Buh-Bye Summer!

With Labor Day just days away, its time to acknowledge the inevitable.  I realize I'm in the minority, especially in these parts where most people dread the winter, but I am ECSTATIC that summer is ending and Fall (or as I like to call it, THE MOST GLORIOUS TIME OF THE YEAR) is upon us!

I have just two words for you: Pumpkin Muffin.  Dunkin Donuts makes my favorite season of the year the tastiest too ;-)

Seriously though...I LIVE for Fall in New England.  Nothing in all the world compares to it.  People can post pictures of tropical beaches and umbrella drinks all over Facebook, Instagram, Twitter to their heart's content, but nothing beats a pumpkin patch, apple orchard, or a giant pile of crunchy fallen leaves ready to be jumped in!

I've always loved Fall - forever my favorite.  I love dressing for Fall - jeans, boots, sweatshirts, scarfs...its just such a comfortable season.  I love decorating my house, inside and out, with pumpkins, hay bales, corn stalks, warm rustic colors all around.  Lighting candles and the fire place, baking all kinds of treats, but especially homemade apple pie.  Crockpot cooking, soup, hot chocolate, pumpkin spice coffee (another Dunkies treat), fresh warm cider donuts from the apple orchard's farm stand - and one cold treat I can only have in the Fall, Dairy Twist's Fall special Pumpkin Oreo ice cream - its a season full of gastronomic delight! 

Having kids makes my favorite season even BETTER (hard to believe that's possible, right?!?).  Playing in apple orchards, picking our own pumpkins, carving and decorating them, baking and eating our pumpkin seeds, baking apple pies with their "help", preparing for Halloween and stepping inside their imaginations to make their costume exactly what they hoped, celebrating Thanksgiving and all that we are grateful for - my two children being right at the top of that list. 

Seeing things through their eyes just makes everything that much more beautiful.

Italian Sub Stoup

A number of people have asked me for this recipe.  Rachael Ray gets all the credit though.  I have her 365: No Repeats cookbook, and while I haven't made a ton of the recipes in that particular book, this is one I keep going back to.  I love it!

 

Italian Sub Stoup - thicker than a soup, not as thick as a stew, as Rachael Ray says.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/italian-sub-stoup-and-garlic-toast-floaters-recipe/index.html

 

I make a few tweaks to R.R.'s recipe though, because I love pasta.  I'm Italian...it kind of goes without saying.  The recipe calls for only 1 cup of dry pasta.  I add a whole box - 1lb of pasta.  In order to cook all that pasta, I have to add more liquid.  So, instead of adding only 3 cups of chicken stock, I add about 7.  This winds up being absolutely, perfectly delightful :-)

 

We are not a family that's big on super spicy food - mild Italian sausage adds just the right amount of flavor for us.  But, if you're looking for more heat, go for the HOT Italian sausages...and throw in some crushed red pepper flakes while you're at it!

Homework

The term "school" has been thrown around a lot lately.  Aidan hears his Daddy talk about school, and having to do homework every night.   He hears adults ask me "When is Aidan starting school?"  He has heard his friends and their parents talking about school starting up, back-to-school shopping, planning for the big day, etc.  The other day he asked his Daddy "When can I go to school?"

Aidan is not going to preschool this year.  He is three years old.  He won't be 4 until the end of December.  He can't start Kindergarten until September 2015 due to the age cut-off being Sept. 1st.  He will start preschool next year. 

I am a SAHM and we are living within very limited means.  Sending Aidan to preschool for 2 years is just not in our budget.  But regardless of budget, I just don't see why I should send him to preschool for 2 years.  Other moms totally have their reasons (be it work schedules or simply for their own sanity), and I respect their choices.  But, delaying 14 years of school, not taking college years into account, for one more year is my gift to my little 3yr old.  Its one more carefree year of being under momma's wing, sheltered from growing up any faster than he needs to, and having fun with his brother at a time when their relationship has yet to reach a point of hostility, jealousy, or a constant need for a referee.  I love being able to stay home and raise my children.  I love watching his imagination in action as he runs around the house and yard pretending to be a fireman, rescuing all kinds of people and animals from danger.  I love when he asks me to read him a story, and one story becomes twelve.  I love that he still naps in the afternoon and I get a little (and yes, much needed) break just about every day, but I still get to be with him otherwise.  I love that he gets to go to a 2 1/2 hr drop-off gym class once a week, where he gets to play and have fun, and experience a little separation from me and Liam too, because I do understand the importance of that independence. 

He's so eager to learn new things.  Its seemed for the longest time that he's had no patience for learning letters/numbers, but lately has really begun to express interest.  He has a preschool workbook one of his aunties bought him a couple years ago that has been tucked away in a closet until yesterday.  With all of his inquiries about school, I thought it was time to try some of the lessons in the book (we've tried learning letters and numbers in various other ways with limited success).  We sat at the table together and page by page started working our way through the lessons, practicing tracing different kinds of lines, then moving onto shapes, then colors.  I told him this was his homework - and he's been "doing homework" since. 

"Aidan, come upstairs so we can get ready to go out." 
"Mom, I'm doing my homework!"

<sigh>

Despite all that, I still feel a little twinge of guilt that he's not going to school this year.  Like I'm harming his odds of being successful once he does start school - like I'm starting him off with a disadvantage because all the other kids have been in preschool for YEARS!  I start thinking these things and immediately just have to tell myself to shut the hell up.  He is a brilliant little boy.  Preschool for even just one year is still optional - not mandatory.  His one year of preschool will be AMAZING!  He is going to love it.  He's going to have so much fun learning and meeting new friends.  He's going to come home from school eager to share with me all that he did, right down to what he ate for a snack ( he's a growing boy, afterall), and I will have a big, giant smile on my face watching my little sponge grow and learn under someone else's wing.  My pride will soar as I see him mature further into his own little person, and my heart will simultaneously ache as I see less and less of my "baby", and burst with excitement for the boy he's becoming and adventures he'll have!

Its going to be wonderful - next year.

Its Happened...

Its happened...my husband's annoying habit of quizzing me "Who sings this song?" when we're listening to the radio has unfortunately been directed toward its next victim - our 3 year old. 

Aidan, brace yourself.  This is only the beginning.  My advice to you, in addition to deep sighs and heavy eye rolling, is to respond with: "Some 80s hair band."  I promise you will be right 98% of the time.

Things I Learned From Taco Dinner

Things I've learned from this evening's taco dinner:

1). When you purchase a hard and soft taco dinner kit, make sure it says "KIT" on it, otherwise, you're just getting a bunch of shells.  Having a bunch of shells and a bunch of ground beef does not a delicious taco make! 

2). When you realize you goofed and don't have seasoning for your tacos and you pack your kids up to go to the store just to buy taco seasoning, don't cheap out and buy the generic store brand. I'm generally all for store brands and often can't tell the difference from the "good" stuff...not true of taco seasoning. I spent a good 10 minutes adding cumin, paprika, salt, onion salt, and garlic powder to make it edible. 

And lastly,

3). I have spent years making tacos for me and the hubs.  Always the same.  One taco kit, one pound of ground beef.  We eat as much as we want and still have leftovers for another day.  Now that Aidan is eating tacos, I need to buy 2lbs of ground beef for taco night from this day forward.  This is just the beginning of the changes to my grocery planning raising 2 boys (and their dad!). 

Quite an educational dinner tonight!

911 - EMERGENCY!

WEEEEE-OOOOOOH, WEEEEE-OOOOOOH, WEEEEEEEE-OOOOOOOH!!!!!!!!

 

I hear that a lot.  A LOT.  Its like a constant soundtrack in my life.  Only its not coming from actual emergency vehicle sirens (well, usually), its coming from my children. 

When we go to the mall, we have to sit in the fire truck at the arcade - regardless of the fact that Mommy never has quarters to pump into said fire truck.

 

We find fire trucks in malls we're visiting for a first time...

My boys run around the house screeching siren sounds and calling for back-up to fight yet another fire or help Mike Flood off another roof.  (If you have no idea who Mike Flood is, you're better off.  Google "Fireman Sam", but don't let your small children see/hear anything or they may demand you become Fireman Sam fans too!)  I hear these sounds first thing in the morning, all afternoon, before and after dinner, as they squirm out of our hands as my husband and I try to get them into pajamas at bedtime...sirens, all the time.  We were grocery shopping earlier today and Aidan was hanging off the end of the cart screeching out his siren warning to oncoming traffic as we weaved in and out of
every. aisle. we. went. down.

This is a way of life now.  I don't try to stifle their passion.  There are worse things they could love at this very impressionable age.  I'm embracing this love of all things fire rescue!

 

Every time we drive though the center of town, my 3 1/2 yr old starts polling all passengers (usually just me and his little brother that has no idea what he's talking about) as to whether or not the fire station doors will be open.  I have to HOPE we hit a red light directly in front of the fire station so he gets his moment to look on with admiration at the large brick building, and maybe even see a real, live, actual FIREMAN!  If the light's green...I have to go slow and risk the people behind me getting irritated.  The things you do for your children.

 

I know 4 different fire stations within 10 minutes of us that we drive by intentionally on a regular basis just to keep my little men happy in the back seat.  Driving down the road, conversations are consistently interrupted by "FIRE TRUCK!!!" or "AMBULANCE!!!" or "MOMMA, DID YOU SEE THE FIRETRUCK/AMBULANCE?!?" 

God forbid I didn't notice...its nearly unforgivable at this point.

I can say with a fair amount of certainty that the highlight of my kids' summer has been getting to climb around a real life fire truck, push buttons, try on helmets, fasten seat belts, ring bells, turn on sirens, and ask lots and lots of questions to a real live fireman at our town's Family Fun Day!

 

I'd be lying if I said that I didn't get just as excited as Aidan...it was such an amazing experience for my fireman enthusiasts!  As a mom I can tell you, I have passion for things I never imagined before kids.  We're a Fire truck/man/station loving family!

 

Amusement Park Fun

Aidan's been on rides before - he went to Disney at 16 months, Canobie Lake last summer, Marshfield Fair last summer...he loves going on rides.  But there was something especially exciting watching him at Carowinds yesterday. He's older, so there's more understanding of what's going on.  He has more opinions of what he wants to ride and doesn't want to ride, and his enthusiasm is just really adorable!   Carowinds' kiddie section is called Planet Snoopy.  Being his father's son, Aidan's been watching Peanuts shows for sometime now, and he loves Snoopy and Charlie Brown!  So, this made Planet Snoopy even more thrilling for my little guy.  Every corner we turned, "Mom, there's another Snoopy!" It is indescribably fun seeing your children experience things that excite them so.  He rode the carousel (with Daddy and Liam), the boats, a train ride, and a helicopter ride with Mommy (twice).  I think the helicopter was his favorite - it was just precious watching him play the role of pilot. He told me at the start of his first helicopter ride "I'm having a great ride today Momma!"  Love.

Mommy had a great time too!  Despite the incredible heat and humidity, and significant amount of time spent in Planet Snoopy, I got to ride a couple coasters - my favorite!   I rode The Intimidator - a race car inspired roller coaster.  It is, hands down, the most incredible roller coaster I've ever been on!  The seats are shaped like race car seats - deep bucket seats.  The only restraint is a v-shaped padding attached to a metal lever in the ground that lowers over your legs/pelvis.  Your head, arms and entire torso are completely unrestrained in anyway.   I've never experienced anything like it!  I rode this coaster just anticipating the padded lever over my pelvis to fail and my body to go catapulting through the air...my body felt weightless as it spent the greater portion of this coaster lifted off the seat.  I screamed and laughed my way through the whole thing simultaneously...I loved it!