Better Late than Never...

It's better late than never. I have yet to post my photo of Jake on his first day of preschool. It was taken with my phone and I ran across it tonight when I was taking this photo of my pumpkin pie (yes, fall IS here, finally). :) 

And, it was delicious, I have to say. I will have to run extra this week to make sure I don't add 10 pounds, since I plan on eating almost all of it by myself. I'm a quarter of the way there already. :) 

But, I digress. 

Back to Jake... 

He was so excited on his first day of preschool. Then, there were days of tears. He misses his mommy... and he doesn't like nap time. But, he does love lunch time and finds it fascinating that we always have his favorite foods in his lunch box. He also really seems to enjoy the other kids and telling me about how they get in trouble for not sharing. I wonder how much of that is because he isn't sharing, but I've not heard any reports... yet. And, now, the morning drop-off is getting easier. We have a routine about it now. We get ready, we get his breakfast (a morning pop tart and OJ to go, I know it isn't healthy, but that's what he loves and I'm not going to start off the morning with that battle), we drop off Bailey, and we make our way across town to his school. We listen to Three Doors Down's Kryptonite as many times as we can before we get there. We don't discuss much of anything, because we like to have our peace and quiet (if that's what you call the blaring radio and Jake's singing "yaaaaaaaahhhhhhh."). And when we get there, he is happy to get out of the car and go in. Well, most of the time. This morning, he wasn't so happy about going in. And he gave me the most pitiful pouty, puckered-up face ever. I literally had to turn my back and not look at him for a second because I knew he'd be able to see how much it hurt to see him so sad. I put on my best smile and gave him a little tickle, promised a fun day that would go by quickly, and a lot of fun with Spiderman and Batman when we got home. He sucked it up and fought back the tears. I was dreading actually leaving him. But, when we got in the room, we put his things away and he pulled his own chair up beside his friend at the computer. I snuck away unnoticed. 

What is most significant to me about all of this is not that drop-offs are getting easier, but that I see my little baby becoming more independent. He isn't as insecure as he was the first few days. He gets his backpack and lunchbox everyday when I pick him up. He pulls his own chair up to the computer. He cleans up his train set before his morning work begins. He's doing all the things that preschoolers do, without argument (which is really what I was worried about - he's a lot like his daddy, always finding a way to get out of things!). And, the most exciting development... he draws and colors every day when we get home. Before, I had to beg Jake to color or draw. He would beg me to hold my hand over his so that the drawing would be perfect. He would cry and claim he couldn't do it. He would flat out refuse to try. It was a struggle. Now, he is trying. And, he's getting better, too. He drew a Spiderman (of course) today that actually had a head and body. Now, it's a blob of red and blue, but as he drew, I could see the form of a person. Bailey and I celebrated every stroke and every color, telling him how wonderful it is that he is drawing. All good things... very good things. 

And, the reason for this post... this is my little boy on his first day of preschool two weeks ago. Of course, he had to wear his Superman shirt. My little superhero... just seeing his smile melts my heart. :)

More Cooking!

What to write next? 


Well, I started a blog post about the circus a few days ago, but I have yet to finish it. That involves actually editing and saving photos and posting them on my blog. That just involves work. :) 


Instead, I will just tell you about something else. 


You might or might not have read that I love food. You know, that I was slightly devastated about not eating for a month or so while I waited for my gallbladder to be removed. I might have mentioned how hungry I was then. I mentioned it at least once, I think. :) 


Naturally, as soon as I was well enough, the first thing I wanted to do was eat. Enter my newest obsession - The Pioneer Woman. Seriously, I am obsessed. I honestly check her blog every morning, just like I brush my teeth. I just can't get enough of her recipes. I have never found a cookbook that I actually loved more than a couple of recipes in, but I can't get enough of the recipes she posts. I swear, I think she's my food soul mate, if one exists. I'm seriously on my way to becoming a stalker. :) 


Anyway... before I get any more dramatic about this... I have tried four more recipes (working toward that goal of 10 new recipes each year - I think I'm going to blow that out of the water). They are all fabulous. All three of them. And, they are all from the Pioneer Woman, of course. 


Seriously, try them... you'll see why I'm so obsessed. If anyone who buys Christmas gifts for me is reading, I want her cookbook for Christmas. Mom? Are you reading? :) 


So, here are the links to the three that I most recently tried. 


I have never cooked a whole chicken. I was eating lots of chicken with the whole gallbladder problem. And I was sick of eating it grilled. I decided to search out a recipe for something else and found this amongst the recipes for chicken on PW's website. It's a herb roasted chicken and it is delicious. I used lemon, onion, and garlic in the chicken and added garlic to the rub on the outside. It was so good and my house smelled wonderful for hours. The kids loved it, too, which is even better, since I feel like a short-order cook with them most of the time. 


Another chicken one that I found after my surgery. I was ready to eat, but easing back into things. And, I was not sure about this one... the Crispy Yogurt Chicken. But, I really needed something to try that was different and I was still a little worried about cooking something fried or extremely greasy. I wasn't too worried about the yogurt portion, mainly because I thought I would just pick at the breading and eat the chicken. It was very good. I think it needed a little more garlic, but that is an easy adjustment.


As a side for the crispy yogurt chicken, I prepared Au Gratin Potatoes.The doctor told me to try out some different things and I was wanting cheese. This just made sense for my taste buds. It was good... Mmm... I loved it. But, I didn't get a second opinion from anyone else. The kids refused to try it and Brad didn't eat any of it because he worked late. So, if you don't like it, you can blame me and my starvation for it. :) 


And, last but most certainly not least, my favorite of these four by far, the perfect combination of two of my absolute favorite foods - pasta and shrimp. We had this tonight and I can still smell how good it smelled in the house. It was so delicious that I really felt like I could cook... and cook really well. I was thinking about Eat, Pray, Love the whole time and imagining that I was actually sitting in Italy as opposed to my dining room with three chairs instead of four because we broke one. I'm cooking this one on Monday when friends come over, so I hope they love it as much as I did. I think I could eat this at least once a week. 

Vacation = Food

In case I hadn't mentioned it, I love food. :) 


LOVE food. 


Our vacations are typically planned around eating really good food. 


So, this post is about food on vacation. 


Is it really sad that I am dedicating an entire post to what I digested while on vacation? Probably... but you know the one question I've been asked by everyone who asked about our vacation to Hilton Head? Where did you eat? That's the number one question. So, I don't think I'm all that crazy and I definitely don't think I'm alone out there in this one. :) 


Here's my list of favorites from vacation, in the order that we ate them. I wanted to put them in order of favorites, but I can't pick, so this will just have to do. :) 


1. The Boathouse - we sat outside and I ate crab legs. Lots of crab legs. Gnats about drove me crazy the entire time and I'm pretty sure I probably ended up eating a couple, but they did not at all interfere with the deliciousness of these crab legs. OMG. So good. Not to mention that I have a big thing for good atmosphere and this place had it. We walked along a pier to see the water, sat outside and watched the sun, and then got to eat on the patio. Subtract the bugs and I would have been in heaven. Oh... that and get my son to actually sit in his seat instead of nearly tripping servers the entire night. :) Oh... and make my daughter listen to me the first fifteen times I tell her to do something or not do something. It was our first night there and the beginning of a week of fights between mother and daughter. Oh, the memories. :) 

2.  Land's End Tavern (Salty Dog Cafe) - We made our way to the part of the island that featured the Salty Dog Cafe. I think this is called South Beach Marina, but I couldn't swear to it. The food here was also complete deliciousness. I got fried shrimp and regretted it the entire time. I should have done crab legs again. Colt got them and let us help him crack them, so I got to taste test and I regretted it even more. The shrimp was good, but I could have had it any where. Still kicking myself for it. Again, here, we enjoyed the atmosphere while we waited. Jake had fallen asleep, so I was carrying him most of the time, but Bailey really enjoyed seeing the boats and the water. We watched a crab devour a minnow. It was a crowded area of the island, but fun to be in the mix. Here's where Emily and I started our research on kayaking, boating, etc. :) This restaurant is also the one that featured several large pirates. Not live pirates, just pirate mannequins. Jake was obsessing over them the entire meal (he woke up before we ate). I promised him we'd take pictures with the pirates and then when he got the chance to actually go see the pirate and take a picture, he was terrified and cried. Hilarious...  

Jake and his version of the pirate's "hook." He's all fearless right now. 

Colt trying out some calamari

Bailey showing him up... not really... she just wanted a cool picture. 

Me wishing I had ordered crab legs again. :(

Who says playing with food isn't fun? 

Before the pirate....

"Hello Captain Pirate, I am terrified." 

Bailey showing up her brother. 

3. Guiseppe's Pizza and Pasta - OK. I don't think I have photos of this one. We ordered in. The boys (being Colt and Brad) went and golfed. Emily and I ordered pizza. It took way too long and I was way too hungry when it arrived. But, it was really good... if you ever go there, make sure you get meatballs on the pizza. Deliciousness. But, if you order cheese sticks and they act like you are getting breadsticks with cheese on them, don't count on it. You will get deep fried mozzarella. Or so we did. :) 

4. Lady and Sons - You can read all about this in my post about Savannah, Georgia, complete with photos, but not of the food. :) 

5. Crazy Crab - The week was half over before we figured out when and how to get to the lighthouse. :) And we finally made it. I'll be posting more about it separately. We had heard the Crazy Crab was touristy, but that they had good food. I'm not opposed to touristy. I usually like local favorites, but touristy isn't bad. And, it wasn't bad. It was really good. I had shrimp there. I can't remember exactly what kind because it's fading now, but it was good. It was peel and eat, but there was also some flavoring, just can't remember exactly what. What I do remember about it is the decor. There were fish everywhere. And there was a huge old scuba diver outfit that freaked Jake out. He wasn't really scared of it, but he called it a bad guy. If you have seen the Spongebob movie where Spongebob and Patrick get captured by a scuba diver and are being "dried out" to sell in a souvenir shop, then you'll understand why this is the "bad guy." Otherwise, just take it from me. He's the bad guy. Jake hasn't figured out that it's a person in that suit. I'll just let him go on thinking this. I'm sure he won't want to hear what I have to say about it anyway. :)

Trying to take a fun picture... 

Deciding this was more like how I was really feeling at the moment. 

6. Captain Woody's - After we spent our wonderful day out on the boat, seeing dolphins and enjoying the beauty of nature, we made our way to Captain Woody's. It was recommended by the driver of our boat. Oddly enough, it was owned by a couple from Kentucky. They even had a drink on the menu that was called "Go Big Blue." This was a small, hole in the wall type, but it was fabulous. And, it looked great from the outside, so I'm not sure I'd really call it a hole in the wall. It was just more like a small pub. I got the crab cake sandwich and it was great. I had been debating crab cakes all week and decided that I'd better go with it or I was going to run out of time. I don't think I have photos of this restaurant. I'm not sure why. Maybe I was just tired of my camera after the boat trip. :) This was probably my second favorite (next to the Boathouse). It was just good, fast, and relaxing. If you get a chance to go, you should.

7. Hinoki - On our last night there, I decided I needed some red meat or I might go crazy. I don't think I ate any for that whole week. Really. So, we contemplated. Brad and Colt had golfed, so they were starving, too. I made some kind of comment like, "For the amount of money we've been spending, we could eat at Hibachi." And it stuck. We started the research to find a Japanese Steakhouse. And we found this one. It was great! I have never gone to a restaurant where you sit on the floor. This place had a sort of pit for the table and you sat in these stadium-seat like chairs on the floor with your feet dangling in the hole in the floor. I took pictures of the food here. :) Yum.