What does a geek look like?

So, hmmmm, when I think of the stereotypical geek, I think of taped glasses, bad plaid shirts, high waters and pocket protectors (Okay, so I watched too much of Eurkel on Family Matters back in the day...). I certainly don't think of this:

Yes, this is a picture of my darling Maria. I do not think of her as a geek. But apparently, there are plenty of others in her class that do. Maria mentioned casually tonight that all the kids at her lunch table were making fun of her lunch today. I sent her with some mashed sweet potatoes (at her request) for her veggie, and all the kids at her table told her that they were disgusting and looked like puke. She said one of the girls cringed away from her and said "Ew, ew, get AWAY from me!!". She then said that one of the other girls said that Maria always had nasty food, and referred back to the other day when Maria brought in cherry tomatoes. Seriously, are sweet potatoes and cherry tomatoes that odd?! I mean, do I have to send my daughter with Twinkies and juice boxes in order for her to be accepted?

She then went on to tell me that several of the girls in her class make fun of her because she doesn't have any Bratz dolls (I seriously HATE those things) and because she doesn't know who Justin Bieber is. These same girls made fun of her kitty socks today and said they were "gross" (I'm not sure how socks can be gross, unless they're dirty of course, but ooookay...), and tell her on a regular basis that she can't play with them because they have enough people and don't want anymore. I told her to ignore these girls and that they were just being mean because they thought it made them look cool. I asked her if she had anyone to play with in school, and she said that there were a couple of boys who were nice to her. Great.

I tried to not make a big deal out of this in front of her, because I don't want her to get more of a complex than she possibly already has, but what the HECK?!! Why are little girls so mean?!! I have really kept Maria sheltered from all the tweeny bopper stuff like High School Musical, Hannah Montana, Bratz and now Justin Bieber because I think it's too old for little girls, and kids get rushed into growing up WAY too fast nowadays. I don't want her mimicing a trashy rock star, skanky dolls or pining after some boy heart throb who is a sex symbol before his voice has even changed. She is SEVEN for crying out loud!! Is it wrong for me to steer her away from the latest trends that I find a bit too old her for? Am I setting her up to be an outsider? I just can't imagine encouraging her to just "go with the flow" when I know that most of the "flow" leads to crap nowadays.

Now mind you, I know that Maria can be a bit bossy and a know-it-all, and she's not your average girl in that she'd rather read her "Animals A-Z" Encyclopedia than read Miley Cyrus' fan book. She loves chiles rellenos and asks for seaweed-rice balls on a regular basis. But does that mean she doesn't get to have friends? Does that mean she has to be the "weirdo"? We have taught Maria her whole life to be nice to everyone, to never pick on others for being different. Little did we know that SHE would be the one who is different, that SHE would be the one to be picked on!!

Just look at this face! She is such a sweetie (okay, she has her moments, but in general, she is a dear girl). As her Mom, of course I want to fix it somehow but I know that I can't. I just have to love her and encourage her to ignore the mean comments around her.

Sheesh, already dealing with this in second grade...

What is camping all about?

What is camping all about? We went camping this past weekend up in the Adirondacks, and this is what we found that camping is all about:

Hanging out in the hammock a lot

Helping out with little brother

Late nights at the fire

Practicing crawling skills

Playing in the dirt - a lot

Eating yummy camp food like corn on the cob

Having dutch oven treats with the family (chocolate cherry cobbler)

Semi-nude wading/swimming

Quietly observing a mother duck and her ducklings

Eating GIGANTIC marshmallows by the pound

And having tons and tons of laid-back fun. Bringing a 10-month-old had it's challenges, but all in all, it was a terrific weekend - I love camping. :)

Snacktime!!

Okay, so I know I've posted some weird ideas for snacks on here before, but I'm telling you - this one is a winner!!! All you need are these three thing:

Okay, so I'm sure that most of you have heard of indoor s'mores - this is a twist on that.

Take a full sized graham cracker and break it into two square pieces.

Spread one square with peanut butter, set aside.

Put one marshmallow on the other square and put it in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds (depending on how strong your microwave is), until it puffs up all huge.

Take it out of the microwave, and put it together with the graham cracker with peanut butter to make a sandwich.

Voila! You now have peanut butter indoor s'more. This is soooo delicious (not exactly healthy, but that's now what I was going for here) and so fast and easy!! Satisfied my sweet tooth just wonderfully the other night and thrilled my girls to no end.

Try it - you'll love it!!

Twins? I don't think so.

So, when we were younger, my younger sister Adria and I got asked a lot if we were twins. Personally, we never saw thought we looked THAT much alike, but whatever, people still asked us all the time. I don't think our sons will ever have that problem when they are out together...

Here are Adria and me...
...and here we are with our babies a couple of months ago...

...and here are our boys together back in April: Henry and Edward. I don't know about you, but I don't see the "twins" comment coming up aaaaany time soon. :)

She just left a few days ago from another vist, and I have to say, it is so nice to be an aunt!!! I love being Aunt Robyn, and that we get to hang out together with our babies.

This is the stuff I daydreamed about a lot when I was younger - my sisters and I all being married and all the cousins (our kids) hanging out. It's not quite as I imagined it. She's the only one of my four sisters married, and Henry is the only cousin my kids have, but it's all good. I'm happy for what I've got! And I've waited so long for it, it makes me appreciate it ever more. Gotta love family. :)

Freak out

I meant to blog about this forever ago, and I'm just now getting to it. Okay, so here's a story of how Josephine aged me about 10 years last month. Here's the scenario: Maria is sitting on the stairs, being punished for I can't remember what now. Josephine is downstairs chillin' on the couch reading books. I go outside for a sec to look at some paint samples in the sunlight (they look different in actual light than they do inside). I accidentally drop one of them and it falls in the crack between the boards of our deck - shoot. I lean back inside, say "Josephine, I'll be right back", and head outside to crawl under the deck to get the color card out. I'm outside for maybe 60 seconds. I come back inside and hear the timer go off - time for me to go talk to Maria and see if she's ready to get up and be done with her punishment. I go upstairs, have "the talk" with her about obedience and send her off to play.

She goes outside in the backyard and comes back about five minutes later and starts walking around the house. She comes into the kitchen (where I'm starting dinner) and asks: "Mom, where's Josephine?" I pause - "Um, she's not outside with you?" "No, Mom, and she's not inside, either - I just looked" Yeah, well Maria is not always the greatest at finding things so I say "well, go look again". She does, and comes back saying that Josephine is nowhere in the house. So I go look myself. I look all over the second floor, then down through the first floor, then down to the basement. No Josephine. So I go outside. I look in the backyard, I look in the front yard, in the driveway - no Josephine. Now, I don't remember her going outside. The last time I saw her she was on the couch reading while I went outside for literally ONE minute. "This is weird, I think to myself", "but don't panic, you don't want to freak Maria out" So I search the house again - the closets, the bathtub (just in case she's doing a hide-n-seek thing), under the beds - everywhere I can think of, all the while calling out "Josephine, you need to come out now, this isn't funny. If you don't come out RIGHT NOW you are going to be in HUGE trouble!" Now I know my daughter - if she had heard that, she would have come running RIGHT out, scared to be in any trouble. I go outside and start yelling her name - no answer. I start walking up and down our block - no Josephine. She's not in the house, she's not outside. Okay, so now, I start freaking out...

I see one of our neighbors and ask her, but no, she hasn't seen Josephine, and she's been outside for the last half hour. "Somebodys' taken her!!", I start thinking, "she came outside for ONE second when I didn't notice and in that very moment, some creep snatched her!! How is that POSSIBLE?!!! What are the odds?!!" But there is no other explanation in my mind. I search the house again, knowing full well that she is not there - I've already searched it twice!! I start pacing and hyperventilating - do I call Lou? Do I call the police? "Oh my gosh, Lou will never forgive me. She'll be one of the missing children who never shows up and, Lou will divorce me and my life will fall apart and I'll never forgive myself, either!!" My mind is going crazy right about now, as you can see.

So, I go upstairs and get the phone - I have to call the police. My child is missing. I start to feel sick. I head towards our love seat to sit down while I dial and it's covered in the girls playclothes. And that's when I see it - two little sets of toes clad in lime green sandals poking out from under the mound of dress-up dresses. Josephine's toes. I look at the other end of the couch, and sure enough, there are two eyes - just eyes - showing out from under a big skirt. Josephine in on the couch, buried in play clothes, fast asleep. All that was showing were her closed eyes and little toes - I walked past her at least a half a dozen times and didn't even see her. I sat down on the opposite couch and start crying with relief. Words cannot even explain how relieved I was. And then I think "holy crap I think that stress-out just aged me about ten years..."

Let me tell you - nothing sends fear shivering down your spine like a missing child - and nothing sends more relief than finding them, safe and sound...

Organic Overload

Am I the only mother left on the planet that does not give a crap about organic foods? Seriously, I really don't care. Now I'm not raggin' on those of you who want to buy the stuff - hey, go for it - it's your money! I'm not saying it's wrong or anything, but personally, I am not going to spend $5 on a head of brocolli or $6 for a quart of organic strawberries.

Myth-buster #1 - It's healthier for you
I read an article over a year ago saying that studies show that organic fruit has no more vitamins and nutrients than the regular variety. So while it is pesticide-free (supposedly, cuz I'm not sure I really believe that, either - how can they really be sure that pesticides from neighboring farms don't drift over in small amounts through the air?), it is NOT healthier nutrition-wise.

Myth-buster #2 - It tastes better
I've had organic fruit on multiple occasions, and honestly, I don't see what all the fuss is about - it tastes exactly the same to me.

Yeah, yeah, I know - pesticides and all that, but you know what - you are getting exposed to them anyway! When you eat dinner at a friend's house or have lunch at a restaurant or go to a church picnic - ditto for when your kids go to a friend's house.

Don't get me wrong - I'm all for eating healthy. My favorite drink is water - the plain kind - not that flavored junk. Our fruit and veggie drawers are always stacked to the max and and we eat them all the time! We don't guzzle soda all week (or even Koolaid - blech), or eat already-prepared meals or frequent McDonalds, and store-bought baked goods totally freak me out because of the long list of who-knows-what ingredients in them (which is why I almost never buy them). But the whole organic thing? Personally, I think it's overrated. Of course, I could be dead wrong - it's happened before, once or twice, I think... :)

...and summer has begun...

Here are some highlights from the past few months:

Edward is getting big!

Rhubarb season at the DeGaetano homestead:

Rhubarb pie, Rhubarb muffins, Rhubarb cobbler, Rhubarb sauce...

Enjoying our reusable popscicle sticks...

...lots and lots!

Josephine's annual birthday fishing trip with Dad - caught a good-sized walleye - we had fried fish for dinner that night!

Showing off the big catch with Dad!

Happy 4th birthday! Cherry swirl cheesecake, as per Josephine's request

Me showing off my nostaglic candy (yes, those are enormous candy buttons) that Lou got me for my 30th - "to keep me a kid at heart" :)

Maria showing off the three small fish she caught on her annual birthday fishing trip with Daddy

Opening presents with her good friend Gavin from VA

Blowing out the candles - 7 years old!!

The birthday cake made by Mommy (the holes are from the candles). Maria requested a "grown-up" chocoalte cake with choclate frosting. "I want dark chocolate frosting, not kid frosting, Mom, so it will be like a grown-up cake" What can I say? The girl has good taste.

Edward's first trip on the boat. Doesn't he look comfy?

Father and son getting ready for his first boat ride. We were excited - Edward was ambivalent.

The girls posing in their birthday dresses from Grandma Linda (they LOVE to wear matching clothes, believe it or not)

And Edward is getting stronger! Not really crawling, but scooching around a bit, and already into everything. Yesterday, we spotted his first tooth cutting through! Over 8 months old already - sigh, they grow up too fast... :)

More fun times and adventures to come - bring it on, summer!