Mostly-Mommy

Yeah, I got one.

I sported my Sophisticated Side Ponytail to go to the Gala! It was a little shindig for Mike’s work and I must say is was the most unusual, unexpected black-tie optional event I’ve ever been to. You know, of the TWO I’ve ever been to.

The host told us to “Kiss my sweet ass.” Huh. He was pretty funny actually. Also their entertainment was Quixotic. I cannot explain all that they do, just click on the link to see. What I can say is that they were awesome (aside from all the modern dance which the dude CAN NOT abide) and I particularly loved the ring acrobatics and belly dancer. Some of the other guests of the event did not agree of course and I heard several snickerings about tucking dollar bills into her pants. I had a wonderful time though! Definitely not what I was expecting and I was more than a little happy about that.

I’m gonna need it. Nick’s staying home AGAIN tomorrow because of his double… double ear infection that is. Hoo boy what a weekend we have had!

Thursday night was rough, Nick was up half the night complaining about his ears hurting. So off to Urgent Care we went! Even with antibiotics he is STILL in rough shape. We’ve spent our whole weekend sitting around watching movies, reading books, playing video games, and I spent the ENTIRE day in the kitchen today. I made Brioche burger buns, Rosemary Potato Bread, Snickerdoodles, Cauliflower Gratin, Chilled Asparagus Salad, and salmon burgers on the griddle. What else was I going to do?

While I was busy kneading and mixing Mike was minding the kiddos. They decided to make a recipe for Caramel Apple Dip out of Nick’s Rachel Ray cookbook. Uh, he burned it. My talented husband destroyed a recipe from a child’s cookbook. This is what I have to deal with people. Let’s just say it’s a very good thing I do the cooking. A VERY good thing.

Wish me luck tomorrow! Goodnight everybody!

I really have to stop doing this. I just can’t bring myself to spend much time blogging lately because there is so much to do outside of the computer. Swimming! Parties! A two-year-old who won’t stop yelling at me! My days are full.

Anyway here’s some pictures of stuff. That I did. Uh, recently.

I turned 31. My mom threw me a party and my little bro Karsen cooked up some VERY tasty grub. It was great! My mom decorated and blew up balloons and made me wear a “Birthday Princess” hat that Zoey was soooooooo jealous of. I find it amazing that I have lived 31 years and only now have discovered that I have the ability to do this:

I knew I should have gone to Clown College. If only they didn’t scare the holy hell out of me.

Zoey looks… smug. This look makes me very worried.

Dude is CRAZY.

Okay, this is my cousin’s boyfriend. I took this picture and when I looked at it I offered to take another one because… uh, it wasn’t like we fed him some acid and set something on fire or anything. She assured me that “This is the face he makes in every picture. That is just his face.” I love it!

Aaaaaaand this is my husband’s face. But this one is special, just for the hat.

Some sort of Australian cake-thing my mom made. Very creative, that one!

Later in the week we saw Chris Isaak at Harrah’s Voodoo Lounge. WOW that was a great show! I had no idea he would be so funny! He did a lot of joking with the audience and even went out in the crowd. I think that is what this is a picture of but honestly we couldn’t get a good picture of him, it was like trying to photograph the sun with a phone.

I think the devilishly handsome man in the Red Suit with Golden Flames up the arms and legs may have been a figment of my imagination. Or possibly a figure skater.

Then Sunday we saw Neko Case at the Uptown. She was wonderful and charming, the music was interesting, beautiful and polished. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay for the whole show because it was putting us to sleep. After Chris Isaak this show was SO MELLOW that it was kind of ruined for us. Damn you Chris Isaak and your glorious hips!

It really didn’t help that we had to sit through the whole opening act, Jason Lytle. Ugh. Their music was boring and after EVERY song they had a “self-indulgent segue” of some classical piano music the dude recorded of himself playing at his mom’s house. The piano music was fine. The constant flipping back and forth of musical genres completely ruined the pacing of the show and annoyed me. We would have enjoyed Neko’s show a LOT more if we would’ve gotten there really late and missed the whole first act!

That is all for now. Nothing else terribly noteworthy has been going on, just the regular day-to-day nonsense of a high energy preschooler and a two-year-old who is THE DEVIL. And teething, did I mention? Send me good wishes, and luck, and winning lottery tickets if you happen to have some extras.

O hai there! Been a little busy lately what with all the goings on around here including going on the South Beach Diet. More on that later but let me just say damn! I am sick of eating, shopping for, thinking about, and preparing food. Moving on!

Nick attended Zoo Preschool a couple weeks ago. He had FUN. He went every morning for a week and they did so many things — every day a craft project, riding the train/carousel/CAMEL, learning about animal habitats. SO COOL except for I had to do SO MUCH DRIVING.

Next up: The Fourth of July! We skipped our traditional BBQ fare (see: South Beach Diet) and did a simple dinner followed by some fireworks in the back yard. Really there were only a couple near-misses. No big.

Zoey was fine as long as she was held tightly. She did often put up her hands to protect herself.

Nick’s first Sparkler! Let the pyromania begin!

The carnage. That Climbing Panda one was the coolest by far. We like ‘em little.

Later on my mom and I took Nick to a carnival at a church in Overland Park followed by fireworks. Do you think he had fun?

He even liked sharing the back seat of the car with a plant my mom dug up to give me. I call this picture “The Tarragon Jungle.”

On a completely unrelated note I have to share this picture I took of the boys playing Lego Indiana Jones on the Wii. Mike plays one character and Nick does the other, controlling it with the Wiimote and the Nunchuck. He does incredible well especially considering that HE IS FOUR YEARS OLD.

That kid amazes me every day with his insatiable need to take things apart and see how they work, then fix them. He is so mechanical. It is both impressive and terrifying! I just try to keep him from electrocuting himself.

And just because Zoey has been scarce in this post I give you My Baby, holding her favorite new find, the Baby Banana:

Zoey said, “I want to get dressed” and ran off into the bedroom. A minute later she came out with a new diaper, a skirt and a matching shirt! I started laughing and said to Mike, “Honey, she picks out clothes better than you do!” He was not amused. But for everybody out there with a baby daddy that has ever dressed the kid, you know what I’m saying!