a little slice of life: August 2008

Random shots from John Mayer @ Verizon Amphitheater, August 28,2008

John mayer channeling hendrix

Devin likes to jump.

As I mentioned earlier, we had some good one-on-one time with each twinkle on Sunday. Devin spent a good portion of his running around jumping, as evidenced by the pictures below. Note: I should point out that Stephanie is intently working on her homework as I requested, so that will be reflected in the images and video. Rest assured that prior to my grabbing the camera, she was ignoring my wishes to finish her homework and was paying full attention to her little boy :)

How about some video? Yep, I’ve got tasty video of Devin’s jumping accomplishments, right’cheer:

Bonus picture of Devin eating an orange, sans digits.

I suppose it’s high time I did a post.

0 comments Posted by Andy at 12:02 AM

I realize I’ve been remiss in posting lately, so allow me to fill you in on what’s been going on.

“Cheap Mexicans” – on Friday night we met our friends Tony & Kim & Natalie, at our local Los Bravos for some kidtastic dining entertainment. Let me just tell you that unless you have kids, stay away from Los Bravos between 5pm and 9pm. Consider yourself warned. It’s like Chuck E. Cheese’s in there, without the animatronics rodent band and old video games with today’s prices (yeah, like I’m paying 50 cents for Galaga). If you have kids, however, take em and let em get all over themselves at cheap mexican. I’m rather partial to their Fish Tacos.

Tomato Sauce Making and Canning – I spent two weekends at the Marietta Farmer’s Market buying fresh vegetables and herbs. I already posted about the first attempt. On the second trip, I got up early and let Stephanie sleep in as I took the kids with me. I didn’t let the twinkles run around on foot since the Market is on the edge of the square and they could easily get into trouble – they were confined to the Chariot. That actually came in handy as I bought about 15lbs of tomatoes from Craig of Two Mule Farms. Craig also tossed me an additional couple of pounds of tomatoes with bad spots gratis. I scored a couple of ounces of just-picked basil and oregano from another vendor. I say ounces, because I don’t know how much basil is in 3 zip-top sandwich bags, nor do I know how much oregano is in 3 zip-top sandwich bags. I made two batches this time, one as a standard tomato sauce recipe, and the other as a fantastically spicy version that the kids will not be allowed to taste. Oh wait a minute. Never mind then, I suppose they might like it. So I’ve only a crock-pot’s worth of spicy tomato sauce left to can and I’ll be done for a while.

The Rocker – Saturday night we were childless as we booked Karyn to babysit. We had dinner at P.F. Chang’s and for some reason we decided not to have the Cool Lettuce Wraps as our entrees. Mental note for next time: have the Cool Lettuce Wraps as entrees and enjoy. You can’t beat ‘em. We finished up the evening with a viewing of Rainn Wilson in The Rocker. Some folks have compared this to a poor man’s School of Rock, but the storyline is much different, the characters are different, and the plot is different. Sort of. It was cute, enjoyable and we had a good time.

We wrapped up Sunday by doing a little canning, getting the dogs’ baths and pedicures, running errands with the kids and just generally taking a little bit of easy. It was a little crazy as Karyn kept the kids up past bedtime on Saturday, which meant that they awoke quite early on Sunday. Grrr. Usually when this happens we have to give Devin an extra long nap in the morning rather than a short one in the afternoon. While that means that we don’t get any time to do chores while both kids are sleeping, we do get some special two-on-one time with each child. That’s actually pretty special because it doesn’t happen very often. In this case, I had a daddy-daughter lunch with Maya, while Stephanie stayed home to do school work (yeah, seems like that never stops) and some father-son wander-around-the-electronics-store time with Devin. Steph got to have some playtime fun with each as well – but she’ll have to fill in those details as I was busy with other things and didn’t witness it myself. Then again, with the course load she has this semester I suspect it will be December before you see that post. Don’t hold your breath…

I have pix to post at some point. Perhaps tomorrow.

Oh, and one last thing. Lately Devin has been talking up a storm. Not all of it intelligible, but he has some good 6-7 word sentences with about 75% of the words being recognizable (at least by us). Maya surprised me this weekend with a few words I didn’t know she learned: teapot, spacesuit, terrific, and… *ahem* asshole. Yeah, sooner or later it was bound to happen – and it did. I was getting her out of the car seat, and removing a toy from her kung-fu grip, and she said, “Hey, stop it, asshole!” I didn’t bat an eye and continued and then she repeated it. I just ignored her, but boy was I laughing inside. Not that I want her to repeat that, but it was certainly worth a chuckle to hear that phrase out of my sweet, sweet treasure. Let’s hope she doesn’t follow up something worthy of a Kevin Smith script.

Fay and Maya, and a bike ride.

0 comments Posted by Andy at 7:31 PM

The remnants of Tropical Storm Fay didn't dampen our spirits on a trip down the Silver Comet Trail. Maya and Devin remained happy and dry, ensconced in the Chariot. Steph and myself, however, enjoyed a soggy ride at 73 degrees. During a brief dinner break at the Florence Road shelter, Steph and Maya tried to catch rain while Devin and I ate raisins. Life is best enjoyed when it's kept simple.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Devin is outnumbered.

0 comments Posted by Andy at 6:59 PM

Stephanie was out of town this weekend visiting friends up in Asheville, so to break the monotony I invited myself and the Sherwoods over to Kim & Tony & Natalie’s for some afternoon cookout fun. Actually this is something we talked about doing on a regular basis after the successful Memorial Day Cookout. Our kids all play well together, so it’s a natural fit. On this particular trip, however, the Wests and Phillips’ were absent so Devin was the only boy out of 6 kids.

Katherine, Natalie and Maya enjoy some time on the porch slide. Devin, smart guy that he is, remains hidden beneath the slide in hopes that the girls don’t catch him and give him cooties.

Katherine, Natalie and Maya again. Man, is it ever hard to catch three children looking the same way when there is fun to be had.

Heirloom Tomato Fun, Part I

0 comments Posted by Andy at 3:36 PM

As I mentioned previously, I bought some heirloom tomatoes, grown in Sandy Springs, from the Marietta Farmer's Market. My plan is to prepare and store the seeds for growing in my garden next season, and to create some homemade tomato sauce and salsa with the tomatoes.

I did a little research on the intarwebs, and decided on my method for preparing the seeds. Let me just say that heirloom tomatoes tend to be oddly shaped, and it makes seed recovery somewhat of an exploration rather than a process. My technique started with halving and spooning, and then ended up as a halve-then-wedge, then finger-scrap seeds. That seems to work the best for the bulging cavities that and interspersed in the meat of the tomato.

The next step was rinse the seeds a bit in a sieve, and strain the juice into my sauce. The seeds are currently sitting in a glass jar on top of the refridgerator waiting for the fermentation process to start. Once that happens, that will remove the gel coating on the seeds, and then I'll be ready to dry and store them.

The sauce is rather simple. A bunch of heirloom tomatoes, two cloves of fresh garlic, a handful of fresh basil, and some fresh oregano. I removed the stems and dumped everything into the food processor, blended everything together, then dumped everything into a stock pot. I brought the sauce up to a light boil, then reduced to a simmer and then transferred into a slow cooker for a nice, slow & low 8 hour simmer. The house smells fantastic!

Marietta Farmer's Market

0 comments Posted by Andy at 10:46 AM

This morning I planned to take the kids out to the Marietta Farmer's Market. It's open from May to the end of August from 9-1 in the Marietta Square. They have a 40 vendors or so, with the usual assortment of locally-grown tomatoes, peppers, honey, peaches, figs, pears, and beans. They also have some bakeries, natural home products, and other bric-a-brac you would expect to find at such a place. This was the first time I have visited this particular market, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect -- my experience has been limited thus far to larger established markets a la Pike's in Seattle. Let's just say this pales in comparison, but the folks are local, warm and friendly. Lots of kids, dogs and people wandering about. The thing I like most is the farmers represented here are into their craft. They love to discuss methods, execution, uses, and just about anything related to their product. And, they are always willing to answer questions to boot. I bought some heirloom tomatoes from a grower right in Sandy Springs which was nice, and he offered me a few pears for the kids, which they enjoyed. I also picked up a huge yellow watermelon from a nice fellow selling them off the back of his pickup truck. He and his wife looked like seasoned grandparents, and they were slicing off samples of watermelon for anyone who was interested, and Maya and Devin were more than interested. Devin was riding up top (on my shoulders) and proceeded to drip watermelon in my hair, which I am finding even now has clumped and stuck up in my hair :/ I suppose I'll have to shower up soon.

I forgot to mention that I planned this excursion with the help of fellow epicurean Yvette, whom I have known for let's see.. going on 8 years or so. Since Steph is out of town and was unsure of my ability to contain the twinkles in an open area like that by myself, and Yvette played the willing partner. I was handling Devin, while Yvette had Maya, who has a mind of her own lately, so I'm not so sure if that activity will find its way onto Yvette's calendar anytime soon :) We did manage to enjoy the Square's park, which has a mini locomotive engine and tender for the kids to enjoy (see picture of Devin above).

So I selected a couple of heirloom tomatoes (I forgot the name), a pint of blueberries, some banana peppers, some hot peppers (of unknown variety), an eggplant, and some fresh basil and oregano. My plan was twofold: create some homemade salsa and tomato sauce using fresh, local ingredients (e.g. not canned or from the store); and to keep some heirloom seeds for my garden next year. Yes, you heard right. I'll be gardening next year since the kids will be old enough to help out tending to the harvest and weeding. (Do I sound Amish? Like I need to have a few more kids to tend to the fields?) Anyway - next post will detail my tomato sauce and seeding preparations, which happened this afternoon. The sauce is slow-cooking its way into a tasty reduction which should be fantastic, if the aromas in the house are any indication.

I'm going to finish up this post and get ready for the kids to wake from their naps, and we are headed over to Kim & Tony's for an afternoon of playtime with Natalie & Kathryn, plus some cooking out and some beer. I wish my brewing apparatus wasn't in storage.

One final note: the Tony and Brad funded most of the purchases today at the market thanks to an extremely lengthy poker game last night which wound up at 2:30am. I think I will be tired later.

Smyrna Parks Deliver

0 comments Posted by Andy at 6:17 PM

We had a house showing the other day, so we took all our dependents (two- and four-legged) to a local park that has playgrounds for furry and non-furry folks. Maya saw fit to climb up the ladder to this large slide, by herself, with no assistance. No fear in this child whatsoever.

Here she is climbing up, while Devin enjoys some juice, with both feet planted on terra firma.

Life changes yet again.

1 comments Posted by Stephanie Little at 4:09 PM

We are spending the weekend up in Charlotte visiting the family, and this afternoon we had a bit of a rude awakening. The twins went down for their afternoon nap around the usual time. Devin was a bit early, having told me that he was "ready to to nighttime". I obliged, and Maya followed slightly thereafter.

There was a bit of an emergency around 2pm, went Devin awoke upset, likely because he decided to fill up his diaper with breakfast and lunch. Since we are visiting away from home, the twins share a room with two pack-n-play cribs. Maya was awakened by Devin's poo-fueled cryfest, and then there was a cacophony of whining until they were soothed back into nap time.

We passed the time playing Scrabble, rebuilding the dams in the creek, and bocce ball. We knew they were probably somewhat awake, because we could hear occasional chattering, but they were quiet and so we decided to let them remain in quiet time. Well, I'm hear to tell you we paid for that decision.

I opened the door to find Maya and Devin standing in the same pack-n-play. Maya's pack-n-play, devoid of Maya, was filled up with wipes she decided to unload from the package she swiped from the dresser. Devin's pack-n-play was full of Devin and Maya and a package of diapers they decided to unload from the package they swiped from the bed.

I called Stephanie and the family in to witness the life changing event that just transpired - Maya will no longer be confined if she wishes. We did the diaper change and we placed Maya back in her pack-n-play and told her to climb out, so we could see how she managed to pull it off. As we figured, she flipped her arabesque leg up over the side of the pack-n-play, and hoisted herself onto the nearby bed, then crawled down into Devin's pack-n-play.

I remedied the situation by moving the bed against the wall and moving a sweater chest next to the bed. The pack-n-plays are now end to end with a healthy 3' carpet moat between the side of the cribs and anything else. I figure if they want to play together, placing them end to end will allow that. We also noticed that one of the pack-n-plays has higher sides, so we moved Maya's bed accoutrements into that unit.

We'll see how tonight pan outs.

UPDATE:

Yeah, well the new configuration worked overnight, however the midday naptime Gods definitely favor the ingenuity of the child over the proactivity of the parent as Andy caught Maya straddling the pack 'n play with reckless abandon and without the safety of an adjacent bed. How will this translate to our cribs at home? I truly fear the answer...

Yep, pretty much.

0 comments Posted by Andy at 12:48 PM

Text says "M -the Moron"
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

On Becoming a Terrible Twos Toddler

0 comments Posted by Andy at 10:34 AM

Let us just say that at this moment, being Two agrees very well with Devin. He is loving his new-found ability to explore his world and express himself. Maya, on the other hand, is loving her new-found ability to become annoyed at just about anything and express herself via yelling, kicking and screaming. Thank God the household is only filled with one of her at this time.