Family Alive

Last night, Analise wanted to read me Eric Carle’s Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  She flipped right through it, word for word memorized, from the red bird to the black sheep.  She was quite pleased with herself and happily took it to bed with her to read to her bed buddies (last night that was jingly penguin, Fairy Dora, and the big polar bear).

This morning, she was up before Josiah, and as soon as she heard Josiah talking in his room, she bounced out of my bed, telling me she wanted to read to him.   So I got Josiah up, and we snuggled into the couch together.  Josiah was a captive audience as she “read” to him all about the colored animals.  She finished and said, “Josiah, did you like it?”

“I wike da book,” he said.  My heart nearly burst seeing their sweet little reading time.  I look forward to many more!

We had a fabulous weekend at home.  Brian’s race on Saturday evening was just 10 minutes from our house, so we had a leisurely Saturday morning, took the kids to their bike race (see pics on Brian’s cycling blog), came back for naps, and then Brian and I headed off to the evening races by ourselves while his parents babysat.  Yipee!!  I love having my kids at the races, but I do really enjoy getting to focus on the race without the distraction of keeping my kids from dashing into the street 🙂

The evening was very fun.  Brian’s race didn’t finish quite as he’d hoped, but his team got 3rd and 4th.  He hasn’t had teammates in his race very often, so this was a big plus!  Again, the wrap-up is on his blog. We were out SUPER LATE, and then we had a hard time unwinding after the race so Sunday morning came EARLY, even though the kids slept until 7!

Pretty quiet Sunday, which was nice.  Today we’re headed to the zoo, Analise and I are going to a movie this evening, and I’ve got a meeting.  Hm.  Lots on the agenda.  Somewhere in there I should figure out what we’re going to eat for dinner…  Happy Monday!

I dream of the quintessential family dinner around our table.  Good, healthy, home-cooked meal, one of my kids praying before we eat, everyone happy, food staying on plates, everyone actually eating the same food, kids staying at the table with us – peacefully – until they’re done.  And maybe even a delicous family dessert to top it all off.

Sounds great.  And yes, it does sound a bit impossible, especially with a 2 and a 4 year old who may be a bit more lively than most kids.  Dinner has been a growing frustration of mine for any number of reasons… picky 4 year old, messy 2 year old, kids not wanting to sit.

But it happened last night.  My dream family dinner.  It was so lovely, and it was even better than I could have imagined.

I’d cooked (well, half-cooked) a good meal – Mushroom Orzo Rissoto (super easy, very tasty, and even though I don’t like mushrooms, Brian does, and I knew he’d be pleased and they were easy enough for me to pick out) and Turkey Spinach Burgers (frozen from another evening… I love when cooking one night makes another night easier!).

Analise prayed for our meal, which she often isn’t in the mood to do.  But she’s been the “prayer leader” as her job at school this week, so she was excited when we named her the prayer leader for dinner tonight.

We put the burgers, no buns necessary, on the pasta, and it was TASTY.  The kids loved the pasta, and surprise, surprise… Josiah liked the mushrooms!  He ate one after another from my plate.  Seriously, my heart was bursting that one of my kids was liking something I don’t!  Analise even gamely tried a bite.  I was very proud of both of them.

Anyway, everyone was in a good mood, they ate well, we had nice fun conversation with them, and we all stayed at the table through the whole meal.  The kids shared a piece of chocolate cake, and everyone was pleased.

It was wonderful.  I know it’s possible now.  I’m not going to get frustrated and grumpy when it doesn’t happen, though.  They’re just preschoolers, and we’ll work on it bit by bit.  I know it can happen, it will happen when all the stars align, and when it does, it will be lovely and well worth it.

I very nearly got a new haricut this morning, thanks to Thomas the Train.  I was changing J’s diaper and getting him dressed.  Sometimes he likes to hold a car or a train while we get him dressed, and sometimes he pretends to run the car over you.  “Vroom… da car go over da head!”  Very cute.  This morning he was holding battery-operated Thomas, who was whirring away.  He was laying on the ground, and said, “Thomas go on your head!”, holding Thomas out towards me.

“No”, I said sharply, “Thomas can’t go on anyone’s head, because his wheels could get caught in their hair.  No, Josiah.”

I stood him up to finish getting him dressed, and he wrapped his arms around my neck… with Thomas still whirring away in his hand… and the wheels spun themselves right into the hair behind my ear!

I’d like to say I handled it calmly, but I didn’t.  I freaked out, and it’s a good thing Brian was here.  I screamed for him, and he came running up, thinking something terrible had just happened (which it had, in my mind).  I’d gotten Thomas turned off, and it was hanging from my hair.

“Do you want me to get the scissors?” Brian asked, as I was sobbing.  “NO!” I cried!  It would have been a serious chunk out of my hair.  Brian wasn’t sure what to do, but then he said, “I’ll put Thomas in reverse.”

Whatever, I thought.  Thomas doesn’t go in reverse, and I wasn’t pleased with his joking at a time like this.  I kept sobbing like someone had died.

But Brian was serious, and he wound Thomas’ wheels in reverse and my hair pulled right out, without a single piece damaged.  Amazing.  Brian is my hero.  And we’ve all learned a valuable lesson that battery-operated Thomas’ and hair don’t mix.  And I’d be happy if all Thomas’ stayed away from my head, just to be safe!

This is what life looks like 30 minutes after we get home from picking Analise up at school.

Analise had changed into her princess costume briefly, before she collapsed into a nap on my bed.

My sweet boy loves his afternoon naps.  “I sweepy…” he’ll say on our way home.  He’ll go right into his room, asking for his ‘fier (“fire”, short for pacifier), curl up with his knees tucked under him, butt in the air and go right to sleep.  Thomas the Train kept him company today.  In fact, when I came in to check on him, battery-powered Thomas was still whirring awy in J’s hand.

(Edited to add: I just found this photo of Analise, from April 2005, when she was just 10 months old.  Still curled on her side, thumb in her mouth…)

A couple weeks ago I hosted an Uppercase Living party… decorative lettering that you can use on walls, mirrors, canvases and other places around your home.  They’ve got a huge selection of beautiful things to choose from, but I custom ordered this phrase, the table grace I grew up saying, to go in our dining room.  The conultant I ordered from, Michelle, came over and helped me put it up today, and I’m so impressed!  She was really excited at how well it turned out.  I love these… wondering if maybe I should go into business 🙂  I’ve got a couple more things coming in the next few weeks, so I’ll post those when they get here!

It’s rare that I find a recipe that will be my “standby”. I’ve shared my Best Buttermilk Pancake recipe, that has become a new standby. I love homemade blueberry muffins, and I’m always trying new recipes. Recently, I found a delicious recipe (that I’ll share another day) that had pretty much set itself in as my new standby muffin recipe. But… while I was in Chicago visiting Michele, she made this fantastic recipe (originally found at Allrecipes.com). These are moist, full of flavor, sweet, nutty, with lots of possibilities for subbing/changing things (check out the reviews on the Allrecipes.com page for ideas), as well as super easy. I’ll be making a double batch tomorrow to freeze for quick and healthy breakfasts. These are a definite new muffin standby!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup oat bran
• 1/4 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 12 cup muffin pan, or line with paper muffin cups.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, oat bran, quick-cooking oats, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently stir in the blueberries and walnuts. In a separate bowl, mix together the mashed banana, buttermilk, egg, oil and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix just until blended. Spoon into muffin cups, filling all the way to the top.
3. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the tops of the muffins spring back when lightly touched.

Notes: I didn’t have wheat germ, so I substituted ground flaxseed meal. It was great… and it’s full of very good stuff for you. I also topped them with a bit of crumbly brownsugar/butter/oat/nutmeg/cinnamon mixture. Not necessary at all, but it was a nice little sweet touch.

Another fun adventure was our day trip to Huntsville.  Brian did a long bike ride in the area, while we explored the US Space & Rocket Center.  It was VERY FUN!  The kids lasted longer than I thought they would, and they seemed pretty interested in all the fun space things to look at.  Then we took our lunch to a nearby playground at the Monte Sano State Park.

The Rocket Park was very impressive.

Um, can you find my family hidden below the space shuttle and boosters?  This was HUGE!

Have I mentioned its impossible to take posted pictures of my kids?

There was a Kid Zone that Analise and Josiah really enjoyed.

There’s an adult ride called, Space Shot (“Soar 150 feet in the air with 4 G’s of force during liftoff of the Space Shot simulator”).  I rode it, and it was VERY SCARY.  They had a mini (fun) version for the kids, and though Analise wasn’t sure at first, she did try it, much to my amazement.  She loved it, probably riding it 7 times before we left.  Of course, Josiah had to do it, too, with much hesitation.  But he just followed her lead, and he was laughing his little belly laugh the whole time.  It was so cute to watch them!  (I’m hoping to post a video, too, eventually…)

I’m finally getting caught up on photos, particularly this evening I’ve done the photos from Grandma Sandy & Poppa Dale’s visit in early August. Have I mentioned how much fun we had? I’ll let you see for yourself…

Checking out the trains at the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum.

A cool photo, thanks to Photoshop 🙂

One of my new favorite Josiah photos.

More trains… this time at home!  Poppa built some great tracks for the trains.

A fun afternoon rainshower.  I’ll work on finding Josiah some more boyish boots 🙂

The public schools here in Alabama started back in early August, Brian started last Monday, and today was finally Analise’s first day back at school.  She’s in the 4-year-old kindergarten program, Tuesday through Friday.  To be honest, I’ve been pretty ready to send her back to school.  She’s very busy, and we’re having a hard time finding enough creative activities to keep her out of trouble around here.  And she loves the social aspect of school.  And I love having one-on-one time with Josiah.  He plays very well by himself these days, too, so that gives me some much needed time to get things done for myself.  It will be a big change for us to have 4 days instead of the 2 days a week we’ve had the last 2 years, but it will be a good preparation for kindergarten next year.

Kindergarten!  Crazy to think that next year at this time, I’ll have one child in school 5 days a week at kindergarten, and Josiah will be in preschool 2 days a week.  What in the world will I do with 2 days entirely to myself?  I can’t even imagine all the things I might actually get accomplished!  Still, the thought of Analise in kindergarten tugs at my heart.  I can’t believe how fast she’s growing up!

A glimpse from last year’s first day of school…

Brian walks Analise to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays when he’s available.  Believe it or not, she still rides in the backpack, as she has has since she started 2 years ago.  They love their walk over!  Josiah usually hates to see her go on the backpack adventure without him, but this morning, he and I joined them for part of the walk, so there were no tears.  Then we both enjoyed our walk… I, particularly, enjoyed pushing just 1 child in the stroller… 50lbs of weight versus 85+! Josiah and I also went to the mall to get him some new shoes, picked up some yummy Auntie Annie’s pretzel stix, then played with the Thomas train table at the bookstore. It’s so fun to chat with him these days! And it sure is easy taking one child out and about, rather than 2!

(Added by Brian): Here’s her “first day of school” picture from 2006, too!