Yesterday's episode is late because I fell asleep shortly after Rob left to go back to work at 9 PM. The kids went down for bed, Rob had to go stand overnight watch, and I had planned on an evening of movies and knitting. Well, no sooner did I sit down than I was dreaming, and I didn't wake up until some hair regrowth informercial started blaring from my TV at 0400. I'm covered in hives, my hands and knees are huge and swollen, my eyes are bleary... and here I am, looking so pretty just for you.
Friday was a day full of futile pursuits. I nearly - but not quite - ruined my perfect record for the week of getting the kids to school on time. I woke up late this morning, with just ten minutes before Chloë had to be on the bus. We raced into some clothes and shoes and shot down to the corner just in time. Then I went back to sleep on the couch, after being up until at least 4 AM the night before because... I'm like that.
But then, I woke up five minutes after Jack's bus normally stops at our house, and I ran to the front door just in time to see it returning in the opposite direction from which it came. Gah. Jack was ready to go, so I had him go wake up his sister, and we jumped in the van to head to his school. We were there fifteen minutes before his bus arrived and had to wait for his teacher to come out and get him, but he was on time! We made it. Whew.
So Soap and I headed home for breakfast, some piddling around, and a shower. She had her usual 18 bananas for breakfast. Girl can eat some nanner.
We headed to the Navy base clinic so I could see about getting my shots for the trip to Europe. I have a long list I need to get, because I was never vaccinated against anything in childhood. I did get a tetanus shot in college after a particularly nasty sunburn, and I had to get the MMR for grad school, but that's all I've had. So we picked up my medical record and went to Immunizations.
After waiting an eternity, during which Sophia "read" every book in the waiting room about five times each (which consisted of her flipping through the book and saying, "Once upon a time, {mumble, mumble, mumble}, The End!"), we were taken to the back. I was given the third degree about why I wanted these shots, where was my shot record, why haven't I received them before, who told me I needed these, blah blah blah. Finally, I was told there was a special travel clinic at the Naval hospital in Portsmouth, and I needed to go there to get my shots. UGH! Why not just tell me that in the first place?
We managed to get home just three minutes before Jack's bus arrived, thank goodness. I had forgotten my cell phone and had no way to ask the neighbors to watch for them in case we were late. I timed myself to make sure we left with plenty of time to get home, but there was a big accident on the return. Anyway, we made it.
I buckled Jack in, and our next stop was to the bank to see about exchanging some money into Euros for the trip. I know it's a bit early, but I wanted to find out about doing that, and getting traveler's cheques, with plenty of time to keep an eye on the exchange rates. The man I entered with was particularly chivalrous about holding the doors open for me and the Littles, and then letting me go first in line, and he was amused about their antics during the long wait. Not so much, I. They, like most kids, have this instant attraction to the containment rope-thingies; fortunately, for once, they didn't knock any down.
Well, I didn't get any Euros. Turns out you can only get them at the airport nowadays, not at the bank. After waiting so long and stressing about the time in order to get back for Chloë (shoulda left her a note! She can read now, after all!), I completely forgot to ask about the cheques. Oh well, there's plenty of time.
Turns out Chloë's bus was late, and we beat her home by a few minutes as well. In fact, I turned the car around and drove to her bus stop to wait at least five minutes before they showed up. She was very surprised to find me there waiting like that, and the fifth graders were so sweet in helping her across the street safely. Our fifth graders are all Safety Patrol members, so I guess it's just second nature to them to help the small fry.
Off we went for our weekly trip down to the Farmer's Market. On the way there, I remembered a radio commercial I'd heard for birthday parties at the Hunt Club Farm, so I asked Chloë where she might want to have her 7th birthday party. It's her "golden" birthday, which we may or may not make a big deal of. Have you heard of this, this "golden" birthday business? I never did until a couple of years ago, and Rob never did until today. Apparently it's a big deal to turn the age of your birth date, and Chloë will be 7 on the 7th this year, so... this is it. I don't know exactly what one is supposed to do, so we shall see.
Well, after I asked her, her response was, "Hmm, why don't we go to China for my birthday?" Ahahaha! China! Yes, that's exactly what we'll do, we'll all hop a jet to China for a 7th birthday in lavish style. Yes, yes.
After informing her that this was not going to come to pass, she decided she might like Build-a-Bear instead. And then for her eighth, Gymboree. (Huh? Too old, dear.) And then for her ninth... "Wait a minute! We're not even going to be here for your ninth birthday, my love, and aren't we getting a wee bit ahead of ourselves?" I laughed.
Down at the Market, I parked across from Uncle Chuck the Fishmonger's shack, and there was no sign of the always-charming Uncle Chuck. Instead, there was Young Niece So-and-So. "Where's Uncle Chuck?" I asked. I guess he had the nerve to go on vacation! I looked at the menu of goodies for this week and picked out eight very nice-looking crabby patties, a pound of ocean scallops for moi, and a bag of littleneck clams for the Bob. Yum.
We packed our fishies into the van and then headed to our favorite produce stand. The kids kept calling out what they wanted. "Apples! Watermelon! Strawberries!" So we picked out each of those, along with more red new potatoes and some delicious-looking sugar snaps. "What are those?" Jack asked. "Beans," the man told him. "What's inside there? Peas?" Chloë wanted to know. Yes. Inside beans are peas. That's how it works! Everything looked so fresh and inviting, I couldn't wait to get home and cook up some grub.
Daddy was home when we arrived, a little early because of having to go back in just a few hours. Yay! After seven-plus years, it's still always a thrill to see his car in the driveway when I come home. He came out and helped unbuckle kids and carry in our packages, and smooched the wife. Everyone was in a great mood, and we were all salivating over the fresh food.
While the huge crab cakes cooked up in some EVOO, the children dove into their apples. Really crisp, sweet apples at that stand. So good. But when the crab cakes were finished a few minutes later, the girls quickly abandoned their fruit in favor of the jumbo lump goodness. Jack had no interest in the crab cakes, as usual, so he just danced around shout-singing, "Strawberry Shortcake! Strawberry Shortcake! I want Strawberry Shortcake! Strawberry Shortcake!" over and over and over.
We gave Chloë her own crabcake, and she ate about a quarter of it before passing it to the two of us. Not because she didn't love it - she did - but she is teeny-tiny and has an appetite to match!
With Sophia, we just fed her off our plates, and we should have given her the whole patty. She ate at least that much and loved every bit of it. Oh well, we'll figure our kids out eventually!
After we finished the crab cakes, I set to work hulling the strawberries. I bought three quarts instead of two this time, because it looks like they are already starting to turn, and I wanted to get in as much as I could before then. I'll have to buy them from the grocery soon. Rats. I could barely keep any cut-up strawberries in the bowl for the kids to eat; they ate almost the entire quart without blinking. I had to sneakily pop a few in my own mouth to get any, and I think Robert was lucky enough to score one, too!
The second and third quarts, I sliced up and sugared for the strawberry shortcake. The kids, especially Jack, were going gonzo thinking about that! We decided apples, strawberries and crab were enough for dinner, so we popped in the special movie I ordered for them from Netflix to give the strawberry syrup time to set up.
While Rob was setting up the movie, the kids were in a silly-goose mood! Jack finally attempted one of the sugar snaps, although he didn't end up actually eating it. The girls and we ate a bunch of them raw, though. They were so sweet and tasty!
You can see Sophia is starting to tower over her older bro!
Modeling her sunglasses from the Dollar Tree photo shoot (the ad comes out on Sunday - don't forget to pick one up and look for Sophie!) and remembering to pose with her hands on hips, Sopapilla looks exactly like what her shirt says - Cute.
What sibling rivalry??
Chloë's turn to be in the middle - but Sophia has to pull all those curls up out of the way and mars the picture!
We watched Bee Movie, the Jerry Seinfeld-created flick, together as a family. Eh, it was entertaining enough. The kids sat through it for the most part, especially Chlo. Sophia came over to me and admitted to being tired and wanting to go to bed at some point during the movie, and I asked Daddy to bring her upstairs, but then she started sobbing about her strawberry shortcake. Poor baby, torn between sleep and food. In the end, Daddy just cuddled her on the couch until it was time for yummies.
Sophia contemplates the enormous dessert I set in front of her. She doesn't even know where to begin! Normally I only give them half a shortcake, with half as much strawberries and cream, but they were so antsy about it tonight, I thought I'd let them go to town. And they sure did! But none of them finished, so back to halvesies it is.
Jack kept wanting more whipped cream on his, so Daddy got silly and decided to pour it directly into his mouth. We all thought this was pretty hilarious - especially the greedy boy!
Good times. Good times.
Right after that, the kids went to bed and Rob left for work. But now it's 0534 on Saturday morning, and he should be on his way home anytime now! I can't wait to see him walk in the door, looking all cute in uniform.
{Confidential to Stephanie-Canada: You're in my prayers, dear! I can't wait until you return...}
Until tonight, my dears.
Fin.
Er, not exactly good looking. Rob snapped this picture of me fresh off the couch from napping, bra-free and everything, as I set to work cooking dinner. Normally I don't share pictures of myself, but I felt like throwing caution to the wind tonight.
Sophia in happy anticipation of being fed dinner - is it bad luck to wear a raincoat indoors?
So what do we have? First, some of the new potatoes are set to boilin'.
Rob's littleneck clams in water and a little bit of butter
My sea scallops sautéing in just a little bit of butter and their own juices
Every single clam opened up from the 50-count bag! Usually we get a few duds. There were two more plates full after this. I wanted to give my Bob a clam feast tonight.
The girls (or Jack, natch) wouldn't try a single little bite of my scallops. Too bad for them; they were cooked to perfection and tasted absolutely wonderful dipped in a small bowl of butter. Yum. (Obviously my goal was not plated artistry here.)
Such a huge mound of clams, and not a single pearl. Chloë checked.
The baby red potatoes were cooked to just the right degree and tasted faboo with some butter and sea salt.
A little something to wash it all down with. This was a little bit too drinkable, because I quickly chugged down two glasses and then went upstairs, took a shower, brushed my teeth, and ralphed up my entire dinner, clogging up the sink and forcing Rob to use a wrench, a plunger, and... aren't you glad I didn't take a picture of all that?
And finally, the Dollar Tree ad is finally out! Did you get it in your Sunday paper today? Look and see and let me know if Sophia's in your paper, too - I want to know if it's national or what! Sophie's the middle child here, with pink glasses on. You can tell the bathing suit is too small, but apparently they didn't care! I thought there were going to be a couple more pictures of her in it, but hey, at least she got paid a little sumpin (Jackspeak) for her college account! And does she not just have the cutest little thighs? Oh, so squeezy; I just love them.
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