Things I Wanted To Tell You

I keep a (super cute) notepad on the side of my fridge so I can jot down ideas I have for blog posts.  There are many ideas I never quite get around to writing.  For example, I still haven't written up my favorite moving tips, and we've been in our new house for six months.

For today I thought I'd just clump a few of these ideas together so I can cross off multiple ideas from my list without writing individual blog posts for each one.  I'm guessing every now and then we'll have one of these "catch up" days where I tell you a few random things.

Date With Griffin

One Saturday while Griffin had basketball, the other two kids got to attend a fun birthday party at Monkey Joe's (loud, chaotic place with lots of jumpy inflatables).  This was right after Griffin started doing well at basketball, and I was super nervous about how he would do.

He didn't throw a fit about not being able to go to the party, and he did an awesome job at basketball.  So, I took him on a date after basketball.

He chose to go to Sonic for our date, and I obliged.  We parked at Sonic and kept the car running since we were in negative temperatures at the time.  He came up and sat in the passenger seat while we ate.  I even let him order a big ice cream treat for dessert.  We ate and talked and watched a bunch of birds in a nearby field.

He finished off about 1/4 of his giant shake!

We had lots of fun with the "I Spy" toy that came in his kid's meal.

It was so much fun!  Griffin still occasionally talks proudly about our date.  We'll definitely have to do more dates in the future.

Hesitation

Every morning I drive the kids to school.  We park on the street, and I walk the boys up to the front door of the school.  I hug and kiss them, watch them walk in, and Nora and I walk back to the car.

Well, we hit a sad but inevitable milestone about a month ago.

We walked to the school door like usual.  I hugged Griffin and he gave me a kiss.  Then I hugged Nolan just as he spotted a kid from his class approaching.  Next would be when I would kiss him.

Nolan hesitated.

I could read him.  I saw the whole thing unfolding, and I knew what was happening.  For the first time, he didn't want to kiss me in front of his peers.

I'm not gonna lie:  it stung.

But I also know that independence grows in these tiny steps.  If I ever want Nolan to be a healthy, independent adult (and somewhere down deep I do), then I have to let him pull away in tiny increments.

He still hugs and kisses me if there are no other kids around.  If there are kids nearby, our kiss is fast or maybe I just kiss his cheek or forehead.  He knows I love him, and I know he loves me.  That's enough for both of us.

Quinoa Pizza Bites

We officially tried quinoa.  And I have to say--we liked it!

I made this recipe for Quinoa Pizza Bites from Fit For Success.

I doubled the recipe and omitted the onion.  I used my 1.5 tablespoon scoop to put the quinoa mixture into my mini muffin tin, and it made 28 quinoa bites.

I made these for dinner, and my kids even loved them!  Everyone except Griffin dipped them in pizza sauce.  We'll be having these again!

Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Another new recipe we tried recently is Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats from SkinnyTaste.

Jared and I loved them, Nolan liked them, and the other two kids weren't fans.  Can't win 'em all.

The Book Thief

Over Christmas break, I read The Book Thief.  It was SO good!  I highly recommend this book.

Do yourself a favor and read the book before you see the movie.  Trust me.  I think the movie will be good, but I just don't think there's any way a movie can do this book justice.

The book is extremely unique in its writing style.  It is narrated by Death and tells the story of a little girl living in Nazi Germany.  I normally don't like historical novels, but this one certainly won me over.  The character of Death is dynamic and unexpected.  I was intrigued by his views on war.  Here's a little excerpt from the book:

In all honesty (and I know I'm complaining excessively now), I was still getting over Stalin, in Russia.  The so-called second revolution--the murder of his own people.
Then came Hitler.
They say that war is death's best friend, but I must offer you a different point of view on that one.  To me, war is like the new boss who expects the impossible.  He stands over your shoulder repeating one thing, incessantly:  "Get it done, get it done."  So you work harder.  you get the job done.  The boss, however, does not thank you.  He asks for more.

The book is actually about a little girl named Liesel, and I guarantee you will be drawn into her story.

I rented The Book Thief through the library on my Kindle, so I got to read it for free.  It was a bit lengthy but so so soooo worth it.  I connected with the characters in the book, I wanted to keep reading the stories, and I fell in love with the actual writing.

I highly recommend reading this book!

*****

We're not exactly caught up, but I think that's good for now. :)

Jessica