I took the kids on a walk in the woods. It took us about 45 minutes to go half a mile and in that time we had a scraped knee, a fall in the blackberry bushes resulting in bloody hands, two screaming freak outs about spiders, and a bee sting. Ahh, nature.
It’s hard to be encouraging about your daughter starting 6th grade when you know it was the most horrible part of growing up for you and everyone you know. I’m not supposed to say, “Good luck kid, it’s going to suck,” or “My God, some of those girls look so mean!” but that’s what I’m thinking. Poor child, she doesn’t even have a mom who can lie convincingly.
Does trying to be all things to all people count as exercise? If so, I’m in great shape this week.
Late summer corn chowder with bacon. I had to make adjustments for all the members of my family to eat it, pureed for Felix, red pepper removal for Lola and lots of hot sauce for Robert, but I thought it was delicious all the ways.
Watermelon. There is no worse snack for a kid who doesn’t yet know how to slurp juices in while eating. I don’t care how good it is, a watermelon will never be worth the sticky aftermath. Everyone thinks I’m kidding when I say I don’t want watermelon in this house ever again but I’m not. The ear protection is for fashion only.
Kid quote of the week from Lola: “What language do the Babushkas speak?”
As I sit here writing my little guy is at his first day of drop off preschool. I’ve been so excited to have this time and now I’m twitching around the house full of anxiety. I never expected to be such a neurotic mother; it still surprises me after all this time. Push, pull. Push, pull. Like a heartbeat.
This cracked me up (I hadn’t seen the pic of Fe eating watermelon). It also touched me because I too feel that heartbeat, of course. I call Lola down from her room because I miss her, even though I know that she will be crabby and sassy. She comes down, and is, and I want her to go back up. And then I’ll miss her.
A friend asked for the recipe for the chowder. There isn’t one, but I told her I would leave guidelines here.
Cook some chopped bacon (I used about 8oz of really meaty stuff) in the bottom of your soup pot until crisp and drain on paper towels. Dice an onion, a few ribs of celery and a couple of carrots. Brown them in the fat left from cooking the bacon. Add chicken broth, kernels and scrapings from five or six ears of corn, a couple of cubed potatoes, and a finely diced red bell pepper. Simmer until everything is tender (45 minutes or so) and season with salt and pepper. Add the bacon, some chopped parsley and a couple glugs of cream at the end. This is also good with dill if you feel like going that route. A dash or two of hot sauce is a nice compliment to the sweetness.
Lola looking like an innocent angel (just one of her many guises). Fe with the watermelon is hilarious. I guess watermelon is only meant to be outdoor food eaten naked by certain age groups….with a hose handy. And he looks so big and grownup in the other one. It’s passing too fast.
This cracked me up (I hadn’t seen the pic of Fe eating watermelon). It also touched me because I too feel that heartbeat, of course. I call Lola down from her room because I miss her, even though I know that she will be crabby and sassy. She comes down, and is, and I want her to go back up. And then I’ll miss her.
A friend asked for the recipe for the chowder. There isn’t one, but I told her I would leave guidelines here.
Cook some chopped bacon (I used about 8oz of really meaty stuff) in the bottom of your soup pot until crisp and drain on paper towels. Dice an onion, a few ribs of celery and a couple of carrots. Brown them in the fat left from cooking the bacon. Add chicken broth, kernels and scrapings from five or six ears of corn, a couple of cubed potatoes, and a finely diced red bell pepper. Simmer until everything is tender (45 minutes or so) and season with salt and pepper. Add the bacon, some chopped parsley and a couple glugs of cream at the end. This is also good with dill if you feel like going that route. A dash or two of hot sauce is a nice compliment to the sweetness.
Lola looking like an innocent angel (just one of her many guises). Fe with the watermelon is hilarious. I guess watermelon is only meant to be outdoor food eaten naked by certain age groups….with a hose handy. And he looks so big and grownup in the other one. It’s passing too fast.