These May days…

I can not believe that May has come and gone.

I just can’t seem to keep up. Not in my normal Type-A agenda packed and listed kind of way. Where each check mark or line item gets scratched off with a good feeling of accomplishment attached to it. Nope these days…

This little one sleeps when he wants and for however long he chooses. Some days we get a good couple of hours and others its 20 minutes here and 30 minutes there.

He gets to break all of the rules because he’s number three and here he is sleeping on my bed directly on my bedding. (Never would have happened with number one.)

So some days I don’t get my laundry done, or the bathroom wiped down or the floors swept. More than once this month I was still in workout clothes when Mr. Dunbar came home (and the exercise happens in the morning.) ((I was lucky I brushed my teeth.)) We had sandwiches for dinner and yup, the big boys even ate cereal on occasion for their last meal of the day.  My sewing projects have been sitting on the table for almost a week. And I finally got some thank-you cards out that should have been sent out at the beginning of the month.

Ahhh… these days. These May days have passed in another blur.

We all are ready for summer to start. (Me, heading up the WELCOME SUMMER committee.)

Just one more week to go and then Spring will be nicely wrapped up and put on the shelf. No more baseball.

No more baseball practice.

No more pre-school.

No more bible study (the group thing.)

Just the dog days of summer.

We are ready. We are ready for long naps. Board shorts and flip flops. Sunblock and sunglasses. Hotdogs and beer. (Okay, not for the kids.) Bring on the water parks and trips to the beach. Hooray for free movies and VBS.

 

Movie nights and late breakfasts. Yummy fruit and popsicles. Bright colors and all things patriotic.  Grilling dinner and lots of paper plates. Oh its going to be good. So good.

   

Dear Summer,

Please Hurry.

Much Love,

                    Mrs. Dunbar

Time with my guy

My mom takes the boys to school at least once a week for me. It is a life saver, that’s one day that I don’t have to schlep the baby in and out of the car in the early hours of the day. Usually, if he’s sleeping I run around trying to get as many things done as possible and even sometimes when he’s awake I still run around. But I’ve decided to take some time with just him and to enjoy each minute of it. Its so hard to do when the floors need to be cleaned and the bathroom needs to be wiped down.
But when I take the moment to just stare into his dark chocolate eyes I am reminded that this is my time with him, and this time will quickly fly by. Look at how big he is already. and when this posts these pictures will be 3 weeks old.

he is so sweet. so stinkin’ cute too.
*and those jeans, my new [old] favorite, have a hole in the knee. i went and bought a patch. we’ll see how that goes.*
we are finally over illness. 10 days of it. yuck.
any ideas on losing baby weight??  anyone tried Jillian’s workouts with success?  how about tracy anderson’s dvd’s? bathing suit season will be here in a few weeks and i’m not really feeling bikini-worthy. ha. how about you?

~mrs. dunbar

Maps made with Cars and Bogie

Post delayed from last Friday when Blogger went haywire….

Yesterday while playing in the front yard the Google Maps car came speeding down the street.

Hey Mr. Map Man, did you catch us on camera?

Have you seen the Google car contraption? It’s pretty interesting.

source

We obviously don’t live in San Francisco, but I thought the car was so interesting. I’d never seen it before.

Have you Googled your address?

You should.

Check out what anyone can see about your home.

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Here’s my funny guy. Baseball helmet and pajamas. Bogie sayings today:

Bogie: “Feed me 1st!”

Mommy: “I need to finish feeding the baby, Bogie.

Bogie: Awww!

Mommy: “When do you think I should feed him?”

He thinks for a second.

Bogie: “Feed him next. And me first.”

 

He saw a cigarette in the parking lot at Target and exclaimed,

“Eww Gross!!! Bad people. Bad people! Bad People” all the way into the store…

I’m not sure if he was talking about littering or smoking. But we seem to be on the right track.

 

Monkey was explaining to him that when he is seven Bogie will be five, when he is eight Bogie will be six.

Right out of Bogie’s mouth flies, “When you gonna be seventeen?” HUH?

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I got a Groupon deal on gymnastics. Bogie wasn’t too sure about it at first,

all the others were “pink people.”

But he got over it quickly especially when some other boys showed up, by then he was plowing head first into jumps and rolls.

  

This guy just chilled during gym until I took him out of his seat.

Then he decided to poop.

It shot out of his romper and landed not only on me but on the floor as well. No joke.

And this is life in the fun lane.

~mrs. dunbar 

Cold, again

Well now, its been a few days.  We’re nursing a cold here again.  This is the position Popeye and I have been in for the past 30 hours.

(Notice how the sleeper is too small, he’s moved into 9-month clothes.)

We tried propping his mattress up.

But it didn’t really work.

He’s been battling a stuffy nose, mucus in his throat, and now crusty eyes.  

Poor thing just doesn’t feel good, but he still keeps a good spirit.

I tried to catch a real smile by lowering the camera. Did you know he’s got dimples? 

Three of them.

He was showing them to me as long as the big black camera was no where to be seen. But then he discovered the camera again.

And this too, shall pass.

I need a nap.

And a margarita.

Okay, not really, I'll take a Medori sour.

Yup, that’s what I need.

But then again… its not really about me right now, is it?

~mrs. dunbar

Mother’s Day 2011

    

Happy Mother’s Day,

from our Mom to You and Yours.

Love,

The Dunbar Boys

Say “Cheese”

How about, “Money!”
Nope that didn’t work either.
Well I think I’m officially adapted to having three now. We’re making it out the door on time, beds are made, and I’m actually able to get dressed without screaming at someone because we are running late. Life is starting to go on the upswing, until 4pm of course when I’m am out of energy and watching the minutes on the clock slowly creep by until its time for Mr. Dunbar to arrive home.
One of our biggest hiccups; Popeye still isn’t liking the camera.
Sorry, Buddy, that’s one you're going to have to learn to like or at least deal with.
Hoping to have some more interesting posts, with pictures other than my kids in the living room soon.

~mrs. dunbar

Good Spring Soup

Original Title?

Probably not but this soup was really good for dinner and Mr. Dunbar said it was even better the next day for lunch. With a hint of white wine and a zest of lemon, it was light enough for a warm Spring day, yet filling enough for a soup dinner.

I originally found this recipe for Chicken and Orzo Soup on Good Life Eats. I printed off the recipe because of the orzo in the soup; I’ve had two boxes of Orzo pasta sitting in my cupboard for months and had yet to use them. But this was the perfect recipe for it. I did change the Good Life Eats recipe up a bit, partly because I don’t have a pressure cooker. (Do you??)

And then because I avoid cooking with eggs as much as I can, although if you do eat eggs I think this would have been a key change-up ingredient.

So here is the original recipe, with my small change ups.

For the Chicken:
1 lb. chicken (I like boneless, skinless breasts)
1 stalk celery, cut into thirds (Next time I’d put this in the soup part.)
half of a lemon, sliced
handful of fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
2 bay leaves
3 sprigs thyme
1 cup water (I omitted this.)
1/2 cup chicken broth

For the soup:
1 onion, diced (I used 1/2 an onion.)
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup white wine
3 carrots, sliced into rounds
6 cups chicken broth
1/2 - 3/4 cup orzo pasta, uncooked (I’d add at least 1 cup next time.)
3 egg yolks ( I omitted.)
2 - 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (Use the juice from a whole lemon.)
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
1 1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme
2 - 3 large handfuls of fresh baby spinach, chopped

Directions:

For the chicken:
Combine all the ingredients in a 5 liter pressure cooker. If the chicken is frozen, that is okay. Bring the mixture to a boil. Secure the lid and bring to high pressure. Once high pressure is achieved, cook for 20 minutes (for thawed) or 30 minutes (for frozen chicken). Remove from heat and let pressure release completely before opening the lid.

(Since I don’t have a pressure cooker, I placed all of these ingredients in a Pyrex cooking dish and baked at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. The chicken was really good and could be eaten as a stand alone main protein dish.)

Let the chicken cool until it is cool enough to handle. Shred and set aside.

For the Soup:

Add 1 tablespoon of olive or canola oil in a large Dutch oven. Sauté the onion over medium-high heat until golden and tender. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute more.

Add the white wine and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the broth and carrot. Bring to a boil. Like I said, I couldn’t do this: [Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and lemon together. Add 1 cup of hot broth from the Dutch oven very slowly to the egg yolk mixture, whisking as you pour. Then, transfer the mixture to the Dutch oven.]

Stir in the orzo and chicken.

Continue cooking over medium-low until the pasta and carrots are tender. Just before serving, season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the thyme, parsley, and spinach.

Serve immediately.

Serves 4-6.

~mrs. dunbar

Discovery and a Superhero

Popeye is in full swing of discovering his limbs.  Right hooks and upper cuts are a norm around here. And his legs are kick-kick-kicking. (But he still hates the camera.)

“Yeah, I’m buff. “

We had a superhero invade the Dunbar home, rather than save us from disaster I think all he did was create them.    

And I caught these two sharing a moment of reading together. It was Monkey’s Yearbook from his first year of preschool. Bogie is starting preschool in the fall, and he wants to know EVERYTHING before he starts. They went page by page reviewing all of the 3 year old activities.

We’ve been home a bunch recently… maybe its the newborn stage, maybe its the dread of lugging 3 kids around town, maybe its the hike in gas prices, maybe its because I just wrote checks for school registration, swim lessons,  and VBS,  but the boys have done a great job actually playing with each other and their toys.

Do you find that your kids don’t really play with their toys when your on the go-go-go?

~mrs. dunbar