Friday's quote

Keep your face to the sun and you will never see the shadows.

-Helen Keller

Recipe of the week: Veggie pita pizzas

Veggie pita pizza, from the Meal Makeover Moms and featured on Manic Mommies, is a great summer idea.  See the concept here. 

Keeping secrets

There is so much about this story that is controversial, but the most shocking aspect of the story, to me, is that there are siblings who could/would keep a newborn family member's gender a secret. 

In our house, there are no secrets.   More pointedly, the girls are not so good at the secret keeping. 

Exhibit A:

After we purchased an iPad for Skip for his birthday, Lauren informed him that his present was in a white bag with an apple on it. 

Exhibit B:

The girls commented on cousin Lexy's new brown slippers and volunteered, "We got you a new brown purse!"

Exhibit C:

Many, many, many Christmas-related slips and divulgences.   Needless to say, I shop for gifts alone now.

Maybe their indiscretion is gift-related?  Likely not.  There is no chance that they could maintain a veneer of silence upon questioning.  In fact, it would not take much prodding at all. 

Binder clips

I am loving this idea for binder clips via Real Simple.

Overheard

Yesterday afternoon, Gracie made a decision that greatly imperiled her otherwise happy-go-lucky life.

The backstory is that we have been tweaking our communication style. Specifically, we have been working on correctly framing questions and requests versus merely sticking a "please" on the end of a sentence.

For example:

Instead of: "I want some milk. Please."
We have been encouraging: "May I have some milk, please?"

We have also been working on how to respectfully interact with peers, elders and persons of authority, and how we might not speak the same way to teachers as peers, etc., although we are respectful to all. This was prompted by Gracie's proclamation during a drive home from school one day that "Ms. Diana was arguing with me." Ms. Diana is her teacher. We explained that, with only a razor thin margin for exception, if there is any arguing in the student-teacher dynamic, it is most likely the student who has initiated the argument. I concluded by explaining that, at this juncture, I could see no reason for her to argue with her teacher and that it sounded as if she may have been speaking inappropriately to Ms. Diana.

Fast-forward to yesterday, Gracie had a minor spill, and I helped her clean her spill with a wipe. After finishing, I handed the wipe to Gracie and said, "Take this to the garbage can, please."

I heard a good deal of mumbling/muttering on the way to the trash can, but I couldn't make out what she was saying until she was on her way back through to go play. The portions I could make out were:

"That's not how you say it."
"You say, 'Will you take this to the garbage can, please?'"
and
"That's not how you talk to me."

Finally, when she was approaching me she finished off by looking me in the eye and saying, "That's not nice. Momma, you don't talk to Gracie that way."

There was some fall out from that exchange, to be sure, but we had to laugh once she left the room.

Happy anniversary, Coca-Cola!

I missed the 125th anniversary of Coca-Cola's first sale on May 8th. To celebrate the milestone, a collection of images of the beverage entitled "Coca-Cola" has been released. Read about it here.

Friday's quote

The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.

-Morrie Schwartz

Easter pics

In looking through photos from the last few weeks, I realized that I had saved a draft of the Easter pics, but had never posted them. So... here is an Easter update, although Easter was almost a month ago, etc.

First, we went to an egg hunt at our next door neighbors. So fun! The girls hunted eggs with their grandson and had a blast. They added a new addition, another grandson, at the beginning of May, and we are excited that our new addition, as well as the girls, will have them as playmates.

After the egg hunt, we went to church the Saturday night before Easter Sunday. Our church adds a Saturday night service to make sure there is plenty of room for the Easter crowds the following Sunday. After returning home and having a quick dinner, we prepared some carrots for our friend, the Easter Bunny, and left that tasty dish on the front porch as a snack.

The next morning, the girls were excited to find that the Easter Bunny had, indeed, found his snack and had obviously devoured most of it.

Closer inspection revealed that the Easter Bunny left behind some convincing nibble marks on the carrots! How exciting!

We invited all of the grandparents over for lunch, and they all made their way as soon as their Sunday services wrapped.

Hippity Hoppity!

After lunch, we hunted eggs again.

Finally, the egg hunting became too much work, and we called it a day.

Easter 2011:

Recipe of the week: Texas 2-Step Chicken

This recipe is courtesy of Skip. 

On nights when Mexican fare seems tasty, but a standard "taco night" (which we LOVE, by the way) seems too predictable, the below is a quick, go-to recipe. 

Texas 2-Step Chicken:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups salsa
3 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon dijon-style mustard
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 cups cooked rice

Directions:

1)  Mix sauce, sugar and mustard.
2)  Place chicken in 2 quart shallow baking dish.
3)  Pour salsa mixture over chicken.
4)  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Serve with rice. 

Additions:

1)  We also sprinkle shredded Mexcian blend cheese over the chicken, once cooked. 
2)  Instead of serving with rice, you can also shred the chicken and make soft chicken tacos. 
3)  Definitely do not forget the chips and salsa appetizer or, more importantly, chips and cheese dip. 

Enjoy! 

31 Weeks

Thirty-one weeks down and only nine to go.  We now have appointments every two weeks, and I have some physical therapy appointments thrown in for fun.  Although I feel really large, I am measuring right where I am supposed to be.  I will never, as long as I live, forget measuring 40 weeks when I was 28 weeks pregnant with the girls.  I remember telling a neighboring coworker about measuring 40 weeks, and she asked what I would measure at 40 weeks?!  Luckily, the measurement stops at 40 weeks so there's no real way to measure 84 weeks or anything. 

I am really enjoying the break in the heat and am not enthusiastic about my growing size and the 90+ degree heat that is right around the corner.  See, I missed a lot of the drudgery last time because I was placed on bed rest (although I did continue to work daily from home right up until the night before delivery) with the girls at 28 weeks.  This time?  I am completely in the fray, chasing two 4 1/2 year old monkeys around and managing preschool and car pool lines four days per week.  The schedule is definitely good for all of us because it helps that the girls are maintaining their routine, and being busy is absolutely what we prefer.  Bed rest made me incredibly antsy and impatient, something worth remembering when I am schlepping about this summer.    In fact, the girls are going to a summer program two half days to try to maintain a solid schedule, and they will continue to have some good, quality grandparent time as well.  Sadly, I am too tired to fully reconvene "Camp Mom" from last year.  We will have a lighter version of Camp Mom this year.

In the meantime, we are gearing up (literally) for our newest family member.  We have recycled some things that we can use again, and we have equipment on its way to us.  His new crib arrived yesterday.  Importantly, his coming home outfit has been on hand for months:

His summer wardrobe is mostly in place, and we have some of the necessities lined up. We have nine weeks to get everything else in order.

That's doable, right?

Good taste and good scents

So last weekend during the lengthy preparations to ready the girls for their big dance recital, they enjoyed the primping and pampering that goes along with transforming oneself into a ballerina. After make-up application and after securing their hair in buns and affixing the floral hair piece, we topped off the process with perfume.

We love perfume, and their signature (and only) scent for the past few years has been Love's Baby Soft. (Prior to that, their signature scent was Desitin! :-) Santa usually brings a supply in their stockings at Christmas. Very occasionally, they get to wear an "every day" perfume, one of the other three bottles on my bathroom counter. The final bottle, currently Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle, is off limits.

After securing her hair with 25 bobby pins, I asked Gracie which perfume she wanted to wear. "I want that one," she said decisively.

This one? I pointed to the Love's Baby Soft.

"No. That one," she said.

"Oh, you mean the Clinique, right?" I asked.

"No! THAT one!" she said with increasing determination.

"Oh, I see, this one," I said, and picked the bottle up dramatically.

Lauren immediately entered the fray, "I want that one, too!!!"

While I am sure our car reeked of perfume, we all had fun and felt especially glamorous with our special perfume, although we are back to the daily routine now.

Lauren in glasses

Look who found mommy's glasses on the bathroom counter.

Friday's quote

Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.

-Voltaire

Recipe of the week: Key lime pie

We had the family over Easter Sunday for lunch and an egg hunt. For dessert, I made the above pie. Whenever I see those little green bags make their annual debut at the store, making a Key Lime Pie becomes an imperative.  Admittedly, juicing the key limes is a smidge annoying. This year I used a garlic press as a key lime juicer, and it worked brilliantly -- until the garlic press broke. To compensate for the work involved in juicing, I cheat and use an incredibly simple recipe for the pie itself.

Key Lime Pie

Ingredients:
1 (14 ounce) can condensed milk
1/2 cup key lime juice
1 (8 ounce) container Cool Whip
Additional Cool Whip for topping
1 graham cracker pie crust

Beat condensed milk thoroughly with electric mixer until thick. Add key lime juice and mix thoroughly. Fold in Cool Whip. (I mix for an additional minute or two to take the texture to another level.) Pour mixture into pie shell and chill. Refrigerate for at least three hours before serving. Top with dollops of Cool Whip. Serves 6.

So easy.

Graham Cracker Pie Crust

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine the crumbs and sugar; add butter and blend well. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of an ungreased 9-in. pie plate.

2. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before filling, or bake at 375 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack before filling.

Ballet recital 2011

Yesterday I shared the rehearsal pics, but today we are moving on to the real thing. Here are Lauren and Gracie all dressed up and ready to dance:



Dancing on the big stage:



Awaiting solos:



Gracie's pirouette:



A grand exit:



Lauren's pirouette:



Blowing a kiss to the audience:



I think they were in love with the entire process. They were excited to get to wear make-up and have their hair styled. They really enjoy dancing with the friends they made this past year, and they adore their teacher and her assistant. They thought the theatre, stage, lights and audience were cool, too.

Recital rehearsal

Buckle up for picture-palooza!



Saturday morning we were up bright and early to go downtown to the theatre for rehearsal. I apparently missed the "dress" part of "dress rehearsal," and we played it safe by wearing regular leotards versus their recital costumes.




Given our history with spills and the occasional issue with car/motion sickness, I would err on the side of caution again. Besides, they love wearing their leg warmers.



They had a great time dancing with their class on the big stage:





They did a great job dancing with their teacher for their solos:




After getting a taste of the stage, they were much more excited about dancing later in the day.