Super Sunday

We're ready!  Ryan Fitzgerald's GHS football jersey, which I've had for 20 years (whoah!) is perfect for rooting for the Giants....too bad I'm rooting for the Patriots!  Devlyn's donning one of Noah Thomas' past football uniforms which someday will probably be worth a million dollars and Beebsie is decked out in Carolina blue - what else.  I'm up against the entire household - they're all for the Giants.  I saw something cute the other day - if the Giants win it's a huge statement for little brothers everywhere - something Blake can appreciate - aw.

Go Pats!

Weekend Amalgamation

Weekends are the best.  I get my boys all to myself in the mornings while Daddy, deservedly, sleeps in.  We've been baking biscuits on Saturdays and Hello Kitty waffles on Sunday : )  What can we say, we're on a health kick - HA!  Here's a recipe for the best waffles I've ever had, belgian or otherwise:

Awesome Waffle Mix
Ingredients

• 2 cups  all-purpose flour
• 2  teaspoons baking powder
• 2  tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2  teaspoon salt
• 2 egg  whites
• 2 egg  yolks
• 2  tablespoons grated lemon zest
• 1  teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups  milk
• 6  tablespoons butter, melted

Directions 1.  Preheat a waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions.
2.  Whisk the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt together in a mixing bowl; set aside. Beat egg whites until foamy in a separate large glass or metal mixing bowl. Whisk the egg yolks, lemon zest, and vanilla extract together in a third bowl; whisk in the milk. Stir in the flour mixture until smooth. Fold in the melted butter and then the beaten egg whites until just incorporated.
3.  Cook the waffles according to manufacturer's instructions until golden brown.

Yesterday, our friends Jody and Dana's little girl Lily celebrated her first birthday.  She is the daintiest little peanut you've ever seen and it was so funny to watch her dig into chocolate cake with both hands in a cute little party dress.  At the end of it all she had chocolate frosting everywhere including her armpits - wish we could all get away with that ; )  Balloons were released in honor of Jack (Lily's twin who passed away at 2 months) - it was a hard day for them but joyful above all.  At the party, the wife of the doctor who delivered Lily and Jack told us that Blake and Devlyn should be in an ad campaign for Ireland.  I laughed so hard - that was far better than the usual, "Look at that hair!" 

We're about to head to the store to buy a few special things for our own personal Superbowl party.  Blake wants to know why we're not actually going TO the Superbowl.  Good question, right - I don't have a real good answer to that!  He'll just have to make due with Carolina basketball and Canes hockey tickets for now!  Baby steps.... 

omg - I definitely haven't blogged in awhile - I still have a Christmas background design up on here!  Eeks!

Annual Stats - The Boys

Well, I swore I'd never take both boys in at the same time again for their annual physicals but convenience trumped my better judgement and we attempted it once again.  You should have seen Blake competing for Dr. Franklin's attention while Devlyn was being examined.  He was rolling up next to them on the doctor's stool with his head laying on it peeking up at Dr. Franklin - then the full blown performance began - dancing, hooting, laps around the exam room.  Ya, next year I SWEAR I won't do that again : )  Dr. Franklin could have cared less - he's a pro.  As usual the boys are complete opposite body types with Devlyn at the bottom of the body mass index and Blake at the top : )  Dr. Franklin's assessment - both healthy as horses - Devlyn on track to be one tall drink of water and Blake on track to be solid as a rock.

DCU:
4 ft tall  /  90th percentile
49.5 lbs  /  50-75th percentile

BLU:
3 ft. 2 1/2" tall  /  50-75th percentile
37lbs  /  90-95th percentile

Here's some pictures of the beginnings of our holiday season.  Devlyn's gingerbread house and Lil' Licky Poo Paws under the tree this morning : )

Nutcracker

Saw this the other night and laughed out loud.  They have a bunch of really cute short commercials running right now.

Sweet Commercial

We've had an incredible intern at CJ&P for the last 6 months.  She's a double major in Business and Advertising at UNC.  She's a native of Columbia and is fluent in 6 languages.  She's passionate about advertising and is always sharing her new favorite ads with us.  Here is one she showed us recently.  It's so sweet and, in my opinion, really nails the magic of Christmas.

Saturday Morning Snippets

This morning approximately 7am:

BLU - Knock knock!

Me - "Who's there?

BLU - Banana, pepper, pizza, pee pee, me!"

I didn't feel the need to ask banana, pepper, pizza, pee pee who!

Shortly afterwards, as everyone followed me into the bathroom, (awesome)  Devlyn decided it was time to weigh himself and then Blake.  He accidentally said, "Let's see how old you are!" as he stepped Blake up on the scale.  35.4 popped up.  Devlyn announced the number and Blake screamed, "I'm not that old!" with a horrified tone in his voice.

And now....my coffee (even if it is decaf)

Wealth Gap Between the Young and Old Widest Ever

I'm a worker bee, always have been.  I've had a job of some sort on a steady basis since I was 15.  I live in a modest home and live an average American middle-income lifestyle.  I have not reached any degree of wealthy financial success but I am proud of what I've accomplished b/c I've worked my ever lovin' ass off to get here.  And like so many others out there, for the past few years it's been a fight to stay there.  I worry about day to day finances but, more so, I worry about long term scenarios.  College and retirement both seem like ridiculously unattainable jokes to me right now.  And that statement is grounded waist high in reality.  Lately, that reality coupled with all the bullshit I hear spewed by politicians from BOTH sides sparks SUCH anger in me.  I secretly covet retirees lifestyles - do they know how lucky they are?  Pensions and health benefits, social security and Medicare.  And yes, plenty of folks of retirement age these days have gotten screwed BUT as far as I can tell noone is going to get screwed more than my generation.  Nobody my age or younger should count on any of those things to be around to buoy us in our time of need.  You know, when our fabulous 401k's designed as tax outs for corporations and then passed off to us as "retirement" run out - if you even have anything left after the market implodes for the 10th time in as many years.  The pangs of fear thoughts like these send through me are overwhelming sometimes.  All of these, previously internal, worries were justified in an article I happened upon today:

http://news.yahoo.com/us-wealth-gap-between-young-old-widest-ever-050259922.html

Real uplifting stuff - just thought I'd share - ha!