Things that happen at Wal-Mart

Elizabeth had been complaining of a sore throat over the weekend and even though she never ran a temp over 99, I kept her home from school and made an appointment.  Thirty minutes prior to the appt when she asked me if she could run on the treadmill I was tempted to cancel it, but I didn't.  The rapid strept test turned positive in 30 seconds.  Which meant our next trip was to Wal-Mart to get her prescription filled. Of course it wasn't ready due to a last minute request for pill form vs. liquid as we were walking out of the doctor's office.  We had some time to kill and although I really needed groceries I didn't want to drag the kids all around the store so we looked at the fish and shopped the clearance aisles.  We finally wandered into the Easter section where Elizabeth asks really loudly "Are you guys the Easter Bunny?"  I assured that we were not but she needed to keep her voice down - of course there were other children in the same section.  So I quickly distracted them with a stuffed bunny that smells like chocolate.  Then Grant says he needs to zip his coat up because he is cold.  I thought it was kind of weird, but didn't think that much more of it.  Until we were going up to pick up the prescription and he unveiled the chocolate scented bunny from under his coat!! Oh my gosh, my son the shop lifter! He really wanted that chocolate smelling bunny.  Of course I made him put it back and gave a lecture on hiding items on our body and not paying for them and threats of the police and how stealing is just plain wrong.  When he get in the car he asks "Mom can I give you $5 and you buy me that bunny?"  Sure honey, if it means that much to you...let's not steal the bunny!

The Kids Baking Championship

There is a series on Food Network, called The Kids Baking Championship.  I am not sure the age range, but I am guessing 11 and 12 year olds.  They have a challenge, with a surprise twist and at the end somebody gets sent home.  The kids are infatuated with this show!  They love it so much that they thought we should have our own baking challenge.  Back in January we our first challenge.  The kids insisted that they compete against us.  The twist was that you had to use an ingredient with the letter B.  Here are the exact descriptions from the score card:

Today we present to you a valentine chocolate cupcake.  Our B ingredient is a banana.  For our topping we included Twizzlers and a sliced banana.  These are strawberry flavored Twizzlers and we think strawberries and bananas compliment each other well.  We garnished with sprinkles for extra love! Enjoy our wonderful treats!

Today we present to you a heart shaped bacon chocolate chip cupcake, filled with maple whipped cream, topped with maple frosting, garnished with bourbon glazed bacon pecan bits.  That’s two “B’s” Bourbon and Bacon!  

(yes we had the bacon and bourbon one)

Ima and Pops came over and scored the cupcakes as an exact tie!  The kids had a blast with it.  Today is President's Day so I have the children at home with me and they wanted to have a challenge.  Since teams weren't even and they really didn't want to work together they decided to compete against each other, yet they still really worked together.  Today's challenge was "you have to use ingredients that we already have in the cabinets!"  I left them to scour the kitchen while I separated some laundry and when I came back the first thing I see is Grant trying to smash graham crackers on a serving tray - not a cutting board!  I decided that they might need a little help.  They pretty much made the same thing and used the same ingredients but they each did their own and I only helped where needed (aka when big messes were a possibility!)  They put graham crackers crumbs in cupcake liners and then piled in peanut butter, marshmallows, a chopped chocolate bar, powdered sugar (that they insisted on sifting), sprinkles, lemon zest (because why not?!) and chocolate frosting.  They were actually pretty good.  I just followed them around with the vacuum.  They wanted me to judge honestly, so I did.  There are three categories, creativity, presentation and taste.  I tied them on creativity because they basically made the same thing.  Grant won taste and Elizabeth won presentation.  They keep pushing the issue saying that I really hadn't chosen a winner - yes kids that was exactly what I was tying to avoid! But they wouldn't give up so I finally chose Grant to go home, siting that his peanut butter was not evenly distributed (which I had helped him with, so really it was my fault!).  

This is the part when you yell "hands up!" and the time expires

Super Bowl 50

Last year our plans had to be cancelled due to illness.  This year we opted for a low key afternoon and only made plans on Saturday!  My friend and her boys joined us for the festivities.  There were no wings, but there was a dip (for carrots and chips!) and Portillo's Italian beef.  A batch of homemade ice cream (vanilla with Reese's pieces, heath bits and chocolate chips) and scotch-a-roos rounded out the food.  The kids opted to watch the Puppy Bowl until the half time show.  Coldplay opened and when Burno Mars started Uptown Funk, one of the kids asked if they could get up and dance.  Of course!! Grant was trying to mimic the dance moves, it was pretty cute.  Then Beyonce made her appearance and Elizabeth declared that she was not ladylike and Grant said "you can see her pee-pee!"  Thank you Beyonce for wearing so little and dancing so maturely, provocatively.  And while I am ranting, thank you CBS and for your TV previews that show inappropriate content for children.  It really makes me sad that you can't watch a sporting event as a family without the networks showing scandalous previews.  After halftime it was bed time.  The kids were exhausted and everyone slept like logs! Good job Peyton - we were all rooting for you!

Swim Meets

Although Elizabeth has been swimming for 3 years,  2015 was her first summer to compete and then we continued into the school season.  You can pick and choose the meets that you want to attend, so it can take up as much or little time as you want.  We did one meet in November and then our location hosted a meet in December.  Districts are coming up in March and she has the qualifying times, but not the meet requirements.  We discussed it with her and she said she wants to do as many meets as she can and so that lead us to register her a meet this weekend and next so that she will be able to swim districts.

Being none of our family has any experience with competitive swimming this has all been an eye opener.  I compare a Saturday swim meet to a dance recital.  You sit dressed in a gym for hours, waiting for your 3 minute routine.  Swimming, you sit in a gym, waiting for your event to be called.  She swims events in less than 30 seconds and usually swims 4-6 events.  And if there are dance moms, then you know there are swim moms too! Actually, everyone has been really nice and helpful as we navigate through these new waters.

This morning in particular the meet was an hour drive away.  Check-in was at 7:15, warm-ups at 7:30, meet starts at 8:45 (well 9:30 because there were computer glitches) = alarm went off really early! The teams pile into their designated holding zones (usually in a drafty gym) and make camp.  We just take chairs, a blanket and a bag of entertainment/food, but I was envious of the sleeping bag and pillow people today.  She was in a relay today so there wasn't a huge gap between warm-ups and her first event, but if she isn't in a relay it can be almost two hours before she is in the water again.  So you sit at your camp site, wait for your event number to be called so the swimmers can get organized in the bull pen and then you get to go into the pool area (which is usually very balmy) and watch their 30 seconds of fame.  And repeat this a few more times - maybe with a lunch break.


As she was getting showered after her last event today I told my mom that she must really love to swim because why else would you spend your entire Saturday doing this?! Yet, there we all were.  Grant is a trooper and Ima and Pops are usually there too!  We are happy to support her and are very proud of all she has accomplished.  She brought home 2nd place overall in the girls 8 and under 25 meter butterfly.  It may not be her favorite stroke to swim, but it is by far her best.  If she swims the medley relay she usually swims the fly leg.  Unfortunately her relay team had a disqualification, but she was a rock star on her leg, making up half of the pool length on her closest competitor.  She also got to swim the freestyle relay.  She typically swims the last leg of this and she really turned it on today.  As Pops likes to tell her "get angry with the water!".  Her breast and back stroke look really awesome they just aren't particularly fast...but when she decides she wants to go all out, she does!  I am really looking forward to summer swimming and having fresh air and sunshine.  Most of all it is just a pleasure to watch her be so comfortable in the water - even if that means we are uncomfortable most of the day.  It is all worth it, because you would do anything for your kids!

The best way to describe her swimming, is with the quote I put on her ribbon holder...."I sparkle in the water".

(and no pictures because I need to "manage the storage" on my phone!)

Megan's Baptism

I was lucky enough to be abel to spend with weekend with my brother and his family (and our parents!) in Georgia.  Not only was it David's birthday, but my niece was also being baptized.  She stole the show!  When the pastor paraded her up and down the aisles of the church she had a look on her face that was priceless! No tears! It was if she was saying "I know what you are all here for and here I am!"  She is such a pretty baby and so much fun to be around.  I hate that there are so many miles between us, because being an aunt is a lot of fun!

Such a doll!

 

The Gene Pool

Sometimes it is so obvious who your children take after.  We had one day in particular that I am certain Brandon was thinking he should have screened by side of the genetic pool before making the decision to procreate!

Shark teeth...ever heard of it? Well I hadn't either until I made a very surprising discovery inside of Grant's mouth.  Typically when I help him brush his teeth I am sitting on the toilet lid and he is standing on his step stool.  On vacation we were both standing and I had a new angle inside of his mouth where low and behold I found a new tooth! An adult tooth! Wow, amazing, since he hasn't lost any baby teeth and newsflash - none are even loose! He happened to have a dentist appointment for a regular check up and so of course I inquired.  It is totally normal and I was also told that it could take up to another year before any of the baby teeth fall out and there is a good chance that others will come in that way too.  Guess what starting this week? Another shark tooth! His mother had braces twice and thousands of dollars put into her mouth and she still wears a retainer every night.  Yep, I can take full credit for this one. Especially since Daddy never had any orthodontics and even has two extra wisdom teeth (something he is really proud of!).

Bottom row, right behind the baby teeth - a new adult tooth!

Oh but wait there is more! On the same day as his dentist appointment I had taken Grant to Elizabeth's school for his weekly speech therapy.  The therapist asked if I would sign a permission form to evaluate Elizabeth for her speech.  Elizabeth? Really, OK, fine, you won't find anything, she is so articulate, so go ahead (all thoughts inside my head!).   Low and behold, she has a lateral lisp and has since started speech therapy two times a week.  Her mother was in speech until third grade, and yes speech fluency is genetic.  Wow, my gene pool was having a knock out day.  

Can you imagine how this conversation went with Brandon?! We have lovely children who inherited their mother's teeth and speech - along with a whole pile of other awesomeness!! 

Dinner Time

I am sure I am not the only mother who experiences the joy of dinner time.  First just let me say that dinner time is important family time.  We try to have family dinner every night, except for swimming nights - 7:30 is just too late for the kids to eat and 4:45 is just not realistic for the hubs!  But all other night we usually have dinner together.  Last summer I got the crazy idea to try the "real food" plan, where you don't eat processed food.  My sister in law was here for a good chunk of the summer and we tackled it together and had a lot of fun.  We have each tried to maintain it to some degree but doing it 100% is pretty hard.  Perhaps if it was my only thing to accomplish in a day we could eat only real food, but that is just not reality!  I love to cook and really love to try new recipes - Pioneer Woman and Pinterest being some of my greatest inspirations!  But here is how the typical dinner usually goes...

I should mention the food opinions.  Brandon doesn't like casseroles.  Grant only eats meat that has a consistency of a hot dog and Elizabeth will praise me for whatever I make - extra gold start for her! Pretty much, no one like vegetables so I rotate between green beans and broccoli - I don't feel like corn really has much veggie value! Our menus are interesting...

I start texting Brandon "What time will you be home?" If I don't get a reply in 10 seconds I follow up with "Dinner is at 6."   I start preparing the meal and I am either helping Elizabeth with her homework, Grant decides he wants to do his speech words and Auggie needs to go outside to bark at some random object.  I boil over the potatoes on the stove, because this is my classic move and do it every time.  I ask the kids to set the table.  They argue about who is getting what item.  Somebody ends up with a knife that shouldn't have, someone else is missing a napkin, (oh no wait, Auggie has just snagged it off the table!), Brandon only likes his water in a large Tervis cup and Auggie is now dragging her food bowl around because she wants dinner too!  Brandon walks in and we are ready to sit down and eat and he will say "Do I have time to go change clothes?" Sure, because I have only dished up the kids plates and they need to be cut and allowed to cool anyway. I set the plates down and the commentary starts: "I don't like chicken," "I don't like this kind of green beans," "Is this spicy?" "Why is this on my plate?" "How much do I have to eat of this to get dessert?" "There's dessert?!"  ENOUGH! Can we ask a blessing please? To which each and every time the kids will say "Me! Can I go first? He/She got to go first last time!"  We will pick one to start and Grant will say it too fast and we will have to remind him to be respectful and speak clearly and to try again - every time.  He will say "Dear God, thank you for our friends, food and family, Amen!"  Elizabeth's is usually "Dear God, thank you for this warm house to keep us warm, all of friends and our family, Amen".  Sometimes she will surprise us with an additional line, but always doubles down on the warm house business!

So now we actually start eating and the poor manners start.  "Put your napkin on your lap. Elbows off the table.  Does your mother pass gas at the table? Please follow her example.  Chew with your lips together.  Sit on your bottom.  Sit down.  Three more bites!"  "Yes! You may be excused, take your dishes to the sink".

It is really all quite exhausting.  I eat super slow so I have a few moments at the end just to take a couple of deep breathes!  Luckily, Brandon is really good help with dishes.  Thank the good Lord for him!  So kids, in case you ever wonder why this mama is done when it time to brush your teeth - I spent all of my energy on feeding you!

Here are some of your favorite meals:
Meatballs
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Smoothies (with spinach - which I no longer have to sneak because you really can't taste it!)
Breakfast for dinner

We are trying roasted butternut squash this week...should be exciting!!