Mother's Day Cookbook 2011

Here are the recipes from the cookbook created by Makenna’s classmates for their moms:

Potatoes - (Ingredients: Potatoes, Rice, Spoon)

Instructions - Mash potatoes in the sun and let them dry. Make them hot by putting them in the microwave for 30 seconds. Eat them with rice and a spoon.

My Comments: In my opinion, putting them in the sun to dry would mean that you only have potatoes in Binghamton about three times a year. Also, does that mean I have to stop using my fingers to eat mashed potatoes or is it optional?
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Spaghetti and Meatballs - (Ingredients: Sugar, Sauce, Salt, Vinegar, Long Noodles, Water)

Instructions: Mix sugar, sauce, salt, and vinegar all together. Put meatballs in a pot on the stove for 15 hours and 10 minutes. Put long noodles in a pot with water for 2 hours and 1 minute. You can buy everything at Wegman’s.

My Comments: Even though I'm a bit skeptical about the vinegar, I really am impressed with the exactness of time to cook the sauce and spaghetti.
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Chicken - (Ingredients: Chicken, Secret Spice)

Instructions: Cut the chicken into 2 pieces. Put it in the refrigerator for 2 minutes. Cook it in the oven for 8 minutes at 1 million degrees. Don't know the spice, but it is spicy on my tongue except for dad. Serves Grandpa, Dad, Brother, Me.

My Comments: Wondering what the 2 minutes in the 'fridge does to help but willing to try, it's only 2 minutes. Wondering where I can get a stove that goes as high as a million degrees as I could cook things so much quicker. Also, knowing that the parents for this child are Asian, I can only think of "Ancient Chinese Secret" when it comes to doing laundry (for those of you old enough to remember that commercial,) and wondering if
It’s the same stuff they use for their chicken, as it's only two pieces of chicken feeding at least 4.
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Ketchup and Noodles - (Ingredients: 12 boxes of Elbow Noodles, Butter, Ketchup, Cheese)

Instructions: Buy 12 boxes of Elbow noodles from Wegman’s. Put them in a pot and mix with hot water and butter for 10 minutes at 150 degrees. Pour them into a bowl with holes in it. Add Cheese.

My Comments: I'm impressed that it only takes 10 minutes at 150 degrees to cook 12 boxes whereas the other kid needed an oven with a million degrees. Also, I'm guessing that the ketchup is a personal preference as it's not in the instructions and frankly, I'm glad as I don't know if I'd make this recipe if I had to actually use the ketchup on the noodles.
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Beef Soup - (Ingredients: Chicken, Water, Carrots, Beef Soup)

Instructions: Put the beef soup in the pot. Take the chicken from the fridge and put in microwave for 4 minutes. Put in pot and add water. Cook for the length of a movie. Add round carrots.

My Comments: Interested in why it's called Beef Soup when chicken is added? Like how this child's cooking time is based on the length of a movie, but also feel that depending on the movie, say for instance, "Gone With The Wind, it may be overdone.
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Grilled Cheese - (Ingredients: Cheddar Cheese, Brown Bread)

Instructions: Put cheddar cheese inside bread, put on stove for one second, keep crust on, no cutting.

My Comments: Like how this child knows what kind of cheese and what kind of bread, but I find it a bit of a waste of time to put it on the stove for one second, but that's me. Also, I'm glad I was told about the crust and cutting as I always wonder about that. Now I know.
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Bacon - (Ingredients: Bacon)

Instructions: Buy bacon from Wal-Mart. Put 5 pieces on a paper towel. Put in the microwave for 3 hours.

My Comments: Now this is why I don't buy bacon. One, I typically don't buy my food at Wal-Mart (but part of that is just because it's too far away,) and also, who's got the time to wait 3 hours for bacon?
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Macaroni & Cheese with Balls - (Ingredients: Macaroni, Orange Cheese, Little Balls, Water)

Instructions: Mom goes to Wegman’s while I go to kidsplace and play. She buys macaroni and cheese with the little balls. Bring it home, pour water in it and put in microwave for 15 seconds. Add orange cheese then blow on it because it is hot!

My Comments: Well, besides the fact that I know she meant "little bowl" not "little balls" - I guess I need to explain that putting it in the microwave for 15 seconds will give her hard wet noodles. But for the rest of the instructions...she's right on the money...even down to the cheese. What the heck do you call that cheese besides "orange?"
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Pizza - (Ingredients: Onion, Tomatoes, Beef, Pepperoni)

Instructions: Buy round pizza at a bakery store and bring it home. Put in downstairs freezer. Take out and put in microwave for 10 hours on high power. Ingredients are already on it. Have Dad cut into pieces.

My Comments: Now, I'm really confused...why put it in the freezer to just take it back out? Where are these kids getting these appliances? A microwave put on high power for 10 hours to cook a pizza? Maybe she also needs the million-degree oven. Like how she also got dad involved in the cooking process.
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French Fries and Ketchup - (Ingredients: Potatoes, Tomatoes)

Instructions: Get potatoes from store or garden and take the skins off. Throw the skins away. Cut potatoes into 7 pieces. Place on tray. Put in oven for 10 minutes on 0 degrees. Smoosh tomatoes to make ketchup, serve cold.

My Comments: Wow, first, love how the ingredients rhyme. Next, now I finally know what to do with the mountain of skins I have in the pantry. Yet again, another appliance issue, but I'm glad that we serve it cold as it was in the oven for 10 minutes at 0 degrees. Or is it the homemade ketchup that's served cold? Oh crap, now I'm confused.
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Thai Food - (Ingredients: Thai Food)
Instructions: Pick it up from the restaurant.

My Comments: My favorite recipe by far! I think I can do this one!
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I absolutely loved this idea from her teachers. I will hopefully always be able to treasure and keep this and refer to it to be a better cook.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day this year was fantabulous! Why you ask? I had a day to myself. Most moms may say that they enjoyed spending time with their family and doing things with their kids. For the most part, I do enjoy days like that, but I seem to have many days of Makenna and myself going and doing things. This was a day where she could spend time with daddy and I could have time to myself to do....NOTHING! Well, as much of nothing as I could stand. I still did dishes, laundry, take care of the dogs, and make homemade granola. Plus go to dinner alone with my mom, and get some shopping done.

Mother's Day for me started on Friday (5/6) when I dropped off Makenna at school and got this cute little bag that was colored by Makenna and in it was a "cookbook" made by the kids, and a pot-holder that she had colored. Plus a cute little baby food jar that was cutely decorated and had flowers in it. I loved the jar and the cookbook. I'll have to make another post about the cookbook alone as it was absolutely hilarious. It was kids telling the recipes of how their mom's cook their favorite foods.

Then later in the day I came back to school for her afternoon UPK class and we got massages by the kids...which for me was dangerous because when I give Makenna massages I lightly rub her back under her shirt...so she tried to do the same. Needless to say, I didn't want my shirt pulled up. We also made bracelets and decorated jewelry boxes. Then we had a story and a dessert. I left during the movie time as I needed to get her registered for Summer camp and pick up a few things at the store. She was upset I left and I felt bad but I really needed to do these things without worrying about her disappearing.

On Saturday, Chris had to take his parents down to NJ to go on a cruise ship that he had arranged for them for their 50th wedding anniversary. I said to him, "You know what would be a great mother's day gift?...If you took Makenna with you!" He didn't think it was such a great idea at first as he was concerned about the bathroom situation. I told him that she could pretty much go on her own, and prefers to, but that hopefully he could find single bathrooms. In the end he decided to take her and I had the day to myself. Besides all the other things I listed, I watched a lot of TV without having to fight to watch what I wanted. We have a DVR that's pretty much 100% full as I only get a chance at night to watch things off of it and most nights I'm trying to watch other things that are actually on at that time. So even though I got it down to 80% full, as of last night it was almost back up to 100%. Hopefully summer will have a lot of re-runs and I can catch up on some of these shows!

Plus, I thought it was a good idea for Chris and Makenna to spend time together. I hope that they'll always have a close relationship and it means a lot to me to watch her do things with her daddy. I didn't really have an opportunity growing up to do a lot of things with my dad and I want Makenna to have that with her dad.

Chris thought that he might take her over to the Statue of Liberty, and that kind of made me pause for a moment about going too, but then I really wanted a day to myself more. Also, the dogs just got spayed/neutered last week so they couldn't really be alone for very long.

He decided to just go to some Science Center that was nearby but obviously they still got to "see" the statue from a distance as you can see by the pictures:



Then on Sunday, Mother's Day, Chris took Makenna outside to mow with him. She loves sitting on his lap with her ear mufflers (I can't think of the word I want...things to cover her ears to protect them from noise), and go around on the lawn tractor to mow. This gave me more time inside to myself to watch more shows and relax. They then got into a squirt gun fight and she loved being soaked. When I came out to gripe how it was a bit on the chilly side to be getting her head wet, Chris proceeded to squirt me. Of course Makenna found this hilarious. She keeps asking to play "squirters" now.

Then of course it ended with a dinner cooked by Chris. Steak (grilled,) potatoes (microwaved) and corn (Microwaved). So nothing extravagant but nonetheless tasty!

Now the real mothering comes in this next coming week when he goes away for a week on a guy's fishing trip. Probably another reason he agreed to take Makenna this past Saturday. He knew he was going on a man-cation for a week and all I got was a day. I'll still take it! Now I get another vacation while he's gone...I get the bed all to myself again!

Missing Part II

Well, I guess my little talks about Makenna walking off have not sunk in quite yet. Yesterday while we were at her school I was walking around talking to different people about the Summer programs and what we need to get together paper-work wise and making sure that we have some kind of care for her after she “graduates” from the ECC and before their Summer care picks up.

She was with me, or I at least knew her whereabouts until the end. By my third stop to talk to someone, I knew she was behind me, but when I turned around to leave, she was nowhere in sight. I blame myself to some extent as I knew she had walked off but I continued my conversation thinking she had just gone up to the cafeteria to talk to one of her old teachers. I think I felt comfortable knowing where she was at, or where I perceived she was at, and she feels comfortable at the school to walk around too.

When my conversation was over, I was looking for her…and then looking…then looking some more…then panicking. I went everywhere I could think of that she would go and this is a pretty big building. I even looked in rooms and areas that I didn’t think she would normally be able to get to without an adult as they have a security system throughout the building and the only way you can get through certain doors is with a code.

After ten minutes or so, and with help from staff at the school she was found. She was actually in one of the rooms I peeked my head into but since it was dark I assumed she wasn’t in there. She had gone in to use the bathroom, which is what I had figured but I checked bathrooms that I assumed she would go to.

When they brought her out to me she broke down into tears. I felt like crying with her. We sat down and I told her I wasn’t mad and kept asking her why she was crying. I was trying to see if she was scared that I was mad at her or if she was scared because I wasn’t around. She eventually said she thought it was because I was scared. But then later she said she was also scared.

I talked to her a few times throughout the night about how she is to tell me if she needs to go to the bathroom or wants to go to some other area then where I’m at. We talked about strangers and how she doesn’t go anywhere with strangers but that they could also take her against her will. I guess she eventually got tired of the talk as she told me I was frustrating her. Imagine that!

I can only hope that this time the lesson sticks!

All Tucked In

I blame my husband for this.

Makenna was born one ounce shy of 10 pounds (I don't blame him for this necessarily). We found that if we swaddled her that she slept much better as her hands didn’t tend to wake her as she stirred in her sleep, thus we got more sleep. As she was so big, those little swaddling blankets didn’t cut it for very long and we used two to get the job done. I wish I had a picture (and maybe if I dig hard enough I could find one,) of her all rolled up tight like a little sausage. The job was usually done by Chris as he could get it real tight and secure.

On to today…she still likes to be swaddled. Obviously we don’t encase her to where she can’t freely move but she wants to be tucked into bed real tight. Her blankets are tucked in all around her so that only her head is showing and it has to be tight on to her body. If one corner is allowing a hand or foot to peak out, it’s not acceptable. This is where I blame Chris because he started this tight swaddling, and now it continues.

I fear a fire and she ends up trapped under her cocoon, so I tend to be a bit more lax in my tucking. The problem is that it’s routine for her to get up in the middle of the night and tell us her covers are untucked. Whether it’s from a middle of the night bathroom trip or that she just woke up and realized that she’s no longer secure, she comes down and complains that her blankets are “stuck.” Which basically means, come up and tuck me back in tight. Chris usually tells me that I just have to tuck her in real tight so that this issue doesn’t happen. But then what if she’s tucked in so tight that she can’t even get out to go to the bathroom?

I usually hit Chris and tell him to take care of it. But I was feeling generous last night and got up and mumbled the whole way upstairs that she has to start taking care of this issue herself. She whined “no.” I told her to lie in bed and pull the covers up over herself. She again complained but did it when I threatened to just go downstairs and leave her lying there uncovered. I then hastily tucked her in much to her complaint and told her to “deal” with it and she’d be fine and I was going downstairs back to bed.

I feel like I have to find some therapy for her to realize that she doesn’t have to be strapped down to her bed by blankets or at least slowly wean her of this so that she can just get up in the middle of the night and go back to bed on her own without having the blanket police come up and get her secured. Unfortunately, If she does finally get to this point, I’ll probably still get out of bed and check on her as I usually hear her get up to go to the bathroom and until I hear the toilet flush I don’t feel “safe” myself. Then I patiently wait for her to come down and wake us up. So the day that it doesn’t happen, I’ll probably wonder if she got lost somewhere in between. I remember a couple of times where she’s come in to our room before and would just lay down on the floor and I fear one of us stepping on her.

I also feel I’m totally justified in blaming Chris for this, even though I may perpetuate it for the sake of sleep.

This picture is of this past Sunday. Chris’s dad officially retired from preaching and we went to his church to hear his last sermon and for a get together after.

Easter

On Saturday we colored Easter eggs which she enjoyed doing. I don't think she remembers doing this last year (and yes I know the date is wrong on the pictures...I have to figure out how to turn that off).

When we were done, I tried to tell her that if the Easter bunny liked her colored eggs then he'd leave her eggs filled with candy and other surprises. Then I guess i pushed it too far as i went on to tell her that if he REALLY liked her eggs then he'd leave her a basket filled with stuff. Her reply was, "What?!?" The kind of of "what" that's stated with skepticism. It was so funny to hear her say "what" as if I was feeding her a line of rubbish. I laughed and said, "You don't believe me?"

The next day she came down and was excited to see eggs strewn all over the living and dining room. I think I have to cut down on the number of eggs (52) as it's way too much candy and Chris doesn't really hide them as there's too many. She practically just has to walk around and pick them up from obvious spots.

Plus, she seemed to like finding the eggs more than what is inside them. When she got to her grandparents, she only had 13 eggs to find and she kept wanting people to hide them so that she could find them again. It was just to bad that she had to do her hunt for eggs inside as it was a rainy day but she seemed to enjoy it just the same.

I hope that next year I'll take her to an actual Easter egg hunt done by someone else in the community. I'm also thinking of doing a treasure hunt for her basket next year. I figure she'll be reading to some extent and that I can put clues in some of the eggs to find her basket. Chris says that's "my department"...translation...it is up to me to do it...hopefully I'll remember.

I should've taken a picture of her with her basket which was filled with three movies ("Alice in Wonderland," "Bambi," and "Snow White") along with a Wii dance game, coloring stuff, and stickers. She makes out like a bandit on these holidays. The only thing I didn't do was get her an Easter dress this year as this one still fit from last year, surprisingly.

Kindergarten Woes

Go t a bit behind so there will be a couple of posts to catch up.


A week ago Makenna was on this “Woman” kick. She keeps saying that she’s a woman or that daddy sounds like a woman (which I’m sure he’ll love that I’m posting that….and my brothers will laugh hardily and agree with her) or that I’m a woman. On Sunday (April 17th,) I mentioned to Makenna that she’s almost 4.5 years old to which she replied, “So I’m a woman?” I gasped and said, “No…you’re not a woman…yet.”

I’m not sure if this came about from me showing her signs to restroom where she has to look for a “W” for Woman which then clues her in that she can go into that bathroom. Of course it doesn’t help when they have a “G” for girls and then Makenna just decided to use the one that says “M” because her name starts with “M” and I’m frantically trying to figure out where the heck she went. But, at least it was a one-person bathroom so it wasn’t all bad.

We also started the process of school registration. I’m starting to feel sadness about this already. Although I’m so glad to watch her grow and blossom, I look and other kids that are still in the baby stage and long for her to be back there. Then I wonder why when it was so tough to know what she needed at times and I was so tired. I think back to all the cute little things I did with her and all the cute songs I made up and sung to her and how that doesn’t happen anymore.

Well, back to the registration….We went to an informational night on Tuesday (April 19th) at a school in the CV district. We’d have to pay tuition and one of the questions I asked the Superintendent was how much tuition was going to be this coming fall. Before giving me the estimated answer, he explained how they are supposed to be charging around $6,000 but are “stepping” their way to that price. Therefore, he expects the price to be $4200 (more or less,). Then he explained how the High School is at $9,000 for a school year. I can only imagine what tuition will be at that grade level when Makenna is old enough to be in high school. We left there and Chris said, “We need to move before the end of summer.” I felt a wave of anxiety and pressure.

I explained that whether we decide to have her go to this district where we have to pay tuition or to the district that we pay school tax in, we still have a year at least to worry about housing. I feel that after 4th grade you’re starting to solidify some relationships with kids at school. Before then, kids come and go and it’s not too detrimental to move her around.

I still went the next day to get her registered in case we do decide to have her go to this school. I was surprised by Makenna who was either scared or nervous or both. I was sitting at a table going over paperwork with a woman and Makenna went off to a wall and sat down on the ground. I was waving her over to sit with me and she was too nervous and shook her head no. I left her there until I was done and then she came and sat with me.

Another lady came to get Makenna to do some testing but I had to come along in the beginning until I could tell Makenna felt comfortable enough to trust this person. She was having her do some gross motor skills like jumping, hoping, throwing, catching, rolling a ball, etc. Once she got past that and realized she was having fun with this new person, then I was able to walk away while she did some other tests. I guess these are to gauge where she’s at developmentally on different scales so they know if she’ll need help in certain areas before she even starts school.

When they were done and the lady returned, I did tell them about some poor results on her gross motor skills from previous tests at her Pre-K. So they marked that down as something to look at in the Fall…if we go there.

Next Week (4/25) is the informational meeting for Harpursville and we plan on asking some questions like why the test results in English and Language Arts dropped 12% from 2008 – 2009. Do they have IB or Regent Courses in the High School and what time does the bus arrive in our neck of the woods to pick her up?

My belief is that she has to be out by a little after 7am to be picked up by the bus for a 40 minute bus ride one way to school. I think she’ll be exhausted, and I’m a bit scared that there are no other kids her age on the bus right away. Not to mention that if something happens while I’m at work, that it will take me probably close to 50 minutes to get to her.

I also got to thinking about if she does make friends in school, then we’d have to drive her to Harpursville area to play with those friends and what a hassle that would be. Then last night drove the issue home for me in my opinion. Chris and I were discussing (our word for arguing) about getting to this meeting tonight. I was saying how I would run home after work to take care of the dogs, then run back down to get Makenna and take her to swim lessons and then get to the meeting after that.

He wants to meet me at home which means that we’ll be late to the meeting. By the time we get done with swim lessons and get her showered and dressed it’s close to 5pm. Then to get home it’s another 15-20 minutes. Then to get him and get to a place we have yet to find, I say that’s another 20 minutes so we’ll get there probably 15 minutes into the meeting. Plus, I have to hope that he actually is home when we get home.

My argument was that I didn’t want to be late and his argument is that it’s a waste of gas money for us both to drive out there and that’s when I raised my finger and said, “And that’s the problem with going to Harpursville!” Everything that she’ll be a part of as the school year(s) go on means going in a direction from our house that’s away from everything we do. If it was down more into town, (like CV school is,) then at least activities would be on the way home not past our home into an area we typically don’t go.

I guess we’ll see how the meeting goes tonight and then we have at least the Summer to decide what school….or to move…and start this paperwork nightmare all over again.

Sleeping Alone

It's been a "slow" week so to say - as slow as it can be for a four year old with no school due to Spring Break. I don't understand why kids have break early but someone told me that they don't want to have it around Easter any more (they meaning the schools,) as it promotes a religious holiday. My reply was, "What's Christmas to them then?" They still get a break then.

What it means to me, regardless of when it is, is that I have to find day-care. Luckily, I have family that pitches in and I so appreciate it. Since Chris is still sick, he took Monday off and stayed home with Makenna. Then on Tuesday she went over to her Uncle Josh's and Aunt Autumn's and got to play with Katie and Natalie. Then to her grandparents for a couple of days.

I think it's going to be hard to get her to go back to school after all this. At least weather wise it's been nice so she was able to go to the park on Monday for a while.

Back to Chris....I guess he has some viral infection and finally broke down yesterday and went to the doctor's to get something. What it's meant to me is sleep! I've said before that I never knew what a light sleeper I was until I got married and had to sleep next to someone. When most spouses go away on trips and their wives wonder how they're going to be able to sleep without their protector, I'm relishing and planning my night of how I'll be able to sleep (unless Makenna decides to get up multiple times).

Last Friday, Makenna got to go to her grandparents for a sleep-over as Chris and I had tickets to see The Machine with the Binghamton Philharmonic. I enjoyed it thoroughly but Chris was in pain from having a migraine and being up close to a laser show and loud noise did not help.

When we got home he tried to fall asleep but just was coughing up a lung and got up and slept out in the recliner. I actually slept-in...the first time in probably four years. Sleeping in means past 6am for me. I think I got up close to 8am.

Then the next night he slept out in the recliner again and since then in the spare bedroom. He did try coming back to sleep in our bedroom one day and he would snore than wake up coughing, then fall back to sleep snoring, then coughing and this cycle continued for about a half hour. The whole time I was contemplating if smothering him with a pillow could be considered an insanity plea due to lack of sleep?

But he finally got up on his own and went back to the other bedroom and it's been wonderful. I'm almost not looking forward to him coming back as I know that means fitful nights for me. So as bad as I feel for him being sick....I love my opportunity to sleep! I've actually felt quite refreshed this past week.

So if you see me and I'm looking cranky and tired, you'll know why.