We DON'T Own A Home!

Seven years and one month ago, Tim and I started our lives over together: as newlyweds in a new house (and me with a new job). Today, we closed on the sale of that same house, and we're essentially starting our lives over again: in a new state, with an awesome son (and a new job — with a recent promotion — for Tim).

It's a little bittersweet. We have so many lovely memories in that home... me babysitting the previous owners' kids while they still lived there, two graduations for Tim, dinners with friends, Nigel's first steps, Nigel's first words. But considering it had been on the market for more than a year, we'd said goodbye to it a long time ago. We are just so happy to have that monkey off our back. Who would have thought we'd be more excited about selling a house than we were about buying one?! We've got some recovering to do, but things could be a lot worse. A huge thanks to our awesome Realtor and friend, Anne Soffee. Anne made a lot of personal sacrifices for us this past year, and we're very grateful. And thanks also go out to everyone who checked in on our house, mowed the lawn, brought in the mail, etc., especially my mom and brothers. Another chapter begins!

Friday Cooking: Cereal Bars

How many people does it take to make cereal bars? Three! One to dump in the dry ingredients (6 cups of cereal, 1/2 cup of dried cranberries and a few chocolate chips); one to melt the 3 tablespoons of butter and a bag of mini marshmallows ... and wash the pot of melted marshmallows; and one to put some muscle into stirring the super sticky mess and spread it into a pan. For such a simple recipe (from the library book Peanut Butter and Jelly Sushi ), these bars were a bit of a pain. And ours certainly don't look like the neat pressed bars in the book. The sticky cereal kept sticking to the spoon. I guess some cooking spray would have helped with that, but I don't use that stuff so we don't have any. Oh well, Nigel enjoyed picking out the different types of cereal (Grape Nuts, wheat chex, Cheerios and blueberry Kashi flakes) and watching the marshmallows melt.

Balloon Bust

When Tim moved down last fall, he told us about the Plano Balloon Festival. I've been looking forward to it all year! Unfortunately, this year was a bit of a bust. Citing weather concerns, the balloons didn't launch at all during the entire 3-day event. And by the time we left around 7:45 on Saturday, only 2 balloon were inflated for the glow portion.

Nevertheless, fun was still had. We enjoyed a picnic with Uncle Dan and Aunt Nancy, and Nigel had fun in the kids' area. Maybe next year we'll see some balloons take flight.

Friday Cooking: Pudding & Cheesecake

You guys, you can't get much easier than last Friday's cooking projects: instant chocolate pudding and a low-carb, low-sugar cheesecake (I'm in training mode again). Nigel dumped in the pudding mix and milk; as you can see, he enjoyed mixing it all together.

The cheesecake was fat-free, sugar-free lemon Jello, hot water and 2 packages of low-fat cream cheese. It tasted a lot like it sounds: dull and kind of gross.

We'll be back with something more inventive this Friday. My pal Amy suggested some cookbooks, so we picked up a few at the library this week, including Pretend Soup. The book looks really cute and simple. There are directions for the parents alongside step-by-step picture instructions for the kiddos. Stay tuned!

Bento Blues

Remember when I had such high hopes for Nigel's lunches? Between you and me, it's a bit of a struggle. I find it difficult to be creative at the end of the day, after I've cooked dinner and washed the dishes. The bento concept — a little bit of a lot of different things vs. a large amount of just a few things — is working out well. He likes the variety of choices and the little surprises. The challenge is that I have to have many different items on hand. And when you're limited in terms of refrigeration and tiny hands (as in, I would rather his teachers enjoy their own lunch than help Nigel open applesauce or something), my choices don't seem that great. Most days Nigel gets some cheese or a sandwich in a cute shape, but I'm not creating edible masterpieces over here, folks.

I know it may not look like it from the pictures, but there's actually a lot of stuff in those tiny boxes; it's just jammed in there. Plus, the kid eats like a horse these days: breakfast at 7 a.m., snack in the car on the way to school at 8:40 a.m., snack at school at 10 a.m., lunch at school at noon and snack on the way home from school at 2 p.m.

His lunches remain very healthy, and he eats every drop, but I'd love to punch it up a bit. I need to get some more sushi rice so I can test out the new molds I recently bought. I also plan on making some corn muffins with veggies this weekend. What's your favorite thing to pack in a lunchbox?

(The rundown, clockwise from top left: mini peanut butter and honey sandwiches, M-shaped cheese (Nigel cut it out), pears, dried pineapple, green bean snacks, cherry tomatoes); sheep-shaped cream cheese and jelly sandwich, animal crackers, dried fruit, oranges, green bean snacks; snack bento... bunny cheese on top of pepperoni and crackers, grapes; turkey and hummus roll-up sandwich, veggie chips, animal crackers, dried fruit, Virginia-shaped cheese)

Friday Cooking: Cookies

We had some Internet issues last week and this weekend, so Friday Cooking is a few days late. I know you were holding your breath to see what we'd make. This was another pretty simple week here. We made basic chocolate chip cookies and added dried cherries. Nigel got to dump in the ingredients, mix and sample some chocolate chips. The cookies were really good, but I need to research some recipes that would allow him to be more hands-on. Any suggestions?

Preschool: The Aftermath

Nigel wrapped up his first full week of school today. He had a blast playing outside, learning kids' names, going to creative movement class and eating lunch. He's even been invited to his first preschool birthday party. (There are two kids on the invite, and they have different last names. Good friends having a duel party?)

Unfortunately, there are already three downsides to preschool: 1) He came down with a runny nose over the weekend. It isn't responding to allergy meds, so looks like a cold. To be expected, I guess, since his exposure to germs has been minimal thus far. 2) He's started saying here and there with a slight Boston accent — hearyar. I'm guessing there's a kid in his class who talks like that. Not a biggie, but for some reason it's really grating on my nerves. 3) The biggest issue, though, is after school he's a cranky old man! On Tuesday, his first full day, I could tell he was tired, but since it was kind of late — 2 p.m. — and he hasn't been napping consistently anyway, we just watched some TV, played outside and chilled. On Wednesday, I made him nap. Despite his protests that he wasn't tired, he was out like a light in less than 5 minutes. I didn't want him to be awake all night, though, so I woke him up after an hour. He was grumpier than an angry drunk. Today we went to the grocery store immediately after school to buy supplies for Friday's cookie project. When we got to the cashier, he went bonkers. I'm talking an all-out scream, like he was being murdered. As the afternoon rolls on — with or without the short nap — he starts getting a little delirious and talking nonsense.

So I kind of feel damned if I do, damned if I don't, in regard to nap. I'm hoping he'll get used to the schedule and we can have pleasant afternoons again. Anyone have any suggestions for making this transition easier?

This Week's Restaurant

I realized the other day that I haven't written about a restaurant in a long time. Truth is, we're (thankfully) been eating at home more. And when we have eaten out, we've stuck with our tried-and-true favorites. Last week, though, Tim and I tried Alvarado's in North Richland Hills while we waited for Nigel to finish his first day of preschool. It's a 24-7 Mexican joint in a converted Taco Bell. I can't vouch for the entire menu, but I can tell you that the breakfast tacos are insanely good! Tim and I each got a chorizo tacos, which included potatoes, eggs, cheese, etc. The chorizo had just enough spice, but not too much kick that it made my eye makeup run. Bonus: quick service and lots of free varieties of salsa.

Has Fall Really Arrived?

Hold the phone, stop the presses: Sunday it was 83 degrees here in Fort Worth. That's 2o degrees cooler than it was just Aug. 30; 30 degrees cooler than many days this summer. The windows are open and the A/C is off. This had better not be some kind of cruel joke! After months of being trapped inside and swimming in a warm pool, we were ready to get out! Our first stop was the zoo. The last time it was cool enough to walk around the zoo was when my mom was in town right before Easter, and even then we were sweaty. On Sunday we started backward this time, so we actually got to see the Texas Wild exhibit for only the second time. We saw wolves, an armadillo and touched a starfish. We were there for three hours... three glorious, unsweaty hours. Then we headed to our favorite picnic spot: The Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. After lunch we walked around a bit before heading home for some outside play. The only unfortunate part of this weather is the wind and absence of rain, neither of which are helping the Texas wildfires.

Friday Cooking: Fruit Pies

This week's cooking experiment was pretty uneventful. I had some leftover pie crust and fruit, so I thought we could make mini fruit pies. Nigel chose pears and peaches for the filling. I diced the fruit and sauteed it in some butter and brown sugar. Nigel helped roll out the pie crust and make circles with cookie cutters. Then I put some fruit on a circle and topped it with another circle. I had hoped to ice the tops of the pies with and icing made of powdered sugar and the juices from the fruit, but I didn't have enough powdered sugar on hand so it was too runny to use. The pies were very dry; I couldn't figure out how to keep juices inside the crust without it running out. Maybe I needed a cornstarch thickener? Cookies are up this Friday, so there will be lots for Nigel to do!

Playing Dress Up

We're in dress up mode here, folks. Nigel's never really been interested in costumes and stuff, but he's shown some signs recently so I'm jumping on it! My mom mailed Nigel a tutu this week. He likes to wear it and dance around like a ballerina and making silly faces. I also went to Thrift Town on Tuesday while he was in school and scored some pretty awesome stuff for $5: fairy wings, a Bob the Builder construction vest and a pumpkin costume. Add all that to the Mardi Gras beads from my pal Bridget, his cowboy hat and a few other items and we've got the makings of a nice prop/dress up box! Can't wait to hit the Halloween section at Target after Halloween.

Preschool, Week 1

Week 1 of preschool has come to an end. Nigel continues to love it! Each day the teachers sent an email to the parents to let them know what went on that day. It was a great starting point for discussion since at first Nigel wasn't really telling us a lot. So far he's read stories, learned new songs and circle time rules, played with Mr. Potato Head, and made a few friends. I was feeling a little unloved earlier this week, but Wednesday and Thursday I got a hug before class. And tonight, when I was late coming back from an interview, Nigel bawled his eyes out when Tim told him they'd have to eat dinner without me. He likes me, y'all. He really likes me!