Valentine's, Obama-esque

Valentine's Day Food
in Verse

Our hearts may be weighed down
with guilt,
Clouded by
nutritional facts
and scientific medical advice.
But when we ask ourselves

"Can I have another piece of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake"

The spirit within us responds,

"Yes, I can"


When our children cry out
because their stomachs yearn
for more than
broccoli and whole-grain pasta
and in a final cry of desperation they sob

"Can't I have more red Jello?"

We comfort them and say

"Yes, you can"

And when we find
chocolate-covered bacon
for sale at the farmer's market,
and cynicism and doubt begin to
tell us that we can't do this,

Without any hesitation we can
lay down a few dollars and say
These three simple words


"Yes, we can"

"Yes, we can"

"Yes, we can"

Happy Birthday to Me!

I'm 30, folks.
Lindsay invited me for birthday lunch...oOooO, so good. She made home-made bagels (yes, bagels!) served with cream cheese for the moment I arrived, then an hour later she created these scrumptious little hand made pizzas and yummy ice cream sandwiches with b-day candles stuck in the ice cream. Our five kids were having a great time in her basement, so good that we had an amazing heart-to-heart chat for a good 45 minutes, before we finally went downstairs to see what they were up to! It was as good as going out to lunch by ourselves! So nice. Thanks Lindsay for the love.
Later, a few friends popped by to wish me the best, it's always fun to have company. I got some great emails and e-cards (my sister-in-law even dedicated a post to me on her blog!) and you gotta love all the phone calls and Happy Birthday songs sung from miles away. Thanks to you all!!
My dear husband gave me some new work-out clothes (desperately needed!) so I headed to the YMCA for an hour and felt stylish while I exercised. Mike picked up some Chinese on his way home from work, gotta love Chinese food, and once he gets Quinn asleep we're going to get two spoons and go to town on some Cold Stone Creamery that Ben & Nina dropped by (too good!).

Here's a snap shot of us on the couch right before we put the kids to bed tonight.
Let the year of 30 begin! I'm excited!!

Bump, bruise, Owwww!

No trip would be complete with out some sort of mishap, right? While in Milwaukee last weekend Quinn took a spill on the escalator at Mayfair Mall. He said he wanted to play on it, so I did what any good parent would do, I let him. Bad, bad Mom. We stopped by Walgreens and Mike glued him together with newly purchased steri-strips. His nose has gone through various shades of green and blue, quite a bit of swelling and some soreness. Bad, Molly! Bad, bad Molly!
It's been 6 days since the fall and we're planning on removing the steri-strip tomorrow. Look closely and you'll see the tiny cut and hopefully (cross your fingers for Quinn!) the tiny scar.
Why couldn't he have fallen on his armpit instead of his face??! Poor guy.

Bait

This morning, I wanted to make spiced applesauce bread and tapioca. Tasty combo, right? BUT, the kids were up and movin' and everyone knows that if Mama is trying to do something, suddenly the kids need your total and undivided attention!
So, I needed a plan (creamy, warm, smooth tapioca, I'm coming!). I call my plan, "laying the bait". It's worked several times in the past, and I'm happy to say that it caught my children again this a.m. I find a bunch of books that the kids haven't seen in a few days/weeks and place them in key places where they are sure to attract attention. Then I tell the kids to go check out what's on the couch and the ottoman. They scamper to the front room and are instantly seized by what they see. I ask you, what person could go into a room peppered with fantastic, exciting, colorful books and not stop to just take one little peek?!
35 minutes later, I was eating warm bread in the kitchen alone. Ahhh. What a plan. :)

Milwaukee, dear Milwaukee!

We went on a weekend trip, yeah! Mike attended Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and it's been almost two years since his graduation, so we were overdue for a visit back to our old home. My heart strings are tied to Milwaukee for many reasons, and when we got into the van to drive to WI, I was like a little kid, so excited for our road trip!

The kids loved the hotel, as you can see from the pictures. They turned those lamps on and off and off and on, they checked out the bathroom and the little bars of soap multiple times, Quinn opened the drapes and then shut them, and then opened them again. Quinn quickly taught Max & Mae how to leap from one double bed to the other, they looked like little flying monkeys. Mae & Max had a blast putting their stuffed animals into a drawer, closing the drawer and then squealing with delight when they opened the drawer and saw their brown dog and pink bunny waiting for them.



This was our first "long" trip in the van (5 hours) and the kids were awesome. We listened and sang to all our children's CDs, I sat in the front seat and read Winnie the Pooh and lots of Eric Carle books, we threw animal crackers to each other (Mike and I keep talking about rigging up a little pulley-system with a small bucket on the end, so we can ferry Q's and Max's treats to the way back of the van) and played many a game of I Spy.

Places we hit while in Milwaukee: Friday night dinner & dessert at Kopp's Frozen Custard. Oh, my. I am such an ice cream lover and frozen custard is like 10 times better than ice cream. We visited with our good friends, Linda & Jim, Saturday morning and spent Saturday afternoon at Betty Brinn Children's Museum right on the lake front. Gorgeous views of Lake Michigan from the museum and Betty Brinn is such a fun place to hang out! We stopped by Mayfair Mall Saturday night, I know it may sound tacky to go to the mall when you're on vacation, but some of my favorite stores are in that mall. Brighton and Pottery Barn Kids! Church was 9am in the old Milwaukee 1st ward and though much has changed, there were still quite a few faces I recognized and it was very fun to say hello. We headed home around 1:30pm, first driving past our old apartment on the border of Wauwatosa and saying hello to our upstairs neighbor, and finally pulled into our driveway at 6:15pm.

There were more sights we saw and more things we did, but I love Milwaukee so that I could keep you here all night. I'm thinking about going back next weekend!