Friday rocks…even for a mom!

Crazy, crazy week. Between the 1-year old tagging someone's light-colored couch with black acrylic paint to Veronica (6) losing her first tooth. It was wildly busy this week. Why I thought Friday would be any different for me, I'm not sure.

Mac had a problem last night and woke up, so naturally he slept in. Late. Babysitting issues forced me to go to Simply Play (3818 Oleander Drive), which Mac loves, but they were fully booked. "No space for an hour, maybe an hour and a half?" They said with that look of understanding.
I had to make a mad dash to a meeting, grabbing a bag of entertainment for the toddler and 4-year old. Yikes. So here is the cool part—the UNCW people I met with were totally amazing about the kids being at the meeting.
I'll be teaching a communication studies course in the fall online (strategic writing). It was our first meeting and they understood the whole deal. In fact, I guess, since childcare was going to be an issue for the fall semester, they were even more understanding about it. I have studied, worked and have taught at UNCW. But I had such a good feeling leaving the meeting, that I convinced my husband that he had to have lunch with the three of us.
We went to Dixie Grill, which I hadn't been to since its renovation. The fries were amazing. Truly amazing. I ordered a good, healthy salad and was trying to eat light, but managed to consume most of Mac's fries since he was enamored of the Ms. Pac-Man game.

Around 3:30—with the distraction of his older sister home from school—Mac finally stopped asking when he was going to go to "that Simply Play place." What a Friday.

How do you deal with a kid’s doctor appointments?

So, yesterday I had to take our 6-year old to Carolina Pediatrics for a recurring, ahem, issue. Normally my kids are pretty well behaved but yesterday was unique in the craziness. (Full moon?) Mac (4) decided to kick his shoes off in the waiting room and climb over two couches touching back-to-back. Petra (1) was grabbing stacks of YMCA summer camp promotional materials and distributing them through the obstacle course of chairs, as if they were the loveliest of flower petals.

When we finally made our way to the examination room, I needed somehow to help my 6-year old pee into a cup. It was as if one of those word problems had come alive: you can only leave one child in the examination room and the youngest will absolutely explore every inch of the doctor's bathroom—how do you wipe and hold the pee cup while keeping the toddler at bay? In the end, we were successful in all areas except Petra (in a parting shot to the bathroom?) winged the top of the specimen cup into the toilet.

And what to do when waiting for the examination? Read books? Talk over weekend plans? Discuss school or other family issues? Nah.

Climb aboard the chair with wheels and see how fast you can project yourself across the small space, preferably without crashing into the door or wall and alerting the staff.

When mom puts a kibosh on that? Play hide-and-seek, of course!

Mind you, everyone at the pediatricians' office is wonderful. But I think they may have been a little happy to see us—ALL of us—go.

I got in touch with my domestic goddess today…

And then I had to snap out of it.

Last night the kids and I had a blast having dinner with friends. Veronica (6) was in heaven as she hunkered down to paint and then watch "Hannah Montana"—we don't have cable, so it was a treat for her. Dessert was an enormous bowl of fresh, local strawberries. Veronica and Mac (4) ate a bite out of each strawberry, left the remains in the bowl…along with one uneaten one. Priceless manners, simply priceless. No matter how sober I was last night, this morning came too early with two sleep-deprived children.

I pressed on, ignoring the whining ones, and prepared amazing sweet potato and ginger muffins. (A picture would not do them justice.) We had a boatload of sweet potatoes from the CSA (Black River Organics) we have "subscribed" to through Wilmington's rocking food co-op, Tidal Creek Co-Op. (Sometimes you get too much of one item and kitchen creativity soars.) Then I whipped up mango-blueberry fool from a recipe in this month's Gourmet.

I was happily practicing all of these domestic crafts when I realized I had to get Veronica to the doctor's for a non-emergency sick visit. The dread…a doctor's visit with three active kids.

The Tiki Bar is Open

Thank God the Tiki Bar is Open! (With thanks to John Hyatt for that song…or at least the title.)

We of Wilmaville are heading to Carolina Beach on Saturday evening to enjoy the surf, the sand, the suds (as in beer!) and the sounds at the Tiki Bar out on the pier behind the Ocean Grill. Maybe we will see you there?

The Mason Smith band is playing and that's always fun because they totally rock!

Music starts at 6pm and ends at 9pm—unless the weather says otherwise. But we like to get there a little early so the kids can play in the surf. This is my favorite place to hang out as a family. We bring beach chairs and set down on the sand instead of up on the pier. We can hear the music just fine from there. But the kids can build sand castles, play in the surf (and so can we), and run themselves ragged.

Sometimes we pack a cooler with dinner. And sometimes we buy dinner up on the Tiki bar. (The food is great—fish sandwiches, fried oysters, that sort of thing.)

However you do it, it's a great night out. Did I talk you into it? Are you going to join us?

Our New Identity Takes a Drive

The weather was gorgeous on Monday and we just bought a new car so, while better citizens were honoring our nation's veterans on the Battleship, my family climbed into our perfectly clean, gas-sipping, peppy Honda Fit—with 20 miles on it and no dog fur in it—and went for a self-indulgent meal on the riverfront to embrace our new identity. No more mini-van for us. Now that the kids are bigger, the car is smaller.

A gravitational pull dragged us to our favorite spot on the river, Catalan. And we learned something new about the place. It's dog friendly. Half the customers had some sort of canine obediently parked under their table. One of the dogs was even wearing an absurd little dress.

"This is very French," said Cole (11). It was. But how does he know that?

"Why didn't we bring our dogs?" asked Ava (9), considering dress options for our two 50-pound, male, hunting dogs.

I pictured the dog fight, stolen food, and chaos that would now be raining on our outing if we had but said only, "No dogs in the new car, honey."

Thinking about the car made her smile. Who knew the secret to this girl's happiness was a sporty car?

Catalan doesn't really have a kids menu but the kids don't seem to mind. Dan (husband) and I enjoyed the Tartines du Catalan with olive tapenade while the kids sipped Orangina, ate cheese and bread, and waited for the moment when they could order dessert. There is only one dessert on the menu. But it is such a delectable, heavenly chocolate mousse that we had to stop Cole from eating the dish it came in.

Blueberries are Ready to Pick

I am stuffing my mouth with blueberries I got yesterday at Lewis Farms as I write this. Blueberry season is fleeting and they are unbelievably delicious. Don't miss it!

Of course we had ice cream while we were there.

And we picked up some of their summer squash and threw it on the grill when we got home. Delicious. It didn't even need butter.

Summer shoes

So, I learned long ago, you can look at someone's feet and learn a lot about them. You can tell even more about them as they shed their wintry shoes for the la-la-la summer. The white shoes after Memorial Day rule seems so passé.

Now, normally, I chase after the kids wearing my fabulous (!) FitFlops or outdoorsy Keens. But, Memorial Day ushered in summer and beach going and with it, a new era in my shoe closet. Weeks ago, I went to Shoe Shak in Hanover Center, which has an amazing array of shoes. I love browsing through the aisles and rows, watching the acrobatics of the shoes in dashes of spring pinks and greens and silver and gold. I bought a pair of Yellow Box shoes that are so not me that they have become me. Black flip-flops with a couple inches of stiletto heel…topped off with an array of chunky, dazzling rhinestones.

I hid them in a drawer, so as to not alert my six-year old (who is already a decidedly messy clothes horse). Getting into the festive "Holiday Weekend = Beginning of Beach Season" Friday night, with as much nonchalance as I could muster, I unveiled these new summer shoes. In the kitchen, wearing my apron, cooking dinner in my work out clothes, decked out in rhinestones. Every girl's dream.

As soon as Veronica saw the shoes, her eyes widened.

"Mom, we must paint your toe nails!"

And paint them she did –along with my toes. The bold red color of summer toenails with a practiced shimmery pink dot in the middle of each nail.

My daughter was in heaven. I'm now ready for summer.