peach crumble

I made the yummiest peach crumble today. We had four peaches that were slowly going bad. They were spoiled enough to be unappetizing on their own, but I found a recipe for a berry crumble that worked SO well. I had to cut everything in half since I only had four peaches but it was enough for two (although I totally could have eaten the whole thing by myself). I would post a picture, but we all but licked the bowl clean.

a new day

I worked out today. We have a new plan wherein I will go work out when Loren gets home from work. I leave dinner ready and go exercise. Meanwhile Loren will give the boys a bath and we'll eat after I get back and shower. Today is Day 1. D-Day is Aug. 22. I have decided to give myself specific goals and (near) deadlines rather than a vague idea like "I'll be skinny for next summer". I think I need something more concrete and quickly measurable. We'll see how it goes...so far so good.

new recipes

I love magazines. Mainly the "women's interest", but I hate being so predictable. I'm not even sure what that means. I am a woman, and I am interested in a lot of different things. It used to be fashion (a la Glamour or InStyle) but now it veers more towards parenting (Cookie, Parents, & a really good one that was discontinued called Wondertime). I love receiving my new magazines in the mail. The thing that I love about them is the possibility. The possibility that I will cook the recipes, make that throw, wear that outfit, buy that book or game. I have a binder called "Kalynn's Book of Fun" where I keep the pages and pages of ideas that I tear out from magazines. I am not limited to the above titles either. I shamelessly ask the nurses at doctor's offices if I can take their old copies of Sunset or Better Homes & Garden.
This afternoon I found a duplicate "recipes" folder so I combined it with the other to make one big one. I went through and decided to try some tonight. I made "easy pullapart pizza" from Parents. It involves refrigerated pizza dough, sauce, cheese, and spinach. Sounds easy and kind of healthy. It was easy, but a little messy. I made two, since Loren loves pizza. Owen ate it, but wasn't thrilled, Liam ate it (but he'll eat anything. He's Life cereal's Mikey reincarnated). Loren was the big challenge. He likes almost anything that looks or tastes like pizza (even Combos - eww!). His take? "Needs sausage or something. It's too bready". And that summed it up perfectly. The taste was ok, but there was a lot of crust. The reason is the recipe called for the dough to be rolled then sliced like pinwheels. Also, I should have added some extra spices because the sauce was a little bland on its own. Not a recipe that will be repeated here.
However the lowfat chocolate chip cookies? That's another story! The recipe called for pureed dates which was a little off-putting but I persevered. I have been craving chocolate chip cookies, but I have a bridesmaid dress that needs to look good on me in less than one month. Sooo, I fell under the spell of low-fat. They taste ok. It was a good exercise though because the dough was not so good (usually the best part!!) but the finished product wasn't too bad. I sampled a piece, decided it was full-fat or none at all (I'll go with none, at least until after Aug. 22) and saved the cookies for the boys tomorrow. I'll give it to Liam. He'll eat it. He'll eat anything.

the road not taken...

The pair he wanted:








The pair we bought:









We went to REI today to buy sandals (and to drool a little bit over bikes and camping gear). Liam was easy. A pair of Tevas and he was good to go. Owen tried flip flops, water shoes, and Crocs, and a fair bit of men's hiking boots. He picked up a pair of hot pink Crocs and loved them. Of course they were exactly the right size and he walked around, ran, jumped, and skipped. "See Mommy, watch how fast I can run". I pulled out the blue pair and said let's see how these fit. Take out the plastic tab and run in those. Oooh, fast!
So he contentedly wore them around the store while Mommy and Daddy oohed and aahed over everything. Then came time to check out and he says but I want the pink ones. I tell him that pink is a nice color, yes one of our favorites, but on clothes and shoes - it's for girls. We go back and forth for a while and eventually he agrees to the blue ones. I even throw out the option for red or green Crocs from a different store. However that involves delayed gratification, a concept foreign to Owen. (He will always choose whatever is immediately at hand, but that is another post).
My quandry here is, should I have let him buy the pink Crocs? Loren and I were talking about that tonight. Did I quash a piece of his creativity, his "self" by not letting him choose the color? After all, it is just a color. What's the big deal?? And my answer is this: if we still lived in SP, and he went to the same school, and had all the same friends, I would have let him buy the pink Crocs. Everyone there knows him and wouldn't make any judgements (well, maybe about my parenting choices but that's something I can deal with). Here, we are in a new town. He'll be going to a new school, and making new friends. I don't want people to judge him without knowing him. I realize that is our society, and I believe that we should be ourselves, but, where does a mother draw the line? He likes pink, and we don't care. So am I being hypocritical to let him wear pink at home ("casa" home, as well as hometown) but not buy the pink Crocs that he wanted? It's done, but maybe this was like a little test. What would I say if he wanted, really, really really wanted to wear a dress? I used to think I wouldn't care. That his expression of self was the most important thing. But now? I think I failed the test.

morning parade

This morning the boys were up at 7 am, which is early for them. I am so thankful they are not early birds because I am not. I like the idea of getting up at 6:00 and going for a run (!), or making fresh smoothies, or even just getting online (as opposed to waiting until 10:00 at night). I think about how nice the fresh morning air would feel, how pretty the rising sun would look coming through the windows, how much I could get done while the boys sleep.
Sadly, as much as I would like to be this person, I'm not because I LOVE sleep. So I love that my boys don't get up until 8 am, or even later sometimes. Today though, they were up at 7:00. I woke up to cries of "Moooommmmyyy." "Mmmmmoooooommmmmyyyyyy". So I went into their room hoping to quiet Owen before he woke Liam, but no luck. "Look Mommy, see? His eyes are open. Liam's awake!" And he was. I tried to take them back to bed with me and get them to maybe go back to sleep. Of course that was wishful thinking. And then Daddy stepped up and earned double good husband points. He got up and told the boys to come on out and leave Mommy alone. Yay! what a good Daddy!!! As they walked out the door I sleepily watched them, and thought what a nice parade: Handsome, rumpled Daddy in tshirt and shorts, elf-size Liam in colorful striped jammies, and sleep tousled Owen in cowboy pj top and red underwear - all heading away from me and another hour of sleep.