We got a foot of snow yesterday, and that is no stretch in the numbers. Robbie had to go see post-ops at his office, so I decided to shovel our drive as an act of love. He hates packing down the snow with his car's tire tracks, and our little house has a one lane driveway. I prayed Hail Mary while I knew he was braving the roads to return to us, and I couldn't have been more thankful when I heard his honk. He was safe. God bless. He was also thrilled with the clear drive and walkways. We helped neighbors clear their foot of snow, and we were exhausted last night. I've never removed deeper snow in my life.
This morning I awoke to a child wet with pee and a soaking bed at 1:19 am. I took care of that, closed my eyes, and a blink later heard the rapid pitter-pat of little feet at 5:46 am. Vivian stood by my bed, and sang, "Rise and shine, and give God the glory, glory," again and again. I expressed my love, then informed her it was not six. "Go potty and quietly get back into your bed, Viv." Instead, she went to the living room and discovered her daddy was outside shoveling snow in the street in order to make a path to the lane the plow cleared on the OTHER side of the street so that he could back out of our drive. It was 26 degrees F with a wind chill of 12 F. I made hot coffee and planned to cook him a hot breakfast of eggs until I discovered salmon defrosting. I then recalled his plan to grill some fish for breakfast. Just before 6:40 am, when he realized the grilling was taking longer than he anticipated, he went to the shower and asked me to please check the salmon in five minutes. I was in my robe and slippers, and I was kind of shocked and a little bit unhappy about the request. I did it. Granted, all I had to do was test the doneness with the twist of a fork, remove it with a spatula, and turn off the gas. However, when we said, "I do," 12 years ago, I somehow never imagined a day when I would be in temperatures that felt like the low teens, grilling fish in the six o'clock AM hour. It is a very good thing that I love my man so much and fully understand all of the sacrifices he makes on behalf of our little family..one of which, is eating fish for breakfast in an attempt to live a healthier life.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Monday, February 18, 2013
Green Hulk Food
Miss Vivian is ready to go to Colorado to baby ski school. She asked me when we are going, and my, "Not yet," answer did not satisfy her. I gave her a specific month and day, and she said, "What's that?" I replied, "It is a date." Her little face scrunched in confusion, and she asked, "Aren't I too young to go on a date?" She and I have funny little exchanges like this quite frequently. She got a new and quite gorgeous Disney Store Snow White gown from my mother for her 3rd birthday. We have been watching Superman movies on our family movie nights, and I gave her little Superman and Wonder Woman figures to play with in Henry's bat cave. She dressed herself, then asked, "Do you think Superman will think I'm so pretty?" The funny part about the dress is that her daddy helped her pick a less fancy one at Costco for Halloween. She wore it to shreds, and it was almost like a security blanket. We weren't certain she'd accept a newer model of the gown. The new dress came with a warning tag about glitter falling off of it. I'm not kidding. I'm also not even kidding that all of our barefooted kids have glitter stuck to the bottom of their feet. The girls and I have it on our scalps, and I saw a spec in Henry's ear. Robbie does not want glitter in his hair, I can tell you that for certain. I can just imagine the surprise on his patients' faces as they notice gold sparkle in the hair of their doctor as he examines their eyes.
The sweet potato latkes were loved by me, but the kids were not impressed with the fruit of all of Robbie's labor. As Robbie placed her latke, fried egg, and bacon on her plate, Vivian said, "What IS this food?" Henry asked when Robbie was going to make his good pancakes again...meaning from scratch buttermilk pancakes with 100% pure maple syrup from Michigan and berries on top. Vivian finally finished her Sunday breakfast this morning...Monday. Robbie shredded seven cups of sweet potatoes, and the kids WERE GOING TO EAT THEM.
Henry likes the Incredible Hulk, so I can usually sway him with, "Buddy, this is Hulk food," if the vegetable is green. He happily took sugar snap peas to preschool when he was snack friend, and he shared this news with his buds. Vivian isn't into it. "Viv, that's Hulk food," I told her. "I don't want to be strong as a Hulk," she stated firmly. Henry asked her if she wanted to be strong as a princess, and she didn't. Olivia asked her if she wanted to be strong as a little mouse, and we all laughed. Another interesting meal experience awaits. I spent over an hour this afternoon preparing a new Paleo recipe. Evelyn plucked cilantro off the stems, and Olivia charred two pounds of tomatillos for the Chile Verde Pork Stew. It smells amazing, BUT it is green. Hmmm...
The sweet potato latkes were loved by me, but the kids were not impressed with the fruit of all of Robbie's labor. As Robbie placed her latke, fried egg, and bacon on her plate, Vivian said, "What IS this food?" Henry asked when Robbie was going to make his good pancakes again...meaning from scratch buttermilk pancakes with 100% pure maple syrup from Michigan and berries on top. Vivian finally finished her Sunday breakfast this morning...Monday. Robbie shredded seven cups of sweet potatoes, and the kids WERE GOING TO EAT THEM.
Henry likes the Incredible Hulk, so I can usually sway him with, "Buddy, this is Hulk food," if the vegetable is green. He happily took sugar snap peas to preschool when he was snack friend, and he shared this news with his buds. Vivian isn't into it. "Viv, that's Hulk food," I told her. "I don't want to be strong as a Hulk," she stated firmly. Henry asked her if she wanted to be strong as a princess, and she didn't. Olivia asked her if she wanted to be strong as a little mouse, and we all laughed. Another interesting meal experience awaits. I spent over an hour this afternoon preparing a new Paleo recipe. Evelyn plucked cilantro off the stems, and Olivia charred two pounds of tomatillos for the Chile Verde Pork Stew. It smells amazing, BUT it is green. Hmmm...
Sunday, February 17, 2013
"Bye-bye, you cutie." (Wink!)
The temp is 29 degrees Fahrenheit, and Robbie is out running with 9 1/2-year-old Olivia. I love how their Daddy-Daughter dates evolve. Evelyn just decided to train Henry with some workout moves, and she rewarded him with homemade ribbons constructed of yard and construction paper that read, "#1 Henry Overlease," and, "Good Job!" Vivian is in her favorite floor-length flannel Hello Kitty nightgown (which she changes into in the middle of the day right before we are supposed to leave our house), and she's playing with her castle set.
Evelyn's reading exploded this past week, so I got her seven new fairy books from the library. Olivia was into those at the same point in her life. Ev is honestly reading by the backpack load, and I love this new found literary freedom she is experiencing. I've been working with Henry to point out and teach short sight words as we read storybooks daily. He's learned quite a nice string of them, and Evelyn ran with this yesterday. She produced her old kindergarten Busy Bee Binder, and set to work with a handwritten list of sight words for her brother and a yellow highlighter as used by her teacher. She added PIZZA to Henry's word list. I love it. Olivia is a voracious reader, and she's blazing through her Battle of the Books list of 20+ titles for an upcoming team competition. While in the van with the family she said, "What's cat piss?" Robbie and I exchanged looks, and he said, "What book are you reading?" I knew it was The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. We explained that the word about which she inquired, which I spelled back to her, is a slang bad word for urine. Robbie wanted additional information about the context in which the phrase was used. In the book a granddaddy said this to a young girl, and Olivia read it aloud..."I have managed to take perfectly good pecans and ferment them into something approximating cat piss." Obviously, Robbie and I laughed out loud.
After passing through my initial fury over Robbie's decision to eat a Paleo Diet and forego all dairy (read...CHEESE, BUTTER, MILK, YOGURT!!!), beans (which I love) and legumes (No peanuts? Really? Sweet peas and beans are bad?), and grains (no rice, bread, pasta, etc., etc.) I am pleased to share that I am in a better place about it. Robbie bought me three Paleo cookbooks, and we are working together to figure out the new contents of his lunchbox and our family dinners. On that note, last night after mass we went to a health food store. All six of us shopped, and the place was busy for a Saturday night. Henry had his own small cart, and he was thrilled to load it with fruit and nuts. At one point I left the group to go for some carrots, and I happened to look over my shoulder as Henry was sprinting towards me up the frozen foods aisle. Unfortunately, he was racing to catch his runaway cart!! I've never seen a cart roll so fast in a grocery store in my life, and I'm lucky it was pint sized. I'd love to view the surveillance footage of that scene as I turned and caught it just in the nick of time before it bowled me over. I'm certain it would go viral on YouTube. We had a serious discussion about his use of little carts. Vivian has learned to wink, and she made friends in the checkout lane with a rather effeminate Asian male. She winked at him, and got a big smile and chuckle. As we left the register, she said in a slow and flirty voice, "Bye-bye, you cutie (wink!)," and the kids and I roared.
Vivian turned three on the 8th, and I made her the much requested for many months...pink Hello Kitty cake. I researched decorated cake images and pink cake recipes. I ended up with a delicious pink strawberry cake with pink strawberry frosting and buttercream marshmallow white icing for Hello Kitty's star piped 3D face. Hello Kitty had a hair bow made of pink marshmallow hearts. Vivian asked to help me bake the cake. Henry assisted, and we had a great time in our aprons. However, once the pink cake was cooling, Vivian appeared and said, "Henry says my cake tastes GOOOODD!!" I ran to the kitchen and discovered that my son had taken a couple of handfuls of cake out of the edges of one of my cake layers. I was furious with him. He was sent to a lengthy timeout and ended up falling asleep for three hours. That part was good. Vivian and our guests loved her birthday cake, and Robbie ate some too.
For all of Henry's typical little boy antics, he is really a darling and loving child. I asked him one morning if he wanted to make up a gym class. "No, I want to stay here close to you." I said, "You are a funny little guy." He told me, "You are a sweet, precious, little mama." He just walked into the room where I'm writing this in my big fleece robe, bed head, and glasses and said, "You are soooo pretty." I suppose love is blind. On Valentine's Day I said to Vivian, "I love being your mommy." "I love being your baby," was her sweet reply.
I hear my sweet husband upstairs, back from his run, and his plan is to make sweet potato latkes and try to pass them off as "pancakes" this morning. The time he made sweet potato pancakes with almond butter and coconut milk, Olivia entered the kitchen and asked if he was putting squash in our breakfast pancakes. It was pretty funny. The kids are trying to get used to our carb-free weekend breakfasts and dinners too. Change is a process.
Evelyn's reading exploded this past week, so I got her seven new fairy books from the library. Olivia was into those at the same point in her life. Ev is honestly reading by the backpack load, and I love this new found literary freedom she is experiencing. I've been working with Henry to point out and teach short sight words as we read storybooks daily. He's learned quite a nice string of them, and Evelyn ran with this yesterday. She produced her old kindergarten Busy Bee Binder, and set to work with a handwritten list of sight words for her brother and a yellow highlighter as used by her teacher. She added PIZZA to Henry's word list. I love it. Olivia is a voracious reader, and she's blazing through her Battle of the Books list of 20+ titles for an upcoming team competition. While in the van with the family she said, "What's cat piss?" Robbie and I exchanged looks, and he said, "What book are you reading?" I knew it was The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. We explained that the word about which she inquired, which I spelled back to her, is a slang bad word for urine. Robbie wanted additional information about the context in which the phrase was used. In the book a granddaddy said this to a young girl, and Olivia read it aloud..."I have managed to take perfectly good pecans and ferment them into something approximating cat piss." Obviously, Robbie and I laughed out loud.
After passing through my initial fury over Robbie's decision to eat a Paleo Diet and forego all dairy (read...CHEESE, BUTTER, MILK, YOGURT!!!), beans (which I love) and legumes (No peanuts? Really? Sweet peas and beans are bad?), and grains (no rice, bread, pasta, etc., etc.) I am pleased to share that I am in a better place about it. Robbie bought me three Paleo cookbooks, and we are working together to figure out the new contents of his lunchbox and our family dinners. On that note, last night after mass we went to a health food store. All six of us shopped, and the place was busy for a Saturday night. Henry had his own small cart, and he was thrilled to load it with fruit and nuts. At one point I left the group to go for some carrots, and I happened to look over my shoulder as Henry was sprinting towards me up the frozen foods aisle. Unfortunately, he was racing to catch his runaway cart!! I've never seen a cart roll so fast in a grocery store in my life, and I'm lucky it was pint sized. I'd love to view the surveillance footage of that scene as I turned and caught it just in the nick of time before it bowled me over. I'm certain it would go viral on YouTube. We had a serious discussion about his use of little carts. Vivian has learned to wink, and she made friends in the checkout lane with a rather effeminate Asian male. She winked at him, and got a big smile and chuckle. As we left the register, she said in a slow and flirty voice, "Bye-bye, you cutie (wink!)," and the kids and I roared.
Vivian turned three on the 8th, and I made her the much requested for many months...pink Hello Kitty cake. I researched decorated cake images and pink cake recipes. I ended up with a delicious pink strawberry cake with pink strawberry frosting and buttercream marshmallow white icing for Hello Kitty's star piped 3D face. Hello Kitty had a hair bow made of pink marshmallow hearts. Vivian asked to help me bake the cake. Henry assisted, and we had a great time in our aprons. However, once the pink cake was cooling, Vivian appeared and said, "Henry says my cake tastes GOOOODD!!" I ran to the kitchen and discovered that my son had taken a couple of handfuls of cake out of the edges of one of my cake layers. I was furious with him. He was sent to a lengthy timeout and ended up falling asleep for three hours. That part was good. Vivian and our guests loved her birthday cake, and Robbie ate some too.
For all of Henry's typical little boy antics, he is really a darling and loving child. I asked him one morning if he wanted to make up a gym class. "No, I want to stay here close to you." I said, "You are a funny little guy." He told me, "You are a sweet, precious, little mama." He just walked into the room where I'm writing this in my big fleece robe, bed head, and glasses and said, "You are soooo pretty." I suppose love is blind. On Valentine's Day I said to Vivian, "I love being your mommy." "I love being your baby," was her sweet reply.
I hear my sweet husband upstairs, back from his run, and his plan is to make sweet potato latkes and try to pass them off as "pancakes" this morning. The time he made sweet potato pancakes with almond butter and coconut milk, Olivia entered the kitchen and asked if he was putting squash in our breakfast pancakes. It was pretty funny. The kids are trying to get used to our carb-free weekend breakfasts and dinners too. Change is a process.
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