Sunday Fun Day

We are right in the heart of Mardi Gras, calendar-wise and geographically speaking. Friday night, Cleopatra rolled. Friends came over, the weather was fine – warm, but not too warm. There were lots of breakdowns, so it stopped quite a bit, and in between floats the boys just ran around the street with the neighbors. Craig practiced rolling a hula hoop he had caught. Jack and Liam frolicked with some other kids on the route. Our friend Chris kept exclaiming “this is my favorite parade! Man, this is perfect. Not too crowded, not too long. The best!”

Last night – Saturday – was Oshun and Pygmalion. These parades are a little less flashy and fancy, but they’re still worth going to, and we did indeed go. Towards the end, the skies opened up and we all got drenched, so we splashed home sopping wet and laughing, and then the boys piled into bubble baths to warm up while I spread our beads and plush throws out over some towels to drip dry, and the Prof dealt with their scooters and wagon.

Today, a parade rolls around noon – King Arthur. Normally we skip church on this week and the next, but we aren’t skipping today – I’m the lay liturgist, it’s the first Sunday for our interim pastor since our senior pastor retired last week (and I was on the interim pastor search committee, so I’ve got to be here). Jack’s the acolyte. Jack and Liam have choir rehearsal. Anyhow, what I’m saying is that we are integral today, more so than usual, so we had to work out the plan. The Prof and Craig stayed, home, since Craig has been feverish sick lately and while the fever is gone, he still needs to take it easy. So it’s just me and the big boys.

To the boys’ absolute delight, we rode our bikes. We can’t drive, as we will get stuck on the wrong side of the parade (which is lining up as I type, and will start rolling right as we get home). Blessed with a clear, sunny, cool morning, a bike ride seemed just the ticket, so the Prof pulled our bikes out of the shed and pumped up the tires. I clipped my slacks up with binder clips, tucked paper towels in the armpit area to avoid over-sweating, and shoved my heels in a backpack. The boys just absolutely LOVED this. We should really ride bikes more as a family – Craig makes it tough since he slows everybody down, but we shouldn’t let that stop us. We all wore helmets and avoided puddles from last night’s rain – no mud tracks up our backs! Liam kept shouting “this is awesome!” At one point, Jack said “there’s just so much to enjoy about this moment – the sun, the cool air, our family.” He wasn’t wrong!

It was an absolute trip – a small outing, but such fun because the kids had such a great time. They don’t love coming to church – normally it’s a foot-dragging, whining, miserable drive. But they were all about this – having such a good time riding bikes, they forgot to be annoyed. Maybe we’ll do it on more Sundays when the weather cooperates. Next time I’ll probably wear workout clothes and carry my outfit, as even with the cool weather I’m a bit bedraggled and sweaty now.

This evening I fly up to NYC for just one day – I’ll come back at the crack of dawn Tuesday morning. Next week I head to Puerto Rico for a week – part work conference, part vacation. I’ve got another short, 2 day trip to NYC in late March, and another in early April. It’s going to be a hectic semester – lots of depositions out of town. I’m going to try to use the time to bill into the wee hours as much as possible, so I can do more bike rides with the boys when I am home. 😉

I’ve meal planned for the next two weeks. I looked at every day I’m gone (8), every day the Prof is gone (2) (he’s out two nights for his parade), every day we’re all together and there’s a parade that rolls through right at the dinner hour (4), and every day we’re all together and there’s no parade (2). Then I put together a meal plan accordingly. (Tangent – someone in a law-mom forum I’m in recently, smugly stated that she meal plans and cooks all the meals for the week every Sunday, and it only takes her an hour. She is a LIAR – thinking this through, making the plan, making the grocery list, buying the stuff, and pre-making it takes me about 6 hours if I do it whole hog. Even if I keep it limited and reasonable, it takes minimum of 3. There’s no way this would get done in an hour.)

So the 8 Prof-made meals are: (1) lasagna I made and froze a while ago (recipe below); (2) turkey burgers; (3) loaded potato soup bought from Costco; (4) pork chops and roasted potatoes; (4) spaghetti and meatballs with jarred sauce and pre-made meatballs; (5) chicken and sausage jambalaya that I’ll make today; (6) frozen burritos; (7) chicken stir fry that I’ll make today; and (8) Drive thru window on the day the boys have piano lessons.

The 4 parade meals are: (1) stuffed peppers bought pre-made from Costco; (2) chicken quesadillas using rotisserie chicken I bought and picked, plus some cumin cayenne and mexican blend shredded cheese; (3) cheesy beef ravioli skillet; and (4)

The 2 Prof-less meals are: (1) fried up sausage and mac and cheese (easy, and he hates mac and cheese because he’s an ANIMAL); and (2) pho and spring rolls, both pre-made from Costco.

And the 2 normal meals are: (1)