So we made snowmen inside, out of clay. We popped outside long enough to get some fresh air and collect a few things from nature to use in our scenes. Then we ran back in to be close to the fire and to finish our snowy display. Each girl added their own touch in their own way.
My kids love – as in love enough to eat everyday the rest of their lives – Amy’s organic (yet still processed) spinach pizza snacks.
This fall our CSA farmer brought me such an abundance of fresh spinach that it would have been impossible for one family to consume before it began decomposing in thier fridge. I was grateful. I really was! But I didn’t want it to go to waste. And we had already eaten our share of spinach quiche for the season. Plus the fresh farm eggs were out of season by then.
So what is a gal to do with all that spinach? Make my own pizza snacks and call them Spinach Pizza Poppers.
Before my plan became clear, I started steaming the spinach in a microwave using the largest glass bowl that would fit inside the giant beast that sits on my counter. I have a love, hate, I wish I could throw you away relationship with the thing that radio-activates our food. Then again it is SO handy when you need it. And it doesn’t help that while working in restaurants in college I learned how well it works to steam veggies. So there it sits, the microwave, on my counter.
As the spinach was steaming I realized there was leftover pizza sauce, pizza cheese and feta cheese in my frridge – the exact ingredients used in Amy’s Spinach Pizza Snacks – that are, mind you, more than $4 a box for 12 of the things. And, mind you, my seven-year-old could eat a whole box during one after school snack session.
After the spinach was squeezed and squeezed and pressed with a towel until zero water was left in it, I put it, the sauce and the cheeses into a food processor. After that I portioned it out into one cup amounts and froze it in mason jars until I got the courage up to try my great crazy idea of making my own pizza snacks.
I say all this, because I don’t want folks to think I’ve gone completely nut-so going to such great lengths to roll out homemade dough, scoop dollops of spinach on each tiny square and wrap them all up by hand. But yes, that is what I did!
And it was OH SO satisfying when my seven-year-old scarfed them down saying they were delicious. This coming from probably the most picky vegetarian first grade eater alive, really, REALLY made my whole week.
I’d give you the recipe, but I don’t think this was any kind of rocket science. I cleared my fridge of the leftover spinach, marinara sauce, feta cheese and pizza cheese, put it in a food processor, froze extra portions for later, then made my regular bread recipe to stuff the spinach mixture into.
When I rolled out the dough, it was about 1/8 inch thick, cut into less than 2″x2″ squares. Then I wrapped the dough in square shapes around each dollop of spinach, placed them on a cookie sheet and baked them at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
My kids dipped them in pizza sauce. Because I’m learning that they’ll eat anything if it’s dipped in pizza sauce. And I’m a-okay with that!
It’s a simple tie-dyed orange and pink shirt, size 2. My oldest daughter got it while shopping with a friend, sitting in the buggy with another 18-month-old. They pulled the straws out of their milks and dumped them on themselves. They thought it was hilarious. Being a new mom I grabbed the clean tie-dyed shirt off the sale rack as a solution in the moment, and quickly changed her shirt.
The two girls are still friends, still getting into mischief togher. And us moms are more experienced.
Those were the days when we had to work to find things to fill the time. When a leisurely trip through Babies’ R Us was a nice way to break up the montonous of the day between naps and the next meal.
Last week, nearly six years later, I ran around the house making use of every last second trying to clean one a corner of my basement and cram it all into the back of my van for another trip to Goodwill. This time there was a baby bathtub, a baby gate, a bed rail and a bag of clothes. As I was getting ready to chuck it all towards the steps of the donation drop off trailer, I exhaled, took a moment and snatched the tie-dyed shirt out of the bag. I just couldn’t do it.
There is nothing special about that shirt. But the memories of it are significant. In a day where there are no more baby bathtubs or bed rails or even cribs in our house, that shirt is a sign of my early mommy days.
They were the days when I didn’t know what the heck I was doing as a new mom. When a little spilled milk on a shirt sent me grabbing for a new shirt off the sale rack because I couldn’t let my laughing (obviously not bothered by the situation) toddler wear a damp shirt.
Today we live in a house where our two-year-old has a twin bed next to our queen bed, with no bed rails. She has slept in a regular bed every night of her life and just KNOWS how not to fall off the bed. And if she spills her milk in the store on her shirt, I know it will dry. And I would be OK with that too.
That wasn’t always the case.
When my first born girl was 21-months-old she had her first day of mother’s morning out program – in the same class as her milk spilling friend. She wore the tie-dyed shirt on her first day. I cried just pulling into the parking lot that morning. Both us young moms fought back tears as we went for coffee after we dropped off our babies.
I was six months pregnant then, which didn’t leave me very hormonally balanced about the whole situation!
My first born was barely weaned and had never been left with anyone other than a grandma. Nine months before that we had moved 200 miles away from any family. I was not getting any kind of break. We had never used a babysitter.
Before it was officially pick up time from the church program, I got a call to come get my toddler. She had been crying the whole day, in her little tie-dyed shirt with her white Keds, curly brown locks and chubby toddler cheeks.
After two mornings of that, the director and me decided this was not going to work for my daughter and I removed her from the program. She wasn’t ready to leave her mommy, even with her best pal by her side. And I don’t think I was ready either.
Great, now what?
We found a babysitter, an awesome college girl, who came to our house and eased her way into my daughter’s life – on her own home turf. Her name was Blair – the same as our dog. So she became known as Babysitter Blair.
After baby number two was born and I had spent a few months trying to get both girls down for naps together and meet all their needs at the same time, I had a different best friend hold my hand as we tried a different mother’s morning out program. It was still not easy leaving my oldest daughter. But I felt better doing so with a working mom by my side – who was more versed than me at leaving babies the care of others.
By the time my middle girl started at her Montessori school (when she was almost three) she got out of the car on the first day of school and walked up the sidewalk with her big sister to her class – without me even getting out of the car! She was all smiles and I knew the loving caregivers there to greet her were real pros at this.
My third baby was about 18-months-old when I started leaving her regularly with another natural mama at her house. I knew I was doing it to make me a better mom, and I was just fine with that. There were no tears on my part that time! Actually, I couldn’t wait to get to the coffee shop for some alone time.
But when I saw that shirt sitting in the Goodwill bag it brought back a flood of memories of the days when I didn’t know how to leave my babies, even for a short time. I felt the anxiety I used to have when I parted from them. I saw my first born with her tearful eyes and crying chest that was at an impossible point of regaining any kind of composure on her own. Then I remembered the immediate calmness within her that came from a mother’s arms when I arrived to pick her up, her hot little body all worked into a tizzy.
I felt like the worst mom ever for leaving her. I was convinced she would never go off to college without me going with her.
Now she’ begging to sleep upstairs, in her own room, all by herself – at age seven.
But when she wore that little tie-dyed shirt I had no idea this day would come – for me or for her.
As I took down the Christmas decorations, I felt the need to replace the fun with something else. While putting away the groceries I needed something to do with the left-over peanut butter to make room on the shelf for the new container. And when cleaning out the Christmas candy, it just didn’t seem right for all those red m&ms to go to waste. Then I found a half eaten bag of Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips.
So friends, that is how the peanut butter, chocolate chip, red m&m heart shaped cookies were created – while the Christmas tree was STILL up!
They made the perfect snack as we took down Christmas, rearranged the house, put it all back together and began looking forward to more wintery fun.
I used this recipe from Very Best Baking. It was perfect because it was suitable for a pan cookie variation which worked well for us, because I put the batter into heart shaped silicon muffin holders. Usually I don’t cook with silicon (because I fear plastic is melting into our food). Actually, I bought the molds to make heart shaped soap. But they were just sitting there, looking so fun.
What we ended up with was fun, and darn tasty too!
And what a better way for them to experience freezing temperatures than by creating ice danglers outside your door? We did this and my girls watched them melt, knowing just when it wasn’t freezing anymore.
When they were completely gone, they assumed they no longer needed a coat. Kids and coats right? Mine never want to wear them. But when they actually SEE that it’s 18 degrees outside, it’s a different matter.
We’ve made these before using food coloring and muffin tins. But this time I was inspired by The Artful Parent to use bits of nature instead. This project is featured in The Artful Parent calendar, which we have hanging in our kitchen, providing us with a years worth of creative inspiration.
While there was still a dusting of snow on the ground, we went outside with baskets to gather some supplies to decorate our ice danglers. We picked up berries, pinecones, flowers from our winter bushes, leaves and cut sprigs from the neighbor’s discarded Christmas tree. The last one sounds strange. But hey, we make the best out of our in-town living!
Back inside we gathered up some cake pans and play pots, from their play kitchen, for them to layer their nature designs. Then I added water and a jute string for hanging. Then, either put it outside and watch it freeze or just stick it in your freezer (which we did).
After they were frozen we hung ours outside, after dark, to see what the morning would hold.
When they looked outside in the morning and saw them still frozen, they were convinced they needed a coat! As the day warmed up they saw them melting. It was a lesson in temperature that happened right before their eyes. And it was fun!
I’m terrible at meal planing. So bad that usually when 6:00 rolls around I still don’t know what I’m going to make for dinner. Somehow, it usually works out.
As you read this blog, through time, you’ll learn I’m a throw in, taste, mix, throw in some more, and perfect until it’s yummy kind of cook. Sometimes I use recipes for a starter ideas and inspiration. And sometimes I just open the fridge and start cooking.
Last night it was the latter scenario. The butternut squash on my counter from Farmer Megan had been sitting there for a couple weeks. At about 5:30, after I squeezed in writing this post for Family Friendly Knoxville, all us Simmons girls went to work in the kitchen. It was an evening when everyone wanted to help!
For my Souper Fabulous Butternut Squash Creation, here’s what we threw in the pot (my new swanky Le Creuset pot I got for Christmas from this gift guide).
*We started with one sautéd onion, chopped and cooked in olive oil in our stock pot.
*Then I chopped up 2 butternut squashes and 2 small sized sweet potatoes. Both little girls wanted to help so we had an assembly line of me chopping, handing the pieces to my two-year-old and then she handed them to my five-year-old who put them in the hot pot. Their little feet shared one stool, which I always find delightful.
*As the squash and sweet potatoes were getting added to the pot I poured in 2 cups of vegetable broth, letting it all cook on medium heat.
*Then I added 1/2 cup of milk and two tablespoons of butter.
*That was followed by a few generous shakes of cumin, turmeric, curry, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
*Next either put your soup in a blender to puree, or use an immersion blender. I could, and do, rave on and on about my Bamix immersion blender. It makes soup making SO much easier!
*Continue to simmer until ready to eat.
Served alongside our soups were grill cheese sandwiches and corn. We are a huge grill cheese eating family – mainly because my kids love them.
On this night my seven-year-old wanted to take on the job of making the sandwiches. We use a panini maker to make hot sandwiches, veggie burgers and even sometimes to grill veggies. I couldn’t imagine our kitchen without it! To make the butter spreading easier, I melted the butter and gave it to my daughter to brush on the bread, add the cheese and handed the spatula over to her. She could not have been more thrilled with having been given this big kid task involving the sizzling hot panini maker!
I have to say cooking with kids isn’t alway easy. I mean, it can really slow things down when the squash has to pass through six hands before it hits the pot! However last night everyone loved being involved, from the first what’s for dinner question, to the setting and clearing of the table.
I was reminded of this many times recently while our family spent entire days together at home doing nothing but mounds (and mounds and mounds and mounds) of laundry after lice was discovered on our kids’ heads. And since we all bed share at some point of the night, in revolving beds, the buggers ended up sharing our heads too – meaning none of us were spared. Yuck!
During the week-long process of de-licing our house, our washing machine and dryer BOTH broke and new ones were delivered on New Year’s Day (you can bet there was some begging on my part to get that done). So unplanned to us, we rung in the new year getting clean clothes and clean heads. Once again, I was not the boss of that plan!
In the process of it all the kids spent many hours entertaining themselves. And let me tell you, they did just fine.
Yesterday these cardboard houses that we made during our TV Free Summer where the tube stayed off, made a resurgence. They got some repairs with fresh duck tape and my oldest daughter created some new “games” and “TV channels” on the walls inside the houses.
Then much to my surprise, last night I discovered – along with the New Year’s Eve Family Day sign up top from two days ago – the following sign that my oldest daughter taped to our TV armoire. Then, she told me the rule applied to me too! Now look who’s boss.
Because of the lice fiasco and ignoring leaving the kids to entertain themselves for hours on hours, we finally sat down to do our New Year’s Day dinner and family resolutions, a day late.
Last year we started this tradition where we, as a family, share our New Year resolutions while all drawing pictures of what we share. Then I memorialized the resolutions by writing them and sewing them into a book, which we revisited on New Year’s Eve.
While telling our New Year’s resolutions my kids kept reminding me that I’m not in charge here, and that sometimes their ideas are much better than mine.
Too often I hurry my kids along, out the door, to make their beds, to pick up their toys, put their shoes on, and well…you know the drill. I have my agenda and they have theirs. Sometimes we meet in the middle and sometimes my ideas get thrown to the wind for a game of Storytelling or Go Fish. When it’s the later, I never regret it.
Last night, I loved what my kids said.
My middle child said, “I want to smell more flowers.” She also drew pictures of our pets, those with us and those we have lost. And she did her best to draw stairs because she likes going upstairs to play now, as we are slowly taking steps (physically and mentally) to move some big kid play items upstairs – soon to be followed by whole bed rooms I’m sure.
Everyone is feeling the need to stretch out a bit right now. Home improvements have been on our lists since last year. Which is why I found it ironically intuitive when our toddler asked me to draw a picture on her paper of “The Brown House” – the name we call our 90-year-old craftsman house that owns us jus as much as we own it.
My oldest daughter was very detailed on her resolutions about her plans to move her bedroom, along with her sister, upstairs. She also drew about sledding with mom, building a big snowman in Colorado with her cousin, looking at more stars, and finding more consultations. On the back of her paper she wrote, “Pray for Mae Mae a lot,” who is my mom suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. Along with, “Have lots of fun with family,” and “Make lots of crafts.”
Now doesn’t all that sound lovely? I think yes. Because on a busy day when I’m feeling overwhelmed with all the little things in life that don’t really mater at all, I’ll glance up at their New Year’s resolution pictures on the fridge and know exactly who’s in charge here.
These cats are indoor/outdoor cats. Tonight it’s 18 degrees outside. So like any smart cat would do, they found their way inside. Sometimes they enter through the upstairs window in the sewing room if they see the light on. But tonight they used the backdoor. And let me show you, they are making themselves right at home tonight!
For a bit of the backstory, the black cat is Vera. She has been with us since October of 2000, when we lived in in a carriage house in Midtown Atlanta, off 10th St. – one of the busiest streets in town. We called the joint “The Love Shack.” She was a stray that my aunt found mangled with a broken tail. Around Halloween we took her in for her own safety, given bad people do bad things to black cats on Halloween. She HATED being inside. Since the days of The Love Shack we have called her the Alley Cat with 42 lives because she hung out on the sidewalk of 10th St., along with the homeless people who stopped to eat my tomatoes growing in the front yard.
Vera is sassy, snarky and gives a mean bitch slap. She still hangs out on the sidewalk. She even sleeps in the road! But when it’s 18 degrees outside she comes in to sleep on the heat vent. She’s also smart.
Then there is Fruit Punch, our newest furry family member. Some of you who used to read my Brown House News blog may remember when I was trying to find him a home. It turned out he found a home with us.
He showed up on our back porch on Easter, with a missing toe, an oozing pirate eye and weighed about five pounds. My middle child insisted that we take him to the vet for help. On the way there she named him “Fruit Punch.” Then we found out he was Feline Leukemia positive. Some awesome pet loving friends helped get him into a free spay/neuter program and all fixed up for a very low cost to us. Since then he’s done nothing but stick close to our home, and eat and eat and eat. He is HUGE now. The term fat and happy definitely applies to Fruit Punch, in the best way possible.
Wanna know the best things about these cats? They know when to go outside to use the bathroom. That’s right. There is no litter box in our house. And that makes us all very happy pet owners.
We revisited our resolutions from last year, from the book that I sewed and wrote about here. We realized we accomplished many of those things – from acting classes, running a marathon, a new blog and me starting to write for real publications again, to taking more adventures, and full-filling one little girl’s request for more play dates. There’s more still do, but we’re saving those for 2012. We can’t wait to see what it holds for us!
After we started having children, getting a sitter on the busiest going-out night of the year was never even considered. So we’ve made our own traditions and we have our own fun at home.
Ringing in the new year on France time, at 6:00, works perfect with young children. It’s a great opportunity to discuss timezones with your kids and there are several websites you can use to watch a count down.
On timeanddate.com they have countdowns listed from around the world. And hey, you can pick another timezone if the 6:00 one doesn’t work for you! I love the beauty of that.
TVnewsradio.com will be streaming New Year’s Eve celebrations from around the world, including Paris via CNN LIVE.
For a real version, in French visit parisrama.com.
On About.com Paris Travel you can read, and share with your kids, about some of the customs and happenings of a Parisian New Year’s celebration.
We plan on having some fun while we celebrate at home, watching our computer! We made crowns this year for us to wear for the countdown. We’ll turn on some music, hang some fabric banners and bring up some instruments (tambourines, drums, bells, harmonicas…whatever) from the basement for the countdown. There will be sparkling juice for the girls and French wine for mom and dad. And then, a normal bedtime for the kids!
Last year on New Year’s Day we started a new tradition, of having family art time after dinner while we all talked about our resolutions and plans for the new year. We used paper and pastels to draw out all our hopes and dreams (err, sort of)! This was so much fun that I wrote down everything we said, and sewed a book out of it using printer fabric paper. I suppose you could say this was my form of art.
On New Year’s Day we’ll have a dinner with some traditional fare – black eyed peas and kale (instead of collard greens) – as well as some stuff I know the kids will like since this is supposed to be fun for them. Meaning, I’ll save the new recipes and mega veggie meals for another day.
Cheers! See ya next year.