5 posts tagged “fun”
Okay, so I totally backslid on my weightloss goals during the holidays. Make that, "ate myself to oblivion more times than I can count" and it would be more accurate. Anyway, when I get back to my pre-holiday low and start up my serious weight-loss efforts again, I'll let you know.
In the meantime, as of today, it should be easier to cut out sweets.
Today was really the Last Day in celebration of the Birthday That Never Ended. Cake; cookies; frosting; done. Finito, as of today.
Eldest Son turned 7.
It started on Jan. 2 while we were still up north at my parents' place for Christmas break. They gave him their presents then since they weren't planning on coming down here for the actual event. Then on Jan. 6 he got to be Child of the Day in Sunday School (for which I sent birthday cookies complete with home-made frosting). Also on that day we gave him our presents; we had been going to Grandma's for a family birthday gig, but Grandma had come down sick during the night so it was postponed. We gave him our presents as a sort of consolation prize for missing out on Grandma's house. (My husband's parents, not mine. They live 10 minutes away, mine live 4 hours away...)
Then the next morning, Jan. 7, his first day back at school and his actual birthday, he got to be like King For A Day in the classroom and I sent MORE frosted birthday cookies for his classmates to nosh on.
On Wednesday at our church buffet dinner, everyone sang Happy Birthday to him (as is our usual custom, to sing Happy Birthday to whoever had a birthday in the preceding week).
Yesterday we had his kid birthday party with select first-grade guests at Jungle Java, a new local attraction featuring a fantabulous indoor playpark (think ginormous McDonald's Playplace, multiplied by 10 or so) and -- you guessed it -- Starbucks-style java & healthy snacks for the mommies.
That was a big hit, and now Precious Princess and Littlest Brother are requesting that their next joint birthday party (because their birthdays are only 3 days apart from each other) be held there too.
So I made a cake with home-made frosting to take there -- the only food you are allowed to bring in, birthday cake when you book a party. Everything else, you have to buy theirs. It's not especially cheap. But, it is high-quality nutritious food (not a french-fry in sight), so it's close to being worth the high prices.
FINALLY, today we had the much-anticipated Grandma's Birthday Bash with MORE birthday cake and MORE frosted birthday cookies. My two nephews who also have January birthdays were present as well and their mom brought the cake.
I helped her frost the cake (train cars -- fancy) , and happened to snitch some extra frosting while nobody was looking.
DANG that frosting anyway!!!
Frosting is, like, nature's perfect food.
DANG it !!!
But, after today, I do not foresee any more frosting in my life until April, when Precious Princess and Littlest Brother turn 5 and 3, respectively. Also during that time will be Lent, and I have often before and will probably again swear off desserts during Lent.
So that'll help.
See, my main source of willpower for weightloss is, not to have it (whatever IT is -- the verboten food) within reach. If it's handy, I probably will eat it. So, don't MAKE any more cookies, or cake, or frosting, and I won't eat it. Problem solved.
I do want to reach my target weight this year.
Get thee behind me, frosting!!!
Precious Princess has started taking a little soccer class for 4's and 5's this week. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6:30 - 7:15, behind our local Rec Center.
She did a little Tiny Tot Soccer last year for three-year-olds and loved it. She was really good at it, a natural. In their little scrimmages, once she got the ball, she was off to the opposing goal, all the other kids yards behind her, her little pony-tail bouncing as she ran.
But after having done the Tiny Tot Soccer for her last year, and for Eldest Son 2 years before that (he didn't take to it), I kind of decided to look elsewhere this year. I almost can't articulate why, and even when I do, my reasons seem so vague and tenuous. It seemed too... I dunno, too... hectic? Frantic? Uneven? Competitive? Saturday morning and a 20-minute drive away? I dunno, bits of all of the above.
So anyway, I decided to try the Rec Center's program this year, not least because we can walk to it, and it's not on Saturday morning. Also because it doesn't require parent coaches, and seemed like it would be less competitive and generally more laid-back. And thus it has proven to be. Yay.
She still loves it. She revs up for half an hour before it's even time to leave, scampering through the house, getting her own socks and shin guards and shoes on, finding her soccer shirt and getting it on, all the while popping off little sparkling comments, like, "Oh, it's almost soccer time! Oh boy, I can't wait! Oooh! It's almost time for soccer!!"
And she's still good at it. They don't have games per se, pitting two little teams against each other, but they have what they call "games", wherein the kids all start at one goal, and they each have to kick a ball all the way down the (full-size) field to the other goal, where a coach stands, pretending to be a goalie. Then they get to make a goal. Then they turn around and head the other way. They do this three or four times in a row, then they get a water break, and they do some little stretches and some little ball-handling drills, and then they do another three or four run-down-the-field "games."
And every time they do this, Precious Princess leads the pack. She's always the first one to the far goal, by a long shot. She just has a natural knack for keeping up with her ball, for kicking it without tripping and without breaking stride, and for generally being able to steer it in the direction she wants to go.
She loves the running. And the kicking. And, well, that being the case, what's not to love about soccer?
Bowl of Cherries!
More scenes from vacation:
(By the way, for those who aren't family members, that's not their dad, that's their uncle, my brother Tom.)
(Just so I don't give you an unrealistic view of our recent vacation, bear in mind that I did NOT photograph the tantrums, the fights, the whining, the sleep deprivation, the almost-drowning, the bug bites, etc. <<== All of those refer to the kids, by the way. The adults were pretty well-behaved! ;-) )
New camera, new camera!! Took me a while to install the download software on my computer, etc. Also, we were on vacation with (believe it or not) limited internet access.
Scenes from the first 4th of July weekend, at The Cottage:
It's Birthday Party Eve around here.
Precious Princess and Littlest Brother turned 4 and 2, respectively, this week, and tomorrow is their joint birthday party. Let's see, starting yesterday, I...
- Did the grocery shopping,
- Made the corn salad,
- Cut oodles of fruit for the fruit salad,
- Made and frosted sugar cookies (to take to our Moms' Group today, for all their little buddies there -- Precious Princess requested cookies instead of cupcakes, which had been my first thought),
- Made scads and scads of homemade frosting (not just for the cookies, but also for the two cakes -- yes, they each get their own cake tomorrow)
- Baked 2 cakes.
Whew!
Dear Husband is in the kitchen even now, whipping up mountains of the Family Heirloom Macaroni Salad without which no social gathering involving him is complete.
Before I go to sleep, which will be soon, I must...
- Wrap presents
When I get up tomorrow morning, I must...
- IMMEDIATELY take the frosting out of the fridge so it can soften -- I really don't want to resort to the microwave, it's just so easy to go too far,
- Do final tidy-up while Daddy takes all the little urchins with him to the balloon store to pick up our order,
- Mix up the hot tortilla-chip dip and put it in the LITTLE crockpot to heat up -- the one we've never used before; I'm DETERMINED to use it after it has been taking up space in our none-too-ample closet/cupboard space for years,
- Turn out the rectangular cake onto a wooden board, cut and scupt it into the shape of a police car, frost it, and use decorator icing to color in the black parts and draw the police-woman (this is to be Precious Princess's cake; her own idea, and she's stuck to her guns: a police-car is what she wants),
- Turn out the first layer of the round cake onto another wooden board, cover it with frosting, turn out the second layer on top, frost the entire thing, and pipe on the little red seams to make it into a baseball,
- Then frantically scurry around setting everything out on serving plates and bowls and platters,
AND...
- Smile when the first guests arrive!
Wish me luck!
