Mom Blog Work

I can't believe the boys are old enough for this yet, but apparently we're in a new development phase, and it comes knocking at my door almost every day.

Neighborhood kids that I didn't even know existed have started showing up every day, knocking the door and asking the perennial question of the summer, "Can Alex come out to play?"

The first time this happened, I wasn't even sure what to say. Alex was looking up at me with those please-please-please-let-me-go eyes. So, off he went.

Here's the rub at the moment though. One of the kids came to the door yesterday, and I went to introduce myself, since, well, I've never met this kid before. As I started to talk, I realized…I have no idea how to introduce my self to this kid.

Options:

To our close friends and family, I go by Auntie M or Aunt Megan. I teach my kids to call close friends and family Auntie or Uncle. That seems like a weird approach for neighborhood kids, though.

So, that day, I went with Megan. It is my name, after all. Oooh…maybe now's a good time to introduce a fun, quirky nickname? Maybe I should go by Princess Cupcake of the House of Notarte?

I'm just not a scrapbook-type person. The thought of making things on paper and putting together physical books makes me want to run away and hide (with my iPad, of course).

My aversion to all things scrappy means that my kids have no baby books to speak of. I have TONS of digital pictures (on a network drive) and even real, touchable prints (in a box, naturally). But, I always feel so guilty that I don't have any real mementos of their day to day lives, or the special things that happen.

I don't journal either. I have a hard time finding my voice in exercises like that. Do I write in first person, or third? Who am I talking to anyway? (And who the hell would read it? If the answer is no one, then why am I writing?)

Anyway, I was inspired by this Google ad on TV the other night. (Warning: unless you are made of stone, you will cry. Be prepared.)

It struck me as totally genius and I immediately set up a gmail account for Rey and Alex.

A few times a week, I send them an email. I get to write TO them, telling them about what cool thing they did that day, or what funny thing they said. I can email pictures to them from my phone; even video. I'm creating an archive of little digital notes to them. And I love doing it.

Here's a sample:

Hi Alex,

Today you rode your bike without training wheels for the first time! It was really so amazing.  Your dad and I had been talking about how we were going to teach you how to ride sans training wheels, and honestly, we didn't even know how we were going to do it...

I know that by the time they are old enough to read these emails, Gmail will probably be old-school (their hotmail to our gmail?). But, it feels like I'm making them a keepsake that will grow over time, and is easy enough for me to keep up with. I can't wait until they are old enough to read it.

Also, since both boys are pre-readers, my first email to them was the very first time I closed something with "Love, Mom". *weep*

Are you like us, and wondering how the heck it's already the end of April?? Feeling a bit like I've missed the entire month!

We're now in the height of Spring, a time of change and renewal. Great time to take a moment and think about the things we're grateful for!

Megan's List

• Sunny (if cold) days
• Impromptu dinners at the park
• Supportive/talented colleagues
• Ernest (he will ALWAYS make this list)
• Martha helping me get ready for family to visit

Karissa's List

• Waking up to sunshine!
• Brady and Mo pretend playing together
• PJs
• mid-week days off
• breakfast sandwiches at home
• family

I have this thing about dinner: I want it to be fun. I feel like it needs to be an event; something more than just sitting down and eating sandwiches. I usually try to accomplish this by having well-thought-out recipes and complete meals. (Usually...lately, we're lucky if I've got three meals planned out for the week. Busy!)

Anyway, I remember Karissa mentioning that she will sometimes use a muffin tin and create meals that fill up the tin. I did some research (thank you Google!) and discovered that this is a Thing, like people do this with their kids a lot, all over the Internet. Where have I been?

I found myself with a few leftovers from the week before, though none of each was enough for a complete meal. So, I broke out the muffin tin and went for it.

Most of these items were straight from the fridge or pantry. The only thing I really "made" were the sliders. I had some left over ground beef from a greek pita meal we made last week. I cut some whole wheat pitas into rounds, added the meat and some shredded cheese and toasted them for a few minutes in a pan on the stovetop. Instant sliders!

So much fun! The kids liked eating bits and pieces of things, and I ran through most of my leftovers. Alex even ate ALL of his vegetables, which is no small feat. In fact, he told me the carrots were his favorite.

Hmm. I'm not sure what that means for the rest of the meal, now that I think about it.

Want to get more muffin tin meal ideas? Check out Muffin Tin Mondays for more info.

Photo: Seattle Municipal Archives

Even before the terrible tragedy in Japan, I had been worrying about the state of my family's preparedness in the event of an emergency. Since it was winter, I focused immediately on fire safety. We had just started using our wood burning stove and we didn't even have a proper fire extinguisher! Not to mention there was only one smoke alarm in the entire house. (Gah. I have no idea how this house was up to code with only one. How did that not come up in our inspection? Also, how did we not fix that immediately?!)

So, we bought and installed another smoke alarm, so there's one on each floor now. (I'm not going to lie, I bought that alarm like a year ago but never installed it. When I told Karissa about this, her appropriately freaked out response was just what I needed to get that damn thing installed.) The recommendation is that there is one in each bedroom, but the upstairs one is right outside of all the bedrooms (small hallway), so I think that one is OK.

We also bought a proper fire extinguisher, which resides right outside the room where our wood burning stove is - and right near the kitchen. Finally, we bought a fire ladder than can be used from the 2nd story window. That's being stored in the boys room, which is the only room that is in use that could be used to escape from the 2nd story.

We still have some things we need to do: I'd like to get a carbon monoxide alarm, more smoke alarms and a small kitchen extinguisher, but I think we've covered all our bases (minimally) for the time being.

With that complete, I've started looking at putting together a general emergency kit. Right now, I'm debating: should I put something together myself, based on the recommendations from Ready.gov and other ideas I can troll from the Internet? Or buy something like this:

Expensive, but I'd be done in one click.

I'm curious: what does your emergency kit look lit? Did you buy it or make it yourself? How do you keep it up-to-date?