Boy Child and Dog Child

Nothing like a little excitement and danger on your 10th anniversary!

What a long day of swimming will do to you

Welcome Back!

Wow! It's been a long time since I've been here hasn't it? Oh, well, let's not bother with the excuses and just call it water under the bridge and what not.

Speaking of water (smooth transition, no), Hollis had his first swimming lesson yesterday. He is taking classes with his friend Sadie twice a week for thirty minutes. We signed them up a while ago and ever since Hollis has been trash talking Sadie. Unfortunately for Hollis, this is not Sadie's first time at the swimming rodeo. For awhile, he took ever available opportunity to insist that he was a better and faster swimmer than Sadie and that he would be the champion; "like in the Olympics". His entire basis for this theory revolves around the fact that he is older (3 months) than her and therefore faster. It is questionable logic, but he is going with it. So far we haven't seen any Olympic caliber swimming although though they both took unexpected plunges during the class. Tomorrow is the second class and I have been told that diving will be involved. I'm not holding my breath, but hopefully Hollis is.No pre-lesson jitters here. Also, what is he doing in this picture? You can not see his ribs like that in real life.Pick me, pick me! I am ready to jump!

Picture Paternal Pride

So somebody's got to pick up the slack around here and I thought I could at least link to my post over on mobiquizoid. That post was ostensibly about the quality of my current phone's camera, but it was really about setting up this post.

See I had no idea when the day started Saturday that I would for the first time ever visit the resting place of my father's ashes with his grandson. Once there I found it very difficult to leave (not unlike visiting the other grandparents). We walked all the way around the lake (2 miles) and every time I berated Hollis not to approach the mud again or pick up another stick or rock, I could almost hear my father warning me to let him be who he wants to be. Hollis had no idea he had help dealing with my dictatorial reflex, no concept of all the things that had transpired to bring us there yesterday. One day he will, and he will also understand that it was as it had to be.

Here's a bonus picture or three taken today, and for the record Hollis is still 3 and needs no tee.(and Stacy was offering nothing but windswept lefthanded junk pitches too)

Sons eventually discover a father's pride is seamless as it spans each generation.

A Statement I Never Thought I Would Have To Make

"You can't eat dinner without your pants on".

I will let you decide who I had to say that too.

Sanitized for your protection

It seems that we have made a full recovery from the stomach virus/flu/plague. Food is being consumed, school is being attended and most importantly, all bodily functions are working correctly again. Hollis has been washed and lysoled. Ugh, it's the worst.
Last Sunday afternoon he seemed to be on the mend so I planned to send him to school on Monday. Everything seemed good Monday morning; he ate breakfast and was running through the house, so off to school we go. I should have known something was not quite right when he didn't take off his seat belt and jump up into the front seat as we pulled into car line. I chose to ignore this red flag so I could do my grocery shopping in peace. I know, you don't have say it, I am Mother of the Year...I am sure my trophy is in the mail. Everything was fine until about 30 minutes before pick up time when I got the dreaded "Please come pick up your child" call. Unfortunately, the stomach virus revisited him before I was able to get there. I will spare you the gory details and just say it involved emergency clothes, several bags of laundry and a bath once we got home.
He seems unscathed by the experience and headed back to school on Wednesday and took John for "Donuts with Dad" on Friday. Hollis feeling better and busy driving the train.

Notes from the Germ Factory

We have been overtaken by the stomach virus and all the pleasantness that goes along with it. Hollis got sick on Thursday and thankfully seems to be on the mend today. At one point on Friday I called the Nurse Advise Line to be sure he (I) was going to survive this particular illness. After doing the meningitis test (when they ask you if your child can touch his chin to his chest - that's the meningitis test), she asked if he was confused or disoriented, I said no and we ended the call. Later that evening I was heading to the store to pick up some Tylenol and asked Hollis if there was anything he needed. While laying on the couch under his Thomas blanket and watching a movie, he managed to mention that he did need something..."just one Matchbox car, just one". Confused? Hardly. Who can say no to a sick child? So not only did he acquire his 1,668,348th Matchbox car, he also got his 275th car magazine. Things are looking up today and hopefully the snow won't keep him out of school tomorrow, three days of togetherness is enough.

Mix it up Monday: Happy Birthday Edition

Today is my birthday. According to my drivers licence I am 34 today, I don't see how that could be right though since I just graduated from college last week and high school the week before that. The way I figure it, I am about 24. Although, as my loving husband pointed out while discussing the possibility of renewing my drivers licence for 10 years, having a drivers licence picture of yourself when you were 30 will only emphasis how much you have aged when you are 45. So maybe I shouldn't lie about my age. Oh, and John is for sale, by the way.
Anyway, I baked my own cake today after spending last week trying to decide what I wanted. I wanted something new, not cookies and not something I would not have to frost. I decided on this Peanut Butter Pound Cake. You may recall my previous pound cake attempt, of which most ended up in the trash. This cake however was pound cake perfection. I am not sure if I should thank Bake or Break or the handy new KitchenAid my mom got me for Christmas. Either way, it turned out just like a pound cake should, soft in the middle with a crispy crust. I did make a few additions and substitutions. The recipe calls for 5 eggs and what do you know, I only had 4. I debated the risk of only using 4 eggs and then remembered that I had a recipe for a vegan flax seed egg substitute. Super easy way to cut back on eggs in your baked goods, 1 tbls. ground flax seed and 2-3 tbls. of water heat about 1 minute in the microwave or simmer 5 minutes stove top until you have the consistency of an egg, yields the equivalent of 1 egg. So I mixed that up and subbed it in for 1 egg. Instead of buying peanut butter/chocolate swirl morsels, which I have never even seen, I used what I had, about 1/2 bag each of chocolate and peanut butter chips. After I poured the batter into the pan I decided a little Nutella would be a nice addition so I mixed in what I had in the pantry. It wasn't much since I had been snacking on it all last week, about 1/4 cup. I baked it for 1 hour and 20 minutes and served it ice cream after my birthday dinner...and I may have snuck another piece while John was walking the dog, but hey, it's my birthday!

Valentine's Fail Whale

I hope you all had a perfectly lovely Valentine's Day. I hope that unlike me, you did not completely foul up your child's first memorable Valentine's. Here's the deal, I am failing preschool...Hollis is doing great, me not so much. At Christmas Hollis told me that "all" mommies came to the Christmas party, except me. I was at pilates, I have my priorities. His teacher cleared this little piece of guilt up for me, "some" parents came early to pick up there children for the Holidays. With this in mind, I thought I would come pick him up at the Valentine's party on Friday. The problem is, I still have pilates - priorities people - which gets out at 11:30. Plenty of time to get over to school before noon, right? Wrong. When I got there and got inside I walked into the middle of a pool of barely controlled parent/child/teacher/sibling carline chaos. Somehow, in the midst of all that, his teacher saw me and brought him over...so I totally missed going to his classroom. He seemed fine with that, so we headed to the car. Once we got buckled in, he started to tell me about his day: heart bingo, stories, songs, heart shaped cookies. Then the highlight of the day, a new race car! I thought certainly this was a gift from the teachers. When we got home and dumped out the bag of valentines I was surprised to see that every (and yes, I mean literally EVERY) child gave a little "something extra" with their valentines. Candy, playdough, more candy and one child who gave hotwheels cars. Hollis's little folded paper NASCAR valentine's paled in comparison. I would have been able to let this go with the thought all the parent's appreciated me for not contributing the their child's sugar high, sadly, it's a repeat performance on my part. On Wednesday we had a big Valentine's playgroup party. I brought the heart shaped jelly sandwiches and valentine's day cups, but guess what I forget. The valentines. Fortunately, I can think fast and Hollis was preoccupied with toys that belonged to someone else. I had bought a bag of individually wrapped Princess and Cars chocolates which conveniently had To/From spaces on the back, so everyone got one of those. Had I combined the items from Wednesday and Friday, I would have had the perfect valentines for everyone. Better luck next year I guess!

**Thanks for the picture Sara, I didn't take any of those either!

Mix it - Lightened Up

It is feeling a little spring like here this week, so I thought something chilled would be in order. I decided on a sorbet. I don't own an ice cream freezer, but it is easy to make sorbet without one. I let Hollis decide which flavor: mango, strawberry or lemon. He choose lemon, one more than one occasion. So lemon sorbet it is. There are a lot of sorbet recipes out there, all of which are basically the same: simple syrup, lemon zest and lemon juice. Some add an egg white or cream, but those are typically higher in calories. This is the specific one I used, although, after reading the comments, I did simmer the zest in the syrup before adding the lemon juice. The zest was pretty fine, so I didn't strain it. It made a pretty tart sorbet, but that is exactly the way Hollis likes it. The good thing about this recipe is that you could use the same basic technique with a number of different fruits. You can even make a watermelon sorbet. This will make a perfect summer treat and even though I don't have the calorie count for this specific recipe, sorbet generally has less than 100 calories per serving. Enjoy!

This Blog Can Haz Muse

First born son is named after him too!

Conferences

On Monday we had parent/teacher conferences at Hollis's preschool. I find this hilarious in and of itself, but there I was for 15 minutes with Ms. Nancy. What I learned is that Hollis is practically perfect in every way...okay 97% perfect. Apparently there are issues with the jacket being put on upside down, preferring to play instead of completing his work (I don't know where he would have gotten that) and not coloring. The coloring perplexes me the most since I was an avid colorer as a child and feel this may be evidence of a maternity ward mix up. But, I've had him this long, so I'll probably keep him. I was also surprised to learn that sometimes "doesn't participate" in the singing. I find this odd considering the amount of singing he does at home, in car, at Target...everywhere except school apparently. He is certainly bringing home the songs from school though. Here is one of his current favorites. As you listen, remember that he attends preschool at a local church and you maybe as surprised as me to hear it.

Mix it up Monday: Peanut Butter

I am sure you have heard that we are not supposed to be eating peanut butter products. We are big peanut butter fans around here and I, for one, have found it hard to know what is safe and what isn't, or might not be. One way to get around the problem is to make your own peanut butter products. Everyone agrees that the Jif and Peter Pan in your pantry are safe, so get them out and mix up some salmonella free snacks. Of course, you could throw caution to the wind and add in your own salmonella, but I wouldn't recommend it. I picked this recipe, from Dinner and Dessert, because it is similar to a peanut butter cookie, but has a little something extra with the chopped peanuts and chocolate chips. Also, if you go back to the Peabody post, you will see that she used salted peanuts in place of the unsalted ones called for. I think next time I will do that too, for two reasons: 1) I like salt and especially salt and chocolate 2) John complains when he sees unsalted nuts in the pantry. These are quick and almost as easy as picking up tainted store bought cookies, the hardest part will be waiting an hour for them to cool. You probably already have most of the ingredients, so make these...they'll make your kids happy; unless your kids are allergic to peanuts, in which case, stay far, far, away.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Love Bars
Slightly Adapted Recipe

2 cups unsalted peanuts
2 cups creamy peanut butter
2 cups tightly packed brown sugar(light)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pound semisweet chocolate, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces (I used chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Toast the peanuts on a baking sheet in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Cool the nuts to room temperature before chopping by hand.
Use a stiff whisk to blend together the peanut butter and brown sugar in a bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and whisk until thoroughly blended. Add the peanuts and the chopped semisweet chocolate, mix well. Transfer mixture to a 9X13X2 inch pan. Use your fingertips to press the mixture onto the bottom of the pan and into the corner and sides, creating an even layer. Place the pan on the center rack of the preheated oven and bake for 22 minutes until set in the center. Remove from oven and cool at room temperature for 1 hour before cutting.

Source: Dinner and Dessert from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody, who adapted them from Death by Chocolate Cookies by Marcel Desaulniers