Time for Charm School

"Women probably shouldn't get that big."

-WDB, to my 34-week-pregnant friend who was not moving her belly out of the way of "Toy Story" quickly enough

Summer Olympics 2024, Here We Come!

There is a young man in our house who has been obsessed, I mean obsessed, with tumbling, cartwheels, flips, headstands, handstands, and general gymnasticry. (You can look it up, but I'm pretty sure it's such a new word you won't find it on dictionary.com.) Our couch gets disassembled daily in order to make mats for softening the blows of intense practice. He hasn't shown much interest in many sports other than gymnastics, so we decided to go ahead and sign him up for classes at a local gymnastics academy for some beginning classes. And since whatever Will does Catie does, we signed her up too.

Those of you who know Will well know that he's not a patient boy. My procrastination paid off this time- I called last week and left a message at the gym, and they called back Monday to get the kids on the roster for Tuesday classes. I only had to listen to the incessant "How many more minutes until gymnastics?" question for fewer than 24 hours.

So they had their first classes today- Will's a Peridot and Catie's an Opal. Will really seemed pretty good, and really enjoyed himself even though he was the only boy in the entire gym and there were LOTS of classes going on. But he listened, followed directions, flipped around the bars, bounced on the trampoline well, and showed his teacher his cartwheels. Here he is in all his giddiness:

Catie has a little more work to do because her core doesn't seem to be quite strong enough (perhaps it's that buddha belly she's toting around?), but all in all she did very well. She was probably more excited about the leotard than the actual class-- our friends Olivia and Ava gave her two! Her first-day portrait:

And for good measure, and since they're so cute, here's the two of them together:

A Recipe (of Sorts)

1) Go to Costco and buy industrial-sized vats of Nutella. (They come in 2-packs, which you may think is overkill at first, but will soon realize they know what they're talking about.)

2) Get out yer container of peanut butter, smooth or crunchy. You decide. (Which, by the way, can be purchased in giganto-sized containers that are 46 ounces. Perfect for children who ask for peanut butter at breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner. And in between. And the mother who may or may not enjoy a peanut  butter spoon- a la Joey Tribiani's peanut butter fingers- on occasion...or more.)

** You may want to designate your own peanut butter and Nutella jars. Stay with me...you'll understand.

3) Standing at the kitchen counter, open both the peanut butter and the Nutella.

4) Take a large spoon out of your drawer. No little pansy spoons.

5) Dip your spoon into the peanut butter like you're getting your own peanut butter spoon. Don't be shy.

6) Dip the same peanut butter spoon into the Nutella, covering the peanut butter.

7) Start licking deliberately, getting Nutella and peanut butter in every lick. Take a second as you swirl it around your tongue. Yeah...that's what I'm talkin' 'bout. It's like the best peanut butter cup you've ever had.

8) If you've designated your own peanut butter and Nutella jars, go ahead and dip again. Double-dipping is no problem when it's your own spit! If you haven't, you'll probably end up making more spoons dirty. It's really about conservation here; it just makes sense to have your own jars.

No need to thank me.

* This recipe is gluten-free and vegetarian. :)

The Power of Advertising

This morning I was getting ready for Morning Latte*, setting out coffee cups and accoutrements for the coffee. I set out a little dish with some Splenda packets (for my friends who like that poison**) along with sugar, milk, and vanilla coffee syrup. Will came over to the counter, picked up one of the Splenda packets, and said, "I see you're having some zero-calorie sweetener!"

*I've mentioned this in previous posts, but seeing that it's been a looooong time since I've posted, I'll explain: I invite a bunch of friends with kids over for breakfast pastries (code for cake in the morning), coffee, and conversation. We then send the kids off to play whilst we eat, drink, and be merry. It's hard to be me.

**Have I mentioned that I'm definitely going back to school to study nutrition? I have an appointment with an academic advisor in the Food Science and Human Nutrition department of Iowa State next week. I will start with some core science classes at the local community college until Catie starts kindergarten in 2012. Then I can start taking all the upper-level science and nutrition classes at ISU. I am SO stoked!

New Beginning?

My mom started a blog (which you may or may not want to check out- http://www.iruninjeans.blogspot.com/ - she's a great writer and very funny when not writing about death) which prompted me to check out my old stomping grounds. I started reading and so enjoyed reminiscing about what the kids were up to A YEAR AGO. Seriously? It's been almost a year since I posted here? Anyway, it reminded me of what a great keeper of memories a blog is, even if people (other than our parents and sisters) don't read it.

So what I’m saying is I think I'm going to start again, but I think it might not totally be about the kids. I toyed with starting a whole new blog, but in all reality it’ll probably end up being MOSTLY about the kids, and why mess with a good thing anyway? I don't know...I'm not trying to get published. It's not like I have to state my thesis.

I do think I need to update my header. That old thing is from, what, over 2 years ago? The kids look a little different. Catie has (more) hair. Will (mostly) wears pants (just not always underwear). But of couse they're still super-cute. You can just imagine until you see my new header. Or check Facebook...where all of my blogging time has been directed and current pictures of the kids have been posted. (Ooh! Can I redirect my Facebook addiction to blogging? That would be nice.)