The Elephant is Sorry. The First of Many Stories

We were so blessed to get to go to the zoo again today!  For those of you who have been following the blog, you might be thinking, wow-these people go to the zoo a lot!  But we're fortunate that this year has been unusual, and that we've gotten to enjoy the beautiful zoo more than normal...maybe this is our new normal, I could live with that. :)

It's great because every time we visit Jett warms up a little more.  The zoo can be an overwhelming place for a little guy, with lots of people, new noises, and let's face it, it's really, really big!  So the first couple of times, while he's been very observant and seemed to enjoy it, he's been pretty clingy.  He was at first today too, and then he started to warm up.  First after the Butterfly Pavilion, and then after our very first carousel ride.  One of my favorite moments of the day, possibly the week, and even the month was what followed after.  He was walking down the hill with my dad to "go see the elephants" and all of a sudden we start hearing quite the story.

"He says that the elephant bites, but he's sorry," said my dad.  What?  Jett, does the elephant bite?

"Elephant BITES.  He's sorry!"

Jett, where did the elephant bite? (Points to his hand.)

"HURTS!  He's sorry!  Elephant bites."

"It's okay Jett, the elephant doesn't have any teeth," said Grandma Holly.

"He DOES! It's okay, he's sorry.  Elephant bites.  He's sorry!"
(Nice try Grandma, but we know about elephants.)

Jett, where is the elephant? (Points over Grandma's shoulder up the hill.)

"He BITES. It's okay, he's sorry!"

Should we go see the Elephant and tell him bye, bye?

"Yeah"

(To Mr. Zookeeper wannabee with the broom.) Where are the elephants?

"We don't have elephants any more.  The rhinoceros are where they were," said Mr. Zookeeper.

"Elephant BITES!  Bye, bye elephant!"

Well I guess the elephants got what they deserved, even if they were sorry...

The first of many stories to come...I can't wait!

*You've just received the abbreviated version. The real thing was repeated over and over again, and lasted a good 40 minutes.

Not so secret subliminal message, "Football hurts!"

Since before he was born Jett was talked to, prayed for, and read to.  Immediately he was cared for, loved, read to more, talked to more, and sung to in Spanish (even if it was just food related words I could remember from high school.)  I've tried to provide him good nutrition (aside from the Handy Snack incident), his grandma practices good manners with him, we count constantly, talk about colors, letters, and describe nearly every experience possible. 

Along with all of these positive lessons and messages, I've also said something else over and over.  No, he will not play football.  I was reminded of this again last night as I ran past the junior (very junior) football kids practicing in full pads.  Nope, not my baby.

So, I've started to send my own not so secret subliminal message whenever we see a football game on TV or kids in the field.  "Ooh, OUCH!  Football HURTS!" This summer when we saw the cross country teams running, I'd say, "Oh, look at all those fast kids.  Jett, you will be fast like that and run someday."  Now that boys tennis has begun, we purposefully take a different route to the park on Saturday mornings in hopes that we'll see all the "cool, smart boys" playing tennis at the courts.  I've even started planting these seeds with my husband, trying to convince him that cross country or tennis would be much better fall sport choices in preparation for basketball season.

 

So, this weekend when you are watching the local high school teams or cheering on the Huskers, please say a prayer for me, because I'm sure I've committed a cardinal Cornhusker sin, and another prayer for my baby, because I know it's going to take a decade of prayers and divine intervention for my little quarterback to actually believe that "Football HURTS!"

A Fire Alarm, Sticky Floor, Pinterest Kind of Night

"The most expensive ingredient in your house is the one you are throwing away." - Melissa d'Arabian

Pinterest is for those random few minutes in between, and last week I had more of those than usual.  I went a little crazy, pinning everything in sight. It can be a little more than just a little addicting you know.  I took advantage of the in between time and pinned several new recipes that I actually wanted to try.  A different approach than pinning recipes that just look good.

Today with a full week ahead of us I thought it would be a good time to try out a new crock pot recipe, and boy was it a good one.  For those of you who have been following along since Use-it-Up February, this recipe is the perfect solution for using up some odd-ball ingredients. 

This is my version of Spicy Crockpot Chicken.
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salsa - whatever amount you have available, up to about a jar
1/2 bag of frozen corn
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. dried onion
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
3 mini bell peppers or one big bell pepper roughly chopped
1/2 cup water

This is the perfect recipe for me because there is no way to mess it up.  I always have half eaten containers of salsa in my fridge and this is a great way to use-it-up.  Put the chicken in the crock pot and the other ingredients right over top in the order listed.  Set crock pot for 6 hours on high.  Shred chicken about 30 minutes before serving and let it soak in all the juices.  Serve on multi grain tortillas.

(On a side note, if you haven't tried Mission's new artisan brand, you are missing out.  I love the flax and blue corn.)

Inspired by the success of the chicken, I decided to try another pinned recipe that "looked good," roasted chick peas.  They were as bad as they sound and for some reason the fire alarm thought I had started the house on fire.  I didn't notice any smoke, but that's what you get for putting in new batteries and roasting tiny beans in the oven on high heat.

After all of that, I was craving something sweet and thought it would be fun to make vanilla shakes.  Sure, that sounds like a nice idea, except that I "forgot" that my blender doesn't work.  Just because you haven't used your blender since 2008 doesn't mean it's still not working...maybe if you just gave it another try.  It's only ice cream and milk, how bad could it go? 

Darn subconscious.  If a blender is broken in 2008 and no one fixes it, it still will not work.  It made an awful sound, sputtered and splurted, and I ended up mushing together something that resembled a shake with my spoon.  Somewhere between waving a dish towel around the hallway and talking myself into the blender situation, I momentarily lost my mind and handed the baby a cup full of shake and a spoon.  He's pretty good at both, but the consistency was really bad.  Pretty soon the shake was all over his face, hands, arm and legs.  And all over the floor.  Kevin laughed at me and suggested that maybe making a shake wasn't such a good idea.

Having it all doesn't mean having it all together.  If the rest of the week goes this well, I think we'll be doing pretty good! :)

Greek Parties, All Nighters, and Co-Ed Roommates

Reflecting on my undergraduate experience, I feel as though I didn't fully take advantage of being a college student.  I never attended a greek party, had very few all nighters, and lived roommate free the last two years.  But that all changes on Monday. 

I plan to start my graduate program off right with lots of greek (yogurt) parties with Jett, frequent all nighters (he still wakes up at 1:30 a.m., so I might as well too), and this time around I get to be one of those slightly edgy, modern students who have co-ed roommates, not just one but two!

Friday morning I reported to orientation for graduate school.  In true University System fashion, I was greeted on campus by a full 25 minute tour of parking lots on "official move-in day."  Successfully finding one near the building I checked my email from the program coordinator no less than four times to make sure that she had verified that no parking passes were needed.  (A veteran around University parking, and a holder of let's just say more than one parking ticket in my day, I was a little sceptic that it could be that easy.)

Walking on to campus the sounds of the drum line and cool fresh morning air made me feel just a little nostalgic for my previous beginning days at UNL.  Entering into the bookstore I felt old, like super old, like almost 30 old.  They were out of all used copies of my texts and one of my research methods books was not in stock yet, so my first round of bills (not counting the one I purchased from Amazon) totalled $121.96.  I had forgotten about that fun part of the collegiate experience.

The orientation was beyond interesting, as we learned about the prestige of the program (top rated program in the University System and top 10 MPA program in the country), and met the other fascinating students in the online program, hailing across the U.S. from Alaska to South Carolina. 

The department chair and our professors gave a brief presentation about the course work and emphasized and re-emphasized how difficult the program would be.  Fortunately I know and really like one of the professors having worked with her on a project for the Foundation.  The other professor, well, he teaches research methods and statistics and obviously loves his line of work, which already makes us incompatible.  Picture your stereotypical professor and then subtract 15 years, then add a deep love of statistics and a slightly devious will to be the hardest professor in the program.  As we walked through the lunch line as a group (signal flashbacks from Red Letter Days) I commented to him that I thought his class looked interesting.  He gave a half smile and said, "Well, I guess that's one way to put it."  He then proceeded to ask me where I was from and why I was in the online program if I was just from Fremont.  I shared that I worked full time, had a toddler and a very busy husband, and that the online program provided the flexibility I needed.  Not kidding you, he looked at me, rolled his eyes and said, "Uh huh, I guess we'll see..."

Bring it on, Mr. Statistics.  Bring it on. 

(Just for spite this morning I listened to his introductory notes while cleaning the kitchen and doing free weights.  I'm confident he wouldn't have approved.)

Here we go again...my roommate is already up and partying this morning.

A Pea in the Pod - The Store! (This is not a social media announcement!)

Wanting to buy a new wardrobe full of stretchy, Lycra based, expandable clothing is not a good reason to have another baby.

And yet I found my thoughts wandering in that direction as I shopped with a good friend of mine at A Pea in the Pod recently.  Some women get "the itch" while they are packing away all those super cute newborn footie pajamas, but I packed away the dreadful breast pump at the same time.  But shopping for cute, fashionable clothing, well that's another story...

You see, I wasn't so hip on maternity clothes early in my pregnancy with Jett, with one very important, completely fabulous exception...my first ever pair of truly designer jeans.  I ordered my first pair of Citizens of Humanity jeans when I was expecting Jett, rationalizing that if I was going to get chubby and feel exhausted and cranky, I might as well look good doing it.  It was my investment piece, and after that I limited myself to slightly larger clothes that I could wear post-pregnancy, some hand-me-down pieces from my aunts, the clearance rack at Gordmans, and a couple of cute work pieces from Target and the Gap.  Other than my on-time excursion on A Pea in the Pod online, I didn't fully take advantage of the situation. 

Looking at all of the fabulous clothes in the store, I even wondered if one particular black lace dress could pass for pea-free wearing mamas (different than pee-free for those of you who have boys.)  The twenty year old sales associate admitted to buying a few pieces herself and I could see why.  Really good maternity designers are brilliant people.  They have to take the season's fashion trends and transform them into smart pieces that can be worn for nine months+ of a transitioning woman's body and still look as good at the end, as the beginning.  They have to be cautious of pattern placement, sleeve length, and fit.  Not to mention the genius that must go in to designing maternity jeans; making sure that pocket placement and overall fit will not be compromised due to the large tummy panel in place of a traditional waist band.  But, when done correctly these jeans will cause one to wonder why all pants don't have an expandable, smoothing, panel of wonder (very helpful at Thanksgiving!)

So as I looked on with envy as my adorable friend tried on countless fierce fashion items, I sent my husband a text that said, "Such cute clothes, I'm getting the itch!"  He didn't reply, but later handed me the credit card and said he thought it was time for me to go shopping at JCrew.  That's one way to cure that problem!  That, and when I returned home that day I promptly went down in the basement, pulled out my favorite jeans ever, and plopped the Medela box on top.

Sneaky Saturday Smoothie

How do you get an independent toddler to eat his veggies?  I believe this is a question that every mother across the planet has asked at some point.  Our sweet babies who were once interested in any food because it was new and exciting soon gain their own opinion.  This extends beyond veggies to nearly everything under the sun.  Should we play outside?  No.  Do you want to color?  No.  It's time for a bath.  No.  You need to eat your green beans. No, no, no.

In addition to "turning two" a good three months early, Jett has also been on a very picky food jag.  It's nearly impossible to guess what he will eat, and he's just on the tipping point of being able to communicate what he wants.  I felt myself starting to get upset over lunch yesterday when he refused to eat anything accept sweet potato chips, but instead of allowing myself to get frustrated, I got creative. 

One thing Jett has always been very interested in are smoothies.  When he sees the blender or food processor come out he gets very excited.  Straws are also a really big novelty right now.  So with that in mind I broke out the food processor and made a very sneaky smoothie that included a huge helping of fresh spinach, frozen raspberries and a banana.  Here is the recipe (kind of, I didn't measure so within reason just eyeball it.)

1/2 cup ice
1 cup orange juice
1 1/2 cup fresh spinach
1 banana
3 oz low-fat vanilla yogurt
3/4 cup raspberries (frozen or fresh)

Blend ice and orange juice until frothy.  Add spinach and puree.  Add banana and yogurt for a smooth texture and additional nutrition. (Jett wouldn't eat the banana I cut up for him so I just threw it in.)  Finally blend in 3/4 cup raspberries.  The more raspberries you add the better the color will be.

This sneaky smoothie was a huge hit, not only with kiddo but with mommy as well.  I gave Jett a huge bowl full with a spoon at lunch, and he finished off the rest in a cup with a straw at snack.  Spinach is incredibly nutritious, and I really like it, but many people don't because of its dark earthy, slightly bitter flavor.  However, when added with citrus it brightens and in this smoothie was impossible to distinguish from the other great flavors. 

I can't say that I blame Jett for not being in the mood for veggies.  Sometimes I'm not really in the mood for veggies, but I think I'm on to something here...

Do you have a smoothie recipe that you love?  Please post back and share!

It's Dinner Time...Come to the Table

First of all I'm sharing a huge "Praise God" moment as I sit down at my computer to write with the window wide open.  The cool fresh air is such a treat, and I am incredibly thankful that maybe, just maybe, someday soon it will be fall.

I recently read an article in Parenting magazine that started by saying, "What if we told you there was a magic bullet for all of these childhood issues?" and then went on to list a host of really important things like eating more fruits and vegetables, loving to read, preventing eating disorders, lowering the risk of depression, etc.  The answer was so incredibly simple, it caused me to wonder what kind of society we are in that we need to remind ourselves about this...family meals together.  That was it. 

The article, written by Dr. Alan Greene recommended seven family meals together a week.  Any meal, not in front of the screen, and start as soon as possible.  "Even without extra effort or conscious thought, family meals are associated with better nutrition, better weight, better health, better behavior, better school performance, and happier children," said Greene. 

Family meals is something that has been important to me in raising a family, to me it's second nature, and I never before stopped to reflect on how fortunate I was to grow up in a household where this was a closely held value.  Setting the table and helping mom in the kitchen.  Eating together as a family.  Saying a simple prayer.  Listening to one another's days.  Without question family meals are one of my favorite daily memories of growing up, and I think instilled a lot of roots within me that I didn't realize at the time. 

At the white Formica table with the mint green chairs I learned responsibility and how to pitch in by setting the table.  I learned to count peas and bargain with years of life, days of the week and months in the year so that I only had to eat the required amount of the smooshy green things.  I learned that mom meant business when she dumped my sister's plate and sent her to her room for being rude about the meal. (It only happened once. The message was pretty clear.)  I learned the importance of prayer as a family.  I learned how to listen and gained a love for conversation.  Reflecting back on those hundreds of meals, I also realize that is exactly where my love for business and being a professional comes from.  I loved listening about my dad's work experiences and daydreaming about someday being like him.  In the mornings I practiced memory work and learned how to manage time, microwave oatmeal just right (cookie dough consistency), and that it's not good manners to brush your teeth while walking all over the house, a problem I still have today.  We celebrated birthday breakfasts around that table, good grades, anniversaries, and the most amazing snow days on the planet.

Family meals with a hectic life, full schedules, and a toddler can be a challenge, but for me it's a priority.  At our cream colored Formica counter top we eat together at least once a day.  Jett has been a part of this routine since day one.  He and I also get the benefit of nearly every morning breakfast together with my mom around the table.  How do I know he's learning valuable lessons, even when he's still throwing Cherrios?  It's when he simply folds his little hands and reminds us to pray before every single meal. 

Yes, I would agree with Dr. Greene, family meals are very important.