Day 228 - that was a bad choice!

i don't consider our family to be "foodies".  although we like food and try to be very aware about what we are putting into our bodies i don't think we are snobby about it.  well, not too snobby anyway. 

tonight we made a pit-stop on our way to chicago at Quaker Steak & Lube for dinner.  it was late, i had a horrible migraine, we were hungry and caleb asks every time we drive by this particular exit if we can stop and eat there because he watched an episode about the place on diners, drive-in and dives once.  we ordered our meals - got our drinks - some crazy lady made lilly a balloon animal and then our food arrived.  caleb (if you know him - you know he will eat anything) took one bite of his wings and said, "huh? i don't like that" then took another bite and said, "i REALLY don't like that".  i never thought i would hear those words come out of his mouth, especially in reference to wings.

as i started eating my wings - i kept thinking, "wow - these really don't have any flavor" and "wow, there is a lot of meat on these wings - i wonder how many hormones i'm ingesting by eating these things".  i looked at dave who was muscling through his chicken sandwich and luke taking apart his hamburger and examining it (i'm fairly certain he was convinced it wasn't actually meat).  as i turned back to caleb i noticed he hadn't eaten any more of his wings - i asked him if i could try them.  he offered on to me - i took a bit and immediately started to gag and spit it out in a napkin.  to say it was awful would be an understatement.  i'm fairly certain it was the worst food i have ever put in my mouth. 

you would think french fries would be a safe bet.  we ordered a basket of fries to share between us.  they came with, what i found out was, a beer cheese sauce.  it looked and tasted more like a floury sludge - gross.  the only one who came away feeling ok with what they ordered was lilly, who ordered a salad.

needless to say we won't be going back EVER. 

day 227 - delish!

old dog - new tricks - is the thought that comes to mind today.  i make a lot of bread.  i have made white, wheat, whole grain, sourdough, rolls, french bread, focaccia, etc.  but in all my bread making i haven't ever made cinnamon bread.  sure, i've made batches of gooey and delicious cinnamon rolls but never just a sweet cinnamon/sugar loaf. so, today as i was rolling out the dough to put into the pan i ventured into new territory by adding butter, sugar and cinnamon and rolled it up!

a couple of hours later i was cutting into the warm bread and wondering why in the world i had never done this before.  the bread was like dessert and perfect!  we all LOVED it!

Day 226 - reset button

if you own your home than you know the feeling...."my house is falling apart".  lately, i feel like everywhere i turn around our house something is breaking, leaking, out of date or literally falling apart.  the other day at lilly's birthday party we rented a bit inflatable.  the blower on the inflatable blew a breaker.  no bid deal - right?  except we couldn't find the breaker ANYWHERE.  by the time it was all said and done we had hit every breaker on the circuit breaker including the "main" turning off all the power to the house.  yet, we still couldn't get power to this one area - including our extra freezer and fridge, garage doors, and power to the shed where the blower was running. here we are two days later with extension cords running from the garage into the house to keep the freezer and fridge running and our cars parked outside.

thankfully our friend is an electrician - who was happy to come over and help us out.  after about 30 minutes of testing and looking at the breakers he was ready to climb up into the attic....when he spotted it.  he climbed down the ladder and pressed the reset button on the outlet the freezer had been plugged into and just like that - everything came to life.  i felt so dumb.  thanks walter!!!

Day 225 - ummm, like, ahhhh

caleb right now has this very annoying habit of saying, "ummm, like, ahhhhh" throughout every conversation.  now, i am trying really hard to work on my patience with him through this but sometimes i just want to scream at him.  what is my problem?  he is 12!

in my defense i know part of the problem is the fact that caleb has been an excellent communicator since he was one years old.  yes, at calebs first birthday he was able to speak in complete coherent sentences (we have the videos to prove it :)) and since then has had a vocabulary well beyond his years due to a love of reading as well as a love to tell stories and jokes.  so, what's happend in the last several months to bring on all the "uuuuuummmmms" "like's" "ya know's" and long pauses in the middle of a sentence?

tonight, in my frustration i found myself pointing out every time i heard him say one of these frustrating - "whatever you call them" words and asked him to pause and think about what he was going to say before anything came out of his mouth and be aware of what and how he was talking.  i'm so thankful caleb is such a good sport - for the rest of the evening he did an excellent job of speaking in complete sentences.  there were a couple of times i could tell he was working hard not to say, "like".

are there any parents or teachers out there with good thoughts on how to talk to your kids about good communication skills and how best, as a parent, to not get frustrated as your child goes through these kind of phases?

**side note** happy birthday sylvia - we love you!!!

Day 224 - hello Emma

lilly loves babies.  she has loved playing with babies since well before she could talk.  when lilly first asked for a new american girl bitty baby for her birthday i thought, "no way - isn't she getting too old for babies?" as dave and i talked about it - we agreed that we would encourage her to play with babies for as long as her heart desired and the expense of a new baby even though she has many was worth it.

tonight as we all sat down for dinner lilly introduced us to emma - her new baby.  i love this girl, her imagination and her love for babies!

day 223 - birthday bash #9

the postponed birthday bash #9 was a huge hit today!  lilly and all her friends and family had a wonderful evening of playing.  i've decided that lilly at 9 years is my favorite age :) she is still young enough to wear a silly party hat and want american girl "baby" stuff and yet wants to play hard and have fun!

we rented a huge inflatable slip'n slide for the party.  the girls laughed and splashed around for quite some time - it was a riot to watch.

we played one game using balloons and silly string - it was a good laugh. who doesn't have fun with silly string!

overall - it was a super fun day.  thank you to everyone who came out and helped us celebrate lilly and her birthday.  she had a great time and LOVED all the attention and gifts!

after the party the olthoffs and us hung out together and munched on left overs and watched the closing ceremonies of the olympics.  it's amazing how fast two weeks goes by - it seemed like we were just watching the opening ceremonies together.  we are already looking forward to watching the games again in the coming years and planing our trip to brazil in four years to watch the games first-hand!  well done USA!!

day 222 - party prep

lilly and i had so much fun today making up the goodie bags for her party tomorrow.  she is so excited to have all her friends and family come over.  i am so happy we were able to postpone the party and have it when she and dave are feeling much better. 

Day 221 - rain delay

we had planned on celebrating lilly's 9th birthday today.  change of plans - lilly came down with a 24 hour flu bug and dave has been in bed for the last two days and its cold and rainy..... boo!  we postponed the birthday festivities until sunday.  we are keeping our fingers crossed for a healthy and beautiful day!

Day 220 - found em

several weeks ago i was walking through the farmers market and saw a girl with the glasses i wanted.  i stopped and talked to her for a bit and she said she got them from, "see", in ann arbor.  as soon as i got home i looked up the company online and saw a bajillion cool frames.  yesterday when we were walking through water tower i saw a new "see" store had opened in the mall. 

i have been looking for frames since march and haven't found a pair i liked until yesterday!  i was able to get my lenses today and i am stoked to have my new glasses.  i love them!

day 219 - michigan ave

after staying the night downtown chicago we got up and had a late breakfast at a great new restaurant called sunny side up - delish!  then dave and i headed out to our favorite stores on michigan avenue and did some birthday shopping for our lilly.  dave and i had a super fun day just spending the day together.  the only thing that would have made it better is if my head wasn't hurting quite so bad and dave had been feeling better.  i'm afraid he is on the brink of getting sick - boo.  we met up with the kids, bob and shar for dinner before we hit the road to head home.  great day!

day 218 - coldplay!!

we drove to chicago this evening and met up with jamye and jason to see coldplay at the united center.  we bought our tickets several months ago and we have been anticipating our fun night for quite some time.  the show was awesome - WOW.  i expected to sit back and enjoy the show - instead we danced and sang along through the entire show.  we had soooooooo much fun! 

day 217 - strawberry shortcake

there is something about strawberry shortcake that just says, summer.  i love it.  i'm convinced i have the best recipe for the biscuit and it couldn't be easier.  normally making biscuits stresses me out - you have to worry about keeping everything cold not mixing it too much - seriously who needs all that pressure.  this recipe is delightfully simple, easy and you cant screw it up (unless of course you replace the salt for the sugar).

here is the recipe if you would care to make them and enjoy a bit more summer!

Strawberry Shortcake Drop Biscuit
Preheat oven 425
2 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 T. Sugar
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup milk

1.  Combine dry ingredients.  Cut in shortening with pastry blender until crumbly.  Add milk and stir with fork until everything is mixed together.

2.  Drop biscuit dough using spoon on baking sheets (i make mine BIG - so it makes 6 biscuits).  If i remember I will dust the tops of the biscuits with a bit more sugar to make them look prettier.

3. Bake for 15 min. or until lightly golden brown.

4.  Top with whipping cream and strawberries!!!

Day 216 - up north

this morning our motley crew went to petosky for brunch at the beautiful staffords bay view inn.  mr. stafford himself was at the carving station.  it isn't often you find such a memorably delicious brunch buffet - wow!  we ate till our bellies were full and then ate more.

after we got over our food coma we headed back to boyne highlands and played.... there was a par 3 to play, the chair lift to ride, mini-golf, tennis and swimming to be had.  i have to admit - it did feel a bit like i was living a scene from dirty dancing. 

Day 215 - family fun & shinanigans

YEAH for being a family again!!!  we picked up luke and lilly this morning.  as i was walking through camp i saw a blast of yellow coming running towards me - luke sprang into my arms wrapping his arms and legs around me.  he laughed as i almost fell over.  when the last time luke jumped into my arms, i have no idea.  i couldn't help but wonder if it would be the last time my sweet boy would do such a child-like thing.  i held back the tears and celebrated with him as we laughed and hugged.

we added an extra friend to our next adventure.  after picking up the kids we kept heading north to harbor springs where we met up with the olthoffs.  the drive up was gorgeous.  dave kept saying, "we've got to get my parents up here - they would love it".  it really is beautiful country.  once we made it to harbor springs we stopped for lunch.

after getting a little rest on and cleaned up we headed to boyne highlands.  tonight was the diller's first experience with the young americans dinner theater.  our closest friends have been involved with the ya since right after high-school and we have spent hours and hours talking about their experiences, love and passion for the group.  we were THRILLED to be able to go tonight and watch the show first hand.

 

the show did not disappoint!  it was amazing.  the show is very entertaining and family friendly.  i can't believe the talent.  it was incredibly inspiring and so much fun. 

if you EVER have the opportunity to go or are looking for something fun to do make the trek up north to boyne highlands and see the show first hand!

Day 214 - only child

all week caleb has been an "only child".  he hasn't been shy to express how much he has enjoyed the title and how little he has missed his brother and sister over the last week.  tonight we took caleb out for dinner and to a movie (diary of wimpy kid).  we have had a very special week with our oldest and i have treasured the laughter, conversations, road trip to chicago and so much more we have shared over the last week. 

Day 213 - kaden michael

welcome to our family kaden michael pohlad!  the newest member to our family was born this morning at 9:45 and weighed in at 8lbs. 8oz and is 22"long!

caleb and i hopped in the car and made our way over to the chicago suburbs to meet our sweet little kaden.  as we walked into the room i was overwhelmed by all the love in the room surrounding this baby boy and mama.  to say annie is a super-mom would be an understatement! james - you do a GREAT job too :)

number 6 looks good on the pohlad family!  the kids were adorable to watch loving on their new baby brother.  gavin kept giving him kisses and trying to share his pacifier.  ally was the perfect helper grabbing whatever her mom needed and more than willing to hold the baby.  macy had the camera in hand and probably took 1000 pictures of kaden.  the boys were a bit more interested in the movie but i caught them stealing a kiss or glance when they didn't think anyone was watching.

we love you guys!!

Day 212 - salsa date

i can't think of a better way to bring in the first day of august but with some fresh from the garden salsa!!  a couple of days ago nagel asked caleb if he would like to make homemade salsa with him.... the answer was an emphatic YES and i have heard caleb talking about his "salsa date" about once an hour ever since :)

 i love nagel and his ability to connect with my kids.  he has a great deal of patience and it was a riot to watch him interact with caleb talking about the recipe they were going to follow, how beautiful the veggies were, and how to chop properly.  caleb did an awesome job of chopping and helping prep all the veggies.

the salsa was AMAZING!!  way to go boys!!