Father's Day

Had a wonderful weekend... got to celebrate with all of the 'fathers' in our lives.

Spent Friday night at Jason and Paige's house with Randi, Joel and Mason as well as Suze (Joe's aunt), and the guest of honor, Poohbah (Joe's dad). Celebrated Poohbah's birthday as well as Father's Day with Carolina's Mexican food and cherry chip cake (his favorite). Good times were had by all... got a great photo of Poohbah with the grandkids... will post that later. Overall, the evening was pleasant... and it was great to see Asher, Gundry and Paige ONE MORE TIME before they left for the Vineyard. They scooted out on Saturday early morning and have safely arrived to enjoy their 8 weeks away! Also great to see Great Auntie Suze... she definitely is not enough of a presence in our lives nowadays, and we would love to see more of her.

Saturday brought the Woodard side of the family. Mom (Joe's mom), Grandpa Steve (Joe's step-dad), Uncle Mike (Joe's half brother), Aunt Vanessa (Mike's wife), Aunt Bic (Joe's half sister Vicky), Uncle Eric (Bic's significant other), Uncle Jason (odd to have just Uncle Jason) and GG (Joe's grandmother Miriam). Everyone came to our house for burgers and dogs and a little swimming. Colin had a FANTASTIC time playing with Uncle Mike (read roughhousing..) until Uncle Mike's glasses were broken (sorry about that Uncle Mike!). Both kids had great fun in the pool with Uncle Mike and Daddy as well. Wrapped up the evening with a yummy, yummy chocolate cake baked by Aunt Vanessa as well as the chocolate martini ice cream that Paige made for me before she left. It was a chocolate-palooza and I FULLY enjoyed myself. That chocolate martini ice cream is OUT OF THIS WORLD!! Got some nice birthday loot (we celebrated birthdays- Steve, Mom and myself...) - lots of Harlen Coben books as well as some other desired items. Again.. have pic will post later! Everyone stayed until after midnight... just hanging and talking. We went the whole range of topics from parenting to the Grand Canyon hike to politics. Talked with Bic and Eric about engagement.. (think this might be coming really soon!) as well as tattoos (I'm seriously considering one of my own!)

Wrapped up the weekend on Sunday. Kids and I made breakfast in bed for Daddy, then headed over to Nana and Papa's house for a swim and to celebrate Aunt Stacy's birthday. Hanging with Uncle Andrew (my brother) and Aunt Stacy was fun, and kids had a great time in the pool with Papa and Daddy. Again, the topper of the day was dessert... apple and lemon meringue pies created by Nana as well as some homemade ice cream! So good.... (what is it with me and the desserts??) Again, excellent day!

The weekend was truthfully exhausting... but it was so great to connect with all of the families. We are so lucky to have such love surrounding us. Each one of the dads- Poohbah, Grandpa Steve, Papa and Daddy mean something different to us- and we are so blessed to have them all so close. The entire weekend was a good chance for me to back up and reflect on just how lucky I am to have the fathers I have... and how lucky my kids are to be growing up with such strong men surrounding them. Especially Joe- my kids are so lucky to have such an involved, loving, intelligent dad. He is such a part of their lives... of shaping who they are becoming... and for that I am forever grateful. We are so lucky and blessed. I am so lucky and blessed.

Friday...

So, as you can see in my previous post... I had all day Friday to myself, and wasn't sure how to use such a gift. Turns out, didn't really need a plan...

Kids and I got up a little late (I had wanted them to sleep in and catch up a bit with their sleep). They had breakfast, worked on Father's Day presents for Joe, and around 10 a.m. I decided it was time to take them to Kids Club. Colin was less than happy about going, but needless to say we got there and I dropped them off.

I hit a couple of stores. Been on the quest for the perfect summer purse... finally found one (it is orange... may not look like it, but it is orange- I have an 'orange' thing here lately. Bought Joe some vacation clothes as well...
Met Joe for a wonderful lunch- YC's- so yummy. It was nice to eat out and really have a chance to talk without dealing with what Colin was going to eat, whether or not Colin was going to eat, what Julia was doing, etc. etc. We talked for a long time about a variety of topics (including how to add a counter to this blog) and then I headed off to the grocery store. There is a big Trader Joe's on that side of town, so I decided to go there. I was about half way through when my phone rang. It was Kids Club. They 'suspected' that Julia had pink eye and I had to pick her up. Look at Julia.. does it look to you like she has pink eye?? (note the wonderful expression on her face...)
Needless to say, my day was quickly absorbed into Julia and Colin... which actually turned about to be a fair amount of fun. However, not the day 'alone' I had been thinking about. I guess that's what I get for not KNOWING what to do with my day. :)

Tomorrow...

It has dawned on me that tomorrow I will be off work, and my kids will be at their Summer Program. And I will be all alone. For the first time in seven years. Okay, maybe that is an exaggeration, but seriously, my time ALONE has been seriously limited since children. I do have a few moments alone at times- I have *mostly* convinced my children to leave me alone while I go to the bathroom, and occasionally I am alone in my cube at work (if you could see my cube you would understand why I get to be alone... there really isn't room in there for ME, let alone another human being).

But seriously, this is the first time in a long time that I will be ALONE and I don't have anything I HAVE to do. Don't get me wrong, there is a list of things a mile long that I should do.... cook food for the party we are having on Saturday, bake a cake for Joe's dad for his birthday/ Father's Day, organize Julia and Colin's closets, run (see earlier post).... but nothing I HAVE to do.

How sad that this is actually a quandary for me... that I pretty much am frozen with indecision regarding what I will do with this day.... anybody got suggestions? :)

$6.49 for a gallon of milk?

Hit Trader Joe's with the kids on Sunday. Not their favorite grocery store (they love Bashas, where they can go into a locked, glassed in cage and play with other children while pretending that they are not in the grocery store) but they still like it because they get little carts that they can drive around the store like madmen running into displays and other shoppers. If anyone were ever to doubt their paternity, all you would have to do is watch them with a shopping cart to know without a doubt that Joe is their father.
Anyway... did my thing at Trader Joe's while attempting to remain calm and apologizing to the other shoppers for the behavior of my children. The only thing going in my favor is that they are both pretty cute and can flash good smiles. My recent grocery goal (besides just simply grocery shopping on a regular basis) is to only spend $100 a week. Yep, $100 for 28 breakfasts, 19 lunches (kids every day, Joe some days, Carrie only on the weekends. Hey.. once I pack everybody else's lunch I'm tired!), and probably 20 dinners (figuring we eat out about twice a week). This used to be a fairly simple chore. Add in my head (while still chasing children with shopping carts), prioritize purchases, stock up when it's on sale, and put back the expensive thing at the end because you know you've gone over budget. Used to be I'd even have a few extra dollars left over at the end for a Sunday newspaper, a Time magazine, or (usually) some trashy Hollywood rag. Those days are over my friends....

Gallon of 1% organic milk (I worry about those hormones) $6.49
(Please note that Colin could drink a gallon of milk EVERYDAY if I would let him. As it is, we drink 2 to 2 1/2 gallons of milk a week)
Salmon patties- 4- $8
(note we don' t really need 4 as Colin would rather starve than allow salmon to cross his lips, but that is how they come)
Box of MightyBytes- $4.79 (have you tried these little buggers?)

Time magazine wrote an article about this a few weeks ago... http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1635836,00.html

This made me think about what I ate growing up compared to what I feed my children and what I eat now. The mainstays of our diets are fresh fruits, fresh vegetables (remember the canned ones we ate as kids?!), lean protein and whole grains. I wonder how much it would cost me to feed my family the things I ate as a kid... white bread, canned veggies, ground beef, etc. Would I still be 'bitching' about the cost of food at the grocery store? Probably. But the perspective is this.... will I change what I feed my kids because costs are rising? No. And how lucky am I that I have the ability to make that decision. I don't have to choose between food and rent or food and medicine. I can just decide that my budget of $100 is going to have to increase- for awhile. Either that or we're going to have to drastically reduce the amount of food that we consume. Who's going to tell Colin?