Week in review

Last week started with an assembly at AOC in which Elisa's class sang a rap about fiction and non-fiction. God, I love this school. Then we dove headlong into one of the classics of childhood for our nightly reading: Charlotte's Web. I didn't realize how much it would bring up the themes of eating animals and killing things. Oh right. About that pig. Carolina said we shouldn't kill pigs because they are "animals, not food." Girl has a point. So I made some banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies just to calm things down (recipe here)...Carolina also indulged in a Kinder Surprise egg (or two) after we found them in a local grocery store. And I made it to Elisa's field trip and Carolina's class to read in the same week. Oh, and Nacho took off on a solo trip to Spain for 7 days to attend a friend's wedding. Yeah, I wasn't jealous at all. 

Elisa's note for Papa...not sure if this means she's glad he's coming home ("here?") or that he got to go ("there?"). Either way, she "mist" him. 

By the time Saturday rolled around last week, I was dunzo, but we managed to make it to a friend's house for a playdate that morning so a couple of us could go and pick up the Girl Scout cookies we'd ordered. It actually worked out well and I was glad to have the company on a rainy old day. We made it home in time to grab some lunch and regroup before heading off again to see the new live action Cinderella in Astoria.  What a fantastic movie! We met up with Kristin and Juliet and I think we all agreed it was very well done and visually beautiful to watch. That dress. OMG, I wanted to watch her dance all night. But alas, we had to come crashing back to reality. And my reality was that with two kids out of whack and no Papa around, the weekend and next few days were going to be rough. Not sure why everyone has been so whiny lately, but after a few choice words with Elisa, we kind of calmed down a bit. It just seems like this is the age for Carolina to be her most demanding and irritable when she hasn't napped. And then Elisa's stubbornness and eagerness to taunt people sets off a chain reaction and Carolina ends up getting in trouble for hitting or biting or pinching when she's really also the victim. It's always a mess to untangle and I'm trying to be better about not yelling at everyone involved. But man, a few nights I was just beat and ready to give up. I really feel like this winter and our lack of travel has made me a bit tense. Wishing Spring Break was already here, but soon enough, I guess. Fortunately, dance night on Tuesday signaled the end of our separation with Nacho and also coincided with the arrival of the costumes. So we watched them perform in the outfits and then hightailed it home to see Nacho and greet Abuela who accompanied him home from Spain. She arrived just in time to usher in the first day of Spring as well as our (hopefully) last snow storm of the season. Yes, it was a busy week and a half and I'm still recovering. Now if only it would warm up a bit and stay that way. Thanks.

Bakers dozen

So this is what I decided to do on a dreary, snowy day in March--make cookies! But not just any cookies, mind you. I was really craving the kind of chunky chocolate chip crazy big cookies you get from a bakery. Not exactly my normal open-a-bag-and-dump-in-butter-and-an-egg kind that will do in a pinch. So I found a recipe online that sounded promising and I waited until I had Elisa around to help. Of course, it would have been easier to just make them while she was in school, but I had visions of her donning the little play apron she loves to wear and standing next to me as we mixed them all up.  And part of that happened.  She grabbed the step stool to peer over my bowl as I dumped in the flour, and then I had her measure out the baking soda which worked pretty well.  But then she started badgering me about cracking the eggs and we weren't at that point yet. Plus, I'll be honest. I've seen Elisa smash more than one egg in her attempt to get me one I can use.  I didn't think I was stalling her too much, but by the time I was ready to add the eggs to the creamed sugar, she was back to watching Spongebob and had zero interest in being my little baking assistant. So I shrugged and went back to baking in peace. Yes, that's the reality of cooking with kids right now. It sounds like a good idea, but it's a much better proposition to bring them warm cookies on the couch as a bonus for letting mama have a few minutes of calm in the kitchen. Everyone wins this way. And when you've been cooped up inside all day long, sometimes it's nice to have a few minutes in your own corner to just zone out--and eat chocolate.