We Be Illin'

Last weekend began with a walk around the neighborhood on a beautiful day. We met up with two of the local kids in the neighborhood who immediately commandeered the boys and let them play with all their toys.


Both Martin and Elliott were a little apprehensive about this new arrangement, wondering if there was some catch. However, after being allowed to play in a super-cool plane they were willing to let their reservations go.


Auntie Lisa also came to visit and she helped them explore the backyard.


They went into the shed for the first time where they were more entertained by the box for the lawnmower than I would have expected.


I made vegan sweet potato, roasted corn, and kale enchiladas for dinner.


Also, I made a Mediterranean pasta for Jen's mum which is her most often requested dish.


I broke with the healthy eating for a brief spell by making this shrimp and avocado appetizer with sour cream and cocktail sauce after Lisa left.


But I did follow up with this vegan lemongrass tofu which came out pretty well.

Lisa managed to find a rusty saw in the grass in our backyard. It was thrown away before I could take any photos. However, as I continue to explore I have been able to find quite a few new treasures.


A soggy clump of Post-It Notes . . .


. . . glow sticks, likely the remnants of a long-forgotten rave . . .


. . . most of a handwritten note from 1977 . . .


. . . a broken Mickey Mouse ornament . . .


. . . an ancient gasoline can . . .


. . . a small, rusty, witch's cauldron . . .


. . . some sort of steampunk lamp that sort of looks like the time machine Trunks uses to travel back in time . . .


. . . a rusty chain marked for sale for $0.75 . . .


. . . a weird angel . . .


. . . a butterfly wing and a mystical ball in an ashtray . . .


. . . an ashtray fully stocked with soggy cigarette butts . . .


. . . some crystals that are probably from Krypton . . .


. . . and my favorite: Detailed Information on "Where to Catch Fish" in Wisconsin. I can only assume "Where to Catch Fish" is a euphamism for something more sinister based on the quotation marks.


The boys developed a pretty nasty diaper rash so this lead to 30-minute air out times for Elliott. He was crankier about this than I would have expected and he mostly ran around in protest while his brother played.


Elliott channeled his rage into the energy to develop some serious climbing skills.


By Wednesday night everyone in the family became ill except me.


You know the boys are ill when all they want to do is lie around and snuggle. Elliott just wanted to hug and snuggle after he found a hat in the closet and put it on my head.


Martin was also pretty sedentary for most of Thursday and Friday.



By Friday we were able to convince them to go outside just to get a little fresh air. This only lasted about five minutes and ended with them fussily re-entering our home.


On Friday morning Martin was in worse shape while Elliott was starting to feel better. Their ear infections were getting better but he was sluggish. The only thing that made him happy was holding this bag of graham crackers but not necessarily eating them. He held them during nap time and at hight.


He held them while watching TV.


He even held them while just looking miserable on the couch. He held this exact pose for almost two hours on Friday.


Martin took a brief break to use this old iPhone. He actually pulled it out and immediately pulled up the stock chart for Zillow. Apparently has made some investment in the online realtor site. His investment can't be doing too well since I'm sure traffic has dropped dramatically since we purchased our house.


Elliott took a few minutes to work alongside mummy as I ran to the store quickly to get some groceries for the sick bunch.


Despite everyone's sickness Evelyn and Auntie Lauren came over for dinner on Thursday.


I used all the ingredients I had in the fridge to just crank out an assortment of pizzas for everyone.


The following night I made asparagus soup with aged cheddar. I topped it with a small salad made of asparagus tips, lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and Parmigiano-Reggiano.



On Saturday morning the boys relived my favorite childhood memory by watching Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. This was my favorite part of any Saturday morning as a kid and I think I'm bringing this tradition back. I even had a friend who quite cub scouts because it interrupted his viewing of this very show.

While I loved cub scouts I remember completely understanding his decision.


We took a walk on Saturday to Grandma and Grandads for pancakes where Martin could not be parted with his favorite stuffed duck. He also was obsessed with telling me how there was a ceiling fan in their gazebo. I swear there was no way to see it from where he was standing which can only mean that it left such a lasting impression on him the last time he saw it in September that he's been thinking about it ever since.


After breakfast we went on a wagon ride where I got to get a great picture of Evelyn and Martin and perhaps the funniest expression I've ever seen Elliott make.

They were not happy about having to leave Grandma and Grandad's and Martin showed his displeasure by insisting I carry him the entire way home.

This is the peril of using the wagon.


On Sunday morning they wanted to snuggle in bed with us for quite some time before going about our day.


Elliott decided to play the pillow game whereby he leaves himself vulnerable and I drop a pillow on his head. This doesn't sound like fun but his reaction to this seemingly annoying practice suggested otherwise.


We then made the ill-fated decision to walk down to a park by our house that neither of us had ever been to before. We then took this picture to add to our series of pictures of the guys looking incredibly grumpy in front of specific landmarks.

Since we took a five mile walk we were quite tired out when we got home but the boys weren't tired at all. This resulted in no afternoon naps and an extremely fussy late afternoon.


Luckily the distraction of going to Auntie Lauren and Uncle Doug's for dinner took their mind off their crankiness and they got to play catch with the dogs. While they were pretty pissed about leaving Martin fell asleep on the way home after some fussing and it made for a pretty easy bedtime.

With the warmer days on us one can only hope that this past extended weekend marks the end or the major day care sickness season and grants us passage in the the much more illness-free realm of summer. I made it through this one unscathed.

I'm pretty sure I have just guaranteed myself a rapid onset illness. Excellent!

Last week we all went to see the Blackhawks play the Carolina Hurricanes.


Despite the fact that the Hurricanes are essentially the old Hartford Whalers, I still rooted for the Blackhawks and was delighted to see them win.


Not half as delighted as I was by the surprise appearance by Iron Chef Morimoto. This was potentially the most randomn and unexpected treat I could have possibly asked for making it the best Valentine's Day gift I could ask for.


In trying to keep with our new healthy eating initiative we attempted to have the most healthy dinner available to us at the United Center. This is what we came up with.


As the snow began to really melt recently I've been out in the yard, assessing its condition, and finding many strange things there. Like this bag of marbles . . .


. . . this empty pack of smokes. I wonder why you never find a full pack of smokes . . .


. . . all sorts of cleaning sprays and mold inhibitors . . .


. . . a wide range of dog toys, including this one that is apparently designed to teach your dog that it is a good idea to chew on a light bulb . . .


. . . all kinds of trash . . .


. . . a disgusting bowl filled with soggy cigarette butts that makes me feel slightly nauseated to look at . . .


. . . and numerous baggies of dog poop. While less disgusting than the cigarette butts I have my suspicions that these may be late Christmas gifts from my in-laws who are under the mistaken impression that when you have a bag of dog poop the proper thing to do with it is to toss it on the ground on the side of the garage. I was informed of this by my wife who also foolishly falls prey to this miscarriage of etiquette and falsely believes that this is acceptable behavior for a human being.


To repay my in-laws (potentially) for their poop presents I decided to make them their requested birthday dinners. For my father-in-law: Toad in the Hole. Through much research I learned what this dish was, how to make it, and that it apparently can only be made properly with a good quality Cumberland sausage.


Since we are in America this sausage is not easy to come by so I found a recipe from an esteemed Cumbrian sausage maker and made it myself. It was only later that I would speak with my father-in-law to discover that he had never heard of Cumberland sausage.


For my mother-in-law: this Mediterranean pasta, her all time favorite. This is convenient since it is basically the easiest thing in the world to make.


On the first day of spring I took the opportunity to trim my winter beard which had become out of control. The compliments (most of them backhanded) which followed leads me to believe I probably should have trimmed up a little sooner. Beardless people do not understand the underlying psychology and the mental games the bearded play with themselves. It was me against the winter and I won!



I continued our healthy eating extravaganza by making these two pizzas on sprouted grain crust with no oil and just a small amount of cheese. While the Sicilians believe that pizza does not need cheese, I believe that a small amount makes a world of difference.


On Wednesday when I picked them up from day care they were as happy as could be. Despite runny noses they were as pleased as punch. We had such a fun time playing around, reading books, and then eating dinner.


Elliott had three helpings of scrambled eggs despite eating virtually nothing for the past few days.


Martin ate slightly less but asked to be put in his high chair to play alongside his brother.

All was right with the world.


After getting them to bed without a peep I made dinner, starting with this salad made with balsamic roasted onions, feta, and Campari tomatoes.


For the main course I made whole wheat penne with oil-free pasta sauce, roasted baby eggplant, ricotta and Parmigiano-Reggiano.


The following night was a little bit of a nightmare. The boys freaked out the second we came inside. The night before I had opened the door to the garage, allowed them to explore it for twenty seconds, then they came inside and were happy. That trick did not work last night and they freaked out until I caved and allowed them to ride in their Cozy Coupes. It was in the 40s, so not prime weather for such activities. I did a few laps around the block and tried to end the trip three times, they flipped out each time. After half an hour I had to get them inside to feed them and the thirty minute ride around the block had done nothing to satiate their Cozy Coupe needs.


The only thing that calmed them, though temporarily, was giving them a box of crackers that they wanted. I was so beaten down by that point that I just allowed them to crush the box and take bites out of each cracker then returning them to the box.

That, my friends, is effective parenting.


I debated giving them a bath or not but I realized they were so unhappy that giving them a bath couldn't possibly make them any more unhappy. It turned out I was wrong but at least they were clean and unhappy rather than dirty and unhappy.


As the boys simmered down a bit I made this pasta with some leftover cassoulet from the freezer which I reduced down and finished with a little butter and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Last night took a mental toll. Poor Jen had to do four straight days of solo early morning drop-offs and I paid with three straight cranky-pants pick-ups.

Lisa is coming to visit this weekend so here's to hoping that the distraction of loving aunties will be enough to keep them well behaved for a while!