Our Little Circus

tubular tubing

2012-02-13T14:45:00.000-05:00

Took an overnight trip this past weekend with four other families to Wintergreen Resort for our annual snow tubing. We went last year, and back in 2009 (after dropping Logan at Grandma's since he was only 2 then). Last year, we also snuck in a second tubing day trip to the much closer Whitetail Resort with some of the same friends.

We always stay at the same hotel (a nice, clean Holiday Inn with an indoor pool, free hot breakfast and game room for the kiddos, and the staff allows us to pretty much take over the lobby and throw out a food spread with drinks a-flowin'. Its hard to say if the hotel party is more fun than the actual tubing. This year I'd say yes, simply because it was only 7 degrees at the top of the mountain Sunday. We all had at least three full layers of clothing on and after an hour we were about done and ready to bathe in hot cocoa.   My butt cheeks took the entire three hour car ride home to get warm, with the seat warmers turned up full force.

Last year, Logan was a little scared going down the hill.   You do go really fast, and its a long ride.   However, this year all fear was gone and he laid back to enjoy the ride. This was Dylan's third year, and he's pretty much a professional. I'm glad we got to go tubing, since we've had next to no snow at home this winter!

We always go with the same friends, give or take a few families. This year the group was smaller, people had other things going on.   We didn't get a big group picture..it was just too cold and windy to hang out after our session and everyone pretty much ran to their cars.   I did get a few photos, risking frost bitten digits.

crime and punishment

2012-02-05T15:21:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we ventured into DC to check out a new-ish museum we had never been to before - The National Museum of Crime and Punishment. I've always had a minor obsession with serial killers and mass murderers. I don't know why, but I've enjoyed reading about true crimes for as long as I can remember. I think it stems from just trying to understand what goes on in peoples' heads that can make them flip out to that extent. And the boys love anything having to do with weapons.

We read that the museum is kid-friendly, with lots of interactive exhibits from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the bottom level of the museum is also the studio for America's Most Wanted. We thought if perhaps we came across something too scary at the museum, we'd just turn their attention to the next exhibit. But it wasn't too scary at all. On the contrary, it was such an interesting place! The boys really enjoyed all the weapons, and learning which presidents have been assasinated. The lie detector was a bit hit too. We spent quite a while reading about the history of crime and criminals from medieval times, to current.

Our first stop was to grab some lunch, and we did so at a pizza joint near the museum called Pi. It was tasty, and a really cool space. Best of all, the boys were on their absolute best behavior all day, which just makes for an awesome time together.

Then, it was onto the museum.. I couldn't use my flash inside the museum so some of these are a bit dark. They have tons and tons of archived documents throughout the place, so they keep the lights dim.

Right away, I knew we were going to see lots of cool things. Especially when the infamous Ted Bundy's VW was in the lobby.

We read about the Pirates of Ocracoke Island, NC. We'll be going to that island this summer when we go to the beach.

They had an old Western shootin' gallery, which the boys always love..

The car used in Bonnie and Clyde

some of the actual guns used in Scarface and the Godfather movies

I had forgotten about the D.B. Cooper hijacking of 1971. They never found any trace of him or his parachute after he jumped out the plane.

They had tons of artifacts from infamous serial killers, including John Wayne Gacy's creepy clown make up kit:

and David Berkowitz "Son of Sam" (a creep birthday card he sent to someone):

They had a police line up you could stand in and pretend someone was trying to identify you, Andrew and I enjoyed that one. And the boys loved the lie detector. I'm not sure Dylan passed?...

A prison cell, complete with hole dug out of the wall to crawl thru to the other side, which Andrew did.

A wall of the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives

Police Motorcyle and car simulators

One of our favorite parts was the shooting range. There was a guy working the computer and he had different scenarios to pull up on the screen, i.e. carjackings, robberies, etc. When it was your turn, you got to shoot at the perpatrator. Then he'd tell you how many times you fired your weapon and how many hits.

The boys both did great, but when Andrew and I got up there, I missed every single shot. We were too busy laughing that if anyone ever breaks into our house, they better watch out for Logan, who had the best aim of all.

A totally cool museum, with so much to see and do. It way exceeded my expectations and I'd love to go back sometime, when some of the temporary exhibits change. Its right next to the Verizon Center, and half a block from the Spy Museum as well, so you could really hit a couple of other places and make a whole day of it.

gentlemen, start your engines...

2012-02-04T10:53:00.000-05:00

Last night we got to experience our first Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. I got to wondering while we were there, when did this tradition begin? As it turns out, 1953. You can read about the history here, pretty interesting.

"I wanted to devise a wholesome, constructive activity that would foster a closer father-son relationship and promote craftsmanship and good sportsmanship through competition." Don Murphy, 1953
Andrew started helping Dylan with his car about a month ago, and while they were at it, he decided Logan might want to build one and heck, Daddy needed one too.

Dylan's car, an up close look. Pretty sharp.

Logan's car:

Daddy's car, complete with Steve McQueen:

Dylan's car competed in four heats last night at the Derby, placing 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 3rd again. He was thrilled! Here he's in the blue lane:

And the fourth lane in this shot:

Here you can see his car swoosh by in the yellow lane:

He won the award for Most Creative car:

The Pack also held their annual Blue and Gold Banquet at the same time, a very fun night. Dylan, his good buddy Jack, and Logan..

Well done, guys!

The Three Ingredient Manly Appetizer: Rotel Sausage Dip

2012-01-28T15:43:00.000-05:00

My friend Shawn shared this recipe with me a few years ago, and its so super easy. It literally is three ingredients, you can double up if you're going to a big party or just stick to one of each ingredient if its a smaller gathering. However much or little you take, I guarantee it will be gone.

Rotel Sausage Dip

What you need:

1 can Rotel diced tomatoes (mild or spicy) with green chiles
1 pound bulk sausage (regular or spicy, whichever you prefer)
1 8 oz block of cream cheese

What you do:
Spray a baking dish with nonstick spray. Crumble the sausage and brown in a skillet, drain the grease once all cooked thru. Dump the sausage into your baking dish. Dump the can of Rotel in there (you don't have to even drain it). Plop the block of cream cheese on top of it all. No need to mix it up. Bake in the oven at 375 degrees (uncovered) for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven, stir it all together. Serve with chips of your choice - Tostitos, crackers or my favorite - Fritos! You can reheat in the microwave during your party if it starts to get cold.

Everytime I take this to a party, the bowl is licked clean and everyone wants the recipe. Three ingredients, plus the chips. You can't beat that! Just in time for Superbowl. It may not be the prettiest appetizer you've ever seen but I can pretty much bet you'll be glad you made it.

The Foolish Hermit Crab

2012-01-26T19:35:00.000-05:00

an original story by Dylan...

"I'm tired of having this shell. I bet I would have no fear at all," and the hermit crab took his shell off and rapidly swam away. After that, the hermit crab almost got eaten by a fish! Then the hermit crab almost got eaten by a shark! In the winter the hermit crab was so cold he almost froze to death. Finally, he put back on his shell. The End.

Dylan told me the moral of his story is that sometimes its good to try new things.

Makes my heart smile.

tasty buddies

2012-01-25T19:29:00.000-05:00

We are trying really hard to get more meat into Logan's diet to increase his iron levels to improve his sleep quality. The iron supplements alone don't seem to be increasing his ferritin enough (although maybe when he gets retested again at the end of Feb we'll be pleasantly surprised), so we've been pushing meat, spinach, dry cereal, and other iron-rich foods on him like crazy. Sounds easy but you don't know my son. He would be perfectly content eating nothing but breakfast cereal (with milk which counteracts iron absorption) for the rest of his life. Maybe with a side of Sour Patch Kids.

I came across a recipe called Cowboy Casserole on Pinterest (which I am totally head over heels in love with and don't know how I ever lived without it!). Ground beef, tater tots, cheese, corn (I used mixed veggies). Sounded easy, hearty and something the boys would at least try. We've really stopped cooking seperate meals for the kids, they have to eat what we're eating or else there's no dessert and nothing else to eat until breakfast other than water if they get thirsty. We're very strict about it... we've gone years and years of making them 'kid food' and us 'adult food' and honestly I'm just done. Utterly ridiculous to spend the time and energy, not to mention money, on a whole seperate menu just for them. The only exception to this rule is if Andrew and I are having something totally wacky, as we will sometimes. But we tell the kids they have to at least eat part of what we're eating, and if they full on try new, adventurous foods they can earn jewels for that too.

Anyhow, Dylan LOVED the Cowboy Casserole and had two helpings. Logan, shocker, did not love it. So we bartered our way thru the meal, with the usual bribes of dessert, etc. until he got a good 12 or 15 bites in him (just eat the meat at least!).

"Logan, you have five more bites to go, keep eating."

"But Mom, I'm not going to eat the peas!"

"You can't even taste them Logan, they're just mixed in with all the other stuff."

"I can too taste them Mom! I have different tasty buddies than you!"

Tasty buddies! I about died. He has this thing where he'll turn words into other words, or add different endings. I can't think of any others right now off the top of my head, other than "toppings". He'll refer to the lid of a soda bottle as the "topping". Kills me. But "tasty buddies"... that one takes the cake!

16 Bean and Ham Soup

2012-01-23T16:20:00.001-05:00

This is the basic recipe off the back of a bag of dried 16 bean soup mix, with some tweaks I've made to it that I think make it super yummy. This recipe takes a little commitment and planning ahead. Its so worth if you have the time....perhaps a yucky, drizzly, cold Sunday when you have three or fours at home before dinnertime.

I imagine you could make this in the crockpot as well, if you have one big enough to hold your ham bone. As I re-read this sentence, its really making me giggle.

A couple quick notes. We love saving the ham bone when we buy a spiral ham for Thanksgiving and again at Christmas. Whatever isn't eaten during those holidays gets shoved in a Ziplock bag and frozen until we're ready for this soup. If you don't happen to have a leftover bone-in ham, you can buy cooked ham hocks at just about any grocery (a couple will do), and then just buy a boneless ham and cube it up.

I didn't plan on doing a recipe post about this until after I had the pot cooking, so I didn't do step by step photos. Here is a photo of what the bean packaging looks like. Just go down your aisle that has dried beans and you'll see something similar.

The beans are gorgeous and look like this. And best of all, there's no question you'll be meeting your fiber dietary requirements for a few days.

16 Bean and Ham Soup

You will need:

very large stockpot

leftover bone in ham (with plenty of ham left on it) OR ham hocks with additional boneless cubes of ham (at least 3 or 4 cups)
bag of dried beans (as above)
2 TBSP olive oil
1 lb of carrots, cut up
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 medium onion, diced
3-4 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
8 cups of water
box of diced tomatoes (*see note at the bottom of this post)
fresh greens (I used collards Andrew picked from the garden today, but you could use chopped up kale, spinach, etc.) (Also, this is optional... I just think it adds a nice flavor and texture to the soup, and more nutrition!)
salt/pepper to taste

What to do:

First!

The night before (or very early the morning you want to make this soup) dump the dried beans into a large bowl and completely cover them with water. They need to soak at least 8 hours, and longer than that is fine. They will expand so make sure you use a large enough bowl. The bag of beans will likely come with a 'flavor packet'. Throw it away. You don't need it, and who the heck knows what's in there anyway. Trust me, using your ham bones will give it plenty of great smoky flavor from a much more natural source.

Time to make the soup!

Heat the olive oil in bottom of stock pot and saute onion, garlic and celery until tender. While you're doing that, drain the beans from their soaking water and rinse them off. Add 8 cups of clean water to your stockpot, and all of the beans. Submerge your ham bone (heh heh), or ham hocks, and add all of your cubed ham. Add your tomatoes, carrots, and greens. Salt and pepper. Simmer for at least 3 hours. When its close to meal time, remove the ham bone and toss.

Okay then. My Grandpa Unklesbay was a bean soup lover, and to him, no bowl of beans was ever complete without a sprinkle of sugar on top. Yep, you read that right - sugar. If you like to mix your savory with your sweet, give it a try. I happen to like it too. But if you like to keep your savory with your savory, add a few dashes of Tabasco to your bowl. That's how Andrew likes his.

This makes a huge amount of soup. Now, my kids won't touch this with a ten foot pole. So we usually eat it for a couple of days, and freeze the rest for another time.

Great served with cornbread, if you're so inclined. Its super delicious, you won't be disappointed. And, you won't have to cook again for a couple of days!

*************************

*I recently read a scary article about canned tomatoes, so I'm now trying to buy them in a box, like these. You can find these right next to all the jarred tomato sauce, and they sell them this way at Trader Joe's as well.

Happy cooking!

farm fresh cinammon apple bread

2012-01-23T13:21:00.000-05:00

Today is a teacher work day, so the kids are home from school. The weather is depressingly blah. And other than booking our summer beach vacation this past weekend, we really haven't done anything exciting lately. Today is no different, except Dylan is at an all day birthday party/playdate, so its me and Logan and a whole day to conquer.

We've been crafting all morning, and then all of the sudden (being that his attention span is well, comparitive to that of a fruitfly), he announced he would like some apple bread. As if that's just something I have available in the pantry. A pantry that is pretty well stocked mind you, but no, I didn't happen to have any freshly baked apple bread.

I've never made my own apple bread. I make banana bread ALL the time, whenever we have bananas going bad, and throw the loaves in the freezer. Its one of Dylan's favorite breakfasts.

So Logan said we should look up how to make it on "The Google", and that's what we did. I came across a few recipes that sounded good and narrowed it down to one I had all the ingredients to make. I knew I could put him to work cutting the apples into pieces while I rounded up the other ingredients. I made a few changes to this recipe (added more cinammon, omitted the walnuts since my kids don't like them, etc.) and it came out DELISH. I mean truly, this isn't really bread, lets be honest. Its well within cake realm. But Apple Bread makes it sound as if it has a few less calories, right? Its not overly sweet, but it is super moist and full of yummy cinammon flavor. Don't skimp on the apples, throw a ton of them in there.

As an extra bonus, this makes your house smell INCREDIBLE. Which was an added bonus of making this today, since we roasted broccoli for dinner last night and the house is a bit smelly.

Here's my little helper, chopping apples.

And taking an early 'test' lick. Notice the flour on his forehead.

Farm Fresh Cinammon Apple 'Bread'

What you need:
3 cups all-purpose flour (I like to use unbleached)
1 TBSP cinnamon
1 TSP baking soda
1/2 TSP baking powder
1/2 TSP salt
1/2 cup canola oil
2 cups white sugar
1 eggs beaten
1 TSP vanilla extract
2 cups apples - peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped (I used Granny Smith, I think they hold up best when baking)
chopped walnuts (optional)

What you do:
Spray your loaf pan(s) generously with nonstick spray. In bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. In large mixing bowl, place oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla and apples. Stir into flour mixture. Pour mixture in to one large loaf pan, or you can divide mixture between two greased smaller loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on wire rack before removing from pan. Note: If you opt for one loaf in a larger loaf pan, it might take another 15-20 minutes to bake evenly all the way through - be sure to do the 'toothpick' test (or use a butter knife if your pan is too deep.). If your loaf doesn't fall easily out of your pan when you turn it upside down, just use a butter knife to gently separate it from the sides of the pan, and wiggle..it will come out.

a dragons life, by Dylan

2012-01-20T16:09:00.000-05:00

Dragons hatch really small then at the adult age they are huge. So I am going to tell you how to take care of one. When dragons hatch you have to take good care of it by giving it food and shelter. Once a dragons got wings you have to teach it how to fly. Once it knows how to fly you can fly all over the place. Once the dragon is a teen it is easier to take care of the dragon. When its an adult it can help around the house. After that it will fly away and and lay eggs and will give them to you. You will have to say goodbye and hug but the eggs will someday hatch and turn into dragons and the life cycle will start all over again.

The End

playdate

2012-01-20T16:01:00.000-05:00

Dylan has two of his best buddies, J and N over right now for a playdate. They rode the bus home and all four boys came bouncing off the bus this afternoon. The boys have been friends for several years thru school, even though they are never in the same class. Such nice boys. You'd think four boys in the house would make for a high decibel but WWE action but they all love playing Legos and Beyblades, and jumping on the trampoline. They really nice thing is, the three older boys play so well with Logan and include him in everything.

We're supposed to all go to one of their favorite places, Rebounderz, in the morning, if the ice stays away. The boys are in Scouts together, and spend every recess at school playing spies, and a game they made up called Be Whoever You Want (ha!).

cravings

2012-01-16T20:04:00.000-05:00

We've been cutting back on dining out lately, and thus I've been cooking much more. I've had a few successes with new recipes, like this and this (amazing!). This one wasn't a keeper (too bland). And tonight, we had some pretty pitiful sloppy joe sandwiches and half burnt/half soggy sweet potato fries.

Its January 16th and I'm already tired of casseroles, chilis, soups and roasts. What I'm really craving, as the winds blow a blustery 20 degrees and there's not a fresh vegetable in sight, is some fresh tasting food. I miss the fresh flavors of summer so much. Sigh.

Its going to be a while, so here's some food porn to hold us all over.

Yea. I'm pretty sure I just made it worse. C'mon May.

separate rooms

2012-01-10T10:41:00.001-05:00

If you've been following this blog for a long time, you know that Logan has suffered from sleep issues since the beginning of time.  He did not sleep thru the night (at all) for the first 2 1/2 years of his life. I wrote so many times about it, as we tried to figure out why he never slept thru the night.   When he was 2 1/2, three years ago, we literally dragged his bed down the hallway into Dylan's room, and suddenly, he started sleeping. It seemed he just didn't want to be alone in his bedroom at night. Problem solved, at least for the time being.

Although he didn't get up at night screaming anymore, there were still other sleep issues going on but we didn't know at the time. We've been treating him for severe anemia since August (via supplements and diet), which contributes to his Periodic Limb Movement Disorder, and prevents him from getting a good nights' rest. His next 19 in August, and by the end of November, it had only gone up three points to 24. It needs to be at least 80-100 in order for us to believe he has enough iron in his system to be getting a good nights sleep. I can tell just by looking at his bed every morning (the sheets are so twisted its like a tornado came thru it). If his iron level continues to stay about the same, we will have to explore other possibilites as to why his body doesn't seem to absorb much iron. And on top of that, we're probably looking at another sleep study in May to be sure his apnea has improved after his tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. Another blog post for another day. But before I drop the subject completely, let me just rant about the fact that I've had to spend hours on the phone with the insurance company getting his referrals documented for the care he's getting from the sleep specialist. These are the times that try you as a parent, heck, even just as a person. But you do what you have to do to make progress, and get your children the help they need.

Okay. Time to move on.

After a very trying winter break (behaviorally), we decided for many reasons, it was time to try to move Logan back into his own bedroom. Every night, bedtime was getting to be a challenge with them sharing a room. Logan still acts very impulsively and just couldn't seem to keep himself from climbing into Dylan's bed after we tucked them in, thus ultimately ensuing in fights and keeping them both up way too late.

It had been three years, and surely he had grown out of his not wanting to be alone at night right? Plus, Dylan is 8 1/2 and although he never said it, I'm pretty sure he was getting sick of sharing his room. I mean, we have a four bedroom house and for three years we've only used two bedrooms. If we moved Logan out from under Dylan's loft bed, we could then set up a nice comfy quiet homework desk area for Dylan. Sometimes after school behavior is very challenging for Logan as well, and its very disruptive to Dylan being able to focus on homework. With a nice cozy homework area in his bedroom, he would then have another choice for some peace and quiet, when doing homework at the kitchen table isn't an option. Logan could get some more responsibility having his own big boy room, and we'd let him choose stuff for the walls.  He would have his own quiet place to go to when he needs a break. We filled it with his books, his beloved stuff animals and made it his own.

This transition would also finally allow us to give Dylan more responsibility by having his own alarm clock and getting himself up in the morning. We've always had to quietly wake him in the morning when they shared a room, so as not to wake Logan (if we could help it, since he needs all the sleep he can get).  We also let Dylan stay up a bit later, especially on the weekends.  This caused a problem of 'unfairness' in Logan's eyes when they shared a room.  But Logan needs to go to bed at a consistent time 7 days a week because he never sleeps in. If we let him stay up until 9:30 or 10 on the weekends, we're basically setting ourselves up for hell the next day as we'll be up bright and early at 7 am no matter what. Dylan, however, taps into his future teenager, and will sleep until 8:30 or 9 or so.

We made trips last week to Ikea, Michael's, Target and Homegoods last week and made it happen. And both boys are really over the moon about their 'new rooms'. Best of all, bedtime is now a breeze, and they both seem to be getting more hours of sleep. Logan hasn't gotten up during the night at all. His bedsheets are still twisted in the morning, and hopefully we're on the path to fixing that issue. But behaviorally, he isn't having issues with sleeping in his own room all night.

We hung new curtains for both rooms, got Logan a new dresser, and let the boys choose what to put on their walls.   We created a homework 'office' for Dylan and I even found him a desklamp on clearance at Target that has a plug in for his iTouch.   We didn't have to spend a ton of money, either. We didn't even have to paint, thanks to these awesome wall decals.

First, Dylan's room:

And Logan's, which needed a little more work since no one has lived in this room for three years:

so cute hooks from Ikea

life

2012-01-09T17:22:00.000-05:00

In case you read the title and thought this might be a philosophical post, sorry to disappoint. I'm talking about the game of Life, one of my favorites from childhood. We got it for Dylan for Christmas, and decided to break it out Saturday night.

I love playing board games and I love that our kids are old enough to play most games with us, and totally 'get it' now. I was a little worried about this one, since it says 9 and older. But they LOVED it, both of them, and totally stuck with it during the almost two hours it took to play. I haven't played this game since I was MUCH younger and it was funny to see some updates to bring it up to current times (i.e. You Build a Family Website, pay $2,000).

How did we all fare? Here's the breakdown:

Logan's career choice was "Entertainer" for $50,000 per pay day. He had one child, lived in a mansion, and ran for Congress. He retired with $415,000.

I was a Hair Stylist, living in a Luxury Mountain Retreat, with a sailboat. I had one child, and retired owing the bank $180,000.

Dylan, the Veterinarian, made twice as much as me per payday, bought an SUV and modern victorian home, had three kids, and retired with $870,000.

Andrew beat us all, retiring from being an Accountant, dividing his time between his double-wide and his RV, and banking $1.5 million.

Chipotle Grilled Skirt Steak Salad

2012-01-08T12:18:00.001-05:00

This is one of my favorite salads because the flavor is just incredible. The key to this recipe - canned Chipotle Adobo peppers. They're pretty darn spicy so don't use the whole can. But don't skip using them either or else you'll lose the whole point of the salad. Look in the Spanish aisle of your market. Whatever peppers you don't use, you can freeze for next time. Or even better, puree it all up and freeze the sauce, using a little to flavor chili's, soups, etc. Its a wonderful, spicy, smoky flavor.

I can't take credit for this recipe. A couple of years ago, we had a can of these peppers in the ole' pantry and were trying to figure out what to do with them. My husband started looking online and found this recipe. We tweaked it a bit to our tastes and now, when the weather calls for grilling, this is a go-to for us. The weather has been so mild for January, we're making this goodness tonight. The dressing is absolutely to die for.

Chipotle Grilled Skirt Steak Salad

For the Steak

1 1/2 - 2 lbs of skirt steak

1/4 cup lime juice (fresh if you have it, bottled if not)

3 TBSP canola oil

3 - 4 cloves minced garlic

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

2 TBSP balsamic vinegar

red pepper flakes, to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

Smokey, Creamy Chipotle Dressing

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 cup buttermilk

1/8 cup mayo

3/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

2 Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce (see photo above)

1 small white onion, chopped small

1 garlic clove, chopped

pinch of sugar

For Salad

fresh salad greens (I like Romaine, but you can use whatever greens you prefer)

tomatoes (either sliced, or grape tomatoes)

1 avocado, sliced

corn (optional)

1/2 half red onion, slivered

olives (optional)

What To Do:

Add the ingredients under "For the Steak" in a ziploc bag, and marinade the steak for at least 2 hours, if not longer.

In a bowl, add the cream, buttermilk, mayo, cilantro, white onion, garlic, salt, pepper, pinch of sugar and two of the chipotle peppers with Adobo sauce to your food processor or blender. Puree until smooth and creamy.

Grill your steak to desired doneness (we light medium rare), approximately 5 minutes per side. When steak is done, set aside covered in foil, until you're ready to slice and put on top of salad.

Prepare salad plates with greens, tomato, corn, onion, avocado, olives. Top with slices of steak, pour dressing on top.

Delish!

slow cooker pork carnitas

2012-01-03T09:24:00.004-05:00

One of my goals this year is to post more recipes on my blog. We're still adopting a whole new approach to food in our family, and a huge part of that is cooking whole, healthy and delicious foods. I really enjoy cooking, but for me it has to be practical. This means relatively simple, not a huge amount of time, and something my kids will eat (or at least eat a version of). Extra bonus if cooking yields leftovers we can enjoy for another dinner, or a lunch. This recipe falls into that category. In fact, it makes so much you can freeze half of the meat for another meal in a few weeks when you're hankering it again.

To say I love my Crockpot is an understatement. Andrew got me a fancy new one for Christmas and I've already given it a whirl. If you don't own a Crockpot, what are you waiting for? Its the best $40 you'll ever spend. Whip up dinner in the morning while you sip your morning coffee and be done with it. I seriously use mine at least twice a week. They could not be easier to use. Two rules: nonstick spray, and use enough liquid. Years ago I forget what we were trying to make, but we forget to add the broth and by the time we got home from work the beef that had once been a lovely robust roast was shriveled into something I could have used to patch my car tire.

There is nothing worse though, than spending all the time and energy on a new recipe, only to sit down at the table and have it turn out to be a bust. One family of food which is always a hit when we're dining in or out is Mexican. My kids love beans, tortillas, cheese, sour cream... So even though they might not be daring enough to try this delicious pork filling (yet), we can whip up a side of black beans and cheese quesadillas with ingredients we already have out for this meal.

Pork Carnitas
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (3 or 4 pound) boneless pork shoulder roast
2 bay leaves
2 cups chicken broth
2 limes

What to do:
Spray Crockpot with non-stick spray. Mix together salt, garlic powder, cumin, and cinnamon in a bowl. Coat pork with the spice mixture. Place the bay leaves in the bottom of a slow cooker and place the pork on top. Pour the chicken broth around the sides of the pork, being careful not to rinse off the spice mixture.

Cover and cook on low for about 8-10 hours. When the pork is tender, shred using two forks. The cooking liquid will moisten the meat perfectly. Squeeze fresh lime juice over shredded meat. If there seems to be a lot of liquid don't worry, you'll want to store the leftovers with the liquid so the meat stays moist.

Delicious Toppings:

fresh sliced avocado
sour cream
shredded monterey jack cheese
fresh cilantro (optional)
marinated red onions (cut red onion into slices in the morning once you've got the crock pot going with the meat. Place in shallow dish and soak in red wine vinegar until dinner time). YUM. To me, this makes the whole meal.

Place some of the shredded pork, and whichever of the above toppings suit your fancy, into a warm flour or corn tortilla and bite into heaven.

Serve with black beans and while you're at it, sprinkle a little diced onion and sour cream on those too.

10 hours left..

2011-12-31T15:15:00.000-05:00

The countdown to the end of 2011 is here, and in a few shorts hours 2012 will arrive.

Although 2011 had some challenges along the way, it was a pretty darn good year for us. Here are some memories from the past year:

surprising the boys with the Monster Truck Jam
snowtubing at Wintergreen and Whitetail with a ton of friends during the winter months
a good friend getting diagnosed with breast cancer, and then kicking its' ass
Logan's first venture into t-ball
Dylan, my baby boy, turned 8.
we visited Busch Gardens over spring break with Grandma Bobbie and Grandpa Joe
a super fun family day trip to Shenandoah Caverns
finally renovating and upgrading our master bath from disaster to gorgeous stone spa sanctuary.
Dylan's first swim team season with the Lightning.
Andrew turned 40.
Girls weekend at Lansdowne Resort.
Logan turned 5.
Logan passing his swim test and going off the diving board for the first time.
spending time at Lake Anna with Grandma Lynn, Grandpa Robby, and all the cousins. Probably our last trip to the lake house since its still for sale. Gosh how we loved it there.
Logan starting kindergarten and Dylan starting third grade.
spending time at Chincoteague, VA
Dylan starting Cub Scouts
Back surgery for Andrew, finally taking most of his back pain away.
Logan had his tonsils and adenoids removed.
taking our kids to Disney World for the first time, and enjoying time with Grandma Bobbie, Grandpa Joe, Chris, Jessica, Josh and Maya (Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, Day Five)
I turned 40.
splurging on new family room furniture
Logan getting rid of training wheels forever.
the sudden illness and loss of John Lane

We don't have lots planned for 2012 yet. A snowtubing trip with friends in February. Perhaps a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's over Spring Break, with a wide trip to Busch Gardens. Perhaps a week at the beach this summer. More swim team for Dylan. Logan's introduction to spring soccer. Perhaps a family reunion on my Dad's side this summer.

We'll see what makes it onto the calendar. One thing is for sure. There is hardly a dull moment in our little circus.

Here is one of my favorite photos of 2011, taken on Easter.

Happy New Year to you and yours! May 2012 be filled with happiness, good health, and fun times with people you love!

Feliz Navidad 2011

2011-12-29T14:47:00.000-05:00

I'm slowly coming out of a Christmas fog. After the emotional days spent honoring John's life, and then catapulting into two full days of Christmas festivities, the fog is slowly lifting. What just happened?

We had a lovely Christmas, and it truly got off to an unique start. On Christmas morning, I woke to a quiet house around 7 am, and thought "Ahhh, let me get a shower before madness ensues." While in the shower, Dylan busts into the bathroom to inform me Logan was downstairs ripping open presents, all by himself. "Whaaaaaaa???". I grabbed a towel, bolted downstairs and sure enough a super overly excited Logan just couldn't wait, and decided to have his own personal Christmas.

It was certainly a different start to our Christimas morning than I had anticipated. But after recovering from the shock of it all, we settled into a cozy morning of gift opening, toy playing, breakfast eating and preparations for the journey to Grandma's for Christmas, Part Three.

Part One was spent on Christmas Eve at my brother and Jessica's, for Christmas with my Dad and Stepmom. The kids always enjoy eating lots of yummy food and opening the first round of presents. And how lucky are we every year that we get to celebrate Christmas three times?

The boys love leaving cookies for Santa, after sprinkling reindeer food out front!

One last note of the season from Tyler, our Elf:

Our tree, adorned with loot, before we settled in for a long winters' nap

aftermath

Mom and Robby's tree, before gift opening

Maya and Josh, looking very tall

My Mom holding our newest family member, Baby Violet

my gorgeous stepsisters

And, no Christmas is complete without a dance party, and a game of Headbandz!

John

2011-12-22T11:24:00.003-05:00

This week, our family lost a very loved, cherished member. John, my Stepdads' Stepdad, was an amazing person who devoted his life helping others, spreading Gods' love, and spending time with his children and their spouses, and his 35 grandchildren and great grandchildren.

The next two days will be filled with services where we'll all come together to celebrate John's life. Its hard to lose someone any time of the year, but the holidays are especially hard. John loved Christmas. As difficult as these days are going to be, I know he would have loved everyone coming together. John was always at every family gathering, taking hundreds of photos, making jokes and holding at least one grandchild. I'm sure I don't know half the stories of people John counseled and helped during his lifetime, and I look forward to hearing them.

This is John and Martha, surrounded by all of their grandchildren and great-grandchildren (minus my brother and I and our kids and spouses). Chris and I were at Disney in November when a very last minute beach trip was planned by my Stepdads' family so John could see the sunrise on the ocean. That's where this photo was taken. The photo underneath is John and Martha with their 7 children.

May you rest in peace, John. You will be missed.

ho ho ho

2011-12-21T10:55:00.000-05:00

Logan woke up yesterday and asked if he could 'finally' go have his photo taken with Santa. He's asked a few times but ideas with him can be fleeting and I was waiting to see if he was really serious before I braved the mall. I've managed to not go there once in months and I wasn't about to start now if I didn't have to.

Dylan has no interest in going to see Santa this year. He still believes, but he typed up an email and we sent it off to Santa, content that Santa has entered the digital age and would get his list that way. Plus, as he told Logan, everyone knows the "mall" Santa is only a helper of the "real" Santa who is busy up at the North Pole.    So he said "Nah, no thanks" when I asked if he wanted to go see him in person this year.

Logan, on the other hand, seemed pretty intent on the idea.   He asked again early yesterday morning and I looked at the clock realizing if we hurried, we could possibly be first in line before Santa even arrived at 9 am. Which would be perfect since he doesn't have to catch the kindergarten bus until 11:20 am. So off we went, and we even beat Santa.

Nothing quite like watching Santa come down the mall escalator.... But Logan rehearsed what he was going to tell Santa in line, and got some nice one-on-one on Santa's lap.   Which, as a sidebar, had me wondering how many times a season Santa gets peed on? But anyway, we got a really nice photo and $35 later (wth?? You can't even take your own photo) we were done.

One more thing checked off the ole ho-ho-holiday list.

Santa's giant sack-o-lollipops

That's one happy boy. He's a cutie isn't he? And Logan isn't bad either.

D's winter swim meet

2011-12-20T12:01:00.000-05:00

Dylan has been enjoying his year-round swim team since it started in September. Its very low-key, he only practices on Sunday afternoons and they have a meet once in a while. We were out of town at Disney when the last meet took place, so this past Sunday was his first meet since his summer swim team in July. He did a great job swimming his two events: freestyle and backstroke.

Way to go Dylan!

...one is silver, but the others gold

2011-12-18T18:55:00.001-05:00

We had some dear, old friends over last night for a sort of small, spontaneous holiday get together. I've known most of these people since middle school, and some of us even went to college together after that. Most of them live in Maryland a couple of hours away so we just don't get together as often as I'd like. But when we do......

Wii "Just Dance 3" - a RIOT!

We stayed up way too late, ate way too much, and imbibed more than our fair share of holiday adult refreshments. We laughed until our stomachs hurt and enjoyed the kind of hugs you can only share with friends who have known you for more close to three-fourths of your life. Each one of them walking through our front door was like getting a Christmas present. And what could be better this time of year...spending time with old friends is what its all about.

two wheelin'

2011-12-16T16:52:00.000-05:00

Logan woke up this morning with one thing on his mind - no more training wheels. After breakfast, he asked Grandpa Joe to take the training wheels off his bike. We had tried this once before, months ago, and it wasn't pretty. Training wheels went back on and we figured he'd figure out when he wanted to try again someday. He's like that...he tends to decide if and when he's going to do something and as long as its his idea, its all good. If you try to ask him, tell him, or convince him of anything, forget it.

The second Grandpa took the training wheels off, Logan hopped on and off he went, like he had been doing it for years. Proud and grinning from ear to ear. Of course we're heading into the dead of winter and there may not be a lot of chances for leisurely bike riding for a few months. But knowing my child, he'll be out there in his snowsuit riding that thing when its twelve degrees.

That little bike kills me, have you ever seen a bike that small? We've had to buy three back tires for it in less than a year because he skids out so much.

Enjoy your new freedom, buddy!

Poker? I didn't even know her.

2011-12-16T16:35:00.000-05:00

Sorry, a little elf humor.

what they won't be getting

2011-12-14T17:52:00.002-05:00

I'd like to know who is buying their child this for Christmas this year. Of course, the commercial comes on TV during cartoons about six times an hour. Logan, of course, thinks he wants it. Its fun! You feed the dog until his stomach gets extremely and then! The dogs poops! What Logan doesn't know is that I'm just going to hand him a shovel with a bow on it. We have a whole pile of doggie doo right in our own backyard he is welcome to.

Seriously, who thinks of some of these toys? I saw this at Target the other day and laughed out loud. Actually, I bet its a pretty fun party toy.

While the toy makers are at it, maybe someone can invent some toys based around some other disgusting things, like "Who Clogged the Toilet", complete with tiny plungers. Or how about, "Road Kill" stuffed animals? "Autopsy Lab Kit", that would be fun.

How about Operation. I HATED that stupid game when I was a kid. I would literally hide it in the house somewhere far, far away so none of my friends would come over and see it, and suggest we play it. If by some chance it was found and we had to play, I'd grasp those horrible tweezers while clenching up, waiting for the inevitable 'AUHHHNNNN' at 500 decibels. I still hate that game.

There are disgusting toys, and then there are toys that are just super annoying and clearly were invented by people who don't have kids. This includes Moon Sand (have you ever tried cleaning that shit up?), Pixo's (those horrible tiny balls that will be from one end of your house to the other), and I'm sure some people won't agree but Zhu Zhu pets. Seriously. You throw it in the toy box and that thing goes thru its entire reel of sounds, squeals and giggles. There is no way to turn it off. Sometimes out of the blue when no one has been near the toy box for hours, it will just go off by itself.

I remember once when Dylan was a toddler, someone gave him a stuffed animal that came with a magic marker, so you could draw all over it. What a stupid toy. Seriously? I have been teaching him for three years NOT to draw on anything but paper and now this toy came along and undid that? It got Freecycled immediately.

As I imagine many, many Doggie Doo games will be come January 4th, once the kids are back in school.

he needed a little Christmas

2011-12-14T09:04:00.000-05:00

T did a little decorating of his own last night....

fa-la-la-la-la

2011-12-13T20:09:00.000-05:00

We always start decorating for Christmas the weekend of Thanksgiving. My thought has always been why wait until mid-December when its only going to be up for two or three weeks? Its so pretty, and its so much work, lets enjoy it for a nice, long time.

Andrew tackles the exterior illumation (this year having a few Clark Griswald moments) while I focus on decking the halls inside. And every year, we get a few more things to make every holiday even shinier than the one before.

Once Christmas comes and goes, I'm ready for it to come down and we often take it all down New Years Day. By then, the needles are falling off the half dead tree and have been tracked from one end of the house to the other. And its just nice to get things back to normal before we go back to the routine of school/work/life.

Christmas is only 11 days away. The presents are all wrapped, cookie baking is planned, and holiday cards have been sent. Now is the time to really savor the magic and the spirit of the holiday.

And some of my favorite ornaments. I really need to have the boys make more ornaments this year. Handmade and/or with photos and years really are the best kind. I am also realizing I need to create a few ornaments using the boys newborn baby photos, I don't have any of those.

When it all began...

And along came Bella, our training baby.

And two years later, Dylan arrived.

Merry Christmas 2011.

a busy night

2011-12-13T09:28:00.000-05:00

Big T had a busy night last night, and quite the belly ache to show for it.

The boys left him quite a smorgasbord of candy and milk. He did his best to finish it off but we found him clutching his stomach laying on his side this morning with chocolate all over his face.

And this was after taking him for a drive around the neighborhood after dinner to check out all the Christmas lights. Logan passed out, but Tyler was taking it all in. I think tonight he will do some extra holiday decorating of his own in the family room!

treats for Tyler

2011-12-12T16:39:00.001-05:00

The boys got home from school this afternoon and decided that Tyler looked hungry. They set some treats next to him for him to enjoy tonight (note to self: Buy some Reeses Peanut Butter cups soon!). And then composed this note.

******

Dear Tyler,

All the treats I put next to you or in your lap are for you.

Dylan, Logan, Michelle and Andrew

******

I just love this Elf. He brings another layer of fun to the holidays! I think tonight he's going to have to write a letter back.

How Dinosaurs Became Extinct, by Dylan

2011-12-12T09:11:00.000-05:00

Dinosaurs have bombs in their pockets. Dinosaura will box at a boxing rinc. Then man came along. Then they found axes and chopped the dinosaurs. There was blood from the dinosaurs. The men made a fire and ate the meat. Then the men got the bombs and chucked them at the trees. Then the men became dumb.

And that's why dinosaurs became igstinked.

snow angel

2011-12-12T08:57:00.001-05:00

Last night, Tyler got into the flour and decided to make himself a snow angel. The boys found this hilarious this morning and right away checked to see if he had flour all over his back. Luckily he did!

watch out

2011-12-07T21:07:00.001-05:00

Tyler likes the four wheel drive action.

he's baaaaack....

2011-12-05T11:04:00.001-05:00

Tyler Snowy is back in The House for his second year. He arrived Friday morning, ready to watch over our boys and report any and all activities to Santa nightly. He reports back to the North Pole every night to give Santa the 9-1-1 on any meltdowns, fighting or sassy behavior. But apparently his very first night, he got a case of the lazies and forgot to make the journey. Oops!

I can feel he's going to get into a lot of mischief this holiday season. I wish he came with a reminder alarm every night so we don't forget to move him. Its hard to come up with enough viable excuses Dylan will believe. "Oh, Santa was sick and couldn't have company last night." "Hmmmm, Tyler's reindeer he rides back must have been at the vet." "Gosh, I bet he must have fallen asleep. I bet he's in trouble with Santa!".

Andrew goes out of town today for the next few days and he's much better about remembering to move him than I am. Its a lot of pressure. I actually sat up in bed very early this morning, "SHIT WE FORGOT TO MOVE THE ELF AGAIN ... HURRY, DOWNSTAIRS!"

Fun tradition..And really, how much longer will Dylan believe in this stuff? His teacher has ALL the kids in third grade totally believing in this Elf thing, bless her heart. I really hope we can keep the secret for a few more years. He figured out the Easter Bunny last spring, but we agreed he won't tell Logan. Somehow he still totally believes in the Tooth Fairy and Santa, and this Elf. I bought my wrapping paper for gifts this year and hid it, because I know Christmas morning when he finds gifts wrapped from Santa, he'll remember if he's seen that I have the same wrap upstairs. And starting last year, all gift tags on gifts from Santa were typed labels from my computer so there'd be no handwriting comparisons. I know one of these days he'll be onto me. And then it will have to be our secret from Logan as long as we can.

Merry Christmas to Us

2011-12-03T12:23:00.000-05:00

We've had a nice year, without having to tap into our 2010 tax refund to cover any unforeseen disasters. We had a nice enough microsuede couch and loveseat before, buts it was coming up on about 9 years old and we've been wanting leather for the longest time. We also had a recliner in our family that was getting really worn and needed to be retired to the Man Cave in the basement. So, we decided to buy ourselves the family room furniture we've always wanted and finish the revamp of our family room that started last winter.

So we started shopping a few weeks ago until we found what we wanted. It was delivered this week, starting on Wednesday. Of course, as these things go, it turned into a fiasco when one half of the sectional was torn and had to go back to the warehouse. Cursing. Two days later the replacement half arrived, but it was the exact half we already had. Back again. More cursing. Now today, the correct half arrived, undamaged and ready to complete the room.

Our family room is topsy turvy right now with the Christmas tree where we normally have another chair and a half, and ottoman (which is temporarily in my office until after the tree comes down). But these photos at least give a feel for what the new stuff looks like and how it all jives with the entertainment center we got ourselves for Christmas last year.

Its taken almost 9 years since we moved into this house, but we finally have the family room we've always wanted. Comfy, everyone can put their feet up, we can seat a lot of people and be cozy.

Merry Christmas to us!

gratitude

2011-11-30T20:22:00.000-05:00

A terrible tragedy occured in our community this past weekend, and its left everyone feeling a little lost and heartbroken for the affected family. At the same time, so much of the community has come together to help this family. Thank goodness in times of devastation for some, others come forward with genorosity and kindness.

A friend of mine, in reference to what happened this week, posted this quote on Facebook this week. And since I read it, I've been thinking about it over and over.

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."

- Melody Beattie

We must always be reminded of what we have, and what we could lose at any given moment. Life is a precious, fragile gift.

in a pinch, just a list

2011-11-29T20:02:00.000-05:00

A quick list is all I can manage. Each day I've looked at my poor, lonely blog and each day I scamper thru the day full force until my head hits the pillow. I know I owe a post about our last full day of vacation, as well as a review of our Amtrak Auto Train experience. I will, I will. Someday. Until then, another list. I've been making lots of lists lately. Christmas gift wish lists, which holiday cookies to bake lists, and lists about my other lists.

But for today, a quick catch up list of all things happening at Casa de Lopresti:

We had a fabulously quiet and cozy Thanksgiving holiday at my Mom and Robby's. It truly was quiet this year, since my brother, SIL, the twins, and all my stepsisters were elsewhere. Family friends came from the Eastern Shore of MD and we spent the day enjoying some mighty delicious food. Always such a treat to spend time together. Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday. All the togetherness of Christmas, without the added pressure of gift giving.

Every spare moment I've had, I've been on Amazon.com piling my shopping cart with gifts galore and really trying to knock out the bulk of my holiday shopping. I'd love to get it done and just sit back and enjoy December and all the upcoming parties and events. We've decked our halls and have enough cookie exchanges, potlucks and holiday parties to make a girl giddy.

Logan has completely healed from his tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. He started back to taekwondo tonight and even got a new uniform, since his old one had become capri pants. We think he is snoring less and as time goes on, we hope his quality of sleep will improve even more. However, what we did learn this week is his iron levels (directly related to his Periodic Limb Movement Disorder) are still very, very low. His ferritin (from blood drawn last week) level is now at 23. In August, his ferritin level was19. In order to 'cure' his PLMD, his levels need to be at 80 to 100. So we have a long, long way to go. He's been on a very concentrated form of iron twice daily supplement for three months, and we thought at his follow up appointment this week, his levels would have gone up much more. Not only does he not eat a lot of iron rich foods, his body just doesn't seem to absorb any iron he does ingest. He eats a TON of cereal, which is loaded with iron, but he never wants to eat it dry, always with milk. And calcium prevents your body from absorbing iron, as I talked about here.

So we'll do another three months of iron supplements, and he'll have more blood tests done mid-February to see if his ferritin levels are increasing. Then about three months after that (sometime in May??), we'll likely do another sleep study and see if his apnea and restless legs are more under control. As always, all in an effort to help his moods and behavior.

Somewhere in between all of this, we decided to wish ourselves a Merry Christmas and buy all new furniture for our family room. This time last year, we painted the family room, rearranged the furniture we had, and bought a big, new entertainment center and TV. This year we're finishing the 'revamp' by adding a leather sectional, leather chair and a half, two giant leather ottomans and some new tables. Photos to come soon!

Florida, Day 5. Last day at the parks.

2011-11-19T12:35:00.000-05:00

Since we had Four Day Park Hopper passes, and we had hit all four parks at this point, we decided to use Day Four wisely. We went back to Magic Kingdom and Epcot to hit a few things we had missed, and to re-ride some of our favorites. We also wanted to end the park adventure with the Epcot Illuminations Reflections of Earth lights and fireworks show.

But first, a dip in the hot tub at our rental house.

As I'm typing this, I'm realizing I should have started out with the first vacation post being all about the first part of our vacation adventure - the Amtrak Auto Train. I'll do another post about that at the end, because it was quite an adventure and I think I have some good tips for anyone ever thinking about doing it.

But, back to the parks.

As we took the ferry boat into Magic Kingdom, we couldn't resist the chance to hug Pluto one more time. I do think he's my very favorite.

Then we hightailed it over to Adventureland, a whole section of the park we missed on the first day (which we spent most of in Tomorrowland). The Jungle Cruise was completely packed, so we opted to skip that and instead got in line for the Pirates of the Carribbean.

The boys also wanted another visit to the Frontierland Shooting Arcade.

Next, there was a huge line for Its a Small World, but I really wanted to take Logan on it. Dylan and Andrew hightailed it over to ride Space Mountain again while Logan and I waited and waited to board the Small World boat. I remember going on it as a kid, but now as an adult, all those dolls are actually kind of creepy. And seriously, once you get that song stuck in your head you're done.

A few more family photos...

And then we were done, and off to Epcot for the last half of the day.

Except first there was a little excitement on the Epcot parking lot tram. Dylan was eating a Jolly Rancher and his tooth (a back molar which apparently had been loose but I had no idea) got stuck and came out. Mouth full of blood, holding the sticky green candy in his hand and a big molar stuck to it. The security guards were super nice and directed us to First Aid, where a super nice lady let him wash up and gave the boys tons of Mickey Mouse stickers. After the trauma died down, he was pretty stoked the Tooth Fairy would be coming to visit him on vacation (and along with cash, left him a stuffed Mickey Mouse).

The boys wanted to go on this ride again, and during the course of learning about the creation of the universe and space travel, we got to create a personalized plan for our future on a screen in our moving vehicle.

The boys insisted on going the Mission Space ride again. I absolutely hated this ride with every fiber of my being. You are locked into this four person space ship, its very close quarters. The whole experience tosses you while you're screen showing giant meteors (and other things I can't tell you because my eyes were closed the whole time we went on it on Sunday), you crash and land on Mars and all kinds of stuff, there are lights and buzzers going on and I seriously thought about barfing and praying, in that order.

However, the boys LOVED it. We had done the more subdued version of the ride the first time. The boys wanted the FULL experience this next time. I opted out, thankful to warm a park bench while the three of them got their 'space' on.

After that, we met up with our group again and headed towards the World Showcase to grab some dinner and eventually see the awesome fireworks show. But not before a stop into Club Cool for a taste of sodas from around the world. Logan particularly loved this, of course, since he's our sugar-aholic.

We ended up somehow snagging a table for ten in the United Kingdom (it was very crowded), and settled in for some Bangors and Mash, Fish and Chips, pints of cider and Yorkshire pudding.

A great way to finish out our days in the parks.

We still had one more full day left of vacation, I'll post about that soon.

A Scholarly Week

2011-11-18T15:41:00.001-05:00

This whole week, our school celebrated American Education Week. All the grades had different programs everyday, along with an awesome book fair. Parents were invited to come and spend time at school and cafeteria. Its always a great week at our school, and this year even better since today the kids also got to take part in a special celebration for being one of only six public Virginia schools awarded the distinguished National Blue Ribbon Award.

On Monday, we got to visit Logan in his kindergarten class, make a special craft, watch the kids perform several adorable songs they've been practicing for weeks, and visit the book fair.

Logan was all the way at the furthest end from where I could stand, so its not the best close up video, but the song is just adorable.

Third graders had a very special project. Weeks ago, each third grade student chose a famous person they wanted to impersonate in a Living Museum project. The kids were to memorize facts about their famous person, dress like that person, and come to life as that person today in the museum They all wore a "Press to Talk" button, and as the parents passed up and down the 'museum' hallways, kids gave their speeches every time their button was pushed.

Dylan chose George Washington as the famous person he wanted to become. He memorized these facts:

• Hi, I am George Washington. I was born on February 22, 1732.

• I grew up at a little farm house in Virginia.

• I was a good horseback rider and I liked to hunt.

• I was good at math and had a surveying job.

• My army defeated the Red Coats and we won the Revolutionary War in 1783.

• I became the first President of the U.S. when I was 57 years old.

• My nickname is “Father of Our Country.”

• I became ill and died in December 1799.

Here's George himself:

Dylan LOVED this project, as history is one of his favorite subjects. He also loves and excels in math and science. He does not take after his mother. We're hoping to take him to Mt. Vernon over the winter break, so he can see George Washington's home.

The boys also both brought home their first report cards of the year, and I'm so proud of them both. They both did excellent!

Its been a great fall so far, and I'm so thankful for all we have, for the boys school and love of learning, and for our family and friends.

Day Four - Animals and Movie Stars

2011-11-16T10:20:00.000-05:00

On the fourth day of vacation, we finally used the 'park hopper' option of our tickets and visited two parks in one day - Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. It was our first time ever to Animal Kingdom. Visually, its a great park with tons to look at, and its very pretty. But, its low on rides and our boys wanted some action. So after a few hours at AK, we mosied on over the Hollywood Studios to finish out the day. It was another beautiful weather day, and we discovered our very favorite roller coaster ever, the Rock-N-Roller Coaster, as our last ride of the day.

As were were strolling thru Africa, we got to participate in an impromptu jam session! I wish we had a video of this because we were all shaking our booties!

Then the boys got to meet Baloo and King Louis from the Jungle Book.

I have no idea who this dude is but we got his autograph anyway.

Learning to play macala..

The Tree of Life.

Asia

Our last ride at AK ended up being the Dinosuar ride, which I was expecting to be an innocent little tour thru prehistoric times. It ended up being so scary I about peed my pants (but the boys loved it).

After that little adventure, we moved onto Hollywood Studios. On the tram ride in from the parking lot, the boys were eating Jolly Rancher candy. Dylan suddenly announced his tooth fell out. He held out his half eaten candy with his first molar stuck right in in, mouth covered in blood. Very exciting! We got to go to Hollywood Studios first aid, where he got cleaned up and the staff made it all better by showering the boys witih Mickey Mouse stickers. You can see all the water on his shirt in this photo below. Dylan was excited the Tooth Fairy would be visiting him during vacation, and she bought him $5 and a Mickey Mouse stuffed animal that night.

We arrived at HS just in time for their awesome Pixar characters parade, and got a great seat, after particpating in a street dance-off video.

Incredibles

Monsters Inc

Toy Story

Getting ready to ride Star Tours

The boys got to watch Jedi Training

The Indiana Jones Stunt Show was really cool

Day Three - Alligators and Trapeze Artists

2011-11-14T20:17:00.000-05:00

On the third day of our Florida vacation, we split off from our group and made our own adventure for the day, taking a break from the parks.

First stop, Gatorland zoo to see and feed some gators close up. Gatorland has been around since 1946, making it an older attraction than most others in Orlando. Its 110 acres of reptiles, birds, and insects, and of course, a totally cheesy gift shop full of junk! But the boys totally loved it, and we found their animal shows to be really funny. It was a great way to spend a few hours, and we could have stayed longer but we needed to head to our next stop.

Baby Gators

My boy is fearless.

We then moved onto Downtown Disney, where we visited Cirque Du Soleil. Andrew's college friend Rob is a trapeze artist there, and offered to give us a back stage tour and let us watch the trapeze artists practice. It was super cool, and we were the only 'special visitors' there. I wasn't allowed to take photos of the practice for obvious reasons, but I took a few 'behind the scenes' shots.

Day Two - Chef Mickey Breakfast and Magic Kingdom

2011-11-13T17:56:00.000-05:00

A fabulous, magical day. We stayed all day to see the castle lit up and the fireworks. I had a tear in my eye during the fireworks...simply a majestic, spectacular moment.

First, it was off to eat breakfast with Mickey and friends..

The food was plentiful and yummy, and then each character came to visit ar our table, going out of theirways to make our kids feel special.

They even brought me a birthday cupcake.

m-i-c....k-e-y.....m.o.u.s.e. Day One.

2011-11-13T17:13:00.002-05:00

We're back, we're back. It was a magical vacation. The boys are at such great ages to truly enjoy everything Disney has to offer. We had four-day park hopper tickets, and we did it all, and then some. Here are some of my favorite photos from Day One, which was also my 40th birthday. We spent the day at Epcot, soaking up the sun, the rides and the sites. An excellent way to ring in 40.

Off we go.... Day One.

Inside "Mission Space"

A great ride!

Mexico

Logan, Josh, Dylan, Maya

Germany

China

lunch in Italy

Winnie the Pooh and Tigger were in the U.K.

A birthday hug from Pooh!

cool green house tour thru The Land

Boo!

2011-11-01T08:50:00.001-04:00

Its always a little sad to see Halloween come and go. However, this year its a little easier to move on, since we leave for Disney World in four days! We had a great Halloween weekend though, and when the boys aren't looking I'll be stealing all Almond Joys and Snickers!

Look at this fun scary dip my neighbor made!

Jackpot!

lions and apes and pandas, oh my!

2011-10-28T15:30:00.000-04:00

I'm so lucky, I've gotten to go on every field trip my boys have ever gone on.   Its so much fun to see your child with their school friends, joking and laughing and having a fun experience together outside of school.

I love that I got to go to the National Zoo today and spend time with just Dylan and his friends. You always get to know some of the other parents, too.   I even got to ride the bus and well, that's always an adventure too.

Living in the DC area, I sometimes forget how fortunate we are that so many attractions are free admission.   In fact, I don't think there is another zoo in the country that doesn't charge an entrance fee.   There have been many times I've left the National Zoo feeling disappointed that many of the animals were hidden or not easy to spot.   Or that many of the exhibits were under construction. Today, however, was a nice surprise. It was a chilly day, and there were no crowds at all. We got up close views of the Giant Pandas, Tigers, Lions, Apes and the Orangutans. We saw giant tortoise, walked thru a rainforest bird habitat, saw Elephants, Snakes, Alligators and Iguanas. We didn't get to see every exhibit before it was time to meet the bus, but the animals we did see were awesome!

Look at that sky. The oragnutans were putting on a show, and one of them had dreads!

check out the roaring! I've never seen a lion make such a fuss!

two thumbs up for Ticonderoga Farm

2011-10-23T16:10:00.001-04:00

The past few weeks have been a blur of doctors appointments, hospitals and waiting rooms. With all the craziness and recovery time, we haven't yet made it to any of the cool fall farm festivals in our area. Also, Dylan's swim team practice is on Sundays at 1:30 making it hard to fit other adventures in.

So it was kind of nice to get a swim team cancellation notice and realize we'd have our whole day free today, wide open, to do something together. Logan isn't 100% back to himself yet but he's much better than he was a few days ago and we did plenty of sitting and resting today during our adventure.

Typcially in pasts falls, we've gone to Great Country Farm or Cox Farm, and both are equally great. But we know what's there and they're very popular farms, with big crowds. Several friends told us about Ticonderoga Farm in Chantilly, mentioning there was lots to do and much fewer people. They were right on both counts.

We had a great day. The staff was really friendly. The boys got to feed the baby goats bamboo, and pet them. The sun was shining, the air was crisp and the chickens were roaming freely. The giant bouncing pillow and slides were a hit, and Logan loved his pony ride. There was a fun shaky bridge, tee-pees, kid sized log cabins, and a nice long hay ride. Both boys had their faces painted. There were no lines to do any of the activities, which was the best part of all.

a whole new approach

2011-10-22T17:26:00.002-04:00

Recently at Casa Lopresti, we've been making some big changes to the food we buy, cook and eat. It can be very overwhelming (not to mention expensive) to make a lot of changes at once. Especially when you're used to grocery shopping on a budget, as we are in our household. There is a lot of confusing information out here, thousands of books, articles and websited dedicated to the subject of healthy food and healthy living.

For many good reasons, we've decided to stop buying so many processed foods, foods with food dyes, foods with high fructose corn syrup, and we're rying to eat more organic, whole,natural foods. We've talked to the boys about these changes and I think its going to take some getting used to. The bottom line is, if we don't teach our kids how to eat the right things, who will? Its true, we are what we eat. And we love food at Casa Lopresti. We love shopping for it, buying it, cooking it, and we certainly love eating it. We love growing it too (or at least Andrew does) so we're off to a good start in that department.

What I've learned very quickly is you can spend a fortune eating everything organic. If you walk through any normal grocery store (other than Whole Foods or Trader Joe's) you'll quickly notice all the products on sale are the junk food. PopTarts, 2 boxes for $5! Doritos, Buy One Get One Free! I used to know better than to buy that stuff. But something happened along the way of having kids.....kids who in certain food phases have been known to only eat a total of five foods. Plus, its confusing when you go the grocery store right? All natural, low fat, low cholesterol, no triglycerides, grass fed, organic, with natural ingredients... what does it all mean? It means in order to grocery shop and buy the 'right' things, you have to read the labels. And to read the labels, you can't have any children with you. Not an easy task for a stay at home mom who is trying to get the hell out of the grocery store without any fruit snacks in the grocery cart before the five year old hits the wall and throws himself face down in the middle of the aisle. I have been that mom at the grocery store, throwing the Pringles into the grocery cart just to silence the whining.

I have at least managed to stand my ground on some things... we have never allowed sodas, we insist they drink a lot of water, and we enforce a fruit with every meal. They love sweet potatoes, and carrots with dip, and black beans and fruit smoothies. Dylan prefers to pack his lunch (which I do for him still, so its healthy), and Logan doesn't eat lunch at school yet. I do pack him a healthy snack everyday...applesauce, fruit leather, fresh fruit, etc. So we're not HORRIBLE eaters, but we could sure make better choices in a lot of areas. We have a lot of things going for us. Andrew loves to grow food and we have an amazing garden, thanks to him. We both enjoy cooking, and we truly enjoy a variety of healthy, great foods.

We're hoping one benefit to these dietary changes, of course, will be that we all feel better. There have been a lot of studies regarding kids, behavorial issues, and food dyes, like this study.   If removing some of the chemicals can help all of us, including Logan, we'll never go back again. And by the way, have you tasted organic milk? Its totally delicious. I'm not a big milk drinker but this could change all of that for me.

So we're trying to go back to the basics. Healthy, all natural, nothing BLUE. Are we going to let our kids trick or treat? Are we going to enjoy ourselves at Disney in two weeks? Yes. The book I recently borrowed from my friend Jersey Baby, "The Unhealthy Truth" has a ton of great information not to mention a realistic attitude towards it all. If you can try to live an 80/20 lifestyle, you're doing pretty darn good.   80% natural, healthy, whole foods. I think we can do that. Also, the book scared the crap out of me about the amount of toxins and chemicals in our foods. So we're starting to go organic with our dairy products and thanks to my sister-in-law, this great list of the "dirty dozen" fruits and veggies to try and buy organic. Eventually we'll probably try and buy more organic meats too.

I'm thinking I'll be posting quite a bit about this new adventure with food. As we try products that are new to us, or as I make recipes that are a hit with our family, I'd love to share them here. Fortunately I have a lot of friends who are already helping to educate me on what's healthy. Its not like I didn't know this, but somehow I've forgotten it seems. I'm a little late for this party, but better late than never.

The good news is, we're living in a time of huge variety. You can buy Gatorade with no artificial flavors or colors. Chances are, you have a farmers market near you where you can buy straight from the source. If you read and educate yourself, you can easily make the choice between say.. a box of fruit snacks which are nothing but corn syrup and food dye, and the delicious, all natural Wegmans Fruit Flats.

Speaking of which, our kids are big on snacks.   They do, fortunately, like plenty of healthy snacks -- fresh fruit, cheese, popcorn, dried fruit, yogurt. But if given the chance, they will also choose junk if its in the pantry. I went through our pantry this week and threw out a ton of stuff I'm putting on our 'no' list.... microwave popcorn, fruit snacks, flavored chips, soups and breads flavored with high fructose corn syrup, Pop Tarts and Toaster Strudels (yes, I'm embarrassed to say I had those things. When you have picky eaters like we do, you'll resort to desperation sometimes just to see them eat something.)   Thanks to my friend Jersey Baby who told me about this oh-so-fun old-fashioned stove top popcorn maker. Its in the mail already and we can't wait to cook up our first batch.

She also is has a friend who writes a great blog called Sweet Peas and Pumpkins, written by an Ohio mom who strives to cook healthy, natural, wholesome meals for her family including her self-proclaimed two picky little boys. Her site offers a wide selection of healthy, kid friendly recipes and its organized really well. Lots of great photos and all around great tips for healthy eating.

I made this delicious white chicken chili earlier this week, yummy! We topped it with fresh chunks of avocado, lite sour cream and cheese, and fresh chopped cilantro. Logan still wasn't eating anything due to his sore throat, but Dylan did try it. It wasn't his favorite but we'll keep trying.

This afternoon, I made Sweet Pea Chef's homemade hummus and everyone agreed, its a hit. I can't believe how fresh, easy and inexpensive it was to make it. Sure, a jar of tahini is about $8 but once you buy it you can make many, many batches of hummus over the months. A couple cloves of garlic, juice from one lemon, one can of chick peas, 1 TBSP olive oil, and a decent food processor. Coupled with Stacy's Naked Pita chips...its a delicious, natural, healthy snack perfectly fit for an afternoon of football watching. Best of all, the kids love it, and its a much better snack choice than neon colored chips.

I may sound like I'm flipping out. I'm not going to buy a cow or raise chickens in the backyard (not that it wouldn't be cool). I'm not going to churn my own butter or make my own yogurt. Well, maybe someday it would be fun to try! But I am going to start making better choices about what foods I buy, starting now. The light NON-GREEN mint chip ice cream for my boys, with a short list of ingredients I can read, instead of the neon green ice cream with an ingredient list a mile long. No high fructose corn syrups in our bread or cereal. No more sugary coffee creamers. We've changed to these sugar free syrups for our coffee, and half and half.

It really just boils down to making better choices. Avoiding preservatives, additives, and chemicals whenever possible. Teaching our kids how to make good choices about what they put in their bodies. Food has gotten so convenient and processed during my lifetime. What will food be like twenty years from now, when our boys have to shop for their families? Its a little scary to think what people could possibly be eating by then if we all don't make some changes now.

I'm looking for any and all food ideas, recipes, products and information to embrace this healthy food overhaul. If you're reading this and would like to share anything your family loves food-wise, please do. I've gotten so many great ideas already from friends and family. We all want to feel good about what we eat, and we want to feel like we're making the best choices for ourselves and our families.

I know I'll be spending a lot more time in the aisles of Wegmans reading labels, researching recipes, and bringing more whole foods back into our lives. Life is sweet, life is short, and we are what we eat.

7 days later...

2011-10-20T13:33:00.000-04:00

This has been the position my poor baby boy has assumed for the entire week. It turns out the first couple days after tonsil and adeniod removal are nothing compared to the pain that comes on days 4, 5, 6, 7...

Its been rough for us both. First, he hasn't been able to sleep through the night, even on hydrocodone. We've been making journeys to the kitchen at 2 am for popsicles and ice chips. He hasn't eaten a single solid food since his surgery. Its been hard, even, to keep him drinking (which is most important).

They warn you post-op their breath will be bad. Bad isn't the word, its horrible. All the tissue in the back of the throat is healing and no amount of teeth brushing does a single thing. So while its been nice to have him cuddle up, the breath has not been pleasant.

He has not gone back to school yet. I keep waiting for him to turn the corner and at least be able to eat something solid, and/or drink without crying in pain. At this point, we will probably just wait until Monday to send him back. No t-ball again this weekend and we'll have to see about Tuesday nights' game. And he's on a break from taekwondo.

He has a birthday party to attend Saturday, so I hope he can at least make that, at least for a little while (I will stay to make sure he's okay).

Its been a long week. But on the bright side, I've cleaned out several closets (including our pantry which I did an entire junk food overhaul and got rid of foods we are eliminating from our diets to try and live more healthfully), cleaned the heck out the house, made homemade bread, macaroni and cheese and white chicken chili, and wrote copious thank you notes for all the meals people have sent our way these past couple of weeks.

Tomorrow marks the two week countdown until our long awaited trip to Disney World. I have to think he'll be back to normal long before then. Andrew is almost back to normal, having almost fully recovered from his back surgery. My Stepdad had similar back surgery with the same surgeon two days ago and is overjoyed with how great he already feels. Thank goodness for modern medicine.

But back to Logan... I know in the long run it will all be worth it. This will help him get much better quality sleep and will even likely cut down on throat infections. As a mom though, its hard to watch him cry in pain and have very little I can do for him. I'm really ready to put this behind on and have our normal life back.

Homecoming Parade

2011-10-15T18:29:00.001-04:00

Yesterday afternoon, Dylan got to march in our high school Homecoming parade with his Cub Scout den. He was super excited, and had a giant bag of candy to throw out into the crowd along the route. It poured almost all day and cleared up just in time. The parade takes place each fall and we've always just been spectators, so it was fun to actually watch for Dylan and lots of other kids we know from the boys school.

I'm not exactly sure why his hat has mouse ears stapled to it, but it had something to do with the theme of the parade.

Logan, sore throat and all, waiting patiently for some candy to come his way. And you know he doesn't feel good when his whole bucket is still full today. At least he had fun collecting the candy.

Its a pretty big parade for a high school homecoming. I watched and watched for Dylan..there were so many Scouts. And then suddenly he was right in front of me.

And then he was gone.

There were a couple of make-shift floats but nothing like what I remember constructing in high school for our homecoming parade. I remember (vaguely) spending hours and nights in someone's barn gluing tissue paper on a giant paper mache eagle. And then during the actual parade, a large empty bottle of rum rolled out from under the eagle as we made the turn onto the football field. I have absolutely no idea where that came from.

fear the Storm

2011-10-15T14:44:00.000-04:00

Although I haven't posted anything about it with this crazy fall we've had, Logan is playing his second season of t-ball. This time his team is called the Storm, and they have super cool logo. There's been a lot of rain this fall, so the schedule has been hit or miss. And now with his surgery recovery, he has to sit out sports for a couple of weeks. He'll hopefully be back in shape to join in for the last one or two games of the season.

He still loves it, and he's really good. Its fun to watch him play and I'm sure he'll want to play again in the spring when its a bigger season and more activities surrounding the team.

goodbye t & a

2011-10-13T16:01:00.000-04:00

Logan did great today and it all went very smoothly. We left his tonsils and adenoids at the Fairfax Surgical Center at about 10:45 this morning. He stayed in recovery, sleeping in my arms, until about 1 pm.

Now for the tricky part. Keeping him subdued and resting for the next several days. They told me not to let him outside, no running, no jumping, and to just keep him on the couch with movies and cold drinks. Umm, yea. They don't know my child very well. He's already arguing with me to go outside and ride his skateboard which he will "only ride in the garage...he promises". He has a giant bottle of hydrocodone so maybe that will help keep him still. He wanted a cheeseburger on the way home, and a milkshake. Its like it never even happened.

Andrew is upstairs resting. I think in a few days he'll feel so much better. I've been battling a head cold throughout this whole ordeal and truth be told, if I could crawl into bed right now and sleep for two straight days I would.

Here's my little bear prior to surgery this morning. The nurses gave him a new little buddy to keep him company.

And here he is, snuggled in my arms post-op. Friends of ours were there with their son, having the same procedure, and she took this photo. Logan was so quiet, and so didn't cry or flinch even one time. Such a brave boy!

one down, one to go

2011-10-12T20:12:00.000-04:00

Andrew had back surgery yesterday. We found out this was going to happen five days earlier. And Logan's long awaited tonsillectomy and adeniodectomy is tomorrow. To say things have been busy... well, that doesn't quite cover it.

Lets back up. Years ago, Andrew started having back pain. We think it kind of started back when Dylan was a baby and had chronic ear infections. He couldn't sleep laying down at night, so Andrew would carry him up and down the hall all night. Anyone whose ever held a baby can tell you five minutes of that can hurt your back, let alone months on end. His back pain has come and gone thru the years, and when it flares up he goes to our chiropractor a few times and she fixes him right up.

Two weeks ago, it started hurting again, but in a MAJOR way. In a there-is-no-comfortable-position-whatsoever kinda way. Last Tuesday he hobbled in the front door with a look of sheer pain on his face, and then was not able to position his body to get into the car and take Logan to t-ball that night. Nor was he able to sleep. No amount of medication or adjusting at the chiropractors was helping. We went for an MRI Wednesday, the MRI results were shared with our chiropractor immediately, and the very next morning we had an appointment with an incredible back surgeon a couple of towns over. We were just going to talk to him...let him see the MRI and get some information on the surgery, and think it over. After hearing that the surgery would dissapate the pain almost immediately, that the recovery would be very short, we were signed up before we left the office that day.

We had to cancel a major fall camping trip with a lot of good friends, which made us sad. But all the lifting and bending and carrying camping requires, not to mention sleeping on an air mattress... it just wasn't going to happen. He spent the weekend resting his back and we geared up for the event.

The surgery went very well, although the disc herniation was a little more than the MRI showed. The doctor had to scrape at the affected spinal nerves quite a bit, and there will be some tenderness for a few days. But the pinching, numbness Andrew felt was gone the moment he woke up from surgery. They kept him overnight last night, and I brought him home today. He has some great medication, and we'll be taking it easy for several days at least. By this time next week, he will be a new man.

I took the boys to visit him last night, and they were showered with attention from the nurses. They now have a years supply of surgical gloves, and they got all the ice cream they wanted to eat.

I'm glad the surgery could happen so quickly, and I'm glad he has relief. My Stepdad has very similar back issues and is going to have surgery with the same spinal surgeon next week.

We're very thankful for the outpouring of support, playdates, well wishes, dinners and goodies people have been kind enough to offer. The thoughtfulness and generousity is so wonderful. The staff at Reston Hospital was simply fantastic. Every nurse, every doctor, every single person we interacted with was friendly, humorous, thorough, accomodating and nurturing. Every single one. It could not have gone any better.

So, one down.

Tomorrow, Logan will undergo his procedure. Its at a different facility, with a different doctor. We have experience with this doctor though. He's the ENT who put in Dylan's ear tubes when Dylan was 10 months old. He's fantastic as well, and I know the tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy are going to help improve Logan's quality of sleep. We've been told Logan will have lots of discomfort for at least a couple of days. Hopefully he'll sleep a lot, and I can keep him resting and comfortable. We're stocked up on popsicles and fruit smoothie ingredients. I think it will be several days, though, before he can chow down on his beloved Cinammon Toast Crunch cereal again. He will go back to school sometime next week.

We also celebrated my Mom and Robby's 20th wedding anniversary this past Sunday with a big family party, since Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bill are in town. Lots of good photos from that party, but they're still on my camera and will have to wait for another day.

Again, thanks to all our friends and family for thinking of us and helping us get through this time!

blue ribbon at BeST

2011-10-04T14:39:00.000-04:00

I've always been so proud of our elementary school, and have felt so fortunate that our boys are having such an amazing start to their educations.

Our school has just won the National Blue Ribbon award, placing it in the top 1% of schools in the entire country. Its such an honor, and such a testament to the incredible job the staff and teachers do there.

Congratulations to the school and everyone who made this possible!

a day at the farm

2011-09-29T14:32:00.000-04:00

This has been the rainiest September I can remember. I think at this point, we've had 6 or 7 inches of rain this month when the norm is under 2 inches. We are all going a little nutso from having to be inside so much.

The kindergarten fall field trip was scheduled for today, and we've all been watching the forecast wondering if it would be a total rain out. Alas, Mother Nature gave us a break for a few hours and off we went. I was able to follow behind with a friend in her car, and we met the buses at Great Country Farm in beautiful Bluemont, VA, about 30 minutes away. Dylan took this same field trip three years ago when he was in kindergarten. Grandma Lynn came along, and Logan was just a baby. Time flies.

It did rain quite a bit once we got to the farms, and with the weeks of rain we've already had, the pumpkin patch was one giant pit of mud. Some of the kids embraced the mud and had it from head to toe...others lost their shoes in the muck, and some kids just wanted to stay on the hay ride and not venture too far into the fields.

It did clear up towards the end and the kids were able to play before having to ride the bus back to school. I'm glad it wasn't a total rain out. Logan has been so excited about this field trip and he would have been crushed if it were cancelled. We had a good day, and right now my washer is full of muddy shoes and clothes to prove it!

L, a self portrait

2011-09-29T14:20:00.000-04:00

I was in Logan's kindergarten classroom this morning prior to the fall farm field trip. So nice to see all the beautiful artwork the kids have already done so far this year.

Here is Logan's super cute self portrait. I love all the bright colors! But most of all, I love those huge eyebrows!

a rare moment of brotherly peace

2011-09-22T18:57:00.000-04:00

Gangs Dominion

2011-09-19T19:41:00.000-04:00

When I was growing up, we used to frollick as teenagers a couple of times summer at Kings Dominion.  A trip there was a highly coveted adventure. I remember going there in college too, and having a blast. Then it seems like in my late 20's, approaching 30, Kings Dominion just lost its appeal. The people who came there seemed to suddenly all have pagers (remember those?) and way too much gold jewelry for what is acceptable at a theme park, and kids on leashes. Lots of the good rides disappeared... the King Cobra, Mousetrap, the Haunted River with that awesome straight down plunge at the end (but your hands would smell like mildew all day from holding onto the handle in the boat). Rides with Spongebob themes started taking over.

Its not a particularly pretty park either. Having been to Busch Gardens, Hershey Park and Dutch Wonderland in recent years, those are far more aesthetically pleasing. And after we go to Disney in two months, we may never be able to step foot in Gangs Dominion again.

A funny side bar... once when Andrew and I were dating and possibly engaged, I can't quite remember, Andrew and I got up one day in September and decided to both play hooky from work. It was a gorgeous day, and we decided what better way to spend it than riding some coasters at KD? We set off on the two hour drive (remember, this is way early in the days of internet, and the only thing your cell phone (if you had one) could do was make a call (maybe).  Never even thinking about their hours.   It was after Labor Day, afterall, but we thought for sure they must still be open since it was still so nice outside. We pull up around normal opening time, and the entire lot was empty. Not a car in sight. Maybe some maintenence trucks but that was it.   Closed. They were closed on weekdays. As in "The moose at the front should have told you". And if you've been to Kings Dominion, you know its in the middle of nowhere.    So without even turning the car off, we made a giant u-turn in the empty lot and headed back up 95 North all the way to Potomac Mills Mall, where we browsed Ikea and probably bought some nice textiles.

Anyway. Andrew has worked for the same company for 11 years. Its a huge company, and every September, they rent out an entire theme park for the annual company picnic.   It used to be at Six Flags in Maryland (which I fondly remember from my high school years as Wild World, my friend Ronda was proudly the Plush Manager). But the company got too big and they moved it several years ago to Gangs Dominion, a bigger park, instead.

So yesterday morning, we set off down 95 South to the land of coasters and funnel cakes.   Its always amazing to me how huge his company is. Because you'd think a private event at a theme park, you'd stand a chance at getting on a ride or two without an hour line. But as I said, its a huge company and people invite other friends and family and before you know it, its pretty much just as crowded as a peak Saturday in July, minus the 100 degree weather.

The fun part is, walking around Andrew will run into some people he knows. They cater a free picnic lunch that isn't too bad. And every year, our boys can go on bigger and bigger rides.   This year, Logan was in a funk and didn't really want to ride anything at all.   Which is honestly just fine with me. I'm not so much into spinning things, since I gave birth my equilibrium just never quite recovered. I'm more into the people watching and just watching my kids enjoy themselves.   People watching at a theme park is stellar, even at a company picnic, let me tell you.

When we go to theme parks, we always have to get about five maps because Logan's favorite part of the experience is studying the map. This skill may come in handy if he were looking for something useful to all of us, but all he's looking for is where they have the games so he can try and win a giant hideous stuffed animal of some sort.

Our end of the day splurge... funnelcake and the boys made their own stuffed animals.

Its nice of his company to do this for the employees every year. We always have a good time, and more importantly, so do the kids. One of these days, our boys will be old enough to go to theme parks and 'meet back up with us later'. I hope that day is still a long time away. There's just something magical about a day at a theme park with your kids, even if its at Gangs Dominion.

at the shore

2011-09-12T16:21:00.004-04:00

This past weekend, we took the boys out of school a tad early Friday and headed east. Southeast to be exact. I've been craving some sand in my toes and some salty sea air for months. Then last week, we had a six day stretch of torrential rains we thought would never end. Little did we know back when we planned this weekend beach excursion months ago, it would be perfect timing taking us out of the monsoons here and into the sun and breezes there.

My old friend Jay has a family beach house on the barrier island of Chincoteague, VA. He and his two kids, and we and our two, met up for a weekend of fun in the sun. I've known Jay since we were 13. We grew up in the same neighborhood, attended the same college, and spent many weekends at the beach house with all of our friends doing what college kids do. You know, beer pong, and the usual assortment of ridiculous drinking games.

We got to spend a good chunk of Saturday at the beach, which is on the Asateague National Seashore. On the ride back to the house, we even got a peek at the famous wild island ponies.

A great weekend with a good friend. Thanks Jay!

Only at the beach can you get clams for $3.99 a dozen, and shrimp for $8.99 a lb.

The only downfall of beautiful, charming Chincoteague is the mosquitoes. This time of year, particularly, they are absolutely ferocious. As in, you get out of your car and run as fast as you can into the house. You don't sit on a patio unless its screened in. You buy Off by the case. These mosquitoes are so big, when you kill one it makes a sound as it hits the counter. They have stripes. That you can clearly see. In other words, I suspected going into this weekend we'd all come home with a case of the itchies. But, it was well worth it to dig for sand crabs, ride some waves and lick some soft serve at Mr. Whippy's!

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-06T19:37:00.000-04:00

It was time for a little road trip this past weekend, to spend some time with Grandpa Joe, Grandma Bobbie, Uncle Chris, Aunt Jessica, and cousins Josh and Maya. A great weekend filled with boating, beach time, swimming, a crab feast, and a birthday celebration for Grandma.

Aunt Jessica and Maya, ready for a boat ride

The little island we go to, only accessible by boat. The landscape there really change quite a bit from July 4th weekend, due to Hurricane Irene last weekend.

The boys made Grandma garden stones for her birthday.

the big K!

2011-08-29T11:59:00.001-04:00

And just like that, there he goes. Logan has been SO excited for kindergarten, and this morning he couldn't contain himself. I literally had to set a timer for him to countdown minutes until we could go to the bus stop. The bus was a bit late coming, and the kids were antsy but then it pulled up and off they went!

I know he'll have a great first year of grade school! I just can't believe its already time!

My Dad and Bobbie are visiting, due to a power outage at their house from Hurricane Irene. They enjoyed seeing the boys off on their first day of school!

Logan and his good friend, E, ready for school!

How cute is this ... stepping on the bus at the exact same time, holding hands. Be still my heart!

After school we have a first day of school cupcake social, and then a pizzaria dinner with the neighbors. What a big day!!!