Month: February 2008

A Sweet Valentine’s Day

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I hope you all had lovely Valentine’s Days! I had an *amazing* day! When we woke up, I gave the boys their cards and chocolate (Drew had also gotten a little knight set, so Noah got the horse and Jake got the knight — they play with everything together anyway). Then I gave Drew his present. He was pretty impressed that I actually wrapped it and put a bow on top! I am the gift bag queen, you see. A few months ago we had been talking about fondue and I thought that would be a good gift. (Hey, my guy likes cooking!) After researching various fondue pots I decided on the Rival electric model. I really wanted to stay away from anything that required Sterno, and the Cuisinart I was looking at was just a little too spendy for me. I also included three big chocolate bars. He really liked it!

But, he totally blew me away with my gift: a gorgeous bouquet of flower and a date night in NYC and tickets to “Rent!” Oh my goodness, I could not believe it. I was just blown away. I had mentioned to him that I really wanted to see it before it closes this spring. The sneaky guy took note. He arranged to have his mom babysit and everything so we can have a nice overnight in the city and then do something down there on Monday as well.

Nikon D40 But that’s not all. When I got home from work last night, this is what was waiting for me!!! After going back and forth and back and forth and reading reviews and visiting the camera area at Target (man, that guy must have thought I was weird, coming back every other day, LOL!) I had pretty much decided on buying the Nikon D40, but needed to save up a little more of my blogging money. Drew came across and amazing offer on Amazon (after reading a tip on SlickDeals), and purchased the whole shebang for me, making up the difference between what I had saved and the purchase price. I’m so lucky to have a husband that is supportive and encouraging of my hobbies! I have a lot to learn, but I’ve really enjoyed the time I had to shoot today. I am now even more anxious for spring — the ice and the lifeless trees outside aren’t all that inspiring, LOL!

We both were pretty tired so we just popped open a bottle of Rosa Regale and shared a cream cheese brownie. My parents have very generously offered to take the boys this weekend, so we’ll be enjoying dinner out tomorrow night. It’s such a treat when we get to go out by ourselves. It doesn’t happen a lot, so we always enjoy it.

Aside from that, we don’t have any exciting weekend plans. I did all my cleaning this afternoon so I can relax and play, guilt-free. I do hope to finish up my cloth for the dishcloth exchange and pick up some goodies for my partner. My parents are going to take the boys to their local children’s museum and science museum (which is having a dinosaur exhibit — my guys love dinos), so they will enjoy their mini vacation as well!

Yawn…

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Why is that when I’m up at the crack of dawn, I never see anything amusing like my husband does? All I find on the boob tube is Girls Gone Wild infomercials. I’ve also learned that while sure, Noggin is now on 24/7, at 4 AM they are showing their “B” material. Gullah Gullah Island tends to frighten Noah. He is really not into big puppets.

Anyway. Today is extra-long because school cancelled. At first it was just a two-hour delay, which thrilled me because that meant a leisurely morning, but then the cancellation was announced and it’s been non-stop bickering, screaming, and whining. And let’s not talk about the mess in the den. It really is so nasty outside, though. Everything is flooding and it’s just a gross, slushy mess. At least it’s not a blizzard like last year, I guess.

Sorry. Guess I’m just full of complaints today. On a more positive note, I got Drew a fun present for Valentine’s Day – I hope he likes it! It’s all wrapped up and ready to go. I also got the boys each a small Russell Stover heart with some chocolates inside. My dad used to always get one for me and my brother, so it’s now something that I plan on doing every Valentine’s for my little guys. What about you? Anything fun planned? I didn’t do anything really in the way of decorating, and I’ll be working all day tomorrow so I won’t be home to make a fun dinner. Hopefully next year!

Menu Plan Monday

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OK, we’re getting back into the swing of things after vacation! I’ve got a meal plan all laid out and we’ll see how well we stick to it this week. This past weekend was bad food-wise. We hit a couple fast food franchises after vacation, mostly because the house was very sparse as far as food goes. My body did not appreciate it, either! So here’s what we’re looking at for this week:

Sunday: Fish tacos for grown-ups, mini bagel pizzas for the kids
Monday: Chicken and wild rice soup (I made a big batch of it last week, so it’s really lasted for lunches and quick dinners)
Tuesday: Turkey tacos with all the fixin’s
Wednesday: Mac & Cheese, chicken fingers, broccoli
Thursday: Spaghetti with sausage, salad
Friday: Veggie pizza
Saturday: Date night! My parents have generously offered to take the boys for the long weekend, so Drew and I will probably go out. If not, I’ll plan on steak au poivre, iceberg salad, some kind of vegetable, and chocolate creme brulee for dessert.

For more menu plans head over to Organizing Junkie!

Vacation Wrap-Up

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Well, we had yet another amazing time at Woodloch Pines! We went there last year at this time (you can read about last year’s trip here). It’s an all-inclusive resort in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. For us, it’s a perfect trip because even though it’s only about two hours away, you really feel like you’re “getting away from it all.” A lot of it was very similar to what we did last year (in fact we laughed because even the menus were the same, LOL!), but that wasn’t a bad thing. We got there on Superbowl Sunday and originally thought we’d eat at the nightclub (where the Superbowl party was — they were having a dinner buffet), but opted for the dining room like we did last year. After that we headed on over to watch the game until the boys got tired and then we headed back to our suite.

Our suite was awesome, yet again. We stayed in the same building we were in last year, and even though we were in a different room it was set up exactly the same — deja vu! We opted for one of the bigger suites with a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and living room with a pull-out couch. Also, it was great to have free Wi-Fi! I admit that I did check my e-mail and peek in at Facebook once or twice while we were on vacation. (Drew brought his laptop just to keep tabs on what was going on at work, LOL…) 

There were tons of fun things to do: organized kids’ crafts (in addition to the craft room that is open all day), a toddler room with toys, a huge indoor playground, indoor pool, etc. etc. I attended the cooking class again and that was fun. They made apple-parsnip soup (which I didn’t like as much as I thought I would), penne with chicken in a pumpkin cream sauce (this was so delicious!), portabella and red pepper salad with ricotta salata (Drew loved it, I wasn’t crazy about it, but I am not a huge mushroom fan), and carrot cake cookies (oh goodness! I will be making these very soon). One night after dinner we went to one of the nightly shows to see a juggler (the boys were super excited about this), and Noah was SO fascinated. I swear, his eyes just lit up and he clapped as hard as his little hands could. He really enjoyed the performance until… the juggled called Drew up on stage to help with a stunt. (Drew had to hold a straw in his mouth and the juggler knocked it out with one of the pins). Now, it wasn’t so much that daddy was up on stage that upset Noah. Oh no… it was that Noah could not “come too.” LOL. From that point on, it was screaming and tears and we had to leave shortly after Drew got off stage.

This year’s theme night was a tribute to some of the shows they have put on over the last 50 years. They had several people dressed up as characters to correspond with various themes (for example, they had Shrek for “Oscar Night” and Elmo for last year’s “American Icons.”) We didn’t go to the show itself (the shows all started around 7:30 or 8:00, and the kids were just way too tired), but they do a wonderful dinner and the characters parade through the dining room, so you at least get a sneek peak.

The weather wasn’t very cooperative — it was warm and rainy, but we did get to go snow tubing on Monday. Better than nothing! I can’t say enough good things about Woodloch. I would certainly reccomend it! I am sure we will go back again at some point, but probably when the boys are a little older and we can see the shows and participate in more activities. Good family fun, though!

Has it been a week?

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Well, clearly I have a lot of catching up to do and I will certainly talk about our vacation in another post (when I have a little more time – trying to get back into the swing of things today; we just got back yesterday). But first I want to thank everyone who sent their thoughts and good wishes toward my Babci (my dad’s mother). As I had mentioned in my last post she was not doing well. Well, she passed away on Sunday morning. The service will be at the end of next month. From the way it sounds, it really was for the best – her condition was not improving. It’s very sad, but at least she is not suffering – she apparently was in a lot of pain. I have not really explained it to Jake yet (selfishly I did not want to be fielding questions through our whole vacation), but he’s been to funerals before and remembers when Drew’s grandmother died, so he’ll understand. But still, it will be hard. Again, though, thanks for the wishes. They were much appreciated.

What a day…

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february sky, 7 a.m. What a strange morning. I was waiting for the bus with Jake, as usual, when a car slowed down and the driver said, “School’s cancelled!” Of course, being me, I thought he was trying be funny or something. After all, it was a really beautiful morning! (Check out the way the sky looked around 7 AM!). I looked at him quizzically and he backed up and I saw he was in the car with his wife and a girl around 6 or 7. He explained that around 5, all the local schools started cancelling, on account of a storm.

I hadn’t heard anything about a storm, but we went inside and I checked the Web site of a local radio station and sure enough: school is cancelled! And sure enough, as I type this, sleet is piling up on our deck and our patio furniture. That’s a bummer because I had planned to run out this morning to buy a new camera. I dropped mine last night and it kind of sort of works, but the lens is fussy about retracting and extending and it won’t turn on and off correctly… so instead of sending it out to Canon again (it had already been repaired in the summer of 2006), I’m just going to move on. I have some extra money in my PayPal account, so the cost is covered. I wish I didn’t have to spend it right now, but… such is life. I am quite excited about my new camera though! I’ll let you know once I purchase it.

Also, it seems that my grandmother (my dad’s mother) isn’t doing very well right now. I think it was last week (possibly the week before) she was in the hospital and they discovered a blood clot in her brain. Things aren’t looking very good, so if you could hold good thoughts it would be appreciated.

What a Friday….