Riley's thinking ahead

Ri: "when I grow up my job is going to be the president, but if I lose then I'll be a priest"

Have I said yet today how much having Riley around rocks? Every family should have a Ri ;)

Lenten Sacrifices

This year I've done decided to do things a bit differently for Lent. In years past, we've abstained from meat on Fridays, given something up (candy, coffee) and worked on something personal (usually held within our hearts, but not spoken of). We've never required any sacrifices from the kids other than abstaining from meat. For the past few years, I've seen many ideas floating around the internet full of great ideas of things families can do together in preparation for Easter, but I've always been overwhelmed at the prospect of implementing anything. Not this year! I've been confined to the house since Monday afternoon with sick kids and this has allowed me to put some plans in place. No errands to run. Caught up on the laundry. Today, Ash Wednesday, was the perfect day!

It's really nothing spectacular to the outside world, but for me I feel as though I have had quite an accomplishment. I found a site for making a "Crown of Thorns" and enlisted the help of one sick child to help place the thorns (grandma also helped out when she stopped by). With the leftover salt dough, I made crosses for each child. I then typed up a list of our families planned sacrifices. Later tonight, everyone will sign the list and it will be posted on the pantry door to remind us of the sacrifices we'll be making to help draw us closer to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pumpkin is the flavor of the week

This past Sunday since we were planning on going to the later Mass, I made a nice big breakfast for the family. Pancakes, eggs, bacon and a batch of pumpkin pancakes. The kids avoided the pumpkin pancakes (I didn't complain because truth be told I made them for me:). When we got home from Mass the hubster was helping himself to the leftover pumpkin pancakes when Nolan decided he would try them, then Andrew jumped on board the eat-from-dad's-plate train followed quickly by Simon and Mary Kate. They loved them and unfortunately for dad, they ate them all up. They chose to eat them without syrup and revert back to medieval times by using their hands to clear his plate.

I have since been asked to share this recipe by a few people so here goes...
2 cups Bisquick
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
Mix above ingredients and set aside.
Thoroughly mix the following ingredients and then stir into the Bisquick mixture.
2 eggs
1 12-oz can evaporated milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Scoop onto a hot griddle. The batter is VERY thick in comparison to regular pancakes and I ended up adding about 2 tbsp. water to the batter. When I scooped it onto the griddle, I had to spread it out a bit. I LOVE my counter top griddle! It looks something like this, unfortunately I don't think they make my version anymore. I consider the griddle one of the most important appliances in my kitchen since I can do 8 grilled cheese sandwiches at one time!!

Got Laundry?

Guess what we were up to today?

I'm usually very good at keeping up with the laundry, but for some reason I am much better at doing it during the week. I guess because it is just part of my daily routine. When the weekend rolls around, routine's are more of a distant memory and then I get knocked over Monday morning with the reality of a large family. This past Sunday I did realize that I had yet to run the washing machine all weekend and thought about starting a load, but instead put it off until Monday. Well Monday rolled around and my Costco shopping list had become far too long to put off any longer. Fine, I'll work on the laundry after Costco. Well the van was unloaded and grandma was getting ready to leave (the list was too long to have had kids tag along with me), when the phone rang and Nolan was running a fever and needed to be picked up. Did I mention that I had yet to get a shower in and it was now 3:00? I picked him up, lined up a babysitter to watch him while I took Andrew and Ri to CCD and then to Karate. Got home, put kids to bed and the last thing I wanted to do was attack the mountain o'laundry. So this morning, while Nolan and Simon were laying low with fevers, Mary Kate and I decided to start the laundry. I don't usually take pictures of my dirty laundry, but this pile was just too much. I am happy to say that it is now 3:00 and all the laundry is washed and folded (with the exception of the one load in the dryer) and will be put away when Mary Kate is up from her nap!

This is how I define a successful day!

Vlasic's anyone?

We went to a late Mass yesterday and were heading home around 2:00 trying to figure out what to have for lunch. But the kids were thinking ahead...

Andrew: "hey mom what's for dinner"
Me: "hmmm, I'm thinking horse poop and pickles" (side note - my mother referred to this as "HS&P" when I was growing up, so at least I didn't say "s")
Nolan: "but I don't like pickles!"
Simon: "I like pickles, I want pickles mom"
Hubby: "but how about the horse poop?"

Clearly, the kids just don't have the same immature sense of humor that we are still clinging too. Not one of them even giggled about what we were saying. Instead, when we got home and I was putting everyones lunch on the table, Simon looked at his pizza and said "no, I want pickles". So out came the jar O'Vlasic and eat away he did. Oh in addition to curry chicken salad and leftover pumpkin pancakes and then finally the pizza I had initially put in front of him. Yes he is the family garbage disposal (when it isn't being fed to the dog by Mary Kate).

Where does pee go Simon?

May seem like an appropriate question if you are asking a 3 year old potty training little boy, but for a 4 1/2 year old? NO! However last night, we had a busy night of dinner out and taking the kids to the school book fair. As you can imagine the boys were completely wound up when we got home and it was already inching past their bedtime which can result in some bizarre behavior. I was in the kitchen when Nolan yelled down the stairs "Mom! Simon peed in the trash can!" At this point I took the steps 3 at a time, only to find Simon standing at the top of the stairs saying he was sorry with the grin that can melt your heart and make you want to scream all at the same time spread across his face. Apparently, there wasn't enough room around the toilet (I really should consider on-the-wall urinals) and so he just shot it into the trashcan. Now I don't know what is worst, the fact that he did it or that Andrew looked in the trash can and justified it by saying "oh it's just a few dribbles mom".

For the record, I don't consider enough pee to cover half the bottom of the trash can as "just a few dribbles". Clorox wipes to the rescue :)

In case he swallowed a dry erase marker

I was standing in the kitchen this afternoon when Simon walked up, grabbed the bottle of cleaning spray for a dry erase board, put it up to his mouth as if it was breath freshener and sprayed away. I was speechless for about 3 seconds and then screamed for him to stop it.
Me: Simon why did you do that?
Simon: I don't know.
Well OK then. I don't know what kind of response I really expected. It's a Simon thing!

You Decide, Compliment or Insult?

In the van heading to Mass
Nolan: "I smell something good"
Andrew: "Yeah mom you smell good"
Me: "thanks it's the cologne you bought me for Christmas"
Andrew: "I thought it smelled familiar"
Simon: "Yeah, I smell gas"

Thanks Simon! It's a good thing he sits in the very back of the van :)

Future Custodian

I was coming downstairs after getting Mary Kate up from her nap when Beamer greeted us on the stairs with an empty Capri Sun in his mouth. Great! Nothing like finding juice all over the floor. I looked around the kitchen and found Riley with a sheepish grin on his face as he was pointing to the floor. On the floor was a napkin with "Wet Floor" written in pencil across it. I asked if he had cleaned up the Capri Sun, nope that was from the water he spilt. Now I'm just waiting to find the puddle of fruit punch flavored Capri Sun. Oh and of course it isn't the dye free juice!

Crazy Food Names

Crabby Patties, Pink Fish and Frog Sauce could be on the menu any lunch or dinner in the Park house. Sound gross? Well don't be fooled by the name, it just takes a bit of creativity to put some excitement into meal times. We started the naming of meals back when Andrew was a toddler and at the time many things were named after The Wiggles. He is now one of my best eaters :)

So for those of you haven't been visiting during meal times and/or may be watching my kids during meals here are some definitions..

Crabby Patties are taken from a Sponge Bob episode, but I believe they were burgers in the show (I'm still trying to figure out that show). Nothing fancy for us, just a chicken patty on a bun with or without ketchup and sometimes with a slice of cheese. We've also been known to use these crabby patties for making "poor-man's chicken parmesan" - layer sauce, crabby patties, slice of provolone cheese, more sauce and topped with mozzarella cheese.

Pink Fish to most people is boring old salmon. The kids will eat baked salmon, but for a quick meal, I take a can of salmon (Costco's is the BEST), add a little mayo and sprinkle with Emerils all purpose seasoning. Spread on Ritz crackers and a meal with a good amount of Omega -3 fatty acids is ready :)

Frog Sauce was born out of desperation for making pesto sauce sound like something the kids would like. What boy wasn't going to get a kick out of frog sauce? It worked and they love it on noodles and tortellini.

Which child should we leave behind?

While researching a possible family trip to Florida via the Amtrak Auto Train, I was given the following error message...

"We were unable to process your request: Please correct the error(s) shown below and resubmit.

Problem with Too Many Children: Our fare rules provide that no more than two children per adult may travel at the children's discounted fare. Children exceeding that 2:1 ratio must travel at the standard adult fare. To continue, please use the Fare Finder tool and re-characterize any children exceeding the 2:1 ratio as "adults". Please note that infants (under age 2) do not count as children for the purpose of determining an acceptable adult/child ratio. [Error ID: 540S]"

So either Andrew becomes an adult or Mary Kate doesn't count as a child because she's under the age of two. Then what is she and is it time for Andrew to get a job to help pay for the vacation???

I'm A Wonder Poacher

The kids had "silly dinner" tonight, also known as pancakes for dinner. I really wasn't in the mood for pancakes, unless they were pumpkin pancakes and I knew that there would be at least one member of the family that wouldn't have eaten them anyway (if you guessed Ri, you were right). The hubster came home in time to take two of the boys to karate and I took care of bathing the 2 boys left behind. Mary Kate likes to stand outside the tub and terrorize the boys by threatening to turn the shower on (I know she has succeeded when I hear the blood curdling screams).

While waiting for the inevitable scream to beckon me to the bathroom, I figured out what I wanted for dinner. Poached eggs! Random? Yes. I knew we had an egg poacher that I believe was given to me by mom back when we first got married, but getting my hands on it and trying to remember how to use it was a whole other story. Google to the rescue. I panicked when the only links I was coming across involved boiling water and slowly pouring cracked egg into water?? Uh oh, I was now desperate to find my poacher and directions for how to use it. I did find it and saw that it was made by Duncan Hines, I guess they used to do more than cakes and brownies. I finally found directions online for the "perfect poached egg" using a poacher.

Kids were out of the tub and gathering up books that I had promised to read after I ate (I really was obsessed with eating the poached eggs). In under 5 minutes, I had 2 slices of toast with butter and 2 poached eggs PERFECTLY made! Definitely hit the spot, so when hubs got home he was treated to my poaching obsession too :)

A funny conversation while I was eating...
Mary Kate: "zat momma?"
Me: "that's mommy's eggs Mary Kate"
Nolan: "Mommy how old are you?"
Me: I told the truth, not sure why he needed the age though "34"
Nolan: "Mary Kate, when you are 34 you gets eggs too"

The "hair cut" that made me run

Simon: "Hey Mom, Mary Kate is cutting my hair!"

I turn around to find that Mary Kate is "cutting" Simon's hair with the egg covered fork and knife that were on my dinner plate (see previous post regarding my dinner). Great! Go figure he had JUST gotten out of the bathtub too.

Don't worry though, Beamer was sure to help with re-cleaning Simon's hair. I was sitting on the couch reading a pile of books to Nolan, Simon and Mary Kate (OK, well she was actually just getting up and down off the couch while everyone else was trying to listen to the book), when Beamer perched himself up behind Simon and was licking away. He too liked my poached eggs :)

Educating telemarketers

A paid telemarketer calling on behalf of SADD (Students Against Drunk Driving) called the house this evening during a time when I had a little bit of time on my hands, so I decided to finally answer the call. See for the past 3 weeks the same number had been calling 508-281-6565, but never leaving a message. I was a little intrigued by their persistence.

Fortunately for me, I have my laptop in the kitchen and google was already open and ready when I picked up the phone. When she told me she was calling on behalf of SADD, I immediately typed in "SADD and Planned Parenthood" into the google search engine ( I LOVE GOOGLE). Up popped a list of links and sure enough I found exactly what I needed all before she was done reading her script.


caller: "....so can we count on you to give $25 this year?"
Me: "um no..."
caller: "how about $10 like you gave last year?"
Me: "well actually, while you've been talking I have learned that SADD is linked with Planned Parenthood and I can not in good conscience provide any more financial support to your organization"
caller: "we aren't affiliated with planned parenthood"
Me: "if you'd like to go to your website and to the links, scroll 3/4 of the way down and you will see that SADD provides a link to planned parenthood for teen pregnancy"
caller: "wow I wasn't aware of this at all...." (she then went on to babble about teen pregnancy)
Me: "I'm sorry I can not and will not support something that has a link to planned parenthood. Planned Parenthood is responsible for 50 million deaths in the past 36 years. I like Whole Foods and I can't shop there because of their outright link with Planned Parenthood. I would love to do a "race for the cure", but I can't support Komen foundation because of their work with planned parenthood. I highly encourage you to search company "xyz and planned parenthood" if you'd like to see affiliations"
caller: "thank you and if you ever have any questions please ....."


I tuned her out at this point. Do you think she really heard what I was saying. Part of me says she did. She was a little shocked when I first said something about it. I'm just trying to make baby steps in the pro-life movement for all those babies that were never given a voice.

Now does this mean I support students going out and drinking and driving? Of course not. Do I think that all the money that I donated to SADD last year (the whole whopping $10) went to fund an abortion? No. But what I do know is that if a girl in a crisis pregnancy happens to visit a Planned Parenthood, they will do everything to protect the man involved and make her life "easy" with an abortion. So no, I can't support the telemarketers that call when I am able to point out an affiliation with Planned Parenthood. Will SADD remove the link because of little old me? No.

I am always very pulled because I have dear friends that have been effected by abortions and people that have lost loved ones to drunk drivers. When will businesses stop affiliating themselves with the evil that is Planned Parenthood? Maybe when more people educate themselves and stop providing them business.