Introducing ... the Class of 2023

They have entered the building!



Monday marked the beginning of the newest chapter of our lives... the start of Claire's 'official' schooling. And no less, the first day of school was on her 5th birthday. Some parents might be concerned about their child being the youngest child in her class and being ready, but with Claire you don't worry at all. She's been what I call street wise from the beginning. In fact, a teacher (3rd grade) at Claire's school who has a son in her pre-school class was shocked to hear how young she was in comparison to her classmates. She described Claire as "with it" after searching for a while to figure out how to describe her. I just knew I didn't need to worry a whole lot about Claire venturing off into the world of big girl school. Chloe may be a different story....


It's a transition for all of us: now we have 2 drop offs to make in the morning, Claire brings a cold lunch every day instead of her usual leftovers from dinner and there is the afternoon nap to give up. I feel for her - sound asleep at 7:20 on the night of Day 2, after having the excitement of a birthday on the same day as a jam packed first day of school. Thankfully she didn't wake us at 4:30 AM, but still an early time to get up. I tried to time things to not be quite so hurried in the morning, but we still ended up later than I wanted. We did snap a few pictures in the driveway before heading off.









I had drop-off duty for both girls because Jason's car was full of the birthday party water slide that had to be dropped off on Monday morning. I took Chloe to school first, then we made our way sloooooooowly through the traffic to Claire's new school. The traffic was as bad as I expected, but we did make it before the 8AM start time, parked and both walked her into her new class. The teachers were great in introducing them to the routine of indicating their lunch plans with a popsicle stick (brought from home, buy hot, etc), putting their bag in their assigned cubby and sitting at their assigned seat. The kids were coloring while everyone was getting settled. With a few more pictures and kisses good-bye, we were on our way out leaving Claire behind with her huge smile on her face.










I worried all day. I thought about her at 10:30 which is her designated lunch time (!!!), 12:00 at recess time, 2:00 at dismissal time, and 3:00 wondering if she made it back to Goddard for after school. I zoomed out of work at 4:50 and was thrilled to find her playing with kids in the gym - successfully making it onto the correct bus! Whew!


After collecting Chloe, we headed over to meet Jason and both sets of grandparents for dinner at Claire's favorite restaurant, Red Robin. After eating and having the obnoxious group of 10 of the wait staff sing their version of Happy Birthday, we came back to our house where a gift opening session to rival Christmas morning for a family of 8 kids took place. After another round of cupcakes, the girls were ready to collapse into bed.





What a memorable day to celebrate a birthday and first day of school!

Party Time!

I can control a lot of things. But I can't control the weather. That didn't stop me from checking the forecast for Saturday at least 6 times per day all week leading up to Saturday. Every forecast said the same thing - rain. Cooler temps. And it's time for a break, right? After all, for the past 100 days of summer it's been over 95* almost every day - and the weather people actually sound a little excited about talking about drought conditions again because it just hardly ever rains. Especially in August - everyone knows it is just hot with an occasional afternoon pop up thunderstorm.

Unless you are having your 5th birthday party at your house with a rented water slide with 25 of your closest 5 year old buddies coming over to run wild in the back yard. THEN you can see the storm clouds rolling up. The quote on the Friday night and Saturday morning weather reports: "better not have any outdoor plans this weekend that don't involve an umbrella!" I laid in bed Friday night listening to the rain whip outside thinking about how to escape the torment that was coming to me. I considered locking the front door, shutting the blinds, and leaving a platter of cupcakes on the front porch with instructions to take one and LEAVE. Jason tried to make me feel better.... it's a water slide, right? Who cares if it rains! Save me from running the hose all day!

Thankfully the weather people did what they did best... try to ruin your weekend and they were WRONG!! HA! We didn't see a drop of rain from 6AM until 5PM. It was overcast for most of the morning, but it helped to keep temps down so us parents didn't pass out on the porch and deck watching the kids run around like maniacs going down that slide a few hundred times each.

Party Favors

Cupcakes!

Waiting for everyone to show up

Claire and her buddies had a ball - the slide was a big hit, pizza was served and the cupcakes were fabulous.












When the sun came out after everyone was exhausted around 2:00, we decided to turn the water off and let the slide dry out and pack it back up. It was still forecasted to rain on Sunday, so we didn't want to have to deal with shoving a wet slide in the back of Jason's SUV. Around 5PM Saturday night the rain started - flash flood warnings and all, it sure did rain! And good think we packed it up because Sunday's weather was terr... oh, wait.... It's 95* and bright and sunny today!!


That's OK, Claire is exhausted and napping now to get ready for her first day of kindergarten tomorrow - which happens to be on her actual 5th birthday!

You Know it's Muggy Outside When...

You know it's muggy outside when....

..... you hear water running in gutters and it's not raining

You know it's muggy outside when....

...... at 6:30 AM you can't see your neighbor's house in the fog/humidity/swamp, and it's only 20 feet away

You know it's muggy outside when....

....... the roads are soaking wet but it's been 6 hours since the last rain

You know it's muggy outside when....

......... you see mushrooms sprouting up in the grass, where yesterday there were none

You know it's muggy outside when....

......... You step out of the cold AC and your first breath feels like it's through a straw

You know it's muggy outside when....

....... A swamp creature shows up at your house at 7:30 AM looking for water. And your sweet daughter brings it a bottle.

***Here's to looking forward to lower humidity and temps for the Fall!

Recipe - Mexican Pork Chops

I've been trying to serve less red meat, but have had trouble finding ways to mix in pork, chicken or even fish that everyone is happy with. Our new pork stand-by is to marinate some chops in low-sodium Dale's for about 30 minutes and then toss them on the grill. It's super easy and really good. But that about summed up my pork chop resume. Last night I tried something new that fit into my favorite kinds of meals - those that have ingredients that are mostly dumped out of something, and everything is contained in one dish.

Here ya go....

Mexican Style Pork Chops

4 Center Cut Pork Chops, bone in (pretty thick - about 3/4" or so)
Can black beans, drain & rinse
Can yellow corn, drain
1 cup instant rice, uncooked
1 medium onion, chopped (or about a cup of frozen chopped onion)
1 can tomato soup
1 1/4 cup water
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Pre-heat oven to 375
Heat oil in large oven proof skillet with Med-High heat
Brown pork chops in oil on both sides, about 3 min per side
Remove chops from heat and set aside
Saute onion in same skillet until tender
Add all remaining ingredients, except cheese
Bring to boil, then turn off heat
Lay pork chops on top of mixture
Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes (depends on thickness of chops)
Sprinkle with cheese for the last 5 minutes in the oven

Family feedback: Kids and Jason liked it, and we all had plenty for lunch leftovers. You could add more chops if you needed to.

Experimental Cooking

As I have mentioned oh, at least 10,000 times before, I stay pretty busy with work, kids and life in general. For some reason I like to cook most weeknights - the rare exception being if someone has to work really late, or I find myself out of a key ingredient. Come to think of it, running out of key ingredients is pretty common. Just ask Jason about trips to Publix to buy a can of cream of mushroom soup (he comes back with 5.)

I'm not sure why I run out of stuff. Every Sunday I diligently make a list of what we are going to have as meals for the week. I take inventory of what items I have on hand, then make a list of everything else that I need. Then off we go, the whole family, to the grocery store with list in hand.

The list creating process usually takes me a looooooong time because I am always bored with the same old/same old stuff that I make. To try to freshen things up, I search cookbooks, websites or just make stuff up to create new things. Jason will tell you - some work out, and some do not which again leads to an impromptu pizza night. Most of the things that I choose are meant to be fast and kid friendly. They are not necessarily the healthiest option (read: I like cheese) or the most economical. I realize that I could save money by not going for convenience items, but for me it makes sense to use frozen chopped onion or green peppers, pre-shredded cheese, etc to speed up the prep time. Again, my goal is to provide a hot meal that the kids (including Jason) will eat AND we have leftovers for the next day's lunches.

Truth is, I like to cook and try new things. So for all those busy folks out there, I thought I would share. I can't promise that they are any good, but I will share the feedback from my family and what we thought of it. And feel free to share ideas back with me!

An Unmistakable Thud

You know the one I am talking about .... the sound of a little head hitting a hard floor. Having knocked myself out on our hardwood floors, I show pity to all others who have had their noggin cracked - even when it's caused by the usual rule breaking - jumping on furniture, running through the house, etc. But yesterday's thud from my favorite accident prone two year old turned out to be a little more then a head bonk.

First a little background information..... Chloe moved to our kitchen table several months ago and she sits at our counter height table in her booster seat. Over the past few weeks Chloe has figured out to mount and dismount her booster all on her own. And beware of the tongue lashing you get if you, heaven forbid, try to help her climb up or down into the stool - you'll be screamed at with a "noooo, Himie do it!" and we recoil and allow her to shake and strain her way up into the seat. Side note... we are not sure who Himie is (pronounced Him-E), but that is how Chloe refers to herself. No idea where that came from, but the message is clear: Back Off.

Sunday night Chloe (Himie) had finished up her weekly Sunday Grilled Cheese Supper (Sunday best, of course) and was making her climb down the stool to join Claire for play time. I was making my own sandwich at the time and only heard the thud... and the scream afterwards. I run over and scoop her off the floor where she's laying face down and a gush of blood comes out of her mouth. You know the blood I am talking about - the black kind that indicates something reallllly deep has gone on. I whisk her to the kitchen sink where the blood continues to pour and I hear it gurgling in her throat. I mop her chin with a paper towel and Jason brings a cup of water - in which she lets another rush of blood flow right into. At this point I still can't see where the blood is coming from - she's just screaming and gurgling, and the blood is still full in her mouth and I can't see in. She finally calms down and lays on my shoulder for a few minutes and I ask her if it is her teeth or tongue that is hurting. She clearly replies with "tongue" and even sticks it out so I can see the big black gash that is right in the center. Thankfully all the teeth are still intact.

The shirt - "Smile!" Ummm, don't think so.

Chloe calms down and has some water out of a sippy, then head's into my bedroom for their special TV watching treat whenever someone gets sick or injured. An hour of Dora and The Wonder Pets later, she tells me, "Mommy, it's feewing bettah." She makes an appeal for me to sleep with her when I put her to bed - gotta give her credit for a good try!

This morning at breakfast, Chloe sucked on some cantaloupe and licked icing off a toaster strudel - but ate no solid food before heading to the couch with her blanket saying she wanted to go night-night. I spoke with her teacher around lunch time and she ate snack and lunch but was still requesting to go to sleep. Hopefully this will be a quick heal and Himie will feel better soon!

Running for the Baseball

With all the running talk around our house, Claire has been asking to go on runs with either Jason or myself, promising that she wouldn't whine, cry or stop during any portion of the run. Finally we came across what looked like a good opportunity to stretch her legs out like she's been watching mom and dad do, and take part in a kid's run. The one I chose was at our minor league baseball's affiliate team of the Boston Red Socks (sorry, Dad) which is the Greenville Drive. We've never been to a Drive game in the past 3 or 4 years that they've been in town - even though they had a brand new stadium built smack in the middle of downtown to mirror Fenway Park. Sweating it out at a baseball game just didn't appeal to me, but I agreed to suffer through it for Claire. At least for an inning or two.

The race we chose was the Go Drive 5k and Kid's Fun Run and the racers (including the kids) got free admission to the game afterwards, a free burger, chips and drink, a T-shirt and unlimited frothy draft beverages (for the adults, of course.) Not a bad package. The weather forcast was thankfully to be overcast with a chance of showers - I warned Claire that the game (and possibly the run?) might be rained out but the weather man let us down again, and we had 94 degrees and bright sun at 5:30 pm when the gun for the 5k went off. Jason decided to make this his first "the new me" 5k since his previous one and only back in 2006. He took up running a month or so after I did and stuck to the Couch to 5k program and avoided any major injuries this time around (an attempt to start running a few years ago ended in a stress fracture.)

I sure was happy it wasn't me running in that ridiculous heat, but he ended up with a fabulous time that beat his 2006 time by about 3 minutes, with temps about 55 degrees warmer (seriously.)

Pre-race hydration


watching for Daddy to run by






There he goes!

After the 5k runners took off, Chloe, Claire and I found our way to the Kid's Run line up near the outfield entrance on the 1st base side. The kids were going to do a 1/4 mile run around the inside of the field - mostly in the dirt warning track with the game crowd in there to cheer them on and video of them streaming on the big screen. They saved the youngest runners for last, and Claire lined up with all the other 4 year olds and took off like a shot of the starting run. She kept a strong pace until she rounded near 3rd base where Jason, Chloe and my parents were yelling and waving for her. She kept it going and didn't walk a step, and made it all the way around to the finish line where she was awarded her finisher's medal. I was so proud of her for finishing 2nd in her age group in a time of..... oh whoops, it's a kid's fun run.... and with a red face she breathlessly asked for a red Gatorade, which thankfully we found at the concession stand.

Toeing the line

The kids did great at the game. Most of the seats are shaded by a covered roof and we were only about 5 rows up from 3rd base. The guy in front of us managed to catch 2 foul balls by the 3rd inning and Claire started putting the pressure on Jason to land her one. A few innings later, a foul ball was hit and the 3rd baseman picked it up to toss into the crowd - to yours truly who saved the day and caught the ball for Claire. They seemed tired by about the 6th inning, so we packed up and headed home - with victories for all - Jason, Claire and the Drive.