days of nuwanda

Last day of school

I don't have much to say except it's the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! WOOHOO! (My Man started singing Alice Cooper's School's Out and I nearly barfed!) I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and all summer long! I'm bummed that Grace's school does not do an official kindergarten graduation ceremony. They are having a small awards program in the classroom, but come on, that doesn't cut it! Jacob had a big graducation ceremony when he was in kindergarten 3 years ago--cap-n-gown, marching in, receiving diplomas--so I was expecting the same for her. Oh well. She picked out her fave dress and her cute little sandals and was happy as could be. She's been gathering the phone numbers of all her friends, so I have a feeling my phone's gonna get a workout this summer with 6-year old chatter. :)

Here's to summer!

Anniversary weekend

My Man and I got away last weekend to celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary and basically to catch up. He's been back-n-forth to North Carolina on a project since starting his new job 4 weeks ago, which means we don't connect much. So we had our friend come stay with the kids while we stayed in downtown Indy near Circle Centre Mall, enjoyed eating at the Weber Grille, shopped our hearts out (Love the downtown TJ Maxx!), and saw The Avengers movie (which was awesome! Surprisingly enough, Hulk was my fave character). The weather was so nice--great for just walking around looking for the Jeep, which we temporarily lost in a parking garage...hahaha! That's a story for another time!

On our way home through Carmel/Noblesville, we checked out UrbanSpoon, a phone app that showcases local restaurants, and came across BoomBozz, a pizza joint with rave reviews. The place was packed, so we ate in the bar and got seated right away. We had the pretzel sticks, which were amazing, and a specialty pizza--half buffalo chicken, half greek. WOW! My Man is a pizza connoisseur and tries pizza places wherever he travels, so he knows a thing or two about it. And he couldn't say enough good things about the crust, which held up under a crazy amount of toppings. It became our fave pizza EVER in a matter of seconds, and we are making plans to go back w/ our other pizza-connoisseur friends. Wow, so good! We talked to the manager/owner, and found out BoomBozz has won international awards and was featured on the Food Network. Now we know why! They are a relatively new, small chain with restaurants only in IN, KY, and AZ for now, but I'm certain they are going to explode. 

BoomBozz waiters were wearing fun tshirts, which endeared me to the place even more. 

Fellow realistic mom

I love this blog posted by a Mom after my own heart! (You must read the whole thing, but here's a funny clip...)

My point is this. I used to worry that not only was I failing to do a good enough job at parenting, but that I wasn't enjoying it enough. Double failure. I felt guilty because I wasn't in parental ecstasy every hour of every day and I wasn't MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY MOMENT like the mamas in the parenting magazines seemed to be doing. I felt guilty because honestly, I was tired and cranky and ready for the day to be over quite often. And because I knew that one day, I'd wake up and the kids would be gone, and I'd be the old lady in the grocery store with my hand over my heart. Would I be able to say I enjoyed every moment? No.

But the fact remains that I will be that nostalgic lady. I just hope to be one with a clear memory. And here's what I hope to say to the younger mama gritting her teeth in line:

"It's hard, isn't it? You're a good mom, I can tell. And I like your kids, especially that one peeing in the corner. She's my favorite. Carry on, warrior. Six hours till bedtime."

People who pretend that parenting is joyful all the time are not living in reality, and I think we do a disservice to our friends when we wear the "I've got it all under control" mask. Parenting is work, people. Yes, there are these whopper rewards, in the form of hugs and smiles and precious moments when you see the handiwork of God in His precious creation. But anyone who says, "I loved every single minute of it when my son was a toddler!" is clearly unstable and suffering from amnesia. And I'm very suspicious of them. For real. :) 

Keep Calm Wednesday

Paying homage in LEGOs

Jacob's fave song is "God's Not Dead" by the Newsboys. (They are his fave band, behind NeedtoBreathe.) So of course they get some LEGO artwork props...

T-shirt Tuesday

Faithful Friday

Haircut

For a long time Grace was a serious Rapunzel-wanna-be, and I wanted to cut her hair b/c it was becoming unmanageable. But then suddenly she wanted to cut it all off, and I didn't want to. The mother-daughter conundrum, I believe. So we compromised and cut off about 6 inches. It's very cute, but somehow she looks 8 instead of 6. Boo to this growing up bit. :( 

 before

 after

Keep Calm Wednesday

Seriously, some good advice :)

Jesus, draw me ever nearer

Beautiful song, beautiful prayer...

Chicks!

Jacob's class at school had a 3 week-segment studying embryology and had a bunch of chicken eggs in a hatchery inside their classroom (in coordination with Purdue University). It seems a little odd for 3rd graders to even know the word embryology, but who wouldn't love cute little chicks hatching from eggs, right? 19 of the eggs hatched into cute little chicks, and the kids and I visited his class last week. Jacob adopted a little guy that he named Peeps who has a black spot on the top of his head. Very cute, and he didn't even poop on us. :)

T-shirt Tuesday

Best show ever! This is for John & Lisa...and for Mel, who met Tom Selleck at Wal-mart many years ago. :) 

The vanity of muffins

I'm slightly obsessed with cupcakes and muffins, always searching for new recipes and new ideas. And since I had a bunch of overly-ripe bananas (I prefer them almost green, and in this heat they ripened really fast!) I tried a new banana nut muffin recipe that I found. It calls itself "The World's Best (and easiest) Banana Nut Muffins" which seems a bit arrogant and egotistical on its part, but it got my curiosity up, so I tried it. 

Verdict? Amazing muffins. Hands down the best recipe I've tried. Super moist, amazing flavor, wow. Normally I would include the recipe here, but it's kinda long (w/ the author's detailed notes), so just follow the link. I didn't have any coffee made, so I just used milk, and I used 2 1/2 bananas instead of just 2, but otherwise I followed her exact instructions for mixing/not over-mixing. I also baked them at 325 because my oven seems to be running hot. This recipe is a definite keeper. 

Even more flowers...

Most of our flowers are blooming about one month early this year, after our unusually warm weather for most of March, but we don't mind. 

Early Mother's Day flowers

My Man surprised me with these early flowers. He's amazing at finding fun gifts, and I absolutely love the shoe planter!