A Coyote in Carpool

Today was my first time to drive afternoon carpool and would you believe there was a coyote in the carpool line?!?! I was shocked to hear a coyote howling in the middle of the afternoon. And it sounded like the wild animal was in my car.





Can you tell we are in a Go Diego Go phase right now? This was the first I realized that Will even knew what a coyote was, much less how to make the sound of a coyote's howl...I thought it was hilarious! So his afternoon entertainment was playing coyote while waiting to pick up the big kids. Ya do what ya gotta do to keep em happy!

Giving Him Wings

Jack's first day of kindergarten

You know the saying, "Give your children roots and wings"; well, today was our first step in helping our little bird fly on his own. Jack is officially a kindergartner! He was so excited this morning to get dressed in his uniform and he looked so handsome that I just couldn't stand it.

Today was a short day, just from 9-11, where the students got to meet the teacher and new friends, get acquainted with their classroom, and learn about the routines of kindergarten. We left for school 45 minutes early (it should only take us 20 minutes to get there) thinking that Jack would have time to play on the playground before the bell rang for the Pledge of Allegiance. I don't know what was up this morning, apparently the traffic gods were against me, because traffic was AWFUL! AWFUL, AWFUL, AWFUL! I sat at one light for 10 minutes without moving. That is when I bailed and went a different route, all the while thinking "I can't believe we are going to be late for the first day of kindergarten!" I flew to school, pulled into the parking lot as they were calling the students off of the playground, wheeled into a handicap parking spot while calling out to Jack "Get out of the car quickly". We both hustled up to the front of the school and joined his class with about 2 minutes to spare. A little too much excitement for this mom. However, I do feel better because tonight I learned that the other kindergarten teacher was caught in the same traffic and was running late, too.

The whole school recited the pledge and school mission statement together, and then the kindergarten parents were allowed to walk with their children to the class. Walking down the hall, the significance of the moment hit me and I nearly lost it. Fortunately, I kept my composure because I thought Jack might be concerned to see me bawling in his classroom. All the children got settled at their tables while all of the parents were in the front right corner of the classroom snapping pictures. I turned around and started laughing because we look like the paparazzi! The children were looking at us like we had lost our minds (and maybe we have). No wonder the teachers didn't want us hanging around for more than 10 minutes =).

Jack had a wonderful first day, but being the man that he is, there were very few details shared. I asked all the questions about stuff that we girls want to know, but all I could get out of him was that they had doughnuts for snack and he played with his good friend Gracie on the playground. I am friends with the mom of one of the girls in Jack's class, so I have a feeling that she will be my source for information this year!

Jack's favorite part of his uniform was his backpack. It is a cool Star Wars backpack!
When did he become such a big boy?!?! If I could just keep him this age forever, but then there is the whole "give him wings" thing.

Will saw Jack's backpack for the first time this morning and immediately asked where his backpack was. I was so thankful that I had a Diego backpack (Will is really into 'Diego Go' right now) stashed away. So I pulled Will's backpack out and he was so proud that he had to wear it all morning. Here he is eating his yogurt for breakfast.
I just look at that darling little face and remind myself to soak up every minute. Far too soon, it will be time to help the baby bird test out his own wings.

Sneak Peek at Kindergarten

Today has been a preview of kindergarten. This morning was a kindergarten boys play date and tonight was kindergarten parents orientation and open house. I am exhausted and my head is spinning with all of the information.

This morning 11 of the kindergarten boys met at a park for playing and a picnic lunch. This park not only has two regular "swings and slides" playgrounds but also a splash pad, which was a god-send today because it was sweltering! All of the boys seemed to have fun playing with each other and I think it will be nice on Monday for them to at least recognize faces even if they don't remember names.



Tonight, I went to the kindergarten open house. The first 1 1/2 hours were spent listening to all of the wonderful fundraising opportunities that we'll have available this year! Yay! Then we got the diagram illustrating the carpool lines. There are 2 alternative routes for the morning drop-off and one for afternoon pick-up. It will be easy to pick out the new kindergarten families in carpool line...we'll be the ones going the wrong way! But really I am just teasing about the fundraising and carpooling (well, sort of). I love Jack's kindergarten teacher, and think she is going to be a great fit for Jack! He is going to have a fun year. =)

This week we have been trying to adjust our morning schedule to the new school routine. Goodbye to sleeping in until 8:30, and hello to 6:30 wake up calls. Oh, this week has been hard...I was getting quite fond of everyone sleeping late! Now, I have a splitting headache so I am off to bed.

For the grandmothers: Here are an obnoxious number of pictures of the boys playing at the splash pad this morning.

At the risk of becoming a recipe blog

I have another recipe to share. This one I found on the package of sweet potato spears. Check your grocery produce section where they have the packaged broccoli florets, cauliflower florets, broccoli slaw, etc, and see if they have any peeled sweet potatoes. That is where I happened upon these, and it really saves time not having to peel the sweet potato yourself. However, you could peel and then dice the potatoes and they would work just as well.

So here is the recipe:

Roasted Spiced* Sweet Potatoes

• 8 oz sweet potato spears (or ~1-2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 Tbsp lime juice, fresh
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 Tbsp spicy brown mustard
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together all ingredients except the sweet potatoes. Add sweet potato spears and stir until evenly coated. Arrange potatoes in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees, stirring half-way through cooking time until crispy and brown. Then turn potatoes over, and continue to bake for 10 more minutes, until crispy and brown.

*The original recipe called for red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper. The first time I made it I added these ingredients and it was way too hot. So hot that I couldn't serve them to the boys and Brent's and my taste buds were numb for days due to the heat!

Oh, the cuteness!

This is one of the cutest cupcake/cookie ideas I have ever seen! Bakerella strikes again with Fast Food Fun! I love these little burgers and fries.

Wouldn't this be so cute for a tween or teen party?!?!

It doesn't look hard. And this is where baking always suckers me in. The recipes never do look hard, so I make the mistake of thinking "this shouldn't be too hard, I have a PhD, surely I can do this", and then it ends up being an unmitigated disaster. And that is why I find baking so maddening.

But it does look time consuming, very time consuming. Especially that basket, tissue paper and fry sleeves. Cause your gonna have to edit 'Happy Father's Day', and the editing is gonna give ya fits. Trust me. Murphy's Law.

I am going to file this idea away for a future day. Maybe I will actually try it.

Or better yet, maybe I could bribe my cousin Laura to help me! The girl has baking talent =).

JPEG of the Week

Surfer Dude

Summertime, Summertime

Sum...Sum...Summertime! I was singing that in my head yesterday afternoon as the boys and I enjoyed our ice cream cones. And Holy Cow!, but a single scoop cone costs $3 these days. I KNOW. THREE DOLLARS. I mean, who do they think they are...Starbucks?

For inquiring minds, Jack got coffee chocolate chip (what can I say? The boy has a discriminating palate, or years of Starbucks treats have taken hold.), Will went for his tried and true favorite, chocolate, and I enjoyed key lime pie.

As you can tell, Will did not enjoy his ice cream one bit!

Doesn't that big goose egg above Will's right eye just break your heart? It does mine. As we were walking up to the ice cream stand (some of us might have been running), Will tripped over my foot and went head first into the concrete. It happened so fast that he didn't even have time to break his fall with his arms. Oh, it was bad! I felt terrible. And it was only later, while we are licking our cones, that I noticed the pitiful little right knee. He was sure that a Diego band-aid would make the boo-boo feel better, bless his heart.

After ice cream, an impromptu play date broke out between the boys and a little girl on Jack's swim team and her friend, who were also at Bruster's. We ended up staying there for an hour and they had a wonderful time. It was a fun change in our summer afternoon routine.

Summertime, summertime, sum, sum, summertime!

A Little of This and That...

Apparently, I was mistaken. I did take a picture at the lake this weekend...that would be 1 whole picture and here it is:

Camping at the Lake

Brent erected the tent in the middle of the den and the kids LOVED camping! Friday night, we had 5 children sleeping soundly in the tent. Good times! Now I don't know about you, but this is my idea of camping. Sleeping on an air mattress in a bug-free, a/c environment! I Like It! And just to give the camping experience a little more of an authentic feel, we set up a battery-powered lantern to simulate a full moon. We are nothing if not resourceful, and are willing to go that extra mile for our children.


At the risk of this becoming a week of recipes, I have to share a delicious recipe that I tried last night for dinner. I love fried okra! My Grandmother C can make a gooood fried okra. I have never made it before because it just seems like so much trouble to go through, and have I mentioned that I am no Martha Stewart?!?! Well, in this month's Southern Living there is a recipe for Parmesan Okra, an easy, delicious, 'cheating' version of fried okra. I loved it...Jack and Will were a bit skeptical, but this was their first real encounter with okra (although they've had okra hidden in gumbo and chicken & okra stew before). If you have a August 2009 Southern Living, the recipe is on page 130. If you subscribe to SL, here is the recipe:

Parmesan Okra

• 1 lb fresh okra, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices (I used a 16 oz bag of frozen sliced okra)
  
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
• 2 tsp Greek seasoning
• 1/4 cup freshly shaved Parmesan cheese

Sauté okra in hot oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat 5 to 6 minutes or until crisp-tender. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and seasoning, and cook, stirring often, 3 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and serve immediately. Serves 4.

Yummmm, all the taste of fried okra without all of the hassle!

Cajun Invasion Part 2

Another relaxing weekend at the lake, this time with Brent's sister Bethany and her family. It was a short visit, as they were just passing through on their way to Sid's godchild's baptism on Saturday, but we'll take whatever time we can get! Once again, the boys had a great time with their cousins. Will declared that they were his "bee-yoo-ti-ful cousins"! I don't know where a 2 1/2 year old comes up with that, other than S, A, & S are all very pretty (& handsome)!

Unfortunately, I got no pictures, so you'll just have to imagine all of the pictures you would have seen of the swimming, jumping off of the dock (at least a thousand times), playing on Hawaii beach town, riding in the boat, and roasting marshmallows for s'mores, if I had actually taken my camera out of my purse. Oh, and drinking the Bloody Marys! That definitely would have merited a picture. Sid absolutely makes the best Bloody Mary! And because he is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, he always makes sure to have plenty of them whenever I am around. I am sure that bears no reflection on how much I can consume!

Because I care about you and your refreshment, I am sharing the recipe. And I challenge you to find a better Bloody Mary, 'cause it just can't be done!

Sid's Bloody Mary

• 32 oz tomato juice
• 6-7 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 3-4 Tbsp Pickapeppa sauce
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/3 c lime juice
• several dashes of Tabassco sauce
• 8 oz (or more) of Vodka

Mix ingredients and chill. Garnish with pickled okra and enjoy!