Blow to the Ego

Many of you know that my mom is one of my very best friends.  We do stuff together all the time and talk to each other pretty much every day.  Since my birthday is coming up this weekend, my mom and I have made plans to go get a manicures and pedicures that afternoon. Just kind of a girls outing.

I saw my mom last night and commented on how much I am looking forward to Saturday.

"What's Saturday?" she asked.

Oh, nothing, just the day she gave birth to me.   I gave her an incredulous look for a moment before we both burst out laughing.

And despite that little blow to my ego (since I firmly believe I should be the Queen of Everything on my birthday) I'm still looking forward to a great afternoon with my wonderful mom.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama.

I know I did not leave a scout meeting muttering curse words under my breath. That would have completely undermined the scouting way.

When the "check engine" light on my car came on, there is no way I decided I'd wait for a day to call the service center just in case the light decided to go off on it's own. And despite my reluctance to call, I was not ticked off when I discovered they couldn't fit me in for an appointment for over a week.

I was not mildly insulted when I had to fill out a waiver at the roller rink for myself in case I got hurt, because filling out said paperwork made me feel old. And I certainly wasn't forced to eat my words when another grownup there fell and dislocated his elbow.

I certainly don't have flashbacks of a high-school aged me hanging out with Cheryl whenever I do something with her daughter, Taryn. That would be kind of weird, wouldn't it?

To the Faire

The whole W. family, including our "daughter" Taryn, headed to the Ohio Renaissance Festival today. It's been years since Duane and I have been and the kids (including Taryn) have either never been or have no memory of it. Hopefully we made some good memories today.

Once Wesley and Ryan could tear their eyes away from the knife thrower about to pop a balloon being held between a guy's legs, we did a little shopping.

Checking out the skull in the window

Animal charm necklaces

Wesley's version of trying on chain mail.

We told each child that they would be able to pick something to bring home as a souvenir. Boy, did that cause some agony today. Both boys wanted something they saw in the first 20 minutes - Wesley wanted a tail, and Ryan wanted a geode windchime - but we managed to talk them into waiting until we had walked the festival and they had seen everything. Good thing we made them wait. Not 10 minutes later they found marshmallow catapults that they wanted. But we still made them wait.

Time for a ride before the first show

Our first show to watch was The Swordsmen. We love them and see them every year we attend the festival. 

Dirk Perfect (one of The Swordsmen) posing for picture for Aunt Susan

All of the kids went on stage when the parade passed by. Don't my kids look thrilled?

A bit happier here

After the show ended, Wesley said to me, "I didn't really understand what happened in that show."  Which, if you've ever seen The Swordsmen, is probably not entirely a bad thing.

The next show we went too was the Mud Show. This show was filled with mud (duh), potty humor and wedgies. And of course my boys loved it. At the end of the show they were clapping and cheering "Encore! Encore!"

Next we headed to the games to give the boys a little something more active to do.

Flipping "frogs" onto floating lily pads

This picture was taken moments before Wesley changed his mind about the spinning ride he had begged to go on.

The ping-pong ball crossbows were a hit (get it? a "hit?")

Slide time

After they did a few rides we continued around the festival looking at stuff. Taryn was on the lookout for a new pair of horns and, once she found them, Wesley decided he needed a green pair for himself.  Again, we managed to convince him to wait until he looked at everything.  Although I have to admit, Taryn looked quite fetching in her new horns. Ryan also found two more things he HAD to have - more rocks and a sand art style candle - and we also forced him to wait some more.

Luckily, there were war horses to ride to help take their minds off all the things they wanted us to buy for them.

Yes, I took pictures of Taryn riding the war horse, after all, she's "our" kid too! Plus, I'm pretty sure there are pictures of her riding the horses at the festival some 15 years ago floating around someplace

We ended the day with the joust. The boys really enjoyed it - especially Ryan. It seemed to make him a little nervous, but he couldn't tear his eyes away.  At the end of the joust, they sell pieces of broken lances to raise money for the care of the horses (which by the way, are rescue horses). One of the knights jokingly told a story about how much he wanted a broken lance when he was kid and his parents wouldn't buy him one. He ended the story by saying, "And if your parents don't buy you one kids, it's because they don't love you."

Ryan called out, "That is so not true, Weirdo!"  Gotta love that kid's devotion.

So, are you dying to know what treasures the kids finally chose to bring home? Wesley decided on the marshmallow catapult. Ryan chose the sand art style candle. I have to say, I'm pretty happy with their choices.

Their favorite things from the day? Ryan said his was the joust, while Wesley stayed true to his third grade boy roots and chose the mud show.

And Ryan's already planning a return trip next year. 

Reporting for Popcorn Duty

Wesley and Ryan starting selling scout popcorn around the neighborhood today. Before we headed out, Duane and I went over what the boys should say when someone opened their door.

"Hi. My name is ______. Would you like to buy some popcorn to support the Cub Scouts?"

Nice and simple, right?  Well, despite it's simplicity, Ryan had a bit of trouble with it at first.

"Hi. My name is Ryan. Would you like to buy some popcorn to report the Cub Scouts?"

Luckily he's so cute that people decided to support his efforts instead of report him.

In The (Sort of) Still of the Night

Since becoming a parent I have learned that you never know what the overnight hours are going to bring. We've had wonderful, restful nights and nights of nosebleeds, projectile vomiting, tears, nightmares and just about everything in between.

But the last few nights have been unique in their own ways.

Duane has been trying to turn Wesley's nightlight off when he (Duane) comes up to bed at night.  The first night he tried it, we woke up in the morning to find the nightlight on again.  The second night was when things got interesting. About 3 minutes after Duane turned the nightlight off we could hear Wesley cry out for me in a frightened voice.

"What's the matter, Wesley?" we asked, pretty much knowing what was the matter.

"It's too dark in my room! It got really dark. I can't sleep!"

Duane dutifully got out of bed and went to turn the nightlight back on. In the twenty or so seconds it had taken Duane to get there, Wesley was back asleep and snoring.

I think we'll leave the nightlight on for a while longer.

Ryan has been doing his own "special" bedtime things as well. Let's see, there was the night I found him with asleep with two pillows Velcro-ed to the sides of his head (don't ask). There was the early morning he came into our bedroom while we were sleeping, and started stroking and kissing the side of my face and hair while saying that I am a good mommy and he loves me - which is cute now, but would be downright creepy if he was a little older.

And I don't want to forget the night I found him asleep on the floor so he wouldn't disturb his stuffed animals, who appeared to be camping out on his bed.

At least he was being thoughtful (?)

Searching for Bigfoot

Wesley and Ryan have a scout camping trip coming up here in about a week and a half. Wesley, being the more experienced scout, has been busily telling his little brother all about the things they'll do at camp.  One of the things Wesley is looking forward to is going on a Bigfoot hunt. This, of course, led to a discussion about what Bigfoot must look like.

Ryan: I think Bigfoot is probably kind of little, like my height, but with really big feet.

Wesley: No, I think Bigfoot is tall, like a grown up, but with only one really big foot because if both his feet were big, they'd have to call him Big Feet instead of Bigfoot.

School Skate Night - With Blurry Pictures

Tonight was the school skate party at the local skating rink. We haven't been to the school skate party since Wesley was in Kindergarten. He pretty much hated it then and announced that he was never going to skate ever again.  Ryan liked it that night, but at the time he was still in diapers and had a lot of padding on his rear end when he fell.

We've managed to avoid the school skate nights since then. We just never mentioned it when they came up and the boys didn't seem interested in it.

Yep, life was good. Until tonight.

This afternoon the boys got off the bus talking about skate night, begging to go to skate night, pleading to go to skate night. They even tried everything on their plates at dinner they wanted to go to skate night so badly.

So off to skate night we went. The last minute planning will explain why every picture from tonight is dark and blurry. Since we weren't planning to go to skate night, I didn't charge my real camera and the iPhone wasn't the greatest at capturing all the action.

And there was action. Wesley and Ryan both did a really good job skating. Yes, they fell, but they each got back up over and over. Ryan spent a lot of the night in the practice area using a "walker" but Wesley held my hand and did lap after lap after lap with me.  I never would have thought he'd do that.

Ready to roll

Taking his time

Getting balanced

Wipe out

Wesley is even asking when we can go skating again. What a difference a couple of years makes!

Their Entire Relationship in Two Pictures

"Hi Ryan. Do you want to play? Do you need anything?"

"I am SO going to get him!"

Case of the Mondays

Three quarters of the W. household has had a case of the Mondays at some point today. It may even been all four of us, but I have barely seen my husband, so I can't tell you how his day went.

Wesley woke up in such a bad mood he wouldn't even talk - and that's saying something for him. Instead, he moaned and groaned and grunted if I dared ask him a question. But the best part was when he refused to walk and dragged himself around the house on this stomach by using his arms while moaning, groaning and grunting. It was a party alright.

While Wesley was doing is impersonation of a grumpy snake, Ryan started complaining that the top of his foot hurt whenever he put pressure on it. He'd take a step and cry out "Ow!" And this lasted for twenty minutes until Wesley found his voice and began to complain about the changing seasons.

Wesley: I hate winter and it's getting closer.

Ryan:  I love winter.

Wesley: I hate it.

Ryan: Remember when we went sledding down the driveway?

Wesley: Remember when we just about froze solid?

On the up side their disagreement took their minds of their various aches and pains.

My day at work went really well, but after work it went to heck in a handbasket.

•  My "check engine" light came on and the car place can't fit me in for a week and a half. 
• Dinner didn't cook in anywhere near the time the packaging claimed it would take, so Duane didn't really get to eat before leaving to help out at the scout popcorn sale
• As the boys and I were finishing dinner, Duane called to say that yes, Ryan's den was having a meeting, but it wasn't at 7:00 like we thought - it was starting right then.
• I arrived to the meeting late (and in a bad mood) only to discover that no one wants to be the den leader, there weren't really any activities for the kids tonight, and the guy running the meeting would spend 10 minutes answering any question with a long anecdote when a quick, 1-2 minute answer would suffice
• After my hour meeting where nothing got done, I discovered that Duane still had another hour meeting to go to.
• Back home to the dinner dishes and messy kitchen were waiting for me from when I raced out of the house to arrive at the scout meeting late.

So now I'm cranky and trying not to be cranky, which isn't working. I still haven't figured out what to do about my truck since I don't really want to wait a week and a half even though it seems to be running fine. I've gotten some good suggestions from a couple of friends, but I have to find the time to actually do it.

Maybe I'll go have another piece of cake.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama.

I am not reading a book so creepy that I almost called Duane up to bed early because I was too freaked out to try and fall asleep alone. And I certainly don't have to finish it because it's for a professional review.

I did not have a nightmare in September about not having started my Christmas shopping.

I did not tear up when Wesley was presented with his Bible at church.

There is no way that whenever the daughters of any of my friends come over I end up wishing (at least a little bit) that I also had a girl. 

Third Grade Bible Presentation

Today the third graders at our church received their own Bibles. I have to tell you, I was pretty excited for Wesley. I still have the Bible I received at my church in third grade, and, although it isn't the one I use on a regular basis, it holds a lot of special memories for me. I used my "third grade Bible" for first communion and confirmation. I used it all through youth group and it holds many highlights and unlined passages that spoke to me throughout my childhood/tween/teen years.

I pray that Wesley finds comfort, and questions as he reads his Bible and learns more God's word. I pray he will be inspired to grown in faith. I hope his Bible sees him through tough times and happy times and that it becomes marked up and worn with use.

Columbus Food Adventure

Last night Duane and I celebrated our birthdays by taking a food tour with Columbus Food Adventures (link the company name for the link). It's something we've wanted to try for a long time and our birthdays seemed like the perfect excuse to give it a go.

Since we consider ourselves to be somewhat adventurous eaters, we chose to go on the Alt Eats tour (again, tour name is link.)  It was wonderful and unique and a great way to spend the evening. The group went to five different establishments in the northeast part of town and got to sample delicious and unusual food at all of them.

Yes, I was the person taking pictures of my food - but only so I could share it with you.  Don't you feel special?

Our first stop was Udipi Cafe for Southern Indian food. The restaurant is all vegetarian, but even a die hard carnivore like me didn't miss the meat.

This was an appetizer called a vegetable cutlet. It tasted a great deal like a samosa filling that had been deep fried in a batter. They were really tasty - possibly some of my favorite food of the night. They came with a spicy green sauce and a tamarind sauce.  Of course, I was all about the spice.

This was some kind of dosi. I can't remember exactly which one it was, as the restaurant serves a number of a differnt dosi. It was also quite good. The lighter sauce was coconut based while the other sauce was a bit spicy and can be used as a sauce or eaten as a soup. 

From Udipi, we headed to a Mexican Bakery called Panaderia Guadalupana.  We walked in to the amazing aroma of fresh baked goods and spent several minutes drooling over the pastry case.

The item was got to sample here was not from the case of delicious looking pastries. The pastry chef prepared fresh, hot, filled churros for us. Some of them were filled with vanilla cream and some had a dulce de leche filling. Duane and I lucked out since he got one kind and I got the other, so we each ate half of our own, then switched.

Our next stop was a restaurant owned by a Nigerian couple called the Intercontinental Restaurant. The gentleman that spoke to us said that while the food is African inspired, they cannot use authentic African ingredients all the time and he called it more of a United Nations Cuisine.  We each received a plate that contained small samples of several different dishes.

Clockwise from top: moi moi, stewed spinach (spicy), plantains, black eyed peas and rice, jollof rice (YUM!)

Next we headed just across the street to sample what turned out to be Duane's favorite food of the night.

At this Vietnamese place, Mi Li,  we got to sample the most incredible banh mi!! The bread was made fresh, the pate was made by the owner, the pate was made by the owner. ALL the sandwiches are made by the owner. It was fresh and and delicious and, to be honest, I could go for one right now.

Our final stop of the night was the Haitian & American Restaurant. This was in some ways the furthest from my comfort zone. I have had Indian food and Vietnamese food, I haven't had Nigerian food, but I have had Ethiopian food. Haitian food though? Never tried it.

Here we were treated (and yes, I do mean treated) to a delicious goat stew and mushroom flavored rice. The goat was really quite mild, not gamey at all, and had a richness not unlike lamb or beef. It was stewed on the bone and was so tender! The rice is cooked in water that has been infused with a certain kind of mushroom that imparts the dark color and a nice, earthy taste.

I can honestly say that there was nothing on this tour that I disliked and quite a few dishes I look forward to having again. It was fun and educational evening. I can't wait to try another local tour.