'Surrounded' By Fun on the Farm

Isn't it funny how the things that you plan and highly anticipate often end up being kind of mediocre experiences, but the things that are thrown together last minute end up being really fun? That was the case with our family last weekend when we made a random, spontaneous decision to take the boys to the pumpkin patch at Legare Farms.

We headed over last Saturday evening as a way to entertain the boys, but we ended up being the ones entertained.

We started with the hayride since it was late evening and we wanted to beat the dark.

The reason that last picture doesn't have all 4 of us in it is because Liam was in the middle of a small panic attack. He was not a huge fan of the hayride at all. Sitting on the hay in the wagon was fine, but as soon as the tractor roared to life and started pulling us he kind of freaked out. He was better when we stopped to feed the cows.

He seemed to enjoy the cows coming right up to us to beg for food - we even got a few giggles out of him, although he stayed firmly planted in Wes' arms. Noah enjoyed it too -"Oh, look at that cow! Ahh! There is a baby cow. Oh my gosh, look at all these cows!!" - but he was quite emphatic about the fact that he was NOT going to let the cows eat directly from his hand.

"I do not like their slobbery, slimy mouths!"

See, he sat from a safe distance and threw the treats over the side.

We managed to spot the bull in the herd. His massive size kind of gave him away. That, and the fact that he head-butted other cows out the way whenever he wanted to go somewhere. Everyone wanted to see him, and for some reason he spent a good deal of time over by us even after we ran out of cow treats. As I was petting him, I informed Wes it was probably because he sensed from me that I don't eat his kind. Wes kind of rolled his eyes at me and went back to trying to get Liam to release his death grip.

After the hayride, we took the boys over to where they keep some of the farm animals out for children to see/touch. I wish I had pictures of this experience but it was almost dark and my iPhone was not taking good pictures in the dusky light. This year, instead of having the goats in a pen, they were wandering around the area. Noah did not realize this until we were right up on them, and a small goat with horns came over to see if we had any food for him. Noah immediately froze with a panicked look on his face.

"That goat is coming at us!"

We tried to explain to him that the goats would not hurt him, but right about that time a little girl nearby started crying because the Mama pig had bitten at her through the fence, and Noah looked at us like we were trying to sell him oceanfront property in Arizona. (Meanwhile, Liam was walking in between Wes and I, clutching our hands for dear life.) We tried to take Noah around to see the other animals but the goats kept following us and he loudly cried, "I do not like goats!!"

Then poor Wes started lamenting about how his wife has an irrational fear of birds and now his son has an irrational fear of goats. Then we heard Noah scream, "Ahh! We're surrounded!!" Sure enough we were surrounded - by 3 goats.

"Noah they wont hurt you son."

"Yes, they will. They are going to charge us!"

"Noah, when have you ever been charged by a goat?!"

"In my dreams. I had a dream that a goat charged me."

At this point we gave up on the whole farm animal experience and ushered our two city boys back over to the playground. Wes and I could not stop laughing at how dramatically both of them reacted to the farm life experience. We spent the next 30 minutes looking at each other and saying We're surrounded! and then cracking up.

We finished the night by taking a spooky walk in the darkened pumpkin patch and then headed home. Both boys were tired, and almost asleep in the car, but caught a second wind when we got in the house. I captured the following series of pictures of Liam mounting an attack against his brother.

Yes he climbed up there all on his own, and yes, at this point Noah got a little upset and Wes had to peel Liam off his back.

Recent Snapshots

The following are pictures from my iPhone. In the order they appear on my phone, they can tell you what we have been up to lately.

This is a picture of the ingredients for a soup I made, Lentil Stuffed Pepper Soup. I got it from one of my favorite food bloggers. So good! Too good apparently, as I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. Needless to say, this easy to make soup - that yielded enough for several meals - made me excited that cooler weather was here so I could justify huge batches of soup on a weekly basis!

Cold beer in a frosted glass. Do you need any more explanation???

This is what my boys do while we shop at Publix. Unfortunately, those cookies don't last any longer than the produce section.

This picture is blurry because it is an action shot taken on  my phone. Noah has been begging to go for a run with us, so the other night the whole family headed out. (After he had changed into his "running clothes" of course!)

He insisted on running warm-up laps around the stroller. He did it 10 times and pronounced himself officially warmed up and ready to stretch.

Liam went too, in the stroller of course. And he grabbed his most favorite thing to hold while riding in the stroller...

A fly swatter. My kids are SO weird!

What else? Oh, right. Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Balls. (Thanks Mama Pea, for your cookbook that I love so much!) While these are still cookies - and therefore not great for you - they are a vegan recipe that uses less sugar than most so you feel a little better about eating them. Or, at least Wes does, as he has eaten 9 in the last 2 days.

And lastly, this is what Liam looks like when we arrive home after a morning at preschool.

Anyone else think that child looks ready for a nap?!

It's Friday!

This morning as Noah was getting in the car to go to school this is what he said to me,

"Mama, will you organize my room today?"

Huh?

"You know, will you organize it? Put everything in the right place and stuff like that!"

Not only does he think I am his personal maid, but he also assumes I am dumb enough to not know the definition of the word "organize". Wes, very wisely, threw the car in reverse and they hurried along to school before I could come running out to the car in my pajamas to inform Noah that I did indeed know the meaning of the word "organize".

Then I walked inside to find Liam on his hands and knees in front of the couch, pulling old  Fruit Loops from underneath and eating them. I am thinking maybe I should be "organizing" my living room instead.

Oh boy am I glad it's Friday. We have had another busy week that flew by without me getting half the things done that I wanted to get done. I did manage to snap a few pictures of the boys doing homework the other day.

Noah gets all his homework at the beginning of the week and we have until Friday to get it done. I usually try to have him finished by Wednesday because by the last part of the week he is so tired and cranky that doing homework becomes quite the battle. This was Monday and he was feeling fresh and therefore was super excited about doing his homework. He had to write a sentence with the word "like" and then illustrate it.

(We do not have a fish by the way.) His drawings crack me up. That is a fish bowl with a an orange fish in the middle and green sea weed. When he first started it looked really good and I was very impressed by how recognizable it was. However, he has this odd compulsion to color in the background space of everything and so eventually the picture became a giant blob of color. But, I say nothing, as it is art and therefore completely up to him as to how it looks!

Speaking of art..... Here is more of an abstract piece for your viewing enjoyment. Liam has a strategy during homework time. Scream and throw things at us until I let him sit at the table and do what Noah is doing. Life is much simpler now that I have figured out to just give him his own box of crayons and piece of paper.

Needless to say I am glad the weekend has arrived. I am ready to relax and have no homework to worry about and nowhere to rush off to each morning. Oh, and to tell Noah he can organize his own damn room!

Sunday Fun

Today we made a last minute decision to meet some friends downtown at the Charleston Green Fair in Marion Square. Despite the oppressive heat we ended up having a blast! There were activities for kids, booths with all sorts of environmentally sound products, yummy food, and refreshing (adult) beverages. Such fun to spend the afternoon outside just chillin'!

Noah gets ready to tackle the climbing wall. He was not going to do it at first, but when he saw his buddy Jack go all the way to the top he decided to give it a try.

Noah, Jack and Joey spent over an hour playing Frisbee together....

....And Wes and I spent over an hour chasing after Liam, who wanted to escape into the crowd! But, such is life with a 17 month old. My cold beer helped me feel better. 

Needless to say, everyone was tired after playing hard all afternoon!

Why I Am A Plant Eater

The other day Noah and I were playing restaurant. He was the waiter and I was the customer. He came for my order and I said the first thing that popped into my head.

Me: "I'll have a hot dog please sir!"

Noah: (breaking character, and rolling his eyes) "Mama! You can't order a hot dog. You are a plant eater!!"

So, even though I have tried not to make too big a deal about it, my son has picked up on an important fact. I have gone vegetarian. Or, in terms that a dinosaur loving five year old can understand, I am a plant eater.

I have hesitated to write a blog post about this fun new fact for several reasons. First of all, I really don't care much for labels. They tend to polarize. (Don't even get me started on the fact that at this point in my life I am neither Republican nor Democrat!) Also, I have not wanted to write some Veggie Manifesto that is going to make everyone think I will snub them for eternity because their favorite pastime includes kicking back with a plate of barbecue. So, here is a list of things that my being vegetarian does NOT mean.

~ I do not judge you if you eat meat. Seriously. Wes and the boys still eat meat on a very regular basis. (There is no way that I would attempt to get Noah to go veggie as he is already picky enough - I could not imagine taking that whole food group away from him.) However, we eat many dinners that are completely vegetarian and I am so thankful to my husband for being willing to try new things and for telling me how good my new recipes are.

~ I have not dreaded my hair and joined a radical group of animal rights's activists. (Not that there is anything wrong with those things.... I just haven't done that.) I think that there are always some cliches surrounding labels, and all I mean to say is that I am still me. I like animals okay, but I don't think they are man's equal or anything. And let's face it, I love shoes and purses way too much to ever shun leather or anything like that. ("Let's not get craaazzy here!")

~ I am not wasting away to nothing, and lacking in protein and iron or any other nutrient you would like to throw out at me. I have done a lot of reading and I make sure to include a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and, for now, cheese and a little dairy in my diet. I would also like to be clear that I do NOT eat this way to "lose weight" or "stay skinny". It's not about that at all.

Basically, I just feel better eating this way. I have never really craved meat anyway. (In fact I was a "vegetarian" for a while in high school but I am pretty sure I did it mainly as a convenient way to piss of my grandmother when she tried to serve me her overcooked salmon.) I feel like my body works very well when fueled by a plant based diet.

Now, if you want to hear the other reasons I went "veg", then read on. If not, skip to the end as I don't want to ruin your next meal for you!

I have read a ton of books since the beginning of the year. The ones that were kind of pivotal in my decision were: Diet For a New America by John Robbins and The China Study by T. Colin Campbell. Also, the documentaries Food Inc., Food Matters, and Knives Over Forks made a huge impact on me. After absorbing all the information from these sources, two things became clear. First, the health benefits of a plant based diet are extremely worth it. (And the health problems that arise from too much meat in the standard American diet are obvious - heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and yes even cancer.) The good news here is that even if you include meat in your diet, everyone can benefit from the extra vitamins and minerals that come from adding more veggies to your diet. The second thing that really affected my decision was that I decided that I am not okay with the environmental, political, and health impacts of the factory farming system. I will tell you here that I am not saying that eating meat is morally wrong. God created the earth and all that is on it for man to use and subdue, but I will say that when I buy meat for the "carnivores" in my family I try my best to buy locally grown, grass-fed, non-antibiotic filled meat so as to hopefully avoid animals that have made their way through the horrible system of factory farming. I won't go into too many details (you can read those books for yourself if you want details!) but I think the American public as a whole could stand to be more educated about what we are buying in our supermarkets and where it is coming from. There are many corporations and industries that benefit greatly from our general ignorance about how are food gets to our table.

There's a lot more I could say but I will stop here. The bottom line is this. I made a choice for me - that's all. I have my reasons and if you are tucking into a juicy burger as you read this,  then you have your reasons. And that's fine! You have to do what works for you and I will do what works for me.

And when we play dinosaurs with Noah, just know that the joke is on me. Because I will never get to be the ferocious T-Rex. He knows I am a "plant eater" so I will be forever resigned to my role as brontosaurus.

10 Reasons I Suck At Blogging

So I have been a little slack with the blog lately. Here are my excuses in random order....

#10 - Ever since school started we have been very busy BUT not very interesting. I just don't feel like anything I am doing is especially blog worthy. (Apparently that is not going to stop from boring you with it now. Sorry.) I mean, do any of you really want to hear me whine about how long carpool line takes in the afternoon or complain about the fact that my house in a constant state of mess? No? I didn't think so.

#9 - My house is in a constant state of MESS! Seriously, I will clean up something and 5 minutes later it has turned to a disaster all over again. I know the culprit - it is Hurricane Liam. Now I just have to figure out how to contain him so that my house doesn't look like a toy store threw up all over it.

#8 - Soccer season has begun! (I am way too excited about this by the way. I will, again, express fear of what will happen when Noah ever plays real competitive sports. I will be THAT mom, I just know it.) We have practice one night a week and a game on Saturdays, which isn't that bad except that Wes is working for half the Saturday games so I end up trying to cheer for Noah while also keeping an eye on my little hurricane. Not an easy feat, but strapping him in the stroller with an endless supply of gummy snacks seems to be working for me so far.

Here is a picture of Noah and his teammate Matthew on the playground after their last game. (A win and 3 goals from Noah by the way!) Noah is thrilled that his team gets to wear his absolute favorite color - "dark blue" - and he is loving running up and down the field, going after that ball and scoring goals!

#7 - I helped throw a baby shower for my friend Katy last week. It was pretty low key - cocktails and hors d'ourves - which is my kind of baby shower. I am quite proud of how my first attempt at making Cake Pops turned out.

And I was obsessed with the great napkins that Tamera found for the shower.

Why is it that alcohol kills brain cells but not fat cells? and Living the minivan dream respectively! Love it!

Here is a picture of the hostesses with the guest of honor.

#6 - Wes and I have a new nightly ritual. We have been watching through all the seasons of the show Weeds on Netflix.... Love. It. Throw in a glass of red wine and some dark chocolate with sea salt (my new favorite dessert) and I am in heaven. Of course, we are almost done with season 6 and don't have Showtime so we won't be able to watch season 7 so I am not too happy about that!

#5 - Carpool line. I wasn't going to go into it, but I will give you the condensed version. Take a school with lots of kids, add in the fact that about 80% of them are picked up by their minivan driving, stay at home mom, and you get a car line that lasts forever. Seriously, I get there about 2:40 and don't leave until about 3:30. Liam just loves sitting in the car for that long. (Thank goodness for those gummy snacks, huh?) I am very grateful for the fact that we have worked out a carpool system with some friends and we don't have to sit in the dreaded line every week.

#4 - I am trying to be better about cooking dinner. By this I mean, planning ahead of time so that it is actually ready at dinner time and Wes and I aren't stuck eating quesadillas at 9pm for the third night in a row. I do not naturally like to be in the kitchen so I am working on my culinary skills, but it is worth it to be eating healthy, fresh foods. ( I am working on composing a whole post on food but there is a lot of information in my head right now so I haven't gotten around to doing that yet.)

#3 - The eighty-five million classes I have signed up for. Not really - although Wes may feel like eighty-five million is an accurate number - it's more like 2 or 3 a week but that is still a bit of a time suck. Walking out your front door to go for a run is a lot more time efficient than having to drive to a fancy yoga studio downtown. (Another whole post on that soon as well because the people watching has been exceptional!)

#2 and #1 - Noah and Liam. Nuff said.

These two keep me on my toes that's for sure. Noah has homework (in Kindergarten!) and getting a 5 year old who has been sitting still all day to sit still for another 40 minutes for homework is quite the challenge. Especially when Liam is bored and doing all he can do to get my attention. Usually Wes walks in the door to dinner half cooked on the stove with me running frantically between the kitchen and dining room helping Noah write rows of capital T's and keeping Liam from pulling the wine bottles out of the wine rack.

This is the state that Liam is usually in at that time of day.... teetering on the edge of full on meltdown. Oh, and what is that he is wielding in that picture you ask?

Just the toy knife from the dress up bin, that's all. He loves toting that thing around - and stabbing people with it - and scares me at least 3 times a day, as it is a very realistic representation of a knife.

Welcome to my life folks!

I Remember

I am not a terribly sentimental person, and even though I had realized that today would be the ten year anniversary of 9/11, I just hadn't given it too much thought. Until this morning. It is really hard to wrap my brain around the fact that it has been 10 years since those planes crashed into those towers and the world changed so much.

I remember that I was a sophomore at College of Charleston and I spent the morning getting ready to go downtown to class. Being a 19 year old girl whose biggest worry was what was on my social agenda for the night I was not getting ready with the TV on or anything. No news playing in the background and I was completely oblivious to what had happened to that first tower in NYC. I remember getting a phone call from my friend Julie while I was putting on make- up in my bathroom. She called about something else and as an afterthought, as we were hanging up, she told me she was pretty sure that some plane had crashed into the Pentagon. Now, I apologize ahead of time Julie, but this is what I thought... Right Julie. I think you are confused about what the Pentagon is. I mean a plane would not have done that. I literally laughed off her statement - chalking it up to another Julie is confused moment.

In the car I heard about the tower on the radio. Then I knew she was correct. And as I drove into my parking garage I think I heard about the second tower. The most powerful thing about that morning for me was this.... There was an incredibly unusual feeling in the air as I walked the streets of downtown. It was the kind of energy I hope I never experience again in my lifetime. The kind of energy that makes your hair stand on end because you know that something big is going down. Something that will affect everybody. My college campus was literally buzzing with the news and I remember how we were all pretty pissed off when my math teacher came into class, turned off the TV, and proceeded to teach math.

The rest is history. Days and days of watching the news coverage. Feeling the country basically shut down. Everybody's rage and sadness, and the one positive consequence of feeling a country united. And then, over the years, watching it all gradually fade into the background of my everyday life. It is crazy to me that I experienced such a thing. That one day Noah will probably come to me with a school assignment entitled "Where Were You on Sept. 11th?" One thing is for sure. I will be able to tell him because it is a thing you can never forget.