On Friday night, the second graders at New Century Elementary School participated in a Chinese musical concert. Yes. You read that correctly. A Chinese musical. Prior to the concert, there were games in each classroom the children could play and win candy and prizes. Chris had a Hail and Farewell to attend at the same time so I got a babysitter for the little boys and just James and I went to his concert. Unfortunately it's very hard to see James in this video but here they are singing the first song...
James had a "starring role" as a carrot-puller in one song. Again... funny but true! After the concert, James and I went out for Sweet Frog frozen yogurt. It was a fun "date night" with my little, big man!
Yesterday a few friends and I met up at the 82nd Airborne Museum on post for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. There were hundreds of eggs and all of the kids' baskets were filled to the brim by the end of the hunt!
Adrian and kids
Meagan and Jayme
Eileen and Finn...
Peter, Jayme (above) and Finley will all
be in a 2-year-old preschool class together next fall.
Max & Pete...
A meeting of the minds
Daddy and Henry hatching
a plan... pun intended! ;)
We had a fun morning together!
The boys enjoyed the "practice" egg hunt and are ready for the Easter Bunny to bring the real deal!
Since we haven't seen Auntie M in several months, we've been missing her and she's been missing the boys. I know how much she loves when I take videos of the boys so I tried to capture Petey singing "Here comes Peter Cottontail... hoppin' down the bunny trail...." since, of course, Easter is next weekend and we will all be home in Maryland (Aunt Megan too!).
Clearly I was the only one interested in the song though...
Albert Einstein once said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So maybe THAT'S why I'm crazy... it's all me, manufacturing the crazy around here?! :-D
Hope this video will hold you over until you can squish them yourself, Meg!
Every Thursday the children in Henry's preschool class get to pick a small gift from the Treasure Box if they've been well-behaved throughout the week. Henry has brought home all sorts of interesting little tchotchkes... dragon figurines, stamps, tattoos, Batman rings... you get the idea. He rifles through the box, I'm sure, and picks out all the special "boy" things he can find. But yesterday was different.
He'd hardly gotten all the way in the door (Cortney drops him off from school) before he breathlessly asked me to close my eyes because he had a big surprise for me.
"Open them, Mom!"
He picked this princess crown for me. He was so proud of it and so excited to give me a gift. "I was going to wait to give it to you on Easter but I was too excited," he said. Melt.my.heart.
And since no good deed goes unpunished, we had to act the fool while giving it to mommy...
I love these sweet, crazy boys of mine. I may just wear my princess crown all day today...
After several minutes of listening to Peter play in his crib this afternoon (at "nap time"), I walked in to find him doing this... (Ifyou click on the bottom right box-looking-thing, next to the YouTube sign, the video will enlarge to your screen. Just hit escape to go back.)
It'll come as no surprise when I tell you that Peter fell head first off of a kitchen stool this afternoon. He'd pushed it over to the pantry and was looking for a(nother) snack. Sigh... thankfully he just had a bloody lip but the fall looked terrible! I was grateful he fell on his face and not the back of his head. Head injuries scare the crap out of me (lest I remind anyone of the horrible head trauma suffered by Natasha Richardson or Sonny Bono to name just two).
Our bedtime routine is pretty standard over here. After we struggle to get the boys to brush their teeth, we make our way upstairs to the big boys' bedroom to read books around 7:30-8pm. Chris reads to James and I read to the little boys. And without fail, this happens afterwards...
Chris took this picture last night and sent it to me today.
(I love Petey's little crossed hands.)
Sure, yesterday was a particularly hard day with dad's anniversary, a 7-8 mile run in the morning, two hours at the park with the family, and a few glasses of wine. But truthfully, I could fall asleep every night after reading to them. I'm exhausted! As Chris says, "Beth, you can't lay on your neck without falling asleep!" Ha ha ha.
He missed 365 sunrises... and 365 sunsets.
He missed Henry turning 4, James turning 8, and Peter turning 2.
He will never see the artwork my boys bring home from school, the girlfriends they fall in love with, the colleges they pick.
He will never grow old with my mom.
He will never hold the children my sister will have one day.
He will never again bemoan the state of my car saying, "Clearly we have different standards of clean."
He will never call to ask me what foods he should pick up before we arrive home for a visit... and whether or not I'd like pulled pork or chili waiting for us in the crock pot.
He and I will never make apple pie together again.
He will never cut the grass, wax Slick, or buy batteries again.
He will never tell us about his music collection again (which totals over 5,000 cds) or tell us the singer/ songwriter/ player of any band that ever was.
He will never watch The History Channel and tell us over his shoulder that "I don't want to be stupid when I grow up" in hopes that we'd catch his drift and turn off the reality TV show in favor of an educational one.
He will never be the first one out on the beach, setting up blankets and coolers and a radio for our family.
He will never sit on the front steps and tell me about the neighbors. (Incidentally, this was one of my favorite things to do with my father. I cannot tell you all of the funny comments he's made and stories he's told!)
He will never have another cigarette, glass of wine, or fish filet from McDonald's... all of which were favorites.
He will never hold our hands, give us a hug, or tell us how much he loves us.
But I know. And I remember.
My dad loved hummingbirds. Much to my mother's chagrin, he'd buy a new hummingbird feeder for the gazebo every spring. The reason my mom didn't like it is because it's a huge mess. The liquid food is comprised of one part water to one part sugar which drips and gets all over the deck (which, in turn, draws the ants). At the very beginning of summer last year, I was outside playing in the front yard with the boys and a hummingbird flew right up to me, fluttered directly in front of my face for a few seconds, and then flew away. I have never seen a hummingbird up that close in my life before then and haven't since then. I believe it was my father letting me know he's still close by.
Even though Dad has missed everything this past year, in some ways he's been everywhere alongside of us because I carry him in my heart everywhere I go.
There are so many songs that remind me of my father, but this is one that tops the list...
Rest in peace, Daddy. We think of you all the time and miss you more than words can say...
and open up this link. I bet there is at least one (if not several) food items you may purchase regularly from this list when grocery shopping. Kind of scary!
What's frustrating, in my opinion, is how time-consuming and difficult grocery shopping can be with the boys in tow and how, even when I try to buy healthy food, the food industry tricks me with labels like "all-natural" and "healthy," when the food is anything but that.
I try to go grocery shopping on the weekends, when Chris is home to watch the kids, but that's just not always practical. So while I have one eye on Peter (who is literally running up and down the aisles), I gather up all of the obviously healthy foods the boys will eat (which is any-and-every-thing in the fruit department), all of the salad ingredients Chris and I eat regularly, Greek yogurt and local milk from the dairy department, and then I quickly try to find a few of the healthiest items I can find from the center store aisles, knowing this is where the junk food lives. But let's be real, the boys will try to hurt me in my sleep if I take all of the junk food away.
It does seem to help to just not have the unhealthy "culprits" in the house (for the boys and myself!). The less they (I mean, we) see it, the less we want it... at least that's the goal. Our supply of lunch-sized chip bags is slowly dwindling and I told the boys "When they're done, they're done!" I did find frozen, all-white meat chicken strips coated with whole wheat flour (at the commissary) and they were a huge hit.
I just can't wait for the day when the boys are willing to try new foods and finally realize that they taste good!!
A few pictures...
The granola we made--
complete with chia seeds, dried apricots/ prunes/ raisins
and flax seed! Yum!
James and Henry outside a
local farmer's market, eating apples.
Baking with Coconut Oil now...
Did you know that regular Triscuits
are a whole food, with only 3 ingredients?
Whole grain wheat, oil, and salt!
And... in other news... we're getting ready to add a new "family member" sometime soon! (No, no... no more babies. Well, I'd love to adopt an Asian daughter but Mean Chris won't let us. I digress...) I'll be back soon with details... start guessing! :)
So I wouldn't say we're anywhere near "processed-food-free" but we're making big strides. I think we're healthy eaters to begin with, but I've really started to focus more on cooking with whole foods, paying more attention to how many ingredients are in a particular food (less than 5 is best) and worry less about fat grams or calories (which used to be my priority). I've donated the three boxes of Kraft macaroni and cheese I'd had in the back of the pantry for awhile after reading about the terrible additives they use to make that orange-y color the kids are drawn to. Yikes!
If you are at all interested in trying them yourself, Henry and I have made several new recipes including...
Have the boys eaten every new recipe? No. But they've tried a ton of new things since we've started this "whole food diet." And I'm reading more of the ingredient lists to find foods that are made up of words we can pronounce and understand.
Perhaps the biggest switch for me? Trying to get rid of using my beloved Coffee Mate vanilla creamer. Don't even bother turning the creamer over... there's nothing healthy for you in there. Natural Coffee Creamer So I've switched to Coconut milk. I wish I could learn to drink it black since that really is the healthiest option, but I'm just not there yet. And since coffee itself is a antioxidant powerhouse and absolute necessity in my day, coconut milk it is. :)
So there you have it... a few new recipes we've tried this week. Send some good ones our way!
______________________________________________________________ *Here is a little food for thought (baddump-bump!)... Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. --Michael Pollen You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces-- just good food from fresh ingredients. --Julia Child Get people back into the kitchen and combat the trend toward processed food and fast food. --Andrew Weil One cannot think well, love well, or sleep well, if one has not dined well. --Virginia Woolf If we're not willing to settle for junk living, we certainly shouldn't settle for junk food. --Sally Edward
Last night James earned the rank of Wolf Cub at Scouts (which technically means he'll be a Bear next season). The dinner was catered, in part, with Ruby Tuesday's salad bar! I've never seen that other than in their restaurants which was pretty cool. The evening was relaxed and fun and the boys all had a great time.
Chris even got suckered volunteered to help as an assistant den leader next year since the current den leaders are retiring and moving away. Fortunately another dad, LTC Vido, will be the official leader and Chris will be in the wings to offer extra support. Should be fun... or interesting to say the least!
Poor Peter got a stomach bug and spent most of the week throwing up...
You'd think by this smile he was feeling better, right? Nope. Not five minutes later, he threw up all over the kitchen floor...
I am becoming more and more excited about getting rid of the processed junk my kids eat and am trying to slowly wean them off of it. If you haven't seen this blog, check it out. It's awesome (and I am so glad my sister sent it to me!)...
I made all-natural granola yesterday. James thinks it's just okay but has eaten several bites, Henry hasn't tried it, and Peter's eaten half of it.
I made a Glowing Green smoothie and finished it! In fact, I had it two mornings in a row. Chris also had a glass and liked it. Henry did try this (surprisingly), swallowed it, said he liked it but that I could have the rest...
It's an uphill battle, folks. This is where I found Pete yesterday afternoon... getting a sugar fix.
I am hopeful this beautiful assortment of chairs means spring is on its way!?
My friend, Cortney, and I have been going through houses in our neighborhood because more family friends from West Point are moving here this summer! They just put an offer on the brand-new house across the street. It's 3000 square feet and beautiful inside...
Today is my lovely mother's birthday! We love you!
The big boys don't have school today because of a teacher workday so a bunch of us are meeting at a local park to play. Nicolas spent the night last night and I can hear them playing upstairs now. Fingers crossed that everyone woke up healthy and happy and ready for a busy weekend... sunshine and warm weather would be nice too!
Chris and I went to the movies last night and saw Silver Linings Playbook! I can't remember the last time we went out to the movies so it was somewhat exciting. Ha ha. It was totally my speed... we went to the Cameo, a local theater house in town where they serve food and drinks while you watch the movie. I'm sure all of you have been to such places, but I don't think I ever have. I drank a Blue Moon, ate dark chocolate covered blueberries, spent time with Chris away from the boys, and watched Bradley Cooper. Not a bad night!
As for my "movie review," I'd probably give it a B. It was good... not sure about Oscar-worthy, but definitely good. But hey, if you can drink a beer, eat chocolate, and watch this guy without kiddie interruptions...
As usual, this morning I was trying to hurry the boys along, reminding them to get dressed and put their shoes on so we could make it to my 9:30 spin class on time. As I was about to hang up the phone with Lauren to "encourage" them some more, I heard Henry scream "NooooOOOoooo!" I came into the living room to find Peter crumpling up all of Henry's pre-school work he brought home yesterday.
I picked this up first...
It reads: "Joseph forgives his brothers."
Now if that's not an example of God working in mysterious ways, I don't know what is!
I am a stay-at-home mom to 3 energetic, funny, sweet, and crazy boys. I married my best friend, Chris, and love our life together. The Army is sending him overseas soon so I thought this blog would be a great way for him (and the grandparents!) to keep up with our hectic life. Unfortunately the Army keeps us too far from family and most of our friends so hopefully this will help us stay connected.
