The Good: 4th of July!!!

Our family loves the 4th. It's up there with Christmas and Halloween. One of the reasons we love it is because our HOA puts on quite the party for kids up at the park. The second reason we love the 4th is for the "night show" that Jack loves to put on. We were amazed when we first moved to Washington to see what was considered legal fireworks. Granted Jack has been known to light off the "other" stuff but the legal stuff is really amazing. The things we can light off here are what we paid money to go see at a stadium growing up. We couldn't believe we could actually go to a stand and actually purchase mortars that would light up the sky just like the ones at the stadiums. Suddenly the 4th became a big deal and we make it a priority to be around for his holiday. No one gets as excited as Jack does when it comes time to hit up the firework stand for the 'flammables'. As I believe Ty Bailey mentioned, Jack acts as the "supplier" and loves handing out all the stuff for everyone to take turns lighting.

Thanks to all our friends who came over for the barbecue and to those who joined us later in the evening. We had a great time!!!

A few highlights:

Jack just can't help himself when it comes to bouncers...

Ty showing his love to Sage after she gives her cotton candy to him

Ok, not sure what is going on here. This is what I walked out to find after dinner...what exactly is he trying to burn?

Some of our friends who joined us:
Gina (a close friend from College) and her husband Mike

Kevin (a colleague of Jack's from Starbucks) and his wife Cory

Some of our great neighbors Eric and Debbie

what is it with boys and stink bombs?

I believe this picture says it all...

This made me so nervous but the boys loved holding on to these things and watching these big firecrackers one after another launch from these sticks

Some of the guys cleaning up the mess afterwards...

After a busy day and as the clock ticks 11 p.m., Sage is done!

Oh Connor...the things you say!

So we are sitting at the table eating and the boys are discussing the possibility of them someday becoming President. Connor comments that if he was President he would "make it against the law to kiss girls that are not in your family." Hmm, do we live in Arkansas? Or is it Texas? :)

We had a great weekend. Jack comes home on Thursday nights but is now starting a new thing where he'll fly out early (and I mean early) Monday morning. This way he actually sleeps in his own bed more than the hotel bed each week! Below are a few photos from our trip to Snoqualmie Falls to cool off this weekend. It's only three miles down the road but was literally 15 degrees cooler...

Life as I know it...

Soup anyone?
This past Saturday night was our neighborhood progressive dinner and I was in charge of a soup or salad. Earlier in the week I had decided that since my heater was still pumping I'd do one of my favorite soup recipes. This was also a good thing for Jack since he managed to chip his tooth the last time I made a my favorite spinach salad. (He claims there was sand in the spinach and has refused to eat my spinach salad ever since.) Of the 300 cooler days we have here I chose the one day it hit 80 degrees to make soup...go figure! I couldn't even pump up the AC to make it feel chilly since we don't have AC!!!

Favorite remark of the week:
"Mom, you are the luckiest mom on earth. You know why? Because I'm almost as perfect as Jesus. I let Ty have my toys even when I don't want to and I let him get his way." (Connor)

So much for trying to keep her awake...

The week in review: cupcakes, diaper cakes, going away cakes and then some!

Good weather hits Snoqualmie! Believe it or not, the first week in June was the coldest since 1894 here in the Seattle area... yes, that's eighteen ninety four!

The story of Hailey and Hallie: So what are the chances that both Tyler and Connor would have "girlfriends" named Hailey and Hallie? (I know, a scarey thought at this age.) I first learned about Ty's girlfriend Hallie midway through the school year when Ty had conveniently "broke up" with Hallie the day before his birthday party which she was to attend (luckily we got that all worked out) and last week I learned of Connor's girlfriend Hailey since at Author's night Connor was to present a poem with her and so her mom and I had to talk beforehand to plan it. Hailey had to be broken up with because "I was tired of everyone in the class calling Hailey my girlfriend. Mom, it was embarassing me and I get tired of her wanting to sit next to me on the bus everyday."



Connor and Ty can hardly wait to give Dad their precious school made gifts. Connor is so excited he insists dad must open his on Friday after school. Sagie is just happy gracing dad with her presence.





Ty's old bus driver Penny throws a suprise party for all the kids on her bus. They return with gifts, full belly's, and smiles! Penny claims award for best bus driver!

Kathryn agrees to a shower and finally we have it. Luckily it took place before baby Hinkley's 1st birthday. Take notice of my diaper cake...yea, watch out Martha Stewart, a new domestic diva has arrived. Yea right! Good thing for 'You Tube' and easy "how to" videos.



"Uncle Flash" arrives for the weekend. This is not a long lost brother that Jack and I have never talked about but rather a great friend whom our boys adore.

Saturday we attend the annual community Bicycle Safety Rodeo where the kids get free bike helmets, and enjoy face painting, bouncers, and obstacle courses set up by our local police department. Sadly the safety course wasn't as beneficial as I had hoped since on the way home Connor doesn't even stop at the stop sign before continuing to cross the street...urrr We spent the rest of the day at Snoqualmie Falls.



Sunday evening we say goodbye to our friends the Meyers as they move to Atlanta to fulfill the next chapter in their lives. We will miss them! What will I do without my Talay Thai lunch buddy?

And finally, I have to end by thanking my dad for being the dad he has been to me. Happy Fathers Day !!! I love you and feel so lucky to have a dad like you. Very few people are willing to sacrifice throughout their life the way you have for both your family and others.

The things they say...

So I'm making the gang smoothies this afternoon and as I pull out the blender I mention how I'm amazed the thing still works since it was a wedding gift. Ty asks how it has run for so long with the same batteries and I explain how we just plug it in. Then Connor comments, "Wow, you got a free blender that doesn't even use batteries? You are so lucky. I hope I get a blender when I get married." I had to giggle inside knowing he'll probably receive three! If it only took a blender to make my son's wedding a success... :) I took this cute picture of Connor last week and decided to post it with his cute comment.

The good (and the not so pretty!)

The good:
Baseball season is over! Not sure it was worth it when you hear things like "Yea!" the moment after you tell the boys a game has been cancelled due to rain! urrrrr. Thankfully, they won enough games that they earned their end of season trophy...well, at least that is what we tell them! They especially loved signing each others balls (oohh that didn't sound right) since it's clear they are all going to become future professional baseball players. :)



This weekend we decide to take the kids to the Museum of Flight in Seattle. This was something Jack had done with Starbucks a while back and thought the boys would really enjoy. I have to say it is quite cool. The kids loved pretending to be pilots and walking through Air Force One. The highlight for me was seeing the Concorde. I had always wanted to travel in it but looks like I'll have to settle for walking through it. It was the perfect activity for a gloomy Saturday.







The not so pretty:
I'm standing at the final baseball game watching Connor get ready to bat and overhear Ty back in the batting lineup making some comment about needing to protect the family jewels. As I angrily look over, shocked he's using a word I've never heard him use (another name for hot dog) I find him standing in the lineup with a knee pad from the catchers uniform strapped around his waist and hanging down to his knees. Mortified by what I was seeing I had a two second battle in my head of do I go over and ask him to remove his over sized "cup" admitting he's my son to those around who hadn't figured that out, or do I casually pretend to go find Sage who could easily be lost. Mara, if you're reading this, the "cup" has all new meaning now!

Can I just complain about our weather here in Snoqualmie the past ..... two years! When we first arrived here, it was unbelievable weather. We didn't know what people complained about because the weather was so wonderful. These past two years, well, not so pretty. Actually, this past month I have a new appreciation for people who battle depression. Our weather has been very depressing. What makes it worse is that every time I am picking up Jack or dropping him off at the airport, I only have to drive down into Bellevue, and the weather is completely different. There is Seattle weather and there is Snoqualmie weather. I'm just done with this weather... Where is our summer?

Finally, I have to complain about our work/family living situation. I've just had it. I keep telling myself that life is good. Jack has a good job, is able to commute home on Thursday nights and stay through Sunday nights. We are lucky. If he was living across the country, commuting may not be an option BUT, come on...for this long? Come July 9th, Jack will have commuted like this for one year. If by the 9th of July we are not all living in the same state, shoot me!!!

Officially over the hill...

Jack's birthday was this weekend. Sadly birthdays are not our thing. Everyone in our extended families knows that they are lucky to get a phone call and forget about a card...never happens. This year I even set a goal to send out birthday cards to all our extended family and to help me with this I custom ordered from Shutterfly a calendar that included everyones birthdays printed right on it. Still, we have failed in this area. The one thing though that gives me comfort in this is that Jack and I are just as bad when it comes to each other. But thanks to Ty and my parents, Jack had a couple surprises. On Friday morning Ty comes running into our room frantically asking for tape and scissors. Next thing we know there is a wrapped gift sitting in the middle of our bed. I'm curious as to what it could be knowing we hadn't shopped for anything. Attached to the top are two baseball cards that I recognized seeing the day before in his backpack (hopefully not disappearing acts from someone else's backpack). Jack opens the gift to find the super soaker that Ty had received at his birthday party and had not yet used. Ty adds, "dad, this is for you and me to share when we move to California." He was so proud. Now to be clear, Jack knows if there is anything he really wanted for his birthday, I'd get it for him but we just aren't big into buying things just to buy them. It ended up being a low key evening but we didn't care because we were all together! (As you can see the evolution of my cake decorating took a turn for the worse but hey, the candles were cool!)

Highlights of the weekend included Jack attending for the first time this season one of the boys' baseball games, playing tennis as a family...well maybe not playing but you know what I mean, and Jack and I attending a going away party (without kids) for some friends. And I cannot go without mentioning Ty attempting to compete with the neighbors lemonade stand by setting up a stand on the opposite corner trying to sell his junky toys that he no longer wants. Sadly no one else wanted them either... A new business plan is in the works. But I do give him credit for knocking on doors alerting people he was selling his junk.

So this afternoon we are all relaxing up in our room and I notice Connor has a smudge of chocolate on his forehead. A few moments later, Sage pops in with a chocolate beard. I ask where all the chocolate came from and Connor says, "well, I spilled a little bit of my chocolate milk (which is actually more like chocolate syrup with a tad bit of milk) but don't worry I cleaned up most of it." Key word being "most". Granted he did try to clean up what he had spilled all over the floor which you could see from all the smear marks across the floor but what didn't get included in "most" of it was how it had spilled down the fridge and got caught in our bottom freezer drawer. Gotta love those surprise messes...

The Good: A long weekend with daddy

Originally I had hoped to plan a getaway over Memorial Day weekend. With Jack flying in on Thursday night and not having to return back to California until Tuesday morning, it seemed like the perfect amount of time but with the weather being a big question mark here, I wasn't up to the gamble of driving too far in the car only to find ourselves camping out in a hotel for what could be a rainy weekend. The weekend instead consisted of taking the boys biking and rollerblading at a few of their favorite parks on Saturday, which turned out to be a nice day, relaxed a bit on Sunday spending the evening with a bunch of friends from our neighborhood, and on Monday decided we were ready to get out and explore. We decided to take the ferry over to Bainbridge Island. It's just an hour trip out of Seattle and you drive your car right onto the ferry. It was a good reminder to hear the tourists commenting on the beauty that we are lucky enough to be surrounded by on a daily basis. Few places can claim the year round beauty that we have here. The price we pay though is rain and that can be a steep price at times. We were hoping to find a couple places that we had seen by boat a while back and Jack also wanted to take us to this beach that he had been to for work that was covered with sand dollars. (I had to remind Connor that sand dollars don't have the same value as silver dollars. He was certain his piggy bank was going to increase in value substantially after this trip.) You'll see that this was no white sandy beach but rather a rocky, sea weedy area covered with clams, oysters, muck, and well, hundreds of sand dollars. The boys love to search for "treasures" so that was of no bother to them and Sage was right on their tail collecting her own treasures (with purse in tow). And they couldn't have been happier filling up their buckets with dozens of sand dollars and a crab that accidently made it home. Sadly, I will admit this trip served as an educational experience for me as I did not know that sand dollars start as live creatures that are black in color with a sponge like texture. (The ones we have found in the Caribbean were always nice and white...don't ask me how I thought they came to be.) As they die, their color fades and I guess the longer they sit in the sun, the whiter they become. Of course, living in the northwest, white ones are very rare but you'll get the idea of the fun the boys and Sage had searching for their treasures! Of course, the trip couldn't end without our family favorite, bubble tea!

Calling all purses...

For whatever reason Sage has decided in the past few weeks that she must carry a purse around with her at all times. At first it all seemed very cute but lately I have found myself cursing the purse. This past Sunday night was no exception. As we are trying to get out the door to go to some friends for a party, Sage was adamant about finding and taking her two purses along with her. When I thought the task was complete and her two purses were both in place slung over her arm, she started crying and pointing to a pink canvas tote sitting on the counter that we had used earlier in the day to carry toys and snacks in to church. I thought there is no way she is lugging that thing over there too but sure enough, she insisted and off went Sage and all three purses over to the party. This is not just an issue about keeping track of 1-3 purses at a time, but keeping track of all the stuff that she has tucked away into each one.
These are just a few of the places they were found together this past weekend:

A quick trip to Arizona!

This past weekend Jack and I met in Arizona to participate in the baptism of our nephew Reece and the baby blessing of our nephew Grant (Jack's sister Melissa's sons). It was amazing to witness the love that surrounds this family as they have had to adapt to a new life over the course of the past year and put behind them one of the most tragic life changing events that hopefully very few people will ever have to experience. Thank you Melissa for sharing this special moment with us. Sadly, I have no pictures to share but Melissa, you know we tried! :)

Now I talk about loving to travel to warm places but Mesa, AZ gives whole new meaning to "warm places". It was record heat this past weekend, 108 degrees. (Apparently we missed record heat here in Snoqualmie too!) Our main purpose was obviously not about vacationing but anytime I get a weekend with Jack but without the kids, well, I classify that as vacation. I can say my trip through airport security was pleasurable. For once I stood there without sweat dripping down my head as I frantically try to hold a toddler while collapsing a stroller, get everyone's shoes off, peel away a sippy cup, get everyone's shoes back on, figure out where my boarding passes are, and make it to our gate on time, only to find out we have been delayed... Instead, I enjoyed the moment. While we were enjoying our peaceful moments in Arizona without the kiddos, there was a wonderful woman slaving in my home taking care of the troops.....my mom! Thanks mom for holding down the fort. Below are a few photos from her visit including a photo of her giving Sage her first baby dolls and buggy for her birthday. Now I just have to listen to the boys fight over who gets to play dad. As you can see in one photo, Ty has taken on that responsibility.





















So today I'm driving my mom to the airport when as I'm cruising down the Parkway and just about entering onto the highway I see blinking lights positioned on top of a vehicle following behind me. Within a second comes the embarrassing racket over the loudspeaker "please pull over to the shoulder". I really was shocked because although I tend to travel at great speeds most of the time, I was certain this was not one of those times. The officer approaches the car and asks for the usual but while he is doing this there is a soft voice coming from behind me saying "Hey, I'm gonna be a Police Man when I grow up too." Connor repeats it again but it was clear the officer wasn't hearing him. Finally the officer hears what Connor is saying and responds something about what a great job it is and continues back to his car with my documents. Within seconds he was back at my window and said "I just can't give a ticket to a future mother of a cop!" And away we went. I owe you Connor. Someday when you are old enough to drive and get that first dreaded ticket, remind me of this incident.

Definitely Good: Quiet Time

After a wonderful morning with Connor at Mothers Day Tea in his classroom on Friday and a successful birthday party for Sage that afternoon, Jack took the boys on their first camping trip, the annual father son camp out with the church. Admittedly, I had a picture in my mind of the three of them, sleeping cozy in two zipped together sleeping bags when suddenly Jack would feel a warm dampness making it's way toward his body. I know my boys well enough to know that if they woke up feeling as if they had to go to the bathroom, and knew it meant having to go outside the tent and down a path to a patch of trees in the dark, quiet night....well, you can imagine, I knew that would be the last option they'd choose, even if it meant sleeping in wet sleeping bags for the rest of the night. Thankfully that picture never played out and they had a great time swinging from a rope swing, roasting marshmallows, and hiking around. The best part of the trip though was what was happening an hour away from all that dirt back at home. Sage and I were enjoying our first girls only sleep over consisting of Sage and me. The evening began hanging out with some friends (thanks Susannah, Sommer, and Heather) and letting a bunch of under age campers play around together. Then after returning home, I enjoyed an evening of peace.

After the troops returned Saturday morning from a successful camping trip, Jack persuaded me to spend the rest of the day shopping for myself as a Mothers Day treat. To just be able to browse on my own without interruption was heavenly. And to complete the day, we had friends over for dinner.

Although I always imagine Mothers Day as a day filled with lines like "mom, is there anything I can get for you?" or "please mom, you go rest for the day", in the end, I'm just thankful there is someone there to call me mom. I am blessed.

And I cannot close without mention of the wonderful mom I have been blessed with. She is everything I am not and a pure example of who I hope to become. I love you mom.

Sage is two!

So growing up my mom was the queen of cakes. I have very clear memories of freshly baked cakes spread out across our kitchen counter cut into all sorts of pieces which in the end would result in some lavish, cleverly themed cake. I looked forward to someday doing the same with my own kids...or did I? I have yet to figure out how people frost a cake that has been sliced and diced into who knows what shapes without all those tiny cake crumbs spreading like wild fire throughout all the frosting. So after a couple bad experiences with cakes I was certain I could do cupcakes. Last year I had hoped to make Sage these cute butterfly cupcakes I had seen online done with pastel colored m&m's and a bit of thin black licorice. Forgetting to buy the licorice, I ended up with basically a polka dot cupcake. Lucky it was just a family gathering.

Then for the boys party this past February they wanted an underwater sea adventure themed party so I did one fish cake with a bunch of cupcakes (each decorated with a plastic fish of some sort on top which required no work except a base layer of frosting.) Ty insisted that his big fish cake be chocolate so sure enough the big fish cake had brown specks throughout all of the blue frosting. Of course I blamed the boys for those and told the guests that the boys had obviously been taste testing the frosting and in the meantime created crumbs all over it. There was even a big finger print to prove my case...

So Sage's 2nd birthday is here and all she talks about is Elmo. I knew Elmo had to be the theme but I dreaded attempting the Elmo shaped cake pan w/crumbs look so I settled for doing the cupcakes. (If you read earlier about my quirks (#2), you understand why I didn't just pay the bakery to make one). This was the final product:

I had hoped to have the jumbo size gumballs for Elmo's nose but wasn't up to the task of standing in front of the gumball machine at Fred Meyer praying each time for the orange one to make it's debut down the tube. So Elmo's nose is a bit small. I had a refill bag of the regular sized gumballs stashed away so settled for those. Of course after almost a whole container of red food coloring and no red frosting, I was thankfully able to cover up Elmo's electric pink face with red colored sugar crystals. And after all that work, the hit of the cupcake was the eyes... so next year Sage will be blowing three candles situated in one gigantic marshmallow. The party consisted of Sage and her four friends. How different a party is with girls. They all sat quietly at the table eating their lunch and cupcakes. I don't think I heard one loud squeak out of any of them the whole time. I may from this point forward refer to them as 'fun and GAMES', short for Gretchen, Annie, Melia, Eden, and Sage! What cuties!!! What a fun day!

Tagged!

so I'm clicking on Rebecca's site to get ideas for things to photograph and notice she tagged me. Here are the rules:
1. link the person who tagged you (now I have to figure out how to link someone...) urrrrr
2. post these rules
3. tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them (urrrr again)

My quirks:

1. I'm total OCD: I can't go downstairs in the morning without the beds all made up, in the evenings I cannot go to bed with a dirty dish in my sink, any clutter on my counters or a pillow out of place on my couches. (Sadly I can't blame this on the fact our house is for sale).

2. I actually hate to spend money. I'm a saver. There are very few things I'm willing to spend lots of money on, (aside from great vacations and nice jeans).

3. Speaking of money, I always shop with coupons at the grocery store. We could win the lottery and I would still do it... (thanks mom, it came from you and your Scottish blood).

4. Connor and Ty's outfits must coordinate. We are past the days of identical outfits (unless I find some great deal that I can't pass up at the store and there is only one color/style). Other than that though I always make sure to buy coordinating outfits so it makes me crazy if they don't wear them on the same days. That's why I usually have their clothes picked out and in front of them before they have a moment to pick out something on their own... scary I know!

5. Funny smells in houses. Need I say more?

6. I spend way too much time online checking out new places to vacation to and reading about great hotels I'd like to stay at. I'm not one to vacation to the same place twice, (except for Disneyland). Two requirements for making the list: warm and good snorkeling!

So there you have it. Of course the moment I post this, I'll think of a dozen way better quirks I could have written about, like how I LOVE to vacuum... and the list goes on! Tag you're it: Sommer, Dion, Casey, Brooke, Kelly, and Heather.

The Good: 14 years and counting...

So this weekend Jack and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. It's really unbelievable it's been that long. I remember being in NYC at our friends apt. (hello Ted and Julie) and at that time Jack and I had been married not even two years and they said they had been married five years. I remember thinking...wow, that is forever. I wonder if I'll we'll make it five years... thankfully x 3 almost! Well, the actual day was April 30th but between Jack's schedule and getting a sitter, Saturday was our night! We went to one of Jack's favorite restaurants in Seattle (Metropolitan Grill) and probably thousands of others favorite as they are actually rated one of the top ten steak places in the nation. Our first trip there was during a house hunting trip when Jack first took the job with Starbucks. Since that time Jack has been several times for work but it had been a while since I'd been. It was nice to actually dress up, leave the kids, and have a night to ourselves. Well, maybe I really wasn't dressed up but for me wearing a blouse that requires an iron and heels of any sort, I classify that as being dressed up. Conversation goes: "Jack, what do you plan to wear?" Since most of his clothes are in California, he says "I guess I'll have to wear some suit pants with one of my dress shirts." So I ask him what I should wear. He says "something nice". So I stare at my closet for about 15 minutes. Finally when I ask again if he has any opinion, he asks "what are the options". So I answer, "I have these jeans, or perhaps these other jeans. " Hmmmm, looks like it's jeans.

As I'm writing this I must share just one other incident that took place yesterday. So we have a friend who is a Washington State Patrolman. Jack has mentioned to him kind of jokingly (and kind of not) that one day we may need him to pay us a visit all suited up and in his patrol car to come have a visit with the boys...(ok, actually Ty). Well, although Ty was awarded 'Very Important Cougar' at his school for the month of April and the reasons were listed as : he is respectful, willing to help others, and works well with others, we know that another Ty lives in our home much of the time. This Ty is also very smart but in a manipulative way. Ever since he was a baby, he was one we had to watch. He wasn't even two years old and I'd hand him two sippy cups, one for him and one for Connor and immediately he'd quickly drink half of one of the cups but each time as he'd approach Connor to give him his cup, he'd give him the half empty one he had just downed and keep the full one for himself. The stories are endless. So we finally decided it was time for someone to pay a visit to the Ty that lives in our home. This is where Officer Wilkes enters the picture. He drives up Saturday afternoon and knocks on the door. Ty and Connor are both upstairs watching something on TV. Jack yells for Ty and says there is someone here to see him. Ty, excited thinking it's his friend Joe across the street, runs down quickly. As he turns toward the door, a shocked look appears. His first reaction is "Mom, I'm hungry, I need to get something to eat." Of course, that isn't an option at this time. (And he had just had a McDonald's happy meal an hour earlier.) So they sit down in the living room and talk one on one. As expected, Ty sits very still has direct eye contact and pays close attention to everything Officer Wilkes says. I did at times feel sad for doing this as I'd see his eyes at times start to look glossed over. Officer Wilkes also comes prepared with a VHS tape in his hand with Ty's name written across the front of it. He tells Ty it is a tape recording of some of the not so good things he's done recently. Now to be clear, Ty is a very good kid and frequently we are told how respectful, funny, and helpful he is but lately we have had issues with him being sneaky and stealing (or as he likes to say, "performing disappearing acts") with anything from treats to toys to money and also just plain disobedience with what he would say for good reason. I can't tell you how many candy wrappers I've found hidden underneath his bed or money that I have found in his backpack that has come from who knows where. In the end, I think the visit was a success. Of course only time will tell. The best part was Officer Wilkes told Ty he'd need to take him out to his car to write up the visit. It was on official paper even indicating his height, weight, and eye color. At the bottom he had Ty sign the form. The funny thing was the moment the door closes and Officer Wilkes left, Ty suddenly went running back upstairs very quickly. We could see him running from the media room back to our bedroom and then back out again. When we asked what he was doing, he said he was putting something back in our room that belonged there...some candy it turned out to be. He's either going to be extremely successful or a criminal...hopefully the end result will be a great scrapbook page and a few laughs in the future.

So this morning I'm getting ready for church and Ty says to me "Mom, in the Roddy household, we don't celebrate Mothers day just once a year, from now on every Saturday and Sunday is Mothers day." Oh the charm!

The good and bad of spaghetti...

So my kids love spaghetti. For years now, I've tried everything to make this dish less messy. Some of my tricks included feeding them in the bathtub, wrapping dish towels around their necks, and making them eat dinner without shirts on. Still, I manage to find pieces of angel hair spaghetti stuck to just about everything. And trust me, getting it out of Ty's hair used to be a challenge in itself. (Luckily we are past those days.) I don't know why it took me so long to figure out that kids can still enjoy the idea of spaghetti without actually using spaghetti. So I'm clearing out my pantry (something I've been doing since Jack took the job in California... and redoing as I keep having to stock it up again as the months go by). Anyways, I'm digging through the pantry and come across these darling Christmas noodles (thanks Gary and Kelly) that they probably sent us 3-4 years ago for Christmas. Well, what a hit they were this past week for them and me. The mess was cut in half! They would neatly poke each little star and Christmas tree before stuffing it in their mouths. This was very different from the normal slurping and sucking in of the angel hair that I'm used to causing all those tiny specks of sauce and meat to fly in every direction and cause polka dots all over my socks by nights end from stepping all over the specks on the floor that went unnoticed. Too bad I hadn't used them when they first sent them. It would have saved me years of suffering through the " you're strangling me" or "do you want me to freeze to death?" lines I'd hear as I tried to protect their clothing. And then the 'light bulb moment'...why don't I just have them wear the darkest shirt they own so if they do spill and stain, it wouldn't be a big deal. As I sit and remember my past spaghetti dinner days, I look forward with much joy to a few more like the one I experienced this past week. I'm looking forward to more faces like this!