five little tidbits

a highlight from mother's day-----hanging around a firepit with some of my favorite people.  watching children fling burnt marshmallows off their sticks, almost catching dogs and flammable princess costumes on fire is a real hoot. 

**  just found an awesome blog that hasn't showed up on my radar until now::  ben and birdy.  i've been thinking of doing some recipes here on my blog and reading her words just put the extra bee in my bonnet.  plus i want her kids to hang out with my kids so they can do weird shit together in the basement while we drink upstairs!

**  lauren luquin has a new ecourse coming up...i watched the video and loved putting a voice to her face! 

**  i would like to make these cinnamon raisin quickies by the ever-inspiring natalia kw

**  reading the book bringing up bebe by pamela druckerman.  which is making me realize that for the most part i raise my kids like "the french" raise their kids (hi, generalizations).  which basically means i let them pretty much do what they want while simultaneously running a pretty tight ship when it comes to things like sleep.  that, the fact that i don't read any parenting books and parent on intuition (with a lot of wine thrown in there for good measure).   which means i'm probably doing it all wrong but i don't really give a sequin-filled poo about it.

**  waiting for this dvd to arrive.  which will hopefully help with the little situation i have with people asking me when #4 is due (#4 doesn't exist)

nyaj

:::  johnny took me out for an early mother's day lunch today, and when he was looking at the check he said "wow, the waitress's name is nyaj.  i've never heard that before"  and it took him a couple of minutes but finally he realized that we were at not your average joe's (NYAJ). 

her name was danielle.  ;)

tidbits

when john was in the army and we lived in watertown, NY for a couple of years, we used to go to this bagel shop and get our favorite bagel sandwiches.  and every time we would go there we'd pick up this free little newspapery thing near the door that was called "tidbits".  all i remember is that there was a commercial for this newpaper on the local TV channel and the commercial consisted of someone saying the word "TIDBITS" over and over.  so eventually it became a thing and our friends all starting saying it. 

and because this post is so random i'm officially dubbing it TIDBITS!


 **  is it me or is the pollen count like out of control this year?  i literally have the worst headache.  i'm considering taking a flask to softball to just survive.

** lately i've been considering getting a flask.  for real.  motherhood pretty much demands one.

**  yesterday i was in the car alone with the three kids for over four hours.  and then i sat through a full mass and then a baptism.  the good thing about being in the car was that we listened to all our beastie boys cd the whole time.  the bad thing about being in the car for four hours is just that.

**  today while i was driving around doing my usual banging in the car, someone rode up alongside me on the highway and started banging with me.  and smiling.  like this guy was SO HAPPY to be dancing.  most people either call the police on me when they see me banging or harass me for miles, ridiculing me, so it really makes my day when someone can just be normal and be happy for me.

**  softball games from 6-8p most days of the week are pretty much torturous.  lulu has to be forced to stay up way past her bedtime.  i have to keep them all busy and try to keep lulu from breaking more of her bones (there have been a couple of close calls).  so yeah.  flask.  necessary.

** today when i was listening to the beastie boys my very well-loved cd kept skipping.  and it was only skipping through mca's parts.  and it was freaking me out very, very much.

**  lulu kept declaring today "i love kombucha!".  it was pretty cute.  which is good because everything else she did today was less than cute.

**  3rd grade homework equals homework for mom

** kindergarten projects equals homework for mom

**  TIDBITS!



tell me some of your tidbits, please.  xx

  

order and chaos

hanging out at the library on school vacation seeing the extreme zoo animals...you know, just biting our nails and picking our noses.

as much as i love to be spontaneous and go with the flow, i'm slowly realizing that i thrive on order and routine.  that's how i roll with my kids---and sometimes i get laughed at because i put the kids to bed so early or whatever else i do that's weird (like feed them dinner at 3:45p when they get off the bus).  well, these past couple of weeks have been complete and utter chaos in the gilbert household!  we did some projects outside in the yard---and then we hired a contractor to come in and knock down a big supporting wall in our house.  we wanted to open everything up (kind of like our old house) so the energy could flow through that side of the house. 

in retrospect the whole process was actually pretty snag-free and quick (not cheap or dust-free, however!).  on the two biggest days of demo (which occurred during the kids' school vacation), we packed up the car and took the kids on a little overnight road-trip to portsmouth, NH. we figured they could swim in the pool and we could go out to eat at our favorite spots and just relax and meet up with some friends.  we have an awesome time...not quite sure if it was relaxing (johnny and i were wishing we'd packed a flask and it was only 10am on the first day...)

so in between demolition, painting, school vacation, and just general schedule-upheaval...there's been lots of other stuff going on.  friends will ask "what's new?" or "what have you guys been up to?" and it never fails that i always say "nothing much".  it's not until i look back through our pictures that i realize there's been a lot of fun (and a lot of tears and lots of glasses of wine, too).  order and chaos, balanced out in the end.

here are some of the funner moments...

being brave as a team at the park

lots of piggy-back rides for the little one who refuses to walk anywhere anymore because her "tummy hurts so bad"

lots of yummy food----like scrambled eggs, avocado with sea kelp, and habenaro (that is totally spelled wrong but autocorrect isn't helping me out on this one) lime salsa

mother/daughter book club meetings with cucumber sandwiches and passionfruit iced tea

couscous, red onions, tomatoes, asparagus, scallops, baby spinach

getting outside and gardening! 

doing yard work and being dorks

throwing my tutu up in the air and taking more pictures on a beautiful day

running my first road race solo and wearing a really ill-fitting tshirt because i was parked about two miles from my car and didn't have time to walk back to leave it there. 

making some art with some people that we love

playing some softball

road tripping

so bad but so so so good

beautiful day in portsmouth!  and nobody's crying

we took the kids to a science center on the coast.  gray snapped this picture of johnny and i while we were getting attacked by a trillion like flies.  it was very romantic.

that's it folks!  as of last night we actually have furniture to sit on, freshly painted walls, and the TV plugged back in.  deep breaths this morning.....aaaaaaaaaaah.  xx