Post-Party Re-cap

That's Lucy, waiting for our guests to arrive.

So a bit before this year's party started, I looked back to the blog from last year's party to see if there were any hints. It was useful, so I figure I should document this year's, both for your amusement, and for next year's planning purposes. Here's this year's menu of what we made:

*Corned Beef (15 pounds pre-cooked weight) -- we only have a little bit left
*Colcannon (w/ 15+ pounds of potatoes) -- we have a lot left
*Boiled veggies -- carrots, cabbage, brussels sprouts -- a little bit left
*Caraway Puffs -- double batch, ALL GONE

*Spinach-cheese squares (my grandmother's recipe, but also found online here)-- ALL GONE
*Tomatillo salsa -- lots left
*Guacamole -- ALL GONE
*Hummus -- lots left
*Pasta salad -- lots left
*Smitten Kitchen Cocoa Brownies -- ALL GONE
*Salted White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies -- maybe 8 left
*Coconut-macadamia macaroons -- maybe 10 left
I know, I should have taken more pictures of the food. Next time.

We had about 30+ grown-ups, and another 10 or so kids (FIVE 3-year olds all at once!), which was a bit smaller than some of our other St. Pat's fests. Everything went pretty well. Lucy had one complete meltdown (like, drop to the floor and lay there flat on her belly, wailing) but was otherwise pretty content and entertained. This morning I asked her what she liked best about the party and she answered, without waiting for a beat: "DRINKING!" She meant milk, but still....

Carter managed to sneak a lot of treats, but I guess he kind of deserved them given his excellent behavior with all the kids, who were hugging him and leading him around the house. Everyone had a good time, and went home well-fed. Mission accomplished.

Breakage

The past week has been one of breakage, but everyone's OK.

On Friday, while we were prepping for the St. Patrick's Day party, it was very windy outside. While we were in the kitchen, we heard and partly saw a giant branch of a tree across the street fall down, with the result below:
It knocked out power to those two houses, and caused some damage, but no one was hurt. So that was the neighborhood drama. You may recall that a little less than a year ago, we had another tree come down nearby. Trees. We must kill them before they kill us.

The other breakage was in Jake's hand. Before you get too upset and pick up the phone, he is fine. While riding to work on Thursday, his bike slipped on some nasty ice, and he went down. he was able to ride the rest of the way to work, as well as home in the afternoon, but he was in some pain. On Friday he went to see the doctor, and the X-rays indicate that some of those tiny bones in his wrist have some tiny fractures. He's doing fine and the swelling has gone down. He'll see a hand doctor on Monday.

Yikes!

We also had a broken salt shaker during the party, but other than that, the party was breakage-free. More on the party in the next post. We're still a bit tired. It's one of those Zombie Mommy (TM) days.

Signs of Spring!

It's coming!

Updates and Conversations with Lucy (TM)

It is Spring Break here at 83 Durant Street, which doesn't mean all that much -- or at least, doesn't mean a trip to Bermuda or other sunny climes. On the up side, it does mean that things have warmed up a bit here, which is nice. The iceberg in our driveway has gotten a bit smaller, and the iceberg at the end of our driveway has nearly disappeared, so hopefully, someday soon, we will have the full range of parking options at the house. Woot!

The inspiration to write today comes from Lucy, namely, today's hilarious Conversations with Lucy (TM). After I picked her up from school today, we went downtown to get her a haircut. We go to Angela Salon (91 East Merrimack Street, Lowell), which we love. They know her (and the whole family) and she enjoys it there. And it's totally reasonably priced, which, if you're aware of the frequency of haircuts needed amongst the hirsute members of our family, you know means something to our bottom-line budget. When we left with her bangs nicely trimmed, there were a lot of nicely-dressed office workers heading home on the street in downtown Lowell. We were walking behind a woman, and Lucy asked:

"Mom, do you have sticky-outy shoes?"

By this, she meant "high heels." I thought that "sticky-outy shoes" is the best Lucy-ism I had heard in a while, and so obviously, I needed to post. And yes, by the way, I do own a few pairs of sticky-outy shoes.

This evening, when I put her to bed, Lucy asked out of the blue:

"Mom, do I have stink waves coming off of me?"

She had just had a bath, so I really didn't notice an offending odor, but I did think the question a bit odd, until I remembered that she and Jake had been listening to the audio book of The Witches by Roald Dahl, which totally explains her concern regarding stink-waves.

The other exciting update is that Lucy successfully used the potty this evening after her bath. This represents a huge milestone, as for sometime now, she has screamed bloody murder at the mere mention of using the potty or wearing big girl underwear. Her daycare teacher told me last week that in her twenty years of experience with kids, she has never encountered a potty training challenge like the one our daughter has been presenting. We always knew she was exceptional. It's good to have that feeling validated.

What was particularly impressive was how thoroughly she had reasoned things out regarding her choice to use diapers instead of the potty. She had an answer to every objection an adult could pose.

Adult: But Lucy when are you going to use the potty?
Lucy: When I'm eighteen! I will wear big-kid diapers! They have them at CVS!

Lucy: I want to be Super Girl for Halloween next year!
Adult: Lucy, you know, Super Girl wears underwear, not diapers.
Lucy (after thinking for a moment): I will be Baby Super Girl.

Adult: Lucy, why don't you want to use the potty?
Lucy: It's uncomfortable.
Adult: Having a diaper rash is more uncomfortable.
Lucy: When you use the potty, you get a potty rash. All over your body.

There was no reasoning with her. After a nuclear meltdown this evening, we had potty success, and then she was riding high on the excitement. She still wore a diaper to bed, but she said (on her own) that she wanted to use the potty in the morning and wear big kid underwear to school. We'll see how that goes. Fingers crossed. Maybe legs, too.