Leap Day!

Now Playing at the White house: Underdog

This is what we will watch tonight when we resume Family Movie Night. We all get into pj's, eat popcorn and watch movies in the dark on the wide screen. I hope we're making lasting memories.


It's Leap Day! I can't pass up the opportunity to post today since Feb. 29 only occurs every four years. Other than that I don't have a lot to say! It was a calm day. Hubby worked from home and surprised Mini#1 by going to his school for lunch. Hubby also put mini#2's medicine in some orange juice this morning and down it went...and stayed down! Yea! I need to give this man more credit! Actually a lot of credit. Last weekend he took the builder's florescent light out of our kitchen and replaced with 7 recessed lights. He already installed under cabinet lighting. He's very handy to have around. I need lots of light in my kitchen. This weekend he may paint Mini#1's room. He told me he's looking for a project.

Ok, off to dinner. I've given in and agreed to get pizza. Not my favorite, but I'm Pink in a sea of blue.

Continuation to last post...

Warning: This post isn't pretty.

Thursday- Mini#2 threw up all over cute frog sweater while taking his antibiotics this morning. Amazingly it missed all furniture, rugs, floors. Just on him. This was minutes before I had to drive Mini#1 to school. He does not like this medicine, but this was a first at throwing it up.

Thursday- bedtime. Mini#2 was doing a good job at taking his medicine when all of a sudden that look came across his face and then I instinctively put my hand under his mouth. Yep! He threw it up in my hand, but not nearly as much as this morning. Ewwwww. I didn't know I signed up for this part of motherhood. He did say "sooorrrry" both times. I scoured my hand raw afterwards.

This was day 7 of 10 for the medicine. I guess we'll both wear trash bags tomorrow morning before trying this again. Poor little man. Poor me.

I'm a good parent. I promise!

Here is a sampling of a few things my almost 3 yr old has done in the last 5 days. You be the judge. Is this normal?

1. Last Friday- he hit a whiffle ball (with a bat) into a pan on the stove while I was cooking.

2. Sunday- on the way out the door to a birthday party I touched his head and felt goop! I smelled it and determined it was baby shampoo. His brother said he was trying to wash his hair.
We went as is since we had no time to correct.

3. Monday- He went into the garage, dragged his brother's real golf clubs inside, and proceeded to start playing. I quickly dove for the clubs before divots appeared in my hardwoods.

4. Tuesday- I saw him eating something. When asked, he said it was cheese. What cheese? He can't reach where the cheese is kept. Upon investigation I discovered it was BUTTER that was on the counter from breakfast toast about 15 mins prior. Who eats chunks of butter and likes it?
Apparently mini#2.

5. Wednesday- while hurriedly running around after I threw on clothes for the bus stop, I found mini#2 quietly pouring out a small bottle of hand sanitizer onto his cute pirate toddler bag. I smelled his breath just in case he decided to sample any. All clear there. See. I'm a good parent.

6. Wednesday- late a.m. While I was gathering dry cleaning he walked into my bedroom, naked, and told me he needed new "big boy pants". The reason being he had pee-peed all over my foyer floor. The only good thing about this was he had found and changed into that NC State jersey and had pee-peed all over the front of it, too. Remember this is the jersey he wants to wear 24/7... the one I want to burn.

I swear these things happen at the weirdest times. It's not like I've locked myself in my room and given him free reign of the house. Thought about it, but haven't done it. This kid scares me sometimes. Where did he come from?

Ellen

Ellen is my hero. Nap time around here is my free time. This could mean time spent doing any or all of the following: folding clothes, prepping dinner, paying bills, reading blogs, putting toys away, napping myself (although it's usually just a 15 minute power nap) but I cannot miss Ellen. I hope 50 looks as good on me as it does her. I just love her show. The monologues, the dancing, the guest stars, the games, the giveaways and her surprise telephone calls. I am always amazed that she is never huffing and puffing after dancing all over her studio just to find her way to her seat. She's always kind, especially when she has children on as guests. Those are probably my favorite interviews. Yesterday she had an 11 year old girl on from my state who knew 11 languages! Holy cow! It was a great interview. She has this way of being comedic for the audience while being entirely engrossed in the kids' talents. I especially love it when she calls people on a whim and how genuinely surprised they are. Her show just makes me happy and want to dance...ok maybe not, but she definitely gives me that extra boost to tackle mini#2 when he wakes up rejuvenated from his nap. We both are ready to take on the rest of the day. Now, if I can just think of some talent to teach mini#2, we can dream of being a guest on Ellen one day. Is it just me or are there other huge Ellen fans out there?

**Special note not pertaining to this post: Oprah had Rick Springfield on today. The first concert I ever attended was his when I was in 6th grade. I also had the pleasure of seeing him in Atlanta in 2000 with a bunch of office mates. Both times I squealed like a teenager. This man does not age. After all these years I still wish I was Jesse's Girl. He can sing to me any day.

Meds, Meals, Memories and a Movie

It's been a busy weekend. We're all finally feeling better. Mini#2 did have an earache so he's on antibiotics. Unfortunately, he does not like this medicine at all and he's on it for 10 days twice a day. I've gotten smart and added a tsp of water to dilute it slightly. Is this ok? Oh well. It's the only way he'll attempt to take it. This morning I had to pretend each sip was a different food. Once it was strawberries, once chocolate cookies, bananas, pizza... You get the picture. In all I named about 8 things to get it all down while he giggled. We have 7 more days of this!

Anyway I've been thinking that May is a very amorous month because February is filled with birthday parties and new babies around here. Friday night I took dinner to a friend down the street that had baby #2 on Feb. 7. Get this. Her first turned 1 on Dec. 13. Barely fourteen months apart. Yikes. Another neighbor I don't know too well had her 2nd on Super Bowl Sunday. They expected girl#2 and had a boy! I would have freaked. How do you recover from a shock like that? I know I'm late on this one, but I've just made chocolate chip cookies and bought them a gift yesterday to take over on our way out to another birthday party this afternoon. It's kind of nice NOT to have to make a meal for them, but I feel a little guilty, too. The mothers in my Bunco group and playgroup all make meals for our friends that have babies. These women get meals Monday, Wednesday, Friday for at least a month! Is this a southern thing? Just curious. I think it's great, but then I'm kind of glad I didn't have all those meals in Georgia. These ladies can cook. I'd be as big as a house right now if I had had my kids here.

It's Oscar night. I love the red carpet interviews best and miss Joan and Melissa Rivers. Joan really knew how to embarrass herself. I went to see Juno with my friend and college roommate Friday night so I could at least say I saw one oscar nominated film this year. We had a nice time catching up over some appetizers before the movie. We also went to high school together in another city and...do I admit this...we're having our 20th reunion this year. Neither of us can believe it's been that long. We're excited to see/hear what everyone did with themselves or didn't as I'm sure could also be the case. We had 540 in our graduating class and we probably discussed half of them Friday night. My friend and I left for college 2 weeks after we turned 18. Our b-days are 5 days apart. We were just babies! Now we talk about our babies. The circle of life they say. Ok, off to jump in dreaded inflatables. I'll be standing back with a somewhat fake smile drinking a diet coke counting the minutes 'til this party is over. Ha! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Earaches, colds, cancelled plans

It's been a long week. Mini#2 woke up last night crying. His 10 day cold has settled in his ears I believe. We missed playgroup yesterday and library reading Wednesday. Which leads me to a little complaint. When my child is sick I do not take little precious to playgroup, nor library readings. Why can't others follow this simple Mother 101 class rule? I know he got this "bug" from library group. It's a small library with an even smaller reading area where they host weekly preschool read along, sing alongs. Last week, as I sat among the wee and their mothers, I saw about 7 running noses and heard beaucoup coughing. I wanted to run, but when I noticed, class was about 10 mins. from finishing. I mean I know we're all desperate to get out of the house during the winter months, but please. Respect others mothers and keep your ill children home! Any opinions on this?

Muffin Tin Meatloaves

I was asked to post this recipe. It's definitely kid friendly. It's low fat and has carrots and zucchini hidden in it so the kids don't know it's in there. It's not even a Sneaky Chef recipe. It was in a low fat cookbook. I served it with brown rice and asparagus with a browned butter sauce. Awesome! I sound like my 1st grader. Of course the minis didn't eat asparagus. I gave them green peas which mini#1 had to mix with applesauce to get down. Hey. Whatever works.

MUFFIN TIN MEATLOAVES

1 1/2 lbs lean ground turkey
1/2 lb lean ground beef (93/7)
1 cup shredded zucchini (about 1 small zucchini)
1/2 cup shredded carrots (about 1 small carrot)
1/4 of a grated onion (I grated so kids couldn't see onion)
2 egg whites
1 cup soft breadcrumbs (I used canister plain crumbs I had)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp poultry or Italian seasoning (I used a little of both)
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup ketchup

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine turkey, beef, shredded
vegetables, onion, egg whites, breadcrumbs, Worcestershire sauce,
poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Using your hands, squeeze
together until evenly mixed.

Pack the meat mixture into 12 muffin cups. There is no need to
grease the pans. These can be made up to one day in advance.
If doing so, cover tightly and refrigerate. Just prior to baking,
top with ketchup. Bake for 30 mins. Unmold from muffin cups
and serve. Per serving: Calories: 235 Protein: 37 g Fat: 5 g
(Saturated: 2 g) Carb: 9 g Fiber: 1 g

ASPARAGUS WITH BALSAMIC BROWNED BUTTER

30 asparagus spears, washed and trimmed (1 1/2 lb)
cooking spray
kosher salt/pepper
2 tbsp butter (not margarine)
2 tsp low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange asparagus in a single
layer on a baking sheet and coat with cooking spray. Sprinkle
with salt/pepper. Bake for 13-15 mins until tender.

Melt butter in a small skillet over medium heat; cook 3 mins.
or until lightly browned, shaking pan occasionally. Remove from
heat; stir in soy sauce and vinegar. Drizzle over asparagus,
tossing well to coat. Yummy!!!!