Pure Potential

Nigel and I have been going to the meditation center in Arlington for about a year now. It's such a wonderful place. If you'd like to learn more, you can visit their website here. It's funny that I came to the Bible Belt and finally began my Buddhist practice in earnest. (The temple is literally a block from Cowboys' stadium, which always makes me laugh when I see it looming over top.)


While the adults engage in meditation and listen to Buddhist teachings, the kiddos have a class of their own. Nigel's usually the youngest kid in the bunch, but he takes away the general theme each week. Today they talked about pure potential, one's true self without delusions. They made a craft that was too cute not to share.

We Sprung Forward

It's been so long since I last posted that Blogger has updated its look. Yikes! We've been trucking along down here in Texas, folks. Spring is nearly behind us, and that's mind-blowing.

Nigel's doing really well at daycare/preschool. He has gymnastics and dance class, and he's wrapping up private swim lessons this week. I NEVER imagined myself as the kind of mom who'd enroll her kid in anything private, but when in Texas.... Nigel's writing his letters like a champ and learning so many new things every day. It's quite amazing. Last weekend he went to a friend's ice cream-themed birthday party. Check out the giant pinata!

This spring we had two guests: Uncle George and Uncle John. We had a blast with each one! Nigel showed Uncle John the science museum's traveling exhibit about all things gross (think: farts and burps); we took Uncle George to Dinosaur Valley State Park, where we got to wade in a river with dino foot prints.

What we're looking forward to: A business trip to Laredo for Tim, a family trip to RVA in July, a new preschool for Nigel, our family anniversary, Nigel's first pro baseball game and Nigel's soccer debut!

We Rock — for 12 hours

There's a kid at Nigel's school who sports a mohawk, and Nigel's been asking for one of his own. So last weekend, Tim cut him one. Twelve hours later, he decided it wasn't for him and requested we whack it off. What are the odds that when he asks for a wild hairstyle when he's older I can just tell him, "Nope, you've already had one!"

So Much Love

Happy belated Valentine's Day! We've had some behavior and tummy issues down here in Texas — behavior chart and probiotics, anyone?!? — but we took some time out for love. Nigel and Tim made me these beautiful heart flowers and card (Tim sent some real ones to the office). Nigel had a little party at school with a veggie tray, sandwiches and Valentines; he reported that his tomato sandwich was "pretty tasty." How did your family celebrate?

We're still spending lots of time at the library these days. Two of our most recent favorites are Not Inside This House! (a funny read for any mom who's got a boy) and Love, Splat (we love this cute Valentine's book about a cat's first crush).

We're Still Here

Wow, has it really been nearly three months since we last posted?!? A new full-time job, daycare, the holidays and a surprise guest kept us pretty busy. We've also been cherishing our weekend time together. This winter has been quite mild, so we've been able to spend time outside doing the things we love — like play croquet!

A quick holiday recap: My mom, LaLa, surprised Nigel with a visit before the holidays. He was over the moon to have her here. Nigel's been enjoying all of his presents, and he continues to text Santa (on his pretend phone) in preparation of next year.

Tim: Work is going very well for Tim. He's had several things published recently, including this Market at a Glance of Des Moines, Iowa. He's traveling to Kansas in late February. Before that trip, he is running his very first 10k with me! So very proud of him.

Sarah: I'm plugging away at my new gig. The firm has recently take on oil and gas titling work in Ohio. I've had the opportunity to review documents signed by Thomas Jefferson, which is pretty cool. What I enjoy the most about my job is that I get off at 4:30 and don't think about work until the next morning when I clock in. It's been a while since I've had that luxury!

Nigel: Daycare and the new routine was a bit of a rough start for everyone, including Nigel. He's doing much better now, though. We've signed him up for extra activities during the day — dance class and gymnastics — so he can get his wiggles out. His gymnastics teacher says he's the only kid strong enough to pull himself up onto the bars and hang upside down! Nigel's also really progressing well with writing letters and words and is showing a real interest in learning how to read and spell. For now, we're working on perfecting our letters and not writing so largely.

In addition to all of the normal things that go on in our house — Buddhist temple on Sundays, game nights with friends, book club, trips to the zoo — we have lots to look forward to this spring, including visits from BOTH uncles and a dear friend from NYC, Nigel's FOURTH birthday party and lots of festivals. Thanks for checking in on us!

Changes for the McDonald Gang

Some big changes are headed our way starting Monday: I'm going back to work full time!

The feast-or-famine cycle that my freelance business of three years was in was just too unpredictable. I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had and for my amazing clients, but it's time for a change. (My freelance business will live on, though, so please continue to keep me in mind if you know anyone who needs proofing, editing or writing assistance.)

I hunted for three weeks, had some face-to-face interviews and a few phoners, and was offered three jobs. When you ask Texas for a job, it delivers. I'm going to join a team of technical editors at a local, mid-sized law firm. I'm very excited, but anxious. Anxious to go back to an office (no more working in my PJs) and anxious to leave Nigel at a proper day care.

Many good things will come out of this change, though. For starters, we'll be able to financially recover from Tim's job loss last year, moving and having our RVA house on the market for more than a year. With that will also come the ability to travel more (read, take proper vacations!). And while Nigel's new day care might not offer all that his preschool did, it's a block from Tim's work. Tim's hoping to have off every other Friday so the two of them can do fun things together.

So does anyone have any working mom tips on how to keep the household from going to pot? Tips on making the most of our time together?

Friday Baking Backlog

I'm so lazy with blogging and downloading photos these days, so here's several weeks worth of baking....

Several weeks ago, Nigel and I made chocolate mousse from one of our standard kids' cookbooks. We beat 2 cups of heavy cream, melted 1 1/4 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips, and combined the cream and chocolate. The picture in the book showed the mousse in small coffee cups, so we put ours into our tiny ones from Ethiopia.

Speaking of Ethiopia, that same week I made Ethiopian black-eyed pea cakes from a kids' ethnic vegetarian cookbook. It was so simple:

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups dried black-eyed peas
1 sweet potato
1 onion, diced
small chili (optional; I used 1/2 of a seeded jalapeno)

Directions
Soak peas over night in water, covered. Drain away water and rub peas between your hands to loosen the skins. Cover the peas with water again and drain away the water and skins. Peel the sweet potato, cut it into pieces and boil until tender. Add the onion to a food processor and pulse. Do the same with the potato, peas and chili. (I had to do this in batches because it seems like my food processor was too small.) Flour a work surface. Make flat patties using 2 tablespoons of the bean mixture. Place the patties onto the floured surface (I turned them over once so each side would have flour). Fry in olive oil (I added a small bit of butter, too) until brown and flip to brown the other side. Eat immediately.

Conclusion
These cakes are pretty much bean burgers, sans bread or any other binder. Next time I'll add some salt, though. Tim suggested that they could be a good sandwich base... perhaps with bacon and avocado.

The following week, Nigel and I made Jello shapes. Or at least we attempted to. Being the non-baking person I am, I halved the mixture between 2 shallow dishes, making the Jello too thin for cookie cutters. No worries, though. Nigel still enjoyed stirring up the mixture and eating the jiggly goo.

The week after that, our dear friend Amy invited us over to make Halloween cookies with her son, James. The boys rolled out the dough, cut out the shapes and decorated the cookies. Yummy fun!

And finally, this week, Nigel and I made a lemon cake for Tim. My mom makes super delicious tiny lemon cakes during the holidays, so this was my lazy attempt to duplicate. Instead of lots of tiny cakes, Nigel and I made one loaf-shaped cake. Next, we created a glaze from powdered sugar, lemon juice and orange juice. Nigel liked rolling the lemons on the counter before I squeezed the juice.

What have you been baking?