Cam Dates

When Calen started part time preschool at age 3 1/2, something new and strange happened. 

I had Camden alone. Completely alone. For the first time. 

Sure, he was only 18 months old, and sure, I'd had Calen alone at 18 months (though I was obscenely pregnant and uncomfortable), but this was the first time in Cam's little existence on planet Earth where he had full reign of the house, of the toys, and of my attention. 

We made a point of going out once or twice a week for little "Cam Dates" while Calen was at preschool. Usually it was little stuff like Starbucks or the little zoo in Cape May or even Petsmart to look at the fish. 18 month olds are so easy to please. I really enjoyed and cherished this little time with him. Not that I didn't enjoy my time with both boys, or with Calen alone, but the cold hard truth is that older siblings are overbearing and rule over the younger siblings (at least when they're small), especially older siblings named Calen. Camden didn't start talking until he was almost 3, because he didn't have to. And he couldn't get a word in. So getting Cam out, alone, where we could interact with only each other and explore the world together without interruption was magical. You realize that the younger sibling does in fact have his own personality. And it's cute (and in some moments with Cam, treacherous, but mostly, cute). 

Throwback Thursday! Our first Cam Date, Sept 2012. Cheeeeks!

So for the last two years we've been continuing the tradition of "Cam Dates". Though now, most of them are in secret, because if Calen caught word of what awesomeness we might be doing in a city full of fun like San Diego, he might start faking having ebola or something so he can stay home and go on adventures with us. 

Today was Cam Date day. Per request, we went to the zoo to find some elephants (Cam's favorite). We got right when it opened which also happens to be feeding time, and got to see a gigantic African elephant up close eating some fruit concoction the zookeeper called "elephant metamucil"....in other words, make it poop. Cam sat quietly on the ground, watching and shoving his toy elephant's nose into the dirt telling me "see elephant's 'ungwy". The zookeeper took to Cam and talked to him a lot about elephants. I wish Cam had batted his eyes more or something so that maybe we could you know pet an elephant or something. I guess it's not that kind of zoo. But he was thrilled to be able to control where and what we saw next. Super fun morning. 

Photo dump!

Deciding what to see next (on the ground, in the MIDDLE of the walkway)

Showing the elephant his elephant

Playing hide and seek behind the totem poles

What's up, turtle?

Showdown

The inevitable "hmph!!" when I told him it was time to go. The face he's making is a class "I dare you to come make me move" Cam face. 

Rattle Yer Bones

We had a bit of a skeleton theme going on today. 

Holidays like these make it SO easy to look like you're incredibly organized but really you just throw a few things together and it magically has a "theme".

After pouring through eight (EIGHT!!!) pages of homework for Calen (he gets a weekly packet....averaging 14-18 pages of homework a week....in Kindergarten?? I specifically remember not having homework until I was in 3rd grade. But I digress...), the kids made skeletons out of q-tips and glue. I followed a picture online and shaped the pieces and the kids did the gluing (well Cam didn't...I helped). It's a cute little project that took a mere 15 minutes but was a hit and most importantly FREE, especially if you are like me and bought q-tips from Costco like five years ago and haven't used them up yet. 

Then we donned our all-important skeleton pajamas (okay the kids did...I am unfortunate enough to not own a pair) and watched the Nightmare Before Christmas. And we'll probably watch something completely benign between that and bedtime, like Doc McStuffins or something equally G-rated. Jack Skellington is a favorite in our house but not bedtime friendly quite yet (though I'd probably have a hard time not laughing if Calen came in saying he had a dream about Oogie Boogie). Movie snack of the night: Cheetos' "Bag of Bones". White cheddar bone shapes that allow you to make skeletons. 

But of course.

The graveyard...

"Bag o Bones" except it's not in a bag, it's in a cauldron. 

What a delicious looking skeleton man!

Highway to the Danger Zone

(come on, did you think I would have titled a post about Miramar ANYTHING else?)

We went to the MCAS Miramar (aka Top Gun aka Fightertown USA aka Surface of the F**king Sun) Air Show today. It was hot, it was hot, IT. WAS. HOT. Like 100 degrees and not a hint of shade anywhere ever kind of hot. But even the probability of melting into the flight line pavement didn't keep us from second guessing our decision to drive ten minutes north to the show.

When we got there and parked in Wherever the Hell Bumfudge Parking Lot A, they told us we could wait 30 mins for the shuttle bus to pick us up or walk 25 mins across base to the show. Aww hell, what's a 25 minute walk? Let's hoof it boys.

It was not a 25 minute walk. It was like a 45 minute walk. Whatever lying bastard told me that is was 25 minutes must have walked it on stilts. Double lying points for telling me it was 25 minutes in 100 degree heat. Which made it all the more awful with two kids in tow. Liar. LIAR!! 

P.S. I'm not sure I've ever been on a military base as big as MCAS Miramar. And I've been on a few. Or maybe it just seemed enormous because I was walking the length of it. In the heat. With two kids. 

By the time we got to the flightline where the show was, the patriot jets (L-39s) were performing. Then we saw a little bi-plane do some pretty badass tricks, a harrier jet, a few other planes, then the C-130 Fat Albert, and then the headliner Blue Angels. The kids' faces were priceless They were beside themselves with happiness. 

After the Blue Angels, we left the bleachers for what I thought would be a short intermission before the twilight show to find an ATM so I could buy us more water (all three huge water bottles we had brought with were bone dry by then) and as-promised toy fighter jets. Everything was cash only, so we walked around the enormous show area, and all five ATMs we had found were out of cash (insert eyeball twitching here). By then the kids (and I) were beside themselves from being overheated, dehydrated and disappointed, and so I made an executive decision that it was time to get the hell out of there before we had to be carted away in an ambulance (people were dropping like flies from heat stroke). So we walked the 1.3 miles (I checked) back to our car, hot and miserable. And drove straight to Sonic and got three of the biggest Cherry Limeades they had for dinner. Worth it. 

We might go back tomorrow, because we're gluttons for punishment. And we like airplanes. And we'll pack cash and extra water. 

Photo dump! Sorry, all super ugly cell phone shots. Didn't bother with the beast camera today. 

Endnote: We sat in bleachers, you know, the kind that has gaps behind your feet that drop off into the abyss? By the end of the day, we lost a water bottle, Calen's sunglasses and Camden's toy airplane. Good heavens. 

Already had rosy cheeks going on and we had just arrived

Cam was prepared with extremely appropriate aviators

Terrifically  bad cell phone shot

Week In Review: October Edition

Starting October 1st, it's Halloween season in this house. 

Because there's just way too much fun Halloweenie shit to do to cram it all in one day. Or week. 

So here's what we did this week:

We did some decorating. (including my new Halloweenie nutcrackers that make me especially happy). The outside isn't done yet.

We made mini caramel apples using the ultra-small apples that Camden picked from the orchard last week. Perfect size for the kids, because who can eat an entire caramel apple?

Hint: I wouldn't recommend this. The caramel was hot, the kids were uncoordinated, and combining the two made hot caramel all over hands, shirts, tables, floors, dogs etc. Just don't. 

We also made apple dumplings, thanks to Pinterest. It involved wrapping peeled apple slices in crescent roll dough. Then pour a mixture of 1/2 cups sugar, 2 sticks butter, cinnamon and vanilla over the dumplings in a baking dish. THEN pour an entire can of Mountain Dew (of all damn things) over that. Bake. Die of happy fatness. 

Amazing triple bypass apple dumplings. Still bubbling out of the oven

 Tonight, we made some cute Halloween characters using a foam activity kit I bought at Michael's and added some stickers to make the craft last longer than ten minutes. The kids loved this and my $3 was well spent. 

Once craft session was over and my entire table was covered in a thin layer of Elmer's glue, we christened this year's Halloween pajamas and made Monster Munch. Monster Munch is a free for all of all the yummy bags of shit you can't help but buy this time of year. Candy corn, pumpkin spice M&Ms, those candy pumpkin things, ghost marshmallows (because you couldn't help but buy them, even though you had no idea what you would use them for) and of course Muddy Buddies. And whatever else you may or may not have. As long as it's Halloweenie themed. Mix. Serve. Watch as your kids stay awake for seven hours afterwards. I gave them each a smallish helping (okay, not so small. Let's be reasonable and make them sick. It's more fun that way) and we are finishing off the night watching Spookly the Square Pumpkin on Disney Junior. I voted for Texas Chainsaw Massacre but you know for some reason they vetoed me. 

Funny story about Calen's pajamas. In September he started asking, BEGGING, for skeleton pajamas. Randomly. Lucky for ME Halloween stuff was starting to come out. So I ordered their pajamas early. Then for bonus Mom points I found the skeleton beanie (and matching gloves) in the dollar bin at Target. I don't think Calen's ever been so happy over a pair of pajamas, and he's been wearing them almost nightly (when I'm on top of the laundry, anyways). Whatever makes him happy.

Monster Munch!!

Calen's beloved skeleton pajamas, and Cam's fake monster teeth pajamas are my personal all time favorite

A Lesson on How to Make Apple Bread

We uh, have a lot of apples. 

In terms of measurement, I'm pretty sure we have somewhere between a peck and "holy shit that's a lot of apples". 

So obviously we had to get busy with ridiculous made from scratch apple recipes that are paraded all over Pinterest. Fall is basically the only season that I really can handle daily June Cleaver kitchen endeavors. What can I say, I'm a sucker for anything that will make my house smell like cinnamon and baked goods. 

Last night the kids and I made apple bread. Stupid simple recipe that we found on Pinterest (posted below). Strangely, the kids were completely engaged with taking turns dumping ingredients and stirring. There was no fighting or fit throwing when it wasn't their turn. 

...What?! I know. I said it. No fighting.

Their favorite part was cracking eggs. I've never let the kids crack eggs before. You would think I had given them permission to paint the house, they were so excited with it. 

I hope I don't wake up one morning with all my eggs cracked all over the house.

Here's a step by step of our apple bread, adapted from Pinterest. Personally, I would recommend doubling the ingredients for the bread but NOT doubling the cream cheese topping, as the bread didn't rise very much and the cream cheese was a little overwhelming for my ridiculous picky kids. 

You will need:
- 2 large apples (or 3 small apples), peeled and chopped
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice seasoning

For the cream cheese topping:
- 6oz cream cheese (room temp)
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Combine chopped apples, oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla into mixing bowl. Give your minions helpers some spoons and tell them to stir. 
3. Sprinkle amazing sibling dust over said minions so that they will somehow be so nice taking turns dumping ingredients with each other that you're convinced Supernanny made an appearance in your house when you weren't looking.

4. Add flour, baking soda, pumpkin spice and salt. Mix well and pour into loaf pan. 

5. Mix together cream cheese, egg and sugar. Pour over batter. Poke holes in the batter to let it seep in, if desired. Put a loose foil tent over the top

5.5: Thank your lucky stars that you realized you pulled sour cream out of the fridge and not cream cheese, BEFORE you stirred it in the mixing bowl. Yikes. 

6. Eat apple pie for dinner and watch Despicable Me while letting bread cook for 30 mins. Eat without pants for a more exciting experience. 

7. Remove foil tent and continue cooking for 20 mins or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool before slicing.

Here's the original recipe. The link to the recipe is http://todayscreativeblog.net/apple-recipes/

Apple Bread:

You will need:
- 2 large apples (or 3 small apples), peeled and chopped
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice seasoning

For the cream cheese topping:
- 6oz cream cheese (room temp)
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees F.
2. Chop your apples into small pieces or grate. Place into a large mixing bowl. Add oil, cup of sugar, eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Gently fold in flour, baking soda, salt and spices until wet. Pour into prepared loaf pan.
3. Combine cream cheese, sugar and egg either with a fork or mixer. Pour over the top of the batter. Using a fork or knife, gently swirl the two layers together.
4. Bake for 30 min with a loosely covered tin foil tent. Remove foil and continue to bake an additional 15-20 min until a toothpick inserted into bread comes out clean. Allow to cool before slicing.

Apple Picking

Although NO one would believe it since it's 80 degrees around here, it's late September which means it's fall and FALL means apple picking!

We drove up to the "mountains" of Julian, California today (which is apparently well known for it's apple orchards and apple pies) with friends, up a horrifically winding road that combined with sitting in the back seat and my headache medicine just about killed me (which it didn't, but it did force my poor friends to pull over so I could be that friend that pukes on the side of the road...we'll see if they invite me to anything else ever again....). We got there right when the orchard opened so we had the entire place to ourselves. Eating while picking was encouraged, and we took full advantage of it. Especially Camden, who personally test-tasted every apple by taking a single bite of each one and putting it in his bag. I ended up having to dump half his apple bag out to replace with non-eaten apples. 

Commence photo dump:

By the end of the day, we brought home a shit ton of apples...

...and some treats. Including an entire apple pie which I ate half of for dinner. 

Red Letter Day

So I decided that since I can't seem to get ahold of anyone regarding speech therapy approved preschool for Cam in this city (seriously people? I'm leaving my phone number. Call me back) and private preschool around here is a million trillion dollars (a month), I decided I was going to take matters into my own hands and do a little at home school time with him while Calen is at school. Not a ton, maybe an hour out of a day. Since the kid is SO unwilling to learn (he doesn't have time for crap like the alphabet or colors!) I have to start with the serious basics. 

Since he's still pretty iffy with his colors, I decided to start with the color red for this week. I'm not a very motivated teacher anyways so colors are easy for both of us. This morning we started with the colored Cheerios (sold at the NEX for a buck a box!) sorting game. He sorts them just fine so my questions of whether or not he's color blind has been answered...he's not. 

After that I took some rice that I had colored red last night (2 cups rice + 2 tbs vinegar + food coloring + shake shake shake in a ziplock bag + lay out on wax paper to dry = colored rice) and poured it in a baking dish and let Camden play "construction site" with it. Good ol' fashioned sensory play. I'm turning into some sort of hippie recycling homeschooling mom or something.

Note: I have NO INTENTION of homeschooling either child EVER. Sweet for the people that have the patience and energy and compassion for it but it's not my thing. Why won't they call me back?! Also I do happen to recycle.

We then had lunch on the patio featuring red raspberries and strawberries, and Cam ate while I read him "The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear." It's a favorite in our house and it was appropriate for the day. 

We finished our little red splurge with painting with red paint, including making handprints. Later when we start doing alphabet stuff I'll have him decorate it with alien stickers. After all, "A is for Apple" is SO last generation. A is for Alien people!

His little chubby MAN HANDS

And that was it for the day. Cam liked the special one on one attention too, and listened pretty well. I have a few more "red" projects for tomorrow and then we'll try to confuse him by adding a color to the mix. 

Pajama Party

I had this crazy insane idea to you know, cook dinner tonight. Then I decided instead to put pajamas on early (new pajamas...I love how something like new pajamas still entertains them at this age), watch old Mickey Mouse shorts on Netflix and have popcorn for dinner. 

I'm so high class. 

At least I didn't take them to Walmart in their pajamas.

(their pajamas aren't old and dingy enough to take them to Walmart yet)