Tuesday, October 05, 2010

New Site

Hello everyone. Due to a recent event at our house, I'm moving the blog to a new site. Send me an email, private facebook message, or leave a comment if you want to follow our lives via our blog. I am not an intensely private person, so please do not be shy. If you know our parents and just like to check in and see pictures of the kids, we still want to share.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Trendy!

Of course Abby didn't like it.

"MOMMY NO!! DON'T WEAR THAT SHOE!! TAKE IT OFF!"

But that's just how she is with new things.

Stephen thought it was pretty neat. It's a Phantom Dorsal Night Splint to be particular; plantar fasciitis treatment to be a little more simple. In layman's terms, I just hope my feet don't hurt when I get up to use the bathroom at night.

I'll just be wearing it at night, and during the day I can slip some new orthotics into my shoes. My original orthotics are from high school, so the podiatrist thought ordering a new pair was reasonable.

When I was getting my foot forms made for the orthotics, the tech offered to let Abby put her foot in a mold just for fun. But I figured she'd think he was a doctor and would be afraid of what else he was going to try. After her foot injury + boot for 3 weeks, she is not keen on letting strangers play with her feet.

If she were wiser, she'd learn to slow down so she doesn't have to go to the doctor to deal with injuries ...

Saturday evening she took a dive into the coffee table (which is not sharp). She didn't sustain an injury on the outside of her face, but her tooth cut the inside of her mouth pretty bad. The next morning it was gaping wide open and we were imagining how they were ever going to stitch her up inside her mouth. Thankfully, the nurse at Wilford Hall told us that we could just treat it at home and do our best to keep it from getting infected. Then last night we were leaving a friend's house and she fell flat on her face on the sidewalk. Didn't injure the mouth wound but did scratch her upper lip. Then after her rest today, she was in a hurry to race around Stephen to the kitchen and she fell and rolled into the piano. I feel like I'm always saying, "SLOW DOWN" to her.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Oops, oops, and oops

Last night, when we were winding down for the evening, we decided to fit a few more tasks in ... looking back on it, maybe we should have just gone to bed.

Ryan is having a photo taken today with the concert band, and he thought it would be good to clean his hair up a bit. So I got out the clippers and the cape and the stool and he sat down. All went well using a #2 and after I finished with his hair I took the attachment off to trim his neck. I took care of that briefly and then looked at him from the front. I noticed a few strands right on his forehead that got missed with the first swipe, so I took the clippers to it again. Only I hadn't put the #2 back on. I gasped when I saw what I had done, and in lieu of crying just started laughing. The whole time I was saying, "It's not funny! I don't know why I'm laughing! I'm so sorry I just messed up your hair!" He calmly said, "I guess now you get to have a bald husband." So we went back over his head with a shorter clipper. And all was well. (In my defense, I am not a professional. I cannot be expected to deliver a perfect haircut every time. However, I should not have received the haircut that I did last week from a professional ... who I will NOT be going back to. She would have kept cutting and given me bangs if I hadn't stopped her! I worked so hard to grow those out!!)

Also last night ... my phone needed an update, so Ryan hooked it up to the computer, and several moments later, the applications and music were all erased from it, too (though it was all backed up on the computer). Too tired to really be concerned with it, I just said, "oh, no problem," and I went to bed. This morning he had loaded some of them back on, but my iTunes problem is persisting. I guess we'll deal with that some other time.

Then this morning, I opened a new carton of orange juice before breakfast. The cartons are generally too full to shake well before the first glass. So I got Stephen's glass ready and then put the OJ back on the counter. After doing a few more tasks to prepare for eggs, bacon, and toast for breakfast, I went back to pour my glass. I picked that carton up and shook it -- only I hadn't put the lid back on!! HAHA! Juice flowed all over the counter and the floor by the fridge. Good thing no electronics were sitting there. I cleaned up as best I could and proceeded with breakfast preparations.

I guess Abby comes by her clumsiness honestly: It caused a giant gash on the inside of her mouth on Saturday night when she fell into the coffee table for no apparent reason! So far it seems to be healing fine on its own. Kinda difficult to put stitches in the mouth.

In other news, I am finally reporting that we are having lovely weather here in San Antonio!

Monday, September 06, 2010

Labor Day Weekend


With two weeks of school now under our belts, we had a long weekend. Hooray! Ryan was off and we enjoyed the weather cooling a bit--down to highs in the low 90s. Made for a beautiful morning at a river west of town. We gathered with our church group there at about 10 Sunday morning and the kids played and played in the water. They loved the rocks and splashing around with the other kids and even a few dogs. It was shallow enough in the area where we planted ourselves that they could roam pretty freely. The only near-disaster was when Stephen's shoe came off. A friend grabbed it and then we calmed a hysterical boy. All in all, the kids - young and old - enjoyed it quite a bit. Tyler took some photos.

Stephen turned 4 back in June, and we had thought about getting him a bicycle. Because of the heat in the summers here, we decided to wait until September to get one for him. Our outdoor time in the summer was largely spent at pools! So we headed out to test-ride a few. True to his usual experience of being a giant child, he is already at a 20" size, and his helmet size is 8!!

He is LOVING school. He sings the songs that he learns there so much that I'm getting them stuck in my head all day. (Thanks, kid.) Tonight Ryan said something to me about next January, and I immediately blurted out "January February Maaaaarch April May ..." I think each time Stephen belts out the days or months, he sings the whole list a minimum of 3 times. His teachers tell me that he is quiet in class, so I am hoping that he warms up and can be more interactive with the teachers and other students. At this point I'm fairly sure he's just absorbing it the best he can, as it's an entirely new experience for him. He had "homework" this weekend, which was to practice writing his name. The teacher said it was fine if they just got through one letter and that we shouldn't push them to do a lot right away. But he wanted to write it in 5 different colors so he wrote his name 5 times. Yup, already an overachiever.

Abby doesn't seem to mind the time alone with mommy every morning. I even asked her if she wanted to go to school like Stephen does, and she said, "No. I stay with mommy." Last week we got to go to Whole Foods and she pushed a little shopping cart. She was positively exuberant! We also joined some friends at a park one day and she played with her friend Nicholas another day. When we picked Stephen up on Friday, she was so excited to see him that she ran up to him standing against the wall where the teacher dismisses them and jumped up and down, chanting "OPPOSITES OPPOSITES OPPOSITES!!!" The only explanation I have is that she thinks he talks about opposites at school just like in the Arthur Goes to School book.

Big breakthroughs this week for her: She's been ASKING to wear her Elmo shoes instead of her red crocs. And pigtails stayed in her hair for a couple hours this morning. Must be time to have another baby. My baby is growing up.

On Monday we drove an hour south of town to Ryan's supervisor's house. They live on some land and have some chickens, goats, and even a donkey. We like that we can get farm fresh eggs from them!

In this first picture, you see a happy girl with a slightly less happy dog. A few minutes after she began to play with the dog, we heard a blood-curdling scream which was NOT preceded by a thud. I ran to find her holding the side of her face and screaming "THE DOGGIE HIT ME!!" We think he took his paw and clawed her nose, eyelid, and forehead, based on the scrapes we saw on her face. She pretty much left him alone the rest of the afternoon.


The next few photos are from our excursion outside to collect eggs from the chicken coop. Stephen actually grabbed a couple himself. But Abby also wanted to carry them. We had to watch that they didn't swing the bucket too fast. There's also a photo of William climbing up the windmill. I'm glad Stephen and Abby didn't try that.



Next up: the adventures of Tropical Storm Hermine!

Monday, August 23, 2010

First Day of School

I think I was a wee bit more nervous than he was. Will he sense the other students' anxiety and decide he doesn't want to stay? Will he tell the teacher when and if he needs to use the bathroom? Will he decide after one day that he doesn't want to go to school after all? But overall, Stephen, Ryan and I were all confident that half-day PreK was a good fit for him this year.

We got his supplies all in order, including a new pair of shoes and a backpack, and last week we met his teacher and the assistant. So far so good. Then yesterday, Ryan and I took him out for a pizza lunch and gave him a flip book of pictures that he could keep in his backpack.


Then today was the big day. We were instructed to meet the assistant in the cafeteria before school this morning, and from there Stephen would walk with his class to his classroom.

There were no tears from either Stephen or me as we said goodbye and watched him walk with the other kids down the hallway. He was so excited. And that was enough to make me feel confident walking out the door and leaving him there for the morning.



He hasn't said much about what happened during the day, but he has been happy since getting home. I did have a clue that he had enjoyed it very much: He asked me, "Can I go to school every Monday?" He was quite pleased to find out that he gets to go every day!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Meals and Recipes

I never thought the day would come when I would be sad about a recipe website changing hands. But it happened. Recipezaar, which I depended on to be able to always find something that would work, has become Food.com, and lost the feature which I most appreciated!

The ingredient sifter.

I would typically look for a recipe - such as shepherd's pie - and then be able to easily weed out the ones that contained ingredients I didn't want. Or didn't have. Their new filter doesn't do this. It just looks through main ingredients and lets you sort that way. The allrecipes site has a similar feature, but it just doesn't work the same way.

I still want easy access to some of the recipes I've found on there that I keep going back to and making time and time again. This is an easy way to do that AND share with my family and friends.

Curried Red Lentil Salad I got a little worried as I was pulling this all together to make for a dinner last weekend. The spices and main ingredients seemed quite varied and I wasn't sure how it would turn out. But it was fabulous, not to mention healthy and easy!

Healthy Energy Bars
I made these back when Abby really needed to start eating breakfast but didn't seem to like the options that we gave her. Since then, she has been doing better, but I still want to keep this recipe around.

Homemade Pie Crust Here's a simple crust for the baking-challenged, like me. I found it by looking for one that didn't use shortening!

Spinach Quiche We call it "egg pie" around here. The amazing thing is that both of my children eat it!

French Potato Salad I found this one looking for a potato salad that doesn't use mayo, just for something different.

Minestrone Soup Discovered when I was looking for a minestrone soup I could make from scratch with gluten-free noodles, this soup was a lifesaver when I was babysitting another little girl. I made the soup about once a month, then froze it in ziplock bags and reheated for our lunches. Stephen and Phoena both loved it!

Homemade Tomato Soup Ryan loves tomato soup, especially paired with grilled cheese, but I just have this thing against buying canned soups. So I discovered this recipe one day, and we love it! The kids even eat it--with lots of crackers, of course.

Artichoke Spinach Lasagne This recipe made the rounds in an online community I'm a part of. It's a great vegetarian lasagne that meat-eaters really enjoy!

Meatloaf Don't ask Abby if this is good--she wouldn't touch it last night. But Ryan and I both enjoy it and it's made with things I generally keep in the house, making it a simple meal when I don't think ahead :).

What sites do you like using for finding recipes? I've been on Tasty Kitchen, $5 Dinners, and Epicurious recently. And I'm reading Vegan Lunch Box ... some ideas that I'm hoping to use to make our lunches more interesting!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

An Aquatic Victory!

Abby swam some last summer, but after a winter out of the water, she wanted nothing to do with it this year. We take her to the pool but she just clings to us - with both hands!! This morning I took both kids to the kiddie pool at sea world and fully expected to just walk around with her the whole time while I kept an eye on Stephen. And then she surprised me! She said "get down" and started splashing around. Before I knew it she was going down the slides and running under the fountains. Way to go, little girl!!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

A Noteworthy Saturday

Happy 85th birthday to my grandma! The kids love singing Happy Birthday, so they didn't argue with me when I asked them to sing for the camera. We didn't get to spend the day with her, though we did get to celebrate with her back in June while visiting in Illinois.



Overall, it was a quite enjoyable Saturday. Ryan was feeling much better after being out of commission for most of the week with strep throat. We got up for breakfast and Abby wasn't fond of having to stand while I got the eggs ready. So she turned the tables and told me what should happen from my perspective. She stood, arms outstretched, and said, "momma, YOU NEED ME!" Who could resist?

Later, while she and Stephen were roughhousing in his room, he tackled her and she got pinned up against his bed. As I rounded the corner to see what they were doing, I heard her say, "Oh no!! Stephen broke my head!" (I don't think there is even a bruise.)

We headed to Kohl's to spend our $10 off anything $10 or more card. Get those in the mail? They're great. We found a firm pillow that was marked down to $8.99, but we still needed $1.01 to get to our minimum. Godiva chocolate? Maybe, at $2.95. But then I found a candle for $1.99. Perfect. Ryan stood in line to "pay" for our purchase. The sales clerk asked him, "Are you just buying the candle so you can get the pillow for free?" "Yep!" he replied. See, we didn't have to even act sneaky about it!

Though I would prefer to swim in the mornings, most pools don't open until after noon. And since Lackland's pools aren't great for kids, and Seaworld is to be avoided on Saturdays, we drove over to the army post on the other side of town and tried out their aquatic center. The kids are gradually becoming more comfortable in the water, and we even ventured into the regular pool after playing in the kiddie pool for awhile.

That wore the kids out, and after a burger dinner and a skype date to wish "uncle" Peter a happy birthday, the kids needed a rinse. Stephen took his bath, and then went to bed. I didn't drain the water right away, and when Abby was standing outside the tub with me, she took a dive in - fully clothed! That sure scared her, and I'm sure didn't help with her fear of water.

(Side note - Pete turned 60, and after we sang to him, Stephen said "pretty soon you're going to be 70!" Silly kids' books start counting by 10 after they get to 20 ...)

I've been feeling the baby moving, and Ryan has even been able to feel some kicks from the outside a few times. Makes me wonder if this little guy/girl is going to be pretty active.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

A Slice of Life with Stephen


Yes, we have a 4-year-old.

And he picked out the glasses himself. With the 10 dollars he was given and told to spend at the Dollar Tree. He also got some number magnets for the fridge and some letter vinyl stickers for the sliding glass door.

Because of the distance from family, we celebrated with Ryan's family early in June, with my parents July 4th weekend, with Emily the day before his birthday, and for his actual birthday dinner had one of the kids' favorite people (Brian) over for a pizza dinner.

And because I thought it would be fun, I wanted to share a few of Stephen's more interesting moments from recent weeks ...

Thanks to Ryan, Stephen now knows a few knock-knock jokes, which he loves telling to Abby in particular. The other night, he started making up his own. They went like this:
Knock-knock
Who's there?
Banana
Banana who?
Banana rain.

Knock-knock
Who's there?
Pillow
Pillow who?
Pillow pretzel.
And he wonders why I call him "goofball" instead of "Stephen" sometimes.

He continues to love music and surprised me by knowing all the lyrics to How Deep the Father's Love for Us (which I sing to Abby before bed). I even recorded it--listen here for yourself. I really like this song--so much so that it was performed at our wedding.

He misses music class. It doesn't continue through the summer, but he will hopefully be in the 4-year-old class this fall. Last Monday he began a gym class. It's definitely not his forte, but I think it'll really help him with some of his confidence in trying new activities.


He continues to play fairly well with his little sister, Abby. Lucky for him, she's a tough girl who can handle his roughhousing. Last night he made up a new game. He would pretend that we left Abby at HEB and then we would go look for her. She loved pretending that our house was a grocery store, so she played along very well.

Though he just had a birthday, he is looking forward to his next one. He regularly tells me about his future birthday cakes. It goes like this: "And after I am 4, I think I will be 5. And on my cake I want it to say 'STEPHEN 5.' And after I am 5, I think I will be 6. And on my cake I want it to say 'STEPHEN 6.'" And on he goes ... I think we've gotten all the way to when he turns 30. But he's not the one turning 30 anytime soon. That honor belongs to his daddy.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Oops, let's start with Abby's birthday

At least I have an excuse. And that excuse was the first trimester.

I never did get much up for Abby's birthday, and now Stephen's had his, and, well, I'm still sitting on a few of Abby's thank you notes. Sigh.

So here goes.

Abby's 2nd birthday will always be remembered for 2 things: crayons and elmo cake pops.

We celebrated with the Texas contingent of the family and a few friends for brunch in the morning. This is when the crayon blessings began. Abby is now the proud owner of a crayon case, a crayon carousel, and a crayon box. I think we've only actually gotten out 1/3 of them, but since most of them are already broken, I think it's time to pull out some more.

Ever since I learned about Sesame Street Cake Pops, I really wanted to make some for Abby's birthday. I knew it would be a lot of work, but I think she loved them as did our friends who got to try some. It was lots of work, and I was thankful to have Yvette and my mom to put them together with me.

We enjoyed them on Sunday evening (the 25th) with our church family. A few pictures to enjoy:


Ready to go!

Yvette working her magic - writing the pupils for the eyes on the m&ms with edible markers.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Photos from this week





Goodbye, Des Moines!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Status Updates that Were Not Posted in the Past Four Weeks

Why must my neighborhood have so many speed bumps?

At 1 a.m., surely while asleep, I asked Ryan if he had any iphone apps that would make suckers. Because I thought Abby would want one.

I had a dream that I played a concerto with an orchestra at a festival in the middle of nowhere. But had no recollection of how the performance went.

I'm so thankful for all the Mexican food available in San Antonio. Yum.

Lisa wishes Stephen would keep his elbows off mommy's tummy.

Cake pops. Yuck.

Why doesn't Dana live in Texas?

Needs. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream. Now.

Had a dream that door-to-door salesmen had a new strategy: Ring the doorbell at 3 a.m. That way you're guaranteed to be home.

Husband boxers = maternity shorts for around the house!

Lisa wonders if we'll get another deduction for 2010.

Yes, there are leftovers in the house, but it was very important to send Ryan out at 10 p.m. for a gyro and stuffed grape leaves.

Let's play "describe Lisa in one word." I'll go first: tired.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Frustrating Morning

It's a beautiful day here - 70s and sunny - and yet life has just been slightly inconvenient. Nothing worth making a big deal out of ... But my grandma reads this weblog. And my grandma will care. :)

This morning, I headed downtown to the natatorium for swimming lesson sign-up. They have this one sign-up for the whole city, regardless of the pool where you'll take lessons. Now we live on the far west side, and we don't just "stop by" downtown. But there's a pool around the corner from our house and that's where I'm planning to take Stephen this summer.

I got there and was handed #60 and told to wait for my turn. About an hour later, and they were only to #25. I overheard someone talking about them not taking out-of-town checks, so I inquired and found that indeed, even if my drivers license is local, they would not take a check that was imprinted with "IL."

So I left to find an ATM. There was a Walgreens about a mile away and that would work. I got out of the car to go in, and found that it was closed due to a burglary they'd had overnight. So up the road to the next one. Finally I made it back to the pool with my $40 in hand and I went to wait. They were almost to #60.

When I told them the pool that I wanted to sign up for, they said, "oh we aren't taking registrations for that pool right now." It would have been helpful to note that on their website (or at the very least a sign at check-in), where they clearly stated that they WERE taking registrations for our pool. All I got was a "sorry."

A little teary out of sheer frustration and a little emotional these days anyway, I hopped back in the car and drove home, where we were planning to go to a garage sale auction that was selling a kitchen table to the highest bidder at noon.

We've been keeping our eyes out for a sturdy 6-person table with 6 chairs included ever since we moved here. A few months ago, a friend offered us a table (for free) as soon as her other friend was done with it. So we stopped looking. Then found out this week that her other friend wanted to keep it after all. Which is fine, I suppose. So we're looking again and this table at the garage sale fit the bill. But when we got there at 11:45, they seemed to have sold it to someone early and had closed up shop. So we went to wal-mart, bought some light bulbs and said hello to the fish.

Now I think I'll take a nap. Birthday party later ... that CAN'T go wrong, can it?

Thursday, April 29, 2010

What a 2-year-old apparently does for fun

We'll have to get out of order here a little as I just need a little time to put a birthday post together for Abby. I had gotten some feedback that friends and family enjoyed seeing some daily shots of what the kids and I are up to.

Of course we had our crazy birthday weekend. And Abby now tells you that she is "two." This week, we FINALLY did a bus ride to downtown. Sure enough, it was terribly complicated and we ended up having to do a transfer on the way back to get to our van even though we rode the same route back. I don't know if it was worth it in the long run, though it was nice not to navigate the streets and ramps downtown.

I'll let the pictures take it from here.


By a plane small enough that you can see the plane and not just the wheels when taking a photo of him!


Yes, there were airplanes everywhere but that doesn't compare to pipes that are "puh-pul."

I thought this was such a sweet photo. She would love to be in music class herself, but instead she just gets to observe her big brother.

Here we are at some fountains by the Tower of the Americas. I imagine this will be really nice (and crowded) in the heat of the summer.


Abby was eating a snack and when she saw some kids eating lunch, she wanted to join them.

At a park that we've been meaning to go to for awhile. It was nice for the kids to run around in (similar to meadowbrook in Urbana). But there were over 100 kids there for a field trip. It was a nightmare to keep track of my 2!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

A Week in Photos, thanks to the phone ...

For those of you who are just curious what we're up to, here are some snapshots from everyday life during the past week.

Here is Abby giving Boz the Bear some of Stephen's smoothie.

And here is Stephen separating the dough to make rolls. He's always grateful for a little bite when he's helping in the kitchen.

Here is Abby perched in her favorite kitchen cupboard. She sometimes sits there and waits for us to come find her.

The two of us, just an hour after our 10K on Sunday.

The photo I took of myself after the race on Saturday. What I didn't know at the time was that Ryan was still running ... he finished behind me even though his time was 7 minutes faster than mine. This was due to a miscommunication at the starting line. He started 18 minutes after the race actually started; mom and I began about 7 minutes into it. For more race photos, you can search for our results and then click on the camera icon.

Here is mom standing on the bridge that marked the beginning of the race.

We wouldn't have gotten anywhere with this one in the drivers' seat.

Fun at the kids' event on base last Saturday.

Stephen likes to create these photos ... he gets to choose a border and a special character. If you want, we can make one for you!!

Abby now has a puh-pul sand pail and she also loves Big Bird. Thus, the photo.

Just wanted to include this because this ensemble was her choice. She put the hat on herself and chose the mismatched socks and asked me to put them on her. She also has a fetish with having sippy cups always at her disposal.

At the Witte Museum's free evening last week. The kids enjoyed walking around, but they didn't quite understand the exhibits yet.

Thursday, April 01, 2010

Let's hear it for Seaworld passes ...

With Seaworld less than 3 miles from our house, we would be a little crazy not to take advantage of the fun. Sometimes we take the whole day to be there, but more and more we're figuring out how to take it in a little at a time.

Today's outing was the Sesame Street show: "Big Bird's Beach Party." After the kids rested this afternoon, the 3 of us loaded up in the van and we drove over. Ryan couldn't make it--the only show today was at 4:45 and he wouldn't make it in time after work.

If you know Abby at all, you know that she loves Elmo. And Big Bird ("bird"). And Cookie Monster ("monsers"). And Oscar ("ahk sa"). And Snuffy ("nuffy").

She was star struck. And Stephen didn't have a bad time either.








Must be a cold front

1:46, CST

Shorewood, IL: 80° F
Des Moines, IA: 81° F
Urbana, IL: 79° F
San Antonio, TX: 77° F

Saturday, February 20, 2010

She's Half His Age


Today is February 20 and Abby is 4 days shy of 22 months. Which is exactly how old Stephen was when Abby was born.

We're not really "celebrating" but I have been mentally noting it, and thinking back to the trucks that excited Stephen at that time, and how pushing the button and riding an elevator was so momentous.

Last night, my friend Carrie from high school youth group came into town. She lives in Austin now, and I've seen her twice now since living here. We took the kids to the Japanese tea garden near downtown and it was truly beautiful! I think I'll go back sometime without the kids--or at least when Stephen isn't having "accidents" on a regular basis.

We then had a light dinner at The Cove and then brought the kids home to put them to bed. We had such a great time catching up and even reminiscing about old times. Photos were brought out and there was laughter. :)

This morning we celebrated Elmo's birthday at Borders. Yes, that really is Abby sitting on an Elmo book that she found on the shelves.


I'm excited that dinner tonight as well as dinner tomorrow is going to be messing up someone else's kitchen ... thanks, Tina and Patti! Don't worry -- I'll remember the food I'm supposed to bring.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

An Accident of a Different Nature

Some of you may know that we're finally taking the step of toilet independence for Stephen. The days of "when he shows an interest" or "when he asks to go" are over, as he will be four in June and we're just done with diapers (for him at least). Last Tuesday we told him that he didn't wear diapers any more and we put them all in Abby's room.

It's been a challenging week but we've stuck to it and I'm finally seeing some improvement.

I have been proudly sharing that he's had an accident-free day -- which he has! But he also hasn't gone #2 very much since the whole process started, and I'm beginning to think that my child, who has never been constipated in his life, might be holding it in a little too much.

So I looked up some information online (because where else can you find reliable medical information :)?) and there were the usual suggestions of prune juice and fruit, the latter of which he is already eating quite a bit of. Then I saw that popcorn can do it. And the boy loves popcorn. So I set out to make a batch in the Stir Crazy. He was thrilled and stood on a stool to watch the kernels transform from yellow to puffs of white.

So I need to back up here and say that Ryan is the popcorn master in this house. He waits until it is just popped, then turns it off and immediately removes the popcorn from the heat source so it doesn't burn. Then he butters it and flavors with salt and pepper.

I tried to be as deft as he is, quickly maneuvering the hot equipment.

But I failed miserably. I did manage to keep it away from Stephen, but after I picked up the base with the popcorn on it, my fingers reacted to the heat and threw it to the ground. This broke the edge of the maker in several places and I doubt it will function properly any more. I will have to break the news to Ryan soon, if he doesn't hear it first from someone else.

Think Stir Crazy gives replacements for potty-training-related accidents?

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Meal Planning

I've been planning meals tonight. My kids are, well, kids. They'll eat some of what I cook but not all. My husband eats it all, even when it's something he doesn't like. But I do try to cook food that he likes for the most part.

Just for fun, I decided to come up with a list of 5 recipes that I will never make for Ryan. Cuz he just wouldn't 'preciate it. But maybe you would! Take a look ...

1. Chicken Salad on Cantaloupe Rings

2. Rangooni Vaal Nu Shaak

3. Papillotes meli-melo: Mixed fruits with honey, raisins, pistachios and coconut

4. Aspen Carrot Cake with Raisins and Cream Cheese frosting

5. Soy Banana Tapioca Pudding

He's not very picky. It was hard to find these recipes! (If viewing in facebook, click on "see original."