our set-up now, I really can't let the boys go outside unattended. I do let them play in the front yard while I dart back and forth between the kitchen and the front door to monitor both them and dinner. But it makes for a stressful 30 minutes or so. I'm hoping that the shorter commute and enclosed back patio (with a kitchen window that faces the back patio) will make a big difference in the after-work scramble. I'm also hoping that Seth and I will get out the door a little bit earlier in the mornings, which means we'll be able to leave work a little bit earlier in the evenings. Every 10 minutes counts in such a big way! It's crazy to me to think about the fact that in four months, our schedule will be really different. William will be starting kindergarten. And it will just be Seth and me commuting. And William will talk about kids and teachers that I don't know. And life will be so different. Different, but good. I can't wait. But then again, I can.

Show Me the Mommy--Gladiator Style and Classic Mommy Style!

Since I mentioned the shoes in Wednesday's post, I figured I should take a picture of me wearing them. I was too embarrassed to ask a co-worker to take a full-on picture of my complete ensemble, so this will have to do:

I was wearing white capris (I know--white before Memorial Day! I'm such a rebel.), a brown 3/4-sleeve sweater top, with gold/turquoise/brown necklace, gold bracelet, and gold earrings. The shoes are very comfortable, but I wasn't completely, 100% comfortable wearing them. I felt a little awkward. But I bought 'em, so I'm gonna wear em.

And I almost forgot about this picture that was taken of Seth and me last Friday, on his birthday! Turns out the sweater and tank top I was wearing didn't quite provide enough coverage. I helped with an activity in Seth's class and then made fruit flowers with them for snack. Looks like the kids got an eye full of cleavage! Oops. It's a cute picture, otherwise. LOL

Catch-up Post

Blogging has not been my forte lately. I just haven't been feeling like sitting down at my computer at night once the boys have gone to bed. I can't say that I've been uber productive in other areas, unfortunately. Mostly I've just been reading and going to bed. So it looks like I have a little updating to do.

• My mom was in town this weekend to help celebrate Seth's birthday. Seth requested pizza for his dinner, so Friday night, we picked up a pizza on the way home and waited for Baba to arrive. While we waited, Seth opened his birthday present from William (tools in a toolbox) and from Ed and me (a digital camera). Baba finally arrived with the birthday cake and presents for the boys. She got Seth a play grill, which Ed put together right away. Both boys love it. Overall, I think he had a great birthday.
• On Saturday, Mom and I took the boys to Target and the grocery store so I could get Easter basket fillers (nothing like waiting until the last minute!) and a few groceries. I forgot eggs at the grocery store though, (d'oh!), but I had 11 eggs at home, so we dyed those when we got home. Not quite the fun and exciting production that dying Easter eggs could be, but we got it done. Then we headed to Ed's parents' house for Passover dinner.
• On Sunday, the boys woke up and found their Easter baskets. Then we had the 3-minute Easter egg hunt in the back yard for the 11 dyed Easter eggs. Then we went out for breakfast. (Can you tell I'm really ambivalent about Easter?) Later in the afternoon, we went to Ed's aunt and uncle's "farm" where the boys got to ride the tractor and the ATV and we had Easter dinner. 
• On Monday, we went to the grocery store in the morning and in the afternoon, we took William to Taekwondo (where he earned his green striped belt) and then we showed Mom the new house and the new neighborhood. When we got home, Mom treated us to dinner at Chilis. We ate outside and the boys ran around in the grassy lawn that was adjacent to the patio. They had a blast and wore themselves out.
• I really hate these post where I give the play-by-play of our weekend. I know it's inanely boring for anyone other than myself. But I like looking back and reading these details. So all of you must suffer! If I were to think about what it is I'm really trying to convey, I would talk about the very half-ass way we celebrated Easter, how much fun the boys had at Uncle Craig's and Aunt Diane's riding the tractor and the ATV, William earning his green striped belt at Taekwondo, and the kids running around at Chili's on a warm spring night.
• Speaking of warm spring nights, the weather has been awesome! Despite a crazy thunderstorm or two, or three scattered here and there. Last night I made a quick dinner for the boys and me after work and then they piled in the wagon so we could walk to the water fountain at the entrance to our neighborhood. Seth ran practically the whole way there and much of the way back. And both boys love playing around the waterfall. (The fountain is  a big waterfall. It's pretty cool.) It set us back a bit in terms of our schedule. But it felt really good to get out and about again. Hopefully I can figure out a way to do that more often in the weeks to come.
• Operation Purge and Organize is moving right along. We sold a few more things on Craig's List over the last few weeks, including a big chest of drawers, a filing cabinet, and Ed's speaker from his gig-playing days. We still have a book case to sell, and a This End Up chair and coffee table. We also have an upholstered chair and ottoman we want to get rid of, but we might just give that to Purple Heart or some other charity. I have also managed to amass a large number of boxes so our official packing can begin. Ed spent time over the weekend cleaning out and boxing up his workshop. Not sure what to tackle next. Maybe books and nicknacks. The move is getting closer!
• After seeing the doctor on Monday again for William's cough, the doctor confirmed that allergies are the most likely culprit. We had been giving him Albuterol in addition to his daily Pulmicort, but that wasn't really stopping his coughing. Most likely, it's post-nasal drip brought on by allergies. So now's he's on Nasonex, and I'm trying Claritin, too, to see if that helps his itchy eyes and the drip. The Nasonex takes a while to become effective, so I'm hoping the Claritin will provide some more immediate relief. Seth, meanwhile, continues with his junky-sounding cough, although it's somewhat sporadic. I'm also still a little junky sounding and hoping it will go away without getting worse.
• Pictures: I did, in fact, take pictures of Seth's birthday party, his actual birthday, the boys at the farm, Easter egg hunting, and other odds and ends. And Seth and William have taken numerous pictures and videos with Seth's new digital camera. But I have yet to download any of them, and most of them suck anyway. But sometimes a crappy picture is better than no picture at all.
• Menu planning and food waste: the menu planning is going pretty well. I kind of have a menu plan for this week, but I'm winging it more than anything. It's okay, though--I'm not stressed out about it!  Food waste is so-so. I'm doing a better job of eating leftovers and forcing serving leftovers to Ed, but I'm still throwing out an embarrassing amount of food each week. Must do better!
• William has started watching Fat Albert on Netflix. He found it on his own and he watches it all the time now. This morning he said, "Hey, hey, hey! That's the game!" He was also on a Speed Racer kick for a while. Fat Albert is a pretty decent show, if you're 14 and live in the city. It's better than Speed Racer, though. Seth still mostly prefers Bob the Builder. When Seth watches Bob the Builder, he wants his tool box and his blocks right beside him, even at 5:45 a.m. Then he asks, "Who's gonna help me build a house?" My response? "It's 5:45 a.m. kid. You're on your own."
• Did I mention how much I love the warmer weather? I can't wait to move into the new house where the boys will be able to play on the patio unattended. (Well, not exactly unattended, but I won't have to stay on top of them like I have to now.) 
• I bought a pair of gladiator sandals. I'm usually about two years behind a trend. It takes me a while to warm up to "fashion" and by the time I'm ready to commit, the trend is no longer a trend. So I jumped on the gladiator sandals. They're really cute. But I have no idea what to wear them with. They look weird on my feet. Which is why I don't usually buy trendy stuff right away--it always looks weird. But I'm determined to be stylish, dammit! I don't care how stupid I look. LOL. 
• I guess that's enough for now. Life is good and I can't complain.
  

Happy 3rd Birthday Seth!

Happy 3rd birthday Seth! I can't believe you are already 3 years old, about to start your 4th trip around the sun. You are such a sweet, funny, happy boy, and you bring so much joy to our family. You have grown up so much in the past year and Daddy and I have loved watching you learn new things and take pride in your accomplishments. You crack us up every day, and you also push us to exasperation every day. You push the limits and test us and will go to some extremes to have your way. But we love that about you. On the inside, we are usually laughing. Some of your favorite expressions are, "Yeah, but . . . " and "You're right, but . . . "

You love to play outside, doing yard work, playing in the car, riding your scooter or tricycle. You can ride your trike pretty much anywhere, and you've started riding the big tricycle, too. You love the stomp rockets, and shooting hoops, and just about any sport involving a ball. You also love tools and can spend lots of time "fixing" things. You are an amazing helper, always eager to assist us, no matter what we're doing. You're an especially good sous chef, and you spend lots of time in both your little kitchen and the big kitchen making apple pie. You are a master at pulling things out of drawers and cabinets and leaving chaos wherever you go. You're also a master at getting out of cleaning up your messes. You pick very opportune times to use the potty!

On TV you love Bob the Builder, Dora, Wonder Pets, and Backyardigans. You enjoy lots of different kinds of books. You love to play with blocks and you love to paint on your easel. You enjoy people more than toys, though, and fortunately, you love to play with William, and he loves to play with you, too. He has discovered that you will often get toys for him from the basement or from upstairs, so he butters you up when he wants something. But you guys get in some pretty big fights over toys, too. The funny thing is, you rarely back down. And William usually gives in. He is bigger than you, though, and when he gets physical with you, you sure know how to play the victim. You can be quite dramatic when you want to be!

Despite the fighting, William really looks out for you, and you really look up to him, which completely warms my heart. And it warms my heart to see you so happy and engaged with the world. You are very observant and you are good at remembering things. And you love all your friends at school and you know so much about them all--their favorite toys and their siblings and what characters are on each of their underwear. You love to boss your friends around and make sure everyone follows the rules--even though you try to bend the rules all the time!

Seth, I can never tell you enough how much I love you and how happy you make Daddy and me. You have the best sense of humor and are so silly. But you are also thoughtful and kind and so affectionate. You love to give kisses and hugs and I can never get enough of them. I can't wait to see all the things you will learn in your 4th year of life and all the ways you will grow. There is so much that Mommy and Daddy want to give you: confidence and knowledge and patience and peace. But mostly, I hope you feel special and loved on your big day, and always.

Thanks for being such a wonderful son--the best Seth a mommy could ever have! Happy happy birthday. I love you always,

Mommy

What a Day

I'm pretty tired, and although most of you will be reading this Friday, it's Thursday night for me. But Friday is Seth's 3rd birthday! And I have his birthday post all ready to go, to be published at 12:12 p.m., which is when he was born. So come back and read it!

In the meantime, though, today the boys had their dentist check-up and their annual check-up at the doctor's office. And since I'm tired, here's the highlights, bullet-point style.

• First of all, Seth did end up going to the doctor yesterday. He has an ear infection and was wheezing slightly. So he's on antibiotics and has to be nebulized for a few days.
• Now back to today. Our dentist appointments started at 10:00 a.m. I was supposed to go first and then the boys. This would be Seth's first official dentist visit, so I've been prepping him for a few weeks now. We walked out of the house at 9:30 and opened the car door . . . and that's when I realized that Seth's car seat was in Ed's car. Crap.
• I called Ed, but he couldn't come home right away because his car was in the shop for maintenance. Crappity crap. I was pretty upset at this point because I had taken the entire day off to take care of these appointments. Without the car seat, I couldn't go anywhere. I called the dentist to ask when we could reschedule. Not until July. The boys were pretty upset, too, and did NOT want to miss their appointments. Not the typical reaction to dentist and doctors' appointments! LOL.
• Judgement call time. Target is about a half mile from our house. DO NOT FLAME ME, but I put William in the regular seat with the seat belt and Seth in the car seat and drove to Target and bought a new car seat. I was desperate. Of course, William thought it was really cool. There are just times when a mom has to use her best judgement. Not everyone would have made that decision, but I ended up only missing my dentist appt. and the boys made all of their appointments. Day salvaged.
• William went first at the dentist and was awesome. No cavities. Woot-woot! No x-rays this time, though. Next visit. Seth's turn came, and Seth was not happy. Crying ensued. He wouldn't sit with me on the chair. So we got up. He calmed down. After we chatted with the hygienist for a few minutes, he let her look at his teeth. She counted them. Then she asked him if he wanted her to clean them. He said yes. She cleaned them while he stood up. God bless her. Then the dentist came in and Seth let him look at his mouth, too. He got a clean report! Whew.
• Both boys were great for the doctor. Seth talked a mile a minute. Didn't freak out at all. William got two shots and didn't flinch. Seth got one shot and cried, but didn't freak out as badly as he has in the past. That's progress, right? William weighs 35 lbs and is 41.5 inches tall. Seth weighs 28 lbs and is 36 inches tall. Both are between 10th and 20th percentile. We grow them little here!
• When we got home, both boys had fallen asleep in their car seats. I sat in the car for almost an hour while they slept. 
• Overall, a pretty good day. Mom comes tomorrow and my house is a wreck. (Sorry mom!) Luckily my mom is very forgiving. The boys can't wait to see her. Busy weekend ahead for sure.

Cough . . . Sneeze . . . Cough . . . Cough

We are a household of sick people. (Except for Ed, who is staying as far away from us as he can!) I can't tell if it's allergies or a cold virus or some combination of the two. It started with William on Friday night--just a bit of a runny nose. On Saturday afternoon, I started feeling a tickle in my throat. Seth's nose started running on Sunday, and Sunday evening, my sore throat returned, along with a drippy nose. Then we started coughing. Poor Seth had never fully recovered from his cold/cough that he got three weeks ago. I felt really sick Monday morning and thought I'd stay home from work, but once I got up and ate and got going, I decided we'd go in. Today was better for me--definitely felt more like allergies than a cold virus--but the boys have been stuffy and coughy and tonight, I'm pretty sure Seth started wheezing. He's vomited twice from all the mucus (I've never seen someone be so cheerful after throwing up!), and as I type, he's downstairs with Ed (at 9:45 p.m.) coughing every two seconds, and wide awake.

Since I wasn't sure if we're all suffering from allergies or a regular cold, I had Ed get some children's Claritn at the store tonight. Both boys took it when we got home from work. Maybe that's why Seth is wide awake. It didn't make his cough any better. William, however, fell asleep two seconds after his head hit the pillow. Go figure. He said he didn't feel good all day, although his teacher assured me that he had plenty of moments where he "forgot" that he wasn't feeling well. At any rate, Ed will probably stay home with Seth tomorrow. Seth and William have their 3-year and 5-year well visits on Thursday. But Ed might need to take Seth in to see the doctor tomorrow. We'll see if we have to postpone their well visits.

Despite all the sickness, I managed to be a little productive tonight. I had 4 pounds of ground beef that I needed to divvy up. I made tacos for dinner with one pound, made 4 hamburger patties with another pound, turned the 3rd pound into meatloaf, and froze the last pound. (I froze the burgers and meatloaf, too.) So all is not lost, right? Now if we could just get Seth to go to sleep. I'm beginning to wonder if an ER visit is in the cards tonight. He's not acting the least bit sick, though. He's just coughing every 30 seconds. I hope he's better by Friday for his birthday. I have plans to make a grass caterpillar with his class and create fruit flowers for their snack! With a birthday on Earth Day, it's never hard to find something to do.

The Menu Plan . . . The Birthday Party . . . The Not Keeping Up With the Blog

I have no good excuse for not keeping up with the blog last week. I just haven't been turning on the computer a whole lot in the evenings. And not a whole lot has been going on, so not much to blog about.

Except . . . We had Seth's birthday party on Saturday! Can you believe I never even mentioned it? (Maybe I did, but only briefly.) It turned out to be the least amount of work I've ever done for a party, and that's because of my genius-ness in hosting the party with two other families. Seth and two of his classmates all have April Birthdays, so we decided to combine forces and have one party for the three of them. Brilliant! I did all the pre-party planning. I booked the place and set up the evite and got everything rolling. We booked at Pump It Up, one of those inflatable party places with the huge slides and bouncy, uh, things. Anyway, the place provides pizza, balloons, and paper products. One of the families brought cupcakes and the other brought drinks and fruit/veggies. So all I had to bring was the birthday boy! (Ed brought William after his taekwondo class.) It was awesome! We also requested no gifts, having decided ahead of time that we would just exchange gifts with the two birthday kids. And we didn't do goody bags, instead donating a few books to the kids' classroom at school. Again--brilliant! So Seth had two gifts to open when we got home, which was perfect. Enough to make him happy, but not so many that he was overwhelmed. And each kid got to take home a balloon and a cupcake topper.

The funny thing is, Seth's actual birthday is not until Friday, so he is confused about his party being early and the fact that we will be celebrating his birthday 3 times. (My mom is coming to visit this weekend, so we'll do cake on Friday night and let him open his gifts from Ed and me and William and mom, and then we'll combine a party for him and William with Ed's whole family in May sometime.) As he gets older, though, I'm sure he won't mind multiple occasions to celebrate!

In the meantime, the move looms closer. We weren't as productive the past weekend as we have been, but we're gearing up for the next several weekends. We plan to start packing up nick-knacks and books, and we'll do another Craig's List ad for some furniture items that didn't sell last time. And there is still tons of stuff to go through and get rid of. We are getting super excited about the move!

And I'm excited that my menu plans have been working out so well! Although I never posted it, I had a menu plan for last week, and I made one again for this week.

Sunday: Grilled chicken with white barbecue sauce, broccoli, dinner rolls (Seriously people, if you haven't tried this yet, TRY IT!!! I used boneless chicken breasts this time.)
Monday: Salmon, asparagus, roasted potatoes
Tuesday: Tacos
Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner
Thursday: Fried chicken, green beans, biscuits
Friday: Seth gets to pick for his birthday :-)
Saturday: Passover dinner with Ed's family

Show Me the . . . . Chicken?

Since I have no pictures of me AGAIN this week, I decided to post my homemade chicken nuggets recipe, with pictures! I make these about once a month or so and throw them in freezer. It takes a little time to bread all the nuggets, but it's worth it to me. My version below is not the healthiest in the world. I used commercial chicken, processed bread crumbs, and jarred garlic. So If you're going for truly homemade, organic, and sustainable, make your own bread crumbs, chop your own garlic, and use organic, free-range chicken. And you can bread the nuggets with flour and eggs instead of butter, to be a bit healthier. But now on to my version!

Here are my ingredients. I used about 1.5 lbs of chicken (3 breasts) this time. I also did not have any Parmesan cheese, which kind of bummed me out, but that's okay.

I slice the chicken and usually cut each slice in half. The pieces are rarely uniform, but I try to make them normal, chicken-nugget sized. I also try to make them a little thin since they'll cook faster.

Here is all the chicken cut up.

Next, I get the bread crumbs ready. I mixed the panko bread crumbs with the Italian-seasoned bread crumbs. Obviously, you can use whatever breadcrumbs you prefer--seasoned, not seasoned, homemade, whatever. Also, if I had the Parmesan cheese, I would have added it, too.

Then I melt the butter and stir in some garlic. I started with 1/4 cup butter and I don't know how much garlic. (Maybe a teaspoon?) I ended up using 1/2 cup butter (1 stick). Halfway through, I melted more butter and added more garlic.

Next, I roll the chicken in the butter mixture. (If you want to be healthier, put some flour in a bowl or plate, and beat an egg--or two, depending on how many nuggets you have--with a little bit of water in a separate bowl. Roll the nuggets in the flour first, and then dip in the egg mixture. Then carry on with the breadcrumbs.)

Then, I roll the chicken (or press it) in the bread crumbs.

Then I put the breaded pieces on a cookie sheet or tray or plate--something that will fit into the freezer. (I lined the pan with foil for easy clean-up.)

If you want to eat the nuggets right then, put them on a cookie sheet or pan (something with raised edges, because the butter makes them sizzle and drip a bit) and bake in a 400-degree oven for about 15 minutes or so. For really good flavor, you can drizzle melted butter over the top before baking.

If you want to freeze, put the pan/plate of breaded nuggets in the freezer to flash freeze. Remove the pan when they're frozen and throw them into a freezer bag or container. (My picture of the chicken all bagged up is below. The setting sun was pouring into the kitchen window and I couldn't get my flash to work--not enough juice in the battery--so this picture will have to do. You get the point.

To cook frozen nuggets, put however many you want on a pan into a 400-degree oven, for 15-20 minutes. I'm very imprecise with measurements, so keep an eye on them. And at some point, I'll add a "recipe" for this, but for now, you can go to Simply Recipes, which is where I got it, loosely adapted: Parmesan Chicken Recipe. Bon Appetite!

Keep On Keeping On

Busy busy week, and it's only halfway over. Between the potential government shutdown, the daycare center, looming deadlines at work, and and our Operation Purge and Organize at home, I am stretched to the limit. But it's a good stretch. The boys are great (except that Seth has another cold which turned into a cough today--fingers crossed with can get through this with no sick visit to the doc), the menu plan is on track, and I'm being productive, so I guess I can't ask for much more than that.

My "job" as president of our daycare board is a huge and time-consuming undertaking, but I have to admit that it's given me a big boost of confidence. Of course, I have a LOT of help from my fellow board members, but every once in a while it sinks in that I'm in charge. People turn to me for answers and guidance and leadership. It's a little bit scary, but I'm not nearly as stressed out about it as I thought I'd be. I'm only four months in, but so far, it's been a good thing.

Luckily, my boss is very supportive. And speaking of my boss (and ergo, my job), although I know a government shutdown would be a very bad thing, selfishly, I'm hoping for at least 2 or 3 days of shutdown. Our daycare will be open, and if I could drop the boys off and have 2 or 3 days to continue the purge-and-organize effort, that would be so awesome.

And speaking of purging and organizing, I have all the toys and baby equipment that I'm selling at this weekend's consignment sale tagged and ready to deliver. If everything sells at full price, I'll bring in $168. Considering a lot could sell at half price (on the last day of the sale, after noon, everything is marked half price), I could end up with a lot last. But even if I make $100, I'll be doing pretty well. My two big-ticket items are a pack-n-play with changing station, and a bedding set that includes a lamp, picture frame, curtains, valance, pillows, bedskirt, crib bumper, etc. etc. I'm debating on whether or not I should hold those out and try to sell them on Craig's List, since I could make more that way. With the consignment sale, I only make 60% of the sale price. Hmmmm. I'll have to think about it.

Anyway, that's a little bit of my scattered thoughts tonight. Time to go to bed.