Happy 30th... to me :)

I turned 30!  And I'm still alive.  I'm only mildly surprised.  I realize I've just alienated all of you who are over 30... except perhaps you remember feeling the same way.  After all, when you turn 20, you have 21 to look forward to.  When you turn 30 you have... umm, well you see my point.

To celebrate, I ran my first half marathon on the last day of my twenties, something I'd been training for for four months.  (Read about my journey on my other blog, www.iamrunningthis.com)

My husband then surprised me with a birthday party where he rented a bouncy house and invited all of Will's playgroup friends and some of our favorite neighbors over for a wonderful afternoon of fun, complete with Qdoba catering so none of us had to cook or clean up from dinner.  The toddlers ate like champions, the weather was perfect, my parents were in town and helped with everything, it was a wonderful time!

If you're looking for the perfect gift to give anyone who is having a big birthday, my mother spent hours and hours putting together an amazing photo book of my last thirty years.  Since I grew up before the world of digital cameras for the most part, she had to recruit my Dad's help in transferring images from slides and prints, as well as choosing from hundreds of images and organizing them to tell my story.

It was such a heart-warming, powerful, and beautiful gift.  Many of these photos, since they were in slide format, I haven't seen in years.  Even the recent ones were often from their cameras rather than ours, and it was fun to see memories I shared but different photos than the ones we have.

My friends at the party enjoyed laughing with me over photos of my teenage years, and smiling at what a happy childhood I had, which is very obvious from those early pages.

It almost... almost, makes it easier to leave my twenties behind ;)

Yeah... We hired a babysitter on a weekend

This was such a revolutionary idea the first time we did it, but there's a lot to be said for hiring a babysitter on the weekend!

We had lots of family time, friends over yesterday, a long morning at the playground today, car washing and a snack this afternoon... And then 3-6 with a babysitter so Greg and I could have a break and get stuff done.

I wrote a post for my running blog and tackled a closet that was driving me crazy, he went for a swim and is trying out running shoes.

(Wow, they didn't even use it as bonding time... Yikes!)

I know.  We're rebels.  We love it.

And in fifteen minutes, we'll have a nice meal together as a family and then bath and stories.  What a great day :)

Teaching toddlers to empty the dishwasher

I've been trying to embrace Montessori principles in our house, helping the boys learn to do things for themselves when I can.

This morning, I discovered that they were both very eager to help me empty the dishwasher! Will, almost 3, has helped me in the past.  But this was the first time they both helped together.

Will emptied the glasses one by one, carefully setting them on the counter under the cabinet they go in.

Andrew took utensils out one by one and chucked them into the silverware drawer.  

Yes, I had to rearrange the silverware and put the glasses from the counter into the cabinet... But for the whole time I emptied dishes, it was quiet, they were happy, and each felt like they contributed something.  And you know what?  They did.

I didn't think an 18 month old could help... Makes me wonder what else they can do that would please them and help me!

Sort napkins from clean laundry?

Andrew set the table along with Will?

Teaching them to be part of the household helps all of us!

Teething strategy - napkin!

Pineapple Kale Smoothies - I Love It When I'm Wrong

I read A LOT of parenting books.  A lot.  Probably too many.  Anyway, my recent favorite is Positive Discipline for Preschoolers.  It came recommended by Will's preschool for next year, and it's amazing.  It's built on the premise that parents need to be kind but firm with their children, and that many of us go back and forth between being kind without enough firmness (letting our kids walk all over us) or being too firm without enough kindness (erring on the side of strictness).  

This book is one of the first books I've read that's given me confidence in every parenting situation.  By just repeating the "kind but firm" mantra in my head, I am better able to decide how to respond to each situation.  Before, I felt like I read so many parenting books that I was unable to decide in a given moment how to apply the advice, or what the author of the book would tell me to do.

The book had a lot of chapters that summarized concisely the advice on a given topic that I'd read whole books on, and wouldn't have needed to, if I'd just read this book first.

I would recommend this book to any parent, grandparent, or teacher of small children.

But I digress.  This is about pineapple kale smoothies.

looks disgusting, right?  that's because it's HALF KALE.

The chapter in the book about preschoolers and eating mentions that kids are much more likely to try new foods that they've had a hand in preparing themselves.  (I've read this a lot of places, and I know it to be true, but it can be hard to let Will assist in food preparation when Andrew inevitably wants to help, too, and they end up pushing each other on the stool and fighting over kitchen spoons.)

One of the anecdotes in the book is about a preschool teacher that had kids make pineapple kale smoothies.  The ones involved in the preparation tried them, said they were great, and went back for more.  The kids in the class next door who hadn't been involved wouldn't touch the stuff.

Hah, cute story, I thought.  There's NO WAY that Will would drink a pineapple kale smoothie, even if I let him make the entire thing himself.  That's the most stereotypical, new age healthy mom, trying way too hard, why don't we eat chia seeds, oh my goodness bread is bad for you, kind of drink you could make.

So I decided to try it.  I googled "pineapple kale smoothie" and got about 3,700 recipe results.  (No seriously, this sounds disgusting, but it's totally a thing.  There are A LOT of recipes online for this.)

I took the number of recipes to mean I could do whatever I wanted, so we dumped a can of pineapple juice in the blender with some ice and kale and Will zinged the @#*$) out of it.

And then he drank it.  All of it.

Wow.  I love it when I'm wrong.

The moment I thought for sure I was right!

Huh.  Really?  Seriously?  Ok.
(They actually aren't that bad, pineapple has A LOT of sugar in it.)

Mimi & Grampa's Solar Power Heated Kiddie Pool

My parents have a warm water pool on their deck.

I can't make this up.  My parents got a kiddie pool on their deck for when the boys visit, and it's got heated water in it that keeps them submerging and splashing and swimming all afternoon!  They recently installed solar panels on their roof, which means that during the day when it's sunny they get tons of hot water at no additional heating cost.  So my Dad, being the inventive genius that he is, hooked up a hot water line to his hose.  Now he can flip a switch and put hot water through the outdoor hose to wash his cars or fill the kiddie pool for his grandchildren.  All on solar power.  They had the water warm enough for the boys that they were tossing in ice cubes and letting the kids play with them because the temperature was like bath water.  INSANE.

How cool (warm?) is that!

The only problem for me is that I'm going to have to bring out tea kettles of hot water to mix into my kiddie pool on the deck or the kids won't want to use it!

They had such a great time in it, it's no wonder Will woke up this morning and wanted to go back to Maine.  We got home yesterday.  It's a long car ride.  He says he'd still like to go back.  Now.  (I kind of would too.)

removable chalkboards for menu planning

I'm still in love with those removable chalkboards!  They're called wallies and you can find them on amazon.  I've got two on my fridge now that I'm using for meal planning, and it's been working great.

I used to get overwhelmed trying to meal plan for an entire week at a time, so now I meal plan and grocery shop for three or four dinners at a time, and that's it.  I don't plan specific lunches, instead, I pick up some lunch and snack options and keep an updated inventory of what's available using the chalkboard.

I've found myself feeling calmer because I'm planning three meals at a time, which is manageable to shop for in one grocery trip with two toddlers.  I don't waste as much food because I'm shopping with purpose, and because I'm keeping track of my lunch and snack options so I remember without opening the fridge door that I've got blueberries in there.

I don't even make a grocery list all the time - I just snap a photo of the meal plan and reference it when I'm at the store.  I then e-mail the meal plan to Greg so he doesn't go out for a burrito on his lunch break when I'm making enchiladas for dinner.

I've even started a folder on my computer for meal plan photos that I can reference later when I need some inspiration for dinners.

Yay, chalkboards!