Very Important Kid

Meet this week's Very Important Kid at her school. She's excited, her brother is jealous (he dumped a bottle of water all over her book bag in the van as we pulled up to school this morning), Daddy had special lunch dates and we bought our first piece of poster board. Fun times!

6:49 AM Making dreams come true.

W: Mommy! Can we go to Waffle House since it is the middle of the night?

Mama: Sure! Go put your clothes on as fast as possible and we can go there as soon as possible.

100th day of school!

January insanity.

Don't sit by me.

Why didn't William and Mary or USC teach me that a prune was a plum? I'm on a dried fruit kick and the other day I picked up these plum Amazins to try out. Loved them, kind of tart, not soggy at all, chewy little bits of perfection with fiber. And as now as Wesley has mastered pooping on the potty (APPLAUSE!) I'm now learning the importance of umm, fiber. Gummies are good but natural forms are theoretically better right. Plum Amazins had a lot to offer per the packaging. And then I read the ingredients: PRUNES.

It totally shocked me standing in the middle of my kitchen in my owl pajamas. Prunes? I do not eat prunes. I felt like Lola in that book, I Will Not Ever Not Eat A Tomato that my friend Holly sent to my kids when they were first eating foods (awesome book BTW). Yuck. And OLD.

So the next day I went and bought a box of prunes. I brought they home. They were squishy, sticky and gross. But back in the day I loved making granola and one of the best parts about making granola was the ultra dried fruit. So much so that the kids and I would just put the raisins on the baking sheet and watch them inflate like balloons up to regular grapes size again in the 350 degree oven and then we'd pull them out for that caramelized delicious raisin goodness.

I sliced and diced, put some of the prunes (though I still prefer to call them plums) on the baking sheet whole and put them in to bake to dry out a bit.

A short while later I had my very own Plum Amazins. Except that I was so amazed at my Plum Amazins I kept consuming my amazement and I think I ate the equivalent of 12-15 PRUNES. Right before bed.

Mario was not impressed with my new culinary discovery. Luckily we have a king size bed and a signed fumigation policy.

Anyhow, re-baked dried plums in the oven for 10-20 min at 350 degrees diced before or after you cook them are a treat, especially mixed with raw almonds.

And I'm pretty sure they're good for your heart.

After

Before

Meet Mr. Buffalo.

Family fun.

My new BFF.

Cold feet be gone.

Georgia snow.

Road trip cotton fields.

Real time.

Prep work.

December picnic.

School is O U T.

Day 20

Today our advent card read: fire.
Which by default also means: marshmallows.

Sweet.

Fourth of May Santa visit.

Coolest craft that's come home from kindergarten.

Best package.

This time of year I get a little gingerbread obsessed. I've eaten a lot of men, women, houses, and stars over the past few weeks. My dad surprised me with a package of twelve gingerbread men today. (Technically they are for Wesley and Clare from Santa according to the packing slip but parental rights fit in somewhere!)

We are going to have a lot of ginger love in this house. Which means we need tea. And if we need tea we will need cute mugs. So I'd probably get back to my online shopping or start writing "If you give Gwen a gingerbread man...."

Concert boy.

Wesley's first Lego creation.

Happy 28th Anniversary Gigi and Pop Pop!

This is Clare wearing the bridesmaid dress I wore at my mother's wedding 28 years ago. It's amazing that 1. I still have it, 2. I have a daughter that almost fits into it, and 3. It only took two jelly candies to get her to pose for me wearing the dress.