Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Finally...

...I am getting a chance to post! Things have been pretty busy around here lately. I don't know how many times I've tried to sit down to compose a post but just haven't been able to for a variety of reasons, none of which were a lack of something to write about. Mostly I feel like I've been running around like a crazy woman lately. I have heard people say it many times, but I definitely know it is true now - - being a stay-at-home mom is ALOT of work! Phew!

So, we've been busy. At the moment we are gearing up for Army Annual Training - - Steve leaves in a couple of days and will be gone for a little over 2 weeks. I tend to run a pretty tight ship when I am on my own with the boys, so we will do just fine. We will miss Steve though - - especially Camden. I'm hoping to keep him pretty busy so the time will go by quickly for him. Speaking of Camden, I cannot get over what a big boy he is becoming. Over the past few days I've really been noticing that his mannerisms and comments are those of a big boy. It is so hard for me to see him growing up so quickly, but at the same time I am excited to see him growing and changing. I'm just so proud of what a sweet, caring, and smart boy he is. Camden's big news at the moment is that he is becoming quite a skilled fisherman. The boy is a natural! He makes it quite clear that he does not want or need any help - - he prefers to do it all himself! Steve is so patient with him. Quite a change from years ago, when Steve took me fishing for the first time. Remember that, Steve? :)

Steve has been crazy-busy at work, as well as getting ready for AT. I really do not know how he gets it all done, and on top of that, manages to pay such great attention to his boys.

As for me, I am still acting like a lunatic, trying out cherry recipes. I think I have it narrowed down to three entries. I'll reveal what they are when the Cherry Festival roles around. I know you are all waiting on pins and needles.

I was recently hired by my local library to be the Children's Program Coordinator, which is a fancy way of saying that I am going to be running a "story time" for preschoolers. I am a little nervous about it, but at the same time I am excited, too. It will give me a chance to be creative, do something a little different, and maybe even liven up the library a little bit. They gave me a key to the library today and pretty much told me I can go in whenever I want, and help myself to whatever, so I think I'll go down for a couple of hours this weekend and decorate my area, pull some books, and get ready for my big debut next Tuesday morning. It should be fun.

Griffin has been busy cutting his two bottom teeth, blowing raspberries, and perfecting the art of Sleeping in Weird Positions: This is how I found him just a little while ago, when I went in to check on him. I have no idea how he managed to fall asleep like that. Needless to say, I moved him, for fear he'd suffer a teeny-tiny neck cramp.

Last but not least, here are some assorted pictures from the last week or so. The boys on Memorial Day, showing their Army pride

Cows in the road, on a recent scenic drive

The boys, reading their evening stories (Griffin got "asked to leave" right after this picture...too squirmy, it seems)

Camden and one of the fish he caught

Finally, I love these last two photos of the boys. Griffin likes to stick his head under the bed skirt on our bed, and Camden joined him the other morning. They had fun giggling their little heads off.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Little Stinker

Can someone please tell me how this sweet, sweet little boy can turn into such a stinker at night? I mean, I'm at a loss here. I think his angle is to be all-out crazy at night, but then super cute all day long, in an attempt to erase my memory of what he put me through the night before - - yes, I think that must be it. Granted, the boy has been teething, and that's got to hurt. I'll give him that. What I am having trouble making excuses for is the 3 a.m. wakings, followed by the babbling, giggling, hair-pulling, and countless other activities that leave yours truly with an average of approximately 3 hours of restful sleep per night. Although Griffin slept with us for about 6 months, he's been in his room, in his crib for the past 3 months. However, after getting up for about the 5th time on any given night, he inevitably ends up in bed with me around 3 a.m., which of course gives him free reign to pull my hair, kick his crazy feet, and anything else he can think of, to make sure I don't sleep. Yes, I'm part of the problem, I know - - you'd think I'd have figured it out by now. I fear my brain is so fried from lack of sleep, that I can no longer be held responsible for my lapses in judgement. Last night, for example, Griffin tossed and turned in his crib across the hall, and I got up repeatedly, for fear that he'd wake Camden up. I finally gave up and put him in bed with me around 2 a.m., thinking he'd go right to sleep. He did, for a bit, but then I woke up to Griffin trying out his new-found talent: Yelling. It goes something like this. "Ya? Ya-ya. Ya. YA-YA-YA-YA-YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA", quickly followed by teeny-tiny fits of giggles. This went on for about 45 minutes, at which point I finally gave in, and the two of us got up at 5:30 a.m. I hesitate to get too wound up about it, because one day, he'll be a surly teenager, telling me to "mind my own business" or something similar, and I'll be longing for the nights when we smiled at each other in the dark, sleep deprived, but madly in love just the same.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Happy First Birthday, Banzer!

I can't believe you are one year old today - - this past year flew by, it seems. You are a smart, sweet, beautiful boy, and we love you very much.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Quick Summer Salad

Here's an easy idea for a summer (or anytime) dinner salad. I got the recipe out of an issue of Everyday Food, sometime last year.
All you do is take a large platter, and spread a bag of chopped lettuce over it. Next, make one row of each: chopped tomato, crumbled bacon (I use turkey bacon - - much lower in fat and tastes great), blue cheese (you can use feta, if you prefer), grilled chicken, and avocado. It looks so pretty on the platter, and makes a nice, satisfying meal when you don't feel like heating up the oven on a hot day.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Odds & Ends...

Mother's Day was wonderful...it started out when Griffin woke us up around 4 a.m. He's cutting his first tooth, and has been sleeping (if you can call it that) rather fitfully over the past week. For some reason, after Griffin went back to sleep, somewhere between 4 and 5, Steve and I started chit-chatting, and had such a nice talk about our kids, our family, and life in general. It is not often that he and I get to talk with each other, without interruption, and although it was Gawd-Awful O'clock, it was the perfect way to start the day. Steve got up to make coffee, and soon reappeared with a breakfast tray, coffee, and Crunchy Coconut French Toast from this cookbook. If you have never heard of Bob and Melinda Blanchard, I suggest Googling them when you have a moment. They have another fabulous cookbook, entitled At Blanchard's Table, as well as a book about how they picked up from Vermont and moved to Anguilla and opened a restaurant, called, A Trip to the Beach. It is one of my secret fantasies in life to one day eat at their restaurant.

Later in the day, we headed to the Winery at Eagle Knoll to enjoy their Mother's Day celebration, and it was so much fun! The weather was perfect, the food was delicious, and it was so relaxing. As you can see, I was enjoying my son, and my mimosa! You can barely see Camden, in the upper right-hand corner of the picture, playing in the little stream. The winery is really beautiful, and a great way to spend the day. They have all kinds of events year-round, and it is just a short drive from our house. There are so many great wineries (and wine) in the state of Idaho - - Steve and I were recently saying that we need to get out there and visit more of them. This week is another busy week, filled with swimming lessons, yard work, and the usual business. Camden will be going to his first "real" birthday party on Saturday, which should be fun to see.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Confession

My in-laws arrived in Idaho over the weekend. Before their trip out here, my mother asked if there was anything I wanted from Maine, to which I replied, "A can of Bakewell Cream, and a box of Funny Bones" (neither are available in Idaho). The last time I had Funny Bones was over two years ago, which was also the last time I was in Maine. Since my box came into my possession this past Friday, they have been seriously eyeballed by both my brother-in-law, and my husband, but I made it perfectly clear they were to keep their hands off. Now, for my confession: this afternoon, I found myself down in my pantry, in the dark, eating a little package of Funny Bones (no, not the whole box), so that I wouldn't have to share with my nearly four-year-old son. Selfish? Yes, probably. However, I dare you to try one (if you've never had the pleasure of eating one) and then tell me that you wouldn't have done the same thing. I dare you.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Mission Accomplished!

I'm happy to say that I ran the entire thing, and I didn't keel over at the end! It actually went very well, and I'm pretty sure I am going to keep on running. Hard to tell in this picture, but that is me, about in the middle of the photo, in the reddish-orange sleeveless shirt (and pasty-white legs), right before crossing the finish line. The crowd was HUGE, and at times it was tough not to trip over people. Thank you so very much to all of the family and friends who pledged their support to me for the race - - it means so much to me! I have to admit, near the end, I had to resort to reciting the 50 states in alphabetical order, because I was starting to get really hot and tired. I'll also tell you that I used the same trick while in labor for 31 hours with Camden. You'd be amazed how well it works at keeping the mind off bodily woes, and focused on the task at hand. Mind you, there is no comparison between labor and running a 5K (yes, labor is much more difficult)!

So, I'm happy that I was able to set a goal for myself, and actually stick to it. I didn't get to train quite as hard as I would have liked, but now I know that I can do it, so that's all that matters. I'm also thrilled that I got to run this race for my mother. Anytime I found myself thinking that I was too out of shape to do this, or that it was hard, or anything like that, I reminded myself how stoic my mom was when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and how she didn't even miss any work while she was being treated. Now that is amazing. Love you, Mum!

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Baking up a storm, and other random thoughts...

So, my friend Terri and I will be entering the Cherry Bake-Off during our town's Cherry Festival, which is coming up in June. We both love to bake and so we've been pouring over cookbooks, looking for anything cherry. We talked with some ladies at the Chamber of Commerce the other day, and the rules are that you can use any kind of cherries (candied, fresh, canned, frozen, dried) so long as the recipe contains cherries. I pretty much knew what I wanted to submit as soon as I found out I could use maraschino cherries...my mom's cherry nut bread. It is a yeast bread but is actually more like a coffee cake, filled with cherries and walnuts, with a confectioner's sugar glaze. Growing up, she use to make it whenever she made baked beans in the crock pot. I baked a loaf of it this morning. Yesterday afternoon, I made a batch of Cherry Coconut Squares, which I found in my Marjorie Standish cookbook. They turned out really well, so I might have to enter those, too. Anyway, Terri and I have agreed to be each other's taste-testers over the next month, so by the time the bake-off rolls around, we'll probably be about 10 pounds heavier, and sick of cherries.

Yesterday, I took Camden to his first antique tractor and car show. It took place at a local winery, not too far from our house. Let me tell you, it was quite a thrill for the boy. I think he may take after his Great Uncle Ken, who has a great love for antique autos, tractors, wrenches, and such. Camden wanted his picture taken with just about every vehicle there. We promptly sent some of our photos to Uncle Ken, and Camden was thrilled to find this morning that Uncle Ken had emailed a bunch of his tractor pictures to him.

Steve was home briefly on Friday, but left on Friday afternoon for drill. It seems like he's been gone forever! His trip to South Carolina went well. We'll pick him up this afternoon, and luckily he has tomorrow off, so we'll all get to spend some time with him then.

Only six days left until the race! I'm getting a little nervous but I'm sure I'll be fine. I had a good run this past Friday which boosted my confidence - - I think I was feeling a little bad that I had to miss my last two training sessions with Steve out of town. I've stuck closely to my training schedule, and I'm really feeling like I can run the whole thing. If you'd like to visit my race website, you can do that here.

Griffin is down for a nap, so that means this is my chance to shower. Yippee!

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Just Pictures

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