PJ Junior Junior

On their last visit, Tom and Deb sent ahead a bounty of things she had saved from when PJ was little. There was a hairbrush, a blanket, and miscellaneous clothes. (Leiderhosen!) There were a couple of outfits that would fit James now, and this morning I put one on him. The fit is good, and he looks awesome. Now if we could just find a picture of PJ in this outfit, and see how much James REALLY looks like his Dad!

Beet Juice! Beet Juice! Beet Juice!

This morning I prepared the 2 lovely beets we received from the csa Thursday. According to The New Basics cookbook (which I love) there are a few ways to prepare yummy beets. (they're not just from a can people!)
As beets have always been one of my favorite foods, I was quite excited to see them in Thursday's bounty. (when I was preggers with the Birdie I ate beets incessantly. I was afraid she'd come out magenta. Also my friend and ex next door neighbor Kristen also was fond of beets and we would occasionally share a jar.) Most of the recipes in said book called for more beets, you know, like to serve 4, but since there were only two I boiled them and will cut them up and put in the salad left over from last night. PJ makes the best salads, and I got bean sprouts at the grocery last night that I added to mine (love the bean sprouts- I think I like all the veggies most people don't: sprouts, beets, brussel sprouts mmmmmmmmmmm). All that's missing is a hard boiled egg. I have to go now to check the fridge...
We'll see what shows up in this weeks bounty. Last Thursday there were some greens that we got the week before- I prepared them by sauteeing them with shallots in a little olive oil. I used to do Swiss Chard all the time and throw in a little balsamic vinagrette, but I quite liked it simply with the shallots. Laurie (our neighbor and hopefully new friend cause she is great and it seems like we have some similar interests who turned us onto this whole csa thing) said that she gets quite a few helpful recipes from her copy of The Joy of Cooking. I know I could get it new, but lately I have been trying to not buy new things unless absolutely necessary (underwear). Besides, down the street I found my new absolute favorite place of all time, an incredible used book shop. I got Alexis a few Happy Hollisters mysteries for her birthday and a copy of the Tales of Peter Rabbit for Ava, which she is in love with. There's a small room in the back with quite a few cookbooks, and while he presently doesn't have any copies of The Joy of Cooking (I left my name and number for when one comes in) there are surely SEVERAL other vintage cookbooks that I might have to acquire. There are certainly about hundreds of kids books that will become part of our library. The place is a treasure, and had I unlimited funds and space, there would be a large number of books coming home with me. Can you imagine all the kids books we could keep at the cabin for rainy days? I know it will be a small cabin, but we neet at least one bookcase, right? I think I will die a little inside if these kids don't like reading as much as I do. But in this family, it's hard to imagine that gene skipping anyone!

the Musical Stylings of Alex the Chef

So to celebrate our 6th anniversary, PJ and I went out to dinner. We got a sitter ( a girl we met at church, she is so nice and Ava is loving her) and a reccomendation for a restaurant from a coworker of PJ's. I got a new dress (thanks sjp!) and off we went. The restaurant was called The Italian Connection. It was in a strange location, which is hard to describe. It was located in kind of a residential neighborhood, but close to a bunch of retail yet off the beaten trail. It did not look like much from the outside. We parked in back, and there were a few people who worked there sitting outside the back door enjoying the nice weather. The place was smallish, and so PJ had been told it's best to have a reservation, so we were seated right away. We sat in the back room, by ourselves, and it was quiet and intimate. We had a lovely meal and a glass of wine, and we were joined by the late Pope JP II and the late Mother Theresa (in photo form of course) and when we were finished and getting ready to leave, a gentleman comes out and fires up the kareoke machine. He sang 2 Frank Sinatra tunes, and asked us to get up and dance. He had a great voice too! There was another couple who were sitting in the front who came back per his request and danced as well. It was an unexpected event that really made the evening fun. The food was good, the service was good, and there was serenading from the chef! It's one of Fort Wayne's hidden gems.
After we left there we went to Jefferson Pointe to see if there were any movies playing that we were dying to see. There were not, so we went to Club Soda to have a nightcap. Club Soda used to be some kind of textile factory that the building was wasting away so the city bought it and turned it into a restaurant/nightclub. We sat at the bar, and there was a band playing. The place was pretty packed. The ambiance there was good. It reminded me of going out in Scottsdale except it wasn't lame. It's like all the people there were there to have fun with their friends and didn't seem to be paying much attention to who was looking at them. It wasn't a "see and be seen" kind of vibe, which is what I got when going out in old town. But that is why I stopped going out there, which was like one hundred years ago, so what do I know?
Greekfest was going on down the street at Headwaters Park, but it was late and there was a cover, and I thought if we were going to go it would be fun to take the kids so they could see the dancing and taste the food. Alas, the weather did not bode well for that at all. I guess we'll have to compensate by taking them to Greektown next time we're in Chicago. Opa!

Mom's Taking us the the Zoo...

That's a Raffi song, and we sang it on the way to Ft. Wayne Children's Zoo last Monday. Judging from the weather channel, it was going to be really the only great day (not rain, not too warm) so even though Ava took over 90 minutes to consume a piece of toast, some strawberries and a small glass of oj, we went to the zoo.

The planet was there. A bunch of kids from various kids camps, something for them to do while school was out I suppose. Another reason I am super grateful for not having to worry about daycare. The kids were great. James missed am nap and Ava stayed close and was a pretty good listener considering there was quite a bit to distract her. We knew we weren't going to be there long, so we first went to the Africa exhibit. That was the only space we missed when we were there last time. It was quite a trek back, but there was some good stuff, like giraffes, Ava's fave. They are doing quite a bit of construction/expansion on this particular exhibit, so when they are done it looks like it will be quite large. After we left Africa we saw the sea lions (could not get a decent photo) and the penguins and then went to the little area where the chickens can take off their shoes and splash around a bit. I told Ava she could play but not to get completely wet as we didn't bring her suit or a towel. That lasted about 5 minutes when I saw her on all fours splashing about. We went home at that point (there were so many people there that I had to park far away and she had dried considerably by the time we got to the wagon!) and had some lunch, and that day my 2 monkeys slept like little angels. I think we will be going back to the zoo a bunch!

Water Park or Splash Park

The YMCA on the north side of town added a water/splash park to their facility. It's a big area with sprinkler like things, water guns, and buckets of water being dumped from 9 feet up or so that chickens can run around in and keep cool. That particular Y is the newest one and has the nicest equipment, so PJ will go up there and after he's done working out let's Ava run amok and have fun. A couple of weekends ago we all went to check it out. James did not really care for it, but I think that's because he is not used to it. Ava loves it, and when it gets to the mid 90's it's a great place to go and let her run out some of that energy she's got!

Fred is a super cuddler

This sweet boy is a love. He would cuddle all day long. Anyone who spends time with him (the house sitter when we were in Chicago and the babysitter when we went out for our 6TH ANNIVERSARY (!! More on that later) falls straight in love with him and his sweetness and cuddliness. Even PJ is not immune and gives him some cuddle time on the couch. Here are the boys watching a little golf.

Kick it !

Ava is enjoying her second round of soccer. We are quite proud that she likes to play with the ball and other children as opposed to the bugs and grass in the outer field. She's got quite the little legs on her and enjoys kicking goals. Ava says her favorite thing about soccer is coach Crystal. And her pretty pink soccer ball that has all sorts of admirers from her teammates. Go Ava !

Safe

Ava appropriated these safety glasses that PJ brought home a while ago. While they have been forgotten in the recent past, James has changed all this with his apparent desire for safety. Cuteness ensues. None of us are safe from these two !

Germanfest

Yesterday, the kids and I went downtown to meet Dad for lunch. This weekend (Thursday thru Sunday) is Germanfest, and in this SuperLutheran town, you can imagine there are a fair amount of Germans! We braved 90 degree temperatures, and 30-40 mph winds, and ate hot dogs and potato salad containing vinegar! (actually the kids ate no potato salad, James ate a smidge of hot dog, and Ava ate her own AND James'!) There were quite a few people there for a Thursday afternoon, and a reasonable percentage of them were from the retirement crowd. A few of the older gentlemen had on their lederhosen. It was a sight! A few couples had on super german lederhosen outfits (dresses for the ladies of course) and were boogie-ing down with the polka band. Not to be outdone, Ava insisted on having a dance. When refused by Dad's friend Dave, Dad was called upon to get out on that dance floor and show them how it is done Thuringer style. Ava could have danced all night, but alas, naps were required. We'll have to retire the accordion till next year (with the exception of Saturday Night Myron Floren, of course!)

The large boy gets a haircut

not much commenting needed on this one...

Bikes

Mommy got a new pretty pink bike! Dad and Ava surprised me with it on when they returned from Ava's first soccer class on Wednesday. I took it for a spin and it is awesome. I even got a "cool bike" comment from a neighbor down the street! I took it out to get a couple of snaps of it and Ava rode her bike around the driveway. She is doing great on it, and although she is still very wary of the bumps on the sidwalk (even the super small ones) I am hoping that as she gets more comfy with the bigger bike she'll be more comfy with the bumps. The last time we went out (she on the bike and me pushing James in the jogger) she got off her bike to push it over ANY bump during the first half, and I practically had to pull her all the way during the second half. Pushing the stroller with my right hand and pulling Ava on her bike with my left hand. Steering was interesting! She also rides what we call the ride-along with Dad, also hoping this will give her some confidence. She does enjoy it, and her bike even has a basket for Baby Hop to ride along in!

How does your garden grow?

PJ planted the garden last weekend and it appears as though there's already some new growth! We have either 4 or 5 different tomatoes, some cucumber, zucchini, and broccoli. He planted right before a good rain, which I am sure helped, and we have had some nice weather temperaturewise, until yesterday when it got above 90. Today it's going to be 85, which isn't bad, but it's pretty humid. There's a nice breeze, which is from the storm front moving in. I hear on the radio this morning that it's pretty bad just northwest of us- there was baseball sized hail cancelling hundreds of flights out of O'Hare. We may be picking up PJ from work today!

Kitty Has Style

Ava (from our bedroom): "Mommy, Lionel is wearing my necklace!"

Me (from the kitchen): "Oh, Ava, I am not so sure he likes that very much..."

Ava: "But Mommy, he is soooo STYLISH!"

Chair

The high chair is in the attic, folks. The boy has moved on up to the booster seat!

Wednesday, or my son Tensing Norgay

So Wednesday was quite the day. All was pretty well till the afternoon when, probably due to Baby Hop's unfortunate disappearance, (she's since been found) Ava did not take a nap. She played somewhat quietly in her room for an hour or so, and I knew that there wasn't much I could do without a small gray rabbit to help me, so I let it be. Meanwhile, while James napped the afternoon away like a little angel, PJ called and said he was interested in going to the gym, and they had childwatch till 8:30, so maybe he could take Ava with him. I advised him on the nap situation, so we decided to watch her behavior and play it by ear.

With the exception of having to remind her every 2 minutes to eat her dinner, she was doing pretty well for not having napped so we agreed she could go with Dad to the gym and I would put James down for the night. Dad and Ava left, and James was roaming free while I cleaned up the dinner dishes. I received a phone call roughly 15 minutes later from PJ saying he had a sleeping chicken in the car (apparently when they got to the gym PJ woke her up and she startled and said "It's ok dad, I am awake. I was just takin' a power nap."). I laughed and said well see how she does, maybe I will see you back here sooner than later. We hang up, and by now I am done with the kitchen, so I call for James, as it is roughly 7:30 or so, and say "Come on James, let's go upstairs for bed. We'll brush your 4 teeth and put on dino jams and read a story to you and Steve... James? James...?" I round the corner from the dining room toward the front entry on my way into the living room calling his name. I don't see him, but I hear him! My heart skips a beat as I pause in the entry and look to my left and see MY SWEET BOY IS HALFWAY UP THE STAIRS LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY!!!!!!! I run up to get him and if I hadn't at that moment he would have fallen backwards. He was seriously halfway up! And being a total gigglepuss!

Yes folks, he is my little munki. You all know why. And now my world is changing yet again. Stairs! Aarrgh!

Happy Birthday to me!

So PJ bought me a wonderful early birthday present- an ihome! It goes in the kitchen, and you can listen to am, fm, a few tv channels, and the local noaa weather channel! But most importantly, you can listen to the ipod!! The sound in this house travels interestingly, so I can hear James from his room to the living room like he is right there, but cannot hear the stereo in the kitchen or dining room. The ihome solves all these woes.

Extra KUDOS to PJ for a) getting the model in black (to match the appliances- I have also seen it in white and it probably would have really bugged me to not have matched- yes I know I need help) and b) putting it up pretty quickly and not making me wait and wait! I use it a lot, as I podcast some of the npr shows I cannot listen to when they are on due to children. Also it is good for dance party while making dinner (although we were listening to the '80s new wave music station on the tv recently and it is soooooo goooooood) and catching up on news while cleaning the kitchen or having lunch. It's awesome! Thanks Pijay!!

Ava's last day of 3's Preschool

So last thursday (the 24th) was Ava's last day of school. While she was in school, I packed a picnic lunch and went to pick up PJ who had taken a long lunch hour to be with us for the occasion. During class the kids all played games, and afterwards everyone met under the big oak tree and had a picnic lunch. Tons of families. The attached photo is of Ava and her teacher, Mrs. McEachern. She was a wonderful teacher for Ava! I didn't see Mrs. Busche, who was the teachers assistant, as there were so many people I am sure she was making the rounds. Ava had a blast and was keen to know that she will be returning next year with a class of 4 year olds! Now for summer break...