The Barefoot Kitchen Witch

New Neighbors...and Pictures of My Kids

I was getting dinner ready last night and Bill was outside when the new neighbors started to move into their house.

Bill called to me from outside, quietly, so as not to be rude.

And behind our house, we could see the Mister surveying the neighborhood from his front window.

A bit later, the Missus came back from curtain-shopping...

Alex, in particular, was very excited about this.  I think I wrote about getting these birdhouses a month or so ago (Julia's is the smaller abode to the left).  To be honest, I thought it was too late in the season; that all the birds had already built their nests and were waiting for their offspring to hatch.

But I was wrong.  So hopefully in the near future we will get to see little baby sparrows poke their heads out that front door/window and learn to fly across our back yard.

~~~~~

While I sat outside snapping distant pictures of birds, Alex looked for bugs and worms and things,

and Julia flung dirt with a shovel for no particular reason other than she is Julia.

 

And while I'm at it, here are more pictures of my kids from last evening.  Just because.

You can just tell where the picture above is going...and you're right.

Below, Alex is telling me the difference between butterfly antennae and moth antennae...

 

 

And here are some of Julia...being Julia.

She's nearly four.  My baby girl.  And nearly ready to rule the world.  She just needs to fix the tag on her shirt, and I think she'll be all set.

Treasure

Yesterday, completely on a whim, I decided to bring the kids to the beach.  Alex is in the middle of a 4-week study of the oceans and sea creatures of all kinds, so I figured this would be especially cool for him.  It was a gorgeous day, too.  And the best part was, I didn't tell the kids where we were going.  Just bundled them up, gave them rubber gardening gloves to wear in case it was cold (and because we'd be collecting sandy, wet treasures along the shoreline) and off we went. 

We went to Oakland Beach, in Warwick, because it was close by.  We drove past the little house that Bill and I rented for a few years way back when, and we got chowder and clamcakes and lemonade at Iggy's.

We filled my deep coat pocket with all sorts of shells and rocks and crab claws, and I took a bunch of pictures.  The kids chased seagulls...we climbed on rocks...we saw 4 dead jellyfish...and we were out in the fresh air for a couple of hours. 

The kids see our collection of shells as their bounty, but I look through the pictures and see our time spent together as the real treasure.  I've included a few shots in this post, but if you want to see the rest of them, you can go here.

 

(and I didn't put that little starburst highlight on the shell - it just came out that way.)

and lastly - a bit of dabbling with artistic effects...we saw a pair of swans on the way home...here's one shot:

and here's what happened after I played with it a bit:

Fun stuff, huh?

Anyway, like I said, if you want to see all of them, you can go to my Oakland Beach set on flickr.

Good thing we went yesterday...it's pouring rain today.

Knock, Knock. Who's There? Julia's Face.

Here she is, and see how nicely she's healing?  Thank goodness it was all surface scratches and  nothing worse.

I also like that look on her face. 

She has many looks, as those of you reading this blog may have noticed over the past few years. 

Yesterday I brought her to the doctor's to make sure she didn't have strep.  She didn't really have symptoms, but since Alex had it, I just wanted to know for sure, one way or the other.

I had to bring Alex, too, because Bill was at work, and my biggest fear was that he would tell Julia what was coming.  The strep test.  Throat culture.  Spanish Inquisition.  You know.

But, amazingly, he didn't. 

The three of us sat in the waiting room with another mom and her little girl.  The girl was somewhere between one and two, very cute with dark blond hair parted on the side and swept into a little braid on one side. 

She was a little leery of Alex and Julia, both bigger kids who were playing with the toys like they owned the place.  (It's so funny to think of Julia as a "bigger kid.") 

The waiting room is this little rectangular room with chairs that line one wall beneath the windows, and two chairs on the opposite wall, right next to the large window into the receptionist's area.  A couple of other chairs are at the other two walls, and there is a low table with 4 kid chairs and some toys in the middle.

I was sitting in one of the chairs near the receptionist's window.  Alex and Julia were playing, and the other mother and her little girl were over to my right.

At one point Julia came over to me and leaned on my knee.  She gazed toward the receptionist, a hopeful expression on her face, and asked, "Mom, is it okay if I ask her if I can have some of what she's eating?"

The other mom burst out laughing. 

I told Julia no, and she accepted this like she knew the answer all the time but figured it couldn't hurt to ask.

When it was our turn to go into the exam room, of course the nurse took one look at Julia's face and asked about that, so I told her and Julia told her version of it and Alex chimed in a bit of detail as well.  Then I told her we weren't there about the face, and I explained the whole strep thing. 

Let me just say right now - the nurses, like the doctors, at this place rock.  They just do.  I love them.  They are kind and THEY KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING.  I had anticipated all sorts of struggles with Julia once she realized the strep test would involve sticking things into her throat.  I figured, knowing Julia, it would be worse than dealing with Alex the day before.  So I was poised and ready.

The nurse got the little swab kit out and told Julia "I'm just going to tickle your throat" as she peeled apart the plastic wrapping and took out the evil tongue depressor and the giant double Q-tip.  She had Julia sit on my lap, and I wrapped my arms around Julia and held her hands, ready for the writhing.  The nurse moved in quickly, asked Julia to stick her tongue out (on went the tongue depressor) and to say "Ah," and basically as Julia opened her mouth, the nurse stuck the Q-tips in and even though Julia flinched and tried to turn her head, the nurse moved right with her and kept the swab in there until she hit pay dirt and pulled them back out.

It was over in seconds.  Julia sat there not quite knowing what just happened, not liking it, but not saying much either, because it was over and what was there to say?  She swallowed several times and looked unhappy, maybe she whimpered once, but that was IT.  The nurse left to run the test, and I sat there marveling at how nicely it all went.   

While we waited for Julia's strep test result, my kids decided to tell knock knock jokes.  And I wrote them down.  Yes.  I have a little notebook for scribbling stuff like pictures I want to shoot and, yes, stuff my kids say.  I can't remember everything, you know.

So here they are.  My kids made these jokes up right there, on the spot.  Geniuses, they are.  Geniuses.

Knock Knock Joke #1

Alex:  Knock knock.

Julia:  Who's there?

Alex:  Light!

Julia:  Light who?

Alex:  Light, can ya go to the doctor and let me through?

Knock Knock Joke #2

Julia:  Knock knock.

Alex:  Who's there?

Julia:  Telephone.

Alex:  Telephone who?

Julia:  Telephone's gonna...go to the doctor and let open our tongue and be sick.

Knock Knock Joke #3

Alex:  Knock knock.

Julia:  Who's there?

Alex:  Knock knock.

Julia:  Who's THERE?

Alex:  NO - it's "knock knock!"

Me:  You mean Julia needs to say "Knock knock who"?

Alex:  Yeah.

Me:  Julia, say "knock knock who."

Julia:  Who's there?

Me:  Never mind.  I'll say it.  Knock knock who?

Julia:  No, I want to say it!

Me:  Then say it.

Julia:  Knock knock WHO.

Alex:  Knock knock we're sick, we need your help with something, too.

~~~~~

I love when little kids make up their own jokes.  I seem to remember my niece doing that for a while at some point, years ago. 

Anyway, the test was negative, and I was hugely relieved.  So today - both kids are at school/daycare - and I have time to myself!  The house is quiet!  No one wants juice!  No one is screaming because the other one "took that (insert toy name here) and I wanted to play with it"/"won't be quiet"/"won't share"/"won't play with me"/"wants me to play with her but I don't want to"/"said I was stinky" and so on.

Okay, well, that's it for now.  I can't think of a graceful exit line.  Have a good day!

Play Date - Times Two

Yesterday I barely looked at a computer or a camera.  Instead, I spent my day hitting the grocery store early and coming home and cooking for the menfolk.  And the kidfolk, too. 

Yesterday was a Brew Day at our house.  My husband, in case you aren't aware, brews beer as a hobby, and he's pretty damn good.  He and his friend John have been doing this for years.  They hadn't been at it more than a year or so when I came into the picture, so I've observed and experienced many of the ups and downs as they have fine tuned their process.

Currently most of the brewing equipment is kept at our house, so this is where Brew Day takes place.  Yesterday they made 25 gallons, which will be divided among the 5 guys in total who were here to help (and eat.  and play darts.  and drink beer). 

Bill had asked me to make Buffalo Ball Sandwiches, so I picked up roughly a ton of ground beef and pork and veal at the store (okay, more like 6 lbs) and torpedo rolls and additional hot sauce.  I made a ton of meatballs and put about 2/3 of them in the buffalo sauce and the other third in regular (and yes, canned!) spaghetti sauce for the kids. 

Ah, yes, the kids.  In addition to my husband's friends, we also had, at long last, a little playmate for Julia.  One of the guys brought his 3-year-old daughter and Julia was beside herself with joy because she finally had a little GIRL to play with.  Sure, she can hang with the boys, but it's nice to be with your own kind at times, too. 

I have to back up for a minute about the whole girl thing.  Initially there were going to be two girls coming over - the 3-year old and an 8-year-old daughter of one of the other guys.  On Friday when I shared the news with Julia and Alex, I naturally got two responses.  Julia gasped, her eyes got wide, and she was speechless with joy.  Alex rolled his eyes and groaned, and said "Two ladies?  Now I won't have anyone to play with!"

(Excuse me while I laugh again at that.  "Ladies."  hahahahaha)

So I said, "Alex, there have been a lot of times when your friends come over and Julia doesn't have any girls to play with."

And he said "Yeah, but ladies and boys can't play together!"

(where does he get this "ladies" thing???)

I said "Sure they can!"

"Not this boy!" my man's man boy-child replied.

So that was the plan.  And since he has had a sore throat for a few days and hasn't felt all that great anyway, if he wanted to spend the day just lying on the couch, that's fine with me.

Anyway, back to the show. 

The guys all arrived at different times.  John first, and then Peter (who was going to bring his 8-year-old daughter, but she didn't come after all - probably to Alex's great relief), and eventually the others.  David and his 3-year-0ld daughter arrived late morning, and she was adorable - dark hair, dark eyes, serious little 3-year-old face.  She was eager to meet Julia, and headed on downstairs like she'd been here before. 

Now, the reason David brought Jackie (or Jakey, as Julia called her) over was partly because he said Julia was a lot like Jackie.  And we all thought it would be interesting to put two headstrong three-year-old girls together for a day just to see who survived it.  Amazingly enough, they got along very well.  I think at first, Julia was just SO happy to have a girl her own age to play with, she didn't care who decided what.  Bill was downstairs when the two girls first started playing together, and Julia handed her beloved pink elephant to Jackie in an instant sign of friendship.  She was pulling out toys for them to play with, dumping everything all over the floor - a vast smorgasbord of Playskool people and animals.  Alex stayed on the couch and tried to ignore them.

There were little flare-ups here and there, but the girls managed to sort things out with no hair-pulling, biting, or hitting. 

Jackie was definitely Julia's kindred spirit.  She said what she thought with no hesitation.  At one point she pointed at a napkin Alex had left on the table.  It had a purple blueberry-applesauce stain on it.  She said to me - and she speaks in a rush - "Could you take that nakkin away - it's freakin me out."  I was too busy trying not to laugh to realize I was now being bossed around by two preschoolers instead of just one.

I fed them their lunch before I fed all the menfolk - mini meatball grinders and french fries.  They all ate the fries first and just nibbled at the meatballs.  And then they were done.  And off and playing.

Toward the end of the visit, you could see little cracks starting.  Jackie was pushing Julia's little princess baby stroller around the house (and around and around and around) and finally Julia wanted to play with the penguin (who had been strapped into the stroller the whole time).  Julia reached for the penguin and Jackie immediately pulled the stroller back and said "No!  I'm playing with it!"  "But I want to!" "No!"

I intervened - "Maybe you can SHARE.  You know, TAKE TURNS." 

So that almost worked, until Jackie said "You can borrow it (the stroller) but you have to give it back because it's mine."

And Julia roared back "NO IT'S NOT, IT'S MINE!  I GOT IT FOR CHRISTMAS!"

Hey!  Do you girls want to play with Play-Doh?

War averted.

And when it was time to go home, Jackie DID NOT want to go.  I told her we'd love to have her come over again some time.  But she was tragically heartbroken and inconsolable as only a 3-year-old can be as her father put her coat and hat and mittens on and led her dejected little form out the door.

They were really very cute together - those little girl voices.... And the little girl screaming.  Bill played an impromptu game of hide and seek with them - he was a roaring monster of some kind and whenever he found them he'd ROAR and the two of them would SCREEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAMMM with terror and glee as they raced to another room to escape. 

Cuteness abounded.

So that was the junior edition play date.  Very successful.

Grown men version went well too.  The beer was made without any major problems - which was nice because Bill's had a sinus headache since Thursday night and woke up in such horrible pain Saturday he didn't think he's be able to participate at all.  I said I thought the cold outside would actually help matters, and so he went and sat with an icepack on his head to jump start the recovery process.  And it worked.  (yay, me!)  Abrupt weather changes will bring about these headaches, I've noticed, and we've been going from wet and warm(ish) to cold and dry over the last couple of days. 

Anyway, the beer-making went well, and lunch was a hit.  And not just the sandwiches.  I asked Bill the day before what he wanted along with the buffalo balls, and he came up with onion rings.  So that's what I made.

And they were the hit of the party.  Not a one left.  Well, no, I take that back.  There was one left - Julia had tried it and didn't like it and threw it back in the warming drawer while I was taking the rest of them out for lunch.  But that doesn't count.

I also made a spicy sauce to dip them in - a mixture of mayo and sriracha and lemon juice.

For the onion rings, I bought some large, sweet onions - a perfect onion ring shape.  And I'd read a recipe somewhere about soaking them in buttermilk, like some people do when they make fried chicken.  So I sliced the onions into half-inch wide rings and soaked them in buttermilk while I was shaping the meatballs.  Then all I did was dredge the wet onion rings in a mixture of flour and salt and pepper before frying them in 350-360 degree oil.  Cooked them til they were crispy and golden brown, and kept them warm til I'd fried them all.  Simple as anything.

I have another onion.  I'm almost thinking of making them again today, just so I can take pictures.  Well, that, and so I can eat them again, too. 

Jumping In

Alex was psyched up for his swim class tonight - has been since this morning.  Not just because he is ready and willing to jump into the pool, but because AFTER class, as a reward for facing his fears and conquering them, and for doing well on his report card (hee hee hee - his very first report card!), the deal was that we'd go out for dinner at Smokey Bones.  It's one of his favorite places to eat.  And fortunately, he forgot all about wanting to go out for sushi.  We'd need to sell one of the vehicles to support his tuna habit.

Anyway, swim class went great - and at the end, when they lined up along the edge of the pool, Alex was the first one in.  His skinny arm shot up and he was wiggling with excitement.  And in he went.  Second time through, he was smiling huge and pointing to himself and nodding like "Yeah, I want to do that again!"  And he did.  Bill and I sat there on the bench, grinning and giving him thumbs up signs and nodding like annoying bobble-head dolls.  After the class, he came running over to us, beaming with pride. 

We got the kids dried off and back in their clothes, and headed up the road to eat.

For dinner?  What does the triumphant water boy eat?  Ribs.  No question.  He ate a half rack of ribs, and might have eaten more if he hadn't eaten half his fries, his slice of garlic toast, Bill's garlic toast, and some tortilla chips before the meals came. 

I wish I'd brought my camera with me tonight.  Not just to take a picture of his jump into the pool, but to capture his rapturous face, dotted with sauce, as he devoured rib after rib.  He'd hold the meatless bone up to Bill and laugh as Bill gave him a look of shock and amazement. 

Lots of the time, I just go on with things, you know?  Don't we all?  Get up, go about our days, do our things, eat, work, shop, relax, go to bed, etc.  Get the kids dressed and ready for school and daycare, shuttle them back and forth, do laundry, plan meals, help with homework, mediate squabbles, direct traffic, wash faces, tuck blankets under chins, hugs and kisses and off go the lights. 

But I try to be aware now and then.  I try to pay close attention to the smaller picture.  A week ago, Alex was afraid to jump into the pool.  Yesterday Bill worked with him in the pool, helped him work through the fear and get past it and discover that it's actually fun when the water goes over your head.  And tonight - he did it himself.  Twice. 

So the four of us, our little family, went out to celebrate.  We relaxed, we had good food, and we had fun.  No tears, no tension.  Just...comfortableness. 

A peek into the window of my own life...tonight glowed warmly, gentle laughter and random giggles dancing from room to room.

Bits and Pieces

They're downstairs right now, watching a Dora and Diego DVD ("The Great Dinosaur Rescue" or something like that.  Featuring Dora and her football head, and her normal-looking cousins, Diego and Alicia.)  Julia got to pick this morning, and Alex was just trying to convince Julia that she's not really interested in this movie.

"Hey," he hisses with fake excitement, "I've got a better idea!  Let's watch...(dramatic pause) cartoons!"

Cartoons, as in something on TV, rather than a DVD. 

Sometimes he can sway her, but not this morning. 

"No!  I'm watching THIS!"

They are quiet now. 

Alex, resigned.

Julia, triumphant.

~~~~~

Yesterday Bill took Alex over to the Y during "Family Swim" time at the pool so he could coach Alex in jumping into the water.  At swim class, for some reason, Alex has developed a fear about jumping off the edge of the pool.  He used to be fine, but something changed at the end of his last swim class, and in order for him to move up, he needs to get over this.

So for half an hour, Bill worked with Alex, having him jump in holding Bill's hands, and then one hand, and finally no hands...jumping in and giving Bill a high five in passing...and it worked.  Yay!

Swim class is tonight, and hopefully Alex's confidence won't suddenly disappear.

~~~~~

My sister's kids spent the weekend.  It's always nice when they visit - my kids love their big cousins, and I think the big cousins get a kick out of the little cousins.  Best of all, they all keep each other occupied, which gives Bill and me a bit of a break.

Of course, there was cooking.  We cooked Mexican for the weekend, and I also gave everyone samples of some of the desserts I've been working on for some of next month's posts. 
So it was a weekend of eating.  Especially Saturday.  I'll post recipes and pictures later. 

In a few minutes, I've got to get the kids moving, brush teeth, get dressed, bring Alex to kindergarten and run a few errands with Julia in tow.

It's cold out this morning, and we had a little snow yesterday, so everything looks clean and wintery. 

That's it for now.  I'll be back later.

Caring For Our Wild Friends

We don't just feed people here....

Snowman Update

Remember that snowman my kids and my husband made yesterday?  It looks like this:

Well, this morning as I was bundling up the kids for school/daycare, Bill (he's home, sick) was looking out the window at the back yard and announced "There's a squirrel on the snowman!"  So as he picked up the kids so they could see, I grabbed my camera and stealthily slid out the door to try to catch the squirrel in action.

He was stealing the peanuts (in shells) we'd used for eyes and mouth.  At this point, he was working on the snowman's shrinking grin which, understandably, now looks more like a frown....

A few minutes ago, while I was uploading the icy pictures from this morning, Bill announced that the squirrel had eaten all the peanuts, and just the nose (and hat and scarf) remained. 

Our snowmen do not live peaceful lives here.

My Kids, on a recent spring-like day

Older Sibling Wisdom

The other day I was driving home with the kids after picking them up at kindergarten (Alex) and daycare (Julia).  Somehow they got into a discussion of how different animals would break through ice to get to water if they were thirsty. 

"What about...an eagle?"  I asked them.

"His beak!" Julia shouted.  "And his...claws!"

"Yeah," Alex confirmed, "But eagles don't have claws - they have talions!"