Fun with Food - and other Adventures

At our house, food is one of the many things we use for play... not by my choice, but hey, it's all good.  At left is Benjamin's interpretation of a fruit snowman.  Clever, no?

So, tonight is the eve of my weeklong birthday celebrations.  And because I'm hitting the four-decade mark, I decided to "do it up" by firing up the grill for some good grubbing.  Two (on wicked sale) angus ribeye steaks and a whole herd of red potato wedges were slapped on our ridiculously large grill, while I wildly chopped up some veggies for the green salad.

Unfortunately, in the end, said steaks were very well-done and the potatoes were a bit charred.  While chopping tomatoes, I noticed Emme's pants were having some big issues.  And during my cooking time, Benj had mysteriously disappeared upstairs.  Whisking her upstairs, I heard him holler - from the bathroom.  He was on the toilet.  (This may sound normal for the typical 4-year-old, but our little buddy is a bit of a late-bloomer in the potty-training area and has never just hopped on the potty by himself.  Was a bit scared at what I would find.)

Me:  Peeking my head in the door, he is bouncing up and down, making this trumpeting sound - which is code for HE WENT.  "Good job, Benj!  Um, were you poopy?"   

Benj: "Yep, pee AND poop!"  

Me: "(slightly worried) Wow!! Um, awesome... where's your pull-up?"

Benj: "In my room."

Me: (EGADS - rush into room - a million pull-ups strewn all over the floor.  Oh. My.) 

Luckily, I only had to dig through a few pull-ups to find his used one.  And even more luckily, no #2. Thank the sweet, sweet heavens.

I quickly change Emme's diaper, as well as her soiled pants, onesie, other shirt - and socks.  Blah.  This is the third outfit being tossed into the laundry today - the fourth, if you count her PJs.

After everyone is cleaned up - neither of them had pants on yet - I hear the timer beeping.  "Oh, no!" I panicked. "The super nice cuts of steaks are still on the grill!" I thought as I rush downstairs, my entourage following.  Whipping open the grill, and after swallowing a billow of smoke, I pulled everything off quickly.  I turned around and my two children - picture it, if you will - are standing behind me on the deck, nearly naked.  Benj is in his t-shirt and the pull-up that is only covering one side of his bum (he likes to do things himself these days).  Emme only has on her diaper, and I obviously didn't do the greatest job slapping that on, as I was under duress from the nagging timer.  Thank goodness that it isn't really winter here in Seattle.  It was a balmy evening, lingering around 45 degrees; not super hot (and definitely not warm enough for no-clothes Friday) but a heck of a lot warmer than pretty much anywhere else in the country.

In the end, not the best grilling night ever, but the food was palatable and those other things needed immediate attention.

Anyway...

As of late, the kids and I have had some killer dance parties during dinner prep in the evenings. Tonight's was Off. The. Hook.  Epic, even.  And you know why?

We danced with food.  Interpretive carrot dancing to the Zac Brown Band and Manhattan Transfer. It's an eclectic music style we've got going, but it was good times, people, good times.

After dinner, I got the kids in the bath while Dave tackled the disaster area called our family room.  PJs and prayers wrapped up the evening before Benj snuggled into bed.  Emme needed a little milk night-cap before she conked out.  As with tradition, Dave & I sprawled out on the couch to watch "Grimm"; sadly, I was asleep in minutes, so caught very little of the hour-long show.  Thanks to the NBC online, I can catch up on it later.  Whew!

Earlier this week, as a rare treat, we played at a local park - yep, it was outside.  Only in Washington in January, right?

I had to run errands on the other side of the valley, so I packed up hats and coats so we could make a quick visit to Blackman's Lake.  It was quite chilly outside, but the day had been sunny and I figured we could all use some fresh air (this was, of course, before I knew Emme was so sick).

We hung out on the docks, checking out the murky water and spotting some friendly ducks.  Then we tromped up the muddy hill to the playground.  Even though Emme wasn't at the top of her game, she had a great time; I think she went down that red slide about 10 times... and kept trying to climb up even after we'd moved on to the swings.  Benj was in heaven too.

We only stayed for about 20 minutes, but it was a beautiful winter afternoon as we caught the first glimpses of dusk settling over the barren park.

In other news, here is what's been up with us this week:

• Emme was nailed with a double ear-infection, as well as the flu Type A.  We have to give her Amoxicillin and Tamiful every 12 hours.  Inevitably, we get showered with her pink and white spewings.  I think she's beginning to hate us and the sight of those little medicine plungers.  
• Besides the major achievement of going to the toilet solo, Benj has been working hard on his academics.  Tonight he said he wanted to count to one tril-million (not to be confused with trillion - a tril-million is infinitely more, apparently).  And during bath time, he uses foam letters to put together words; tonight, he asked how to spell poop.  
• Dave's working out with this new program - a fitness & nutrition e-book called "Evolution", written by Joe Manganiello.  For those playing along at home, he's this totally ripped dude that plays a werewolf on "True Blood".  Haven't ever seen the show, but his drive for developing the program & writing the book is the best reason & quote (paraphrased by moi) ever.  "Taking the role, I knew I was going to have to be naked a lot."  Makes sense.
• Me - we switched gyms this month, joining the Y a few weeks back.  The commute to the old gym was 20+minutes, where the Y is less than 5.  I've already used this gym membership more in the last couple of weeks than the last 18 months at the old place.  Thankfully, the dues at the old gym were $12/month (for both Dave and I), so I didn't lose too much sleep over it because Dave still used it a lot.   In my free time, I've been putting together plans for next week, including a very big birthday party on Friday night - lots of friends, Mexican food, a dessert bar & karaoke are all on the schedule.  I hope to document everything because if all goes as planned, it's going to be the best birthday yet!  Stay tuned...