Weekend Retreat

Last week was a really loooooooooong week for many reasons, none of which are worth recording here for posterity.  Suffice to say, I definitely wasn't in my "happy place" anymore, or really even in the tri-state vicinity.  Very fortunately, I had already scheduled a much needed break a few months ago and went on a solo visit to parents on Saturday night (thanks mom and dad!).  Not only did I eat several meals like an actual adult (i.e., sitting for the entire meal and enjoying conversation), I also enjoyed an evening stitch-in at my mom's favorite cross-stitch shop, The Stitching Post. A healthy serving of parental love and quiet stitching time is just what I needed to quiet my mind and refresh my mood -- that and some delicious bacon from IHOP. (OK, there was also sausage and french toast too.)  Even though I was only gone less than 24 hours, the 100% break from parenting and chores is just what I needed. By the end of the day, I remembered that I really do love my family and am profoundly grateful for all I have.  Absence really does make the heart grow fonder sometimes.

When I returned, guess what was waiting for me???  Homemade cookies!  Scott and Abby were inspired by the photos in the Crazy for Cookies book (it really is a cool cookbook) and made Toffee Chocolate Chip cookies, and they even made the toffee to go inside.  DELICIOUS.  (And, all the dishes were even cleanup up!)  This is a photo I took, and the cookies turned out exactly like those shown in the book.  You can see a hunk of homemade toffee peeking up from the center of the cookie. Nice baking!

Prior to my visit down to Maryland, I took Abby and Caroline ice skating on Saturday as part of a Girl Scout event. I used to skate all the time, so it was fun for all of us.  What has changed from when I was little, is now rinks have these cool skating bars that new skaters can use for support.  They are like skating walkers, and the girls used them to get the feel for the ice.  Abby tossed her aside after about 20 minutes, and zoomed around, so I don't have any good photos of the front of her.

Fall Back People....Fall BACK

While the majority of the rest of the country turned their clocks back this past weekend, my children have elected not to do so.   

Ben has been waking in the 5:45-5:55am range.  Caroline has been waking by 6am or earlier, and even Abby has been up by 6:25am, although (bless her) she's been reading in her bed rather than coming into my room to scream at me for breakfast. And, I do mean scream.  It's a super fun way to start the day.  And, kind of jarring.  And, since it's so early, there's so much day to fill with additional screaming. I've tried to explain how everyone will feel happier and better rested if they just went back to sleep for one more hour, but, alas, the sun is up and so are we. 

One less hour of sleep isn't really a big deal in the scheme of things for me, but I it really impacts the kids -- particularly by the end of the day. Since we are really trying to get on this new schedule, they're staying up to their regular bedtimes, but yet they still waking up early.  How can they keep doing this day after day??  I'm baffled!

Pop Art ala Ben

Sometime in the last few weeks Ben has been bitten by the coloring bug, hard.  In addition to his busy schedule with all the superhero adventures and Lego sessions, he has been fitting in considerable stretches of standing at the kitchen table and coloring his Star Wars coloring book. He is as intense about the coloring as he is about the Legos, which is really saying something.

He is still working on the fine motor skills, so coloring an entire picture takes quite a while.  Also, he uses a really firm grip on the crayon -- so hard that whatever crayon he has been using is warm to the touch when he finally puts it down.  This is some intense coloring.

His results are good though! He's not even close to coloring inside the lines yet, but he is staying on the paper now (which is a good thing since I'm out of Magic Eraser) and he's combining colors in pretty novel ways.  Scott really likes the pictures and wanted to take one to work, but Ben will not even consider removing a page from "the collection."

Here's a sampling of my little pop artist's work:

I do realize that showcasing Ben's coloring skills is a pretty long way from my "core mission" of Searching for CC.  However, I have had a head cold for the last week... my brain is not working anymore since it's so stuffy and the bright colors are cheering me up.  Hopefully back onto more adult-oriented topics soon. Actually, now that I think about it, "adult" topics sounds kind of inappropriate.  But, you know what I mean.

C-R-A-Z-Y for Cookies

I love cookies.  REALLY love cookies.  I'm not really into pies, cheesecakes, or even salty snacks. I don't even love store-bought cookies that much, except for maybe Girl Scout peanut butter patties and Berger bakery cookies from Baltimore.  But I love a good homemade cookie.  And, with the exception of a little Amelia Bedelia-like baking mishap when I was about 12 (directions said to grease the bottom of the pan....so I greased the outside bottom...), I am a now a skilled cookie baker and grease the appropriate side of the pan every time.  I really hit my stride around Christmas time -- shortbread, Russian tea cakes, chocolate chip, raspberry thumbprints, butter spritz with almonds....ah...I can't wait.  

I am the proud owner of at least five large, dough-splattered cook books devoted exclusively to this important culinary art, one of which is titled 1001 Cookie Recipes.  Clearly, I have more cookie recipes than I can ever bake.  But, I can't help myself.  We're talking about cookies here. And, I just received a brand new cookie cookbook, Crazy About Cookies: 300 Scrumptious Recipes for Every Occasion & Craving by Krystina Castella that I really like. The author also has a second creative cookbook on the art of cupcake baking that she previously published called Crazy for Cupcakes.

Why do I need this new set of over 300 cookie recipes??  Because these are super cute!  Not only does this cookie book have some interesting twists on traditional cookies, but this cookbook really differentiates itself by a great selection of super creative cookies -- the recipes are more like cookie art projects!  Edible, adorable cookies with ideas for all occasions, holidays, and even every day. Wow-'em ideas that are perfect for cookie exchanges or classroom parties or care packages. And, if you're new to baking, there is also a thorough basics section on doughs, toppings and decoration techniques with some tips that I hadn't read before.

One of my favorite cookie in this book is a twist on the traditional peanut butter cookie.  Instead of the normal circular peanut butter cookie that you criss-cross with a fork (also included on p.80), you roll out the cookie dough and cut out the cookies like a tiny pieces of bread -- and then after they come out of the oven, spread a little jelly on the top of half, and a little peanut butter with honey on the top of the others, and the cookies look exactly like the two halves of PB&J sandwiches. SO CUTE!  And there are so many other super fun ideas in here too, like German chocolate cake cookies with pecan filling, and thumbprints with mocha icing, and black & white cookies and cocktail party cookies on skewers and on and on. Yum yum yum. 

OK, I think I need to go bake something chocolaty now. 


Disclaimer:  I was provided a copy of Crazy About Cookies to Review by Thoroughly Modern Mommies.  All opinions expressed are my own.

The Return of the Juncos

Although my children are still venturing outside to play with flip-flops since they are apparently immune to the cold, the cooler fall temperatures have definitely settled in and it really "feels" like fall.  We've had our first  frost, I've pulled out the sweaters and winter coats for the cold fall mornings, and even somewhat successfully started our first fire in the fireplace last night with a little help from Duraflame and several sections of the Inquirer. 

For me, one final and undeniable fall indicator is the return of our little gray and white friends from Canada, the dark-eyed juncos.  These medium-sized sparrows live and breed in Canada all summer long, and then fly south to all parts of the US for the winter.  They are ground birds and hop around and flock in your backyard to look for seeds.  If you have bird feeders, they park under the feeders or perch in nearby shrubs for the entire winter to wait for dropped seed treats. Juncos are easy to recognize by their bright white tail and belly feathers and pale yellow to pinkish bills.  They cheerfully make high-pitched chirps all day.  While perhaps not as flashy as some other types of birds that over-winter here, I always feel a little extra cheerful when I notice that the little juncos have returned for another winter season. 

I first noticed that our juncos had returned this past Thursday while I was staring out the window watching the rain fall (when I should have been working, ahem).  Has anyone else noticed that their juncos have returned too?

  

Legoland

Ben has become obsessed with Legos.  Having been obsessed with Legos myself for a period (flashback to the castle series in the 80s), I completely understand Lego love.  What surprises me, is that he is only 3 years old and barely has the fine motor skills to scribble.  And yet, he spends all his waking hours (ALL) building, playing with, and manipulating Lego mini-figures, having Lego battles, and transporting Lego pieces all over the house. He wants nothing to do with age-appropriate Duplo blocks.  He's obsessed with the "big kid" blocks. I can't blame him there, Duplo blocks do not have the detail or building potential of real Legos.

Unlike my own obsessive-compulsive tendencies to maintain inflexible boundaries among various types of Lego sets (Star Wars stay with Star Wars, pirates with pirates, castle with castle, etc.), Ben is not bounded by these rigid guidelines.  He combines any and all pieces to create leagues of Lego superheroes and knights and bad guys. He even combines people pieces with non-people pieces. Gasp!  The result is an incredibly creative and ever-changing set of Lego guys.  And all these "Lego guys" travel around the house and have "awesome" battles with requisite sound effects.

All this Lego-loving has some implications for our house, which I am hereby renaming: Legoland. (Unlike the real Legoland in California, I do not charge admission. Shoes highly recommended.)

1) The dining room has become the Lego Room. We haven't eaten in there in months. Actually, from a dining perspective, this is no problem since we eat all our meals around the kitchen table anyway , but I can't decide if having my formal dining room as a Lego room says I am a cool and free-spirited mom, or if it just shows that I've lost control in yet another area of my life.

2) Vacuuming has become much more challenging.  Ben carries his Lego guys all over the house to go on adventures.  While I support expanding his imagination and all, the little tiny Lego pieces are getting strewn everywhere. So, in addition to the typical pre-vacuum pick-up, there is now a pre-vacuum scour the floor for teeny, tiny Lego pieces.  I can't just vacuum without looking for pieces up -- I could accidentally vacuum up something important!  (The OC part of me must maintain complete sets of Legos!)

3) The newspaper and mail have become much more important.  Now that Halloween is over, the Christmas shopping season has begun in earnest (or so I've heard), and the Sunday paper and daily mail is chock full of toy catalogs full of pictures of Lego sets.  When not playing with the Lego guys, Ben has been intensely reviewing these catalogs and telling me which sets he would like (all of them, actually).  His favorite set to longingly gaze at is the $400 Star Wars Death Star set that comes with 16 (!!!) Lego mini-figures.  Pops recently brought up this season's Lego store catalog -- which is 50+ pages of Lego dreams.  Ben has been carrying it with him around the house, like some young children do with lovies or blankies. 

I tell you the boy is obsessed.

Tricks and Treats

The Highlights

Overall, we had an excellent Halloween. Our neighbor's pumpkin carving party, Abby's field hockey game, our town's Halloween parade, and trick-or-treating was all enjoyed in less than seven hours.  (whew!)

We I mean the kids received an excellent amount of candy.  Scott and I have completed our initial safety evaluations, but remain undecided whether or not candy is safe to consume.  More analysis planned for this evening. Personally, I'm still not quite sure about Reese's Cups and Twix.  On a related note, I resumed attending Body Pump class at the gym today to offset these necessary safety checks.

One surprising moment occurred last night when I opened the front door to give out some Hershey's Special Dark bars only to notice that Ben had removed his costume and pants to make a trick-or-treating pit stop. But, he decided to do the disrobing part in the entryway, so the result was basically mooning the trick-or-treaters.  I think that firmly goes into the "Trick" column, don't you??

Fortunately, the rest of the evening was just "Treat!"  Particularly after we returned home to investigate the contents of the trick-or-treat bags.  When the girls were thoroughly reviewing their haul and I was sorting out the food dye containing candies (which Caroline did a great job avoiding, I should add), Ben realized that neither Scott nor I were paying close attention to him.  I looked up to find out that he had opened and consumed a truly impressive amount of candy and was diligently opening candies as fast as his little fingers would let him. Any type of chewy candy or hard candy that would take too long to consume was licked and then cast aside for items that could be eaten faster.  I asked, "Ben, what on earth are you doing?" His answer was to scoop up an entire mini-bag of candy corns and shove them into his mouth as fast as he could.  I think that he knew the candy-eating event of his lifetime was over.  He was all smiles though!

Captain America, Cleopatra, and Wonder Woman

Boo

Edited:  Scott has just reminded me that one of the "highlights" also included not one, but TWO of our children having accidents in their costumes yesterday.  Believe it or not, but I had already selectively forgotten that in less than 24 hours.  Impressive!  (my lack of memory, not the accidents)