April 1: Helloooo Picksburg!!!

I really shouldn't be posting right now.  I've got a ridiculous list to accomplish before bed tonight and I've got a dangerous case of ADD brain.  Clothes to pack, toys to remember, lunch to prepare...all of it for our weekend trip to Pittsburgh ("Picksburg, where Shane with an Ssss lives, and I'm Henry with an H and we will plaaaaay!")  In addition to cousin Shane (just a year older than Hen and a celeb in our home), we'll see nearly the entire Williams clan, minus my cousins Fred, Matt and Hunter who went all "college" on us.  What you might not understand is that "the entire Williams clan" (my nan, my mom, her sibs and their families) amounts to just under 70 people.  Yes David, this is real life.

One of my tasks before the night ends (does it ever end, really?) is to prepare lunch and snacks for the ride.  I'm putting together curried chicken salad wraps for Mike and I and trusty ol' PB&J for Hen.  Here is a shot of the ingredients I've pulled out of the cupboard to prepare this meal:

Oh, I'm sorry dingus, did you not know that mini marshmallows and space shuttle were necessary ingredients in curried chicken salad?  I know what you're wondering, and yes, it is difficult to be this refined.

P.S. What is my husband doing right now?  He's being super helpful and not at all annoying, snoring LOUDLY from the family room, while Ghostbusters plays through (almost as loudly) on the tele.  I keep going in there and yelling politely suggesting that he take those precious Zzz's upstairs.  He oddly refuses. Oh really?  Seems like an appropriate time to use all of the loudest kitchen appliances we own.  Sleep while I'm cleaning?  H to the No, M.Boegs.

March 31: Hen's Sweet Wheels

Plasma Car.  Probably the greatest present EVER.  Especially because it boasts an impressive 220 lb weight limit, which means parents who may or may not have had one or four glasses of wine, can ride it around the house after kids are in bed.

Our wood floors will never be the same.

March 10: Hot Dog Land's Busiest Man

Obviously!  I mean, he requires TWO steak roll cell phones to get his extremely imporktant work accomplished.  You're going to have to try your hardest to...ketchup.  And if ya can't cut the mustard, you're better off staying in bread.  A young prodigy...we look forward to his bright future with great relish.

"I have two cell phones and I need to TALK to people on them, mama!!"

Oh, delicious progress, you smell so meaty.

March 9: Bathtime

Ok, this is technically from yesterday, but I forgot to post it in my mad dash to just get something up on the blog.  Bath time struggles are, fortunately, not something that we are familiar with in our home.  Both Henry and Alice love their water time...and nakey time, for that matter.  Little kitten is still small enough to take her bath in the sink, and thanks to the wonder that is the "Puj Tub", kitchen sink bathing is a breeze.

  She looks totally indifferent here, but at least she's not unhappy, right?  Now bottle feeding?  That's a whole other story...one I'm not ready to tell.  We'll get there, eventually.  Right now, it's a bit too painful to discuss.

March 1: Someday

Looking for a good cry?  Pick up this children's book and prepare to weep...openly...like a baby...in front of a large crowd of people.

Alice received this book as a gift from our dear friends, the Haupts.  It looks simple enough, harmless really, a young mother holding her cherub-faced baby up high for all the world to see.  Doting mother, chubby baby, nonthreatening, right?  Wrong!!  I cried my face of when I read this book.  Seriously, I thought my eyes might flow right out of their sockets.  I cried so unexpectedly, so honestly that my own father teared up.  "Someday" is beautiful and ruthless, all at the same time.  And, it is absolutely, hands down, my favorite childrens book. Ever.

I won't go through this page by page, although when I spotted it at our local Target, I did try to hold my friend Laura up so that I could read every heart-wrenching word to her (also a mother of a sweet little one-year-old girl).  She saw the inevitability of public tears and quickly walked away from me, towards more harmless selections...Dora, Elmo and the sort.   The first few pages share the story of a mother, giving birth to a baby, cherishing that baby, protecting that baby...and then, things get dark.  That baby grows up.  This is where the knot builds in my throat:

and now you are my CHILD?!?!  WHAT?!? Nooo!!!!!  No one ever said anything about this part.  Big kid helmet?  No training wheels?  Basket of books, indicating that this child is of reading age?!  READING age?!!  Now, if I had read this when I had Henry, I'd probably be touched, but not brought to tears.  It's having a baby who is turning into a child (or "a children" as he says) that makes this such a bittersweet read.  It says everything that I've been thinking ever since I had kids.  That someday, whether you like it or not, they will grow up, move away and be out in the world on their own...without you always by their side to protect them.

"Someday" suggests that you can try as hard as you want, but you can't protect them from everything, you have to let them go into the world on their own.  You CAN love them unconditionally, share the wisdom you've gained from your own life choices, let them make their mistakes and learn from them, and, eventually, enjoy the person that they have become. 

I'm going to read this book to my kids now, who are ready for bed.  Then I'm going to weep, while eating a huge bowl of ice cream salted with my tears.

February 2: Storytime

Red wine, Roald Dahl and Henry, three things I greatly enjoy, all in the very same picture. We made it through about 7 lines of an excerpt from "The Twits" when he decided it was time to stop "talking to the book" and count all of the birds in the picture. We'll put Dahl back on the shelf for now and will try again some other time, perhaps with a page from the BFG or James and the Giant Peach.