Flip that house...Gingerbread style!

Last Saturday my mom and the girls started out on a little project--they were going to build a Gingerbread house. All was going well--the girls decorated the walls and were entertained for a bit of time--always a good thing...but as they started piecing the house together things began to go south. The final straw for the house was the roof....it collapsed. The girls were sad but also thought it was kind of funny that their Gingerbread house looked like it had gone through an earthquake.

But then we got the pictures via cell phone from my sister of JB's Gingerbread house extraordinaire from the Gingerbread House Event he went to at the Milwaukee Athletic Club....it made our house look even more pitiful. Well...Grandpa Jock would have none of the Gingerbread house failure...he went into full on Gingerbread house flip mode--googling the best frosting to keep a house together,etc.,etc. Then he made a stop at Farm and Fleet for some "more" decorations for the house....oh and also fashioned a chimney out of a piece of wood-which involved the use of a saw (you know he was serious)...the girls decorated the outside and voila they had successfully flipped our Gingerbread house.

You're doing it wrong...

Mr. Mom is a favorite movie of mine from way back...Do you remember the scene where Michael Keaton's character Jack has to drop off for school for the first time and can't quite figure out the "drop off" system?

"Why are they all honking?",

"Because you're doing it wrong"

"Don't tell me I'm doing it wrong...I know what I'm doing!"

"Hi Jack, I'm Annette...You're doing it wrong"

Before I had children I thought that was just a comical part of the movie and that the characters were completely made up and that no "drop off" system could be that hard. Well my friends...apparently it is....

According to the Drop Off Manifesto...Drop Off should consist of 1. pulling into the school, 2. pulling up next to the sidewalk 3. Child opening door 4. Parent saying goodbye-have a great day,etc 5. Said parent driving away. Lately parents have been...well...they have been doing it wrong....they get out of their cars, they redress their children, they wash their car--okay maybe not...but close. I don't know why I let it bug me so much...maybe because I like to be efficient, maybe because it is a rule and I need to follow rules--I don't know but I find myself with this weird since of glee if we can pull up, drop off and be on our way in a fluid motion--I know can you say control freak. I realize their is nothing I can do about the mom/dad/grandma/grandpa/caregiver that can't/won't figure out the system, so I guess I will just pretend I'm staring in Mr. Mom and we are rehearsing the "You're doing it wrong" scene over and over and over and over and over :-)

Facts of life...by Clare

Tonight as Clare was going to sleep she said, " you know what is crazy?", well I was thinking a lot of things are crazy....like how I paid 5+ dollars for pancake syrup at a "quik mart" (yes quick is spelled correctly) just because we were having a syrup emergency, but I said "nope".  "Well it is crazy that I never want to go to bed, but then in the morning when I am supposed to get out of bed, I don't want to do that either".  To that I said, "guess what Clare?  It is going to be like that for the rest of your life!" and she simply said, "I know mama, I know".

A little note...

Dear guy who was lifting weights next to me this a.m.--

Hi...Just wanted to let you know that moaning and when I say moaning I mean MOANING when you lift weights is not cool. I dunno...maybe lift lighter weights...or maybe just stop moaning!
That's it--just thought you would like to know!

Ann

It happened...

and it wasn't as creepy as I had imagined....Clare lost her first tooth on Saturday night. Of course the reason that I wasn't completely grossed out was that I made it upstairs only after 1.) the tooth was removed by Chris 2.) the bleeding had stopped 3.) Clare was sooo excited that I couldn't help but be excited for her. She put the tooth in her "tooth box" and was very excited about what the tooth fairy was going to bring her. In trying to find a decent "tooth fairy" picture (btw...no I don't consider the above a decent picture...but it was better than a freaky lady dressed up like the T.F.)...I ran across this little bit of Tooth Fairy trivia....

Many folk cultures marked the loss of a child's baby or milk teeth. Some cultures placed the tooth in a tree or threw it to the sun. Other rituals involved having an adult swallow the tooth or burn it. Even the Vikings had their own ritual called "tooth fee" whereby a small gift was given to a child when its first tooth appeared.

I think the throwing the tooth to the sun...or throwing it on the roof as I have also seen done is a great idea...but thank the good Lord that we don't live in a place where the adult swallowing the tooth is the practice. As someone told Clare today at the Y...now you are a big kid!

Veggies anyone?

So...I have been contemplating for some time about buying a "share" in a farm near by--they have many pick up points in the suburbs...but we would be lucky enough to drive roughly 10 minutes and pick up our vegetables at the farm. There are many positives about getting our vegetables this way...local buying, quality organic food and encouraging us to become more creative in how we prepare vegetables to eat (nice way of saying...forcing us to eat more vegetables!)

My friend Brenda currently participates and has suggested the 10 week program-as opposed to the whole summer program (due to an insane amount of leafy veggies in the early part of summer) and also finding another family to split our share with (2 young, picky children...might not do a whole share justice)---My biggest fear is the investment...if we would put all veggies to good use...it would be totally worth it...guess it is the commitment to eating...hmmm let me make that clear...I am very committed to eating-lol--but eating vegetables with everything or as a main meal...not so much.

It is funny because I have always said that people on the West Coast would have an easier time eating locally, etc. However--with the addition of a new store in Beloit it is becoming clear to me how great we have it in the Midwest in terms of local produce--veggies, meat and cheese for sure.

As with many of my posts...not sure where I am going with this one...but let's leave it with...I am thinking about some different options for food...would love any thoughts or life experience with Community Supported Agricultural Programs (CSA's) or great recipes with vegetables!

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