September 2010 – Our Family Adventure

Elmo

Ajax’s new favorite thing right now is Elmo. Although he’s not into watching Sesame Street yet (actually, he’s not into watching TV at all), he has a few books with Elmo and he is obsessed. He’ll stand around saying, Elmo? Elmo? And then will point out Elmo on all the pages of his book. Ernie is a close second. Ajax has also been saying, hi guys. Which I just think is so cute.

We’re currently getting ready for our first official family vacation (so I apologize in advance that there will be no updates for next week). One of the greatest things I remember doing as a kid was going on family vacations. Our family would go someplace big every summer – California, Washington, Disney World. We always had so much fun. Dave and I want Ajax to experience the same thing.

Dave and I each took a week off work (the first for Dave since Ajax was born), and we’re headed up north to Mackinaw City, which is at the very northern tip of Michigan before jumping the bridge to the U.P. We are leaving on Sunday and will stay in Mackinaw until Wednesday and then we are heading over to Dave’s parents house. Dave, his mom, and I are signed up to take a class and then we’ll be home on Saturday and then the Zombie Walk is on Sunday.

I made tortilla soup and Ajax thought it was the best thing ever.

Helping in the kitchen

I enjoy letting Ajax help me in the kitchen. It’s a fun time together. Of course his idea of helping and my idea of helping are vastly different, but nonetheless I like it. I usually sit him up on the counter with me and give him a wooden spoon. He then helps me stir or acts as a general taste tester.

Today Dave demanded a chocolate cake, so Ajax and I whipped up a delicious confection. We made a double layer cake, it came out a little lopsided, but it was the first I’d ever made and I was pretty darn proud of it. Ajax was also pretty proud that he discovered he could lick the wooden spoons and then cram them into the toaster. What a little helper (Don’t worry as a precaution I always unplug the toaster when he’s helping, lol).

I also stopped by a garage sale and picked up this little rocking toy for a buck. Ajax had a ton of fun riding it all over the living room and then put his teddy bear on it and pushed his bear all over.

Rite Aid

Today was Sunday and that meant a trip to Rite Aid. My shopping plan was a bit haphazard. I had $14.50 in UP rewards to spend that were set to expire this week, but my printer died last week so I was a little limited in my deal scenarios. Here’s what I ended up with –

FIRST TRANSACTION:

1 Jumbo pack of Pampers – $11.99, on sale for $9.99
2 Olay Complete moisturizers – $8.99, sale BOGO 50%, so $13.50 for two
1 Crest 3D toothpaste – $3.79, on sale for $2.99
TOTAL = $26.48, after coupons paid $7.25 (plus tax), received $4 in UP rewards

SECOND TRANSACTION:

2 Sunday newspapers – $3.00
2 candybars – $1.00 (I needed this)
Total – $4.00, used UP rewards from above, paid zero out of pocket.

So, I guess all said and done, paid $3.25 for the above items. Not bad considering I would have paid $3.00 for two newspapers anyways and Ajax needed diapers.

Capes

Ajax has a green hooded towel that we bought him the last time we were at Ikea. Usually he’s not that interested in it. After getting into PJs I would place it on his head like a cape, but he never really thought that much of it. Tonight, however, after bath time, after PJs, Ajax ran around the house with the towel like a superman cape. He thought it was the funniest thing ever. He kept pulling it down over his eyes and zipping up and down the hall way. He was pretty pumped up.

Hockey Practice

“This is daycare, not hockey practice, he shouldn’t have to be so tough.” This is what Ms. Karen said to Dave when he picked up the nino yesterday. Ajax had a scratch on his face and while Ms. Karen was upset about it, Dave just said, well he’ll be ok. Apparently Ajax had a bit of a scuffle with another child. The other kid tried to take a toy from Ajax, so the kid was pulling one way and Ajax was pulling the other way. Ms. Karen then came up and told the other kid to “let go” so the kid let go and bam – the toy came right back into Ajax’s face, leaving the scratch. Ms. Karen said she scooped him up and tried to cuddle and comfort him, but he just said, “no, down?” She was more upset about the incident than he was, especially since Ajax is not the cuddly type. He is very much a rough and tumble little boy.

Today we went visiting my friend Mari and got to see her new twin girls (so cute!). While I was feeding one of the infants, Ajax became so upset and jealous. He kept trying to have me pick him up and was not pleased that I was holding another baby. After I put her down, Ajax became more comfortable and played with Riley, who will be 2 in October. Ajax didn’t pay any other attention to the babies until we were ready to leave and then it was like he was fascinated. He kept touching their feet and hands, and at one point tried to give one a hug and kiss, it was ridiculously cute. He’ll be a wonderful big brother some day.

DSCN6593 — Playing outside. It was in the high 80s today.

Apples and Rice

The way to my son’s heart is definitely through his stomach, but heaven forbid he have to wait an extra twenty minutes for dinner. Honestly you would think the world had come to an end.

Usually we eat dinner around 6 pm; to do this that means I usually prep meals for Dave to easily throw into the oven or Dave makes breakfast for dinner. Tonight when I got home at 6, however, Dave asked that I make dinner as he wanted to get the yard done (it’s supposed to rain the rest of the week). I said no problem and then started poking around the freezer as I failed to set something aside this morning. Ajax, however, realized that it was 6 pm on the nose and also realized that food was not being immediately presented to him. I quickly settled on chicken fried rice (as I had a bag of cooked chicken in the freezer) and started prepping.

As I stood at the stove Ajax kept trying to wedge himself between my body and the stove and would then bang on the oven door screaming! He kept screaming and screaming, you would think this child never got anything to eat. Of course the window was open, so you have Ajax screaming – Momma Momma, eat bite apple! And then I’m yelling- Give me two minutes, two minutes! How am I supposed to… get away from the stove, Hot hot! Yes I’m sure my neighbors think we’re crazy.

Ajax’s new word is currently – apples. So of course for dinner he had apple slices and chicken fried rice. I would also like to report that that I got dinner on the table in a record 25 minutes!

Horse-sitting

On Friday night we loaded up the car and headed out to my parent’s house in Brooklyn to house-sit as they headed to North Carolina for a week of vacation on the beach. We stayed Friday and Saturday night and then headed home on Sunday afternoon.

On Saturday we bummed around the house and barn, played with the horses, dogs, and cats. Ajax just loves animals. He chased the dogs, tried to pet the wary barn cats, and fed the horses. I have now come to realize that Ajax calls all horses “Frannie.” He would go up to each horse, pull up a few strands of grass, and then try to fed each. He would get nervous once the horse would lower its head to his hand and would end up throwing or dropping the few shreds. I tried to show him to keep his hand flat while feeding a horse… he’ll get it.

We let the dogs sleep in the house on Saturday night and Ajax was floored. He was very gentle and by extension, they were very patient with him. He kept trying to grab Cole’s tail; Cole not knowing what to do, would just flop right over onto his side and just lay there.

On Saturday night we went out to eat at this great BBQ place. I do believe BBQ is Ajax’s favorite meal of all time. He ate everything from pork rinds to baked beans to corn bread to pulled pork. After Dave and I finished eating, we then sat there another 30 minutes while Ajax continued to eat! We kind of got a little worried, since he just kept eating and eating.

Overall, a very nice weekend in the country.

DSCN6570 — Cole followed Ajax all over the place.

DSCN6583 — He flipped this foot rest over and climbed inside, and then got stuck.

DSCN6550 — Ajax is actually dancing here.

DSCN6543 — Ajax pushed this antique doll stroller all over the place.

Frannie

Ajax’s favorite person right now is Frannie. Who is Frannie you ask? Why a horse of course. My mother’s horse. Her full name is Elegant Francesca, but everyone calls her Frannie and right now she is hands-down Ajax’s favorite thing in the world. Every time he sees a picture of a horse he starts calling out – “Frannie! Frannie!” He will then look around like he expects to see her no matter where he is. This is odd as I can guarantee you that Frannie has never once been to our home.

This weekend we are going to house sit for my parents and of course this means more time with Frannie. We’ve told Ajax this numerous times and I think he’s very excited to see his horse. Since we’ll be out this weekend, that means no posts.

Hot!

I think our family has been pretty lucky as far as the accident front goes. Ajax has had a few bumps and bruises, but nothing major. I mean this from the kid that just last week made up a brand new game which involved leaping off the couch onto a mound of pillows. Dave thought it was hilarious; nearly gave me a heart attack.

On Sunday I disassembled our dishwasher which had broke down (we totally fixed it), and while we were working on it, Ajax was of course right there with you, basically inside the darn thing “helping.” At one point we had closed it up, thought it was off, and then reopened the door. We quickly discovered that it wasn’t off, but had been placed to the plate warming setting, thereby heating the coil in the bottom of the dishwasher.

Well, as soon as the door opened, Ajax dove inside, again to “help.” Dave immediately recognized that there was heat emitting from the dishwasher just a split second before Ajax grabbed the coil. We ran his hand under cold water and then placed aloe on the burn. It didn’t blister, but was definitely an angry red line right across his palm.

He kept holding up his hand saying, hot hot! Dave and I felt horrible, but Ajax seems to have moved on.

DSCN6524 — We got this neat cover for Ajax's wagon.

Butterhorns

I won’t lie. I don’t know what a “butterhorn” is. It’s a silly word really, but oh so delicious. I found the recipe on Money Saving Mom and thought why am I spending all this money on Pillsbury biscuits and crescent rolls when I could make and freeze my own (except for the obvious reason of saving time, lol)?

I came to this conclusion because honestly I eat a lot of bread. I just don’t feel a meal is complete without some sort of bread situation. I’m Italian. Ajax also appears to feel this way. He loved the butterhorns! He crammed so much into his mouth that every time he tried to ask for “more ” – little bits kept falling out! Dave does not feel the need to complete every meal with bread, but he too agreed that these things were excellent!

In addition to butterhorns, we also had a mini-freezer cooking day on Sunday- making 17 rice and bean burritos for lunches and 4 meals of gringo enchiladas! Yum!

Make-Ahead Butterhorns (makes 32 rolls)
2 Tablespoons dry yeast, heaping
1/3 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
9 cups flour, divided (you can use any mixture of white or whole-wheat flour you’d like)
2 cups warm milk (110-115 degrees)
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar (we substituted sucanat)
6 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
3-4 Tablespoons butter, melted

Dissolve yeast in water. Add 4 C. flour, milk, butter, sugar, eggs, and salt. Beat till smooth. Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto floured surface and knead lightly. Place in a grease bowl, turn once. Place in warm place, cover and let rise – 1 – 3 hours. Punch down. Divide into 4 equal parts. Roll each part into a 12-inch circle, brush with melted butter, and cut into 8 pieces (like a pie!). Roll up and pinch closed. Place onto a baking sheet – either to freeze or cook right away!

To cook- bake at 375 degrees for 9 – 11 minutes (till brown). When you remove them from the oven, brush with butter.