April Is Here!

Happy April Fool's Day. I actually didn't realize what day it was until I read someone's Facebook page about April Fool's, there was no foolin' around here for me. Business as usual, of course. 

With the first day of April, is high hopes for a mellow month. Though I did have to get up early this morning and go to work at Mt. Townsend Creamery, it was basically a pretty mellow day. Good start! After work, I drove to Magnolia to my friend's house for a "baby shower" for our friend, Jen. It'll be her 3rd baby, so we just got together to hang out and eat delicious snacks.

By the time I got home, it was almost dinner. David and I stood around in the kitchen, hugging and talking about our day. He had the kids all yesterday and today (BEST husband, ever), and I worked last night, as well as this morning. I, of course, had the kids for 3 days whole days while he was in San Francisco earlier this week. 

Anyway, the first 3 months of 2012 have been very busy for us. We got through the busy holidays, and kept the momentum going into the first quarter. The only things we have on our calendar for April, aside from the kids' regular activities, are a couple of birthday parties, a getaway weekend to Hood Canal next week, and my mom visiting. I really hope this means that we're slowing down a bit and catching our breath.

Oh, and while I was at work this morning, David took the boys on the bus to Bellevue for a little Lego-hunting adventure. In the end, they didn't find the set they were looking for, but they got tons of exercise walking the streets of Bellevue, at McDonald's, and met R2D2.

And, since I got home pretty late from my girly afternoon, we decided to go out for dinner. Partly to celebrate David's hard work this past year at Salesforce.com, too. Fuji Sushi. It was okay, actually. I'm not sure if they've changed ownership or what, but it wasn't quite the same as usual. The sashimi was very good, and so were the Japanese dishes. The rolls, well, not so much. Nonetheless, the kids ate very well and were close to angelic. 

Loose Tooth

Oh, how I wish I could say that the loose tooth is due to one of my children losing a baby tooth. Unfortunately, it's because one child ran his head (accidentally) into the other child's mouth. 

It's Vincent. The one who already has had some trauma to his two front teeth. The first happened about 3 years ago on Superbowl Sunday. There was a slight fracture to one tooth, and bruising to the other. Today, he fractured the one that was previously bruised. He actually bumped two teeth, but the one next to the fracture tooth is fine. It bled a little, but is fine. The fractured tooth is ever so slightly loose, which is good.

For now, we do nothing. He gets to eat soft foods for the next week or so. We'll go back for another look in a month. Worse case scenario, if the pain continues, the doctor recommends we pull both of the front teeth, since they are both fractured. The point is to make sure we don't let any infections interfere with his permanent teeth. 

Of course, this happens on the day Vincent and I are planning to fly to Los Angeles. Sheesh!

The Pool

Upon hearing about the rainy forecast for this weekend, I decided yesterday that I would take the boys to the indoor pool up north today. David had plans in the morning, so we dropped him off first, then headed over. We got there early, as I planned, so that we could make sure we get in. This place fills up fast, and if you don't get their early enough, you don't get in. I'll be damned if I drive all the way there to be turned away. It's happened in the past. Not fun.

We made it with plenty of time, and paid a little extra to play in their indoor playground. The kids loved the water. It's a bit crowded in there, and you have to be within arms reach of your kids if they're under 7 years old. Since I abide by rules, I kept close to both, which is pretty hard to do. Luckily, both are tall enough now to comfortably reach the bottom of the pool. 

I got them out of the pool a few minutes before the session ended, to ensure we get a spot in the showers. I felt pretty proud of getting them showered and dressed, and then myself changed, in a reasonable amount of time. Then, I sat them down for a snack, while I bought popcorn and milk for them. Coffee for myself, too.

Tyler was still hungry when we left, so I let him get a cheeseburger at MD's. Vincent opted for chicken bites. As we got close to home, I looked in the rearview mirror and saw Vincent with his eyes closed. He looked like he was pretending to sleep. Tyler was awake, but starting to drift off. Ty was trying so hard to stay awake and finish eating, while Vincent, eyes still closed, snuck a piece of chicken in his mouth. I caught him and called him out on it. He smiled, eyes still closed, and kept chewing.

Unfortunately, when we got home, while I was putting our wet stuff in the wash, I realized that I had left the boys' swim clothes in the shower room at the pool. Doh!

The Food Worker

I just finished up 3 straight days of working outside of the house.

Day 1 - Lark, 2pm-10pm. Normally, I would stay til the very end, helping with clean-up. But, I had to be up early the next day, and with Daylight Savings, I wimped out and went home early.

Day 2 - 1) Mt. Townsend Creamery, 9:30am-1pm. I got a second job working at Pike Place Market selling cheese. Sunday was my first day. 2) "Cooking Club," 3pm-7pm. This is when I get together with a few other moms and we cook up batches of food that we divide up and take home. 

Day 3 - Little Uncle, 9am-2pm. My friends own a little Thai take-out spot in Capitol Hill, and they asked me to help out with a catering gig they did down at Zillow. We were serving up food for about 350 employees. There were 7 of us, and tons of food. 

This post goes out to all the awesome people I've ever worked with in the food industry. They truly are an amazing breed of super humans. I am in awe of their commitment, drive, and endurance. I can especially say all this because I, too, was once a super human. And, knowing all that it takes to work in the food industry, leave it, and then come back to just a small glimpse of it and feel totally wiped out after only 3 days, really makes me value what they do. To top it off, they have a lot of fun, too.

Let's start with Lark. John: father, husband, chef, owner, in the process of writing a cookbook and making an iPhone app. He does all this, has a positive attitude, and people love working for/with him. The Lark cooks: work 10-12 hour shifts, go out after work, have a great time, and get up early the next morning to do a catering gig for Little Uncle. 

Next up, Little Uncle. Wiley and PK: husband and wife, with two kids, started their own business. Dedicated to food, Thai culture, each other. The aren't open on Saturdays or Sundays, but spent those two days this weekend preparing for this huge Zillow gig. After Zillow, PK runs off to cook another meal for Geena Davis, through One Pot. 

Finally, Mt. Townsend Creamery. Allyson: She's my new manager. I don't know her very well, as I've only just met her. She seems kind, driven, dedicated, and loves food. She came out to Seattle because she wanted to work for the creamery, and she made that happen. Now she runs the cheese shop in Pike Place Market, but also does all the creamery's social media stuff. 

Remember when I said I had to go home early the other night? Not these people. Up late, up early. Smiling and ready to go. 

Oh wait! And, a special shout out to my friends, Alicia and Monica: Moms extraordinaire. Their love for their children is inspiring, and my afternoon spent with them in the kitchen was so therapeutic. Thank you, thank you, ladies.

Oh my goodness! One more! David: father, husband, techie, awesome. He took charge of dinner for both evenings I was gone. Packaged pasta one night, and homemade cashew chicken the next. Both served with some "blasted" broccoli. I got to have the chicken, which was quite yummy. The spouse of a cook gets to be a super human from time to time, too.

Anny's Beauty Salon

I gave my first successful haircut today! I have attempted haircuts a few times in my life, but have not ended well. 

My first attempt was when I was about 17 or 18 years old. My ex-boyfriend asked me to cut his hair. My response was, "Um, I don't know how to." He shrugged it off, and handed me scissors anyway. I ended up having to shave all his hair off with a pair of clippers. His mom was NOT happy with us. Excuse me, Nancy Briggs, but I'm a teenager, who doesn't care if her boyfriend has a shaved head. Don't get mad at me, lady. You should've taken your son to the barber before he came asking me.

Since then, I've only used clippers to give buzz cuts to David and both my boys. 

Today, I had this weird sense of confidence that I could, in fact, cut my child's hair. I had cooked up a little plan in my head of how I was going to approach it. It involved television...of course. I told Tyler ahead of time that I wanted to cut his hair. He said, "no." Then, I told him my plan. He was on board. 

I moved the rug, laid down a tablecloth, set up a stool, and Tyler sat down. I wrapped a towel around him, turned on 'Ni Hoa Kai Lan' and went to work.

Two episodes later...

Unfortunately, I didn't get a "before" picture.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Tyler!!

It's been a bit of a whirlwind last 32 hours.

Yesterday, at 1:30pm, I had to pick Vincent up from preschool. Then, I dropped him off at home with David (he worked from home), and headed back out to my dentist appointment at 2pm. At 3pm, I was done, and got a message that it was okay to go visit my friends who just had a baby 3 hours prior, a few blocks away. Of course, I had to go! I can't pass up a baby viewing, ever. Around 4pm, I headed to pick up Tyler from daycare early. Ugh, traffic. Then, it happened. I hit a curb on a tight turn and blew out one of our front tires. I'll spare you the details, but all was taken care of and Tyler made it home safely.

Now, we needed to get the tire replaced, because our spare just won't do. That meant no car for today. And, I was supposed to help a friend pick up their son from preschool today with Vincent. I made a couple of phone calls, and that was resolved. 

Soon after, I received a phone call from Jon. Seems that their sitter for Eva while he and Andrea are in the hospital with Baby #2 had to cancel. We happily agree to have Eva come for a sleepover. Boy, were our boys happy!

All around, everything worked out. Since we had to take the car to the shop, I had to cancel ProClub for this morning. I had planned a mini celebration for Tyler there with his friends, but that was no longer. Ashley was even going to make Tyler a crown, like Vincent gets at Secret Garden. Instead, he and I stayed home and had a play date with Eva! 

David took Vincent to school, then the car to the shop. They were able to shuttle him to work. The car was done by about noon, but since Vincent was expecting an after school play date, we opted to stick to that plan and let the other mom pick him up. 

Eva went home about 12pm. I fixed Tyler and I some lunch, and put up the birthday banner. Oh, and he got a balloon from Jon & Andrea. His lunch was leftover mac 'n' cheese, strawberries, and sliced turkey meat. And, I let him have watered-down orange juice.

After lunch, Tyler and I decorated his cake. Okay, I decorated, and he watched very closely.

I couldn't decide on which I like best.

After that, we grabbed a couple of books, and went upstairs to read, snuggle, and get Tyler to nap. 

While he napped, I hung out with David a little, then went to pick up Vincent. We came home, and tried to stay busy until it was time for karate. I took Vincent, while Tyler and David stayed home. After karate, we stopped at the library to drop of books (thank you, Vincent, for remembering!), then picked up David and Tyler at home to go get dinner.

While in Texas, the boys kept seeing these big McDonald's from the highway with huge playscapes outside. Each time, Tyler would shout out, "Hey, guys! McDonald's! Maybe we can go there or something. I really want to go to McDonald's." And, so, as a special birthday treat, Tyler finally got his McDonald's. Oh boy, oh boy! When we walked in, he ran up to a picture of these chicken bite things and started telling us his whole order. Check it out, he had quite the meal.

Can you see it all? Left to right, clockwise: apples, cheese burger, ketchup, fries, chicken bites with bbq sauce. Oh, and milk. He finished his apples and burger, but not the rest. We were pretty amazed by his burger consumption. I think it's his first time eating a whole one.

Back at home, we sang him "Happy Birthday" with his cake and 3 candles. He blew out the candles like a champ. The boys barely ate any cake. I don't blame them after that huge meal, which Vincent ate a bunch, too. We quickly moved on to opening his presents.

Auntie Diana and Uncle Ken got him a Little People's train book and a Thomas book with a mini train set. He loved both of them.

We got him a new pair of overalls. You can't tell from this picture, but he was actually pretty happy with them. We also got him this (large)...gosh, I don't know what to call it. It's for his Geotrax set, and you crank boulders up a ramp, then it comes swirling down, and you can dump it into a truck. He and Vincent played with it together for a little while. The set came with a DVD that has 4 short cartoons. The boys watched it before heading upstairs for bedtime.

I'd say that it turned out to be a pretty good birthday for Tyler, in spite of the challenges we were faced with. Oh the darn tight streets of Seattle. BUT! If I didn't pop the tire, David wouldn't have found out that since the tires were still considered to be in "new" condition, they replaced it for free, due to this extra coverage that David got for them when we bought the tires. Good to know. This was a good example of a not so good situation turning out well.

And, as a new 3 year old, Tyler's pretty great. He is a happy child, with a good sense of humor, a good attitude, sweet, cute, and fun to be around. He definitely has his faults, like not listening to us. Are those ears or mufflers you have on the sides of your head, kiddo?

Happy happy birthday, Ty Ty!

Valentine's Day 2012

A bit of a rough start. Our boys were a little loopy this morning. All the excitement of the day, I guess. Vincent had a jammed packed schedule ahead of him. He had preschool at 9am. We had to put all the cards and treats he was handing out into appropriate "mailboxes" at school. At 1pm, the kids had a singing concert at Pike Place Market for Heritage House, which is a senior center. The rode the city bus down there, and David, Tyler, and I met him to watch his class perform. At 4:30pm, he had an eye exam. And, after that, we all had dinner at Jamjuree Thai down the street from the optometrist.

As for Tyler, he had his own set of Valentine's to pass out at Pro Club. Just 4 of them. Afterwards, we tried to go to Target, but had to abort the mission, due to major traffic on the 5. We headed down to Pike Place Market early, where we scored rock star free parking for one hour, then another hour of cheap parking down the street. {Funny, I say, "cheap," though it costs a dollar more than it did when I first moved to Seattle. I've parked just up the street from where we were for $4/hour recently, so the $2/hour today was a steal!} Ty and I walked through the market, trying to decide what to have for lunch. We settled on pizza and salad at DeLaurenti's. We explored the market a little more, then went to find Vincent & David for the concert. There was a little nap this afternoon, too. While Vincent went to his eye exam, David took Ty to get gas, then D got a haircut. And, as mentioned, we all had dinner. The kids were so squirrelly at dinner.