Weekend Recap

• The weather lately has me completely unproductive at home.  Typically, I clean on the weekends.  I just could not bring myself to spend hours in the house (and hence, keep my kids in the house for hours) when it is over 70 outside in March.  So, my house is a mess.  But, at least most of the laundry is done.  And we got more fresh air and Vitamin D than we have had in months.
• I realized that my kids have no summer clothes.  Typically, I do not need to have them at this time of the year, but it was definitely shorts-wearing weather this weekend, and will be for the rest of the 10 day forecast (unbelievable!).  So off we went to Target to buy some $4 mix and match shirts and shorts.  Cortlan seems to be developing quite an opinion as to what he wears, and his choices sometimes baffle me.  But I let him pick which shirts he wanted, so he better wear them. 
• Saturday was St. Patrick's Day.  Friday night, I put some fruited Irish oatmeal in the Crock Pot so we were able to have a nice Irish breakfast in the morning.  I had never made steel-cut oats before, but this recipe was delicious.  As the kids sat at the breakfast bar, I thought I might make them a special surprise.  I got out the food coloring and put a drop of green in each of their cups.  Then I took the cups over to them, and I poured their milk, which instantly turned green as I poured it.  I wasn't really trying to act like anything magical happened, as I thought for sure they had just watched me get out the food coloring and drop it in, but Cortlan's eyes lit up, and ever since, he has been telling people that a Leprechaun turned our milk green.  After nap - homemade shamrock shakes.
• We truly enjoyed the beautiful weather on Saturday.  It is so nice to see everyone emerging from hibernation.  Our neighborhood is typically alive with kids running around and parents talking once the weather breaks.  This weekend was just like summer.  Ahhhhh....
• The musical at the high school where I work was Peter Pan this year, and for the first time, I decided to take the kids.  Honestly, I can't imagine a better high school production than the ones that go on at our school, and Peter Pan did not disappoint.  We had seats in the fourth row and Cortlan absolutely loved it.  He laughed so hard even when no one else was laughing...the orchestra members were turning to look to see where the giggles were coming from.  He could not stop talking about it.  On the way home, he even said, "I just can't wipe the smile off of my face!"  I loved it.  Everly enjoyed it, too, and she did pretty well at sitting still and being quiet.  Though, I think her favorite part (besides when Peter pan did flips in the air) was folding herself up in the seat so her knees were in her face and then smiling, saying, "I'm stuck!"

What's on my mind...

• Sometimes, you just have to let things go. As the quote says, "Holding resentment is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." Think about it.  SO true.

• I don't like a lot of drama in my life. I typically avoid it like the plague. However, every now and then, drama keeps it interesting. And I am never opposed to listening to other people's drama.

• I like being a working mom. I don't like having to do my shopping at 9PM because there isn't another hour of the day that it can happen. 

• I have become an extreme multitasker out of necessity. If I am doing something, it is not uncommon for me to be doing at least two things. For example, I sort the mail while cooking dinner. I grade papers while making copies. This is not entirely bad, but I have made the recent realization that this multitasking is largely to blame for my clutter and disorganized state. I used to be able to start a job and work it through to completion, including any clean up involved. Now, I am constantly switching between and among tasks, leaving many unfinished until I get to them again later. Thus, the half sorted pile of mail (didn't want dinner to burn), the half graded stack of papers sitting on my desk (copies only take so long to make, and at least I got a few of those papers graded), and this blog (written in two minute chunks of time).

• Though I still regularly fly by the seat of my pants, I never regret taking the time to meal plan and/or prep the crock pot. The pay off is always there. 

• Sometimes, homework assignments are awesome. Like when Cortlan was assigned to collect fall leaves for a project at school earlier this week, which meant that we had to go for a walk on a beautiful fall day and look at all the beautiful, colorful leaves on the trees and on the ground and pick the ones that were just perfect. This assignment took a while to complete. Darn.

On eating and growing

Two quick things:

1.  While Everly seems to have recently experienced a growth spurt, growing 2 full inches since April and going up two shoe sizes, I think that Cortlan might be at the beginning of one.  For breakfast this morning, he had a bowl of oatmeal, a ton of grapes, one and a half eggs, several pieces of turkey bacon and a glass of juice.  The other night at dinner he had four helpings of a chicken pasta dish I concocted, and I think he would have had more if there had been any left.  The night before, he ate a burger the size of which I could barely finish, plus extras of the sides.

2.  Forget PB&J (ok, not really), I love that my kids couldn't get enough of this lunch:

tomatoes, mozzarella, fresh basil, crusty bread from the bakery, olive oil and balsamic...yum!