Whats on the menu

My wife M enjoys cooking. We for a time before E and MHM watched cooking shows endlessly and drooled over them. With what is turning out to be a library of cook books, M with what spare time she has seems always to be whipping up something yummy. Breads, soups (one of my favorites with two home runs in the past month) main dishes and cookies, I am very fortunate to have this woman. She seems to love it and I won't try to change that.

I have to say that I don't have to worry about the same thing over and over and I have made mention that when I show true enjoyment of a dish, "it's too bad I'll probably never have that again". This is not a bad problem to have but some times I just wish I could or would write them down so as not to forget them completely. In the past month, we have had two soups which are absolutely the best soups I had ever ever eaten. Italian Wedding soup and yesterday was what I would call French Onion. The Wedding soup was in two words...AWESOME! The Onion was so on par with a nice little restaurant (now closed) in H.L. that I wanted to write about it before I told M how good it was. She sent me to work with a bowl and I took a hunk of my Zingermans yummy crusty bread. When I heated it up and chunked my bread into it, I swear that if I weren't at work, I was in a fine dining establishment. LOVE IT!

As an end to this story, I hope and pray that I get some of these meals a second time but if I don't, I do know that another phenomenal meal will soon follow.

In short, LUCKY ME!!

What words we say

This past weekend E surprised me yet again with her grasp of language. We were up north at the cottage sitting on the deck and I showed her something of which I don't recall. After I showed her the thing, she mater of factly stated "that's cool daddy". I was taken aback. This little miss, doesn't miss anything. It was cool! A very simple observation but an appropriate response for a hip little girl.

I often in my speaking with her emphasize words in order to expand her already vast vocabulary as well as her understanding of words. Wonderful, great and spectacular are some of the regulars I use, and it is fun to hear her repeat them with varying degrees of success. I will after asking for her help, say "I appreciate that you helped me E, you're really wonderful!".

E also is quite capable of sharing her feelings, desires, likes and dislikes. As we were tramping about the woods up north she proclaimed "I'm happy daddy!" From my stand point, that is about all I need to hear to make me very happy. I even hope that statement validates M and I as a successful parents. We often hear her say "I'm sad" then when prompted as to "what makes E sad?" she will return with a cheerful "I'm OK daddy!". One of my favorites is when she will hear something and proclaim "that's redicooles!" (ridicules)

I could go on and on about how E makes me happy and I feel fortunate to go through it once again as MHM will be short on her heels in a few months. He is showing some marks of brilliance himself and I will eagerly anticipating what new things he brings to the table for us to marvel at.

Getting there...

I have been anxious to go north for a little while. We have made several verbal attempts to go but it just seems that staying has been the easiest option. Well, after looking at the forcast of last week, we decided to stay home one more time. Saturday was a pretty nice day and Sunday was pretty but just down right cold. I did talk to someone who was in H.L. last w.e. and he confirmed that it was not great.

This w.e. so far looks great! I am working o.t. tonight and then have the whole w.e. so we will wake tomorrow and pack to go to the cottage. I really hope E will be excited as she will be seeing her cousins. I bought E a sleeping bag this week (ok, 3 bags) but I will return the one that doesn't work for us. Well, I remember the feeling of getting up north late after dad got out of work and crawling into a cold sleeping bag and soon feeling nice and cozy. I hope E can maybe get some nice fuzzy feelings from H.L.

I cant wait to get there!

Early morning

Up early this morning with MHM, M asked that I take over for a while so she could get some more sleep. Fair enough! MHM was wide awake and full of energy. Nothing and no position for too long, Not Fair! I can only imagine what it is that is really happening in that little body. He probably doesn't want to be awake any more that we do but his body is probably stretching and growing and making him miserable. After an hour or so, he was in his total squirm mode so I knew that sleep was coming. He is now resting quietly!

Well, we did not do the inevitable and go north this weekend. Friday was such a nice day and I learned that I would be returning to work Monday so I felt I had to get some stuff done. The weather forecast for the w.e. was also not good at all so we decided to stay and go up next w.e. for what so far is expected to be summer like Memorial day which seem fewer and fewer as years go by... Must be global warming!

This morning, now 7am it is once again partly sunny and not too cool. I really enjoy this time in the morning when I can do it on my terms. This is pretty relaxing watching the sun come up and see the garden come to life. I am waiting for a visit from our humming bird friend who seems to come early in the morn and late in the e'en. So far, all I have seen is a bunny eating some of our early blooming flowers and other little birds.

So now at 7:15am, the rest of the family is up and writing will now end. I have a second helping of milk to get and also ready for church. This post didn't go where I expected and I have now gotten the "More" command from E for what I just spoke. later...

Sand box

We are considering a weekend trip to the "cottage". As a youngin, this was not really a consideration, it was as it seemed a certainty, inevitability or in short, "the way it is". Well, many years later, I fondly recall waking up there to sounds of a soft knock on the door and dad leaving with his friend G to go get... drum-roll please... Donuts! I always petitioned (whined) for the Bear Claw as it was most certainly the largest and then proceeded to unravel it down to the yummiest part, the gooey center.

After donuts, I remember the next item on the agenda was to go outside to the "sandbox" (a huge driveway about twelve feet wide and twenty feet long) to construct one of many elaborate cities over the years. My older brother B was of course the architect or should I say General Contractor. He would set me to task to build something then go around to other parts of the site to do "punch list" items and final clean up. We with out a doubt had the most awesome sandbox.

After what seemed like hours of constructing perfectly scaled buildings and road systems, we would start smelling bacon and eggs which would mean that the rest of our days was beginning. While we were creating our sand city, dad would be getting the boat ready for a day on the lake. So now well fed, we would head out for some fishing, skiing and floating down the channels looking for turtles. On the lake, we would often cruise up to one of the marinas to get a snack. I remember this seemed to be some sort of candy bar which was urged to be eaten soon so it would not melt. Depending on our fortune with fishing, I remember hoping that hamburgers and hot dogs were going to be the fare fore the night.

I hope E and MHM will have wonderful memories of the cottage or for that matter, anything that we as a family happen to do. I am happy for my memories but they are mine and mine alone. I can skew them as necessary as long as I am the one who is happy to have had the experience.

Busy hands

Wow~ two posts in one day... I need to write about our garden. We really like what we have created in our backyard though with every year it becomes more and more work. This is satisfying work but a bit frustrating when we can't get to it. I have a nice view of it right now and with a light rain falling, it looks so lush and wonderful. As cool as it has been, everything is very happy. With my current no-job situation, I don't feel as far behind like I do usually. I am even going to look on line to see how I can create a nice addition to our water feature. I'd like to add a stream to our pond! I have a feeling that my work will be on hold at least until June so if I get daring time wise and with Meg's help with design we might tackle this. I really don't want to get too excited about it as I have plenty of other projects like painting our pergola or finishing our basement or just about anything else you can name.

Wishfull thinking is what keeps us going, right???

What time will tell

MHM is lying on the floor next to me making all kinds of noise. He is currently giving the third degree to Big Bird and Cookie Monster, just daring them to start something.


I dropped off E at school where right now, there are seven or so girls and one little boy in the room. It is amazing what fear this little boy can infuse in each of these girls. E has said in the last few weeks "I don't wike Bwake!". Well as E and I were sitting having a nice snack of gram crackers and milk (E likes to dip the crackers) I heard a shriek and witnessed a rag doll being ripped from a little girls arms and then saw the same rag doll whirled about striking little girls nearby attempting to comfort.

I guess I am mirroring M's story of yesterday. How can these boys be such "boys"?? I just wonder what and when MHM will start our education. He seems so very innocent, of course he is only five months old. I won't dwell on this too much for now but I can already hear the raised voices and feel the tension in the air as E and MHM square off over a croissant (plastic) or maybe a hockey stick (weapon; as I call it). Thank God we do have six months or so before it really kicks in. I really hate that I am seeing this in the future but it does seem to be written in the history of mankind and certainly in its future.

A couple of weeks ago, MHM seemed afraid or troubled by these swinging creatures on his Sesame Street toy but with time and familiarity, it now seems as though he is taunting them to bring it on.

What escapes you?

"Mr handsome man" (MHM) is quite a little guy. He is my son baby m. As I was enjoying him in all that he is this morning, I noticed something quite extraordinary in that I can see his heart beat in the soft spot on top of his head. What an amazing being that comes from a jellybean shape and morphs all the way into a smiling, laughing, kicking and drooling baby. This time around, I think unfortunately that I may be dismissing some of the marvels we noticed with E as she progressed from jellybean to the amazing two year old she is today, I sincerely hope not. I see m staring intently at me then out of nowhere comes a beautiful smile. I love this little boy!

We already mourn the loss of one of MHM's little things (ism). After a series of sneezes, he would let out a sound very hard to describe. It was a bit like an extended "Hhhheeeeee........" a very cute sound but we were unable to catch it on video and it appears to be gone now forever. Another ism I don't think will fade all that quickly is MHM's classic pouty lip. Oh my gosh, how can it be any more perfect. It comes about of course as a result of being frightened. It is hard not to laugh and is thoroughly enjoyable albeit at his expense.

Look around you and appreciate what escapes your normal glances.

Anointed

As part of my eternal growth, I try to take my daughter E to church with me on Sunday and sometimes Thursdays for the kids mass. She never acts too bad, and I have my ways of keeping her focused on the next item up. Those items that get us through a mass are;

Songs. These come every few minutes. I pick her up and try my best to keep time to the beat and keep her into it.

"Peace". Where we shake hands with our brethren. E really likes and looks forward to this one.

Then it's time to take the money up (collection) which she so dearly loves. The best part for her of course is dropping the money in the basket and making a b-line to the other end of the church. I have taken to holding the hand for that one.

Next is "time to go up". This is communion where I get the good stuff and she gets a special blessing from the priest.

Then it's a prayer, and one more song and were outta there.

Well, this last Sunday, E did a special thing for me. Along with my aforementioned tactics, I also have of course, milk and snacks to placate her. One of E favorite snacks are pretzels. As we were sitting in the pew, I was searching through the snack cup looking for pretzels. As I would hand her one, she would hold it over my shoulder for a few seconds and then pop it in her mouth. I am not sure what that was really all about but it did make me feel pretty good that I was worth the extra effort and I hope that she got extra flavor or some good out of it.

The mass rituals may have been behind this, who knows?? I do know that I enjoy taking E to church to learn and I hope to keep my excuses for not taking her to a minimum. I believe this is what my stretching is all about. Not making excuses and really trying to do things that are sometimes hard. I get a lot out of mass and I truly hope my family can follow me and that I will be a good role model for them.

She really is a smart, polite, caring and generally a great kid. I feel blessed that I have been "anointed" albeit with pretzels by my daughter. I feel the love!!

winning the race

As spring comes and goes, I have been yearning to get out running with one of the kids. Today, as it started out nice and warm, presented itself to make an attempt. E was the most obvious kid to try with. She has in my opinion been quite a challenge for me lately. I try and try not to let a two year old outwit, outplay and outlast me but.... I have no excuse. Anyway, I saw my opportunity and prepared for it then made my move. I waited for the moment then asked if she wanted to go running with daddy, threw her in the jogger and we were off. I figured that if I can reintroduce her to running with a bit of an incentive (bribe) then I might get back to a partial routine. Well, my plan was to head across Okemos rd. down a trail system to a local park where there would be a nice diversion. We were most the way there before she got antsy, but I held her off and we made it. We spent quite a bit of time sliding, climbing and swinging. We except for a few people in cars, were the only ones there for quite some time. A little chihuahua stopped by with its owners but E was afraid to touch it. Then, finally a little girl, Lillian stopped with her grand parents. E was very polite and said to her "my name is E" Very sweet! Anyway, we played and climbed a bit longer but I kept a watchful eye on storm clouds. I finally noted a few drops of rain and promptly told E that we needed to race home in order to beat the rain, like Diego did yesterday on TV. She seemed to like that and it made our departure quite easy. As the clouds swirled overhead, the drops started coming. I prompted E to say whether she liked it and if the drops felt nice. She nodded her head in agreement but I think she was a bit cold and probably tired. Anyway, as we came up the drive, she was happy as was I because the rain came. "We did it, we did it, hurray!" to quote from Dora. We beat the storm clouds and I made sure I held a connection to one of her favorite things (Dora) as I need to figure out what bribes will keep working so I, I mean we can get out running. The park may have to be it for a while. It ads quite a bit of time to the whole process but I really loved it and she was really very good! Love my E!