juliloquy

Quick single-serving apple crisp (for breakfast)

Shmoo wanted apple crisp for breakfast. We had no apple crisp. So I came up with this recipe on the fly.

Quick Single-Serving Apple Crisp

1/4 apple, finely chopped (I used Honeycrisp)
1/2 c oatmeal (uncooked)
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 Tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon flour (I used whole wheat)
cinnamon to taste

(+ 1 Tablespoon) oatmeal (uncooked) at the end

Stir all ingredients together in a microwave-safe container. Lightly cover the container. Microwave 1 min, stir. Microwave 30 seconds more. It will not be very "crisp," so stir in about 1 Tablespoon additional uncooked oatmeal.

It would be good to throw in some walnuts for protein. Or top with some yogurt. Next time.

(My daughter chose bow tie pasta with pesto for her breakfast. Garlic breath for Kindergarten, yeah!)

motto

This framed art is hanging in my bathroom.

 

"I rejoice in life for its own sake."

 —George Bernard Shaw

 

"(to laugh often and much;

to win the respect of

intelligent people and the

affection of children; to

leave the world a better place;

to know even one life

has breathed easier

because you have lived.)"

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

It's a greeting card that my parents sent me a decade ago. I finally got around to finding a drab-but-size-appropriate frame for a buck-fiddy at Goodwill, masking-taped that bad boy, and then had my 8-year-old son paint the frame with shiny lime green nail polish.* Crafty!

*The color of the frame doesn't really come through in the photo. You'll have to visit my bathroom if you want to see it in all its glory.

innocence

We didn't tell the kids about the tragedy in Newtown, CT. We decided to see whether classmates would bring it up today, then ask them about it. (Background: Shmoo's class activity today involved bringing in a stuffed animal. Shmoo brought in Charlotte, the blue whale.) Here is our dinnertime conversation:

Me: Did you hear anything from classmates today that you'd like to talk about?

Shmoo: Yes! We weren't supposed to touch each other's stuffed animals, but [classmate] kept touching Charlotte! I told him not to, but he kept doing it. [And then Shmoo went into a lengthy description of the classroom's grievance procedures.]

We are so lucky.

Charlotte.

shark pants through the ages

Shmoo has always been a solid kiddo. When he was a toddler, I would buy clothes a size or two too large. He would grow out, then up, cyclically.

When he was two, I bought him shark swim trunks. Here he is at age 2.5, summer 2007 (Outer Banks, NC).

June 2008 on the Chesapeake, age 3.5 (think he will float?):

Two photos from July, 2009, in Ely, MN (age 4.5):

At a kindergarten friend's birthday party, December, 2010, age 6:

Spring break, April 2011, Rochester, MN, age 6:

And a few days ago, again on the Chesapeake (age 7.5):

Will we get yet another year out of the shark pants? Shmoo says there's still room. They are size 3T, by the way. And Shmoo is a solid 60-pounder.

my dinner with Shmooie

Several weeks ago, Shmooie surprised me by saying "sometime I'd like to go somewhere, just you and me. Maybe to grab a bite to eat or something." (He has already mastered the art of romantic-yet-casual date-asking! Ready for college!) We finally got around to our night out last week. When I asked him where he'd like to go, he said, "there's this store? Where you can get food and eat it there or take it home? I think we've only been there once, but there's one near Grandpop and Bubbe's house." I figured out what he was talking about -- a new-to-Frederick regional upscale grocery store. We went there right after school.

  be still my heart

We had a perfectly upper middle class suburban evening.

Guess whose box is whose?
(Hint: the only green thing Shmooie consumed was the "mint chip" milk.)

Shmoo discovered a kids' seating area within which the Disney channel was playing, so it was kind of like dinner theatre. I was glad I always pack something to do in my purse.

22 across: MINOT! I believe this is the first time I've ever seen my hometown as a crossword clue.

After we ate, Shmoo helped with the grocery shopping.

And learned how the sticker-printing scales work while getting some special treats.

 

HPR and Roo had their own fun time at home, baking a double batch of cookies and Roo getting a bath all by herself. So a nice time all around!

I have a draft post about Shmoo's 7th birthday, but in the likelihood that it will never get published, here is a photo of the first annual punkin' chunkin event that was part of the early November festivities.

Put a post up on your dumb blog already

Heya. School has started! Shmoo began first grade on August 29th.

His best friend and one other student from last year's class are with him. I got a really cute picture of the three of them, but I don't want to post it w/o the other mom's permission. But here is when Shmoo and Alicia found each other on the first day.

 

Roo began preschool on August 31. She has Shmoo's teacher from last year (mixed-age 3s, 4s, and kindergarten). Whereas Shmoo still goes through 4-5 cycles of kiss/hug/"I love you"s, Roo heads into her classroom with nary a backward glance.

Also in the photo above is our new-to-us car, Steffi. This is what happened to poor Bucky the Saturn this past summer.

Bucky's the one in the front. The four of us were OK (as was the driver of the other car, except for a badly sprained ankle) and we kept a memento of Bucky (photo comes in landscape for some mysterious Typepad reason).

We did a lot of fun stuff over the summer. I'll leave with a cute kid photo from Shenandoah.

Goldilocks

I was looking through the library shelves lately, saw this, and had to check it out.

Ruth Sanderson, how did you channel my daughter's image? If Goldie's eyes were olive-green-brown rather than the blue you see here, she would be complete match of da Roo. The book is a cute retelling of the classic story, ending with [spoiler alert!] the three bears and Goldilocks making blueberry muffins together (after G remakes the beds and fixes Baby Bear's chair).

I see that I have also been remiss in parent-bragging. Shmoo's artwork was selected for display in a county-wide student art show at the Delaplaine Arts Education Center. He was one of 6 students chosen from his (K-8) school. Photos are on flickr here. Needless to say, we're very proud.

first date

Alicia, Shmoo's best friend, turned six yesterday. That morning, her mom contacted me, asking whether they could pick both kids up from Kindergarten and take Shmoo out to eat with them to celebrate Alicia's birthday. After running it by HPR, I agreed.* We both predicted (correctly) that Shmoo wouldn't like the surprise switch in plans, but that he would be fine.

Alicia's mom livestreamed the date! I posted one photo on facebook, but thought I'd put the other here.

Alicia's mom said Alicia wants to go to the same college as Shmoo. The subtext is that she heard people often meet their spouse at college. She's a planner!

And here is Shmoo's picture of his friend. Too bad her name isn't spelled phonetically.

*It was actually quite convenient, because I'm still sick and the two-mile round trip to school by bike/foot is a bit much for me at the moment. But I went to the doctor today and she gave me an antibiotic scrip to fight what apparently is bronchitis.

age progression

Shmoo receved his Kindergarten school photos! The older photo is from when he's about 2½.

Shmoo's happiest place on Earth

As we did last year on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, here is where we spent the day.

We learned from our mistakes. This year, we were properly blood-sugared. It was awesome.