Monday, February 25, 2013

Birth days and other tales of gluttony

Last week Christopher celebrated his half birthday with his preschool class. Mom was in town to help out while Mike traveled to the Bay Area for a meeting and so she helped me bake and frost 2 dozen BLUE cupcakes and, more importantly, haul them into the building for the big snack time celebration. (I was hauling Colin, of course.)

I used the cake recipe from the back of the Hershey's Dark Chocolate Baking Cocoa container. It's a no-fail cake that I make for most of the birthdays around here. I usually cut the sugar by 1/4-1/3C and no one can tell the difference. If I'm serving it up to a coffee-loving crowd, I sub the 1C boiling water with 1C dark coffee. Mmmm.

Christopher was such a happy boy that day. His class sang Happy Birthday to him with candles and he got to wear his special birthday crown. Grandma and Colin and Mama were all in his room for snack time: cupcakes with blue frosting and sprinkles, "squeezey" yogurts (the most disgusting invention to date, I'm convinced) and a big bowl of strawberries to share with his classmates. That morning his story dictation about "a dinosaur with a big, big, big tail" was acted out for circle time and he smiled from ear to ear all the way home. It was a big day.

Mike's birthday followed quickly this past Sunday with a brunch date for just us two to Uncommon Ground in Edgewater and a lakeside stroll in some incredible morning sunshine. Hooray for child-free time and for a delectable brunch locale In The City. Sometimes we itch to get out of the 'burbs. Thank goodness for Chicago's proximity and for friends who are natives to the area with excellent recommendations! We sat right by the cozy fireplace and enjoyed a very sloooow brunch. Neither of us spilled our drinks or flicked our food on the floor to toy with gravity. We had a conversation and required little-to-no clean up both during and after our meal. It was great!!!

Mike was having a hard time nailing down what kind of birthday cake he wanted, so I went for something different: a Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake from my favorite food blog, Smitten Kitchen. It is delicious, believe me. But, next time, I'll make a regular NY style cheesecake and marble in the caramel and chocolate. I think that the addition of different textures within the cake would be even better. When/if I find the spare calories for this heavenly cake, I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

I also cranked out a spinach lasagna, carrot soup, and potato leek soup on Saturday afternoon. Whew! Guess who couldn't be bothered to cook midweek this week?! The salad spinner and produce drawers are bursting with fruit and veggies, so we're covered until Saturday. Good thing, because this week is feeling crazy and it's only Monday night.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Deep February

Today we had a brief respite from the bitter cold with a day of temps in the 40s and above with a smattering of rain throughout the afternoon. Our most wonderful, beloved babysitter took Colin and Christopher out for a bike ride/stroll (Christopher has been wearing his helmet around the house as he's going through biking withdrawals) and I had the luxury of practicing and hearing my own thoughts knock about in my head without the sound of Lego towers crashing in the background. Ahhhh.

But, really. This February thing can be hard to take when it seems like daffodils won't ever poke their heads up and bare feet are impossible to dream about. I made the boys smoothies over the weekend and promised Christopher that we'd be drinking them in the backyard with our picnic lunches in just a few months. He looked at me as if I was crazy. Maybe he can't remember what summer feels like? When you've only experienced 3 summers, is it hard to remember what it's like to be driven inside because it's too HOT outside?

So, we plow ahead and continue to do the things that put smiles on our faces. Cardboard houses cut from giant boxes courtesy of Daddy's work. Spontaneous cakes - with sprinkles! - for Valentine's Day. Trips to the city for music and museums (the latter of which is generally free or super cheap for state residents in these slow-tourism months!). A mid-week hooky excursion to a place I thought we'd never go... but we all completely adored. We've attended drop-in playtimes at our Rec Center's gym and rediscovered a toddler/preschooler playspace that we haven't visited since last winter.

Lastly, I'm trying to regain a little traction on my pre-holiday running form... I did that 10K on Thanksgiving and promptly relaaaaaxed my running drive. Driven by the stick much? Ah, well. It's so easy with icy weather and other commitments. The popular Shamrock Shuffle 8K in Chicago is on April 7th, but I'm not excited about taking the El all the way down by myself at 6:30AM just to run and celebrate finishing... alone. Instead, I'm on the lookout for a 5K+ that's closer to home so my cheering squad can come out and meet me with their posters reading "Go Mama, Go!" and high-fives in the final stretch. That was definitely the best part about chugging along for 6.2 miles on Turkey Day!