Happy birthday Hank!

As hard as it is for me to believe, Hank turned 6 yesterday!  Wow did those 6 years fly by!  

It is not, however, hard to see how Hank is growing into his new big kid role.  He has matured so much in the last year, showing increased independence, controlling his emotions and being a great big brother to all of his younger siblings.  Hank has earned the nickname "helpful Hank" for his assistance around the house and he is thriving at school, making great progress with his reading abilities and really loving math and numbers.  I couldn't be more proud of him.  In terms of what Hank thinks is cool at this stage in his life, they are as follows, in no particular order:  Legos, remote controlled vehicles, fans, anything having to do with bodily functions, Blaze, Paw Patrol, Wild Kratts, and Roald Dahl books. 

We had a birthday party for Hank-a-potamus on Saturday and invited the boys from his class to our house.  Hank wanted to "party in his bedroom, have a treasure hunt, a piñata, a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and build legos".  We settled on a pirate themed party with a treasure hunt pin-the-tail on the donkey and a treasure chest piñata. Good times had by all the little mateys.

On his actual birthday, I asked if he wanted to go to a restaurant for dinner, or if there was some special food I could make for him?  He answered that he wanted to have a "feast" with beef tenderloin for dinner.  So feast we did! 

The mind of the 6 year old boy is a wonderful thing - can't wait to see what Hank comes up with next! 

January round up

January has come and gone just like that!  So what do we have to show for it?  This:

• Resolutions - doing okay on these if I do say so myself.  I've made a new recipe every week (see below for details).  I have been exercising almost every day and have been drinking more water.  I still struggle to floss but a recent visit to the dentist indicates that this is not the end of the world.  I have completely failed with the "whole take more pictures and be in them" thing.  Room to improve there for sure...

Here's one! 

• We started a Memory Jar.  I stole this idea from my friend Catherine Farquharson,  photographer extraordinaire. We have a nice big glass jar in the kitchen and every time we have a memory we want to keep, we jot it down on a piece of paper and put it in the jar.  At the end of the year you get to open the jar and read all of your memories, ideally over a nice bottle of wine. 

Under attack 

• A quick trip to NY for me and Matt to see about a fancy french stove for the new house and to have dinner with his dad who was in town for a work conference.  It was a nice getaway for us and a good opportunity to catch up with Bill. We also got to grab breakfast with my old friend Ali and her husband Hugh who are expecting their first child any day now...

• Hank gave his first presentation at school on the Arctic Hare and I'm proud to say that he did all of the work on his report by himself (it is so hard not to jump in there and help out!)

• The girls are doing all of kinds of scary things like almost walking and climbing the stairs.  We have ramped up the baby proofing and are constantly pushing them over whenever they try to stand up and take a step on their own.  Just kidding - sort of. 

Dylan on her way up...

At the top.  She knows how to get up but not how to get down which is just great.  

Awww

Yes, this is a cabbage patch wig for a baby.  Yes, it is the most amazing thing in the whole world. 

And yes, we have one in a red pony too. Boom. 

• SNOWZILLA - the blizzard that kept on giving, dumping 2 feet of snow in our front yard and keeping the kids out of school for 4 days.  We are now 10 days post storm and the traffic is still a daily nightmare as this city struggles to deal with the removing the snow.  

Snowy gooseman 

I'm walking down Connecticut Avenue with no cars in sight

• Matt and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on the 27th (this is our "real" wedding date, the one when had a super small civil ceremony so that I could get going on my green card application).  We had a reservation at the hottest restaurant in town but had to cancel because blizzard aftermath was causing monumental traffic problems even 5 days after the storm!  We walked to a local joint instead and still had a great time. Turns out when you get to 9 years you don't really care where you are, just that you are alone together and that someone else is doing the cooking! 

• I spent a lot of time managing our other big project - renovating our cabin in Shenandoah.  We realized we needed to add a bedroom and do some other work to the place and decided we would just do it now since we are in the construction mode anyway with the other house.  The jury is still out as to whether that was sound judgement but its too late now.  The house is *this close* to being done but feels like it will never get there.  Look for a dedicated post on that transformation once it is complete, hopefully in the next month (fingers crossed). 

• Recipes for this month included:

1.  Vinegar Glossed Chicken from Mad Hungry - this turned out meh.  Not sure if I did something wrong but it was not the delicious sweet and sour chicken that I expected...this fail was almost enough to have me throw the whole new recipe resolution out the window but I prevailed.

2.  Chocolate Swirl Ginger Bread from Martha Stewart Living's  Everyday Food - this was a delightful surprise.  A spicy twist on the classic brownie.

3. Chicken Piccata from Giada De Laurentiis' Everyday Italian - delicious, easy winner.

4. Braised Short Ribs in a Luscious Sauce also from Mad Hungry - super easy way to make delicious short ribs.  Will have your whole house smelling like heaven.

Okay, these may have been in the oven a wee bit too long but they were still delish.

5. Chickpea and Kale Curry from goop - really delicious vegan meal for when you are feeling virtuous/guilty for the whole short rib thing (see #4).

Chickpea Kale Curry