Cooking with kids

A friend asked me today how I cook with two kids.  She makes dinner every night with her son clinging to her legs.

I decided to give you a glimpse into dinner preparations in our household.

It usually starts off with Little Man in his high chair with a toy or two.  He was getting unhappy by the time I took this picture.

While Little Man is otherwise occupied, here is what Monkey is up to.  Hear the scraping of the chair being pushed across the floor.

She can’t very well help from the floor, right?

 

After a quick cooking break to give Little Man some sweet potatoes and a bowl of cereal, he went to play on the floor a bit.  Monkey wanted to entertain him a bit so joined him while I cut up raw chicken (she’s not allowed to help with raw meat, obviously).

He played alone a little…

while Monkey made “pancakes.”

Little Man then ended up back in his high chair and decided to take a nap (I didn’t dare take his picture for fear of waking him with the flash!) and Monkey went on to “wash” dishes.

 

So there you have it.  This is what happens here during dinnertime preps.

Come back tomorrow for a big announcement!

Little Man is 6 Months Old

I’m cheesy.  I made both my kids a half cake for their “Half” birthday.  And I really really need to work on my piping skills.  HA.

It’s true what they say.  Time flies when you’re having fun.  The past 6 months have flown by.  It’s been a whirlwind, that’s for sure.

A Little Man update is in order, I suppose.

Let’s see.. 

• He started eating cereal at about 5 months old. 
• He started eating bananas at exactly 6 months old. 
• He started belly crawling at 5 months old.
• He pushes his butt way up in the air and then propels his body forward – his arms just aren’t ready to cooperate for “real” crawling.
• He’s trying to pull up.  This is how I found him a few days ago when I was cleaning up after dinner.

We still don’t have words or teeth – but he is working on the teeth.

They sure do grow quickly.

Winter Wonderland

It has a habit of snowing when we host our annual Christmas party.

This is what we woke to today - at 8 AM for me, thank you. I got to sleep in a little.

I do believe a snow man is in order for today.

It's a crazy house!

I feel like I haven't stopped moving in two weeks. Christmas decorating, a tree that refuses to stay standing, mobile children (yes - Little Man is getting around quite well for someone who can't crawl)...

I just finished up working for the day and now I'm off to do some crazy cooking for our annual Christmas party this evening. I'm trying a few new appetizer recipes, so watch for them next week.

Have a fantastic weekend!

And get some rest. Personally, I hope to sleep in tomorrow.

The power of the Internet

I've mentioned before that I belong to a message board. We're a group of women who met online (on The Knot, to be exact) while planning our weddings. We have since left and created our own board where we chat pretty much daily. Many of us have "known" each other for 5 years or more. Every now and again, someone travels and a get together is planned for the traveler and those living there, where we can meet face to face.

Recently, Jet Blue had an All You Can Jet promotional pass. One of the women, whom loves to travel, decided to take advantage and planned a 23 day trip zig-zagging across the United States.

You can read about all of her travels on her blog.

She ended her trip here in Maine. You can read about her visit here.

There are only 2 of us from Maine on the message board, and we happen to live within 30 minutes of each other (so we've met multiple times already). M's schedule is a little more flexible than mine (meaning, she's not towing around 2 young kids!), so she picked Feisty up at the airport and brought her around to see the sights. Unfortunately, weather on Wednesday was horrid. It rained all day, so they didn't get to see much. They did, however, come to dinner at my place.

It wasn't like meeting someone new - it was like welcoming an old friend into my home.

It's an amazing thing, this Internet. You can research topics, find new recipes, keep in touch with family.

You can even meet new friends... or old ones.

Reflections on the Summer of 2009

As the summer is drawing to a close, I find myself thinking back about everything we've experienced in the past few months.

My Monkey turned 2 in June.

We got chickens (we've recently purchased an additional 2).

I nearly burst.

Instead, I had a successful VBAC and brought our wonderful Little Man into the world.

We then had 5 blissful weeks to spend as a family while T was on paternity leave.

We went to the ocean,

We went to the fair!

We went to the lake,

And up high in the air!

Ok.. enough rhyming... ha

We also managed a night at camp and wish we could have gone even more.

As great as the summer was, we've also been dealt some difficulties. My Pepere's Alzheimer's has progressed some more. My baby brother is in a rough patch. And my mom was just diagnosed with cervical cancer. Luckily it is Stage 0, so it's 100% treatable (we're just waiting for a consult to find out what the next steps are at this point). It's so very difficult to be 200 miles away and not able to do much more than listen on the other end of the phone....

But we thank God for the good and pray he helps us through the bad and continue to live life as full as we can.

Apple Nut Cake is in the oven

I got a taste of the batter (I know, I know - Bad Jodi tasting batter with raw eggs) and I'm thinking this cake has promise. I used half all purpose flour and half wheat flour, as I tend to do with recipes of this nature. I dumped in some homemade applesauce, as well. We got it in the oven just in time for Monkey to watch Elmo. Side note - I used my small chopper to get the walnuts down to very very tiny pieces - another minute and it would have been walnut butter - so I don't have to worry about Monkey choking on any.

T knew what was good for him and picked up the dried wild mushrooms yesterday (HA). Since the weather is icky today, I've decided to make the soup tonight. And we'll finish it with a side of warmed apple cake with a scoop of fat free vanilla yogurt. YUM!

I'm hoping to be friendly with my sewing machine today, but I've also got my painting clothes on just in case!

Elmo is just about finished so I need to get ready to give Monkey lunch. Here's hoping I can have a productive day!

I've said it before

And I'll say it again.

I'm chicken shit.

My good friend T (I'm going to call her GFT from here on to differentiate between her and hubby T) mentioned last night we could buy a pattern and MAKE Monkey's flower girl dress for her wedding.

I gaped at her like a deer in headlights and stammered a bit, I'm sure.

Because, as always, I doubt my abilities.

The entire drive home, I mentally yelled at myself (it was a long 20 minute drive).

Mental yelling: "Seriously? Your mother was a seamstress! She made your clothes as a child. She made HER clothes while you were a child. She taught you how to sew, which you've been doing since you were tall enough to reach the pedal! You can't handle making a dress WITH A PATTERN? The worst that can happen is you screw it up. So then you buy another yard of fabric (my child is small enough, that's all it's going to take! haha) and ask Mom for help. We have until at least August (no date set yet) to get it done!! DUMMY! Buck up!"

So, I haven't informed GFT yet - after the initial fear wore off and the mental yelling ensued, I've decided to take her up on it. There's nothing like a challenge to get me going.

I'm going to scope out patterns sometime this week to find a few simple clothing patterns to try my hand at. It's been quite some time since I've sewn with a pattern as I tend to freehand my projects.

Bonus? GFT wants to come over with her brand new sewing machine and take notes. I guess it's probably a good thing we can't involve booze?

It's scary jumping into the mind of Jodi, isn't it?

Long cold weekend

Not that I would have had time to really do any posting this weekend, but we haven't had Internet since Saturday for some reason. This happens every time there is a time change and it drives me insane.

My in-laws were here for the weekend. They stayed with Monkey Saturday night while T & I went to the hockey game. I've got to say, the team is starting to show some promise! They won both games this weekend. They were outplayed Friday night, but coach made a few changes on Saturday and they worked well together!

It was pretty darn cold out this weekend. We played outside a bit, but it was just a tad too cold to stay out for long stretches, thanks to the wind.

T spent some time Saturday moving his "toys" around. We have two sheds (he needed the second because we don't have a garage). So by moving his toys around, I mean he put his summer things away (motorcycle, lawn mower) and pulled out the winter things (snowmobile, snow blower). He found a HUGE mouse nest under the cab of the snowmobile. After he drove it out of the shed, you could see all of the mice trying to come out to run away. I saw five, but T said there were more. YUCK. But I'd much prefer them in the sled than in the house!

We're all sick. I've been fighting a small cold since last week (I don't know what's wrong with me - I'm hardly ever sick and this is the third time in a month!). Over the weekend, it blew into full blown misery. T started it Friday. And yesterday, Monkey started. She's been walking around with tissues and blowing her nose every other minute (yes, at 17 months old, she blows her nose like a pro). I'm going to prop one side of her mattress today so her head is slightly elevated. I think she'll sleep a bit better tonight (I was up quite a bit with her last night - that's not going to help me get over it, either!).

I'm just updating the checkbook now and Monkey and I will quickly shower so we can head to town and do our groceries for the week. I'll update later to see how I do on the spending!

Have a great day!

I'm a bad blogger

I know. I'm falling behind.

I've been really productive, though. I'll give you my update tomorrow.

For now, this is just to say I'm alive. Just working hard and trying to keep afloat.

Another rough day

Things were actually much better than I anticipated with Pepere today. Even being in a strange environment, he knew who I was. Even more surprising was he knew who Monkey was. Though there were a few perverted jokes (it was one of THOSE days), he knew where we were and it seemed like he had an idea why we were there.

Even with Pepere having a good day, it was still a rough day.

I really don't want to get into it (I don't know if it would be appreciated because it's not my private details I'd be sharing), but prayers and good thoughts would be appreciated.

And now, because gotomypc.com isn't connecting to my work computer, I'm going to forget trying to work at the moment and I'm going to drink myself into oblivion for the evening. Sometimes a good sloppy drunk and a good cry make everything look better - or at least manageable.

Feel bad for T while you're sending those prayers. Sloppy Jodi isn't his favorite... unless he gets to take advantage of me.. ha ha.

Mini-rant

Those "you must type in these letters" system to verify you're a human posting and not a computer spamming?

Tell me you know what I mean.

I hate them.

WHY do they need to be all swirly and have patterns in the letters? Some of us have bad eyesight! Those swirly things hurt my eyes (and my head) so freaking bad.

There's my morning mini-rant brought to you by lack of coffee and the need for stronger contacts. Again.

*going to check the coffee pot*

Long weekend

Monkey had a great day with her Memere & Pepere on Thursday. It gave me a few hours to hang out with my Mom alone. We had to run to Kmart for a few odds and ends. While in Madawaska, we went to a new (new to me, anyways!) store called Fashion Connection. We spent way too much time there and ended up not being able to go the antique store. But we both got a couple of great shirts (considering we were going in looking for a winter coat for Monkey - which we didn't find).

That night, for the second time in as many weeks, I started feeling ill. For the rest of our visit, Monkey and I were enjoying a wonderful little stomach bug. Fun times, I tell you. My poor Mom got sick after we left, too. I think we've finally kicked it.

Saturday, Mom and Monkey did the Alzheimer's walk. My Mom, Grandmother D and myself had a grand total of $700 in donations!! How awesome is that?

Luckily, Monkey did great and there were no diaper blowouts during the 4 mile event. It was a cold day, though. Grammy had a hard time keeping her bonnet on her head. My mother-in-law happened to be outside at the funeral home when they were on their way past and she said just in that small stretch of road, she saw my mom have to replace the hat twice. I couldn't help but laugh.

And you know, a funeral isn't horrible enough in itself. I was sick the entire day. T went out alone that night.

Speaking of funeral. The eulogist shared a poem I thought was beautiful and powerful so I'm going to end this morning by sharing it.

The Dash
copyright 1996 Linda Ellis
I read of a man who stood to speak
at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
from the beginning...to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth
and spoke of the following date with tears,
but he said what mattered most of all
was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
that she spent alive on earth...
and now only those who loved her
know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own;
the cars....the house...the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard...
are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
that can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
to consider what's true and real,
and always try to understand
the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger,
and show appreciation more
and love the people in our lives
like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
and more often wear a smile...
remembering that this special dash
might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read
with your life's actions to rehash...
would you be proud of the things they
say about how you spend your dash?

In the North Country

Monkey and I arrived after a 4 hour drive with my father-in-law yesterday. He was kind enough to make the extra 30 minute drive to drop us off at my parents house because waiting for my mother would have kept us in town another 4 hours. Sleepy Monkey needed her crib at Gram's house. The little turkey only slept for about 15 minutes on the entire drive. And there was too much excitement at Gram's house to stop and take a nap after all.

My bro was home sick yesterday. So the 3 of us played on the swing set a bit. Bro has a new kitten. Unfortunately, I promised my husband I would never bring another cat into our home (he's not a cat lover) because Monkey LOVES the kitty. He seems to enjoy her as well, even with the tail pulling and the smoosh me hugs.

Monkey is going to see T's mom for a while later today. My mom and I are going to make a run to Madawaska to Kmart. And then we're going across to Canada to go to an antique store that opened up a few years back. She's only brought me there once, but I loved it. Since we're pushing off a weekend long antiquing trip on Route 1 for the 3rd year in a row, an hour in 1 store will have to suffice.

And lucky me - I'm going for a much needed hair cut today. I look like a shaggy dog right now.

Mom & I have been doing a ton of online window shopping the past couple of weeks. She wants a cheap kitchen re-do until she can afford her dream kitchen (she's saving but I think she wants a pool more right now.. ha ha). We've been having a lot of fun planning this new, temporary kitchen. And I think we've found a couple of great pieces that can carry her through the dream kitchen construction (even if it's only 10 years from now!).

I also found a great bed online this week. T and I agreed it was time to upgrade our old hand me down that was a freebie that is completely falling apart headboard. JCPenny.com. (Code "SURVEY" gets you an extra 15% off for right now - thanks C for that tidbit!) I ordered it this morning and already can't wait for it to come in! Along with the gallon of paint I purchased and our new bedspread, we might actually end up with a bedroom that doesn't look like college students live there. I'm hoping to do the painting this fall. Not to mention, I have a project I'd like to ask my dad to make for me for the room, also.

Monkey has just awaken from her nap, so it's time to get us showered and ready to go see her Memere.

Been busy

Monkey and I have been busy bees.

We've been up to our ears in corn (hardy har) and keeping an eye on the potatoes. Now I'm just being corny. We didn't plant potatoes. haha We've really been watching our paper bags filled with tomatoes for the ripe ones. And then, of course, the tomato sauce. I think we've got 5 or 6 batches left with the tomatoes we have left to ripen. I see the end of the tunnel!!

Yesterday, we left our upside down house and played in the yard all afternoon. We haven't been getting outdoors nearly enough. Housework can wait. We took advantage of the beautiful weather to put out our fall decorations. I was tempted to pull out the Halloween stuff as well, but I decided we'll wait for a nice day next week to do that.

I could also hear them harvesting the corn field down the road from us, so I plopped Monkey into her stroller and we went down to watch the red tractor. She was quite enthralled until she noticed the cows in their pasture across the street from the corn field. We ended our little walk Moo'ing at the cows.

It's Friday. That means we'll be running into town for me to drop off and pick up paperwork at the office. This usually prompts me to run errands in town at the same time (save trips to town and do it all at once). There's a few things I need at Sam's (we're out of olive oil for tomato sauce - the horror!) and my contact solution is buy 1 get 1 free at Walgreens. May as well get a couple bottles at that price!

With that, the little one and I are off to pick up our books, get out of our jammies and head on to town.

May you have a productive day.

Sick

Trying to get over a bug.

And I'm in the office today.

Very much looking forward to the end of the day and my nice cuddly bed.

Keeping up on housework 101

Is there a class of this nature? If so--SIGN ME UP!

I've hit an all new frustration level in trying to keep this house clean.

If only it would be as easy to clean as it is to dirty.

So tonight, I've turned to beer again.

OK, so I've got a 12 pack in the fridge. If it's here, I'm gonna drink it (2 dry years took a toll on me, it seems).

And on this Thursday evening, I look forward to next Thursday when NBC's new Thursday night line up starts! It's been far too long since we've had a good dose of The Office. And I'm a little interested in the new show, Kath & Kim. I did start enjoying 30 Rock by the end of last season, too.

We are not TV people, by any means. Hell, poor Monkey scared the crap out of herself with the DVD player just today (she didn't realize it would open and pressing buttons is one of her favorite activities right now). But Thursday night is our night to sit down in front of "the box" and get a little entertainment.

I'm hoping to learn to knit this winter. I think Thursday nights will be a great opportunity for me to take it up. I'll actually be sitting in 1 place for a period of time. Why not keep my hands busy?

I'm also hoping to learn to make cheese this winter. I read a few articles in Mother Earth News over Labor Day weekend and it piqued my curiosity.

And this, my friends, is how the mind of drunk Jodi works. I went from housework to TV to knitting to cheese all in a span of less than 5 minutes.

So with that, I bid you farewell for the night. Better to make an ass of myself privately than to broadcast it on the world wide net. ;-)

PS - Thank goodness for spell check.

The waiting game.

Monkey passed a wonderful night last night. Mommy, however, doesn't sleep when we're home alone. After 3 hours of sleep, I needed a pot of coffee (way to try to wean myself, eh?) and a couple glasses of soda (I know - so healthy) to get myself going over the course of the morning.

I was able to at least get myself showered and changed. We've since folded 2 loads of laundry, washed the few dishes that we left in the sink last night and while Monkey napped, I made a double batch of tomato sauce. After all this tomato sauce, we haven't even put a dent into the tomatoes still in the garden. Lucky for me, they've only been ripening up a batch or 2 at a time so I'm able to keep up with them (mostly).

I've lost all ambition on making apple chips. I know I'll regret this if I lose the apples, but at the moment, I just can't do it.

My parents are on their way from their mini-vacation in Bar Harbor. And by this time, T and all of the helpers my father-in-law lined up should be 3/4 of the way through splitting and piling the firewood. Hopefully he'll be able to make it home before Monkey goes to bed.

So for now, Monkey and I alternate chasing each other around the house, reading books (OK - I do the reading to her) and sitting to wait.

I'd love to convince her to take another nap so I could try to take 1 of my own, but I know it's just not in the cards.

Lunch time ramblings

As I sit here on my lunch "break" (I eat at my desk and usually work through lunch), I realize I have a problem.

I'm looking back at my posts and come to realize that they are all about food.

Now I know where these hips come from (HA!).

My weight has been on my mind a bit for the past few months. Before I got pregnant, I lost 10 pounds. It was wonderful. I only gained 23 pounds while pregnant and, thanks to breast feeding, it all melted off within 6 months. And then I lost another 15 pounds.

As we talk about a time line for baby #2, I worry (and how can we not talk about a time line?Everyone is constantly saying "It's time for another" or asking "When can we expect another baby?). Will I gain 60 pounds next time? Will I be able to take it off next time? I'm nearing my 30th birthday. It's harder to lose weight after you hit 30, or so I'm told. Am I just going to put it all back on (plus some)?

It's a stupid thing to worry about, I know. For the first time in my adult life I'm at a place where I'm comfortable with myself and how I look. So it makes me worry. And then, obviously, I feel stupid and selfish because there are bigger things to worry about.

Will the next baby be healthy too? Can I handle 2 kids on my own with minimal help with our families 4 hours away? Can we afford another mouth to feed and bottom to diaper? Am I really ready for more sleepless nights (Monkey still doesn't sleep through the night!)? How will Monkey feel sharing the spotlight? Can I possibly love another child as much as I love her - and love them equally?

My mind tends to run away from me sometimes. And runs a vicious circle. And I wonder why I've been having trouble sleeping lately (that plus the myriad of medical issues our families are dealing with at the moment, I'm sure).

For the time being, I really should just stick to worrying about getting all of our garden harvested.

And for those of you that are wondering and asking about baby #2 - for the record: No, I'm not pregnant.