Happy First Day of Spring

It was a lovely first day of spring here. Temperatures were near 70 degrees, and when I came home from work, the windows were open and the kids were out running in the yard. Ahhh.

I can't claim to have any flowers in the yard (that would require doing things like planting them), but I enjoyed these at my parents' house the other day.

We were actually cleaning up their yard, which had a lot of branches down thanks to an ice storm followed by a wind storm. Mike was happy to help with the work. (Leon started off helping too, but quickly joined his sisters who were inside watching TV.)

It's actually supposed to get cold again next week, but we will enjoy a few warm days while we can.

Tooth

When Ree got home from school today, she said, "Hey, Mom!" and then showed me her latest loose tooth. I commented appropriately, but I didn't think much of it. That child can wiggle a loose tooth for a long time. When she lost her first tooth last year, she worked on it for a good 5 or 6 weeks before it came out. Jeff is horrified by this, but I wiggled all my teeth until they just fell out, so I've campaigned for the right for her to do the same.

So imagine my surprise when she bopped into the kitchen while I was cooking dinner and announced, "Mom! I pulled out my tooth!" First order of business was stopping the bleeding, which just seemed to annoy her. Second order of business was figuring out if she is really brave, she has a really high pain threshold, or if she just really, really wanted money from the Tooth Fairy.

Makeovers

This weekend Natalia got her first real haircut. I hadn't planned it, but when the other kids were getting haircuts, she jumped in line. Unlike a brother of hers who will not be named, Natalia was calm and relaxed throughout and sat perfectly still, looking straight forward.

So that was her "Mommy Makeover." It turned out pretty cute. In contrast, we have her self makeover where she decided to use a green marker in place of all other cosmetic products. After seeing the picture, even she agrees it's not her best look. But the dress and sweater combo she was rocking was pretty cute. At least she had that going on with her Incredible Hulk look.

Sisters

When I got home from work, Ree was in her room with the door shut. She was not talking to anyone, and she was not coming out. She was hiding from her baby sister. I've noticed the two of them fight constantly now like, well, sisters. But they do actually like each other and hang out together sometimes. I have proof. Bwahahaha!

Sunday "Fun"

We took the kids out for doughnuts and to a park on Sunday. I asked them to get together for a picture. Don't they look thrilled?

That's pretty much how the outing went. The doughnuts were tasty, though. And free! And the weather was lovely.

Babies

With Natalia weaning last fall, the "baby" chapter of our lives pretty much ended. It lasted eight years, and we had a good run, but it's time to move on. Oddly, though, babies are now everywhere, or so it seems. I currently work in an office of three. The other two women are currently both out on maternity leave. My cousin is pregnant and due this month. Two out of my three roommates from my freshman year of college have had babies since January. The list goes on...babies, babies, babies!

Even the kids have been talking about babies. Last Saturday Leon and Natalia went to Trader Joe's with me, which is about 15 minutes away. They spent the entire car ride lobbying for us to have a new baby. Leon was concerned about the cost, "We have to buy a crib, and cribs cost lots of money," but he didn't see that as a reason to NOT have a baby. He was even okay if it meant Mom had to work more to earn money to buy the crib if he got to have a baby sister. (Never mind that he HAS a little sister.) And as much as Natalia liked Leon's idea, she thought it would be even better if we had twin girls. Two babies! I told her that if we had two babies, she would have to give them all her diapies (and finally potty train!). She ignored this argument. I told her if we had two babies I wouldn't be able to give her uppies (hold her) since I would need to give the babies uppies. She corrected me and said that, no, she would be the one to give the babies uppies. Not a problem. The discussion ended when we got to Trader Joe's, but Natalia was happy to resume it that evening at dinner. Interesting, though, the reason for her wanting more babies is so that she is no longer the "baby" in the family.

Meanwhile, Sunday morning, Ree was reading on the couch while I folded laundry. She suddenly looked up from her book and said, "I've changed my mind about kids." I thought I knew what she meant, but I asked her to clarify, and yes, she decided she thought she would like to have a baby when she grew up. (She's long been in the no-children-for-me category, and we've seen no reason to try to change her mind about that.) Then she thought some more and decided that, ya know, it wouldn't be bad to have two kids, as long as she had a boy and a girl. Then, I forget how she phrased it, and she was very diplomatic, but she basically said, "Yeah, I'm not insane like you. I'll stop at two kids." Smart girl.

Cherry Cobbler Goodness

I always start my weekends with such optimism. I think each and every weekend will finally be the weekend that I will get stuff done. My house will be clean and decorated. I will actually finish projects. (I recently realized that among other unfinished projects, I started working on organizing my closet while I was on maternity leave with Natalia. She just turned three and I am fairly certain there are piles of stuff on the floor that have been there, just waiting to get organized, since I left to go back to work at the end of my leave.) I think that on the weekends I will spend time with my children. I think I will spend time with my husband. I think it will be glorious!

Of course, it never works out like that. Just attempting to take care of routine matters completely sucks up Friday night and the next two days. You could say that I am hopefully optimistic. Or you could refer to Albert Einstein who defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. For the record, the second option may be more fitting in this scenario, but I'll chose to believe the first.

Anywho, part of the reason I never get anything done, is a good part of my weekend is spent in my kitchen, and I absolutely love it. I spend all week looking forward to the wonderful things I can concoct. It's sad, I know. Growing up, my family typically went out to dinner on Saturday night. You'd think that tradition would've stayed with me, but I am reluctant to eat out at all on the weekend. That's MY time to putz around creating great things. There are many cooking disasters (and near disasters) but I live for the moment when things do go right, and nothing is more exciting that discovering a lovely new recipe. Even better is one that turns out right, or almost right, on the first try.

This weekend I stumbled upon a fantastic new recipe for cherry cobbler. I am not sure if I've ever even made a cherry cobbler before, especially one that started with anything other than canned cherry pie filling, but this recipe just made me swoon. I saw it a few weeks ago in a magazine, and I dog eared the page, but I had done nothing with it. But after Mike pointed out the recipe to me two more times, I thought we might be on to something.

The topping on cobblers can be hit-or-miss in my opinion, but this was fantastic with just the right amount of sweetness. And the amount of chocolate chips in the recipe seemed like overkill. The brilliance of mini chocolate chips, aside from them looking adorable, is that a little goes a long way. In this case in turns out a lot also goes a long way, and the mini chocolate chips were fabulous, especially as they oozed down into the filling. The filling was phenomenal too. The almond extract added a lovely, subtle flavor. About the only thing I would change from the recipe as written would be to ensure the filling is piping hot when you add the topping to ensure it cooks on the bottom. (Yes, that's really just a note to myself.)

So the weekend is over and my house is still a disaster. But rather than worrying about it, I think I will go eat some more dessert. Unlike the house, the dessert is perfection.

Mmm...Birthday Cake

I have a confession to make. At kids' birthday parties...I eat the cake. Gasp! I know. Crazy secret. But I can't help but feel it is a little naughty. At virtually every birthday party I go to, I am the only adult eating the cake.

There is a part of me that wonders, what is wrong with me? I know I am a weirdo when it comes to food. In general, I love it, which leads to some, er, improper behavior. I have no problem with being the first person to go through a buffet. (Has anyone else noticed the tendency people have to just stand around even after someone instructs guests to please help themselves to the food? Having been a nerd since birth, I naturally follow instructions and am quite happy to help myself when told to do so.) I also have no shame at taking the last cookie when it is clear no one else will eat it. (Why let it sit there until it goes bad and you have to throw it away just to avoid being the person to eat the last cookie? Cookies are meant to be eaten, dang it.)

And when it comes to birthday parties, I love eating the cake so much that there was actually an occasion when I took Ree to a party and there was a small tower of fancy cupcakes and I had a moment of nervousness where I thought with a bit of alarm, "What if there aren't enough cupcakes for the grown ups?" (Never mind the cupcakes were slightly larger than Ree's head and there was an excellent chance she wouldn't be able to eat more than a small fraction of hers.)

Then again, there is another part that wonders, what is wrong with the other parents? I get why the skinny-mini moms don't eat it. I'm sure they look at the cake in terms of extra time needed in spin class. But all the other parents, really? No one else likes cake? Is it an eating in public thing? Are they just saving up for alcohol? I know we live at the beach, and bathing suit season is long, but I still don't get it.

Today I took the boys to a birthday party, which was a first for me. Jeff usually takes them to parties, and this was my chance to finally meet some of the other parents. I wanted to be all socially acceptable and stuff, so I did things like actually shower today and I wore clothes with a minimal amount of crustified food stains from the kids. But when it came to the cake, I just couldn't pass it up like the other moms. I know I got some strange looks as I dug in. And you know what? It was delicious. Maybe next time some other brave/crazy soul will even join me in eating it.