How to Follow the Rules

Today at dinner, with a mouth full of spaghetti, Alexander informed me, "Mommy, I am not supposed to talk with my mouth full." He seemed pretty pleased that he had remembered. *Snerk.*

Travelling with Kids

It's always a joy. Really.

As we're heading out towards Allentown, PA yesterday for a family picnic:
Alexander: I am so excited!
Me: Me too! But remember, this is going to be a long drive so you have to be patient.
Alexander: I can totally handle it.

later...

Alexander: This is taking soooo long!
Me: I know it takes a long time. I thought you said you could handle it.
Alexander: I guess I was wrong.

A couple of "World According to Xander" quotes

Alexander was a beast today, so I shall post some cute things he said recently to remind me why I should not hand him over to the next band of gypsies to pass through Frederick.

At the beach, while filling buckets with water from the ocean to fill our sand castle's moat: "Mommy, let's get all the water into our moat!" Ambitious, eh?

On Father's Day, when I declined to make Alexander a special breakfast since Justin had passed on the offer: "Well, when will it be kids' day?" Seriously, does every single kid say this? I am almost positive that I said it as a child. Of course Justin and I responded, "Every day is kids' day," just as our parents told us. They were right, ya know. Shhhh.... our parents were right!

Hershey Date Day

On Friday, I made a semi-spontaneous decision to take Alexander to Hershey Park for a special Mommy and Xander day. Justin and Jack stayed home for some bonding time of their own. I was out of my mind with excitement to spend an entire special day with just my big boy, and it did live up to my expectations. We had a blast together just doing whatever we (he) wanted without having to be concerned with what anyone else wanted to do. (Is that horrible to say?) It was great to have an adventure together, just the two of us. Hershey was a great destination for our special day because they had a lot of rides that Alexander was big enough to get on, but since they were "kiddie" rides, the lines were never long. In fact, at times the lines were non-existent and he was able to stay on the ride repeatedly, as long as he wanted! He rode one ride five times in a row before moving to another ride! He was not afraid of any ride that he was big enough to get on, although I have to admit that I don't have quite the stomach for rides that I used to! I had to encourage him to take a break from the ones I was allowed on and spend some time on the ones just for kids! He also really enjoyed the water park area, especially the mini wave pool and the "big green water slide."

Two conversations from our day:
Me (as we're waiting in line to buy our admission tickets): Alexander, we're going to stick together, but I want you to remember that if we do get separated and you can't find me, you should ask an adult, like another Mommy, for help. They will help you find me again.
Alexander (VERY serious and wide-eyed): I am going to hold your hand the whole time.

And later, as we're leaving (this one is predictable), he announced: Mommy, I don't want to leave! I want to live at Hershey Park!

Here are a few pictures. Unfortunately they are limited to him on the kiddiest of rides because I couldn't very well take a picture when I was riding with him!

Beach Trip!

I know it's been a while since I last posted, but I have good reason! We just got back from spending almost a week at Ocean City, Maryland! Our good friend and realtor, Marilynn, graciously lent us her beach condo again this year. We had a wonderful time! We did leave a couple of days early because only rain was in the forecast for the remaining days, but overall the weather was much nicer than last year when we went in May and it was stormy and cold! This year we did pretty much everything we wanted to. We splashed in the ocean, built sand castles, buried each other in sand, ate Thrasher's fries with lots of vinegar, got expensive candy from The Candy Kitchen (we didn't *want* it to be expensive, but we did want to eat it), swam in the pool, rode boardwalk rides, watched movies, ate ice cream, and caught up on sleep. We even got to hang out with Justin's parents who were staying right on the boardwalk for a few days celebrating Mom's special birthday. It was a great time and we're looking forward to next year when we won't have to work around Jack's nap. Here are some pictures!

Mommy Wisdom 6-9-2009

As a parent, I often over-analyze things. I like to plan fun, educational, stimulating, enriching activities for my kids. Often I succeed, although occasionally I lose my pep. Today's activity was, however, not designed to teach my kids anything or enrich their lives in any way. It was designed to get them to leave me alone so that I could make dinner (incidentally, I was making Becky's Pizza Bake). Out of pure desperation, my eyes darted around the kitchen looking for anything that might entertain them and I blurted out, "Do you want to play with water?" I gave them each a few plastic bowls, cups, and measuring spoons and some water, and they were easily entertained for twenty minutes! Now, if you think that the water stayed only in those cups and bowls for more than a minute or two, you've probably never met a child, let alone raised one. But let's just say that my floor needed an excuse to have water wiped up off of it, so it was beneficial in more than one way. What is it about water that fascinates children so?

Daddy's little boy, all grown up

This morning Alexander announced that he had grown up and that he was going to work with Daddy. This is how he was prepared to present himself on his first day in the work-force:

Strawberry Picking

Yesterday we met with our friends Mara, Yael, and baby Barak at Butler's Orchard for some strawberry picking! The kids (and adults) enjoyed themselves, although mine were prone to "lane hopping." They also had a very efficient method of picking strawberries: stealing mine! Alexander approved of his slushie enough that he couldn't be bothered to smile for a picture. Neither the fresh corn nor the tomato that I bought in the market lasted until dinnertime, I'm afraid to say. I'm still looking for a recipe to use of some of these strawberries! I'm afraid we have too many to "just eat." Fresh produce is the best!

Costume Day!

I know I haven't been getting nearly enough photos of the kids up lately! The computer has been being twitchy, but Justin's given it a realignment (these are very technical terms), so hopefully I'll play some catch-up.

We'll start with the kids in costume! Just boredom busting!

Be afraid...

Grown-ups are lame

The other night I overheard this conversation between Alexander's toys (voiced by Alexander, of course).

Toy A: You guys are the best! You're so cool!

Toy B (from group spoken to by Toy A): Thanks! It's because we haven't grown up yet.

Does this mean I'm not cool anymore? Wait... was I ever?

Recipe Contest Winner!

The winner of the recipe contest is... Justin, for "Daddy's Dinner Special!"

Just kidding. That wouldn't be fair, now would it?

First I want to give another sincere thank you to all those who submitted recipes! I am not just being nice when I say that they were all really good, and that I would make all of them again. There were a few that will be finding a place in the regular rotation! This was totally worth the $10 prize, and I may have to do it again in the future when I find myself at a loss for inspiration. I had a really hard time choosing a winner, but finally narrowed it down to two finalists, and remade those two dishes this week on consecutive days so that I could better compare them. I took Justin's opinion into account, and the kids' reactions to the dishes as well.

It was a tough choice, but in the end I chose Kathryn's submission, Aunt Helen's One Dish Dinner.

There's just something about this! It's so filling and hearty, a bit sweet, and savory. It's comfort food! So thanks again, Kathryn (and Timm's mom and Aunt Helen)! Expect something in the mail in the next week or so!