Some Recent Funnies

These kids crack me up.

During sharing, early in the year, the boys had to share something about their heritage.  I wrote their middle names in Japanese for them and we talked about being Japanese and Norwegian.

During their sharing, one of their friends said, "I didn't know you were Japanese"  to which Evan responded, hands flung in the air, "I KNOW!!!!! We JUST found out!"

Their teacher Ms. Erin, laughed so hard she cried.



The other day, I made tried to make my Aunt's Fried Chicken.  It calls for an ice cold salt bath overnight, so I assumed brine. I cooked up the chicken, using the translated from Japanese instructions provided to me from another relative who watched once as she prepared the dish and asked some questions.  I have a few of these recipes from her, and well not always perfect, I have managed to recreate some of Auntie Masako's finest.  (her potato rolls are my crowning achievement)

I fried up the chicken, plated it up and served it to my boys.

Evan:  "What makes this chicken taste so much like salt, mom?"

Ryan:  "It's okay, as long as you don't eat too much of it."

Their kind and tactful words were very, very kind.

The chicken, it was inedible.

When I said this out loud.  Ryan said, "no, not really inedible, just hard to eat."

Reading Ryan

So this transition into first grade has been seamless.  The boys LOVE their teacher, and I do as well.  She is thoughtful about her lessons, she is dedicated to her kids, she is funny, sarcastic, and an amazingly patient teacher. 

Evan has been reading for some time now.  It really clicked with him.  He is reading books at about a third grade level, but I find that he can sound out just about any word that follows traditional rules.  Scary, I now have to be very careful with what I leave laying about.

Ryan, has been slower on the uptake, and it was alarming.  I could not get him to read ANY thing to me.  He would tell me he couldn't or it was confusing.  So imagine my surprise when I went in for Parent Teacher conferences to learn that he was one of the best readers in the class.  "Ryan?" I asked, "No, you mean Evan"  No, she meant Ryan.  That little faker.

Ryan has always loved to be read to.  He was the kid that I read to for four straight hours one day when he was sick.  He is the kid that would choose having stories read to him over Legos...okay maybe not, but he loves to be read to.   So, I guess in his little brain, he decided that if he shows me he can read, he will not get stories read to him. 

Since that meeting, I have breathed a bit easier, not pushed him to read to me as much. However while on a cleaning binge, I found a set a books that I had picked up quite a while back, I gave them to Ryan, made a big fuss about how these were books I knew he could read and they could be his special books that he could keep in his room.  Within minutes, he was calling me to come see, he could read this whole page!!! Success!!!!

Hold them closer tonight

When I heard the news today that a gunman had opened fire on an elementary school, my heart sank, then it shattered, then it beat out of my chest until I wanted to throw up. I cannot begin to imagine the immense pain and grief all of the parents in Newtown are experiencing.  When I think about them, I cannot help crying. When I see those little faces I cannot breathe. When I see the parents clutching their safe children, I loose it. Those faces could be the faces of my babies.

I drop off my children at school everyday with expectations that they will be safe.  We all do as parents. How something so horrible could happen to our most precious, is unfathomable.  As I write this, there are still so many questions, so much more information to come out, but what we all know is that something like this should never have happened.

It took everything in my power not to race to school, just to hug my babies.  I almost never leave them without a hug and a kiss, but today they were engrossed in work, and oblivious to me calling them over for a hug and kiss, so I waved blew them kisses for  my own heart, and I left. What if that was the last time I ever saw my boys alive?

As I waited for pick up time, I grew anxious. I couldn't wait to hold those boys in my arms again.

Making a conscious decision not to discuss this with the boys, we just went on with our day, dinner, hockey practice, bath, and then at bed time...I think it was Ryan, but I could be wrong, suggested a family cuddle, out of the blue.  Not just Mommy! he said, but Mommy, Daddy, and the whole family.
After a day like today, it was the perfect suggestion.  The four of us, and the two cats, jumped into bed for the best cuddle of my life.

Hold them close, Hold them close.

Growing up Foodie

I know I've talked about this before, but raising foodie kids has its upside and its downside.

I know that I did this to myself.  I encourage my children to try anything and everything!  I take huge pride in the fact that my kids love the obscure, the non-traditional kids fare. I do also remember a time when all I could get them to eat was crunchy food or hot dogs. 

Last night, while playing for legos, waiting for me to finish dinner Ryan calls out from the other room
"Mom! Can I have some cucumbers and garlic aioli?"  I know, If you had a nickle for every time you heard that!!!

Tonight, running in from the other room, spying the sliced tomatoes on the cutting board, he sneaks in to snitch one. 

While making soup the other day, Evan delights in the fact that I was putting Kale into the soup.  "Oh, Yum, I LOVE kale!!!"

While ordering sushi, "don't forget the smelt roe!!!"

Just moments in my life when I can delight in the fact that my kids are growing up foodie.

Oh yeah, Downside? When I can spend $80 on sushi for the three of us.  Or when they would prefer to eat at Urge Gastropub rather than Roundtable. Foodie kids are expensive,  foodie teenagers? oh my!!!

My throat tightens a little just thinking about it.

A preemie mom friend of mine posted a link on Facebook to a blog of a preemie mom this week.  The "Dear New NICU Mom" post was actually a post by another preemie mommy blogger. These Mommies are only about 3 years out from their NICU experience, and reading through their blogs, I can recall it all so very clearly. The absolute terror of RSV, the realization that they are all suffering PTSD, all of these things they blog about, or blogged about talking about? Been there, done that... but one paragraph in this post really stood out, and made me reflect on those NICU days, and where we are now.

"...And finally, know that you’re not alone. Some of the most therapeutic times are found in the NICU when moms begin to connect. Share stories with each other. As you begin talking, you’ll likely find that these women who you thought were so different from you, have now become the only ones who understand your heart. Don’t be afraid to talk to them. Chances are, they’ll appreciate knowing that they’re not the only ones feeling this way either."

I will forever be grateful to Lindsay and Jamie, who in the middle of the most terrifying time in THEIR lives, took the time to reach out to Scott and Me.  I don't remember the words very well,  I was in a Mag induced haze, but I remember the kindness in their faces, I remember the words, if you have questions, anything we can do to help, and we've been there. It was that moment, that simple act, that changed our NICU stay, and what we took away from it.

Because of what Lindsay and Jamie did, (and what Keri and Craig did for to start it all) and how much it meant to me, I reached out to Nina and Todd, and they reached out to Saffron and Juan, and they reached out to Katy and Scott, and because of that simple act, a community was formed. A support system of people who understood, understand.

In my volunteer work with new NICU moms, I always suggest getting to know their neighbors.  I tell them how much it meant to me.  How six and a half years later, I am friends with those people, our kids are friends, we still celebrate birthdays and milestones, and life together.  I hope I stress enough just how important that connection is, was and will always be.

BlogHer Book Club: Diary of a Submissive: A Modern True Tale of Sexual Awakening

Diary of a Submissive: A Modern True Tale of Sexual Awakening, by Sophie Morgan was in a word, awful.  

This book, has been compared to other books of note recently that deal with the subject of Dominant/submissive relationships, and it has been touted as a more well written book. While yes, the sentence structure and word choices are more polished, it is still not what I would consider interesting reading.

The subject matter is handled bluntly and openly, and that is not what turns me off about the book, but that it is just boring. Had I not been paid to read this book, I would have stopped after the first few chapters.  

The book felt self indulgent.  You know when you are talking to someone, and it feels like they are talking just because they love to hear the sound of their own voice? Well if you could translate that into reading, that is exactly how I felt reading this book.  I found myself shouting “Shut UP”  in my head.

The book claims to give you insight to a submissive, but all I got was a few sex scenes and the banality of one girl’s life.  I would much rather we call a spade a spade, call the book erotic fiction, rather than a memoir, and the expectation of any literary talent would be at a minimum. (Millions of women did not read that other series for its dynamic prose) The expectation, or maybe it is just my expectation with a memoir, is that the author has at the very least something interesting to say. Sadly nothing could be farther from the truth with Diary of a Submissive: A Modern True Tale of Sexual Awakening.

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This is a paid review for the BlogHer Book Club, however the opinions expressed are mine alone.

Kindergarten we loved you so

It seems I started this post the last day of school, and never finished, or posted...go figure. 

The first picture is from day one of Kindergarten followed by pictures from the last day of school.  I am so far behind, and there have been some really fun things that happened over the summer! I need to do a big giant post to catch up!

Until then, know the boys had a great year, summer and are having a blast as first graders!

  

Quilt I made for our wonderful teacher.  All of the kids did a panel.

 

We had a Luau the last day of school.