Is it too early to make New Years' Resolutions for 2014?

Well, so much for wiping the slate clean. Getting a fresh start. Starting off on the right foot. Being on top of my game. It is two weeks - 14 days- into 2013 and already my resolution is a bust.

My biggest struggle (which I maintain is an inherited trait) is that I cannot arrive anywhere on time. Anywhere. Wait! I take that back...my fourth child was born on his actual due date. Does that count, or does he get the credit for that???! Did you see the date of my last post? This one is nearly two years late!!!!

 I am physically unable to be punctual (and "early" is only mentioned in our house when we talk about what time the children wake.)

As I said, I blame this on a long family line of tardiness...my grandmother and my mother are infamous for arriving after events (like weddings, parties, and holidays) have ended. Yes, ended!  And I am carrying the torch.  I wish I could say that it is because I have four children who dilly dally or fight or have tantrums or lock themselves in the bathroom. Nope.  I was rarely prompt even before having to take children to the potty, put on their socks (six times), find the hidden keys, pack sippy cups and snacks and find blankies or DS chargers or change blow out diapers or clean off barf or slobber from myself.

 I could shower the day before, set out my clothes, tell myself the event begins hours before...nothing works. Just ask my poor (overly prompt ) Marine husband. Or my neighbors, who see me running the 80-pound double jogger every morning up our hill and slip the older two through the school doors just as the bell is ringing.

So last year, I had mentally planned and prepared for this to be my new daily resolution: arrive 10 minutes early to everything (even having dinner ready!!!!) My friends would surely appreciate not having to always wait on me. It could set a better example for my children. Cut out 1/2 the stress in my life. And keep my husband from going completely grey before 45.

My plan was simple. Just set a reminder alarm on my phone for event...every event- kids school, lunch time, nap time, library time, zumba class...all of it. I don't know what happened. Every member of our family got some form of a cold over Christmas and my plan crumbled. I was over tired and unprepared. 2013 has come and I haven't had ONE successful day. Uggg!

I am blaming Siri. Isn't she supposed to be my personal assistant? She is toast.

Can we please have a do over???

And if anyone out there has any secrets to being early - who am I kidding- prompt to events...by all means, do share!

Gotta run. I'm late!

A few of my favorite things.....PIZZA!

Our Sunday night tradition is home made pizza and a movie night with the whole family. Yesterday we were on family vacation with the whole extended family- all 21- so I felt inspired to step up my same old easy prep pizza crust recipe. The one I have used for years because it is easy, quick (15 minutes rise time) and comes out pretty darn tasty. But after living a few years in New York and eating the fabulous pizza in the city (my culinary weaknesses are dark chocolate and fresh baked breads), I thought this the perfect opportunity to test out a new recipe that promised all the crunch and chewiness of New York City pizza crusts on my unsuspecting family.

After a quick search online (I say quick, but the lake house has dial up so it was actually agonizingly slow), I found a recipe that had been saved by nearly 8,000 people. After reading the reviews, I was sold. I made enough for 5 large pizzas and just as it promised, the crunch and the chewy doughy texture were delivered! I stuck with my favorite recipes: cheese for the kiddos, supreme, caramelized onion with goat cheese and roasted peppers, and spinach, garlic and feta. The pizzas were a hit! (My kids actually prefer the spinach feta so I usually skip the plain cheese altogether.) The recipes follow.

NY Pizza Dough (makes one 16 inch, two 12 inch, or 6 individual pizza crusts)

2 1/2 c warm water

2 t salt (I use sea salt)

4 1/2 c bread flour

2 t active dry yeast

1 c bread flour, as needed

1 T EVOO

Directions: Pour warm water in to a bowl and sprinkle the flour and salt so it sits on top of the water. Make a hole with a knife and add the yeast. Let sit 20 min. Knead with dough hook 10 min on your food processor (can also use a hand mixer with 1 beater.) Add additional 1/2 to 1 cup flour and knead additional 5-10 min until dough is elastic and soft. Dough will be extremely wet and sticky, so hand kneading is not recommended. Form into round shape. Grease 1 T of a large bowl with the EVOO, wiping the entire bowl to coat. Place the dough ball in the bowl and place in the fridge for 4 hrs to overnight. When ready to use, preheat oven to 500 degrees and allow dough to come to room temp. Roll out and poke with a fork on the surface. Bake for 3 minutes, remove from the oven and add sauce and desired toppings/ cheese. Bake an additional 5-8 minutes, depending on size of pizza.

Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Pizza: Toast 1/4 cup pine nuts in small saute pan until browned. Remove and add 1/2 cup thinly sliced yellow onions. Cook on low heat in a well greased pan until soft and tender. Prepare roasted red peppers by thinly slicing. Crumble 1/2 cup goat cheese and set aside. To assemble pizza: Bake crust with thin layer of mozzarella cheese (no sauce). When fully cooked, add slices of red pepper (so they radiate from the center), pine nuts, onions, and goat cheese. Serve.

Spinach Feta Pizza: Saute 3/4 cup chopped spinach (fresh or frozen), 1/3 cup thinly sliced yellow onion, and 2 cloves pressed garlic until fragrant and tender. Season with salt and pepper. Dice a Roma tomato into small 1/2 inch cubes and sprinkle with fresh chopped basil and oregano. To assemble pizza: Prepare crust and top with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. When fully cooked, top with the spinach mixture, tomatoes, and sprinkle with crumbled feta.

YUM!

Twirly skirts and tutus...twenty-four seven

Caroline is in a new phase. She insists on wearing fancy skirts and dresses every day. Normally I set her clothes out the night before, and I'll give her an option of shorts or pants? Leggings or dress? Etc. Now I try to find creative ways she can put a tutu or skirt on under a dress or over her leggings...after all, a girl needs to be wearing play clothes when she's planning on digging in the dirt after moles or hanging upside down on the monkey bars at school. Luckily, she has a healthy supply of dress up tutus (why any one girl needs 5 tutus I don't know....but I'm SURE I had a perfectly reasonable justification for each purchase!)

I am now wondering how long this obsession will continue...days? Months? Years????

In the meantime, I guess I will just have to settle with buying out all the adorable dresses I can find. It's therapy, really.

While we were sleeping

So Caroline has gotten exceptionally sneaky lately...it's been mostly just swiping food from the pantry like dry cereal or juice boxes or dry pasta. I'm not quite sure if it's a ploy for attention or for the thrill of the hunt...or just to see how far she can go, but tonight Caroline explored new territory: my makeup drawer.

She was supposed to be upstairs sleeping. We went upstairs to check on the kids and found Caroline in her bathroom looking like a sorority girl the morning after a really great party. No, actually it looks much much worse.

Do I really have to explain how this happened? I did take a picture of the crime scene:

I am somewhat speechless.

Road Trip

We are now on day 17 of our cross country road trip. What began as a 10 day cross country move from New York to California is evolving into a game of "how many sights can we see before we hit California." After nearly 4000 miles (many of which were NOT in the western direction), I think we're ready to settle in our new home Monterey.

The trip has been an adventure, and very enjoyable for all of us...with the exception of a few sibling spats and pre nap spouts. The driving is a breeze.(Of course, my husband does all of the driving, so I can't take much of the credit.) And our destinations have all been better than we expected- great weather, serendipitous opportunities, relaxed time to catch up with family/ friends, and no snafus or injuries or breakdowns. The tricky part is at night trying to configure the sleeping arrangements and getting three little ones to quiet down and drift off to la la land in one small room...and then the time between their bed time and ours when we struggle to keep quiet or surf the Internet and in the bathroom until we're sure they're completely asleep. Even then, we can't turn on the tv. I did bring cards and Scrabble, thinking they are nice quiet games. Not happening. (SERIOUSLY, anyone have any ideas they're willing to share?????) I have managed to watch a catch up with my summer Lifetime tv shows on the computer, thanks to my handy earphones. I brought a pair for PR, but he prefers sleeping over watching Army Wives. Hmph.


Day 1: Niagara Falls, Canada
Day 2: Grosse Pt, MI
Day 3: Dayton, OH
Day 4: Indianapolis, IN
Day 5-7: Grand Rapids, MI
Day 8-9: Chicago, IL
Day 10: Sheboygan, WI
Day 11: Davenport, IL
Day 12: Omaha, NB
Day 13: en route to South Dakota
Day 14: South Dakota sights
Day 15-16: Yellowstone
Day 17: Idaho Falls, ID
Day 18: Elko, NV?
Day 19: Reno, NV?
Day 20: Sacramento & San Fran??????

Niagara Falls: Amazing, of course. The town actually had more family stuff than I remembered, I wish we had spent an entire day and evening there...we arrived too late our first day to do more than drive through the main drag. Lady of the Mist was a big hit, especially with Owen. Caroline wasn't crazy about the spraying water, but the poncho made up for that.

Indianapolis: JUST missed the Indy 500 parade by a few days, but the kids museum was the best I've seen. Huge, hands on, and for all ages- even my new walker.

Chicago:I LOVE the city. Sooooo much to do, tons of kids stuff. We definitely needed more time there. None of us were crazy for the pizza.

Jelly Belly Factory: Well, it was okay. Definitely something to do to break up the trip and get out of the car. The tour was mostly just driving a little tram and watching videos on making the jelly beans....but the kids didn't complain when the each got a bag of candy at the end of the tour!

Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Bear Mtn,& Devil's Tower: All so close you really should do them all...but I do wish we had made time to hike Devil's Tower and stay for the evening Mt. Rushmore "lighting" with the Nat'l Anthem. Bear Mtn was the kid's favorite, tons of animals and we didn't even have to leave the car!

Yellowstone: It was truly breathtaking. I wish we had been there a week- even in the cold weather. We were astounded that we saw so much wild life- a grizzly walked right past our car while we were trying to drive in the park, there were TONS of bison, we happened upon a few moose, an elk, two black bears, a baby coyote, and lots of Osprey. (Most we saw between 6:30 and 8 on our way out of the park.)Can you believe it snowed today, in mid June??!!! I'm sure I took at least 200 pictures.

Grand Tetons: Beautiful. We only drove through and stopped to take pictures.

I highly recommend "Amazing Places to Take Kids," a book filled with destinations in all of North America. We've already hit 10 or so places, and two or three that we only knew about because of the book: the Jelly Belly Factory in Ohio. the Indianapolis Children's Museum, and Wild Bill's Cultural Center in Wyoming. After all, the trip has to be fun for the kids if the adults are hoping to have fun, right?

The journey continues....

Sew Posh Boutique

Just found the CUTEST website...and it's run by a military wife...so I wanted to pass it along...

Sew Posh Boutique

Date Night

We headed to the city for a Broadway show this week...and after much pleading my wonderful husband agreed to take a pre-show detour to the Waffles and Dinges truck.

What is Waffles and Dinges , you ask? Two weeks ago, I too was unfamiliar. Then one night when PR was out of town I was enjoying the Food Network and was introduced to this NYC food vendor on Bobby Flay's "Throw Down." He had challenged the owner, Thomas DeGeest and was overwhelmingly defeated with his scrumptious liege waffle...which he served spread with spekuloos spread (think Nutella consistency with the taste of graham crackers), then topped with whipped cream AND powdered sugar.

So.....not exactly low fat or healthy....but so very very delicious!

The liege is a dense waffle made with dough, not batter. The sugar used is a "Belgian pearl" sugar

which caramelizes when the waffle is cooking. Yum. Very different from the light and crispy ones.

It was quite a treat. (My mouth is watering as I type and I'm regretting that we have already packed

our waffle maker in preparation for our move. Gr.)We then speed walked back to the theatre district

and enjoyed the music, singing, and all that jazz.

We did NOT get accosted by two shady NY cops, visit topless (but nicely chiseled) men from my past,

or dance dirty for the mayor of NYC...but still, it was a lovely date night in the city.

Oh, and in case the liege sounds irresistible to you, here's a recipe:

http://liegewaffle.wordpress.com/liege-waffle-recipe-liege-gaufre-recette/

PS. Is it just me, or does my Date Night title not fit with the picture of me engulfing that waffle?

My little locksmith

Today Caroline discovered a new trick: locking the door. She slipped into the house today while I was still unloading Hudson from his car seat. I followed her to the door...it was locked. I was helpless- my arms were otherwise engaged with Hudson and Caroline's shoes. (when she can't undress completely due to car seat constraints, she opts for purging hair bows, socks, shoes, sippy cups, and anything else she can reach and throw on the floor- she's like an erupting volcano! ) I calmly ask Caroline to unlock the door (be cool or she'll know she's one up on you!) She replies, "I can't!" She rattles the knob, and turns the handle but doesn't seem to touch the deadbolt. Ug. Like a bossy parent (hm, where did she learn that?), Caroline instructs me -by yelling through the door- to "Go through the other door mommy!!" My options are limited, so I walk around to the front and try my luck. Locked. To add whipped cream and a cherry to Caroline's sweet stunt, PR is flying today and Hudson is overdue for his nap. I can only imagine what sort of adventure Caroline is having inside- raiding the pantry or my makeup drawer or something messier.

I'm thinking the only thing left to do is panic and break through a window. But wait! We live in base housing and the maintenance office has a key! I call and within 5 minutes time, I have learned a BIG lesson in homeland security and have regained access to the house.

Where was Caroline? She had stripped down to nothing and put herself down for a nap.

New foods for Hudson

Hudson had a very eventful culinary day. Today I introduced him to salmon, which I was excited to see him devour. Now his list of foods is a stunning FOUR. Today Hudson also had a few new tastes that neither of us was expecting. During lunch Caroline decided to share her peanut butter sandwich with Hudson. And like any self respecting peanut butter eater, she trained him to finish it off with her sippy cup of milk. (Eeeeeek!)
First I will vent. Ug. I can't count how many times I've talked to the kids about sharing their food with Hudson, about how Hudson's tummy is not quite ready for all the fun foods we eat (especially peanut butter!!!!), and how Hudson can only drink mommy's milk or water. Apparently, Caroline was consulting her personal parenting notes today. Glad to know I'm making such an impact!!
I had foolishly run upstairs to deliver a stack of laundry while she sat at the kitchen table with her lunch and Hudson sat in his high chair with his finger foods. I suspect that Caroline knew she was doing something taboo, as she was crying when I returned...complaining about hitting her cheek on a drawer that was ajar. She is all about playing the "I'm cute and sweet and have a boo boo so how can you be upset with me?" But I have finally mastered the art of decoding my daughter. It's all in how you ask the question. After scanning the room and seeing a happy and sticky little boy with the forbidden food I asked my crying little girl, "Did you hear mommy coming down the stairs and hit your eye as you were running to your seat? Were you feeding Hudson your food even though you know it might be dangerous to him?" Because she is two and wonderfully and thankfully and painfully honest she replies with a sniffle, "Yes!"
Of course I gave her a reassuring hug and a kiss on the injury...but she also got a repeat lesson in the dangers of being devious and food allergies. Something tells me I need to read another parenting book or something, because this kid is as stubborn and assertive as her mother.

I am happy to report that Hudson didn't have any reaction to the PB or cow's milk...yet.

Least comfortable and appealing place to sleep

Last night I went to check on the kids before turning in for the night and discovered Owen sleeping on the bathroom floor. I literally stopped in my tracks, as this was a very curious situation. Not only was he in his deep REM laying on the bathroom floor, but he was face down and had his pajama pants around his ankles with his rear for all to see. Hm. Without trying to sound too much like Forrest Gump, I really don't have anything else to say about it. (But I do admit to snapping a picture to show him when he thinks he's hot stuff in 10 years or so.)