Tag: Shecklet #2

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Makin’ Manicotti

Last week when I went grocery shopping, I actually went with a plan in mind.  The list I brought only contained items that I needed for the meals I was planning on preparing.  What a unique concept!  I know this should come as no surprise, but it was really nice to cook with a menu already laid out.  Now I just need to keep myself motivated and plan out my next set of meals.  Cooking, I don’t mind.  It’s figuring out what I want to prepare that I really loathe.

Tonight’s main course was manicotti.  I’ve never prepared it before, but Betty Crocker made it sound easy enough for me to figure out.  While the boys were napping, I put together the sauce and filling.  Then, when the sleeping mini-men awoke, I put them to work.  Actually, asking them to stand on the booster chairs and help me cook doesn’t take much arm twisting.  I armed them with spoons and had them help me fill the manicotti shells.  Nolan stayed on task pretty well.  Lincoln lost interest quite quickly once he realized how tasty the filling was – I didn’t really try to stop him.  I figure if he wanted to enjoy the spinach & cottage cheese mix, that was fine with me.  The meal was a success – both boys cleared their plates and we now have leftovers.  I love leftovers.

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Typical Wednesday night stuff

When Lincoln was born, my Aunt Alice & Uncle Jerry sent a package containing a soft brown bear that sings Barry White’s “You’re The First, The Last, My Everything.”

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Nolan has loved it since day one, (here he is right after he opened the box with the bear inside)

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and Lincoln has enjoyed dancing along to the music ever since he figured out how to press the button on the bear’s arm to start the song.

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The boys have pushed the red button so many times, I now have brain cells that are permanently dedicated to keeping the lyrics in my head, ready for me to sing along when I hear it start.  Tonight I was given many chances to sing karaoke with the bear.  It was actually very fun watching Lincoln get so excited about the music, even if it was Barry White.

Before I headed out for the evening (Wednesday night is my volleyball night,) Nolan had me put on a “cape” and we ran around the house.  The boys and dogs all chased me.  It was crazy!  The boys were laughing and shouting with excitement and the dogs were both barking loudly.  Just one more example of the nutty stuff that goes on within the Sheck house on a regular basis.  I said to Jake tonight that our kids will never be able to say their mom was afraid to act silly – and then publish it for the world to see 🙂

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Silly faces

I picked up a game at a church kid/toy sale that we store under the love seat in the living room.  I’m not sure why it ended up there, but it’s convenient – the kids can get to it, but the dogs can’t.  (The dogs like to eat cardboard & game pieces just about as much as they like to eat books.)  We never play by the rules, but have fun putting together silly faces.

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Just a normal day

After having a weekend that was less than normal (my mom spent some time in the hospital unexpectedly) it was nice to have a day that was just “normal.”  The boys got up and had a normal morning, ate normal breakfast – oatmeal with raisins & cinnamon, and made their normal request for part of my English muffin.  They made their way to the garage to get into the suburban in their normal fashion and we arrived at preschool at our normal (almost on time) time.  Lincoln and I went to the gym – he played in the child care center while I had a normal workout.  After I finished, we took a break from our normal routine and stopped for a smoothie at the gym’s cafe.  We picked Nolan up at his normal dismissal time, had a normal lunch and later took much needed, getting-to-be-more-normal nap.  (Since Nolan has started school, I’ve found that he’s much more willing (and able) to take a decent nap in the afternoon.  This is A-OK with me, because I occasionally get to nap as well.)  Afternap time, we had a normal evening complete with dinner & playing in the porch.

I went to see my parents this evening to check in on my mom and deliver a squash & apple dish I made tonight.  My mom is doing much better, which enables me to breathe a sigh of relief.  (She is able to do so too, (literally) which is a huge improvement compared to over the weekend.)  Today was just a normal day, and I’m thankful for that.

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To nap or not to nap

We are going through a bit of a rough patch with Lincoln lately.  His naps have been atrocious, almost non-existent.  He’ll fall asleep for 45 minutes or an hour and then wake up screaming.  Any attempt to put him back to sleep is futile.  He wants nothing to do with my consoling and only wants to get out of his crib.  But being since I’ve got a few years on him, I know better.  And based on his previous napping track record, (the kid used to nap for 2-3 hours without waking) I also know he needs a nap longer than an hour.  Today, I pulled the “auntie card.”  I laid him down and asked if he wanted to see Auntie Larissa tonight.  He nodded yes and stopped crying.  (This was an amazing response.  I would have asked him earlier had I known how it would quiet him.)  I then proceeded to tell him that if he wanted to see her for dinner tonight, he needed to calm down and take a nap.  He nodded again in agreement and I stepped away from the crib and left the room.  No tears, no screaming, just silence.  I thought for sure he’d pick back up again once I shut his door, but no, all was quiet.  Amazing!  I’ll have to try this little trick again – a little incentive to nap can’t hurt, right?  Who knows, I may just be on to something.

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When Dad’s away…

the goofies will play.  Jake had a dinner outing for work tonight, so the boys and I spent the entire day together.  The closer we got to bedtime, the sillier things got.  I think everyone was a little over tired.

Nolan has been asking me about my swim goggles lately.  I don’t know who told him I owned a pair, but I guess that’s not really very important.  As a “reward” for finishing his dinner tonight, I pulled them out and let him try them on.  Not to be outdone, Lincoln also had to have a turn.  He didn’t want them anywhere near his face.  Apparently he thought they made a better necklace.  Next up, the two of them decided the laundry basket that I just emptied would make a good boat.  Initially, Lincoln sat in it while Nolan pulled him around their room and then dumped him backwards.  They both thought it was hilarious.  Then they climbed in together (emphasis on climb, for Lincoln) and laughed some more.  I think we had a double case of the sillys tonight.  I’ll gladly take those ANY night over the whinys, sobbys or the tantrumys.

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OTW – Halloween

Halloween was a blast this year!  The boys were both pretty excited about it going into the big day.  In the end, we actually had to cut Lincoln off.  I think he would have tried another block’s worth of houses if we had let him.  The kid has the candy grab down pat – thanks for the practice, Uncle Tony!  Good thing most houses put the candy into his bucket instead.  Here’s a rundown of the day, in pictures.

We visited Nana & Papa’s house in the morning.  Since Nana recently had shoulder surgery, it was easier to go to her.

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The next doorbell we rang was Uncle Tony’s.  He put on his Halloween costume too – he was The Karate Kid this year.

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Later in the day we carved our lone pumpkin.  This baby came straight from our garden.  It’s the only thing (aside from the celery) that did well this summer.  I think it sucked the life out of every other pumpkin that attempted to grow on the same vine.

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Finally, we gathered the munchkins together (ours plus two others) and headed out on a quest for candy.

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We had a special guest come along with us.  Auntie Stacie was home for the weekend and helped us keep track of the kids as we walked around the block.

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The day that ended with cake

I should have known today was going to be a challenging one when I lost my necklace (I ended up finding it) and Lincoln blew out his diaper all within about 10 minutes of getting the day started.  We made it through breakfast relatively unscathed and then the boys decided to turn one of their storage tins into a drum.  I had given them wooden spoons to use as microphones, but I guess they made better drum sticks.  The rest of the day was actually kind of a blur.  I was exhausted and had hoped to take a nap when the boys did, but unfortunately, Lincoln only napped for an hour, so I braced myself for an afternoon with a moody toddler.  By the time dinner time rolled around, between the kids and the dogs I was going crazy and looking for someone else to keep me company as I headed there.  I even posted my plea for company on Facebook.  One of my friends responded saying, “I can’t keep you company, but I’ll open the door and welcome you to crazy when you get here.”  I got a much needed laugh out of his comment.  Thankfully, when Jake came home I was able to take a few minutes to catch my breath.

After dinner, the kids thought it would be funny to wear books as hats, so that’s what we did.  Once again, no matter how nutty some of their antics make me, they can always make me laugh.

Nolan helped me bake a cake today.  It was hard for him to wait until the evening to dig in to it, but he made it.  He asked if we could put candles in it and have a “pretend birthday.”  That sounded good to me, so we lit 3 candles and sang “Happy Birthday.”  When we got to the part about saying the birthday person’s name, I paused and waited for his response.  He said, “Mommy!” and we finished the song.  Guess he’s heard my birthday is coming soon, so we’d better practice 🙂

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The joys of sugar

Nolan got to wear his pumpkin costume to school today and apparently do a little trick-or-treating.  He came home with two little goody bags filled with trinkets and individually wrapped pieces of sugary goodness.

I think kids have a heightened sense of where sweet treats are located and an uncanny ability to figure out packaging that sometimes stumps adults.  Case in point, Lincoln.  It was good that Nolan had two bags of treats because my littlest Sheck was not letting go of the bag he acquired from his older brother until he examined its contents completely.  Once we arrived home, I placed him in his highchair, untwisted the twist-tie from his bag, and let him check out what was inside.  I opened a mini candy bar and he made short work of it.  As I was getting lunch ready (thinking he was just playing with the eraser and kazoo from the bag) I turned around to find he had opened the purple Tootsie Pop and was enjoying it like a kid who has had a sucker before.  (Today was his first.)  And so, like any good mother, I grabbed my camera and took pictures while he loaded up on sugar before nap time.

Green monster teeth were another goody bag item.  Look at those scary smiles 🙂

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2nd day of sun

It was another great day, weather-wise, so we made sure to spend quality time soaking up some much needed Vitamin D outside this afternoon.  The boys played in the sandbox with their snow shovels (yes, I did say snow shovels) and took turns going down the swing set slide while I used the leaf blower to make short work of the 1st batch of leaves that fell from the trees.  I’m pretty sure I already knew this, but I was amazed at how much faster it is to BLOW the leaves than RAKE them.  All total, I figure it took about 3 hours to clean up the backyard – that’s counting a couple of pit-stops and time for putting Lincoln down for his nap.  If I had been solely raking, I’m sure it would have taken at least twice as long.  My hard work was quickly hidden by newly fallen leaves, but at I’m glad we made a dent in what always proves to be a never-ending task in the fall.

Earlier in the day, the kids had fun wearing the fire chief hats they picked up last night at the firestation.  I love how Lincoln prefers to wear his backwards.  🙂