Tag Archives: motherhood

Bye Bye Summer Memories Time Line!

5 Nov

Last week the east coast suffered a horrible, devastating hurricane, Hurricane Sandy.

Before reading this post, please remember all of those who are still reeling from this event. Although we were not personally affected, as you’ll read below, so many we know were.

If you would like to donate, I have linked to the American Red Cross and their Hurricane relief site.
You can click here to make your own donation.

Thank you, and enjoy today’s post.

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Our Summer Time Line has been up for a long, long time.

You all remember our Summer Memories Time Line, right?

Started in June, finished in August.

It’s November.

I was thrilled with how the Time Line came out. I loved the pictures, I loved re-living my favorite season.

Til about October. Early October.

“I’m going to take the Time Line down soon,” I’d say.

“No, don’t! I still like looking at it,” someone 13 and under would say.

“I still like remembering all the fun things we did,” another would say.

So I’d leave it longer.

Caroline was 12 when the Time Line went up and 13 by the time it came down.

Caroline’s birthday came at the end of October. The cards went up on the wall, above the Time Line. Halloween decorations went up, around the Time Line.

Christmas was coming, cards would be coming in a matter of weeks. I knew I had to take the Time Line down. I wasn’t going to throw it out, I don’t throw anything out. Ever. I was going to save it.

Then came Hurricane Sandy.

I was wandering around Target the day before the storm, picking up canned goods and thinking about the possibility of being out of electricity for what they said could be weeks.

With an S.

Weeks.

I tried not to think about that possibility and tried instead, to think of what kinds of things one could do with three kids with no power, for weeks, or even a few days.

I wandered through their scrapbooking aisle, and that’s when it hit me, like a ton of canned goods.

The Time Line!! We could scrapbook the Time Line. Together. I’d let them do it, each creating their own pages, using the photos I’d printed for it and the little papers they’d written the events on.

Being a former Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, I had tons of empty scrapbooks and probably thousands of pieces of paper to use.

Thousands.

With an S.

It was perfect.

We never lost power.

Not even a day. Without an S.

They watched TV for two days straight, while we prepared on Sunday and while I typed like crazy on Monday for an extra-early deadline, with us thinking that any minute the lights would go off and I’d whip out my plan.

But, then Tuesday came, the day after the storm ended. Lights on but no school again. Thankfully we were unscathed by the storm.

So many papers to choose from!

This would definitely be the day. We went out during the day and ran some errands and then after lunch but before dinner, we cleared off the dining room table (or at least one end of it) and brought up all the scrapbooking stuff.

I picked out an album. The kids started looking through all the designer papers.

Lots to choose from.

And I started. I began to dis-assemble the Time Line.

Piece by piece, and they were fine with it. I’d give each child a page to work on and give them all the pictures and the posted events to go with it.

Everyone knew the pages they wanted to work on before we started.

They went to town. It was totally their project. I let them put the pictures on the pages they wanted, in the order they wanted. No direction from me.

That’s really big for me you know. I’m a director. I like things to be a certain way usually, but I really liked that this was all them. They owned it.

In about an hour and a half we were done.

The Time Line was empty, ripped off the wall and thrown away and our Summer Memories Scrapbook was done, filled with the events and photos showing our summer of 2012, preserved forever, in their writing, their words. There’s even room in the book for next year’s Time Line photos.

Total independence. Very hard for me, great for them.

Because we already decided, we’re doing it again next summer.

And soon, we’ll have thousands of memories of our summers.

Thousands.

With an S.

All gone!

So proud of all the pages the girls created!

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Pumpkin Palooza Recipe of the Day: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 Nov

Originally posted on: November 16, 2011

OK seriously, what could be more perfect than the combination of pumpkin AND chocolate chips!? Last year I made these for a school party and the kids loved them.

At the time, I wrote on Facebook that a friend of mine posted this recipe and she got it from Allrecipes.com. I can’t remember who the friend was though! What I do remember is they were delicious!

I did double it when I made it last year. I didn’t even use my standup mixer, I used a wooden spoon. You could use one though if you have one.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies III
from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

  • 1 cup canned pumpkin
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon milk
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts ( I did not use walnuts)

Directions

  1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
  2. Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.
  3. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

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Breast Cancer Awareness Month: I did it and I’m fine.

29 Oct

Two weeks ago, I wrote a special post in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Little did I know, how much of an effect it would have on me.

Two weeks ago I posted on here in honor of breast cancer awareness month. I wrote about a local teacher who had been newly diagnosed, and about 39 year old Meredith Israel and her three year battle with breast cancer. I wrote about how it’s stories like theirs which drive me to do what I do each day. I want to live a life with no regrets, for as much as is possible.

But I was 41 and had never had a mammogram. At 40 you can have a baseline and every year thereafter, have another.

Imagine what kind of regrets I would have if I ended up with a disease for which early detection is such a big part of the fight? Imagine what kind of role model I’d be for my three daughters if I missed this?

It was a comment on my blog from my new Kids’ State Dinner friend, Debra, that jolted me into action, booking my own mammogram that very day. Since she wrote it on my blog for all to see, I am copying it here for you to see:

I sometimes forget that people like you, Jennifer, who only met me after my treatment was complete don’t necessarily know that I’m also a breast cancer survivor. Four years ago this Halloween I did my “I turned 40 so I should have a baseline” mammogram and it came back abnormal. At the time, Madeleine was in half-day Kindergarten and Avi was in preschool 3 half-days/week. Many tests and rechecks later, I found I had an early-stage form of breast cancer. In February and March 2009 I had 2 lumpectomy surgeries and then 6 weeks of daily radiation from late April – early June 2009. Fast-forward a few years and I’m a survivor — I get checked a few times/year. Cancer-free for 3 1/2 years and counting! Get your mammogram — the best way to survive cancer is to find it early enough.

Like I said, it was this very comment that hit me on the head like a ton of bricks. What was I thinking? I’d had the paperwork for my baseline mammogram since January, five months after I’d turned 40 and nine months ago now. What was I waiting for?

I wasn’t afraid of taking the test. I wasn’t nervous about getting the results (yet). I guess I was just guilty of letting the days go by and not being one to put myself first, almost ever. Those of you who know me well, know that I spend PLENTY of time in doctor’s offices. I could practically BE a doctor by now, in any number of pediatric specialties. I guess my own “well visit” type of test just fell by the wayside.

So thanks to Debra, I called that day. I scheduled my mammogram for a week later, Monday, October 22.

I even had scheduled TWO, for a minute there, as after I scheduled one, I found out from my mom that a different place was giving out free Alex and Ani bracelets with the breast cancer “Hope” charm on them if you went and got a friend to go too. So I scheduled one there, a friend scheduled hers, and then later on I canceled the first one I’d scheduled. No free bracelet, no mammogram there for me.

It wasn’t until the night before the test that I started to get a tiny bit nervous. Had I waited too long? Was I going to be sorry for not doing it sooner? Was I going to have the biggest regret ever? What would the test show? I think I’m fine, I feel fine, but would I be surprised like Debra and so many like her had been?

Thankfully, there was nothing to worry about. They read my results right then and there, and I was fine. I got my bracelet and I even made my appointment for October 23, 2013 for my next one.

So thank you Debra, thank you Meredith and thank you to all of you who are my heroes in this fight against breast cancer (shout out to Meri K and Nicole W). There are so many out there who have lost their battle and so many still fighting today.

And I beg you: if you are 40 and haven’t had your baseline yet, take Debra’s advice above and go out and schedule it now, bracelet or no bracelet. (Although I realllly love my bracelet).

Don’t let this be your one big regret.

My new bracelet will be a constant reminder of all my friends who have fought this battle and won, those who lost the fight, and of those who are still fighting, as well as my reminder to put my own health first.

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First One In Bed

22 Oct

Nighttime means bedtime.

During the summer, bedtime is a free-for all. It doesn’t matter who goes to bed when and there’s usually no reason to get up early in the morning, so everyone can sleep late if they need to.

The school year is a whole different ballgame though.

Recently on Facebook, a lot of my friends have been venting about the tough job of getting kids to bed on time, in a reasonable manner. My kids are older now and our routines are pretty set at this point, but I *so* remember those days.

Setting a bedtime routine is so tough. You have to determine a bedtime, first off and then stick to it. You have to determine what you’re willing to do at bedtime (read a story? Watch an episode of something? Have a tickle fight?) and what you’re not. You have to make sure the kids do their jobs at bedtime (“bathroom, hands and teeth” is our mantra to this day) and still make sure they’re in bed on time.

Sometimes it seems like you need to start at noon in order to get them in bed, on time, with everything done, and staying in bed.

Early on, when we just had Caroline, we’d watch one short video (on a video TAPE) before bed. That worked well for her, as a wind-down routine, and we’d read a story.

With Elizabeth, we found that watching TV wound her up, instead of winding her down.

With Alex, I think most nights we practically threw her in (figuratively, not literally), shut off the light and shut the door, she was so easy.

But there came a time when we had preschoolers and toddlers that getting all three in bed on time just seemed hopeless. We had three kids with three different bedtime routines and we needed to figure out what one thing would work for all of us. It didn’t seem possible.

Until we came up with The First One in Bed challenge.

I don’t even know which one of us came up with it, to be honest.

Let’s just say it was me, for now. 😉

It probably wasn’t though. Don’s always better at creating a challenge.

In a nutshell, here’s how it worked:

Each child had a sticker book (which was a small notebook of some sort, I remember two of them had Strawberry Shortcake on them at one point) and we parents had a big ole’ pile of stickers. All different kinds of stickers worked best, rather than just one kind.

The challenge was to be the First One in Bed. If you were, with all your jobs done, you got three stickers. Second one in bed got two and the last one in bed got one. Or maybe it was four, three and two. I don’t remember, but you get the gist.

You had to be in bed, under the covers in order to pick out your stickers. You had to already have done the whole “bathroom, hands, and teeth” routine.

You had to yell it from your room, really loud: FIRST ONE IN BEEDDDDDD!!!!!!

The others would follow, yelling out that they were in bed too. Ties were allowed. We didn’t want to start a fight or make anyone cry, rather we wanted to get everyone in bed and fast, so we could go out in the living room and sit down for more than three seconds at a clip.

Elizabeth in particular is VERY competitive and loves a challenge. She wanted to win EVERY time. She was known to leap over a smaller child and roll the rest of the way down the hall, in order to get into that bedroom first. (Well not really, but she’d race down that hallway and leap into bed, for sure.)

She was also known to get in there and not be 100% honest about whether her teeth were brushed, and have to get back up, losing her First One in Bed spot.

Their goal was to fill their notebook pages with stickers. Lots and lots of stickers.

This went on for months and months, until somehow we phased it out. I don’t remember how or when, but it was a while ago.

The point is, it worked for us. We were able to create a bedtime routine that worked for all of our kids and let us keep our sanity at the same time. It only cost us a few stickers and a few notebooks.

Hopefully this will help someone else with that particularly challenging time at their house too. I hope so. If not, maybe it’ll spark a different idea that works for you and your child/children at bedtime.

And in our house, to this very day, there are still some occasional nights when we hear someone yell out from their rooms, “FIRST ONE IN BED!!!!” just for the fun of it.

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Breast cancer awareness month and why I do what I do

15 Oct

October is breast cancer awareness month!

Last week I had the privilege of covering a story at our local high school where the student body had come up with several ways to show their support for a teacher recently diagnosed with breast cancer and to raise money for the breast cancer cause itself. It was an amazing show of support. The students had given their all, and it showed. The American Cancer Society will greatly benefit from their donations. I felt blessed to be there as a witness to it. (I have put the link here in case anyone wants to make their own charitable contribution to ACS.)

According to the principal, the teacher is a young woman with a young family.

My worst fear.

Every mother’s worst fear, right?

It was Meredith Israel’s worst fear as well. I don’t know Meredith but about ten days ago my brother sent me the link to her blog post, which the Huffington Post had just posted on their site as well. He doesn’t know Meredith but she’s the friend of a friend and he was so moved by her writing.

When he gave me the heads up as to what the content of her blog was, and that she had a five year old daughter, I couldn’t read it.

But eventually I did.

And I’ll never forget it.

I won’t give you the details because you’ll want to read it yourself.

Or maybe you won’t be able to either.

But as I read it, and as I thought about my own life and family, I thought to myself, “See, this is why I do what I do.”

So often I’m told, “I don’t know how you do it all,” but really it’s not the how, because most days I don’t know how either, but it’s the why.

Clearly I’m an overachiever, and I definitely can’t sit very still for very long. But I wasn’t always this way. It wasn’t until I became a mother and I began having those fears every mother has, the “What if something happens to me,” fears. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t worry about that, even deep down.

Those fears awakened in me the drive that keeps me going every day. It’s the drive and the desire to have no regrets. For as much as humanly possible, I want to have no regrets, looking back. That’s why I do the things I do, whatever that may be, why I give 110% to everything I do, especially if it involves my children.

Now I know that the chances of something happening to me are probably slim, and I also know I could be hit by a bus tomorrow, as they say. But I look at it kind of like life insurance. You pay it all along, hoping you never need it, but when and if you do, you’re so glad you did it all along.

Should something happen to me, looking forward I’d be sad for what I’ll miss in the future, but looking backward, I will have no regrets. I’ll know I did it all, as much as I could, to live each day with no regrets, to spend every moment possible with my children and my husband and my family; and to make the moments count.

Meredith Israel said it well in her recent post; a great piece of advice, definitely words to live by, in my opinion:

“Until then, live each day to the fullest, laugh at the stories from your past, laugh at something at least one time that day and hug those you love.”

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This is what I am the most proud of this week

1 Oct

I’m trying out something new for this school year. We’ll see how it goes!

Well, we’ve been in school exactly one month now. That means at our house, approximately 300 papers have come home from school between the two schools and the three kids.

I say this with slight exaggeration.

Slight.

We get a ton of papers home daily, weekly and monthly and I’m sure we’re not the only family drowning in notices, tests, quizzes, homework, art work and the like, for 180 days a year.

I’ll also tell you…I’m a saver.

Not a hoarder, there’s a difference. I’m a saver, safekeeping, keepsakes.

I’m also, as most of you know, a former teacher, so I have those types of tendencies as well: bulletin boards, displays, things like that.

Put it all together: my dining room is my classroom. I’ve been known to have classroom-style calendars on the walls when my kids were little, sticker charts encouraging good behavior, paper chains counting good deeds or days until something starts or ends, and papers on display; tons and tons of papers.

I also use that space to hang all their crafts and birthday cards. Hallways too.

With so many kids, there’s so many crafts, cards, artwork and good papers to display. It can get overwhelming.

This year, our Summer Timeline is still on the wall. I wanted to take it down but the kids weren’t ready yet. I only just got the second half of the summer’s pictures up on there, so they wanted some additional time to look up on the wall and remember their summer before I take it down to save it. (For a keepsake.)

That meant though, that there wasn’t really a good space to start displaying school work as it started coming home these past few weeks.

In the meantime, we’ve been spending the last six months or so doing some work on our house and I came across some unused items from a Stampin’ Up! class I once taught, as I was cleaning out my office. Those items included some magnetized display boards which can stick to a refrigerator.

BINGO.

I had an idea. I had five or six of those display boards. I had a sharpie marker. I took the marker and on the bottom of the display boards I wrote “This week…I am the most proud of this!” on three of the boards.

I stuck them on my fridge, one above the other. (We only just recently removed all the alphabet magnets from the fridge door, so there was a perfectly empty space there for about five seconds before I re-purposed that space.)

Now, each child can go through the papers they bring home that week, or whenever they bring them home, and choose the item they are the most proud of and stick it in the display until another paper comes home that they are even more proud of. It can be a piece of artwork or a test or a homework page that was hard, or really whatever they want.

When I taught, student portfolios were huge. They were a chance for the students to show what piece of their work meant something to them, without someone choosing for them. Many times the piece you think is important, isn’t and to them another piece has more meaning for a reason you don’t even realize. At the end of the school year, the students got to take their work portfolios home and they’d have a year’s worth of work to show, all pieces that were memorable for them.

So that’s what we’re trying out at my house this year. We’ll see how it goes. I still have the urge to cover my “bulletin boards” aka dining room walls with stickered school work, but for now, I’m trying to refrain. We’ve got a birthday coming up anyway….I’ll be able to fulfill that urge by putting up birthday cards instead.

I’m still saving all the good papers though.

Keepsakes. For later.

Saving. Not hoarding.

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Farewell to Summer and Hello Chocolate Chip Muffins

27 Aug

Goodbye Summer! See you next year!

Summer has come to an end.

For us, school begins tomorrow, so even though officially it’s still summer on the calendar, it’s all over. In my mind, summer really ends when Don starts back to work full time, the second week of August. So it’s been over for a while, really.

I can’t complain. He has lots of days off in the summer, I have lots of days off in the summer, we do lots of fun things in the summer, we had an AMAZING opportunity this summer that really changed our lives, with the Kids’ State Dinner trip.

So I can’t complain, but I’m still sad to see it go. I still kinda want to cry as I think of the school year beginning again. I’m not ready to let it all go.

I *really* love summer.

Caroline is starting middle school, Elizabeth’s going into fourth grade and Alexandra into second. It’s going to be a busy year, a different year with them in two different schools on two different schedules. I’m sure it’ll take some getting used to.

And so, though it’s Monday and I usually post my “What We’re Doing for Fun This Summer” posts on Mondays, I can’t today, because I’m sad that summer is ending.

What I can do though, is share a new recipe with you.

Each year on the first day of school I make muffins for breakfast the night before. It’s a busy morning on the first day, hectic, and we also have a special tradition where my parents come up to see the kids go to school, just as my grandparents did  each first day of school when I was younger.

This year I’ve made several new muffin recipes and I’m not sure which two kinds I’ll be making for tomorrow’s first day, but I tried a new recipe for chocolate chip muffins last week. It might be in the running. I could use a chocolate chip or two about now, I think.

I found this recipe last week on Allrecipes.com when Alexandra asked for Chocolate Chip Muffins for breakfast. It said, “Easy, quick and good,” and I was sold. It was indeed all of those things and I’d make them again for sure.

Maybe for tomorrow morning.

The first day of not-summer.

CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

I got to use my mini chocolate chips which were part of my birthday gift from my mother-in-law, Mary Lou, the ones she got me from Hershey Park, in this recipe.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 3 tablespoons white sugar
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Grease bottoms only of 12 muffin cups or line with baking cups.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, chocolate chips, and salt; mix well. In a small bowl, combine milk, oil and egg; blend well. Add dry ingredients all at once; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened (batter will be lumpy.)
  3. Fill cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle tops of muffins before baking with a combination of 3 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoon brown sugar.
  4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 1 minute before removing from pan. Serve warm.

    I loved the sugar/brown sugar topping on the tops of these muffins. It was light but still sweet and crunchy.

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Kids’ State Dinner 2012

21 Aug

For weeks, one of the most common questions we were asked was, “What are you going to wear?” Here is what we wore. Caroline’s is wearing “Kohls” and I am wearing “Coldwater Creek.” Isn’t that how famous people describe their outfits?

There are no words.

For a writer, that’s almost impossible: not having the words to describe something, but tonight, as I sit on the final leg of my flight back to Providence, I am at a complete loss for words as I try to even begin describing our trip to Washington DC these last two days.

Some words that have come to mind don’t even touch it, but here they are (and Caroline has helped me with some of them as she sits next to me on the plane, looking over my shoulder):

Overwhelming (in a good way).

Amazing.

Unimaginable.

Awe-inspiring.

Surreal.

Mind blowing.

Surprising.

And fast–so fast.

As this trip was approaching, I tried to imagine in my mind just what it would be like.

I didn’t even come close. The images I came up with didn’t even come close to what it was like in real life. It was 36 hours of my life that I will never, ever forget for as long as I live.

The feeling after it ended was similar to the way I felt after my wedding: elated, exhausted, and wondering if I’d remember everything that took place.

I know that everyone is most interested in the Kids’ State Dinner at the White House, so that’s where I will start today, working backwards as I show and tell for you the events of our trip.

1500 Pennsylvania Avenue. We have arrived.

So sit back and try to envision everything I’m about to tell you. I will try not to leave anything out.

We arrived by two tourist-type busses at 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue at about 9:30 am. We were full of nervous excitement, all 54 kids and their moms, dads or grandparents. Although it had only been less than 24 hours since most of us had met, we already had a bond that seemed for many of us like we’d known each other much longer.

We filed out of our bus and through the gates, walking towards the security checkpoints. There were several and it was a very serious mood that prevailed during the security checks. There were metal detectors, dogs, and many photo ID checks.

When we finished, we lined up outside the White House doors in order by state. We were number 43, behind Puerto Rico and in front of South Carolina.

Immediately, we were in a different place and time. We were in the White House being treated like royalty.

As we got closer to the doors to the White House, the most beautiful music could be heard. When we entered we realized that it was live music, specifically, harp and flute or maybe piccolo music being played for our entrance. It was so beautiful and we felt so elegant, so grand, so special.

We walked in, trying to take in the splendor of the White House as much as we could. There were paintings of presidents on every wall as well as framed photo collages on the walls as we walked. There were military men and women every few feet, greeting us.

At our first stop we received two little envelopes. Our names were on them in red calligraphy. They had the raised gold seal which we’ve now seen several times, but still gives me goose bumps every time I receive a new one. These were our place cards to tell us what table we were at: Table 12.

Our first announcer, and in the photo you can see some of the photographers in the next room. As much as they’d warned us that there would be a ton of press there, I was totally unprepared for just how much “a ton” was.

At our next stop we were announced by an announcer with a big, booming voice, just the way they announce people at the “real” State Dinners: “Miss Caroline Cowart- Rhode Island, Egg White Omelet with Broccoli and Cheese, and Ms. Jennifer Cowart”

When we entered that room there must have been 100 reporters and photographers staring at us, smiling. We stopped, smiled, waved, and then kept going. Someone in the front row said, “Yes, you’re the celebrities now,” and it really did feel like it.

From there, we entered a sort of kids’ cocktail hour. There were fancy lemonade and juice types of drinks in cute little glasses and bottles with tons of pretty fruit arrangements almost too pretty to eat. There was an entertainer making really cool balloon animals, crowns, and just about anything you could imagine. Caroline scored a Roadrunner and instantly named him Rhody, in honor of our little state. He was purple and he almost made it home with us, until we had to go through security at the airport in DC. Then Rhody’s day was over.

While we watched the balloon guy doing his crazy tricks, Caroline spotted a star. Reed Alexander, who played the role of Nevel Papperman from Nickelodeon’s iCarly was sauntering around the party himself, just hanging out and taking photos with kids.

Star-struck.

Yup, just standing there among us. Crazy.

Also present and up for photos was Sam Kass, White House Chef and one of the judges of the contest. He had a super personality and we spent some time with him when we toured the gardens as well.

Finally, it was time to get in line again. It was time for the photos with Mrs. Michelle Obama. It was the moment we had all been waiting for.

We lined up and waited.

And waited.

Just when we thought we’d moved up to the room where the photos were going to be, we realized that it was actually the room before the room. So we waited some more, but it seemed to move fast, now that we were closer.

“She’s quite the hugger,” said one of the security guards in the waiting room. “So don’t be surprised if she gives you a big hug.”

Sam Kass, one of the head chefs from the White House. He was fabulous.

Good to know.

I peered in.

“She’s tall,” I said.

He agreed.

“She’s tall and she’s not afraid to wear some big heels too.”

I looked in again.

“I love her shoes,” I said.

And suddenly, before we knew it, we were being announced again in that same loud booming voice, and there standing before us was Michelle Obama, arms outstretched.

Caroline was announced first and went in first, into the welcoming arms and big hug of Mrs. Obama.

I followed her.

I hugged Michelle Obama. I squeezed her. I didn’t want to let go. She was beautiful, with a warm and inviting personality that just exuded from her.

She greeted us and told Caroline how happy she was to see us, and how excited she was for the events of the day.

The professional photographers snapped our photo about a half dozen times (we had no personal belongings or cameras with us in the room) and we were done, moving into the dining room.

We were all the way to the right side of the room at our table, so this gives you a view of the entire room almost. You can see how much press there was in that room with us as well as how beautiful the room was.

I was again, unprepared for what I saw next. Again, it exceeded my wildest imagination.

The dining room was huge with gorgeous chandeliers and rich, yellow draperies. And there were again, hundreds of reporters and photographers. All you could hear were cameras snapping as they filled two walls of the room, three people deep on both sides. I looked around the room and it was so, so surreal. That’s the best way I can explain it.

The tables were set up for us with gorgeous red presidential place settings. This had been one of my ponderings these past few weeks: what would the dishes look like? They were gorgeous.

Our place settings and the plates

They had beautiful place cards at our tables written in red but lined in gold. We had a copy of the Winning Lunches Cookbook on each of our plates as well as a menu stating what we’d be eating for lunch and what state winner it had come from. We were thrilled to find out that one of our new friends from Kansas, Rori, was having her meal featured as the main dish: Yummy Cabbage Sloppy Joes.

There were Kale Chips from New York, which tasted just like potato chips, as an appetizer.

The little added touches made all the difference: pretty centerpieces made of fruits and flowers, a map with our state on it in front of our spot, a “Let’s Move” bracelet as our napkin ring around our white linen napkins.

When we were all in and all seated, Michelle Obama was announced. She walked right by our table. I was still star-struck even though we’d just met her and hugged her.

Tanya Steel Editor In Chief at Epicurious, spoke at the podium first, followed by Marshall Reid, the 12 year old co-author of the book, “Portion Size Me.”

Mrs. Obama was wonderful when she spoke, congratulating us all.

Finally, Mrs. Obama spoke.

I can’t even tell you what she said, specifically, but it included lots of congratulations and warm words, how proud she was of every winner there and the family members with them for entering, for winning, for promoting healthy eating among families. She was a wonderful speaker, happy and fun. Whatever she was selling, I was buying it.

The food was served. We had Quinoa, Black Bean and Corn salad from Arizona, which was my first time eating quinoa, and I loved it. Caroline loved it too. We both finished it down to the last drop. We both took pictures of our plates.

Waiters came around pouring juices for us, Caroline had orange and I had cranberry. Our water was served in pretty little mason jars with pixie straws. I hated to use them, they were so cute.

The main dish came out, Rori’s Yummy Cabbage Sloppy Joes along with North Carolina’s Baked Zucchini Fries. They were both fabulous and again Caroline and I found ourselves photographing our empty plates.

One of my favorite photos from our day: Caroline meeting and shaking hands with President Obama.

Suddenly, however, Michelle Obama jumped up and quickly went back to the microphone.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” she said. “I’m sorry for this interruption but I have an announcement. I’ve just gotten word that a special visitor is on his way in to say hello to you.”

And then I jumped up and out of my seat.

I am a journalist at heart I guess.

I was the only one standing at that moment, well, it was me and Michelle.

Obama that is.

My new BFF.

Good thing I was on my feet, because in walked the President of the United States.

And suddenly we were ALL on our feet.

To say we were astounded doesn’t even cover it.

You should have heard the cameras snapping.

I can still hear it.

He went to the podium. They hugged. (So cute.)

He spoke to us and again, although I can’t remember each and every word (I was wishing I had a notebook and pen) he was proud. His words were congratulatory. He said he can make a decent omelet and I thought of Caroline’s recipe. I bet he’d like it. He spoke for quite a few minutes and then as he finished and we all cheered and clapped, he headed over to our side of the room to exit.

Or so I thought.

No. He didn’t leave. He stayed and shook EVERY SINGLE hand in the room. Every single one of us, both children and adults got a greeting, a handshake, tons of photos, and oftentimes a “Good Job” or a “Congratulations, what was your recipe?”

I was shaking. My hands were shaking. My whole body was shivering. I was on sensory overload between the food, the cameras snapping and the fact that in one hour’s time I’d met both the President and First Lady of the United States and here I was putting food into my mouth as if this was pretty much a normal course of events in my daily life.

Caroline leaned over.

“I’m shaking,” she said.

I hear ya.

Just when you think it can’t get any better than that, it did.

What’s that saying on infomercials, “But Wait, There’s More!”

And there was.

A private concert from Big Time Rush, a band featured Nickelodeon. The kids had front row seats, right in front of the band. Mrs. Obama stated that when grown ups come to the White House they are not allowed to sit on the floor in front of the band.

As we had our Summer Fruit Garland from South Dakota and our Strawberryana Smoothies from Hawaii, the kids were treated to a LIVE performance by the Nickelodeon band, Big Time Rush. They played about five different songs and the kids all sat on the floor in front of the stage, listening and watching.

I watched Caroline and I thought, “I can never, ever top this experience. Not for her, not for any of my other children. Not in my lifetime.

It was a crazy, crazy feeling of just the utmost, tip top, experience ever.

Overwhelming (in a good way).

Amazing.

Unimaginable.

Awe-inspiring.

Surreal.

Mind blowing.

Surprising.

And fast–so fast.

This was much bigger than just “quality time” together, but we did get a lot of that as well. It’s a trip we will never, ever forget.

*Check back tomorrow for a recap from more of our whirlwind trip to DC!*

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Caroline’s Broccoli & Cheese Egg White Omelet

15 Aug

Tonight Caroline and I were both interviewed for our local news, then she cooked and ate her winning recipe for the camera.

Well today has been quite the whirlwind day and as I finally sat down tonight to figure out what recipe to post for my What’s for Dinner Wednesday post, I could only think of one: Caroline’s winning recipe for her Egg White Omelet.

The reason I could only think of this one recipe is because our whirlwind day has consisted of press releases, phone calls from Senators and news stations, emails from food columnists and radio hosts.

It’s really been quite the day.

And you should have seen how fast we cleaned our house when we learned that TV cameras were coming in three hours or less.

Jennifer Mobilia of Channel 12 and Channel 11 News was in our house this evening!

Yup, tonight one of our local news stations stopped by our house to interview Caroline and I for the 10 pm and 11 pm news broadcasts. It was such a fun experience and we’re sitting now as I type this, waiting for it to air in less than a half an hour.

Another exciting thing happening here this week was the arrival of our official invitation from Michelle Obama, inviting us to the White House for the Kids’ State Dinner this coming Monday. Our hands were shaking as we opened the envelope!

The arrival of the invitation from Mrs. Obama really made everything seem real!

So, with all of that being said, I thought it only appropriate to share with you Caroline’s official recipe for today’s post. Enjoy!

Broccoli & Cheese Egg White Omelet
By Caroline Cowart

We came up with this lunch recipe because Caroline prefers egg whites instead of regular eggs, and she likes broccoli quite a bit. This meal is healthy as well as tasty.

When choosing our ingredients we tried to use healthier alternatives: Mozzarella Cheese has less fat than American Cheese, wheat toast is better for you than white toast, and we added a side of mixed fruits and orange juice in order to tie in all of the food groups.

INGREDIENTS

3 large egg whites, separated (You can save your yolks for use in a future recipe but you will not need them for this one.)

1/4 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese

3/4 cup broccoli, cooked and chopped (You may use either fresh steamed or frozen broccoli florets.)

A healthy recipe for any meal of the day and good enough for the First Lady to eat!

DIRECTIONS

1) Separate eggs, place your whites into a small bowl.

2) Preheat non-stick frying pan, lightly coated with cooking spray, over medium heat.

3) Pour egg whites into frying pan.

4) When whites are semi-solid, place cooked, chopped broccoli onto one half of the pan of whites, leaving the other side of the omelet empty.

5) Sprinkle shredded Mozzarella Cheese over broccoli.

6) Place entire frying pan under the broiler for about five minutes or until cheese is melted and egg whites are solid. Edges of the omelet will be lightly browned.

7) Remove pan from broiler and place the omelet on a serving plate, folding the omelet in half so that the empty side now covers the side with broccoli and cheese.

8) Serve with a side of wheat toast, mixed fruit and orange juice.

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What We’re Doing for Fun This Summer: Using our group buying deals

6 Aug

Do you use Groupon? How about Living Social?

There are lots of group buying websites; sites where special deals are offered if enough people purchase them. The two I use most are Groupon and Living Social.

Excited to be at our Mystery Ride destination!

Because our funds are particularly limited in the summer months, I look throughout the year for things that I can use for our summer fun. Earlier this spring I found a Living Social deal for a local historic spot nearby and I purchased it. The deal gave us a one-year membership to Coggeshall Farm in Bristol, RI which is a historic working farm complete with horses, chickens, turkeys, a vegetable garden and much, much more.

We used our Living Social Deal a few weeks ago to take our kids on our latest Mystery Ride. I also knew that there was a letterbox on the Coggeshall Farm property and the kids were excited to find it.

I had never been to Coggeshall Farm but from the description online, I thought it would be right up my kids’ alley, and I was so right. They absolutely loved it and we had a blast.

Finding the eggs which had been laid by the chickens on the farm was a thrill for the kids. They were so proud to bring in the basket with eggs in it.

I must admit, it was very cool to be able to pet a chicken.

From petting a chicken to finding their eggs in the nests, the first time experiences that the kids got at this farm were invaluable. They couldn’t wait to help out with the farm “chores,” which we found completely surprising since they’re not usually so excited to help out with our house chores. After collecting the eggs and bringing in firewood for the kitchen fire, they checked out the farm’s garden and the rest of the farm property.

Learning about life on the farm was fascinating.

After we’d seen everything on the farm and done the chores, , we moved on to the letterbox hunt, which was a success, adding a new stamp to our book. We ended the day with a picnic lunch by the water nearby. It was a perfect day for a picnic, a perfect day for being near the ocean and we took advantage of being outdoors on such a gorgeous summer day.

If you live in the area, I’d recommend a visit to Coggeshall Farm, and if you haven’t tried out the group buying websites, I recommend them as well. They’re great for introducing you to places and ideas that you might not have thought of on your own and the deals are well worth the money, in my experience.

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