What's On The Menu

For all that don't know I host a Thursday Night Dinner at The Cheek's.  It's a weekly event and the guests are my husband, two kiddos, and my parents.  My parents have provided so many meals for me throughout the years and now it's my turn.  I'll probably never catch up to the amount they've served me, but I'll try to make up for that in quality and taste.  

So for my blog I thought it would be fun to tell you all about what's on the menu for Thursday nights, and if my recipe worked out or not (trust me, I'll be giving the bad biscuits another try).  Now for tonight's menu......

Nothing.

Tonight is our first parent meeting for kindergarten.  Yikes! I promise I won't be the mom dropping my child off crying and wondering where the last 5 years have gone.  Nothing could be better for CT than starting school.  I might be the parent jumping for joy that we aren't paying for pre-school anymore.  WooHoo!  My fears about kindergarten fall under the categories of homework, early morning, cupcakes, and birthday parties.  So far I've never had to help with homework.  So far we haven't had to get CT to school on time.  So far I've never made cupcakes for a class party.  So far we've never had to go to a birthday party and buy a gift for a kid I've never met.   

Maybe we'll have a sack lunch for dinner tonight.

Bad Biscuits

I don't know what has happened to me lately.  I usually find it easy to self motivate but recently I just can't seem to pick up the pace.  I have the occasional day where I let some dishes sit in the sink or let some laundry go untouched but so far this week (and a little of last week) I let all these things go untouched.  I've only done the necessary cleaning.  For instance I washed the covers on the big chair in my living room but that's only because Evan squeezed poop out of one of the puppies, literally, he squeezed the poop right out.  Then he tried in a desperate attempt to clean it with his sweaty sock.  Smeared sweaty poop all over my seat covers.  Have I mentioned how light the fabric on my chair is?  Anyways, I guess I can't say I've completely gone without doing laundry this week.  

Shawn, my husband, has cleaned the kitchen twice since I've been in my slump.  If he cleans it's bad.  The worst part of my story is I made bad biscuits !  I usually don't make too many mistakes in the kitchen.  It's my thing! First I started my batter without having all the ingredients.  I didn't have half & half but figured I'd substitute buttermilk.  Then I realized I didn't have enough buttermilk so I added regular milk.  After adding the regular milk to the mix I realized I didn't need that much in the first place.  The recipe called for 3/4c. not 1 and a half cups.  So I added lots more flour, a pinch of this, and a pinch of that because baking is so scientific you know.   I decided I'd continue on and if they didn't turn out I'd just throw them away.  I rolled the dough (the very sticky dough) then couldn't find my biscuit cutter.  I got creative, remembered a Paula Dean episode, and reached for a juice glass.  It did the job.  I egg washed those bad boys, threw them in the oven and 20 minutes later.....well, you tell me..... 

Bicycles

I love taking pictures in the Spring.  Everything seems to be so fresh, so green, so blue, and so fun.  On the day I took this picture, we had just gotten back from the store where Evan picked out his first bike.  It's a pirate theme.  You can't quite see it in this picture, but there's a skull and cross bone flag.  Carter has to prove he'll actually ride a bike before getting a new bike.  Evan's bike is bigger than Carter's.  Let me paint a picture for you.  

I see this moment where both boys are on the bikes, laughing, and having a good time.  "Hold on, let Mommy go get her camera!"  As soon as the shutter opens they can't seem to laugh, they can't seem to smile.  They can however make "tough guy" faces.  They're boys.  Tough guy faces are cute right?  

Also note Carter's elbow pads and knee pads.  He won't ride his bike (WITH TRAINING WHEELS) without them.  Prior to this picture we had to work through Carter's complete and utter melt down over the suggestion he ride his bike (WITH TRAINING WHEELS, THAT WON'T TIP OVER) without the protection of elbow pads and knee pads.  

Right after this picture Evan and Carter got to ride their bikes down to the end of the street.  What fun!  Toward the end of our street there's a slight hill.  We were coasting down the street with the wind in our hair.  The boys laughing.  Evan has this really throaty laugh.  Carter's is so loud he can break glass.  It was bliss.  I signal that we're going to turn around and go back toward the house.  Evan turns, Carter turns, I turn, and I realize.....up hill.  Someone should have taken a picture of me walking up the driveway balancing three bikes and sweating.