Imaginative play

KP and PJ like to pretend they are Diego (Dora’s cousin) and Alicia (Diego’s side kick). They run through the house rescuing all sorts of wild animals and helping them get back to their mommies and daddies.

Yesterday after a morning of saving baby chinchillas we hopped in the car to go to Nana’s house. From the drivers seat I overheard the following exchange.

PJ: Hey Diego.

KP: Yah Alicia?

PJ: I love you Diego.

KP: (in raspy voice) I wuv you too Alicia.

I swear…it’s easy and sooooo good

Just in case you feel like making yourself or someone else something indulgent for breakfast on Valentine’s Day, try this.

It is easy, delicious and pink.

Raspberry White Chocolate Scones & Raspberry Butter
By Ina Garten

Makes 12-16

4 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
2 tablespoons backing powder
2 teaspoons salt
¾ pound cold unsalted butter, diced
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cold heavy cream
¾ – 1 cup frozen raspberries
½ – ¾ bag of white chocolate chips
1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water or milk for egg wash

400 degree oven

In bowl with electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine 4 cups of flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder and salt. Blend in the cold butter at lowest speed and mix until butter is pea size. Combine the eggs and cream and quickly add them to the flour-butter mixture. Combine until just blended. Add frozen berries and chips, mix quickly (the more you mix the pinker your scones become). The dough is sticky.

Dump out dough onto a well-floured surface and be sure it is well combined. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll dough to ¾ inch thick. You may see lumps of butter in dough. I use a round 4 inch cookie cutter to cut scone and then place on parchment lined baking sheet.

Brush tops with egg wash. Sprinkle with sugar and bake for 20-25 minutes, until outsides are crisp and insides are fully baked.

Raspberry Butter

Makes 1 cup

¼ pound unsalted butter at room temp
½ cup good raspberry preserves
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

No fucking respect

Monday morning the kids and I were eating breakfast at the kitchen table. Down walks Adam…clean, fresh, handsomely dressed and ready to start the day.

CT: Dad, why do you always dress like that when you go to work?

Adam: I have to dress up for my job and look professional.

CT: (looking at me from across the table) I want to be a mom so I don’t have to go to work.

Still basking in the after glow of my weekend away

Last weekend four of my girls friends and I went up north. We left 11 kids and 5 husbands to fend for themselves for 48 hours.

Anne Marie came from Boston to hang with us Minnesota style. Ok, I don’t even know what that means, but I am so glad she made the trip.

Needless to say, we ate amazing food, drank plentiful amounts of wine, had masseuses come to the cabin, sat in silence with no one touching us or asking us to do anything, read trashy magazines and enjoyed each others friendship.

I could not have asked for anything more.

Thanks girls.

Know your co-worker’s names

The other night while I was working at the hospital, there were not a ton of 13-17 year old kids coming into the ER for me to talk with. That said I was loitering in the halls a bit.

An ambulance suddenly pulled up and wheeled a kid on a stretcher in. At first glance he looked to be in the age range so I started stalking him and waiting for a good time to make an entrance before the doctors and nurses had their way with him.

I watched as the EMT’s brought him in and then as he asked to go to the bathroom, which was in the hallway outside his room. Everyone cleared the hall and went back to work. I hung out at a small desk in the middle of the hallway directly across from his room, just waiting.

He walked out of the bathroom, locked his glazed-over eyes on me and walked closer. In a very weak voice he said, “I’m not feeling so well.” I met him in the middle of the hall and said, “Ok, let’s just get you back to your room.” He looked at me, white as a ghost and said, “I think I’m gonna…” then dropped like a ton of bricks into my arms.

At that moment, alone in the hall with a very large boy in my arms, I looked 50 feet down the hall to the nurse’s station, now bustling with people and I had no idea what any of their names were.

As I struggled not to drop him on the floor, I heard myself calling out, “Excuse me…excuse me…EXCUUUUUSSSSEE MEEEEEEEE!!!!!”

Then…all my new friends came running.

Quotable friend’s quotes of the day

Magoo (4 yrs): Boys have vaginas just like girls. God just decided to attach a penis to theirs.

Matty (3 yrs): Mom, your way is getting in the way of my way.

So true

The other day I was hanging out talking with some friends about being a stay at home mom. While we were kicking back eating bon-bons, eight kids were running circles around us as fast as they could, screaming and howling with delight at the chaos and only stopping if a fellow comrade fell or dropped a toy or accidentally took a wrong turn into the corner of the table with their temple.

During all of this, one of the moms said “when you are a stay at home parent…the days are endless but the years go by in a blink of an eye.”

Things I’ve been thinking

I wonder why when I see something yellow I always say red.

I wonder if I will always feel so excited after I finish washing the hard wood floors.

I wonder if when I am old and wrinkled I would die of a broken heart if Adam died before me.

Wondering why

I still haven’t gotten the straight dope from him yet. I ask “why” often. There seems to be a reason but it never comes out right or straight or we get interrupted…again. Then I forget about it for awhile. And then I am quickly reminded once again while standing at the back door. I just can’t figure it out.

Why on earth does my kid wear the same pair of socks for a solid week?

Happy Birthday to you…

Erika, Happy Birthday!

May this year be filled with all sorts of wonderful and fulfilling adventures.