A Heavy Day ***Wino Wednesday***

Today I just felt like everything was heavy. The day was weighing on me.

It just seemed to never end. So, now I am in bed having a tiny glass of wine trying to keep my eyes open to write my Wino Wednesday post. I think tomorrow I have to start my day with a little more Jack Johnson, maybe a smoothie and a better attitude. I hate to say it, but I let the small stuff bother me today. But I am human, I'm allowed to sulk every now and then, right?

Lily's cast is off, my girls are cozy and safe in their beds. That is worth lingering on, not all the rest.

Mommy Mantra: make your kids an incredible Part of your life, not your WHOLE life.
















*Featured* Wine of the Week
Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

This is so delicious! I had a glass last night and went back for a tiny glass tonight. If I were in a better mood this would be a bottle I would polish off with hubby and enjoy every drop of it. It was a great cheap option, at $11/bottle. This is certainly in the running for best wine of the season. Might have to go back for seconds.

Freeze dance and WINO WEDNESDAY!

Fa fa fa fa fa fa freeze dance! Anyone with toddlers/pre-schoolers knows this jingle all too well. "The Fresh Beat Band" on Nick Jr. has this annoyingly addicting song. The episode seems to be on ALL the time. It is also a great game to play with the kiddos when they start to get too rambuncious at a playdate. They stop and focus and for a minute you can captivate a crowd of 3 year olds simply by saying "FREEZE!". Genius.

Today I wanted to stop the music and freeze a moment in time. I have a lot of those lately, but during this particular one I could feel myself trying to will time to stand still. With all my might I couldn't and the moment passed. I said in my head, "remember this." I'm putting it in my blog so just that can happen. So I can remember.

My girls are growing so fast and playing more and more together everyday. Becoming the best friends I dreamed them to be. Today I was folding laundry in their bedroom. The girls were in the hallway looking at books and being silly. Then I hear Ella say, "Lily, do you want to go to school with me someday?"

I could see them, but they had their back to me, so I could freely enjoy the cuteness without disturbing their chit chat. I held my breath half waiting for Lily (16 months) to respond.

Lily looked up at Ella, then Ella proceeded with "You could sit with me and my friends on the bus, Lily." "Would you like that Lily?" Lily just smiled, looked up at Ella and said "TUTU!" As she held up her favorite book, "I Wear My Tutu Everywhere." Ella took the book, opened it and sat down flipping through the pictures with Lily watching.

It is moments like that, that I would give any amount of money to have a video camera permanently glued to my hand. I am so afraid I will forget. I want to be old and grey and have clear memories of this time in my life. So I blog and I write it down in their journals too. Mostly though, I would love to rewind and watch it all again. It is so easy to get caught up in the mundane everyday and not appreciate the here and now.

Mommy Mantra - Make your kids an incredible Part of your life, not your WHOLE life.

Wino Wednesdays!

This Week's Wine
Cupcake Vineyards - Red Velvet $10 plus 15% off coupon!

Hmmmmm. Not sure about this one. My local vino hook-up (Grape Culture) had a %15 off coupon so I thought I would give it a go. Night #1, I had a glass without food and I was not happy. Not at all. Too sweet and blah, no oomph. Night #2 I drank a glass with a nice steak dinner. It was a whole new experience. Delicious and balanced and the perfect partner for my meal. So for me, this is not a stand out, and certainly not a wine to drink without gnashing on something carnivorous.

http://www.cupcakevineyard.com/wines/reds/red-velvet/

Cooking with Royalty

Tonight Ella helped me cook dinner, a favorite activity of hers. I hate to admit it, but these days it rarely happens. The frequency of her wanting to help hasn't diminished, but my patience has. I'm always rushing to get dinner on the table and any task that involves a 3 year old seems to take 3 times as long. Today though, Lily was taking a long nap and Ella was glued to my side, wanting to soak up this rare "Mommy alone time". I told her I had to get started with dinner; usually her cue to go play. This time she pulled over a chair, which meant she wanted to stand on it and help me cook. She had the hugest grin and an adorable tiara; how could I resist? Everything I was asking Ella to do, she was doing with such enthusiasm. "Ok Mommy", "yes Mommy", "yum Mommy this is going to be delicious".

We made a kitchen sink salad which is becoming one of her absolute favorites (see recipe below). Also - Baked lemon pepper chicken and tuscan bread with oregano and feta cheese.

Don walked in and the house smelled yummy, his two girls were giggling together and listening to Miles Davis. Ella had already set the table. He said it was a perfect sight.

Mommy Mantra: "Make your kids an incredible Part of your life, not your WHOLE life."

From now until Christmas I will be reviewing "budget bottles" of red wine. I will then declare my favorite budget bottle around Christmas. The criteria - red wine between $8 and $12. What qualifies me to review wine? Nothing except my love of drinking it. October to December is my season of red wine! So I'd like to pay homage.

Wine of the Week
Vinos De Arganza Flavium Mencia 2008; a recommendation from my local wine shop, Grape Culture. At $11/bottle this is an amazing find. I've been in a deep Malbec phase, but I thought I'd give this a shot. It is deep and rich and has such a smooth texture. The nose is rich and yet fruity. Who am I kidding? It is just plain delicious. Right now I am longing for Manchego.

http://wiredforwine.com/featured-wine/vinos-de-arganza-flavium-premium
but if you are local go over to the guys at Grape Culture in Saint James, NY. They rock.

Kitchen Sink Salad
1 cup, Brocoli slaw from trader joes
1 cup, 8 ingredient chop salad from trader joes
handful of golden raisins
chopped handful of almonds salted almonds
one peeled, chopped apple
1/2 cup gorgonzola crumbles
1/4 cup thick blue cheese dressing combined with 1/4 cup olive oil

Toss it all in a bowl with salt and pepper and gobble it up! Sounds weird, but so yummy.

A Broken Arm Requires Beach Therapy

Today my little 16 month old flower, Lily got a cast for a fractured Distal Radius aka "wrist fracture." Insert 50 crying sad face icons. She has been climbing on tables, chairs, falling off things, sometimes crying sometimes not. She had been pretty fussy the past few days and had a few memorable falls this weekend and one even more memorable one last week. I had noticed her favoring her left hand, being fussy and irritable. I thought she had maybe bruised her little wrist, but nothing lead me to believe she had done anything serious. That is until yesterday when I went to put her sweater on her and as I reached in to pull her little arm through she shrieked a sort of cry that hits you right in the heart. Her little face winced up in pain and she pulled her arm back with force. I put Lily and Ella right in the car and called my pediatrician as I was driving to her office. Luckily this is the first time I have done this, so they fit me right in.

Sure enough, Doc thought it looked swollen and wanted me to get to an orthopedist asap. This morning Don and I juggled schedules so I could run Lily to get x-rays and he could take Ella to school. He then rushed over to meet me at the Doctor. Sure enough there was a fracture. One long hour, many tiny tears and one bright pink cast later we were home with our little Lily flower fast asleep in her crib. She passed out from this emotional and no doubt painful experience.

Then the greatest thing happened. She woke up, happy, cheery in fact looking for her big sister. I think it helped that Ella thought the cast was the coolest thing since sliced bread. Maybe even a bit envious. My sweet little Lily was back. She was adjusting nicely to this new accessory and was quick to lift it up to show Elle.

It couldn't have been a more beautiful day, crisp but sunny and an amazing breeze. Don ended up taking the rest of the day off to make sure Lily was ok, and probably more accurately to make sure I was ok. Once we saw Lily bopping around acting like her normal self we realized we needed to get outdoors. So myself, Don, Ella, Lily and our two pups Belly and Lulu piled into the mini van for a beach adventure. It was the best medicine and a great way to connect as a family. We dug in the sand, threw a makeshift ball for Belly to retrieve 500 times, searched for "sheshouws" as Lily calls it and we somehow turned around a pretty crummy day and made it positively memorable.

Mommy Mantra: Make your kids an incredible Part of your life, not your WHOLE life.

Tonight was a makeshift dinner night. Progresso Italian Wedding Meatball soup for the girls with Neapolitan ice cream for dessert. Don had left over Chinese, I had Greek yogurt and granola. Ella ate her soup, ice cream, Don's Moo Shu Pork and 5 big bites of my yogurt with granola. I think she is growing, or maybe just becoming a strange foodie of sorts. Anyway you look at it, she didn't go to bed hungry.

Tis the Season to be Cozy.

Rainy and cold, the cusp of fall. This time of year, this is all I want and need;

a giant bread bowl filled with soup,
my bathrobe,
slippers, one pink, one black, I couldn't find either match.
mugs of coffee the size of my head,
soft scarves,
snuggly babies
and a good cozy couch to soak it all up in.

Fall is my season.

Mommy Mantra: Make your kids an incredible part of your life, not your WHOLE life.

I have no parenting anecdotes tonight, just a yummy semi-homemade dinner I would like to share. Ella found this to be unappealing. Lily, Don and I gobbled it up. 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

Butternut Squash, roasted corn and black bean soup in an acorn squash bowl. Ok, so acorn squash is NOT a bread bowl by any stretch of imagination, but this Mama of two is cutting carbs. It was delish! Eat the soup and bowl! Yummmm. Wish I took a picture, it was so pretty.