Week one - done, son!

Now that it is Monday morning and both kids have safely made it on the bus and to their school, I can officially say that we have survived our first week without Steve.

We survived and even managed to do fun things! Or things that I posed as fun to the kids, and they (luckily) bought.

Headed to the community park at the edge of town to throw rocks in the stream one day after school and tried to pretend that spring was here, despite the complete lack of leaves on the trees. (Seriously, that is starting to get to me.)

I didn't keep an exact count, but I know I can safely say that my kids were bathed more nights than they were not. Mostly because they are constantly filthy and I am never not a germaphobe.

Safe to say I showered quite a bit too as I am the resident napkin/tissue/chew toy.

I finally got it together and washed Sam's new shirt that the Easter Bunny brought. Officially his favorite article of clothing.

Willie and I went down to Fargo on Wednesday to grocery shop and exchange Molly's jellies (Easter Bunny guessed wrong on her size!) and hit up that Target Easter clearance. We also went to the Dollar Tree and dropped an Alexander Hamilton (that would be $10 - high rollers) on random art kits for Molly. When she is home with me and the forecast calls for cold, wet weather, Mama gets desperate. Not so desperate as to buy anything involving glitter, but I knew I'd need help to get her through a week that only contained one day of school.

Picked up these puzzles for them and they LOVE them. It probably helps that I've packed up most everything else so the puzzles and a few coloring books are the extent of the indoor entertainment around here. They really enjoy looking at the different states and pointing out Minnesota.

Wednesday was a busy day and I was feeling it by the end of the day. Very meh about having to cook dinner and bathe everyone and clean the kitchen. And by meh I do mean I wanted to completely protest being the only adult in the house. Just then, Monica swung by and delivered some brisket and homemade horseradish to us! BLESS HER. I gave the kids a piece of brisket, a string cheese, some strawberries, and (searching the cabinets....) saltines. For some reason, my kids love saltines. I had some leftover from the last time someone was sick and thought, what the heck, we need to eat these before we leave. Sam surveyed his plate and said, "Are we having a fancy dinner tonight?! Because this is a fancy dinner!" Well! Sure makin' saltines feel good because I doubt they've ever been dubbed fancy food before. I was also quickly reminded why we don't eat crackers on the regular because that is officially PICNIC FOOD since it seems to disintegrate almost completely before it ever enters my kids' mouths and litters the floor with little invisible crumbs everywhere.

the first completed Dollar Tree art project - a masterpiece, if I do say so myself

Thursday was wet and rainy and Molly did at least three of the Dollar Tree crafts I had gotten her. We spent the afternoon playing at a neighbor's house and visiting before heading home to make dinner and do baths.

Friday was beyooooooootifull and we spent most of the day outside.

barefoot even!

On Saturday morning, we did a couple of chores around the house before packing a lunch and heading to Bemidji to see Paul Bunyan. (Or as Molly cutely calls him, Tall Bunyan.)

My internet sleuthing let me know that there was a playground, lake, picnic tables, and visitor center there, as well as a cute downtown, so I thought, alright, we are set. We got there, bladders full, and made a beeline for the visitor center. IT WAS CLOSED. Only open Monday through Friday (?!?!?!?!!) and I think I felt my bladder actually become more full as I read the sign. We walked around the entire building thinking surely there must be an outdoor access potty.... nope.

The downtown was cute, but full of mom and pop shops, not the types to just let a random gaggle of kids and pregnant lady use their facilities. I spotted a Sears across the street and corralled everyone over there. We finally got there only to find out it was one of those automotive type Sears that only sells washing machines and lawn mowers. A nice man emerged from the back of the store as we walked in.
Man: "Oh! Hello! And how are ya doin' today?"
Me: "Fine, thank you. And you?"
Man: "Oh the sun's shining and I'm breathing so I guess I-"
Me: "That's amazing. We're actually from out of town and the visitor center across the street is closed and we REALLY HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM. Is there any chance you have a restroom we could use?!"
Man: "Aw, we don't have one but the furniture place here does. Right this way."
Me: "Omg BLESS YOU."

Not only was it a bathroom, but it was one of those massive walk-in handicap bathrooms that fits an entire stroller and small family. We thanked the man again while walking out and pretending to look at washing machines ("We're in the market for one, I swear. Maybe we'll even come back here..... yeah no we won't. Sorry. Thanks for the bathroom!!")

Fully relieved and ready for lunch, we had a nice, extremely windy picnic by the lake.

The kids couldn't eat fast enough before running over to the playground. It was a really nice playground and they definitely would have stayed and played all day had I let them.

Unfortunately, now that Will is constantly walking (slash crawling and becoming as filthy as humanly possible), my peaceful playground days of sitting and watching Sam and Molly run about with my stroller baby are over. It is a full-on workout. Once my old pregnant body couldn't take anymore, we made our way over to the lake to throw some rocks.

I am still so shocked every time I see a lake with clear water in it.

I knew we were approaching naptime, so we hit up a drive-thru for drinks (helloooooo, civilization! I love you!) and drove home. Everyone konked out hard and I resisted the urge to pull over and take (another) picture of the tiny Mississippi River. (It just BLOWS MY MIND every time, y'all.)

We got home and unloaded the trash from the car, and then reloaded everyone to go out to Monica's house. They had gotten some new baby chicks from the Tractor Supply and we were having a picnic.

Molly just could not get enough of the sweet chicks and repeatedly asked if we could get some too. Judging by how badly Will wanted to hold them by their wings, I politely declined.

I feel like we tried extra hard to soak up the sunshine and warm temps on Saturday because that night they were predicting snow....

And sho' nuff....

Will woke up for a banana at 5 freaking AM and then wanted to go right back to sleep. (curse words) I ended up going back to bed too, but Sam and Molly were up not long after. The benefit to these bigger children is that they are learning to do things themselves! I came out of my room to see that Sam had gotten himself a bowl of cereal!

Might not sound monumental, but it sure helps me out!

The day took a sad turn when I realized we were suddenly out of this "topping" as Molly calls it. I have been putting it on an English muffin with whipped cream cheese (Molly calls them Korean muffins for some reason and it always cracks me up) and I was not mentally prepared for that to be my last bagel-tasting muffin. Anyways, we will be back in the land of TJ's soon enough, I'm sure.

animal - LEAVE ME ALONE FOR THREE MINUTES PLZ

Will's absolute favorite activity lately is pulling every single book out of the bookcase. I'm not sure what sick joy he gets out of this, but it drives me crazy to see so much STUFF scattered about and then to see them all stepping on the books (as this is really the only play area in the house). So I did what any normal person would do and just went ahead and packed them up.

Aw, I ruined his fun

I gave Sam and Molly another Dollar Tree craft- painting their own piggy banks.

Kept them busy and quiet for a solid 20 minutes. Wish I could say the same for this one.

He's happy enough to scatter and smash Cheerios all over the floor though.

Unfortunately, Will smashed Molly's piggy bank right before bed, so it looks like another trip to Dollar Tree is in our future...

We did an "experiment" where we mixed together the remaining vegetable oil I had in the pantry, some food coloring, and water. Clearly I need to do more "science" at home with them, as this left them fascinated and exclaiming how awesome the experiment was.

They then played restaurant with the bottles and colored pencils (obviously the food) and made up their own little games around the house until it got closer to dinnertime. I caved around 4:30 and let them watch tv. I just couldn't anymore. The day had lasted so long and they had been so good. Will made a mess of himself at dinner and earned a bath. Then he brushed his teeth for a solid hour.

Up again at 5 this morning for a %@*&?! banana and is now napping while the big kids are at school. I'm not sure whether to start laundry or pack up the remaining books scattered about the floor. Decisions, decisions!!
Happy Monday!

Weekend recap - world's most original title for a blog post on a Tuesday

Another weekend in the books.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying 70+ degrees wherever they were. Minnesota is still firmly planted in winter territory though. Our mud yard has since frozen over and been snowed on. So that's nice. Preferable to mud, in my opinion. And the kids were overjoyed by the sight of fresh snow. Even though sitting out on the back deck grilling sounds really nice, I have to admit that the untouched snow in the morning light was really pretty on the way to church.

On Saturday evening, we were going to let the kids make their own personal pizzas and then camp out in the living room and watch a movie. When I finally got the dough all ready for them though, they had skedaddled across the street to play with the super cool second grader who likes to play basketball is basically Michael Jordan. So I made their pizzas for them and I think Will enjoyed it the most.

OMG all this food for meeeee????

After baths, they decided to watch a show about animals instead of a movie. Will crawled around and did his best to throw himself on top of anyone who looked too still.

He was put to bed at 7 and the big kids were allowed to stay up a little longer to watch their show. Steve and I got ready for bed and after the kids probably assumed we forgot about them (we did not- just enjoying the blissful silence!!). Sam popped in. "So how's it goin in here, guys?" I almost felt an ab form I laughed so hard. Even though nothing like that was going on, I couldn't help but picture the mom from Mean Girls.

Molly was not too thrilled about sleeping in the living room without us (despite sleeping in her bed without us every night), and then Sam crawled into our bed at some point to sleep with us and then Will woke up screaming for his banana and then everyone was awake and THIS IS WHY WE DON'T DO FUN THINGS WHERE IS THE COFFEE.

We rallied (aka made coffee) and went to church. Last Sunday before Lent! I can't believe it.

That afternoon we headed over to Rick and Monica's house, as per our usual Sunday afternoon activities. We walk around outside and hang out, cook dinner, watch the kids play, etc. Nothing photo-worthy apparently as I never take any pictures, outside of the dinner picture.

Poor Mav (front right) had just fallen off the bench (and took his plate down to the floor with him) so he was less than thrilled about cheesing for a photo.

On our way home, close to 7!!!

NOT PITCH BLACK!!! WINTER MIGHT BE ENDING SOMEDAY SOON!!!

I don't mind the temps so much, but all of the darkness really gives me the SADs (Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is basically me being sad about the lack of sunlight).

Apparently this is Dr Seuss Week at school so there is a different theme everyday for them to dress. Nothing too crazy. Monday was Pajama Day.

Today was Color Day and each grade had to wear a certain color. Sam's class had purple. Wtf. Luckily he had a Vikings hoodie I bought at the thrift store so I feel like that satisfied the purple.

Molly and I made bagels this morning since Casey sent us a bagel seasoning that I have been dying to try. I almost bought some store-made bagels but then decided against it. Molly loves making bagels so much.

Ugly as sin but delicious as all get out.

I just cannot stress how good this seasoning is. Perfectly salty and garlicky and just everything a bagel should taste like. Mmmmmmm....

Molly scattered her Valentine's flowers in the backyard for the deer. (To eat or to look at as they eat the berries off our trees, I'm not sure exactly which, but it's a nice thought.) Sam scattered some lettuce out there last night for them but it doesn't appear to have been touched.


Ash Wednesday is tomorrow and I think in place of giving something up, Steve and I are going to say a rosary together every night. I am already giving up wine thanks to pregnancy (the greatest "give up" of all in my boozy opinion) and since Steve has been eating clean, we don't have any sweets or anything like that in the house to give up. So I think doing instead of giving up will be a better solution to Lent this year. I have clearly not put enough brain power into thinking of what to do to make Lent more meaningful for the kids but maybe I can pull something out later this afternoon/evening. If you have any ideas, please feel free to let me know!

Let them eat cake

Or bagels. Any sort of a carb is bound to make just about anybody happy.

Molly and I set out to make bagels this morning. I realize that after living in NYC where bagels are so plentiful and delicious and cheap and readily available, that I have become somewhat spoiled when it comes to bagels and how they should taste. Store bought bagels can do in a pinch, but I don't really want to waste the calories, money, or time on something that's just "meh." And it may or may not be obvious, but there are not a lot of bagel options here in the middle of nowhere, Minnesota.

I used to be terrified of baking breads and using yeast. It just seemed so hard and the people that did it were much more Laura Ingalls Wilder than me. My mom even gave me a cookbook signed by Sister Schubert herself, reminding me to "be gentle when touching bread." I think the first time I made any sort of dough was while we were in Korea and I wanted to make "normal" pizza. Korean pizza is delicious but is covered in odd things like corn and sometimes there is green crust and interesting sauce. I loved it and still miss it, but while we were there, I missed good ol' American pizza every now and again. So my friend Kelly gave me her foolproof recipe for pizza dough. Having success with that was enough to bolster my spirits into thinking I could make anything, so I made bread, and then a really delicious cake (that is still in heavy rotation today), and even English muffins.

Once we moved to NY, I had no real reason to make any of that anymore. It was all quicker and easier to buy fresh bread from any of the many bakeries scattered throughout the city. So I was slightly out of practice and the thought of bagels was a little intimidating. But what was there to lose? Three cups of flour and a packet of yeast?

The recipe was easy enough though, and we came out with eight bagels! I followed the recipe from Jellibean Journals. (Hint: I'm a sucker for anything labeled "the best". I can't tell you how many of "the best" chocolate cake recipes I had to try before finding the actual best one. A burden my hips still gladly bear. Heh.)

Molly helped me measure and mix and we were left with a lovely smelling fresh dough ball. We let it rise for an hour, and I think Molly might have snuck a taste in at this point.

After the dough had risen, Molly punched it down and we separated it into eight dough balls.

Hair nets are on my "to buy" list.

We rolled and stuck our thumbs through the centers and made little bagels.

Next, we boiled a big pot of water and let the bagels sit in the water for a minute on each side. Then we scooped them out and stuck them on a greased pan.

Terrible photos courtesy of the fact that I was trying to get this done quickly because BAGELS.

Garlic bagels were always Molly's and my favorite in NY, so we did a quick egg wash and put some minced garlic on top of each one.

YUM

After this, they went straight into the oven.

The smell was almost too much to handle, waiting for those suckers to finish baking.

The face of approval

Y'all. These were so so good. They were soft and the texture was perfect. Not too chewy.

Do yourself a favor and only buy whipped cream cheese to put on top of these!! I foresee myself making another few batches very very soon; maybe a few different toppings or just plain (Sam's personal favorite). If your new year's resolution doesn't involve eating good food, well, I think you might be missing out.