And One More

Part 3: All The Rest Of It

Okay, I am starting to lose interest in Thanksgiving. So lets make this quick, ok?

We stayed at the lake all day Friday and half of Saturday. While we were there we did lots of fun things including: a zoo trip, exploring by the water, a chilly boat ride, and more hanging out with the family. Here is a photo montage to sum it all up.

Phew! I think that is all. It was a fun and busy holiday weekend. Which is why it is no wonder that this is the company that Wes kept on his drive home.

More Thanksgiving

Part 2: Lake Murray

Thursday afternoon we arrived at Wes' parents house on Lake Murray. They have just finished building a brand new house on their lake property and this was our first time seeing it.

It is a beautiful house with amazing views of the lake. Oh, and it has more than one bathroom and no creatures living in the floor. So it is definitely an upgrade from the old lake house!

We spent the afternoon finishing up all the food for thanksgiving and letting the kids play on the porch. Then everyone sat down for a delicious meal. Liam really loved Aunt Jean's sweet potato casserole (a child after my own heart - it is wonderful!) and gobbled it right up. along with some turkey and green beans. He did not, however, care for regular mashed potatoes. I think he was expecting them to taste like the sweet potatoes and when they didn't there was a lot of spitting and gagging and choking as he attempted to evict them from his mouth. Nice.

Oh, and Noah ate "chicken". (Psst! It was actually turkey but we told him it was chicken. Otherwise he would not have eaten it.) He did keep asking us, "Where is the turkey?" We kept pointing to the counter but he continued to look confused. Then a lightbulb went off in my head, and I realized he was looking for a live turkey. (Who knows why he thought Nana and Pops would have a live turkey wandering around their house.) I calmly said, "Noah, the turkey is on that plate over there. They cooked it." His eyes got as  big as saucers and he gasped. Yep, not what he was expecting. Good thing we told him he was eating chicken.

After dinner it was a free-for-all. All three cousins and Pops and Uncle Mike had a grand time being crazy.

And we attempted to take a family picture but it didn't go so well. Carissa tried her hardest to get a good one of us, but Liam makes it next to impossible. This was the best we could do.

Do you like how we gave him a phone to play with to get him to sit still? Good parenting 101.....

After a piece (or 2) of pumpkin pie it was time for my food coma. All in all, a very fun day!

Thanksgiving Recap

I like to pride myself on my ability to work a Friends quote into almost any situation. I have been waiting to use this one ever since I started eating vegetarian this past summer...

"Happy Needless Turkey Murder Day!"

Thanks Phoebe!

Okay, so now onto the actual blog post.

Part 1: The Turkey Trot

As has been our tradition for the past several years - except the year I was pregnant - we headed downtown to begin our Thanksgiving with the annual Turkey Day Run. My Mom and Marv joined us for this really fun 5k. Marv ran and Mom stayed with the boys during the race.

The morning was pretty cold and I will admit that I had a mini freak out about whether I should wear long sleeves or short sleeves. Wes and Marv opted for short sleeves but I just couldn't commit. And then, of course, I saw a super cute athletic chic wearing the exact same crop pants as me, and she was going with short sleeve. So then I started worrying not just about my shirt choice but also about the fact that her pants looked sooooo much better on her than they did on me. Then she turned around and I saw that she was a seeded runner (i.e., super fast) and I snapped myself out of it. Long sleeves it was, and of course she looks good in her pants - she was probably gonna run that thing 10 minutes faster than me!

The race was really fun. I have not been running much at all and expected to struggle to break 30 minutes. I didn't run with a watch but I told myself to expect pain and just push. It worked - I ended up finishing in 27:40! Very happy with that! And Wes did awesome too - 23:37 or something like that. Good job babe!

After our race we pinned Noah's number on him and headed over to the start of the kid's fun run.

While we waited Liam snacked on a muffin (or 3) and managed to spill an entire bottle of water down his shirt.

Then, right before the kids run began, Noah and I ran into our buddies Lisa and Hannah.

Wes took the kids to the start line and Lisa and I headed to the finish line. I was hoping to capture a great picture but I ended up with a terrible view of the race. In fact when the Noah's group came around the corner to the finish I could not even see him in the chaos. I held my phone up and started snapping away hoping to catch a picture of something. Turns out that even though I didn't see him, my camera did and I ended up with a great action shot.

That's him in the blue pants. Love it! Love his determined face and his perfect running form... I hope this is not the last race I watch him run!

Noah and Hannah after the race, sporting their hardware. (Don't you love that she is about a bajillion times taller than him?!)

After the race we headed home, where I promptly had another freak out session when I realized that we had an hour and half to shower, finish packing, load the car, and cook the rest of our casseroles before we headed out of town to see Wes' family. Thankfully, my Mom and Marv offered to pitch in, and helped get the boys a bath and got them dressed.

So, I am thankful for my health and the ability to run, and for family who helps me when I am freaking out!

And the rest of this post will have to wait because Liam is pointing upstairs and saying, "Go, go. Nigh', nigh'!" I guess it's bed time. You will have to stay tuned for part 2!

Random Happenings

So this weekend kind of flew by. Jeez.

I had some pictures I wanted to share with you. Just a few little snippets of our life.

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Wes has overdosed on electronic gadgets? You can't see it, but I can assure you that the iPhone was nearby... He is never far from it folks.

Noah and I one morning shortly after Wes issued our wake up call. Which means, he had been calling us both to get up for at least 5 minutes, we finally stumbled out of bed, but only made it as far as the couch. I am aware that Noah's hatred of waking up early comes honestly.

How much fun is he?! I know you are wondering what happened to create that happy face. Well, basically, our children revolted at bedtime the other night. We went up with every intention of a quick bath and story time but were somehow sucked into something else entirely.

There was chaos and jumping off the bed and attacks mounted with weapons. And there was laughter and shrieking and good times had by all. To anybody who insinuated that my boys would not be close because they are four years apart, I give you these pictures. They love each other so much and have such a blast playing together.

I did however, learn that it is best NOT to equip Liam with a hatchet or a night stick if you value your life. He came after me.

But no worries, I got him back.

And wrapping up this post of randomness.... This afternoon my sister and I went to go see The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1. As you can imagine, the line we waited in to get into the theatre was 90% female and probably most of those were under the age of 25. (I will admit, I felt kind of old.) We stood behind a group of girls who were all dressed exactly alike (skinny jeans with knee high boots) with the same shade of blond hair - they clearly shared a colorist - and I couldn't help but giggle at their valley girl conversations. At one point my sis turned to me and said, "Hey, scoot back and I'll take your picture with Puss in Boots." I immediately started cracking up as I thought she had come up with a clever nickname for the chick in front of us, but no.....

She was talking about the poster of the actual Puss in Boots. Oops. (I am a little concerned about the placement of her hand in this picture - just sayin')

Well, that's it. That is all the randomness I can muster for tonight. Adios!

My Soapbox For The Week

When I was little I used to bring my lunch to school every day. I NEVER wanted cafeteria food; and did anyone ever really want mystery meat in gravy with a side of instant mashed potatoes? All that changed when I went to high school though. Suddenly there were more options than just the regular old hot lunch line. There were salads and sandwiches... and pizza and fried chicken... and FRENCH FRIES!!! 

Guess what I ate for the entirety of my sophomore year? Seriously, guess. It wasn't salad. Every single day I got a giant slice of pepperoni pizza and then chased it down with a three - yes three, each about the size of a tea saucer - triple chocolate cookies. By the time my senior year rolled around I began to be concerned about all the extra fat I was consuming so I made some changes. That year I stuck to a basket of french fries, with extra salt, and no dessert. 

Now, you're probably wondering why I wasn't three hundred pounds by graduation day. (That's what I am wondering by the way.) I guess you could say that between the good luck of having decent genes, and being fairly active I managed to avoid too many negative consequences of those school lunches. I think it probably had more to do with other factors. Like, the fact that my Mom cooked all my other meals. For breakfast and dinner I got healthy things. We ate lots of veggies in my house and never had too much junk food just lying around. But what about those kids who didn't have parents who tried to keep things healthy at home? What happened to the kids who ate the crap I was eating at every meal.  Fast food was sold in schools - at least it was in mine - and kids would come early to have a chicken biscuit before school started. And we all know that lots of families rely on fast food for dinner. 

Shouldn't our schools - where we send our children and entrust their safety - be places that are free of the kinds of food that lead to childhood obesity and heart disease and diabetes? I think they should be, but apparently our government does not. I read this article this morning and it made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. In a spending bill, that passed on Monday, congress has included a section that repeals some of the newer USDA guidelines that were attempting to make school lunches healthier. According to your congressmen, it is totally acceptable to count pizza as a vegetable. Yes, you heard that right. It is now legal for the tomato paste on a piece of pizza to count as a serving of vegetables for your children. And those french fries  that I ate every day for a year? Well, supporters of the bill were pretty hacked off at the ol' USDA for trying to limit the amount that could be served in schools. Now, there are no limits on those "vegetables". Ignorant teenagers around the country can continue to stuff their faces with them every day thinking they are making a "healthy" choice.

Oh, and would you please take just a second to pause and think really hard about who lobbied the hardest for this bill to pass?...... You there yet? Yep, you guessed it - the frozen food companies who produce the pizzas, and the salt and potato industries. So, it is the bottom dollar that congress is really protecting. Not the health of our children. Sigh....

Every morning I wake up and the first thing I do is pack Noah's lunch. People always ask me if he buys his lunch and I always have to answer while trying not to laugh out loud. First of all, Noah's picky eating tendencies mean he wouldn't touch school food with a 10 foot pole (and his neurotic eating is whole 'nother post for another day). Second of all, I much prefer to include actual fruit and vegetables in his lunchbox. 

But tomorrow when I pack his Mario lunch box I will be thinking this. What about those kids who are on the federal lunch program for free or reduced lunch in our public schools? The ones whose parents rely on that to help feed their kids in an economy where money and jobs are scarce. Are we, as a country, doing our best for those kids by allowing tomato paste to count as their vegetable? If this is the attitude of the adults in America, isn't it little wonder that this will be the first generation of children who are so sick that their life expectancy is shorter than that of their parents? 

My children are not perfect in their eating habits - far from it actually -  but I continue to try. To try and show them what they healthy choices are. And to lead by example so that they see that I not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I want my children to outlive me by many years. And have bodies that are strong and healthy and able to carry them on any adventure that they choose. I wish that the people who make the laws wanted that for all the children of this country.

A Quick Post

It's another busy Monday here in our house. And by busy, I mean lots of organizing and reorganizing and making sure that Liam is not putting important things - like say, my phone - in my bags of toys to donate. Yes, I want to give our surplus toys to a good cause. No I do not want to donate my iPhone.

So, because I must make dinner soon this will be short and sweet. Can I just take a moment to tell you what a kick I get out of these two?!

Noah has a new catch phrase. Double drat! As in, "Oh man! We are out of gummy snacks - double drat!" Every time he says it I crack up.

And Liam. Well lets just say that last night I turned around and he was casually leaned up against the couch with one had in his pocket, watching football. I was like, Um, Abercrombie and Fitch called. They want their pose back!


That's really all for now. You just have to stop and write this kind of stuff down before you forget it!

Its A Beautiful Morning!

Today has been the nicest day. It started off freezing cold - like, 32 degrees or something insane like that - but it warmed up very quickly. By the time we made it downtown to the Charleston Farmer's Market I was peeling off layers and wondering if we had over dressed. (One look at Liam confirmed that may have been true. Fleece pants? Check. Fleece vest? Check. Fleece jacket. Oh yeah, we had that too! Altogether too much fleece on one tiny body? Double check!)

We did a little Christmas shopping and then a little produce shopping and then the boys ran around while Wes waited in line for yummy crepes. Mmmm.

Aaannndddd, there may have been some donuts. I'm just saying.

Donuts aside, we got some yummy delicious, nutritious stuff for the week.

Arugula, grape tomatoes, butternut squash, bell peppers, garlic, apples, and new potatoes. That is (almost) all the produce I need for the week and it only totaled $21. For locally grown, chemical free produce. I love the Farmer's Market! I am sad that it will be closing soon, but that just means we are getting closer to another exciting food development. I signed us up for a CSA share that begins the first of January and I am SO excited about it. In case you don't know what that is - and I realize that most people do, but humor me - I will briefly explain. CSA stands for community supported agriculture. Basically, you pay a certain amount to a local farmer and you literally get a share of his harvest each week. What I paid for 12 weeks worth of produce from Ambrose Farms' CSA is such a deal I can hardly believe it! The only downside to CSAs (if you can call it a downside) is that you have no say over what comes in your bag each week. It is completely dependent upon what is in season and what the farmer harvests that particular week.

Now, last year even, that concept was enough to scare me away. I had no desire to cook a bunch of crazy vegetables that I had never tried before. But my mind has changed for 2 reasons. First, after having been vegetarian for a while now I am now used to cooking with formerly unfamiliar vegetables. Case in point....

Acorn squash stuffed with quinoa, Brussels sprouts, and chickpeas with a balsamic vinegar and maple syrup based dressing. Oh. My. Word. Delicious! Even Wes thinks so.

My second reason for not being afraid of the CSA is because of my new commitment to eating produce that is grown locally and in season. No more strawberries in the middle of winter for $6.99 a tub. No tomato sandwiches until next summer. Even though there are things that I miss when eating seasonally, it is still worth it. The taste of food that has not been frozen and shipped half way around the world is unbeatable. So this winter it will be a lot of root vegetables and dark leafy greens for us. And probably some other things I will have to be adventurous with. I say bring it on! We are on a veggie adventure.

And, for the rest of tonight, we are on the adventure of rearranging furniture in our living room. After leaving Wes with the boys - and 2 of their friends - while I went to see Footloose this afternoon, I am seriously testing the limits of his marital vows! Wish me luck!

Top Ten Ways To Enjoy A Weekend

#10 - Start your weekend early. Like, on Thursday evening. By, say, visiting the Coastal Carolina Fair! (We met Wes after work and drove up the road to spend the evening at the fair. The weather was perfect - sunny and only slightly chilly - and so it was more crowded than when we went last year, but just as fun. Wes and I took turn riding the rides with Noah. The parent not riding was unfortunately stuck trying to entertain Liam. As usual, popcorn and other treats work well for that. Noah and I had a great time riding the Ferris Wheel.)

Find yourself being very grateful to be enjoying sitting next to that smiling face as you go 'round and 'round looking at the fair all lit up.

#9 - After a while at the fair realize that your youngest is going to absolutely FREAK OUT if you don't find him a ride to go on. (Unfortunately, they don't seem to think that rides that fold out of the back of a truck are safe for 18 month olds- weird- and there was exactly one ride that was made for his age group. And it was broken that night. We finally found the Carousel and realized he could go on that, so Wes climbed aboard with both boys. Liam loved it for the 30 seconds before the ride started.)

And the the ride started.... And every time they rode by Liam's face was a little more terrified until, near the end, he was leaning all the way off the horse with his arms wrapped around Wes' neck in a death grip. Oops.

#8 - As Friday evening approaches, get excited to celebrate a friends' birthday at the Children's Museum. Pack up all your crap, put coats on  your children, exit your house, turn the lock on the knob, pull the door closed, hear it click, then scream in horror as you realize that your keys are not in your hand but rather inside on the kitchen counter.

#7 - Yell and curse - call your husband in a fury and tell him to get home NOW! Listen to your 5 year old cry cause you might miss the birthday party. Cry right along with him and inform him that you didn't exactly want to be stuck on your back porch with no keys. Then sit on the porch, in the cold, for half an hour waiting for your husband, and think about what a great mother you are.

#6 - Finally get to the party, realize you didn't miss any of the good stuff and eat a giant piece of cake to make yourself feel better.

#5 - Wake up on Saturday morning and be happy that you get to spend the day with these sleepy faces.

#4 - Make a trip to the Farmer's Market and be sure to include the following things:
      ~ Four boys under the age of 6
      ~ One fairly hard to steer umbrella stroller
      ~ One good friend to help you manage the previous two items.
      ~ Two grande soy lattes
      ~ 3 giant reusable shopping bags that you can fill to the brim with produce and other items and then    carry them around downtown looking like a crazy bag lady.
     ~ A box of cupcakes for your Husband's birthday that you somehow manage to tip over so that all the icing smashes together in one giant glob in the middle of the box. Happy Birthday honey.
     ~ At least two items that you bring home with you that make you happy every time you see them.

I am obsessed with these candles we found. Rewind Candles are handmade with soy wax right here in Charleston. They all come in re purposed green wine bottles and each one has the aromas and notes of a specific wine. I bought the Champagne one and have been burning it constantly ever since.

#3 - Be very happy that your Mom is in town and offered to watch the boys while you and your husband go out to celebrate his 33rd Birthday. Let him pick what he wants to do and end up at a College of Charleston basketball game. Realize that sitting at a sporting event is made much better by the purchase of a giant salted pretzel. End up having a great time watching the game with your hubs. Afterwards head to Chai Lounge for drinks while you wait for your table at Basil to be ready. (And make a note to yourself that next time, Wes might not want to drink his bourbon quite so fast!) Finally head to dinner and enjoy an evening of good food and good laughs with your best friend. (Oh, and absolutely draw the line at him ordering a drink called a "Mingo Mango". Some things are just unacceptable if you want to keep your man card.)

#2 - Celebrate Wes' real birthday on Sunday when he gets home from work. Invite Aunt J over and  have a low key evening with the boys and pizza and video games.

#1 - Realize that all special events aside, your life is still your life - there is no dressing it up. Have a hearty belly laugh as you end the weekend with the usual chaos at bath and bed time. While your boys sword fight with hangers, hear this quote from Aunt J:

"So, um, has anyone ever asked you guys to be in an abstinence commercial?"

Yep, this is our life. And we're loving every minute of it!

Halloween Night Recap

I meant to post these yesterday but, oh well!

We had a very fun Halloween evening. I even feel like we "cheated" a little because we actually went trick-or-treating twice, once in our neighborhood and once in our friends' neighborhood. Noah had a giant bag of candy by the end of the night. Not that he has touched even one piece yet. I guess one of the (only) pros to having a picky eater is that he is picky about everything - even candy! Here is a picture of the kiddos in our 'hood before we got started.

This is the stillest that Liam stood all night. He, as always, was convinced that he was a big kid and took off running with them from minute one. Of course he was a little slower so we brought up the rear a lot. I also felt bad for all our friends as they had to hear the phrase, "No Liam! On the sidewalk!" about a million times that night. Even I was tired of hearing my voice yell it over and over again. When he wasn't running in the street, Liam was having a blast climbing the porch steps of every house and waving at the people who opened the door. He did not really understand about the candy so I followed along behind him and put a piece in his bag at each house.

Noah was in usual trick-or-treat mode... Race to each house as fast as you can! Mario was consistently 2 or 3 houses ahead of us.

Eventually we put Liam in the stroller so we could catch up with Noah. This was met with much resistance at first, until Wes opened up a Three Musketeers bar and handed it to Liam. My littlest guy was in heaven after that and we went through 3 candy bars during the rest of our trip around the neighborhood.

Right about the time it got dark we headed over to the other neighborhood to trick-or-treat with some other friends. There were some great houses over there that were done up right for Halloween! Noah got a big kick out the spooky scenes in many of the front yards. And, of course, he continued to run from house to house at top speed.

Liam walked for a bit with his buddy Caroline before settling back into the stroller with more candy.... Do not judge me. It was just one night.... And it kept him quiet. Sorry, but I am not sorry for bribing him with chocolate!

We finished up the night hanging out on the driveway. The adults talked and sipped their "refreshing beverages" and the boys did what they do best. Wrestling.