Fairyland

Another beautiful sunny day, just a bit cooler. We took the boys to fairyland to soak up some more sun. The boys enjoyed running around, taking it all in. I think mommy and daddy may have pushed lunchtime a bit to late that we ended up with one very cranky boy which in turn, ended the fun. The lesson there: make sure to stick to the schedule, unless of course, you don't mind cranky.

Buttermilk Pancakes & Birthday Parties

Today was a day full of activity. Aidan helped make buttermilk pancakes for breakfast. Mmmmm, the boys love their pancakes. I added banana slices to the batter for extra yumminess. Aidan and Miles both really liked them, Liam not so much. I think he didn't like the mushy texture of the banana since he said, "Too wet."





After breakfast, it was such a beautiful day so we decided to go to one of our favorite parks, "Dreamland". Boys had a great time playing and soaking in the warm sun. Then it was home for naps, to re-energize for Oswaldo's 5th birthday party. Great fun to be had, yummy b-bque, playdo table, bubbles, a giant soccer ball pinata, the twins first lollipop, and finished off with chocolate cake and icecream. Oswaldo announced "this was my best birthday ever" And if I had to guess, I bet the boys thought "This was the best birthday party fun ever!"

Good Food, Fun Package, and Who Is Me-Me?

We had a fun evening last night with friends and lots of food. And of course I didn't remember to pull out the camera til dessert time. But listen to this dinner feast, we had.. Salmon In a Soy Glaze, Ox-Tail Stew, Roasted Duck, Scalloped Potatoes with Zuchini and Pureed Cauliflower (thanks to Rachel Ray Everyday Food Mag), Baby Greens Salad with Shitake Sesame Dressing, and Garlic Parmasean Breadsticks. All this was followed by some amazing chocolate cupcakes topped with meringue (love having a pastry chef as a good friend!), cheesecake and a variety of chinese pastries. It's been sometimes since we had dinner with friends so this feast really made up for that lost time. We ended the evening with a board game, Wits & Wagers. First time I'd played it, I think we all enjoyed it. Looking forward to the next dinner party.




This fun little package is holding a gift card for my our neighbor who just completed her Bat Mitzvah. I had fun making this little name tag with rubons and stickers. The box is a premade little gift box I picked up at Target.




Who is Me-Me? Yeah we've been asking that ourselves. Liam has taken to calling his daddy Me-Me. It's been a few weeks now and everytime you correct him he still reverts to Me-Me. It's funny, we aren't sure what instigated this new nickname but it's really beginning to stick.

A Thank You Note

Aidan writes a thank you letter. It's hard to believe, he's growing up so fast and now starting to write. On Saturday night while Mommy & Daddy attended a Bat Mitzvah reception, the boys went to Tia Maru's and Uncle Rodney's for some fun. Aidan always has a good time there. So, we encourged him to write them a thank you note for all the fun he had. He was all for it. With a bit of help from Daddy, with the harder words, he finished his thank you note and it was mailed off today. We're so proud of our 4 yr old.

Present For Baby

There's a new baby in the family, making me an auntie again. His name is Gavin. Although he was born a couple of weeks ago we hadn't gone to see him yet since our boys have had colds. So we finally got to meet him today and he's the sweetest little baby, doesn't seem to fuss much but when he cries, he sure has a set of lungs on him. I don't recall my boys cries ever being that hearty.

This Auntie made baby Gavin some burp rags with vintage chenille, rick rack, the cutest chinese take out flannel and two other coordinating flannels. Burp rags are a must with a newborn, why not try to make them fun. We got him a few other things too that I wrapped in this great paper, I just love the monkey print on it. I'm a believer that the presentation of the gift is as important as the gift itself...or maybe I've just been able to convince myself of that because I love paper so much including giftwrap so I have so much fun buying it and gift wrapping.

My Time

The boys went down for bed easily last night (thank goodness, since I was putting them down by myself). Max was out, worked late then met up with some friends, one in particular who was visiting from HK. So what do I do with "my time"? I worked on some cards. Well actually I picked up around the house a bit, then worked on some cards. A birthday card and two all occasion cards that can be found in my shop.

You Are My BFF

Kids say the sweetest things.... Tonight at the dinner table, Aidan said to me, " Mommy you're my best friend" I was so touched. The conversation went like this...

Aidan: "Mommy You're my best friend"

Me: "Aww Aidan that is so nice to hear, thank you"

Aidan: "Yeah you're my best friend because you play trains with me and other games like rhyming games....and you make me dinner"

Me: "I like playing with you Aidan, and I make dinner and take care of you because I love you."

Aidan: "yeah, that's why you're my best friend."

It's moments like these that remind me how wonderful it is to be a mommy. Because as all mommies know, there are some days that are so challenging ( tantrums, whining) that just make me want to hide under the covers...those days are erased when I hear sweet words like these from my boys.

These Are The Loveys

It's funny that I don't recall ever having a "lovey", something I was so attached to that I had to have it with me at all times or at least at bedtime. And of course we all know about "loveys", so I don't really understand why it surprises me that my boys all have one...but they do. They are all so different, and each one has a different level of attachment. It makes me think it must have some deep meaning that I just can't comprehend.

So let me introduce to you, the "loveys" ....

Aidan's lovey is a small baby quilt I made for him, that looks more and more ragged as time goes by. I actually cringe every time I wash it in fear that it's going to fall apart. Aidan must have this blankee with him at bedtime, there is no substitution for it as I have painfully found out. I made the mistake once of washing it and not getting it into the dryer on time to be ready for bedtime. The meltdown was so severe that I actually ended up letting him sleep with a slightly damp lovey (yuck I felt bad about it).



Miles' lovey is a stuffed snowman, he calls "baby snowman". He has different degrees of attachment to this snowman. There are days when he has to have it with him at all times, at the dining room table, in the car, bedtime etc. and there are days when he's willing to leave "baby snowman" in his crib to wait for him at bedtime. This "baby snowman" brings him great joy that is evident by the huge smile on his face when he caresses it. There have been times when he's struggling (or more like I'm struggling) with his diaper change, I give him his lovey and all calms down. After the wet blanket incident with Aidan, I make sure to wash and dry this lovey during down times.



Liam's lovey fluctuates between two footballs. However, he leans towards one most, it's a small football with Pixar's "Cars" characters on it. Now Liam has never seen the movie "Cars" so he doesn't know what the characters represent. Honestly I think the attachment is about the tags that are attached to the ball. I often find him in his crib stroking and tugging at the tags. We have misplaced this lovey a few times and Liam is sometimes (and only sometimes) is happy to fall back on his backup ball which is a nerf like mini football in green and aqua. Don't let me fool you, although he doesn't seem that attached to his lovey, and at times he'll go a couple of days without it, when he fixates on having it, you quickly realize the weight this lovey holds. And because he likes to carry it around and toss it here and there, it easily gets misplaced. Come bedtime, it must be found or suffer the wrath of Liam.



Although these "loveys" bring joy and security to the boys, I have to admit they at times bring anxiety and resentment to mommy (me). Having to keep track of and take care of these loveys is a big chore. You can only imagine the sense of panic that consumes me when I think one has been lost or damaged (like the time Liam lost his lovey in Target!). For now, I'll continue to care for these loveys and support my boys love (need??) for them.

Library Time...Reading Time

We have focused quite a bit of energy towards instilling the love for books in the boys. Besides having lots of books in our home and reading to them everyday, several times a day, we also spend time at the library. Today was a "library time" day for Liam and Miles. They really enjoy being there and flipping through books, asking me to read to them, and playing with the felt board. Today they got to choose two books each, and one for Aidan since he wasn't with us.


Aidan and Miles really love their books and spend lots of time reading. Liam not so much, he prefers drawing/coloring. Though, Liam is vigilant about making sure several books are read at bedtime. Even on those most tired nights when you just want to sneak them to bed with a quick board book, Liam demands "one more book" several times until you've read at least three.

Stone and Chowder

I'm so excited, I finally bought myself a ceramic pizza stone (yes simple things like this excite me). Pizza has become one of the boys favorites and is often requested so I thought it was about time I bought one of these. A ceramic stone is supposed to bake your dough much more evenly and helps create that "Classic Crisp Crust". And, this pizza stone comes with a serving rack so you can keep your pizza on it, helps keep your pizza warm...yeah! Now I just need to work on rolling out an evenly round pizza.



I've been buying premade pizza dough from Trader Joe's which makes for an easy meal. Roll it out and top with your favorites. But thanks to my good friend Susan, I'm going to start making my own pizza dough in my bread maker. Susan is the bread maker guru and has given me all sorts of helpful hints. Will keep you posted on how that goes...

Yesterday was a rainy gloomy day, the perfect day for chowder. So along with pizza for the boys I decided to make crab chowder for mommy and daddy. Didn't have time to look for a recipe so I just made this one up and it was scrumptious.



1 med shallot
2 carrots
2 celery
1 red bellpeper
4 med yukon potatoes
1 cup frozen corn thawed
2 T olive oil
1/2 stick unsalted butter
2 bay leaves
sprig of fresh thyme
1 cup half/half
4 cups milk
2/3 cup flour
1 to 1 1/2 cups of lump crab meat
garnish with flat leaf parsley (optional)

saute shallot, bay leaves, carrots, and celery in olive oil and butter for a few minutes then add red bellpepper and saute for aprox 3 more minutes. Add flour and whisk until flour is throughly coating all veggies and is a golden color (aprox 2-3 minutes). Add 1/2 and 1/2, milk, potatoes, and thyme, simmer for aprox 12 min. and soup thickens. Stir in corn, crab and salt & pepper to taste, simmer for another 5 - 10 minutes.... whaa-lhaaa a yummy crab chowder, perfect for a rainy day. Now if I could just get the boys to eat it.

Bump In The Night

Some things that go bump in the night in our house are...a toy (usually a choo choo train) pushed off a bed, kitty cats jumping, and most unfortunately a 4 yr old boy falling from his bed. We took Aidan's rail off his bed almost a year ago and since then he's fallen a couple of times. This last time must have been a face plant by the looks of it. Poor guy, his nose took a real beating with this fall and bled pretty heavily that night and then bled a few more times the following day. Thankfully he's going to be Ok and the stains washed right out of his comforter and sheets (with trusty oxyclean). Still trying to figure out how I'm going to get the stains out of his rug.

Don't Be A Copy Cat

One thing I really want to teach my kids is, be original, explore your creativity, have your own ideas...and for godsake don't be a copy cat! From time to time, we come across someone's great idea and want to use it, and that's ok, as long as credit is given. But one thing that is never ok is plagiarism. You should never present someone else's words or revision of their words as your own. I recently went to read a new blog that was brought to my attention, and what I found was a header identical to mine. It was as if they took my header and filled in the blanks to suit them. Mom of _______, trying to be the best ________. These are the chronicles of my ____________.

I've never given plagiarism a good thought. Somethings we just never think about until they hit close to home. Recently I've been hearing the arguments related to the Obama photo that then became that wonderful piece of artwork we are all so familiar with. The artist used the photo off the internet but never gave the original artist/photographer credit or asked permission to use the photo. At first I thought, well it's not that guys photo anymore, it's been morphed into somthing else original. But I get it now, the originality and creation came from the initial artist, the photographer who first captured it. It's shocking to come across somthing that is so definitely yours and presented as someone else's.