Uniform preview

A few weeks ago, Lands End had their Friends and Family sale, so of course I took advantage and stocked up on uniform clothes for Gracie.  She was so excited to try everything on and loved the jumper. 

But Grace did not love the navy blue uniform pants I bought her.  I assumed they would be cotton, but they are a cheesy uniform material.  Grace said, "Mommy, these pants are horrible."  Guess what?  They are.  Guess what?  She will be wearing them next winter.  Because she won't have a choice.  Aren't uniforms fabulous?

When I first told her about the uniform she would be wearing, she said, "Okay Mommy, I will wear a uniform.  But mine will be pink and sparkly."  Such a little princess.

And finally, keeping it real.....here is Grace about 22 seconds after the above picture was taken.  Not sure exactly what happened, but things went downhill.  Fast.

A bad thing about working from home

So we have a diseased tree in our backyard. 

I am secretly thrilled that I now have an excuse to get all three of these eyesores taken down.  I am not secretly thrilled about paying for tree removal or the re-landscaping that will be required.   Ah, the joys of home ownership. 

Anyways, last Friday I got up and got right to work that morning at 7am.  I didn't stop to brush my hair, get dressed or wipe yesterday's mascara off of my face.  I was a sight.  And not a pretty one. 

I kept right on working in this condition until 11am.  When I hear, ding dong! 

Crap!  I totally forgot I had an appointment with the tree service man.  I had no choice but to answer the door looking like a mess.  I had on my ratty, faded, rose print, 15 year old bathrobe, which is a size L and looks more than a bit ridiculous.  Not sure why I couldn't have had on my new one from Anthropologie?  But really that wouldn't have helped me. 

I also had on pajama pants, a ratty old t-shirt and stained old man slippers. Here is a little peek...

The poor tree man didn't know what he was walking into when he rang that doorbell.  I proceeded to apologize profusely, make awkward and poorly timed jokes about my appearance, and ask lots of questions displaying my lack of tree knowledge and basic social skills.

Now here comes the funny part.  This guy looks familiar to me.

And that would be because he lives a few blocks away from me. 

And his kids go to the same daycare as Grace and Andrew. 

So lucky me (or lucky him), I will see him again.  Fabulous. 

I cannot decide if this is more embarrassing than the time I wore the towel on my back out to dinner with Maggie.

Grace and I had been playing superhero or something and I forgot to take it off.  I proceeded to eat dinner with my back to a crowded bar with a dishtowel hanging out of my collar. 

I could give you a whole litany of excuses on why this happened...I was 7 months pregnant!  My shirt had a hood on it so I couldn't feel it!  I blame my mom!  I blame Kevin! 

Bottom line.  I am a dork.

Hey, at least I can laugh at myself.  And you can too.

A quote a day

Last week I wrote down something funny Gracie said every day.  Read and enjoy.

Monday
"Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis....I can speak Spanish because I went to Mexico!"

Tuesday
"Mommy, this is a horrible day." Referring to the freezing rain.

Wednesday
"Mommy, I am going to dream about sparkly bunny ears!" at bedtime.

Thursday
"Grace, you need to say something funny so I can put it on my blog."
"Mommy, the ladybug is a Missus.  You can put that on your bullfrog."

Friday
"Daddy, does water turn into pee?"
"Yes it does."
"Does a banana turn into pee?"
"Well, pee and poop."  (Yes, we always have such refined conversations with our children.) 
"No Daddy, it turns into toots and turds."  (Yes, thats my girl!)

And finally, I will include one from Kevin.

Sunday
Kevin - "Wow, look at all those wildflowers."
Me - "Kevin. Those are daffodils."

Ginger Snaps

This recipe is from my Grandma Pat.  It is a family favorite.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup butter

1/2 cup white sugar (you will need extra for topping)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

4 tablespoon molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla (my addition, not necessary)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon ginger

2 cups flour

Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl.  In another bowl combine the butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, molasses...you know the routine.  Then combine the two and mix.  It will look like this. 

Put it in the fridge to chill for an hour or more.

Then roll pieces into little balls and roll in granulated sugar.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes or so. 

Watch closely and pull them out when the top starts cracking a little bit.

Delicious!

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful and busy Easter this year.  On Saturday, we headed out for brunch and an Easter egg hunt.  This was the first time we have been able to do the hunt outside and it was so fun. 

This year the Easter Bunny hid candy eggs and filled Grace and Andrew's baskets with fun toys and treats.  That Bunny knows that Andrew doesn't like sweets, so he gave him goldfish crackers.  Smart Bunny!

(I think new baskets are in order for next year.  Grace's constantly tips over and Andrew's is tiny.)

Andrew wore a handsome romper (with a turtle and bunny on it) that used to be Uncle Mark's.  Kevin thought he looked ridiculous.  Uh, obviously he did.  Ridiculously cute!

After 9am mass (where the kids were very well behaved, well except for Andrew constantly flirting with other little girls) we had cinnamon rolls and I finished preparing the carrot cake for dinner. 

I am a fan of the Joy of Cooking recipe but I saw one in this month's issue of Cooking Light that I had to try out.  Of course, I didn't follow it exactly.  I added crushed pineapple, raisins, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice.  I took a chance and the cake was really good.  I even used reduced fat cream cheese in the frosting!

After Andrew tried to microwave his Easter basket, he was banished to his room for a nap. 

Later in the day we headed over to JuJu and PopPop's for dinner, stopping at Grandma Jane and Bop's to visit with the Scanlon family on the way.

We ended up getting some cute photos.  Of course we couldn't get one where are 4 of us were looking at the camera, but I'll take what I can get.

Here is Andrew when he saw his beloved Uncle Mark. 

Getting ready for Easter

Earlier this week Gracie and I dyed Easter eggs.  Given this is a required task for all parents, I am glad to have it out of the way.  Phew!

Gracie was very excited to take part in the "Special Easter Egg Project"!

Baby Andrew! You…Naughty…Little….Boy!”

We have hit a rough patch on our Mondays and Tuesdays (the days I am home from work) with Andrew. He is refusing to nap. Naughty boy!

He is way too young to be giving up a nap. More importantly, I need my downtime to clean up after my two little tornadoes, do laundry, pay bills, do yard work, make phone calls, answer emails, and most importantly, work on this blog.

When I put Drew down for a nap, he will sit in his crib and hang out for an hour and a half or so and play quietly. But he has been refusing to go to sleep.

I know you are asking, “What is the big deal?”

The problem is, I am up and down the stairs 8 million times putting all his stuff back in his crib (that he throws out in protest), laying him down and telling him to take a nap.  Then I usually give up when I find him jumping up and down and saying “Mamamamamama!”.  I just can’t help but pick him up and give him kisses.

The other problem is dealing with a naughty and whiny little boy the rest of the day. He also tends to try to get into trouble when he is in these moods, by doing any and all of the following:

Trying to climb INTO the refrigerator.
Microwaving his milk.

Microwaving a dried mango.
Opening the microwave and SLAMMING the door shut as hard as possible.
Making a mess with his food.

Climbing on the chairs and standing up.
Saying nothing but “Mine!” for an hour straight.
Touching my new silk curtains (which wrinkle easily).
Sitting on my silk curtains.
Pooping on my silk curtains (bad picture but it proves my point).

Hitting or throwing things.
Yelling at the top of his lungs.
Taking toys from Grace.
Hitting Grace.
Climbing on Grace.
I could go on, but I will stop.

Usually by about 5 o’clock, he needs to go back to his bed with some toys for quiet time. He is usually very good up there. Usually. Well, yesterday I put him in bed with a book with paper pages. I came up to check on him and found this….the little stinker tore up his big, beautiful rubber duck book. The one that goes “Quack! Quack!” at the end.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. So naturally I got my camera, took a picture and let him finish the job. The funniest thing was when Grace went up and saw what he was up too. I heard her yell, “Baby Andrew! You…Naughty…Little….Boy!”

Sunday Dinner

Last Sunday we had my parents, Mark and Maura over for a family dinner.  We usually head over to my parents house for a the big meal, but I thought I would cook for once.  Although they brought the turkey, stuffing and dessert, so I guess I didn't do that much cooking. 

I made Roasted Tomato Basil soup that tasted pretty good.  Not great.  But I topped it with these babies. 

Ever use old bread to make croutons?  It is really easy and really, really good.  Just cut up the bread (This time I used kaiser rolls which worked really well.  They are lighter I guess.) and coat in a mixture of butter, olive oil and garlic.  Then toast them in the oven.  You can even put some parmesan cheese on them.  Because in Wisconsin we try to put cheese on everything.  Who am I kidding?  I cannot blame my love of cheese on Wisconsin.  Anyways, these are great on salads, soups or just by themselves.  Seriously, try to eat just one. 

I also made a salad. 

Notice that the heirloom tomatoes.  See? 

Aren't they pretty?

And my dad brought these fancy rice krispie treats...with jelly beans!  He is a culinary master.  Jelly beans on rice krispie treats, who would have thought?

The kids had a ball hanging with there grandparents. 

Grace loved being super fancy.

And Andrew tolerated being dressed up like Elton John.



Frosting Review

Its no secret that I am a huge frosting fan.  And I am a fan of the The Pioneer Woman.  So when she gave her endorsement of this frosting recipe, (which is called "That's the Best Frosting I've Ever Had") I had to give it a try. 

Step 1: Combine 5T flour and 1 cup of milk in a saucepan.  Whisk over low heat until it thickens.

*Note I had to do this step twice because I didn't have the attention span to stand there and whisk for 5 minutes.  I still got distracted during the second batch but decided a few little lumps would be fine.  I don't think it made a difference. 

2. Set this mixture aside and let cool.  COMPLETELY.

3. In a mixer combine 1 cup butter, 1 cup granulated sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla.  Whip it for a long time.

4. Then combine the 2 together and whip for a very long time.  When you think it is done, whip it longer.

6. Have your little helper put the frosting and sprinkles on cupcakes.  And you are done.

In comparing this to my favorite frosting recipe (mentioned in this post), this one comes up short.  It takes more time, it is more complicated to make and really just doesn't taste as good.  But try it out.  If you want to be disappointed.  Just kidding.