The first no "L"

One of our most treasured Christmas decorations is a set of angels that used to belong to L's grandmother. She had many grandchildren (26, to be exact), so to have anything of hers is an honor, and especially these angels, which were a favorite of L's dad as a child.

There are four angels, and they each hold a letter of NOEL. However, when they came to us, the angel from the "L" was missing, and we did the best we could to display it, but most of the time it ended up looking like there was no "L" in "Noel." Really, I can't make this up.

Each year, as we unpacked our Christmas decorations, I was a little sad that we didn't have an angel for our "L." But, what we did have was the original packaging. So finally, last year, I made it my mission to locate L's angel (bet you didn't think I had another pun, did you?).

I scoured eBay and Craigslist and the rest of the Internet. I found quite a few sets of these angels, despite their age (60+ years), which was remarkable. But I kept getting in touch with people too late or losing auction bids. Finally, I found someone who only had an "E" and an "L." Sold! (Come "L" or high water.)

You'll see in the picture that our "L" is a bit smaller than the others, but he still matches perfectly. A major upgrade from the previous version nonetheless.

You'll also see in the picture that the tradition with the angels is to display them a bit nontraditionally.

Hats off to the holidays

Some holiday traditions are passed on from generations and practiced so long that you don't know where they came from. Like, going to church, or when to open presents, or putting up certain decorations.
Other traditions just kind of happen. And you don't know how long they will last. Like our reindeer hat, which is now in its 4th year.

L's dad showed up with this hat at Christmas when Jellybean was 1. I was thinking it was nice for her to have a warm hat, but it seemed frivolous to have one that can only appropriately be worn for one month a year. Turns out, I was very short-sighted.
This hat, which Jellybean and Peanut can both wear and share, has been so much fun for us. It has been a conversation starter so many times over when we're out and about -- and it's brought smiles to so many faces. I mean, who can resist a little person sporting Rudolph on her head?

We will keep wearing the Rudolph hat for as long as it stays intact. A hat to wear once a year? Totally worth it.

What's for dinner (in 20 minutes)?

Do you feel like you have the same 7 dinners in rotation every week -- like same stuff, different day? It's so easy to get in a rut of fixing the go-to, popular meals day in and day out. I'm hoping by sharing a couple of our favorites, maybe you can share your family's easy favorites, and then we can all shake up our routine a bit.

We are working very hard to make home-cooked dinners our priority. For the past 6 months or so, between our farm share and other meal planning, we have averaged almost six nights per week of eating at home. We've managed to create a rotation that includes many low-prep dinners and some decent nutrition. We always serve a vegetable, and we have a priority on whole grains -- sometimes difficult when we want to eat quickly and not spend all evening in the kitchen.

A while back, I wrote about some recipes that I love. I am not a gourmet chef, but I can follow a recipe. I'm also not terribly creative in generating new and exciting dinner ideas. Bear that in mind when you read our most popular meals -- for the kids AND adults in our house -- below.

1. Tacos. I have this one down to a quick science: brown the meat, heat some shells, and warm up refried beans. I have struggled to come up with the right vegetable to complement tacos. Nothing with much nutrition seems to mix well (read: lettuce on the taco doesn't count as veg!). But last week, it hit me: Sauteed bell peppers and onions.

2. Omelettes. Now that eggs are good for us again, according to the nutrition experts, I have no qualms about dishing up breakfast for dinner. They are quick to prepare, and often we can incorporate leftover vegetables as part of the omelette. And the girls shovel omelettes in like they're going out of style (but they're not). Toast on the side, and we're done.

3. Picnic dinner (veg and protein components pictured). I'm not talking about eating outside on a blanket. Instead, bring the picnic foods inside and put them on the kitchen table. This one was inspired by L's famous "snacky-snack" appetizer trays that he prepares for special occasions. Slice up cheese, salami, all the raw veg and fruit you can find, and put it on big plates. Add in whole grain crackers and/or whole grain bread. Everyone serves themselves. L and I agree that the girls probably eat more fruit and vegetables at this meal, wherein they select their food themselves, than at meals where we prepare their plates. The first time we served this, Jellybean exclaimed, "It's a picnic dinner!"

So, I showed you mine. Now you show me yours: What are your family's favorite quick dinners?

Thanksgiving and wine

In case you've been under a rock, it's that time of year where we all get to heap our plates full of food and glug down a couple glasses of wine. For some people, I guess that could be every day, but for me, it's Thanksgiving!

I have many, many things to be thankful for every day of the year. Maybe some day I'll make a list worthy of sharing. But in the meantime, we're doing our usual hosting duties for Thanksgiving, so I have some cooking to do.

I will be doing my "no-fail" turkey again this year, as well as baking a couple of pies with my vodka crust recipe. I will also be wine shopping. Although I couldn't drink for many of the previous Thanksgivings we hosted (I was pregnant or nursing for 4 years straight), I was still the unofficial sommelier. I have a few favorites that pair well with turkey and the flavors of the season.

Whites:
Chateau Grand Traverse Riesling -- I try to drink Michigan wines but don't always love them. This one, on the other hand, is one of the best pairings with turkey I have ever had. Slightly sweet contrasted with the sage and herbiness, mmmm.

Covey Run Riesling -- If you can't get the Michigan riesling, this is the next best. Again, the slight sweetness greets the Thanksgiving table flavors wonderfully.

Big House White -- I didn't feel like I could have an all-riesling list because it might turn some people off. This wine, Thanksgiving or not, is my favorite white wine I've had in a long time. Beware, it's dangerous. The first time L and I tried it, we drank the whole bottle in a sitting! That never happens, so that's saying something. A steal with mass appeal.

Reds:

Echelon Pinot Noir -- Appeals to all wine drinkers, from serious sommelier wannabes to occasional wine drinkers. Smooth with nice flavor, accommodates Thanksgiving flavors perfectly.

Beaujolais Nouveau -- Not always a great pairing with Thanksgiving (the earthy French flavors tend to be subtle), even though the timing of the varietal's release coincides. I haven't tried this year's yet, but I have read that the French are particularly pleased with this year's harvest. Might be worth uncorking.

Really, you won't go wrong with any pinot noir at the Thanksgiving table. Many people espouse the rule of white wine with poultry, but the strong flavors of Thanksgiving lend themselves to pinot noir so well. Make sure you at least try it. Or do like we do, give lots of choices at the table, and let everyone share tastes!

What are you serving at Thanksgiving? I'd love new suggestions to share at our tasting table.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Face value

Peanut is 2 1/2 now and, among other recently acquired talents, knows how to speak her mind. She has begun to articulate ideas and thoughts that address the big picture of life -- not just toys and food and silliness. As with every child when they reach this point, what she has to say is pretty interesting.

She started preschool a couple weeks ago, and I have never seen a child more ready for preschool. It is as if this is where she has belonged her whole little life. She loves it beyond words.

The other day, she was talking to me about one of her teachers, whom she has liked since we've been taking Jellybean to preschool. She was telling me a story about something Miss Amy (not her real name) likes to say. Then, she paused for a moment, looked me in the eye, and with more innocence than I thought any single person could conjure, she said, "Miss Amy has a dark face."

I was at the same time surprised, offended and endeared. Miss Amy is a person of color, and we had never discussed that previously. As I was taking mental inventory of how to respond, Peanut continued.

"[Other teachers] Miss Jane, Miss Kathy and Miss Diane have light faces. You and Jellybean and me have light faces. But Miss Amy has a dark face."

She was clearly very proud of her analysis. She awaited my response, sweet-faced and genuine. I could go no other way than the honest route. "You're right, Peanut. Some people have dark faces, and some people have light faces. But we're all the same kind of people."

All I could think after that was how I wished it could just be that simple. Because of so much history and wrongdoing, we as a society (and a world, in many ways), can't just notice someone's color and move on. Maybe we should take a cue from the 2-year-olds and start looking at the world as it is now -- pack away our judgments and walk forward, knowing what we know but not using it.

The end is near

I can feel it coming on. I sense its presence just around the corner. The very thing that has kept me sane for almost the past 4 years will come to an end soon. Life will never be the same once it does.

What am I talking about? Nap time. That glorious hour (or two) that allows me to do the things around the house that I want to do, not dictated by anyone under 4 feet tall. The down time I require to maintain my social skills by talking to friends on the phone or neighbors. That daily appointment with my DVR to crank through all the shows I need to watch. The productive window during which I can crank out assigned writing. All of it is slipping through my hands day by day.

Jellybean has been skipping a nap here or there for a few months now. Some weeks she sleeps 6 out of 7 days, and some weeks she sleeps 2 out of 7 days. Every day, I still make her have an hour of "quiet" time no matter what. I say "quiet," because some days it is anything but -- bordering on boisterous, and I end up going in to shush her a couple times during the hour. There is no rhyme or reason as to when she sleeps or doesn't sleep. Some days I'll leave her room and think, "No WAY she sleeps today," and 3 minutes later: silence. For an hour and a half. Other days, I've run her ragged in the morning, and she's falling apart at the seams, and yet an hour into quiet time, she's chipper and ready to roll.

Peanut is still a consistent napper for the time being -- I hope she remains oblivious to Jellybean's activities, or that could be blown too. I have played defense a few times for Peanut, attempting to snuff out Jellybean's noise before it wakes Peanut. Mostly successful so far.

I know in a few years, I'll look back and feel like the era we had napping kids lasted about 10 minutes. My friends with older kids feel that way. But for now (and the past 4 years), nap time is a mainstay of my existence. Without it, I almost don't know who I will be. Stay tuned, some day you'll see.

What's on your playlist?

Just recently, I got inspired to create a new music mix for the kids and I to listen to. I hadn't made a new one for a while, so I had fun brainstorming different songs that L and I already had in iTunes.

Don't get me wrong -- I love some of the kids' music that's out there right now. Dan Zanes and Barenaked Ladies are probably the ones I can listen to the most without having annoying earworms at all hours of the day. As I've talked about before, some is better than others, but sometimes I just want to hear something a bit more mature.

I made a couple CDs two years ago or so that included Jimmy Buffett, the Beatles and Bob Marley, plus a selection of showtunes. Those are fun, and they're still in regular rotation. (Side note: If we're out somewhere and hear any of the aforementioned playing, one of the kids will invariably say quite loudly, "This is MY music!" Always garners an amusing response from surrounding adults.) With this CD, I was striving for musical variety -- styles, decades, etc.

So here's the latest playlist. You would probably be surprised to know which songs are their favorites.

Dancing Queen, ABBA
Walk Like an Egyptian, The Bangles
If I Had $1,000,000, Barenaked Ladies
Stand by Me, Ben E. King
Let's Go Crazy, Prince
The Tide Is High, Blondie
Take the Money and Run, Steve Miller Band
Wide Open Spaces, Dixie Chicks
La Bamba, Los Lobos
Iko Iko, The Dixie Cups
Grease, Frankie Valli
Great Balls of Fire, Jerry Lee Lewis
I'm Yours, Jason Mraz
Mother Nature's Son, Sheryl Crow (from "I Am Sam")
Livin' la Vida Loca, Ricky Martin
Hey There Delilah, Plain White T's
Blackbird, Sarah McLachlan (from "I Am Sam")
Supersition, Stevie Wonder
Soak Up the Sun, Sheryl Crow
But Anyway, Blues Traveler
Everyday Is a Winding, Road Sheryl Crow

Help me start my next playlist: What songs do your kids like?

Coming down off the sugar high

We had so many Halloween activities this year, it seemed more like Halloween week than Halloween day. Was it because the actual day was a Saturday, or was it because the kids are at the age that we have more things we can do?

Although it was a bit hectic and tiring (the girls were visibly fatigued by the time we actually went out trick-or-treating), we really did have fun. I overcame my costume cynicism with Jellybean when I saw how much she was enjoying being a princess. And Peanut just loved telling everyone that she was Dorothy and her dog was Toto.

I put the candy onus on the girls so that I didn't have to decide if I should buy candy I liked or didn't like -- that really is the true Halloween conundrum, in my opinion. You're darned if you do and darned if you don't. So the girls picked the bags of candy at the store, which they thought was an important responsibility.

We had a pumpkin-carving and pizza party at preschool a couple days before Halloween. Then we had a costume party at preschool with lots of fun activities the day before. On Halloween night, we trick-or-treated early on so that we could get back home to greet most of the neighbors at our house. The girls loved opening the door to see what costumes would meet them on the other side.

It was a happy Halloween, but we were all equally happy to head to bed that night and be done with the festivities.

Fruity red wines

It's getting cooler out and, alas, my favorite white wines no longer seem appropriate for the season. My sadness diminishes, though, as I pop open a bottle of fruit-filled red wine and get warm from the inside out.

When I call these wines "fruity," I mean it in the sense of bold, (wo)manly fruit flavor. These are all perfectly drinkable on their own for warming yourself up, but they pair great with filling meals like chili, lasagna, steak and mushrooms.

These are all fairly recent discoveries of mine, so I'm eager to hear what you think. I'm listing them in order of character, lightest to most full-bodied.

Baron Philippe de Rothschild Pinot Noir -- I don't love French pinots as a general rule, but this one has much more fruit than your typical earthy French pinot. And pretty much anything with the Rothschild name is worth trying once. About $10/bottle

Juan Gil Monastrell -- The monastrell wines from Spain, as L can attest, are my new obsession. There is a younger generation of winemakers in Spain just beginning to distribute product worldwide, and this (as most Spanish wines are) is a fantastic value. Lovely berry fruit with a smooth finish. $7-10/bottle That's not a typo! What a deal.

Layer Cake Shiraz -- We have had a bottle of this in the house every week for the past couple months. L is fixated on this one, and rightfully so. It is smooth and creamy, with fruity pepper and almost smoky flavors. You will just want it to sit in your mouth, it's so good. About $10-12/bottle

Trapiche Malbec -- Argentinians know something about macho red wines. Malbecs are fairly new on the scene in the U.S. in the past five to seven years. They are so well-rounded, you can pick out almost any flavor in a good malbec. This is my go-to malbec, great with a meaty dinner -- or better yet, South American cuisine. About $10-12/bottle

Maipe Malbec -- I just had this last week for the first time, and I was about knocked over by the fruity nose and the jammy flavor. Even for a malbec, it was so multidimensional. It would be great with dinner, but I liked it after dinner to absorb all the fruity flavor on its own. And it's darn near a steal. About $8-10/bottle

Sell out with me, oh yeah

I made it almost 4 1/2 years without succumbing. My resolve has been strong since I was pregnant with Jellybean, not knowing if she would be a boy or girl. I knew if I had a girl, I would have to face this at some point. And now, the battle is over, and there is a clear victor.

The Disney princesses have won over my 4-year-old. I tried so hard to prevent them from entering my house. Indeed, the only vestiges of them are in the form of greeting cards that others have sent. We don't have any actual toys that resemble any of the princesses. (There is a smidgen of satisfaction that I haven't directly submitted any money to the evil mouse corporation)

I pride myself on being open-minded on child-rearing topics, and sometimes it can be a strain for me to remain so. Disney and princesses are two areas that have been an ongoing struggle for me. Coming into October this year, I knew what I was up against for Halloween.

Being a marketing person, getting conquered by a marketing machine like Disney is an extra dagger in the heart. I know how insidious those campaigns are -- more like brainwashing than advertising. So, when I tell you that Jellybean will be Cinderella for Halloween, I take comfort that neither she nor I has reached the "brainwash" phase. We still haven't given a dime to Disney, even with the costume. We got it secondhand. Take that, evil mouse!

The eye of the beholder

I have always loved hearing people's stories about the hilarious/clever/embarrassing things their kids have said. After you read this, I hope you'll share your stories, either about your kids or about yourself as a kid.

Peanut is just approaching the age and stage that she says funny things on purpose, and yet doesn't quite understand social convention enough to know that some observations are best kept to herself.

A while back, all four of us were out to eat at a restaurant with my mother-in-law and brother-in-law. An older couple was seated at the table next to us. I didn't pay them much attention, because I was too busy making sure salsa, chips and quesadillas didn't get flung across the restaurant or eaten off the floor.

We were about halfway through lunch when Peanut piped up triumphantly, "Her hair is purple!" Of course, in typical 2-year-old fashion, she said it while pointing boldly in the direction of the older couple. We redirected her with quiet murmurs like, "Yes, sweetie, would you like another chip?"

No dice. Peanut wanted us all to share in her discovery. "Her hair is purple! That lady has purple hair!" Louder and with more oomph to her pointing. My MIL and BIL were snorting into their napkins with laughter. L kept Jellybean in check with a stern glance that he somehow managed to conjure.

Amazingly, I kept my composure long enough to lean in, look her in the eye and say something in my end-of-discussion tone like, "Her hair isn't purple, it's red, and we're all done talking about it."

Then, I snuck one last glance at the lady's hair, leaned down to the ground as if picking something up off the floor and had my own guffaw.

Her hair really was purple.

Little girls, little girls

This morning, I went in to Peanut's room to get her up. She was sleepy-talking in her bed, and when I picked up her warm, jammied little body out of her crib, she just folded into me, wrapped her arms around me gently and rested her head on my shoulder. Oh, it was so sweet and such a cozy start to the day. I thought to myself, "This is why I'm glad I have girls."

The song "Little Girls" runs an almost constant loop in my head these days. I'm sure that has nothing to do with the fact that the girls ask me EVERY DAY if they can listen to the Annie soundtrack. I do let them some days, and other days, oh darn, I just can't find that CD anywhere. Don't know where it could have gone...

My subconscious also summons the song regularly, though, as I find myself surrounded by everything little girl-related there could be. Including two actual specimens. And I couldn't be happier about it.

I didn't know I wanted to have daughters. I always assumed I would have boys -- I'm kind of a tomboy, and I've been surrounded by boys all my life, in my family and my neighborhood. I didn't think I could handle dresses and frills and princesses (okay, I still don't accommodate princesses very well). But all the cuddling and affection are way more than I knew could happen with such little people. It turns out that girls are exactly what I needed.

Even though they are little, they really are girls now. I don't mean they weren't before, it's just that now they can express their girlieness. (check out the accessorizing they did to their outfits in these pictures, and you'll see what I mean)

"Little shoes, little socks, and each little bloomer..." The little girl stuff is great. I'll hold onto it as long as I can, because somehow I have a feeling the bigger girl stuff ain't gonna be near as rosy.

A shot in the arm

When Jellybean was born almost 4 1/2 years ago, the chatter about vaccines causing other health problems was just beginning. I read about it, but I didn't feel like I needed to do anything differently because of the possibilities. I took her to each well baby appointment and dutifully recorded each shot in her health record.

Nearly two years later, by the time Peanut arrived, moms everywhere were all a-twitter about all the ailments that could be a direct result of routine childhood vaccinations. I consulted my pediatrician at each appointment and decided to bypass a couple of shots, including the rotavirus vaccine, at her recommendation. I was really on top of things and felt like I knew all the choices I could make about the vaccines.

I felt confident and informed about Peanut's vaccines until. Until last week. I received a notice from the state of Michigan that Peanut was lacking the final dose of one of her vaccines, and I needed to check with my pediatrician's office about that dose. I double-checked my records and corroborated the state's information -- she had all the shots they said she had, and no more.

So, I called the pediatrician's office, and come to find out, that final dose is actually optional. I am choosing to skip it for my own reasons. But I didn't even realize it was a choice. I had asked all the right questions. I had scrutinized every shot. I was in tune to what was happening. Except I wasn't. It's just a minor optional vaccine booster. Why didn't anyone give me the choice, then?! How many of those agonizing shots that she's already had were optional?

At least in all my paying attention and educating myself about vaccines, I have learned one valuable piece of information: checking titers. I will definitely be doing that for both of my girls when the time comes for them to go to kindergarten.

Strange bedfellows

Jellybean loves books -- like, so much that she sleeps with them. Literally. Books in her bed. Every night.

I also love books, but the thought of large hunks of hardcover storybooks poking me from every angle while I attempt to slumber is not the least bit appealing. I'll stick to reading them and placing them on my nightstand. Jellybean will not; in the bed they go.

Books in her bed have been a nightly request for, oh, almost three years. I thought it was a phase that would last a couple weeks at most. Shows what I know.

It all started 3+ years ago when I was out of town, and L came in to get 1-year-old Jellybean out of her crib in the morning. Her crib was strewn with books, nearly covering the entire surface. She had maneuvered them through the slats, presumably one by one, the previous night while L thought she was asleep. (Her nightstand was in close proximity)

Pretty much ever since then, at every naptime and bedtime she has asked for books in her bed -- and we have complied. She likes to look through them and "read" them (i.e., recite them from memory) to herself before drifting off to sleep. But that's only a small part of them. I think she actually draws comfort from the books' mere presence. Often she's too tired to even touch them, but there they remain, carefully tucked under her pillow all night long. They're there if she needs them.

Other times, she dives in and reads each one, then arranges them to suit her sleeping comfort. I have performed many a delicate nighttime book extrication in the dark to prevent her from rolling onto them or knocking them onto the floor (which has happened more times than I can count -- THUD, in the middle of the night).

She has her lovey Berkeley Bear, her quilt and her books. What more does a girl need for her beauty rest?

Side note: The books make for great leverage if she's misbehaving at bedtime. "If you keep acting like this, there will be no books in your bed tonight." Problem solved.

Sundays unplugged

No matter what we've done on any given weekend, I'm always tired by Sunday night. Often on Sunday mornings, with children scurrying about, I find myself fantasizing about sitting down and just zoning out with a book or crossword puzzle. So I decided to make it official (well, as official as anything is in this house) and declare Sunday evenings after the girls are in bed "Sundays unplugged."

That means, that whatever L and I do, the phone sometimes being an exception -- it's a cell phone, after all -- must be manual: reading the paper, reading a book, talking (gasp!), doing the Sunday crossword, playing a game, etc. No TV, no music, no computer.

And can I tell you? It is one of the best parts of my week! It's the ideal way to wrap up a busy weekend, and it's an oasis of calm. It gives us an excuse to settle down and not have people talking at us -- which we have plenty of, weekend or not -- and to just. Be.

The idea of crossword puzzles as relaxation is pretty new for us. Our parents took them up fairly recently, with the idea of keeping their minds limber as they age. Between collaborating with them on puzzles when we're all together and the movie "Wordplay," I think we got inspired.

Just writing this, I'm already looking forward to tonight. No more Sunday night blues about the work week beginning. Just chillin' with my old-fashioned books, papers and pencils! And hopefully doing well on the Sunday crossword.

Makeovers

Who doesn't love a makeover? Really, we all are kind of obsessed with the instant gratification of someone or something going shab to chic. Sorta like my oven last year. Well, maybe I was the only one excited about that.

Anyway, the girls needed haircuts. Really badly. Like, they looked so shaggy, they were almost neglected. I do NOT want to take them to the salon every other month for a coiffure. I have better things to do with my time -- and patience. (Thank goodness I didn't have boys! They would just have long hair, but not for style reasons.)

So I am officially announcing my subscription to the "Cut-as-much-as-possible-so-we-don't-spend-our-lives-at-the-salon" school of hair styling. And, please don't suggest I cut their hair myself. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, especially my own children.

You can see for yourself how dramatic the transformations were. I love actually being able to see their faces now, instead of two little mops of blond hair. And they have loved showing of their new 'dos.

The lollipops? Yet another perq.

Hiding quarters

I never understood until I was a parent how a toddler's mispronunciation of words morphs so naturally into a family's permanent vernacular. I guess if you hear it wrong enough times, you subconsciously start repeating what you hear -- even when you're the adult!

Peanut started having flare-ups of eczema after she turned 1. I learned to stay ahead of the breakouts, and when we do, the itchiness isn't a problem. But every once in a while the eczema beats us to the punch. Thankfully, we have prescription hydrocortisone that we put on the "itchies," as Peanut calls them, to stop them in their tracks.

Last winter, I was putting some hydrocortisone on an itchy when she picked up the tube and called it her "hiding quarters." After that, every time she had a breakout, she would say, "Mama, can I have some hiding quarters for my itchies?"

It wasn't until last week that I realized no one in this house refers to hydrocortisone by its correct pronunciation. At least WE know what we're talking about! (I'm sure a babysitter or two has been confronted with this request and wondered what we're doing with our coins)

As far as the eczema goes, we use high-moisture, all-natural lotions twice a day, in addition to a kind-of expensive bath soap. We've managed well so far, but I recently read about this study involving bleach baths, and, crazy as it sounds, maybe it's worth a try this winter. It might save us refilling our prescription for hiding quarters.

Farm to table

As I have mentioned before, I am a huge fan of eating locally, and I make both local and organic foods priorities for us. In that vein, this summer, for the first time in several years, we subscribed to a local farm share.

Going into the summer, I knew from the past a few things would be true with the farm share: 1. The fruits and veggies would be delicious beyond our imagination. 2. Cleaning and sorting the share would be a decent-sized project each week. 3. Incorporating everything in the share into our weekly menu would be a challenge.

These assertions all turned out to be accurate. The food has been SO good -- I didn't know salads could be so satisfying. However, I have come to appreciate when someone else (either L or the grocery store) cleans lettuce, spinach and potatoes for me. I spent more than a few hours leaning over my sink trying to rinse every bit of grit from the vegetables.

And I was glad to be prepared for allowing flexibility in our meals, because we only had a day or two's warning of what would be in the share each week. I am impressed at our creativity -- it was a team effort for L and me -- finding ways to fix even the most obscure of vegetables day in and day out. Along the way, we happened upon some delicious recipes and concepts.
But even with my previous experience with the farm share, nothing could have prepared me for how the kids would respond. I had no idea that they would eagerly anticipate our weekly trips to the farmer's market to retrieve the share. "When is it Wednesday so we can get stuff from the farmers?" they ask. We're talking about vegetables here, not toys. But it is approaching that level of excitement.

As we drive home from the farmer's market with our share box packed chock-full, they speculate about what might be inside. By the time we're home, opening the box on the kitchen floor is nothing short of Christmas, and I'm not exaggerating. "Finally, corn!" "Crunchy carrots!" "My favorite spinach!" (we call kale spinach for simplicity's sake) "Cucumbers to pickle!" Both Jellybean and Peanut now can identify almost every seasonal vegetable and fruit in its natural, raw state.

We have our farm share until mid-October. After that, we're on our own, I guess.

Chicago trip!

I just re-read my post I wrote before our trip to Chicago, and I can't get over how neurotic I sound. I'm not really like that, am I? Sheesh.

Despite all the (minor) challenges I mentioned, our trip was really fun. We stayed in a single hotel room with both girls, managed to get enough sleep to be sane, and got around the city just fine.

I got a lot of messages from friends with advice from my anal retentive post, so it was worth it. A friend lent me her stroller and Highlights magazines, and I got many, many great Chicago tips, almost all of which I used this time. The rest will be saved for our next trip! Such a fun place to visit.

L and I spent some quality time in the hotel room bathroom while the kids went to sleep, both at naptime and in the evenings. (Thank God for wireless internet.) It won't be long before we'll be done with naps and ready for later bedtimes that we can all do together -- but we're not there yet! So, trips like this are fun but not ideal. We were there 3 nights, and I think that was about all we could do before the lack of sleep would've turned us all into monsters.

One note: I am happy I dug out our old white noise machine from when Jellybean was a baby. It was the perfect buffer for hallway noise and plumbing noise in the hotel (for all of us!).

Traveling with kids -- any tips?

Later this week, we're taking the kids and the father-in-law (who both L and I are counting in the "kid" column instead of the "adult" column) on the train to Chicago for a long weekend. I'm so psyched about playing in the Windy City in its summer glory!

Getting there will be easy, doing fun things and eating will be easy. But, we're staying in a regular hotel room and no longer have a regular stroller because I sold it in the garage sale after it sat around neglected for months. Call us non-adventurous, but we haven't done the hotel room thing with both kids until now. And I hadn't factored in a largely pedestrian (so to speak) vacation when I sold the stroller.

Any recommendations? Advice?

Sutherland drink?

I always saw this weird word in the grocery store dairy section, and I couldn't venture how to pronounce it, let alone consume it, so I just left it well enough alone. Now, go figure, it has become one of my go-to snacks for the kids. If they knew how good it was for them, they might not love it as much as they do. So I won't tell them that part.

I'm talking about kefir. It's pronounced KEE-fer, just like Kiefer Sutherland, if you're challenged like I was. I bought it to give to Peanut when she was sick a couple months ago and having a bad bowel reaction (sorry, TMI) to her antibiotic. It's similar to yogurt, although it has more active cultures than the main brands. Plus, it has dietary fiber. And did I mention it tastes like a smoothie?

We call it "yogurt drink" at my house, for simplicity. It is often the afternoon snack, and I serve it in our (previously special-occasion) built-in straw cups. No prep required, it's healthy, filling and everyone loves it.

So if you've seen it and felt a bit xenophobic too, I'm here to tell ya it's worth trying. This is the brand I like the best, and this winter I plan to kick it up in the blender with extra fruit and other nutrition. It also works wonderfully as a dip for fruit or graham crackers.

Tall drink of water

Peanut, at not quite 2 1/2, is really, officially starting to outgrow some of the toddler things. Like, we took down the baby gate from the bottom of the stairs. She swings on the "big-girl swings" in the backyard and at the park. We no longer strap her into her booster seat at the table (she still needs the height a bit, and I like it for psychological reasons -- as in, stay in your seat and eat!).

She's also approaching the end of her need for sippy cups. It used to be that when we went to the park or anywhere out and about to play, I'd bring water so either of the girls could have a drink when they needed. Because the environmentalist in me prohibits buying bottled water, I always brought tap from home. Until the end of the spring, I was bringing the water in a sippy cup so Peanut could have a drink without spilling the entire supply. I had just begun to wonder how I could replace the sippy with something a little more grown-up, when the girls discovered L's biking water bottle. Yet another benefit of our biking hobby, as it turns out.

"Daddy's water bottle" has become our standard drink bearer for all outdoor activities this summer. Both girls have figured out how to work it and drink out of it, and it is perfect in so many ways. It's big enough to have adequate water for both of them, it doesn't spill, and it fits in the car cupholders.

I've seen the individual flip-lid straw thermos things for kids and all manner of stainless steel bottles (which I think are very cool, by the way). But Daddy's water bottle is just the perfect thing. However, it will look a tad out-of-place when we're toting it in the February dead of winter as opposed to the August sun and sweat...
Photo credit goes to Jellybean!

Get on your bikes and ride

We have re-discovered biking this summer, and have had some of our best family time when we've been on two wheels. The bikes have both literally and figuratively taken us off the beaten path, and we've had a lot of fun.

It all started when we bought new bikes for ourselves in May. It was something we had been talking about for a couple years, but just never got around to doing. We live in a very bike-friendly place, complete with bike lanes on many of the main streets, so it was such an easy thing to break into.
We received a retro hand-me-down Burley from some friends that has been sitting in the basement awaiting some action. And action it has gotten -- I'd love to know how many miles we've logged on that thing. The girls love riding in it, and thankfully, L doesn't mind pulling it. The two of them combined are close to 80 lbs., so it would be a struggle for me to pull them, especially uphill. L must be freakishly strong, because we've had several steep inclines that I'm barely dragging my own butt, and I look over at L and he's cruising right on up with an extra 80 lbs. behind him!
The evening bike ride to a park or activity has become one of our favorite pasttimes. Eat dinner, do the dishes, load everyone up, and hit the road. One evening, we went to the neighborhood ice cream place, and an older couple were oohing and ahhing over the girls in the Burley. The man said, "It's so nice to see something that a man HAS to do [pulling the Burley] -- there aren't many of those things left." I couldn't decide whether to laugh or resent him. I did a little of both.

During our time at the beach, we did several rides on a Rails to Trails bike path. Hello, stimulus money? That would be the perfect project in a slow economy: clean up nasty old unused railroad tracks and give us more places to move our ever-increasing girth (for free!). Many states have Rails to Trails, and you often end up seeing things you can't or won't see from the road.

I don't know if we'll be able to use the Burley for both kids next year. Jellybean crowds Peanut quite a bit, and her legs may be too long next year. *sniff* Just like everything else with little kids, I'll enjoy it while I can.

Shade, sand and no surf

For some ironic reason, the main attraction in our backyard since we returned from the beach is the sand box. Nevermind that we were surrounded by one of the world's biggest sandboxes the entire time we were there -- and spent more than a few hours trying to vanquish said sand from our shoes, clothes and house. Sand, sand, sand for our whole vacation. Now we are home, and both girls have passed hour after hour sitting in our sand box playing with the exact same toys they played with at the beach, only with about one-billionth of the amount of sand.

They have also made a new discovery, which is much more understandably fun from my point of view. Peanut discovered what the girls are now calling "the tent" in our backyard bushes during a game of hide-and-seek. Leave it to clever Peanut to locate a parent-free private play place. It is the perfect little alcove, and the girls retreat there regularly (when not engrossed in the sand, of course) to sing, pretend and just generally hide out. You may be able to tell from the faked smiles that they were less-than-pleased to have me near "the tent," let alone photographing them in it.

Now I know what people mean when they say that fun is only as far away as your own backyard. What were we thinking going all the way to the beach?

Back to life, back to reality

We have returned and settled back in from our fabulous summer vacation “up north” (as they say in Michigan) on the Lake Michigan shore.

If you’ve never vacationed on the Michigan side of Lake Michigan, you should. As a non-native, I can say without bias that it is one of the prettiest places in the U.S. The lake seems as big as the ocean, just as blue, but without the salt.

If the beauty isn’t enough to convince you, maybe a philanthropic approach can. I can say this without bias as well: Michigan needs money desperately. Tourism is the third-largest industry in the state (who knew, right?), and as with many things in this recession, it is taking a bit of a hit.

That said, our vacation was really all about us. We brought in quite a few out-of-staters in the form of friends and family – doing our small part to increase the tourism base – and we had a great time. We went to one of the same places we ventured last year, and we hope to go back next year.

Jellybean and Peanut are becoming beach kids, which I think is so cool. Yet another feather in their caps as little Michiganders.

Souvenirs

L and I had a weekend getaway last weekend and left the kids at our house with a sitter. They had a magnificent time with her -- she was definitely more entertaining than we ever are! And we had ourselves a lovely time as well.

When we checked into the hotel, I noticed our room had a stash of nice hotel letterhead, envelopes, notepaper and a pencil. I tossed it in my bag to bring home to the girls.

I spent time looking in souvenir shops throughout the weekend to find something else to bring home, but nothing spoke to me like all that fancy blank paper.

The day after we got home, I needed to do some tidying in the house. I brought out the souvenirs I had beaten the streets (ha!) to get for them. I spread out the paper on their drawing table, and they immediately started leafing through it all. As I walked away to start my work, I heard Jellybean exclaim, "This is a good present!"

Chalk one up for good ol' Mama. You just have to know your audience.

Candid camera

Jellybean's big gift from us for her birthday this year was a digital camera. She's only 4, so it was a kid-proof (but functioning) digital camera.
For a couple months, she has been using blocks and Legos as pretend cameras. She holds something that's vaguely rectangular, aims it at us and says, "Say cheese." Well, now her pretending days are over! As we anticipated, she absolutely loves her camera.

Her pictures are so interesting and have provided a great insight into her life as a kid.

For example, here's what I look like to her:Here are L and Peanut:
As she practiced more, she got more accurate with her aim and actually came out with some pretty cool ones.The last one is a picture of her Father's Day gift for L -- her photo in a picture frame that she decorated. I liked the perspective.

We still hear a lot of "Say cheese!" around here, but now we know we'd better be paying attention! We never know what kind of blackmail we're in for when she's a teenager.

Birthday demands

With one child born in May and the other born in June, spring is birthday season around here! Both girls were very specific about how they wanted to celebrate their birthdays this year. It was fun to see them influence each other -- and celebrate each other.
For Peanut's birthday, we had a pretty simple party and invited many neighbors over to play and have cake and ice cream. Not just any cake and ice cream, though. Peanut was adamant that she had to have YELLOW cake and ORANGE ice cream. She told us that for a week before her party. She told everyone at the party, and she told all her grandparents on the phone after the fact. Pretty demanding for a newly minted 2-year-old. Ordering by color is fun, though, and I'll take those kinds of (easily fulfilled, not outlandish) demands while I can get them.
Jellybean also had particular birthday requests -- and hers were also fairly tame. She wanted to have her birthday party at the pool, and she wanted a rainbow cake. I wasn't sure how I was going to pull off the pool thing. We don't know anyone who has a pool, we don't belong to a swim club, she's not really old enough for a big waterpark, and I just didn't know how to make it work. She started talking about her party around the time of Peanut's birthday. As we got closer to June, I thought maybe she would back off on the idea or even possibly forget about it. Instead, she kept asking. So, I decided to, in the words of Tim Gunn, "make it work."
I did some research and checking around. Turns out the city pool allows people to rent the baby pool before public swim hours for parties. Perfect! Jellybean was onto something. The cost was reasonable, the timing worked, and there was just the weather to worry about. Worry, I did (about the weather and about Peanut's health, as it turned out). It was stormy and cool for the two days preceding the party. I refused to make a back-up plan, because I was willing it to work out. Then, lo and behold, about 2 hours before the party started, the clouds parted, the humidity cranked up, and it got downright hot outside. Yeehaw! Add to that that a friend of mine posted pictures of her daughter's rainbow cake a few months back. I had the rainbow cake in the bag to boot.
Although these were requests the kids made, I have to confess that their ideas really did make the parties fun. They weren't things that L or I would have come up with on their own, and it's cool to have kids who are old enough to create their own ideas and articulate them. Both parties were a blast, and I'm already looking forward to what they'll want to do next year!

A rough week

I haven't written for a while. Life got a bit more complicated than it's been in a long time (read: ever), but I think things are calming down.

We were in the throes of planning Jellybean's birthday party, -- more on that later -- her actual birthday day and a weekend away for L and me. As if that wasn't enough to coordinate, Peanut got sick with what turned out to be a pretty serious infection. She's fine now, but she was definitely having a rough time. Just in time for Jellybean's birthday party, of course. (Why do kids always get sickest on the weekend?)

Having two kids is rarely easy, and of course we hardly ever get to give them the attention and recognition they deserve every minute of the day. But when one is having her first-ever school-friend birthday party at a special location and the other is simultaneously fighting a 103.9 fever for reasons unknown, our parenting instincts and abilities stretched in ways we didn't know they could. Jellybean deserved to be celebrated adequately, and Peanut deserved to be cared for, snuggled and loved, not to mention carefully watched.

How did we handle all that? Simple, we picked teams. Other than the party itself, which we all attended, we split into teams for all the party-planning activities, cake baking, medical visits, rest times and play times. One parent with the birthday girl, the other with the sick girl. We ended up doing a great job of balancing both the fun and serious activities, so neither L nor I did all of the same type with the same kid.

Jellybean's actual birthday was a few days after her party, and we had promised her we'd do something fun on that day too (note to self: don't promise this next year). Unfortunately, Peanut's infection didn't clear up quickly, so she was still a pretty sick kid even on that day. So, Jellybean got to pick which parent would take her to the city pool to play and swim, while the other one stayed home with Peanut, instead of all 4 of us going. I was ready for her to be sad that we all couldn't go, bracing myself for her to be bumming a bit. Not at all. She was thrilled to get to go and swim, and she chose me to go with her! Our teamwork went perfectly.

Those 5 days or so were very rough. Lots of activities, worry and stress for Peanut, interrupted sleep from thunderstorms (Jellybean) and illness (Peanut). We're officially done with birthday celebrating, and Peanut is on the mend. For now, hopefully we're back to the status quo -- for the few days remaining until we head on our summer vacation.

The feminist dilemma

Jellybean is already investigating the plight of women. She has been saying now for almost 2 years that she wants to be a doctor when she grows up. Don't know where this came from, except that we do love our pediatrician (who happens to be female). I always tell her she can be whatever she wants to be.

She is always adamant about her future career, almost to the point of being insulted if anyone suggests something different. She'll be pretending to cook, and I'll say, "Maybe you can own a restaurant when you're a grown-up." She'll look at me, pause for effect, and say flatly, "I'm going to be a doctor."

So, with this in mind, she caught me a bit off guard the other day. She was telling me that she will be a doctor when she grows up. At the same time, she was holding her baby doll, Baby Lacey. She looked down at Lacey, looked at me again and said, "I don't want to be a doctor. I want to be a mom." Remember this? Yeah, I felt that way again.

But I was determined to clarify for her. See, because I am home with her, she thinks that moms can't GO to work. I can understand how she would get this perception, seeing as how her research involves one person -- me. I concentrated on minimizing the damage with a response.

All it took was me telling her that the two pediatricians she has seen are moms AND doctors. Her eyes widened. "Tell me more people who are moms and doctors..." Uhhh. I came up with a couple dad-doctors, and that satisfied her. She put Baby Lacey night-night and all was good with the world. Phew.

Don't judge a kid by their height

Jellybean is tall for her age (she'll be 4 in a couple weeks). In fact, she's tall for a year older than her age. She clearly takes after L's side of the family -- I'm 5'4", and he's about 6'4".

When Jellybean was born, I became pretty adept at guessing ages of other babies, based on their size and what they were capable of. Then, as she became a toddler, I could look at other toddlers and gauge if they were younger or older, usually by how tall they were and how well they walked, etc. She has been very tall for her age since she started walking. It was a good lesson for me to have the super-tall kid, so that I didn't make too many assumptions about other people's kids at the park or play places.

L's brother is 6'7". I have heard L's mom talk since Jellybean was born -- and probably even before that -- about what a struggle L's brother had with always being the tallest kid. People, including his teachers, expected more from him because he was so tall. They would be out somewhere, and an adult or other child would ask him a question and be puzzled with his response. They didn't realize the child they were talking to was 2 years younger than they thought!

Jellybean has continued on the height trajectory similar to L's brother. Now that she is in preschool and interacting more with kids and adults, her height is affecting more and more situations. Even when other kids and adults know her age, they have trouble reconciling that a 3-year-old is the same size as a tall 5-year-old. Combining her height with her strong verbal ability makes it even more of a sticky wicket. Jellybean's preschool teachers have been very good at remembering her abilities, and she's in a mixed-age class, so all the children are accustomed to dealing with others of varying ages. I'd like to say I thought of that ahead of time and that's why we chose this preschool, but it's just luck.

Because I (obviously) have never had experience being "the tall kid," her height/age discrepancy is something I am working on being proactive with out in public social situations. We had an issue the other day of both a child and a mom getting frustrated at Jellybean for not comprehending a social situation. They were forgetting that she is not quite 4. It's easy to do.

So I'm experimenting with different ways to approach this and convey it to strangers, so as to avoid situations like the one the other day. I have a feeling it will be a process for years to come, unless her growth curve plateaus.

A few new (to me) wines

I haven't written about wine for a while, but that's not to say I haven't been enjoying some. I've discovered a few that aren't quite on my favorites list yet, but they definitely have the potential to be. Thought you might like to know about them in case you come across them.

Colombelle, a French white blend of colombard (70%) and ugni blanc (30%). Funky grape vintages aside, just trust me, it's a crisp very light white wine. I don't usually find French wines that have remarkable enough flavor to recommend, but this is very nice with appetizers and other light foods. About $8.

Ferrari-Carano fume blanc/sauvignon blanc. Some of the best exotic-fruit flavor I've had from a white wine in a while. It's not Italian (nor is it from the car people), rather it's a Sonoma white. It will impress you, and it will impress guests. Yum! About $11.

Hob Nob pinot noir. Smooth with good fruit. Easy to drink and goes with everything from salad to barbecued meats. Side note: One of the coolest websites and bottle designs -- wine or otherwise -- I've seen in a while. About $10.

Shenandoah Valley Amador County zinfandel. A flavorful, drinkable zinfandel for a little price. Not quite my favorite Ravenswood, but quite good. About $10.

Fearing fear itself

Jellybean is afraid of dogs (and cats). No, make that terrified of dogs. And it seems to be getting worse with time. L and I are completely at a loss as to what to do. It's awful to see her afraid, and the fear literally paralyzes her at times. And now, we seem to have the added effect of the fear becoming contagious to our previously animal-loving Peanut. I've mentioned Jellybean's fear of thunderstorms before, but her fear of dogs surpasses even that.

L is not quite the animal lover that I am. But he certainly isn't afraid of them. We have no clue where Jellybean's fear originated. As far as we know, she hasn't had a particular encounter with dogs or cats that set her off. When we first noticed her hesitation around animals, she wasn't quite 2, and when you're short, even small dogs are intimidating. Well, now she's almost 4 and is as tall as most 5-6-year-olds. So, height isn't the issue.

Here's the magnitude of her fear. If we're at a park and she's, say, on a swing and spots a dog headed for the park -- up to 50 yards away -- she'll start stressing. She will stay on the swing and refuse to get off until the dog is clearly headed in another direction. If we arrive to a park that already has a dog in attendance, she clings to me and whimpers -- even when the dog is clearly leashed or secured to something. I have to extricate myself from her and help her find an activity that doesn't involve being within 10 feet of the dog. If we're walking on the sidewalk and a leashed dog is approaching with its owner, Jellybean grabs me and tries to drag me off the sidewalk, hanging on for dear life as the dog passes. Loose dogs are off-the-charts scary for her (as are loose cats, which I learned about in two separate incidents in the past week that resulted in Jellybean hysterically crying when cats ambled toward our path).

She has petted dogs a couple of times, mostly when she's seen her peers or Peanut do so first. But those pleasant encounters have done absolutely nothing to make inroads with her fear. I have tried to discuss it with her calmly at other times, I have tried desensitizing her, I have done about everything I can think of.

Because of what her fear does to her, I find myself resenting dog owners at times. Why do you have to bring your dog onto the playground when you don't even have kids playing? Why is your dog running loose around the park? But, how could they know that people can be as afraid of dogs as Jellybean? I certainly never did when I had dogs.

I don't know what to do. I need to do some research and make a plan ASAP, though, before we end up with 2 kids afraid of dogs instead of just one.