Indecisiveness

I've posted today's Sunday's Simple Pleasure over here today.  Go check it out.

I still can't decide whether to switch my blog persona to my other blog, stay here for a while longer or what the heck I want to do.  I am usually a very good decision maker.  I weigh my options, and mostly just go with my gut and don't look back.  I get highly annoyed at when my sister hems and haws and talks all the options to death with everyone she knows before she decides whether to buy cupcakes or a sheet cake for her daughters birthday party.   Indecision drives me bananas and strawberries and oranges.  

But I cannot make a commitment on this one.  I am happy here in The Candy Cane Forest, but I also love The Norwindians.  Now that I have things all fancy over there, it just feels like something I could love with long after my family is past the Candyland, lollipops and gumdrops phase of life.  Is it better to just switch now if I am going to do it eventually?  Am I giving up all my readers by switching?  Am I going to want to start a whole new blog six months from now?  What is wrong with me?

Can someone please just tell me what the heck to do?  Can you call in your decision making crew please?  Help!

Halloween Present

We decorated out front door.

We hung a family of ghosts in our lemon tree.

We carved our pumpkins.

We created treats for classmates.

We paraded at school and went trick-or-treating with friends.  The best part was instead of "trick-or-treat" Gloppy would say "trick-or-treating" at each door.

Tune in 365 days from today for Halloween future.  I already have a great idea for a "family" costume.  Hope your trick-or-treat bag is filled with Kit Kats.

Boo!

Ghosts of Halloween Past

I have conflicting feelings about Halloween.  I despise getting dressed up.  Me and costumes just don't get along.  However, I am crazy about dressing my kids up.  I love picking out their costumes and parading them around.  Of course, I am nuts about all the candy involved in Halloween, but I don't really care for trick-or-treating.  When I was growing up, my dad always took us out to collect candy while my mom stayed home and passed out the candy.  We don't get any trick-or-treaters in our sidewalk-less, street light-less neighborhood, so all the kids walk one neighborhood over where they go all out.  And I mean all out!  There is one block where every house spends what seems like thousands of dollars on a new theme each year.  At one house, a woman dresses as a witch and opens the door along with her pet rat.

Since no one comes to our door, there isn't really a reason for me to stay home and drink wine while passing out candy.  For some reason I hate following my hyped up on sugar kids from house to house in the dark trying to keep up with their friends and not get too frightened by the really spooky houses.  To me it's just a dad thing.  Last year Gloppy got me out of it when before we even hit one house he was terrified and I mean seriously terrified by a kid in a wolf costume.  He would not let go of my neck or lift his head off my shoulder.  I had to take him home and put him to bed while Mr. Mint took the girls out to collect sweets.   I have a feeling this year I won't be so lucky.  He wants a bag full of candy like his sister's.  

So I will suck it up and we'll have a good time despite my fear of losing one of my kids in the dark streets to a goblin or other monster.   Really it's just the trick-or-treating that I don't like.   I love to go to the kids Halloween parades at their schools and see what the popular costumes are and what the Martha Stuart mom's come up with.  I love taking pictures in the pumpkin patch and seeing how the pumpkins my kids pick out get bigger and bigger each year.  I love the ghost, bat, spider and witch crafts that come home from school.  I love carving pumpkins and roasting seeds.  I love that in all of my "October" photo collections there are pictures of us at the beach in the beginning of the month, and pictures of us in winter jackets or in front of a cozy fire at the end of the month.  I love the crisp autumn air and changing colors on our walk to school.  But most of all, I love the Kit Kat's that soon will fill my house.

Here's a little photo tour of our Halloween's past.  

2002 

This is Frostine and Lolly's first Halloween.  They were 2 months old and I was still in new motherhood shock.  We didn't go trick or treating and I am surprised I even managed to get costumes.  They look pretty darn cute though, no?

2003

I loved their costumes that year.  Frostine was a strawberry and Lolly was a lamb.  They were 14 months old and I was amazed how far they walked that evening while trick or treating.  The strawberry costume is my all time favorite.  She looked so darn cute.  The next morning they forgot about all the candy, so I probably gained about five pounds that year.

2004

They were still young enough here (just turned two) that I had great influence over their costume choices.  Lolly was a glitter witch and Frostine was a pixie.  I wasn't able to steal quite as much of their stash that year.  I remember being near collapse when we got home since I was two months pregnant with Gloppy.

2005

Aaaaand we entered the princess phase.  Three year old Lolly and Frostine were obviously Ariel and Cinderella.  There was absolutely no talking them out of it, so I embraced it.  They had magic wands, sparkly shoes, the works.  My five month old little Gloppy made a quite an adorable little frog.  He fell asleep in the baby bjorn about five minutes into trick or treating.  

2006

I still have no idea how I talked 4 year old Lolly and Frostine out of being princesses again, but whatever I bribed them with did the trick.  They were the most precious kitty cat's ever.  The black make-up was a mess by the end of the night, but it was worth it.  The only thing 1.5 year old Gloppy could say was "woof" so his costume was a no brainer.  It was a good year.

2007

Ah yes.  Halloween 2007.  I was apparently unable to talk the five year olds out of being princesses.   I was however, happy they picked less "popular" princesses and went for Jasmine and Mulan.  I couldn't find a picture showing the feet, but the shoes for both costumes were the best part.  Jasmine (Lolly) had pink, glittery slides with gold trim, a tassel and an up turned toe.  Mulan (Frostine) had gorgeous red flats embossed in gold and an emblem on the top.   I tried my hardest to bribe Gloppy out of the Thomas costume.  Alas, there was nothing else he wanted to be.  Thomas the Train and I do not get along so well.   There really isn't a more annoying TV show for children (besides Caillou).   But for 2.5 year old little boys, that show is like crack.  For a while he refused to wear clothes under his costume.  He almost went as "naked trainman."  I think the chill in the air changed his mind.

Stay tuned for a recap of Halloween '09 costumes and festivities.  It should be a good one.

Not My Proudest Moment

I ran into a mom at drop-off this morning that I haven't seen in quite a while.  I want to run and hide every time I see her.  You see, when we first moved here lots of people would ask me, "have you met the so-and-so family?"  The so-and-so family lives down the street from us and it seems everyone thought we should be best friends.  You know because they are Indian and have three kids and Mr. Mint is Indian and we have three kids around the same age, and we live on the same street.  

I guess everyone was telling her the same thing because she stopped by my house one afternoon.  I was dressed in sweats with my hair pulled back in a pony-tail.  I was not looking my best.  She tentatively asked, "are you the lady of the house?" when I answered the door.  When I said yes, she introduced herself and said she was out walking and thought she would stop by.  I felt compelled to ask her inside.   My kids were eating lunch.  

OK, they were eating lunch and watching Dora the Explorer at the same time.  

OK, OK, OK, they were eating McDonald's Happy Meals (with chocolate milk) while watching Dora.   

Let's just say that from what I gather she is not the type of mom who feeds her kids at the Golden Arches, or at least the kind of mom that will admit it.   I made some joke about not winning Mother of the Year that day and we had a pleasant enough conversation before she left.

We have not exactly become BFFs.  I actually get the feeling that she avoids me sometimes.  Whenever I run into her at school I either want to run the other way or go up to her and explain that she caught me in a not so great parenting moment and did I mention that one of my kids actually likes brussels sprouts?

My guess is even I was feeding my kids stir fried tofu and broccoli over quinoa while listening to Mozart when she came by, we wouldn't end up having spa days together anyway.  Most of my friends would have laughed and told me about the time they let their kids share a box of Oreos so they could talk on the phone for a few minutes.  

Not that I'VE ever done that.

In Praise of Trader Joe's Frozen Meatballs

If I've learned anything in my five and half years as a parent, it's that the things I stress and fret about the most seem to work themselves out by the time I've read all the books and consulted my pediatrician.    I make a doctor appointment to get a strange rash checked out, and that morning, it clears up.  Oh the sleep I lost over taking away Lolly and Frostine's pacifiers.  We made a big production over taking them to the toy store, picking out whatever they wanted, and paying with our "binkie bucket."  I was in a such a panic that night at bedtime I broke out in a cold sweat.   But it was like they never had pacifiers at all.   Not a tear was shed and neither of them mentioned the binkie bucket again.

Lately it's been Gloppy's eating habits that have kept me up at night.   Up until recently, we have described him as a pretty good eater, marveled at what he will eat and how much.  The past few weeks, he's been on a pasta and cookie only diet.  Eggs and bananas were his breakfast of choice, now I'm lucky if I can get him to eat a piece of toast and a drink a glass of water.  I think it's pretty typical behavior for an almost three year old, but it has me a little worried.  It has Mr. Mint a lot worried.

Let me just say that I am of the Ellyn Satter camp; you put healthy food in front of them and whether or not they eat it is up to them.    Personally, I am annoyed when people push food on me, telling me how much I'll love it (hello Mr. Mint's family!!!).   I'll decide what I like, thankyouverymuch.  We try to enforce the one bite rule, and if they tell me they don't like something, I don't try to convince them otherwise.   Yes, I get annoyed if I have put a lot of effort into dinner for several nights in a row and most of the food ends up in tupperware in the fridge.  But I refuse to have battles at the dinner table.  There is always something on the table that I know they will eat.  If they eat strawberries and bread for dinner, so be it.   If I really want them to take a few bites of something, I'm not above bribery in the form of ice cream.

Mr. Mint is the exact opposite.   He pays attention to every bite they take, and gets annoyed with me if I let them have their fruit before their protein.  I have a pretty good idea where he gets it.  My mother-in-law will bring up the starving children in India, tell them they'll never grow if they don't eat such and such or ask "aren't you a good boy/girl" if they aren't hungry.  I could go on and on and on.   What and and how much one eats is big deal at my in-laws house.

So I've bought in a little bit to Mr. Mint and my mother-in-laws worries about Gloppy.   There have been a few times when I have considered asking my pediatrician for advice.   Like when all he has eaten all day is a banana, some pasta and some more pasta.   

Today on the way home from Tiny Tots, I asked Gloppy what he wanted for lunch.  He answered, "meatballs, I love meatballs mommy."  I had a moment of panic, thinking I don't have time to run to the store for some ground meat, roll some meatballs and cook them.  Then I remembered the Trader Joe's meatballs I had in the bottom of my freezer.  I almost peed my pants I was so happy.  I cooked up three meatballs and gave them to Gloppy over a little plain pasta.  He ate two whole meatballs, more protein than he's had in one sitting in I don't know how long.   Then at dinner we had build your own soft tacos.  He filled his taco full of ground beef, black beans, rice and cheese and gobbled it right up.  Cue the choir of angels please.  I think he's finally tired of pasta and plain toast.  No sign of his appetite for cookies slowing down though.

Spring Break, Day Two

Today was full of laughs and good times.  We started the morning at a local park with my friend K and her kids.  I met K when our twins were babies in a mom's group.  She has twin girls who are about a week older than Lolly and Frostine.  Coincidentally she had her son about a week before I had Gloppy.  K and her family moved from San Francisco to the burbs about about a year before we did.   We even have matching mini-vans.  I like to keep on eye on her to see what I will be doing next.  Hopefully she won't decide to have any more kids.  Here's the whole gang at the park.

After lunch and a quick nap for Gloppy we headed north to San Francisco to meet my sister and her kids (cousin #1 and cousin #2).  We met up at the Ferry Building and took a walk along the water.  Here's four cousins in a row.

And the littlest one pulling up the rear.

We stopped to admire the view.

We took a ride on a merry-go-round.

After dinner, we got some gelato.  Yum, yum.

Cousin #1 and cousin #2 really liked their gelato.

 

Mama Ginger Tree's adventure camp is going quite well.  I think I might collapse by the end of the week, but the kids are having a blast.  Now I need to go get some coffee so I can make it through tomorrow's planned events.  Stay tuned.

Toothpaste Cookies

It's no secret that I have a sweet tooth.  If I am feeling stressed or overwhelmed, the first thing I reach for is something sweet.   I even use "sweets" or "sugar" as terms of endearment for my girls.   My girls are just as happy with fruit for dessert as a they are with a bowl of ice cream.  But Gloppy is truly a candy loving kid.  This has been fueled by my in-laws and I must admit, by me as well.  That kid will do anything for a Skittle.  He usually gets stuck on one thing for a week or so, and right now he likes meringue cookies.   Today he and I were are the grocery store together and he spotted these little gems.

They are mint meringues with chocolate chips!!!  Try to contain your excitement.  Chocolate and mint has got to be the most amazing food combination ever.  But after I told Gloppy that of course we could take the green cookies home, I realized these were toothpaste cookies.  My mom used to make just such a cookie every Christmas when I was a kid.  My sister and I used to call them toothpaste cookies.  I remember my mom whipping them up in her mixer, adding the green food coloring and mint extract and stirring in the chips.   Adding to the mystique of the toothpaste cookie was the fact that you had to leave them in the oven overnight without opening it.  It was pure torture.   I thought for sure my mom invented these little drops of heaven, but I guess not.  Or maybe she sold the recipe to the Miss Meringue Cookie Company and she's saving the proceeds for my inheritance.   

So thank you Gloppy for taking me on a trip down cookie memory lane.   I'll leave you with a picture of Gloppy enjoying his first toothpaste cookie.  Hey sis, do you remember them with the same affection?