Mommathon

If you are at the park with Colm and it is almost time to go and you tell him he can go down the slide two more times and then it's time to go, he will stop sliding and go do something else. (If I don't slide, then we will never have to leave.) The same goes for at the pool. If you tell him he can jump in two more times he will stop jumping and go do something else. Well, this week on the way to school he asked me if I had made his lunch and when I told him that I had he said he didn't want to eat lunch at school. I asked him why...this is the funny part. They have a rest time after lunch. Colm doesn't like rest time. So, if I don't pack his lunch, then he doesn't have to eat lunch which means he doesn't have to...you got it....rest.

I have been thinking a lot about friendships this past week. At Liam's old school I was friends with many of the moms and still talk with them around the neighborhood. But let's be honest, we are neighbors and yes I see them, but I don't see them as often as I used to because our kids don't go to the same school, so we are a bit out of the loop. All of my friends from church have kids who go to different schools than my kids. I belong to a group at church for people who have young children, but my kids are getting older and I won't be able to join that group anymore in a year or two. How will I maintain my friendships with these people who I may or may not see at Mass on a weekly basis? Which gets me to my point. Friendships take work. I have known my dear friends, Dana and Christie, for 20 years although we haven't lived in the same state for most of those years. I always see Christie when she comes in town and we e-mail and chat on the phone occassionally. I don't get to see or talk to Dana as much, but we still keep in touch via e-mail and blogs. (I should call you Dana, but the time difference is a killer.) I used to have a neighbor who I was friends with who now lives in Colorado. She has lived there for about 5 years. We still keep in touch and we almost always get together, even if it is just for lunch, when she comes to town. It is important for me to keep up my friendships with my neighbors as well, so I am going to have to be pro-active. Not only is this important for me, but it is important for the kids to maintain the friendships they have made with the neighborhood kids as well. We rearranged our plans on Saturday because Liam's friend wanted to come over and play about the time we were getting ready to walk out the door. That same friend is spending the night tonight. I know Liam doesn't see it as work, but if you don't hold up your end, friendships can easily fizzle. I am sure I will have great friends with the mom's at our new school and I will have to work at maintaining the friendships that I have made at church when I cross that bridge in a few years. It may seem like I am complaining, but I am doing exactly the opposite. How blessed we are to have neighborhood friends, church friends AND school friends. :)

If you have not joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) yet, I highly recommend doing so, although you might have to wait until next year's growing season. There are a few around town; I will tell you what I love about ours. Many CSA'a just give you fruits and veggies that are locally grown. The one we belong to often includes bread from local bakeries, dairy products, tofu, meat, etc. I also love it because each item that is available each week has a point value. So, if you don't like one of the items that has a two-point value, you can trade it in for another two-point item or maybe two one-point items...you get the idea. I also like it because there are two different days and times that you can pick your stuff up. This week's list was: drinkable yogurt, ground bison, eight-grain bread, finishing sauce (think A-1), watermelon, eggplant, grape tomatoes, and million dollar pickles. I traded in the pickles for more yogurt and the bison and finishing sauce for a roasting chicken. Everything came from Kansas and Missouri, except the yogurt which came from Iowa and most of it was organic. Next week we get milk, ground chuck, asiago bread, butternut squash, tomatoes and tofu. I need to start looking for recipes. :)

I was at a party the other day and another mom shared this story...

She spent all last school year trying to get her sixth grade boy to shower and use deodorant. Every day she told him he was stinky and to go upstairs, shower, put on CLEAN clothes and comb his hair. He didn't get it. Well, he is a seventh grader now. She was so excited to shop with him this year. Before school started they got some decent clothes, some deodorant and some Axe. He came downstairs on the first day of school and he looked and smelled great. She asked him if he used his deodorant and he said he did. He also said he used his Axe and that he had even sprayed his balls (his words, not mine) with it. The mom about passed out and asked him why he did that. He said, "It's the first day of school, Mom. You never know."

I hope this isn't a peek into my future. What are seventh graders doing at school nowadays??? I know what I was doing in seventh grade and it didn't require spraying Love's Baby Soft all over my nether regions.

Some back to school picks for the week.

SUCH A GOOD BOOK!!! I can't say what I want to say because if I say it then it might possibly ruin the book for you if you read it. So good.

I have not been to a Royals game in a very, very, very long time and now I remember why. We went last night to see our niece perform in the pre-game show. Well, me missed the pre-game show because there were a gazillion people waiting in line to get in. I didn't think that was usually an issue at Royals games anymore. So, basically we missed the entire reason we went to the game. Anyways, we FINALLY got in and had to walk around forever to get to our horrible seats because the construction they are doing kept us from getting to our seats the way we should have been able to. Let's get back to the horrible seats. I went to MANY Royals games in my youth and I have NEVER had such horrible seats, but they were the only seats available. Can you believe that? I also didn't know that when you have horrible seats you also have horrible food. You only get good food when you are down closer to the field. I had no idea. The vendor guys don't even walk around up where we were last night. So, I go and get our food and drinks, sit down and spill a drink all over the guy and girl in front of us. We recover from that though and the rest of the night goes smoothly other than that the way Colm's little legs hang over the edge of his chair makes him keep kicking the gal in front of him (who is with the same group of people who got the drink spilled all over them). I felt like I was in the worst coach seating ever available on an any airplane ever. The game was boring and we finally left at the 8th inning, as did lots of other people. We then went to have some real food at Mimi's. The thing that made this whole night even worse is that because we were going to watch our niece (who we didn't end up getting to see at all) we didn't get to go to Irish night at the Wizards game. Even if it hadn't been Irish night the stadium is SO MUCH nicer, there are no bad seats and the food is way better. I think we will be going to sporting events in Kansas from now on.

Peanut Butter, Chocolate, & Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup Nutella or other chocolate spread
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 - 1 cup rolled oats
1/2 - 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the peanut butter, Nutella, vanilla and egg until well blended. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter just until moistened. Mix in the oats and chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Drop by tablespoonfuls on to lightly greased cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges start to brown. Cool on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.


I haven't tried it yet, but I am going to make some tomorrow. My dear friend Dana, who has had some, says they are delicioso!

Colm was off to school today. I dropped him off while he was still eating his cereal bar in true Colm fashion. :)

While Liam was up in his first grade classroom, Colm was downstairs meeting his teachers. He dug his heels in as soon as he hit the door...he was NOT going in! No crying, just very adamant. I did coax him in by having him help me sort his school supplies and then he was good to go. He noticed the rabbit named Coco, then they have a hamster named Jellybean, there are also tadpoles and a fishtank. What's not to like? And let me tell you, as our visit wore on I almost cried happy tears for Colm. This classroom, the work they do and his teachers are perfect for him. I could not have picked a better classroom for him if I tried. We stayed there for over an hour doing puzzles, checking out the "pets", finding his cubby and he just dug right into some of the work they had laid out for the kids to try out. Tomorrow he goes without me, but it's only a half day.




On a side note, one thing I love about this school is it's age and history. One of the teachers was telling me that a very long time ago, before his classroom was a Montessori room, it was the tea room where the girls (it used to be girls only) would come to have their afternoon tea and snack. How quaint.

He was ready to go this morning complete with his 2008 Beijing Olympics backpack that his noni brought him back from China last summer. We saved it this whole year so he could use it for first grade. Today was only a half-day, but he came back with a positive report. He and some other first grade boys played Star Wars at recess...that's a good way to start things as far as he is concerned.

I think Colm identifies with the main character in The Best Halloween of All. Ben has to endure some fairly awful Halloween costumes while playing sidekick to his older brother until one year he decides to take things into his own hands. The Great Gracie Chase is a cute book about a dog whose nice and quiet lifestyle comes to a screeching halt one day.

It was slim pickin's at the Berry Patch today. Our total at checkout was $1.08 for ALL of our blueberries and ALL of our blackberries all together. Oh well, the boys had fun and they got a lot of exercise. (There was a lot of walking involved.) I also realized how citified my kids are, especially Liam. He was not fond of the bugs, weeds and general outdoorsiness of the whole experience. He survived though. I also realized that blueberry picking is A LOT easier than blackberry picking.


They've got their buckets and they are ready to go.




Colm showing me a blackberry he picked.

Why can't tomatoes from the grocery store taste like the tomatoes from my grandma's garden? Why?

Liam attended fencing camp in the mornings this week. Coach Emi comes with quite a resume. She was the 7-time National Foil Champion of Bulgaria and took the silver medal in the European Championships. She was also the head coach of the Bulgarian National Women’s Foil Team and took her team to the 1996 Olympics and most importantly, she is so good with the kids. Here are some pics, I will post a video of Liam fencing soon.

This book is not going to win any literary awards any time soon, but the pictures are Legos, so who cares what the story is all about. :)

I love memoirs. One reason I like reading them is because usually the authors have had extraordinary things happen to them and you have to keep telling yourself that this really happened to someone...they lived through this. This book is no exception.

Another day, another trip, this time to Moon Marble. The boys had a lot of fun picking out their marbles. I think their favorite part was the names of the marbles. Each type of marble has its own name based on what it looks like. We got some galaxies, some watermelons, some tigers, bumblebees, etc. This trip was also extra special because Grandma and Grandad played hooky from work today to come with us.






Picking out his "surprise" marble.




Marble toys


Making marbles...the one he was making looked like a baseball when he was done with it.

Pics from our fun trip today. It was quite a drive up there, but it was well worth it.









This cow kept licking and nibbling him. Clearly he liked it.




Fresh ice cream and super creamy!

If you have not been to the Reading Reptile, you really should go. They are an independently owned children's bookstore. They are trying to stay afloat, but it is not easy. We try and go there at least three times a year. There is a toy and science store next door and a Baskin Robbins next to that, so you could easily make an outing out of it. My kids can hang out/read/play in the bookstore for at least a good hour there is so much to do in there. It is in Brookside. Here are some pics to entice you...


They have fun places for the kids to sit and read. They even have a "secret" reading hole which my boys love.


One of the play areas






You can never tire of looking at things in this place. There is a lot to look at.

You know how when you are reading and you kind of read ahead so you know what is going to happen before it happens? Well, at Mass today I was following along with the reading and I see that the word "nakedness" is coming up and I brace myself for the worst. I know my boys. Liam snickers, but quickly shuts up when I shoot him the look. Colm, in true Beavis and Butthead fashion says, "He said "nakedness." Of course, I shoot him the look too which entices him into saying it again. At least they're listening.

Liam was at Engineering Camp in the afternoons this week. They did so many fun things...they made rockets that they shot off, they made catapults, they built this dome thing (you'd have to see it to appreciate it) and also built bridges. This also included a contest to see whose bridge was the strongest. Liam and his four teammates tied with another team for first prize. There are so many fun things they can do in the summer once they hit this age.

How did that happen? Liam starts school in 19 days; Colm starts in 20. I still have three more field trips planned for us to places we have never been before so I am looking forward to that and Liam still has one more camp to go to-fencing camp. I would also like to take the boys to the zoo, blackberry picking and bowling before they head back to school. This weekend is tax-free back to school supply shopping time. We also have a finite number of days left at the pool, so we are going to squeeze several trips to the pool in there, too. Don't ya just love summer.