Ever wonder what they talk about out there?

"So, I think I've seen you around before"
"Yes, Myles, we're in the same Kindergarten class. You chased me once at recess and I threw dirt in your eye, remember?"
"So, what are you doing after this?"
"You know I'm going home with my Mom and Dad, Myles. They're right over there."
"Hey, your Mom's hottt........so how solid is her relationship with your Dad...would she seek the comfort of a younger man?"

"So, uh, I'll see you at school on Monday. I'll share my PB&J with you at lunch."
"You know we're not allowed to share lunches at school.....(Strawberry jelly or grape?)"
"Strawberry."
"I'll bring the go-gurts."
"Tell your Mom I want two."

He dances to the music in his head...

Here's a little clip of Myles at his basketball game over the weekend. The first part is running followed by a little shakin of his groove thang then his finishing move of "I'm watching YOU, Aunt Annie" where he points at me. At the end, you'll hear his Mom who just has to bring the poor fella down with a little "Focus, My. Fo-cus."

Way to go, buzz kill.

He makes me nervous

I put this picture in (stolen from my friend, Jim) for reasons two fold: 1.) Aron loves bacon and maple 2.) Aron's a touch salty, a touch sweet.

So Aron called me this morning and wanted to know my username and password for the blog. He has never, in all the 4 yrs I've been running this thing, shown any interest in how to get in it let alone potentially wanting to be a guest blogger. If there's some weird, random post in here sometime, just assume that it's from him.

He makes me nervous.

(In all reality, he's probably just going to make the blog into a book for the kids like we've been talking about for a while now. He's so cute when he thinks he's being sneaky. Too bad I'm onto him cause he can't sneak anything past me at this point in our relationship)

Opinion time

Recently, we let the kids watch a Star Wars movie for the first time (A New Hope--the first of the classic movies) because they had been pestering us for a while about it. I think we may have created Star Wars junkies because now they want to watch it all the time. Well, that and Harry Potter. They've only seen pieces of HP because some of it may cause nightmares and the nightmares would cause a lack of sleep for me which is a problem.

I remember being pretty little and watching the first Star Wars movie quite a few New Year's Eve celebrations in a row. One of the TV stations always seemed to show it every year and we would watch it at my Dad's cousin's house while the adults were playing cards. Aron never watched any of the movies until he was in college (freak!!) and I twisted his arm to do it.

How old were you when you first watched them? Vote!

Besties

Ella painting her t-shirt.
The semi-finished product

The next craft was bead bracelets.

Ella had one of her best buddies come over and play last weekend. I've been wanting to try this craft I found on You tube for a while now and I decided it was time to give it a shot. There was a little bit of prep work on my part (you'll see what I mean if you watch the video) but they had a great time painting their t-shirts and making bracelets. I forgot to get very many pictures...in fact, these are pretty much it. I'll try to remember to get a pic with Ella in her T and put it in here soon.

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However, my mother said that if I don't knock it off with all the overachieving craftiness when other kids come over, all the other Mommies will hate me.

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Thanks for your support, Mom.

Irish Elitest

Dearest Luke--

I love that you're Irish. I love that you love being Irish. I love all of your extroverted in-your-face Irishness. I think it's cute. It was darling when you wore your Kiss Me, I'm Irish t-shirt on Wednesday to celebrate St Patty's (let's face it, it's better than you getting hammered on green beer at your local pub and waking up in the front yard with only one shoe on, a black marker moustache on your upper lip, and a tattoo on your bee-hind that notes "Mama says I'm special" while you wonder why the neighborhood stray cat is purring and licking your teeth, right? The voice of experience says, yes.)

HOWEVER, here's a word to the wise, my dear.

When you wear this t-shirt and go Ella's classroom, you've gotta expect that someone's gonna take you up on your offer. Like say, the teacher. The teacher that you might have in a couple years when you go to Kindergarten. The teacher that says "Aw Luke...how cute...gimme a kiss." You probably shouldn't shove your hand in her face, ask her if she's Irish, then say "I don't want teacher kisses...I only want Irish ones."

Let's think ahead, Son.

Mommy likes scholarships. The road to scholarships start when you're in Kindergarten. She's a harmless old lady...just take one for the team next time, mmmk?

Love,
Mommy

Mommy and Muffins Day at Pre-K

***unless otherwise noted, all pix are courtesy of Luke

I couldn't get him to look at the camera while I took the pic. Diva.

Here's his buddy. He kept making this weird face everytime Luke tried to take his picture. Goofball!


Gorgeous decorations.

This is punch with sherbert in it (Luke's fave course)

There were snacks (graham cracker sticks and pumpkin dip).

Luke's kinda hidden in there but he's between the girl in the blue shirt and the boy in the green/white striped shirt (I took this one). The kids all sang their Moms sweet little songs. The woman in the blue who is the closest to the camera is one of the school's teachers who was trying to get the kids to sing louder. Believe me when I say my kid needs no encouragement to be loud.

You may remember this little girl from this post (sorry to her Mom for putting in a less-than-optimal pic of her). Ah, Luke's muse. I love the out-of-control curliness of her hair.

Last week, Luke and I attended his pre-school's annual Mommy and Muffins day. Long time blog readers remember Ella's Mommy and Muffins Day from last year.

It was awesome! Luke made me a crown (but I forgot to get a pic of me in it--darn!). In one of the pix above you can see a couple of the other Mommys wearing the crowns so just picture me in one.

The entire thing was very cute. We made a little craft in Luke's classroom then went to a large room when we had a snack (graham crackers stix with pumpkin dip and punch with sherbert in it) and were serenaded by the soothing sounds of our children singing.

Pucker up, baby

Recently, we've been talking about our family history with the kids. It started a little bit last year when I bought the kids Kiss Me I'm Irish t-shirts for St. Patty's Day. It has carried on this year when I brough the t's out again (the kids still fit in them) and we've been talking about who's Irish and who's not. The kids know that you can't kiss Daddy cause he's not Irish but you can kiss Mommy cause that's where the Irish part came from. Luke enjoys being Irish because he demands a kiss from EVERYONE.

Who could resist a kiss from this little guy (especially when he's holding the crafted flower he made with a recipe for pumpkin dip.)

FINALLY! I think she may have picked up something from my end of the gene pool

Yup, this is all her creation (basically, I gave her one layer of cake, some extra choc dipped strawberries, the extra choc frosting and helped her make a giant E.
This is mine.

Here they are dipping extra strawberries in the leftover melted white chocolate

Get away from my cake, lady!

I enjoy making cake and other desserts as well as cooking in general. You may recall this from posts like this and this.

I made a cake a week or so ago to take to a GNO. I had some leftover ingredients and Ella said she wanted to make a little somethin somethin with it. I tossed the extras in her general direction and went on my merry way. She did an awesome job with her cake. The only thing I helped her with was making the big E in the middle. Everything else was her.

So proud!

Margot Fontain...Anna Pavlova...Svetlana Zakharova...Cynthia Gregory

She's to the far left, leaning to the side
Third from the left.

Yeah, I don't really know who those woman are either but if you Google the best female ballerina it appears they're at the top of the list. Doubtful that Ella will ascend to that level but they all had to start somewhere, right?

Here is Ella at a local Kiwanis pancake breakfast fundraiser. So cute doing a preview of their recital piece.

Basketball: The Still Shots

Things I find funny:

~When the Coach said "Bring it in, girls" none of them had a clue what she was talking about until she said "Come here so we can talk."

~When the Coach yelled "Ella, get on your man." Ella had no idea what she was supposed to be doing.

~"Ella, straight up" to Ella means put your hands straight up in the air and look at the basket.

E getting ready to shoot (warming up)
Check out that form!

Here she is on defense (blue shirt guarding the girl in red with the ball)

Getting instrux from her Coach.

Speed. She is speed.

Skip to my lou, my darlin'

As previously mentioned, Ella has been flexing some of her athletic muscle by playing in a local youth basketball league. I'm not sure if this will end up being her forte but she says she's having a great time. She's had 2 games so far and her team has won both. I think the first game was 10-4 and the most recent one was 26-6.

In case you can't figure it out, she's the one in the blue t-shirt and black leggings with the pink ponytail holder skipping around the court. That's pretty much her signature move...the skip and roll.

Also, I've decided I already find other parents annoying. How many times do you really need to screech "Danaaaaaaa! Danaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Dribble all the way, Danaaaaaaaa! Dribble Danaaaaaa!!" You'll hear what I'm talking about if you listen to the video. One day before Ella's practice a couple weeks ago it was some poor boy named Dylan who had his mom screeching like a howler monkey on the 4th of July. "Dylllllllllannnnnn! DYL-annnnnn! Dylllllllllllllllllllllan!! The ball, Dylan! The baaaaaaaaaaall!" Hows about you zip it, lady, and let your kid listen to the coach? You know...the coach...the one that volunteers to teach your kid the finer points of a bounce pass and the FLEX offense (for those of you who went to my high school, you know exactly what FLEX is. Heck, they probably still run FLEX there, if the truth be told so they can win their average of 2 games a season).

If you need a personal dramatic replaying of how annoying this was, just let me know. I'll channel my mother's most annoying voice and do a replay. I'm there for you, blog readers (and for you, too, Dylan and Dana, if you ever want me to remove your mothers' voice boxes.)

Pa-pa-pa-paparazzi!

Getting a bit bored waiting for the food to come at the restaurant? Whip out your camera and have a little photo session.

Luke took this one
There was a mirror on the wall by our table. I really like this one. Click on it to look closer.

(look carefully) Like Mommy...

...wait for it...

Like Ella

Octo-Luke

**As a side note, creations at Dirty Franks can be made vegetarian and vegan.

You can't see it but there's a ketchup smiley face on there.
Um, hi. Yes, please stay away from my octo-dog.

The octo-dog trumpet tribute to Uncle Jeffy
The octo-dog mouthful
Uh...so I'm starting to feel a little dumb with this big octo-dog hangin outta my mouth. Stop taking my picture now, mmm-k?
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We recently went to a semi-local hot dog place that serve Octo-dogs. The kids both ordered one and enjoyed them. Luke maybe a bit more than the average kid.

Back in the saddle again! And with a recipe to boot!

Tear off a piece of parchment paper like this using your salmon filet as your guide.

Artfully, arrange some veggies beside and on top of your salmon.

Yummy spices and such.

Sprinkle on your ingredients (I just toss some in there but if you want to get picky about quantities, scroll down)

Fold the paper over your salmon and veggies

Crinkle up the sides.

Crinkle alllll the way around until the edges are sealed together.

Yup, sealed just like this then toss it on a baking sheet and cook.

Cut a slit in the packet to let steam escape

Rip that bad boy open

Pour that baby on your plate

Here's a simple recipe for your next dinner. It's so simple, even my friend, Jeanne, could do it...if she so had the inclination...and time...and the desire to do so...Heck, it's even so easy that my DAD could make it...on a Tuesday...when my Mom is watching my kids...and she has no choice but to eat what's put in front of her...cause she's tired...and hungry...well, enough with that. Let's get on with the show.

Steamed Salmon with Veggies

Ingredients:

4 oz salmon filet

some broccoli, zucchini, tomatoes, corn, etc.

a sprinkle of dill weed, 1/2 t lime juice, 1 t sesame oil, sprinkle of salt/pepper

Make it just like the pictures show above (Put a salmon filet and veggies in a piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle with the dill weed, lime juice, sesame oil, and salt/pepper. Seal it up and put it on a baking sheet. Toss it in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Split it open and pour it on your plate. Yumeroo.

Long time, no post: What a mother, edition

Sorry it's been so long but the motherboard went out on my laptop. I know you're thinking "Wait, didn't you just buy that over the summer? It shouldn't be going out yet. Hope that's still under warranty."

Why, yes, yes I did just buy it over the summer and no it shouldn't be going out and yes it's still under warranty.

So, it's been in the shop since Saturday and is supposed to be back by 3/7. Word is they may just give us a new computer since this one's junky. We'll see. Nonetheless, I'll be back soon with all our crazy hijinx (think Kindergarten drama, COSI trip, and an easy to fix meal that's simple enough even for my friend, Jeanne.).

See you soon!