It is a well known fact that Ty can negotiate just about anything.  A friend and neighbor announced recently that he planned on having Ty — age five —  negotiate the re-fi’s on his mortgage.  I have to have nerves of steel and a heckofa line in the sand when Ty sets his sights on something.  And recently he set his sights on that box of Swiss Miss and that bag of marshmellows.

For days now he has been asking me about the weather report. It took me a while to figure out why.  His angle?  Rainy, wet, or even snowy weather equals….Hot Chocolate.  But I once I was onto him I could tell him, hey, it is not quite cold enough yet!   He then turned to the “others” he figured would cave in or at least didn’t know the rules.  He asked babysitters and friends for hot chocolate.  Nope.  No luck.

Driving home from school Monday afternoon he told me, Ah Mommy, I am soooooooooo cold. 

I was distracted by a garbage truck and the rain. Ah honey, I am so sorry.  What can we do to warm you up?

You see it coming, don’t you?  Well, I didn’t.  Moment of weakness, I guess.

I need Hot Chocolate.  He says in his sweetest, I love you mommy, voice.   So, I answered with the good ol’ mother standby.  Let me think about it. 

He smilled and then actually cackled.  Because, basically, he knew he had me at “I’ll think about it.” 

An hour later, out came the tea kettle.  Out came the mashmellows.  Out came the Swiss Miss.   I even got out the whole milk.

Okay, bud, I said.  You can have the hot chocolate on one condition.  You have to let me take your picture while you drink it.

I am pretty sure that his internal dialoge goes something like this… “SUCKAAHHHH!”

I am doomed, aren’t I???

©2012 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

Her husband recently gave her a cocktail recipe book as a gift ands she has turned her adventures in experimenting with new mixed — ahem — beverages into a fun, well-written, and clever blog named Ice+Clink+Drink.

Here is an excerpt:

If It Weren’t For Those Muddling Kids:

I don’t think Scooby Doo and the gang were making many cocktails (Shaggy was likely smoking his intoxicants), but they might view muddling as a mystery. Since this is a prominent part of making many cocktails today, let’s get it out there.

Muddling is pressing ingredients with a pestle-shaped muddler in order to release the juices, oils and flavors of fruits, herbs and chile peppers.  If you’ve ever ordered a mojito, you’ve seen this technique in action, as the bartender muddles the mint in the bottom of the glass with sugar before adding the rum, lime juice and club soda. If done well, you get a pretty drink with greenery and a nice mint taste. If the drink mixer has aggression issues, you get a whole lot of leaf pieces shooting up your straw with each sip – where you know they’ll probably lodge between your teeth like you’ve been eating salad. Or, in the case of a frustrating blackberry mojito I had at the Ritz Carlton (where you’d think they’d know better) in Lake Las Vegas, a straw jammed with blackberry seeds.   

 See? See?  Good stuff.  Give her a try, eh?

©2012 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

Ryn's Recipes

Well, check it out at Ryn’s Recipes if you are interested in trying some of these cupcake masterpieces. This mom, Ryn, is on what she calls a CUPCAKE ODYSSEY (Odysseus watch out…!!!) where she is trying a new cupcake recipe each week.  Uh, I LOVE that…

Also, if you have not gone to Me Ra Koh Photography to check out my blog post from Monday, please do.  And leave me a comment on her blog so she knows you are out there reading my photo tales.

©2012 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

This past weekend, Dave was at a swim meet all weekend long.  One of the major drawbacks to the teacher-coaching gig, is that 1 to 2 times per month, Dave is gone for huge lengths of time at a swim meet.  Like 10-12 hours per day.  It is a drain on me at home.  After going all week being “on” with the kids, it is absolutely brutal to go all weekend with no husband, only to face another week. 

During the  swim meet three weeks ago, I finally hit the wall at 3pm on Sunday.  Every time I walked out of the room – -even to pee — I burst into tears.  My texts to him started to take on a fatalist tone, “Someone is not going to make it if you do not get home soon!”   “Did you get my last text?”  “H.E.L.P.!“  Finally, I made that desperate wife phone call  that I am pretty sure we all have made at least once and begged him to come home and, luckily, he was able to duck out an hour early.  An hour that certainly saved my life and maybe even the life of a child or two.

So, prior to this meet, I tried to be a bit more proactive.  My first approach was to call Grandma Bloo and get her over here!  Then we made plans.  To LEAVE the house.  For a hermit-turned-recluse like me, it was a big moment. To consider taking all 5 kids out to lunch and… TO THE PARK… well, lets just say, the excitement was darn near brain-shattering.  And clearly I would not try this alone.  But, with Grandma in tow, I thought I had a fighting chance. Plus, she was buying.

When the sun comes out in the Seattle area it matters little what the actual TEMPERATURE is.  The thermometer can read 33 degrees, but if it is SUNNY we walk outside with sunglasses and coats slung over our arms.  I have seen bikinis in 50-degree weather because of the brilliant sun (I do not don a bikini even in 90 degree weather, FYI).  And when the actual temperature climbs past the magical marker of 60 degrees, the whole city goes WILD.

Saturday was one of those days.

First stop: KIDD VALLEY for some perfect hamburgers.

If you have never had a KIDD VALLEY hamburger, get thee to an airport and fly thee to Seattle.  It is worth it.  Warning,  you will have to set your feminist sensibilites aside. 

Never been a big fan of putting a scantily clad girl atop a piece of meat…. but, when said piece of meat is a KIDD VALLEY hamburger. I am willing to overlook it.  So are my kids.  In fact, I just might put one of my kids on top of that hamburger if it meant getting one for free (that’s a free hamburger, not a free kid… which doesn’t exist).

Lily eating delicious hamburger!

 Of course we brought kid #5 along and she got to eat her very first french fry… ah, she makes me so proud.

Emme and her First French Fry

 Second Stop: Houghton Beach Park

Is this just not the MOST glorious place to put a park!?!??!  That’s Lake Washington in the background.  Oh, and  ya see those big heavy winter coats that Izzy and Lily are wearing? … yeah, those are about to come off… in a hurry!

Kids at Houghton

Lily and Ty at Houghton

I think I am a Pacific Northwest SNOB, because this is the best place to live…ever…  I think I am gonna have to buy Lily some new jeans,though,… her legs are getting so dang long!

Walking along the dock

Even Emme got in on the action and had fun people watching from the safety of her stroller.

Emme People Watching

All in all, a DARN good day.  Way better than crying in the bathroom and praying that your husband will come home an hour early. 

And, in true northwest style, the rain was back on Sunday.  And then Grandma Bloo went back home.  And Emme didn’t nap. And with two hours to go until hubbie came home, I started counting the seconds.  And pricing pizza for dinner. 

The next swim meet?  In three weeks.

©2012 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

Dave and I are simple folk.  We’re not foodies or art-lovers.  The perfect date night for us is a night at a pub (one of our favorites is THE ATTIC  in Madison Park, Seattle) having pub food and a malt beverage.  Even better if there is a Seahawk or Mariner game on while we dine.  Follow that up with a walk somewhere interesting — along the water, on a trail, down a city-block — winding up in a bookstore to browse.  We may throw in a movie if there is something we are dying to pay $75 (it seems) to see.  Our only rule is we are only allowed to talk about the kids in the car… once out of the car, we must talk about something else.  Oh, our other only rule is that no one is allowed to puke.  We once went on a three-in-a-row date night stint where one of us ended up puking at the end of the night.  No, we did not over-indulge… the flu, food poisoning, and vertigo were the culprits. 

The Attic in Madison Park Seattle

What does YOUR perfect date night look like?

©2012 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

I am convinced that in Bilbical times he would have made it as a professional “gleaner”.

©2012 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.