Sick Baby

Yesterday I was thinking about how proud I was of myself for making it through an entire month of school without missing a day for any reason. Certain incentives have been set in place at our school for going a month with perfect attendance, and I was so sure I was going into the pot for a parking space drawing or receiving a free jeans day.....I shouldn't have been so pleased with myself so soon.

It's the beginning of the year, and with it comes day care germs. Little Nealy has been stricken with illness. I've yet to get her into the doctor - that will come today - but she ran a slight fever yesterday, and she graced a day care teacher with the gift of a necessity of having a change of clothes on hand. I feel terrible for everyone involved.

When I picked her up from school, she proudly announced that she got a pigtail (one of the girls in the office pulled her hair up to keep it out of her face) and that she got sick (not such a proud announcement).

For today, on the 30th of the month that was sure to be my perfect attendance month, there is a substitute teacher in my classroom, I am watching the Today show in my robe, and my little one is sleeping late.

Date night....

I have discovered a new plan for monthly date nights.....travel to a nearby town to see a concert.

There was a time in my life when I went to a lot of live music shows. By an early age, I had seen a lot of bands that I still love to this day (several thanks to a couple of years of Lollapalooza). I got to see the Grateful Dead before we lost Jerry, Dave Matthews a couple of times, a handful of Phish shows, Blues Traveler, Lenny Kravitz (before he lost the dreadlocks - priceless), Prince, The Beastie Boys, George Clinton and the P-Funk at least twice, Primus, Rush, YES, Pavement, The Violent Femmes, Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians (my first concert ever - thanks, sister, for taking me to a very cool concert for my first), and more Widespread Panic shows than I care to admit. The list could go on, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

I'm fairly certain that I have suffered some minor hearing loss thanks to all of this live music, which will probably lead to major deafness later in life. But I will say this, it was all totally worth it.

I feel moved in a way when I get to see a band that I love in a way that I nearly cry when I see a famous piece of artwork in real life. My reaction to VanGoghs is kind of embarrassing.

So, instead of longing to see that Steely Dan show in Atlanta (that I missed) or wishing I could one day see Paul Simon or James Taylor live in concert, I've decided that I can make this happen!

Joe and I deserve a date night at least once a month. That is never going to happen as frequently as it should, but every couple of months is totally doable. So, I'm going to start scouting out concerts that will be going on within drivable distances - Montgomery, Birmingham, Atlanta, Columbus, and Tuscaloosa. It makes for a long night for a babysitter, but it is a chance for Joe and I to spend some time in the car to talk - just talk - not about kids or work or obligations, but about interests and gossip and silly stuff. Then we can enjoy a quick bite in a different city - always a treat, even if it's at a chain restaurant that we don't have in Auburn. And we can take in an amazing show.

Our first such date was this past Saturday night to see Ben Folds at the UAB performing arts center in Birmingham. I adore Ben Folds, and to see him is truly impressive. I have a lot of admiration for true songwriters who can play an instrument with the kind of mastery that he can play the piano. This was a small show with just Ben - no band, no back up singers, no nothing, just a man with a piano. And it was amazing.

Our drive over was painless and really very pleasant. We stopped into the English Village on the way downtown to eat at Chez Lulu, because if ever given the choice, I will always choose French food. After a bowl of eggplant soup and a goat cheese pesto sandwich for me and a slow cooked rabbit dish for Joe, we headed to the concert hall with the tastes of rosemary and red wine filling our cheeks to enjoy the show. Our tickets were kind of weird - behind the stage in a balcony with a possible obstructed view - but it was perfection. We were front row up there with a direct view of Ben Folds, and he did not disappoint. He sang all of my favorites, including "Kate" which is the song I was always convinced was exclusively all about me when I was in college, and he even entertained us with short stories and a spontaneous drum solo that proved his diverse talents. Here's a little shot I managed to get with my phone. Look at how close he is!!! I think seeing him live has inspired me to actually watch "The Sing Off" on tv, which is huge for me because I generally restrict my reality show viewing to Project Runway and the occasional Kardashians fix that I tend to watch with a furrowed brow due to my total lack of understanding of why I am so interested when they are so NOT interesting. Although, I'm sure that when the show doesn't involve him singing or playing the piano at all, I will quickly lose interest.

So, if you know of any concerts going on in our vicinity sometime soon, let me know. This night was the most perfect date ever, and I want to make it happen over and over again.

Computer issues - Part 2

Also known as the longest post in the world to recap our summer fun.

So, as I was saying.......

We found that the play ground at the Forestry Ecology Preserve was a good place to visit during the day thanks to the shade. Even then we could only last about an hour without retreating back to the air conditioned van.

The summer ended too quickly and with about a week of sheer denial, but we managed to fit in one more day of fun with some of Jacks's school friends at a play day at the tractor store! Yes, you read that correctly, the tractor store hosted a play day, complete with sheet cake and door prizes and ride on toys and gift boxes. It was one of the cutest events ever, and the kids had a blast. And Nealy won a door prize! Which we used to buy both kids their very own John Deere tee shirts.
And here we are, at the first day of school. The first picture is a result of a fogged up lens, which is what happens when you go outside at 7 in the morning to the hottest weather known to man.
The kids wore their new, home made back to school outfits that first day. It is just too hot to shop for fall clothes!! I'm sure I'll get over my griping when the autumn weather actually hits and I get to enjoy my favorite season of the year. I'm so excited about it that I'm secretly planning trips to see the leaves in the mountains somewhere come October. Oh how I long to wear jeans and long sleeve tee shirt and boots and to wear my hair down and not sweat under my sunglasses. I want to have a phone conversation without having to clean off my cell phone screen of melted make up when I hang up, and I wish to drink my morning green tea before it has cooled to below room temperature.
Before I know it, football will be here, fall birthday parties, county fairs, Halloween, pumpkins, orange leaves, spice cakes, mellowcreme candies, and all the wonders that keeps fall so dear in my heart.
Sincerest apologies to my friends and family in far away places who look to the blog to catch up with the Dyers. I will attempt to amend my blogging ways. As usual.

Computer Issues

So, the blog has been a dark and barren space with no posts or comments for a while. The ever dwindling blog activity has been thanks to an angry lap top, which grew ever angrier over the past couple of months thanks to about 16,000 photos stored on its original hard drive space with no more room to breathe. After about three years with my beloved MacBook, it was time to bring in some professional help. With no Apple store around and no desire to drive a long distance to an Apple store in order to be treated with condescension and disdain from hipster Apple store employees, the task was prolonged until it was almost too late. Luckily, an Apple distributor opened up in town, and the tech working there saved my I-photo library before it disappeared into a virtual poof.
Now, my many thousands of pictures reside safe and sound on an external hard drive which is probably going to be outdated in a few minutes because I'm too suspicious of storing my precious photos in Flicker or the "cloud" that all the kids are using these days. So, here I am, two weeks into the start of the school year, with a summer recap.
Scrolling through these pictures is already causing me to mourn the loss of summer, but I find solace in the fact that there will always be another summer to enjoy before I know it, and thanks to an obscenely early start date to our school year, the next summer will again start before Memorial Day (silver lining to starting back to school in the middle of the dog days).
So, without further ado, let the mega summer recap post begin.....
We took a short trip down the road to Atlanta at the beginning of July to enjoy some of the tourist spots the city has to offer. Jacks has reached an age where he loves driving through big cities, and he is really able to take it all in.
The trip began at the Varsity for lunch, of course, because a trip to Atlanta is never complete without some Varsity dogs, some frozen oranges, and a couple of paper hats.
Next up was the Children's Museum, which was a little over priced (more expensive for all of us than the Coke Museum) but very worthwhile. They have lots of fun, interactive exhibits. Here is a little peek at the kids having fun there....After some good, educational fun at the Children's Museum, we spent about an hour in line at the Coke Museum (not the best place for small children who shouldn't be drinking Coke, but the kids still LOVED it - Nealy will never be the same after that tasting room. She quickly created a red mustache from sugary drinks and she took to dancing all around that sticky floor).We spent the night at the nearby Hampton Inn located across the street from Georgia Tech. We didn't realize this, but if you get a city facing room in one of the upper floors, you end up with a pretty impressive view of the city. We spent our evening watching fireworks above the stadium, spotlights arcing into the sky, and a lightning show courtesy of mother nature. Not bad for an affordable hotel room....
We got up and at 'em the next morning to hit up the Georgia Aquarium before driving back to Auburn. I think we will make an annual visit to the Aquarium. It is far preferable to visiting a hot zoo in the summer time, and both the kids LOVE it there. They could watch those tanks all day long. You can see how much I enjoyed being so close to that albino alligator. It doesn't even look real, and then it blinks and totally freaks me out.
And, Joe was, as usual, our amazing photographer. Here is proof that he was with us....You will notice that our feet are cut off, which is our biggest photo pet peeve and the main reason we hardly ever get other people to take our picture (they just can't do it right....).

Of course there was an Ikea visit squeezed in there, too, but no one needs to see pictures of me going nuts for Swedish bargains. (what can't those people do?).

When we arrived back home, it was time for the 4th of July. We spent the weekend in Atlanta, so we had not planned a single thing for the actual day of the 4th. So we basically spent it at home being lazy, then the power went out for a while so we went over to the city pool to keep cool for the afternoon. Then it occurred to us that we didn't have any sparklers or anything like that, so we took a short drive down the interstate to the outrageously huge fireworks store.
For the city sponsored fireworks, we outfitted the back of the pick up with blankets and pillows and drinks and popcorn, and we parked up at the kids' school. I've never been so close to fireworks before in my life!! The kids were amazed, and we had to clean up shards of ash from the truck before pulling out into traffic.
About a week later, we enjoyed our sweet friend Winsley's fourth birthday with an Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter themed tea party. It was one of the cutest themes I've ever seen, and all the kids there had a blast.
The birthday girl was dressed as Alice, complete with little black mary janes on her little feet.
There was a photo booth with lots of fun dress up items, and Nealy made it her job to make use of all of them (in fact, we had to come home with the bunny nose or else Nealy was going to literally lose her marbles).
The rest of the summer was spent in swim lessons, soccer camp, art camp and art classes, visiting the city pool, and just general being silly and lazy around the house. It was too hot outside to play in the yard without a sprinkler directed on you. So here's a glimpse into our around the house fun.....
This post to be continued......blogger isn't letting me load any more photos on to this post. I told you this was going to be obscenely large.....

Amazing Dinner

I am not a food blogger. I think in order to be a food blogger, you also have to be a successful food photographer. It's enough for me to get the food prepared and served to my loved ones, I certainly don't have the time to stage an amazing food photo shoot. Every time I attempt to take a picture of something I made, I manage to capture glimmers of my disorganized, messy life in the corners of the picture, or I notice that my bake ware or serving dishes are old or unattractive. Basically, my food photos come out looking like my house: lived in. So, in lieu of showing you what I prepared for dinner tonight, I will tell you. Sorry, tech generation, this is a post you have to actually read rather than skim through the pictures before determining that you're not interested.

Tonight we fed my darling college son Luke, and his charming girlfriend and our favorite person Amber, as well as Luke's lovely parents. What's that you say? Your college son has real parents? Yes, it's true. I claim him as my own, but he belongs to another....and they are so wonderful. Luke's parents are British by birth, but citizens of the world through career. They have lived in England, of course, but also France, the States, and now China! Yes, they just made a tremendous move from Daphne, Alabama to Shanghai. And let me tell you, I've only been to one of those places, and I can tell you that the distance between those two places can be measured in more ways than one. Luke's father's work has taken him to all of these various and exotic places, and work has brought him back to the US for a meeting in NYC. So Mr. and Mrs. Jones decided to spend the week prior to the meeting visiting old friends in Alabama, including their dear son and daughter-in-dating. We had the pleasure of hosting the brood of four for supper tonight.
We were very excited, but always nervous about hosting new guests. Our house is always messy and small, the food can be dodgy at times, and the smaller inhabitants of the house make for a tricky visit.

I won't get into Jacks's behavior this evening. It has been raining for days, he has been cooped up in this house, and that's all I have to say about that.

So, I prepared the following:
Grilled Chicken Breasts with Lemon dijon marinade
Boiled Corn on the Cob
Caprese Salad
The Bread
Homemade Peach Ice Cream with Ginger Heart Cookies

And here's the best part, almost all of this meal was organic and/or local products. No, I'm not eschewing refined sugar at all times, and yes most of my food involves a lot of butter. But I managed to use some simple recipes and few ingredients to prepare this meal, and that is in keeping with what I'm trying to do with a lot of our meals lately. My shopping list today consisted of: tomatoes, chicken, lemons, ginger cookies, fresh mozerella, baguette (all bought at Earth Fare, with the exception of the tomatoes that I bought at Blooming Colors Market since I didn't feel like going around town in the rain and hounding my friends for fresh tomatoes from their gardens). I don't think that's a huge grocery list. I had everything else needed from an earlier trip to the farmer's market as well as some gifts from friends.
Let me give recipe credit where credit is due, I get a lot of my cooking ideas from The Pioneer Woman. I would like to think that I've made these ideas my own over time, but I'm pretty much a big rip off. So please don't think I'm a kitchen goddess. I'm a phony.
Here's the step by step instructions:

Chicken:
Toss cleaned and trimmed chicken breasts (boneless, skinless, free range organic) in a zip lock with the juice of a few lemons (organic), a large-ish squirt of grey poupon (or spoonful if you have the jar - we use it kind of often so I get those squeezy bottles), some honey (local - from our friend Mike, recent bee keeper and always bad ass), kosher salt, fresh ground pepper and olive oil. No, I didn't measure. I think you're supposed to marinate overnight, but I didn't go to the store until today, so I did it for about 5 or 6 hours.
Make your husband grill them for I don't know how long at I don't know what temperature, I don't work the grill.
Serve on a platter. YUM!

Corn:
Boil some water with some whole milk, a half a stick of butter, and about a cup of sugar. When it comes to a boil, throw in some cleaned up corn on the cob (I got these from my friend Paige who brought them to work this week in a large potato sack. Her new husband is an agriculture dude for Auburn. Sweet!). I'm not real good at cleaning up corn on the cob. I'm sure there were a few strings left in there, but I tried to ignore them. I do manage to crack each cob in half so I'm not serving each guest a giant ear of corn that they don't want. Or, if they do want it they can have two.
Let it boil about 10 minutes. Realize that dinner is not for a while. You meant to just get everything ready but you forgot yourself and went too far. So heat up the oven to warm so you can put these babies in a baking dish wrapped up in tin foil until dinner. Serve hot enough to melt some more butter on later. No one at dinner knows how much butter went into the boiling water earlier, so they'll probably want some more.

Caprese Salad:
Get some local tomatoes, and make sure you do that in the summer time. Local tomatoes only grow in the summer time. And those are the only tomatoes in the world that taste good at all. Plus I just read an article about tomato farms that use slave labor and grow crappy tomatoes. In Florida. Slaves. In Florida. The state that acquitted that girl of killing her sweet daughter. Discuss the crazy state in which I was born and the majority of my family lives now.....
Slice up those tomatoes kind of thick and lay on a platter overlapping each other like fanned deck of cards. Slice up some mozerella (organic - one of those that's shaped like a log. And those things are a pain because they're kind of messy. But worth it.). Stick slices of cheese in between your tomato slices so that now your deck of cards looks like alternating slices of tomatoes and cheese. Stick some fresh basil (grown on my deck, y'all - I grew something!!!) on top of each cheese slice. Drizzle with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar, sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. (side bar - I attempted to make a balsamic vinegar reduction last week. I don't think it reduced and/or thickened properly, but that didn't stop me from keeping it in a jar in my fridge like I'm fancy or something - and proceeded to use it on this salad. I figured cold balsamic might be better? I don't know)
Serve this with style and panache and with a sterling silver tomato server. That's the most important part - the silver part. If you don't serve it with sterling silver it won't taste right. (that's sarcasm. you might not get that without pictures. Sorry.)

The Bread
This is a direct rip off of Pioneer Woman, but I don't care. It's made of heaven, and if this was her idea and only her idea, she deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
Slice a baguette (organic) lengthwise. Slather with at least a stick of butter. I melt the butter and paint it on. Stick it on a foil lined pan in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes. Then turn the oven to broil and let that bread almost burn. You have to use real butter or this won't work properly.
Cut it up in serving pieces with some kitchen shears. Enjoy listening to everyone hack at that buttery goodness with their chompers at dinner.

Dessert:
I have a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker that sits on my counter top all summer long. I move it to the basement during the winter to resist making ice cream everyday of the year, but it must be handy in the summertime.
I make a basic ice cream base:
1 cup whole milk (I still don't do organic milk all the time because of how often we have to buy milk - maybe that will improve when I go to a local couponing class in a few weeks)
3/4 cup sugar
almost but not quite 2 cups of cream (I don't accurately measure this - I mix this up in a 4 cup measuring pyrex cup, and I mix the sugar and the milk first to get the sugar dissolved. So when I add the cream I stop when the liquid reaches the 3 cup mark.)
Stir in a pinch of salt.

And that is what I start with. Then I flavor it as needed. Today I was making peach ice cream, so I chopped up some local peaches (well, Chilton County - just north of Montgomery, right?) and sprinkled them with some water and sugar, then let them sit in the fridge for a while (I think the technical term for this is macerate). After some time had passed, I drained out the peachy juices and added them to my ice cream base. Realistically, I should have cut down on the sugar in the base since I was adding this peach liquid, but it was too late when I thought of it.
Add a little vanilla. Then taste the whole thing, then add a little more vanilla because that stuff is so good.
Pour all this goodness in the ice cream maker and let it run. When it's ALMOST done, dump in the chopped peaches. Store in the freezer until time for dessert. Homemade ice cream is always better when it's been in the freezer for a while. I put it in a tupperware container with some plastic wrap directly on the ice cream, and the lid of the container on top of that.
Serve in little punch glasses with a ginger cookie or two. I found the MOST adorable heart shaped cookies, which also happen to be made without refined sugar and with wheat flour. It doesn't really matter because of all that straight up sugar in the ice cream, but I'm writing a pat myself on the back blog, so I need to include all the high points.
Keep a bowl of these little cookies on hand for anyone who wants to stuff handfuls in their mouth during dessert rather than delicately eating the two gently placed atop their scoop of ice cream.

And that is, in a whole bunch of words, the dinner I prepared tonight in step by step instructions. Now you can go make this and impress your friends and family. And feel better and more healthy with all the great food choices that went into this meal that tastes amazing!

Some pics to fill you in

I just emptied a couple of memory cards into my iphoto, so here are some things that we've been up to....

My old college friend, Ashley, who now lives in Sydney, Australia made her annual visit home to the states. Her itinerary was fierce, but we managed a fun visit with her family as they made their way south from Atlanta to Fairhope. Jacks and Nealy had a great time visiting with Ollie and James, their favorite friends with the most charming accents (well, we assume young James will have that Aussie lilt). We were honored to have made their dance card, because it was already full. Maybe next year we can visit a little longer - or the Dyer family will find their way to the Southern Hemisphere.


And I've been sewing a good bit. Here is Nealy demonstrating her swashbuckling skills in one of her new outfits.
I also made some matching outfits for the kids to wear to my friend Paige's wedding. Jacks's pants came out a little.....shall we say, Mediterranean? He is clearly irritated by something in this picture....Speaking of irritated, Nealy is really good at this furrowed brow look. I'm sure many of you have been flashed this hairy eyeball by the little one....


Summer time is hot, so laying around in the air conditioning is a great activity when the heat gets to be too much.

The army men in this house have been very busy.
And I've finally busted out the ice cream maker for the year. Jacks took it upon himself to compliment me on my ice cream making skills, which was probably the nicest thing he's ever voluntarily said to me. As you can tell, Nealy enjoys homemade ice cream, too.
Jacks has been talking a lot about waffles lately, so we decided to have lunch at the Waffle House last weekend after attending the turtle demonstration at the Ecology Preserve. Jacks and Nealy had a blast, the short order cook made Mickey Mouse shaped waffles, the kids got paper hats, and we were extremely pleased with our bill for lunch (quite possibly the best deal in town).


Lastly, we have thrown ourselves into city based programs for the kids. Jacks has already taken one round of swim lessons at the city pool, we are looking forward to art and soccer camp coming up in July, Jacks has been enjoying a Smart Arts class with our dear friend Summer, and both kids have LOVED being a part of a toddler yoga class (a shout out to our teacher and new favorite friend, Peach!!). They spent some time decorating their new mats, which unfortunately didn't last because we used a kid friendly, washable paint, and it peeled off almost immediately. But it was still fun while it lasted.

We've also been putting some serious mileage on our Splash Pass for the city pools as well as spending a fair amount of time in my new classroom at work. The kids love the computers. And a week during the summer is not complete with at least 3 or 4 visits to Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A. So, as you can see, we are enjoying our time off by filling our days with as much as we can.
I hope you all are enjoying your summer just as much as we are. More soon!

Summer time!!!

Well, summer time has arrived! We spent the greater part of May focused on making it through May 25th, which was the last work day of the school year. And, although we weren't sure, we actually survived. We had several things distracting us from the rest of the world: making it to the last day, learning where my school administration would be moving me (I changed teams and subject areas - both things that caused me great stress and a chin zit the size of Everest. For those who know what this means, I am now a Panther. And I'm now teaching math.), getting the kids prepared for their last day of day care until August, getting signed up for summer programs and lessons, and preparing the house and my kids to stay with my parents for a week while Joe and I took a cruise!!

Here's a picture......

Yeah, well, we didn't take all that many pictures, and those that we took were in Nassau and involved me wearing that hat a lot. This was a trip focused on rest, relaxation, alone time with each other, and eating (lots of eating). The cruise took us to a small island in the Bahamas called Cococay one day, then to Nassau the next, and a few days at sea. This picture is of Joe and I at Fort Charlotte. We took a little tour of the island, which took us to Fort Charlotte, Fort Fincastle, the Queen's Staircase (below), and Atlantis. After the tour we rooted around the Straw Market for presents and tee shirts for the kids.
This shows me how much I need to work on my posture. Of course, I was working very hard at not making eye contact with the sellers who were calling to me constantly. I was attempting to appear withdrawn and not personable. I know - not much of a stretch for me.

We arrived home after 5 blissful days of rest to a house of insanity. My kids were TERRIBLE for my perfect and angelic parents who happily endured five days of no sleep, hissy fits, the kids refusing to eat proper food, and bad behavior. Jacks even attempted to BITE my father one night when dad tried to get him to sleep. BITE. Yes, it's true. After a rough interrogation, he admitted it. At which point I assured him that if it happened again, I would be biting him back. Hard.

My parents left smiling. I don't think they'll ever keep the kids again. Or not for at least another 5 years. That is probably how long it will take them to recover from this trip. I'm sure they are still smiling right now because they don't have to be here alone with the kids anymore.

Oh well, life didn't stop or get any easier while we were gone. So, although we have only been home for 24 hours, we are already back to real life full swing. Luckily, we managed to get both kids properly fed and to bed by 8:00 last night.

Today began with a bang. I have already managed to get both kids signed up for a weekly yoga class, been to the public pool, taken Jacks out for yogurt while Nealy napped, been to Target, Hobby Lobby, and Earth Fare (for free range chicken and natural peanut butter - we all need to get to eating better around here), checked out two new books from the library, and enjoyed a major after nap snack time. Still to come for today: dinner, laundry, baths and books, and bedtime. Tomorrow will involve more pool time, yard play while I work on sewing projects in the basement, another trip to the library, more laundry, and who knows what else. Swim lessons, work meetings, yoga classes, and getting signed up for more Parks and Rec programs are waiting for me when this next week arrives in one short day. Not to mention all the appointments I need to start making - the school year doesn't afford me much time to make regular doctor's visits.

Summer is supposed to be a vacation, right? Ahhh, I can't complain. I got to spend 5 uninterrupted days alone with my husband on a cruise ship in the tropics, I got to watch the sun set and the stars shine over the ocean, we got new I-phones (greatest invention ever), and I get to spend the next 8 weeks with my family with very few work days to get in our way. I am very, very lucky.

And with that, I'm hitting post without re-reading what I wrote. I hope this meandering mess made some sense. I'll have more to report in coming days, which will involve pictures of the kids in their bathing suits, grinning from ear to ear because, hey, everyone loves when school is out.