Tag: Food

Music on the lawn and laughter in the air

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The soul is healed by being with children.~English Proverb

I walked in the back door last night and M&M darted through the kitchen to see me. A day full of irritations and squabbles at work evaporated into the evening air as I rolled around on the living room floor tickling them. Just hearing their loud, raucous laughter made the entire day worthwhile.

Jon cooked for the third day in a row! We were treated like royalty eating seasoned grilled pork, corn on the cob and beans. I am loving Jon’s cooking revival – both for the delicious food and for the family time together at the table.

Our after dinner treat landed us at Music on the Lawn at the library. Latin creole music and cupcakes and a cool breeze… it doesn’t get any better. Mario gathered up his change Jon has given him this weekend and placed it tightly in his pocket. He had more than enough to get two cupcakes. When we told him this, he approached Maria, tapped her side, and announced “Ria, I am going to treat you to a cupcake!” Maria turned to him and squeezed her arms around him: “thank you little buddy!” He smiled with pride. Sure enough, as soon as we pulled up to the library, Mario ran to the cupcake table and ordered two of them. He beamed as he took out his change and handed it to the boy scout.

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After eating the cupcakes in five seconds flat, Maria went to the parking lot across the street and rode her bike with her girlfriends. Mario and I went to dance to the music. I sat on the lawn while Mario stood amongst the other kids jumping around the lawn and waving his arms. I love the complete lack of concern and inhibition in him. He just moves to his own beat. He decided the band was so good that he needed to tip them. After the lead singer came down to sing to the kids, Mario tapped his back side and put a dime in his hand. The singer chuckled and thanked him kindly. Mario beamed again.

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We headed over to Maria’s friend’s house and sat with them for a bit after the show. The kids ate popcorn and played on our phones while we chatted about work and exercise and the gardening. On the way home, Maria slowed down her bike so Mario and I could catch up in the stroller.

“Hi, little buddy!” she remarked to Mario.
“Hi Ri!” he replied.
They both smiled at each other and then Maria biked ahead toward the house while Mario and I searched for squirrels in the yards.

Taking it easy?

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My girlfriend texted me in a frantic state this morning asking if I could pick her son up from after-school care. I had planned on working until 5:00, Jon was going to pick up Maria, and it just would not work well with our schedules. I called her to tell her the situation, and we hung up. Then I went to work and had to deal with a bunch of idiotic matters. I felt drained by 11 am. So, at 11:15, I texted my girlfriend and told her that I would get her son, Zach at after-school care. She thanked me with a text containing a bunch of exclamation points. I figured with my frazzled state I needed to take it easy, and take a couple of hours away from work (I knew I’d be answering emails after the kids went to bed anyway).

At 11:45, I visited Maria during her lunch time and watched her destroy her her sandwich. She got a grilled cheese (that was actually on wheat bread) and she tried to rip off the bread in order to smother ketchup all over it. The first ketchup packet squirted all over her shorts. The second, all over her plate. She resorted to dipping her sandwich into the ketchup pond but decided that the wheat bread was too “yucky” to eat (she has her dad’s taste for white bread). I was surprised to see her eat her tomato soup, but after a few bites, she gave it up, too. Luckily, I had brought some mini oreo’s for a treat for her and her friends. I had brought nutter butters last time and got lambasted because they contained peanuts and Maira sits at the peanut-free table because her friend, Janira is allergic.

I finished my afternoon meetings early, and got Maria. She could not wait to pick up Zach. After we picked up Zach, we went to Mario’s school. Mario loved seeing Zach, and began wrestling him as soon as he met eyes with him. We decided to head to the river down from Mario’s school. There is an area off the bike path that has a ton of shells and rocks for the kids to gather and throw. It was a total hit for Mario and Zach. Maria was interested for a bit but was too worried about trying to get Zach’s attention. She kept pleading for Zach to “come over to her because she has a secret for him” but he was too busy running in the river (yeah, his mom is going to love me). Maria finally realized how to get his attention – lift up a huge rock to elicit a world of shells and cool rocks. They picked through them together for a while, and Maria was in bliss. Mario, meanwhile, found a rock in the water and acted like he was “surfing.” After an hour, we took off to the car and headed to Wendy’s for come chicken nuggets (yeah, I know you health nuts out there are cringing right now) and home for a picnic on the deck.

Following the picnic, we rode our bikes to Zach’s to drop him off wet, yet safe, to his mama. Upon our return to our house, we took the fastest showers ever (“just worry about the main body parts – privates, underarms, feet and face!”). We all got in our nighties and slipped onto the couch for two goodnight stories.

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Making our way

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The kids woke up at the break of dawn again Sunday morning.  Jon and I heard them in Maria’s room talking quietly, probably about superheros or barbies.  Jon got out of bed first and shut the door behind him to allow me to continue dozing.  That is true love. 

When I finally dragged my tired butt out of bed 20 minutes later, I found Maria on my Ipad playing Pet Shop (her favorite game now) and Alana and Mario fighting it out on Wii Table Tennis.  They would take turns rubbing a win in the other’s face and then when the other rubbed it in his or her face, they would cry about it.  They are competitive as heck together – something Maria is not.  Maria wants everyone to win and every time she starts a game, she prefaces it by saying “Let’s just play for fun.”  To the contrary, Mario prefaces it with “I am gonna whoop you up!”  However, he wants a fair fight – he doesn’t just want to whoop you up without a good fight.  So, when I could not figure out how to shoot in basketball Wii, he stopped the game to tutor me so that I could give him a run for his money.  He continued to whoop on me a bit but then I stole the ball from him.  He gave me a look of amazement.  He wanted to congratulate me but he also wanted to win.  So he just shook his head and kept playing. 

Meanwhile, Maria just kept playing Pet Shop.  She bought two new kittens and some pups and a fish.  She arranged them all and proudly showed them off to us.  Then, when she decided to play Wii, and lost badly to Mario, she got angry.  “I hate these games!”  Mario looked at her kindly and explained “Maria, you have to practice a lot to get good. I practice a lot.”  She shook her head at him in disgust.

The girls and I headed to Washington Courthouse to meet up with my Cincy girls for brunch.  We ate at Bob Evans – my new favorite restaurant because of their breakfast food.  I could eat their eggs and hash browns with onions and bacon and multi-grain pancakes everyday.  I choose the multi-grain pancakes because it makes me feel like I am being healthy but after I eat three of them with syrup, I don’t feel too healthy.  In fact, I have learned to make sure to wear sweats when I head to Bob Evans so that I am not uncomfortable after my meal.  Maria takes after her mom – she got chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. Alana did, too, but only ate half of her food.  Maria and I swooped in like vultures and finished it off.  Maria hugged on Grace through  the meal.  Kathy is so good about letting Maria hold her and walk her.  Maria loves it.  She has got the babysitter gene in her body – something I never had.  My girlfriends and I talked for a bit over breakfast but between Gracie grabbing our attention and the quick service, I felt like we didn’t get to talk for too long.  I must still be spoiled from Italy. 

The girls and I headed to the outlet mall after our meal and tried to find clothes for my Cancun trip with Jon next week.  Just shoot me.  Is there any store in that outlet mall that has a mirror that flatters?  Maria and Alana just kept saying “You are having a baby!”  Nothing like that comment to stroke your ego.  I was ready to buy a mumu and call it a day.  I did score some pretty jewelry but no hot dresses.  I should just stick with Target.

Mom and Mario

When Maria and I got home, we found out Mario was spending the night with Jon’s mom and dad.  He loves spending the night with them because he is spoiled like crazy and he gets out of school.  He cracks them up as much as he cracks us up, too.  Patty took him to the store and they looked through the toy aisle.  He wanted a toy and Patty told him it was too much money.  His response: “Grandma, you need to get a job and earn some money!”  Patty bought him some boots, and he is charged because he can “track animals” now.  I miss my boy like a mad woman.  It is nice to have him visit Patty and Joe – the break with just Maria means a lot to her and us – but after a day or two, I miss his contagious smile and his wild antics and his bear hugs.  I let Maria sleep on the couch while i watched the rest of the movie “The Way” starring Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez (my old 80’s crush) as father and son (just like real life).  It is a tender film about a father who loses his son while the son is on a pilgrimage to El Camino de Santiago.  The father decides to take the pilgrimage on his behalf and meets up with a few quirky pilgrims who he befriends by the end.  It is a wonderful tale of understanding and opening up and taking a leap.  And it put Maria to sleep in ten minutes. 

Sick girl calling her grandma

Maria was sick today.  She woke not feeling right but we forced her off to school, if only because we had to work, but got the call at 10 am that she was not doing well at school.  I picked her up and brought her home.  I rubbed her back while she watched Toy Story 3.  I made her soup.  I laid with her.  When she got a second wind, I tickled her and laughed with her.  We made “nests” out of the covers on our bed and slept in them.  We stared out the window at the tree cutters.  We cuddled.  Not a bad day at all.  Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and she is trying with all of her might to get better so she can hit her class party.  Mario could care less.  He begged to stay with Patty and Joe.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder.