Checking In--Random Style

I hate going so long without updates, but my laptop screen is broken so I haven't been on the computer much at home. And I've been busy. William got better but then Ed got sick. So two nights of doing everything wore me out. And Ed and I have been watching Mad Men (we're finally on season 4). I'm also reading a book, and I find that I just don't have time at the end of the day to do everything.

Sooooo anyway.

• As I mentioned, William recovered and seems to have had a good week at school. We met with his teacher on Tuesday and basically got interviewed. His teacher wanted to know all about William so she asked questions like, What activities does he enjoy? What are his favorite toys? Who does he play with outside of school? Does he have pets? Who lives at home with him? How do we discipline him? Does he watch TV? What does he like to watch? Does he have any fears? Etc. etc. etc. It was nice to talk to his teacher. She didn't have a whole lot to say about how he's settling in. She said all the kids are still trying to get their bearings but William seems happy and friendly. So that's enough for now. Yesterday he told me he had fun at aftercare. So that's good. The teacher showed us their weekly schedule, when they have "specials," (P.E., art, music, computer lab) their discipline system. They're also starting a "Spotlight on me" week. Each full week of school, they spend time spotlighting a classmate. One day, they ask the kid specific questions at circle time. Another day the kid brings in special toys. Another day, we bring in a special treat. There are 24 kids in William's class (a little larger than I would like), and they're going alphabetically. By first name. Which means William is DEAD LAST. His week starts May 14. Fantastic! Oh well. One of the many life lessons I'm afraid we'll be learning this year.
• Moving on, since William has started kindergarten, Seth has been a bear during our commutes to and from work. He whines and cries and yells at me. He couldn't care less about the iPhone (which is what William and Seth used to fight over all the time in the car). He doesn't want to listen to music. He just wants to be disagreeable. It's only been a few weeks, so hopefully it's just a phase. But I've always been worried about how hard the commute is on the kids, so I'm starting to look into preschools/daycares closer to home. Always good to know our options.
• Fall plans are coming together. This weekend will be busy. Seth starts a 6-week soccer clinic tomorrow morning. That should be interesting. William has taekwondo as usual. There's a local festival near our house (taste of) that we're planning on going to. And on Sunday, we have a birthday party and a neighborhood social in the afternoon. Next weekend, if the weather cooperates, we'll go apple picking. I've also been toying with trying camping again. But not sure if Seth is ready yet. In October, we're tentatively going to New York to visit friends. And we have a weekend slated for a big pumpkin festival. And we're tentatively planning to re-book our Great Wolf vacation in November. 
• Speaking of fall, it turned cold here last night! High today of 68. Tomorrow and Sunday should only get to 70. I guess summer is definitely over!

Couldn't Get Past Day Five

We got a call from William's school at 3:30 today. He had a 101-degree fever. Ed had to pick him up from extended day. At least he made it through the full school day. He'll stay home tomorrow. Hopefully, it's minor and he'll be fine and can go back to school on Wednesday. He's coughing a little bit, but doesn't have any other symptoms. Seth got sent home Friday with a barely-above-100-degree fever, so I guess we should have seen it coming. Seth is coughing a lot more, though. But not acting sick. There goes my dream of a perfect attendance record! I guess it just wasn't in the cards.

Anyone Know How to Build an Ark?

Wow--it has been raining here since Monday. Every day. Every night. I'm so over it.

In other news, William rode the bus today for the first time. He loved it. I didn't even get a good picture because it all happened so fast. Plus it was raining. (See statement above.) He sat with his next-door neighbor who is in first grade. He was also in school until 12:30 today, and had lunch with his class, instead of his after-care group. He told me he ate all of his lunch, and even ate his Fig Newtons after his grapes, strawberries, cheese, pepperoni, and crackers. I think he had a fire drill today--they had to go out in the rain. But he said it was just his class, not the whole school. He said they talked about bus safety and rules yesterday. He has a friend in his class named Katie. One of his after-care teachers also has a peanut allergy. And Ms. Williams (the classroom aide) loves Disney.

I've been feeling so unsettled this week, mainly because I am so disconnected from this major part of William's life now. When he was at daycare, I knew every day what he did because of daily e-mailed updates from his teachers. I also talked to them every day--at drop-off and at pick-up. And sometimes, we exchanged more emails throughout the day. I realized today as William got on the bus that I will likely never see his teacher. I have to rely on what he tells me to learn about his day. We have a conference with William's teacher on Tuesday and I can't wait to talk to her and to hear her perspective about how William is adjusting. I'm fighting the urge to email her and inundate her with questions. This is all part of the growing-up process. I know that. I'm okay with that. A little bit. I hope that William is making friends. That other kids like him. That he is behaving himself and acting respectfully. I hope he is interested and curious and eager to learn. I hope that he is happy and engaged and comfortable. I hope, I hope, I hope. I thought the tears (for me, of course) would come on the first day of school. Not the fourth!

First Day of Kindergarten

It's official! William is in elementary school. From what I could gather, he had a good first day. He was a little disappointed that his time in kindergarten was so short. They only had an hour today because the school gradually acclimates the kids. So the first two days, they split each class up, and half the kids go for one hour; the other half goes for the next hour. After that, the whole class will have half days (off at 12:30) for a week and a half. (There will be parent-teacher conferences in the afternoons.) And then he will finally be in for a full day beginning September 19.

When kindergarten lets out, he attends the school's extended day program. He was not impressed by the trailer where the extended day program is based. And since it rained today, they did not get to play on the playground. Doubly disappointing. But he did report some fun things that happend today. He learned the sign for "stand up" in sign language. And he watched A Bug's Life. And today was his teacher's birthday, which he learned during circle time. (And I only found this out because he told his grandmother on the phone.) He ate his Doritoes and Fig Newtons (special first-day treats), his banana, and his cereal that I packed for snack (at his request). But he did not eat his yogurt, cheese, or crackers (the protein part of his lunch). Lesson learned--if you want him to eat healthy things for lunch, only pack healthy things for lunch. :-)

As far as the drop-off this morning, I can't believe how nervous I was. I had major butterflies, and I could tell that he was a little bit nervous. But after we put his things in his cubby, and before he found his spot on the rug, he gave me a hug and a big smile and waved at Seth and me as we walked out the door. Kind of anticlimactic, really. But I'm so proud of him and I'm so relieved he had a good first day. He said he made some friends, and that he wasn't shy at all. And I hope that once full days start and he gets into the routine and he bonds with a few kids, he'll love it.

I did manage to take a few pictures, even though he was so over me having the camera!

Happy face (cheesy, but happy!):

Silly face:

At his tablein the classroom:

As for me, life has been a bit crazy the last two weeks. After the earthquake, we had hurricane Irene. I thought we lost Clark (our cat) during the storm, since he got out and was gone for 48 hours, while the storm hit, but he came back and all was well. Almost the worst 48 hours of my life, since I was the one who forgot that he had run outside. I meant to go back out and get him, but I completely forgot and went to bed instead. The next morning--the day that Irene passed over us--he was nowhere to be found. But as I said, he came back, none the worse for wear.

Because Clark was missing, we did not take our vacation to Great Wolf Lodge, so we plan on rescheduling this fall sometime. And our last week of summer vacation was dreadfully boring--especially Labor Day weekend. I feel bad that we didn't really do anything with the boys other than errands and play with our neighbors. I don't think it bothered them, but it was kind of a lame way to end the summer. But such is life. Work is really stressful for me right now, and unfortunately, that's where I am.

I hope to make it up with fun activities over the next couple of months. I want to go apple picking in September. Maybe a trip to New York to visit friends in October. And maybe Great Wolf in November. I'm looking forward to it all already!

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!

Plans Change, We Adapt

Sunday was one of those days where nothing really worked the way it had been planned. But it all turned out fine anyway. We originally had thought we'd get together with one of William's friends from school. She's recovering from heart surgery (ack!) and has been home for a few weeks. We were going to meet her for a movie, and since I wasn't sure when, we left things open-ended. Then on Saturday, we realized that Ed's sister and BIL and their boys are in town. (D'oh! How'd I miss that one?) They have not seen the new house, so we invited them over to dinner. But it turned out the only time William's friend could meet for a movie was later afternoon, which didn't work with us.

So boo for not getting together with his friend. But y'ay--we'd get to see the cousins! Since we still had the whole day to kill, I was thinking we'd go to the pool. But the kids didn't want to do that. They were playing at home and didn't really want to leave. That was fine, since I had a lot of cleaning to do anyway. (As much as I would love to spend any extra time at the pool, I have to respect the fact that sometimes, the boys just want to stay home. This is one of those things that makes working outside the home hard. You have to balance the activities with time at home to CHILL!) William spent the whole morning playing with Ed's old Voltron toy that his mother never threw out. We've been watching old episodes of Voltron on Netflix and William loves it. It's so cute to see him being so careful with the toy, and great to see how much he enjoys it. Note to self--save the really special toys for the grandkids!

Anyway, after the boys played all morning, William decided he'd like to go ice skating. The rink near us had open skating from 1:15 to 3:15, so that's what we did. It was really fun and the boys did pretty well. It was expensive, so not something I see us doing a lot. But fun all the same. Then the family came over, we ate, the boys' fatigue started shining through, yada yada yada, and now it's 9:45 and I'm beat.

So not the day I thought I was going to have, but a pretty good day all the same. And I even got some cleaning done! Although I didn't blog much about it, or take many pictures, July was a pretty good month. As we head into August, I'm starting to get nervous about William starting school. Thank goodness he's not nervous! This week we're going to drop off his papers and documentation. The week before school starts, there's a "Meet the Teacher" session. And then school starts. Just like that.

But there's a whole month between then and now. So for now, I'll just focus on the now! Still trying to work in more pool time, some kayaking, bowling, and maybe even more chillin' at home.

Happy Summer Weekend

We had another awesome summer weekend, made better by a visit from Baba (my mom). Since returning from our vacation in June, our weekends have settled into a bit of a pattern. We spend Saturday running all kinds of errands and doing chores around the house, and then we have Sundays to relax and hit the pool. So far it has worked out well. William has taekwondo on Saturday mornings, so I’ve been trying to hit the grocery store while Ed takes William to his class. (Sometimes Seth goes with me, sometimes with Ed.) This past weekend, we mostly followed the pattern, but there are a few things that stand out. The first involved the grocery store, the second involved grownup time, and the third involved sleep!

On Saturday, William was scheduled to get his purple stripe belt, so Mom and I went to his class and then we took the boys to our new local library (which is awesome, btw—crazy helpful librarians!), and then to the grocery store. At the grocery store, the boys discovered a Kool-Aid display and decided they wanted to try it. Having grown up on Kool-Aid, I couldn’t resist. What’s summer as a kid without Kool-Aid? I let them pick out their flavors. William chose cherry and Seth chose tropical punch. We made the cherry flavor as soon as we got home. They said they liked it, but they haven’t exactly torn through the pitcher. Ed and I had some and wondered how the heck we could have liked it so much when we were little. Gross! I guess tastes really do change with time. LOL.

Another highlight was that William had Ninja Night Out on Saturday night, so Seth stayed home with Ed, and Mom and I got to have a night on the town, just the two of us! We checked out a little antique store close to our house, went to the garden center to look for ferns and begonias, hit the craft store so I could start planning my DIY headboard, and then we went out to eat at Applebee’s. All of it SANS kids. Awesome!

On Sunday we went to the pool and the boys were excited that Baba came with us. I spent all morning packing up the snacks/lunch/drinks. (I can’t figure out why it takes so long to get us ready for the pool. I feel like I start getting us ready at 9:00 a.m. for the 11:00 a.m pool opening!) Anyway, the heat wave was still upon us, but it had definitely relented somewhat. In fact, there was a breeze blowing at the pool that made it quite comfortable sitting in the shade. We spent about three hours there, until Seth was close to a nuclear meltdown from lack of nap. When we got home, the boys zoned out in front of videos and then went outside to ride bikes and scooters. We ate an early dinner and as we were cleaning up from dinner, William hit Seth (Seth probably deserved it, but still), so Ed sent William up to his room. Not long after, I took Seth up to start the boys’ bath and called for William, only to realize that William had fallen fast asleep. I had Seth in his bed with lights out by 7:10 p.m. and didn’t hear a peep from him for the rest of the night. Earliest bedtime ever! William woke up around 9-something having wet the bet. But I quietly cleaned him up and changed him and put clean sheets on the bed and he went right back to sleep and slept until 6:30 a.m. Seth woke up at 5:30 a.m., but still—that’s ten hours for him! That’s a crazy lot of sleep for the Hahn household!

This summer is definitely living up to all expectations. I guess keeping expectations low helps, but I haven’t felt stressed or disappointed. There are still some things I want to do—bowling, kayaking, making ice cream—and I haven’t been reading as much as I’d like to, and I haven’t started exercising, and I haven’t taken nearly enough pictures. But there’s still time. And we have done enough to call it a happy, fun summer. That’s all that really matters!

Heat Wave

Apparently we're under some kind of heat dome which has been moving from the mid-West to here, and it's brutal. Heat index of 110 or so today. On top of the heat wave, I've been sick all week. I'm not sure if it's a cold or something more because I've had fever, chills, and body aches. But I haven't let it slow me down! Work every day. (I'm sure my co-workers are thrilled by my work ethic--NOT!) Swim lessons yesterday. Feeding/bathing/entertaining kids. Seth got the cold first last weekend, and now William has a stuffy nose. It doesn't seem to have hit them as hard, but it's not over yet. Of course, today and tomorrow are big budget meetings for the daycare. Not the kind of stuff I can miss.

My mom is coming to visit this weekend. (Hopefully she still wants to come! I will sanitize the house--I swear!) Maybe we'll get a few things done around the house. Maybe not. I'd be content to just sit around all day and watch the boys play. Maybe go out to eat (three times a day) a few times. This week has taught me that I'm definitely not a wimp!

There's lots more I should probably talk about, but I'll end with a comment about swim lessons for the boys. Why didn't I do private lessons for William years ago? Definitely the way to go. They've only had two lessons but he's already much more confident in the water. He's putting his whole face in the water (not his whole head--just his face, but it's a start), and he's willing to push his zone of comfort a little more. I love seeing the progress. Seth, meanwhile, is fearless and loves every part of the lessons. What I love the most, though, is that William is really impressed with Seth's fearlessness but doesn't seem to harbor an ounce of jealousy and he doesn't seem to feel bad about his own limitations, either. He cheerfully comments about what a good swimmer Seth is and he seems to enjoy watching Seth and he even encourages Seth. It's so sweet. I worried that William might get down on himself if Seth could do things better than him. But so far, that hasn't happened. I know that there is still plenty of time for that, but so far, it's been a pleasant surprise. I love how different the boys are, and and how your heart can completely swell and almost burst for each one, for completely different reasons.

Educational Apps for Kids

Swimming was canceled tonight because of a thunderstorm. So we came home after work, watched TV (the boys watched TV while I made dinner), ate Tacos, and then the boys took baths and went to bed. With time stretched before me, I decided to search for some new apps for my iPhone. I hate to admit that I haven't been very good about working on reading with the boys. William is a little bit interested in reading, and he can get through a few of the BOB books, but I realized tonight that he really doesn't know very many sight words, and I've never really worked on that with him. (I don't even know how to work on that with him, not to mention the fact that he dislikes taking instruction from me.) So I did what any good mom of our generation does--I turned to the iPhone! I downloaded the following apps:

Alphabet Tracing (which is mostly for Seth to begin writing letters)
Sight Words (there are a lot of sight word apps, and I had no idea which one is the best)
Licking Letters (hopefully both boys will enjoy this)

I need to add some math apps, too. But I'm tired and it's late, and I can't believe how frickin' long it took me just to select and download those three measly apps. But please send me your suggestions in the comments! Clearly, I need all the help I can get.

Moving Right Along (Right Along, Right Along Right Along)

I looked at my summer to-do list today and was pleased with our progress so far.

1. Go to the pool as much as possible! (Working on this one, with plans for the pool again on Sunday!)
2. The boys learn to swim (Lessons start tomorrow after work.)
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 (Been once. This one is tough to fit into our schedule since William has Taekwondo on Saturday mornings, but we're still working on it!)
6. Explore the parks in our area (We've explored two parks nearby so far. More on our list.)
7. Explore the W&OD trail (maybe go bike riding) (We went on the trail for a short bit and definitely want to explore more, but the trail is crowded!)
8. Take the boys bowling
9. Go to the beach
10. Go to Great Wolf Lodge (Reservations made for end of August)
11. Go to a minor league baseball game (Going to see the Potomac Nationals on Friday night!)
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 (Attending concert at local park on Thursday night. Invited some neighbors to come, too.)
13. Go canoeing
14. Plant some vegetables
15. Try making different flavors of homemade ice cream

Still working on the library, planting veggies (may be too late for summer tomatoes and zuchhini, but it probably can't hurt to try!), making homemade ice cream, and going bowling. Looking at the calendar, it's crazy to realize how few weekends are left this summer. So I'm definitely going to try to make the most of the time we have. Without overscheduling us and making us crazy, of course.

And now that I've blabbered on quite a bit, here are some more pictures from vacation and girls' weekend.

Seth with Katie and Aunt Rose



Katie and William



Summer Like It Should Be

Yesterday I took the boys to our favorite pool and we stayed for five hours. It was awesome! We had nothing else to do all day, and I decided to put no time limit on our visit. I loaded up on lunch, drinks, and snacks, and we got there when it opened. This pool has a "baby" pool, with fountains that shoot up and a slide. It has a big pool with slides and water pouring out of a huge bucket and a shallow area that's less than 3 feet, so both boys could walk around. And it has a huge sand area with a water table in the middle. In the past, William has always gravitated to the sand area, so I was surprised that he wanted to spend as much time as he did in the pool. But I certainly wasn't disappointed.

I was especially happy to see how confident the boys are getting in the water. They both went down the slides over and over. William finally started crawling around like an alligator. (A big step for him!) Seth would run and then throw himself into the water and then come up for more. Seth has no fear putting his face in the water now, and he's finally figuring out how not to inhale the water. I'm playing phone tag with a swim instructor to set up lessons for the boys, so I'm hoping to get something set up ASAP.

They played in the sand for quite a while, too, which gave me a chance to relax. Not even a poop accident on Seth's part put a damper in our day. Seth didn't quite make it to the toilet, but I didn't realize that until  we were in the bathroom stall. (He did make it to the bathroom, so there wasn't any pool mess to worry about!) Wow--was that ugly. But luckily, there are showers in the bathroom and I had some wipes with me and don't worry--when we left the stall, it was as clean as it was when we started. :-)

Based on yesterday's experience, I'm making the pool a priority for the rest of our summer! The only bad thing about the pool is that Ed does not like being there very much. So our time there ends up being me, solo, or with other friends. Which isn't necessarily bad. Ed gets time to do things at home and run errands. But I'm determined to get him to the pool at least once before summer ends. Actually, our August vacation will be at Great Wolf Lodge, so I imagine that will be pool time enough for him!

As for the rest of our lives, we're still loving our  neighborhood. And we're making a little progress on home decorating. Ed painted the screened-in porch floor and the steps while we were gone, but I'll save those details for my design blog. (If I ever manage to take a picture during daylight hours!) I also have more pictures from vacation, girls' weekend, and even a few from the pool yesterday--all on my camera. I'll try to download those tonight. And I need to write a few more posts to cover our vacation. But all in good time!

Girls' Weekend 2011

I have a lot of posts to catch up on (including my meet-up with Karen in South Carolina!) but I'm trying to go in order. So I should start with my girls' weekend! This was our 10th annual weekend and it's pretty much a guarantee that we're going to have a great time together. Each year is a little different as we're all in different stages of our lives. This year was different because we got to hang out with each other and our kids both before and after girls' weekend. It was similar to all the other girls' weekends, though, in the shared laughter, advice, great food, inspiration, and moral support. What would I do without our girls' weekends? Hopefully I'll never have to find out. (And here are links to GW '10, GW '09, GW '08)

This year we decided to add some physical activity to  our weekend adventure. As the other three girls know, I'm a bit notorious for avoiding exercise. So I decided to get off my arse and join the girls for some bike riding and ocean kayaking. We rode bikes about 3 or so miles to a club that rents kayaks and then went kayaking for about an hour or so. Then we had some drinks at the club and rode our bikes back. It was awesome. Nothing beats riding bikes on the beach (even when it's crazy hot!), and paddling in the ocean (especially when it's nice and calm) was so much fun. It was well worth the effort, and I can't wait to do it again next year! We took a bunch of pictures of our fun that day with a disposable camera. My friend Morgan has the rest of the pictures from the weekend, so for now, these will do.



L-R: Morgan, Me, Tina, Mistie



Getting ready to kayak



We're ready now! (Morgan and I shared a kayak while Mistie and Tina went solo.)



Morgan and I were awesome kayak partners! Look how in sync we were.



Show me the Mommy!



Chillaxin!



Picture time!

Looking at these pictures makes me wish we were back at the beach. Thanks girls for being such awesome, amazing, inspiring, and supportive friends. You are definitely my Wooties!

Home at Last

We are back from what seemed like the endless vacation. Endless in a good way, of course! We are all glad to be home, despite the fact that we had an awesome time in Florida and North Carolina. The best part of the trip was seeing the boys have so much fun with all of their cousins. They LOVE their cousins and they were all so good to the boys.

I'll spare you all a play-by-play of our vacation, but I'll note some highlights:

• Flying to Florida (the looks on the boys faces when we were taking off was PRICELESS!)
• Swimming at the Yacht Club with Katie, Melanie, Aunt Rose, and Uncle Dave
• Following around Playing with Melanie and Katie
• Visiting the Catty Shack and seeing tigers, lions, panthers, and jaguars UP CLOSE and watching them get fed
• THE BEACH ('nuff said)
• GIRLS' WEEKEND
• Birthday dinner at Japanese Steak House
• THE BEACH! (Oh yeah--already said that)
• Discovery Place childrens' museum in Charlotte
• Playing with cousins Zack, Jacob, and Tyler

There were a few downers on our vacation. I got in a fight with the Delta ticket counter associate at BWI airport. William started coughing the day before we left and coughed all during vacation. I had to get our doctor's office to call in a prescription for Albuterol in Florida because I didn't bring enough. He hung in there, though, and things never got severe. Speaking of William, he and I had more than a few tussles throughout our trip. He learned how to push all my buttons and I DIDN'T learn how to deactivate any of them. I wish I could say that I didn't let that stuff get to me, but I can't. Lessons learned! I think our biggest disappointment, though, was that it rained in the evening on the 4th of July, so we didn't get to enjoy fireworks with the boys' cousins. Last year, William had so much fun with all of the fireworks that the neighbors set off in the cul-de-sac. And he was so disappointed when we had to leave. There's nothing worse than seeing that crushed look on your kid's face. But we couldn't stay there all night, especially when we wanted to leave bright and early this morning to get back to DC. In the end, it was fine. And William hasn't mentioned it since. But it definitely made our trip end on a low note.

Despite the lows, we really had a great trip, and the boys were really good, considering. They were great for my sister while I was away on my girls' weekend, and they did really well on both long car trips. I think this trip pretty much guarantees that the beach and visiting cousins will be part of many many future summers.

Last-minute Prep

We leave in the morning for the airport. I have one huge suitcase packed with all of our clothes. It's probably more than 50 pounds, but who cares. Either way I pay more--for more weight, or another suitcase, which is just one more thing to have to handle. Anyway, I also have a small carry-on suitcase, a backpack, my purse, and the boys each have a backpack. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but thank God there are Targets in Florida!

Tonight during bath, Seth wanted to try out his goggles. I ran and got the camera because he looks so hilarious in them:

Can't wait for our trip to begin!