Children get older...

and one of the joys of children getting older is having one that's old enough to babysit, but young enough to still have the time.  Last night, after our fabulous family dinner of steak & asparagus (brought to us by Price Chopper's sales),  the kids played their Wii rental game with Dad (Mario Olympics 2012).   Then we wrangled them into pajamas,stories, and beds.   It's kind of nice when they get old enough to know once they're in bed they'll stay there.
     Mr. Man & I decided we were due for a date.   Boy Child #1 has a later bedtime, and we allowed him to stay up until we returned.   It's a pretty good gig from his point of view, staying up late, getting his DVD player for the evening on a school night, and some unknown bribe upon our return.
    But where to go?  There are some rules to dates on Valentine's Day.
1) No restaurants running specials.
2) No movies.
3) No Plaza, where those poor carriage horses are being worked to death.
4) No other kitchy destination spot.

So we settled on Barnes & Noble.  Being the nerds we are, a book store fit the bill perfectly.  We arrived around 9ish.  First round was magazines.  We picked up a Games for Mr. Man, although I'll get to help with the word puzzles.   He's more in it for the math & logic.  It's an easy magazine for us to share.  Then we hit the math/science section.  He browsed math topics I had no hope of understanding.  I coveted a set of pictorial element cards and browsed through a few biology and chemistry books.  Then we headed upstairs.  First up was cookbooks, and talking to a random person in a chair, who was looking for gluten free advice.  (See, they find me!  I swear.)  Then we rounded to the teen books.  That's where I picked up my gift,  Here, There Be Dragons by James A. Owen.  So far it's fabulous.  This book will also serve as #1's babysitting payment after I'm done reading it.  Finally, we hit the fantasy section, made a couple of "wish list" items, but did not add further to our purchase.  All in all, a fantastic hour alone with my spouse, that highlighted why we're so fond of each other in the first place.

Valentine's and LOVE

   This morning, with buzz of children all around me, I woke up in a musical mood.  There are so many songs about love I remember from my childhood, and I've been singing a few, getting those "mom's gone off the deep end" looks and silly smiles from my kids.  What great classics from my youth am I belting out this morning.  Certainly not Whitney H's I will always love yououououououoou.  Although her death being so close to Valentine's day would make that a fitting tribute.  No, my thoughts/songs go further back to Sunday school.  Here's a list for those who need an earworm today.  (Sorry if some of the lyrics aren't exact.)

From Music Machine:
Love, love, love makes people hap-pyyy.  Love, love, love makes people free.  Love makes people do, the things they know they out to do.  Love has made the way for you an me.

From the churches of my youth:
His Banner Over Me is Love:  I'm my beloveds and he is mine.....
1 John 4, 7 & 8:  Beloved, let us love one another (love one anooother.)  For love is of God, and anyone that loveth is bornofGod, andknoweth God.  He that loveth not(clap,clap,clap), knoweth not Go-od for God is looooove.  Beloved, let us love one another. First John four, seven and eight.
Love is the flag flown high in the castle of my heart, in the castle of my heart, in the castle of my heart.  Love is the flag flown high in the castle of my heart, for the King is in residence there. 
So let it fly in the sky!  Let the whole world know (what?)  The whole world know (what?) the whole world know(what?) Let it fly in the sky, let the whole world know (what?)  that the King is in residence there.

May you all have a blessed Valentines Day, knowing you are loved by the King.

For the love of

Today was a "for the love" kind of day.
   For the love of E1, I was out of bed and dressed and functional by 8am.  He had to be at SMS by 8:30 for the Hero Honor Choir.  They sounded great!  You can find links to the video on http://www.smsd.org.
   After that was conferencing with some teachers at the middle school.   Discipline comes from love too.  Poor kid in the hot seat.  Well, he put himself there.
  Then it was grocery shopping, and valentine shopping.  We have 3 V-day boxes to make this weekend + about 100 valentines to get signed. 
   Then it was about having kids pursue what they love.   I dropped E1 off at dance, and took E2 to basketball practice. 
   Then I came home, and am testing some recipe ideas out for a baby shower I'm helping to plan, because I love my friends too. 
   Overall, today has been lovely.

Heroes part II

     We survived the museum experience.  I was so proud of my non-public speaker for putting together his speech, and performing so well.  While he didn't get "chosen" to represent the school as his hero, he did get chosen for the  honor choir that sings at the district-wide assembly next week.
     Monday an envelope came home with the sheet music, and a CD.  He went upstairs to practice, and was doing okay until he saw the last song.
    "Mom, we've  worked on all this music in class except Dreamer.  How can I do a song we haven't sung in choir?"
   "That's why they sent home the CD.  You'll do fine, as long as you practice and get it memorized on time."
    "But we haven't worked on it in choir."
   "Kid, that's why it's called an honor choir.  Honors require extra effort."
   "Okay."  Upstairs he goes.
On to yesterday:
   "So have you practiced?"
   "Yes mom."  In that bored, know it all, adolescent voice....
   "How's the memorizing going?"
   "Um, well..."
   "You only have a week!"
   "I know."  He slinks upstairs to practice some more.  That's the beauty of music.  You know when they're doing what they're supposed to because you can hear it.  I wish I could hear chimes chimes when kids do their math homework.
It's good he's learning this now.  It will hopefully save us both grief later.

Teen Drama, or teen drama?

  I'm in a parenting quagmire with our oldest son.  He's brilliant.  He's personable.  He's funny.  He's creative.  He's active in the church & community.  He's failing multiple classes from not turning stuff in....and he didn't get kicked out of the school play over it either.  He got to have his cake and eat it too.
    I relayed my grief to a high school teacher friend.  Her perspective:
    "I get a student like that every three years or so.  They're so darn nice, and respectful, and you know they're capable of doing well...so you believe them when they 'forget' or when they agree to come in to make it up, and then they never show up!  As the teacher you're thinking, I should've e-mailed his parents a week ago! ACK!  The little con artist."  Yep.  That's my son. 
     Now it's my job to get him back on the straight and narrow.   It's not going to matter if he's an Eagle scout if he doesn't meet the minimum GPA for admission at the college of his choice. 
  "But mom, this year doesn't really matter.  My grades don't count yet anyway."
  "Son, this is the practice round.  The habits you form (or don't form) now will come back to you later."
   "Ok.  I get it."  and then I get three nasty-grams from the schools automated system over the next week. (sigh)  Rinse. repeat.  
    This week seems to be going better.  He is showing us real, current homework, and I don't have any nasty-grams yet.  I can hope....because I'd really rather dwell on his great acting abilities on the stage than off it.

I have the attention span of gnat,

especially while cooking.  First of all, there is recipe selection.  Today for dinner I picked a simple one from Martha Stewart.
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/sweet-spicy-chicken-00000000014577/index.html
Then I proceeded to make it not so simple.  My thought process goes something like this.

 "That looks good, but I'm using chicken quarters, and dark meat is kind of sweet to start with.  I bet it would be better with a marinade.  Oh look, we have draft cider.  Let's throw that in a gallon bag w/ some cider vinegar...and a bay leaf...and a cinnamon stick....Oregano is the only herbage.  We'll throw a bay leaf in there.  Well, what's a recipe w/ garlic and onion.  I have dried minced garlic and toasted onion.  Let's just throw that in the marinade too, and salt and pepper of course." 
And the weird factor was the dry mustard & tandoori seasoning.  Not sure about that.
    It's done marinading.  The rest is pretty straightforward, right?  Uh sure.  Off the bat I double it.  Our olive oil is garlic flavored, fine.  I find our brown sugar has um, dried out a bit...so I use honey.  I have two kinds of oregano.  Mexican is the obvious choice.  A splash of cider vinegar.  Can't be too sweet.  Red pepper flakes.  Mr. Man likes heat.  Finally, it's in the oven.

Then there's all the used-to-be-small people buzzing around, going "can I help?"
"Of course you can help.  Do you want to help me start the rice?"

In about half an hour, we'll have chicken, brown rice and broccoli, really.

Documenting this process, with pictures, is why I'm thinking about starting a food blog.  Because amongst all the weirdness, sometimes something great works out.

Surprise! It wasn't outpatient after all.

Most of you know I had my first overnight stay in a hospital for something besides childbirth.  Nothing beats coming home.  My feelings about this at the time were somewhat, what?  Whatever.  Quit poking me.  Lemmee sleep, maybe watch some food network.  
    Mr. Man visited some, and like a good Dad, brought kids by for short visits.   The kids were all okay.  Only one turned into velcro on sight, and it wasn't the youngest either.  He was living the high life at a friends house.
  I suspect the doctors in their infinite wisdom heard how many kids I have, and looked for an excuse to keep me, so at least I'd rest one day, because even though Mr. man is the best, he is still  just one man.
   There are many things I've pondered since being home.

1) Could I have picked a busier time in our schedule? 
   The answer is yes, the chaos of play+ kids playing basketball + Fri ballet still looks leisurely compared to multiple kids playing football and/or soccer in the fall.
2) Is it really that hard to clean a bathroom?
  I've delegated it, twice, but the jailer (aka husband), still says I have to wait it out for the two week sentence before I clean anything myself.
3) How many days would it be before breaking the 10lb weight limit?
  3, the answer was three thanks to SI jumping on the couch yesterday while Mr. Man was playing taxi, and my removing him, but it drove me back to narcotics, so we'll try for a longer record this time.
4) Why do I see every missed "thing" now that I'm not allowed to do anything about it?

But I digress.  With the Vibe needing a new tire/tire repair, at least I won't be tempted to drive too soon.