Sweet Boy

Sometime over the last couple of months the boys discovered Extreme Makeover Home Edition. They love it. This week's story was about a little girl who had an illness herself and had devoted herself to raising money for cancer research. About halfway through the family's story, he got a huge smile on his face, jumped up and down, and said (almost giddy), "Wow! This one is even worse than usual!" It was probably not good that I couldn't stifle my laughter at this point. He immediately burst into tears. "MOM - there is a kid PRACTICALLY DYING, and you think it's funny?" So, the lesson is, that he is empathetic enough to really feel for the family, and I realized he was so excited about the opportunity they had to HELP them. Poor kid. I'm not that great at helping him navigate his feelings, I guess!

Thankful

Another great Thanksgiving has come and gone. Amazing food, fun times, good people.


My contribution to the meal was 2 different kinds of green beans. I used the beans I had frozen this summer from the CSA.

Green Beans with Pine Nuts and Lemon Zest:

2 pounds green beans

4 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup pine nuts

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

zest of 1/2 lemon

Blanch beans in salted water. In large skillet over modium high heat, melt butter and cook until dark golden (2 to 3 minutes). Stir in pine nuts and toast until golden. Add beans and remaining ingredients. Stir to coat and heat through.

Green Beans with Whole Grain Mustard:
3/4 pound beans

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons whole-grain dijon mustard

salt and pepper

Blanch beans in salted water. Heat oil in skillet and add mustard, salt, and pepper to taste. Add beans and stir until heated through, 4 minutes.

Zachary wanted to name things we were thankful for on the way over to Grandma's house. He came up with lots of good ones, like oxygen, God, a good thermostat, a nice house, and Mom. Love that boy!

What To Do On a Day Off School

Tuesday morning, Jeremy watched Curious George make juice. Suddenly, I was digging out my juicer (in hiding for 10 years or more), and we were headed for the grocery store for fruits and veggies. We finally made our juice on Wednesday. Here is his recipe:

And the fruits and veggies all ready to go (he made me take out the red pepper because it wasn't in the "secret family recipe"):

Both kids declared the juice Healthy and Good, but only Zachary drank his whole glass. I have to admit I thought it was pretty good, too!

Mom and I took the kids downtown on "Thanksgiving Eve" afternoon. Zachary had been asking to go up in a skyscraper. That's one of my favorite ways to see a city! Why not visit the Carew Tower one more time while it's still the tallest building in Cincy? As soon as Zachary walked out onto the roof, he exclaimed, "Wow! This is beautiful." Yes, it is! He recognized the Children's Museum at Union Terminal and the stadiums. We pointed out UC, Music Hall (where we had just seen the symphony a few days before), and the Ohio River. He was FASCINATED. Grandma even let him put quarters in the binoculars. On the other hand, after two minutes, Jeremy declared it "boring." While we were downtown, we visited the lobby of the Hilton Netherlands and Fountain Square. We treated the boys to Frisch's ("Frisch's Delicious") on the way home. What a nice afternoon!

This Week at the Case House

What a busy week we've had. Zachary had lots of homework, thanks in part to "saving" his turkey disguising project until this week. Wish I had taken a picture of said turkey before I sent it in. OUTSTANDING! The very first day of the project, he chose to make his turkey Mr. Patten. Exerpts from his description: "Hi. I'm Mr. Patten. Remember to get your kicks up.... Don't be too afraid. All my black belts have a good heart." Sweet! Z also tackled a napkin ring project which involved creating 20 toilet paper roll napkin rings individually decorated for each Thanksgiving guest. We managed to survive 4 karate classes (6 if you count Tim's), 2 trips to Sandtray Center, helping out in Mrs. Smith's room, MOPs and MOMSnext meetings, a Sunday matinee of Miss Saigon at the Loveland Theater Company for me, 3 dentist appointments, and a playdate for Jeremy. Jeremy even got to spend last night at Grandma's house.

This morning, Mom, Tim, Zachary, Jeremy, and I went to see the Cincinnati Symphony's Lollipop concert, Let's Talk Turkey. Totally fun. Zachary loved the instrument petting zoo. He now says he wants to play the saxaphone. Both kids got to play a flute, drum, and violin. The concert was just plain fun (with Turkey in the Straw, Old MacDonald, Food Glorious Food, Simple Gifts, and more), and the conductor, Vince Lee, shook the boys' hands on our way out. Music Hall is a beautiful place. Altogether a great morning. Lunch at Chicago Gyro in Clifton with Lauren topped it off.

More stuff that happened this week:

Tuesday night. Karate class. Zachary sees sweet baby Leah and starts cooing and playing peek-a-boo. Amy says, "Zachary, do you want a little sister?" My son's emphatic answer? "YES!"

Considering trying to get Zachary to start taking piano lessons.

Zachary already has his form memorized for his green belt level.

Jeremy was crazy excited to get "Toothy" the dog as a prize from the dentist. She is his only girl stuffed animal and is a dentist herself. She works part time in our basement and gets off work right at the same time he steps on the bus to come home.

I finished New Moon and am now reading Eclipse, but I am NOT a "Twi-Mom."

Accomplishments

Words cannot say how proud I am of my two boys today. They both worked so hard and overcame obstacles to earn new belts in their Maududo training today. I have seen so much growth in both of them through their training. Our family is grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Patten and Ms. Broyles for what they've done for our boys.
The obligatory celebration at El Picante! (As Jeremy was promised long ago, he got to order fried ice cream for earning his belt!)

Visitor

This was our visitor Thursday morning. He watched us while Jeremy, Josey, and I watched him for about 2 minutes. Josey was doing her best to scare him away with her low, menacing bark. it didn't work!

With Gratitude

We celebrated Veteran's Day by enjoying this beautiful place in which we live. I'm so grateful to live here. I get to drive along the beautiful Little Miami most every day, enjoy great parks, a quaint historic downtown, and be near so many of the people I love so much. This trip to Symmes park wasn't planned as a photo opportunity (thus the messy hair and not-the-best outfits), but when we got down to the creek, it was so beautiful I couldn't help trying to get some photos of the boys.

I gotta say, I love these kids, and I love taking their photos, but it ain't easy! I have to take HUNDREDS of shots of crazy faces and silliness to get a few good ones. I don't think they're being difficult, it's just that this is what they think a "normal" smile looks like:

The boys were not really so into sharing their popcorn. The poor ducks got about one kernel for every three fistfuls they shoved into their mouths!

Scooter Dude

Tuesday, September 29, 2009