24 Jan
Overheard: So close!
Olivia: Hey Mom, I know all the continents, Mom. London, New York City, um….KANSAS, Wisconsin….JULY, annnnnd syrup.
23 Jan
Beauties and the Beast
I took Princess Tiana and Snow White to see Beauty and the Beast on Sunday. While I’m not a fan of this 3-D business, it was great to see this movie again. Both girls were spellbound the entire film.
20 Jan
“I can’t even carpe fifteen minutes in a row, so a whole diem is out of the question.”
My friend Lori shared this brilliant parenting article by Glennon Melton—it’s the perfect answer to the common refrain of “Enjoy every minute of this, it goes by so quickly.” Turns out, my (silent) response of “THANK GOD” is not entirely inappropriate.
A few excerpts:
“Every time I’m out with my kids — this seems to happen: An older woman stops us, puts her hand over her heart and says something like, ‘Oh, Enjoy every moment. This time goes by so fast.’ Everywhere I go, someone is telling me to seize the moment, raise my awareness, be happy, enjoy every second, etc, etc, etc.
I know that this message is right and good. But, I have finally allowed myself to admit that it just doesn’t work for me. It bugs me. This CARPE DIEM message makes me paranoid and panicky. Especially during this phase of my life – while I’m raising young kids. Being told, in a million different ways to CARPE DIEM makes me worry that if I’m not in a constant state of intense gratitude and ecstasy, I’m doing something wrong. …
Last week, a woman approached me in the Target line and said the following: ‘Sugar, I hope you are enjoying this. I loved every single second of parenting my two girls. Every single moment. These days go by so fast.’
At that particular moment, Amma had arranged one of the new bras I was buying on top of her sweater and was sucking a lollipop that she must have found on the ground. She also had three shop-lifted clip-on neon feathers stuck in her hair. She looked exactly like a contestant from Toddlers and Tiaras. I couldn’t find Chase anywhere, and Tish was grabbing the pen on the credit card swiper thing WHILE the woman in front of me was trying to use it. And so I just looked at the woman, smiled and said, ‘Thank you. Yes. Me too. I am enjoying every single moment. Especially this one. Yes. Thank you.’”
In addition to making me feel less guilty about liking my children most while they’re asleep, the article provides a rather hilarious look at why it’s okay to not love every minute. And that, perhaps, makes it easier to truly appreciate the minutes that really matter.
19 Jan
Onion and bacon tart
Saveur has a fantastic social media presence—I especially love their Facebook page. They regularly share interesting articles, great kitchen tips and incredible recipes, like the one for this easy Onion and Bacon Tart. I made this for my family over the holidays, and based on their feedback, I’d consider doubling the salt if (when!) I make this again. Other than that, it seems darn near perfect.
16 Jan
Overhead
Ava, in a colossal understatement: “I have a lot of questions.”
Olivia: “If you stand on a mountain to talk to the moon, you might hear an echo.”
15 Jan
Rock chalk!
I bought season basketball tickets last fall, which is perhaps the best bad decision I’ve ever made. We’ve had a great time trekking out to the weekly games over the past couple of month. On Saturday, we also had Bryan’s company tickets, so we took the girls with us. Despite trailing behind Iowa State for most the game, the Jayhawks secured another win. Here are few shots from the day.
12 Jan
Chocolate Layer Cake
Two notes about this very traditional chocolate layer cake, made from Martha Stewart’s super easy, one-bowl chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream recipes: First, layer cakes are apparently the hip, new thing, and second, they always remind me of a sentiment I share with my girls — “I love you more than cake.”
When Ava hears this, she rolls her eyes, and says, “MOM. You should say, ‘I love you more than the earth,’ because without the earth, you wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t be here, and there CERTAINLY wouldn’t be cake.”
When I say this to Olivia, the look on her face tells me that she loves cake enough to truly understand and appreciate just how I feel about her.
10 Jan
A Christmas Story
Shortly after Ava arrived home from the last day of school in December, I found this little package under the tree, and I swear my heart grew three sizes.
Then, later that same day, she searched frantically for a little missing snowman ornanament that was supposed to sit on top of this gift to her parents. She didn’t want to share too many details with us for fear of ruining the surprise, but she did leave this little note for Santa. It made my newly-enlarged heart sink:
Thankfully, Bryan found the ornament under the car in the garage on Christmas eve—she must have dropped it on her way in the house. We tucked the note away, but Santa found it and left a short response, much to sweet Ava’s surprise.
We did indeed like the present—a cute little storybook Ava created on her own at school. And, that snowman ornament will happily hang on our tree each Christmas, a reminder of how thoughtful and generous a six year old can be.
7 Jan
Life Lister
Over Christmas break, our local paper reported unusual Snowy Owls sighting in the area as they move south in search of food. Our friend Dawn emailed last week to say she’d twice seen a Snowy Owl below the dam south of town.
We headed that direction this morning on what we thought would be a long shot. But, as we turned to drive below the dam, we found a group of people watching a Snowy Owl as it perched on a speed limit sign.We never imagined we’d be so lucky!
Despite the cars and spectators all around, the owl stayed put for quite a long time.
You can see the owl below—he’s just left of the roof rack on blue SUV.
As we headed down this road, we ended up a bit closer.
