Hold on to your hats!

I'm about to catch up on weeks of blog posting! Five new posts below to catch you up on what's happening with the Fowlkes Family. I usually hate vomit-posting, but I've been really busy with work, and had a little time on a flight today to catch up. I'm headed back to NYC, after 2 weeks at home. I've only been home for 3 work weeks since the beginning of February, so 2 weeks home in a row was wonderful! So... sorry for being a slacker. Scroll down to see what we've been up to when we're not working!

A Lucky Boy

A recent Carter quote: "I'm a lucky boy." And he really is. For lots of reasons, but here are a few from the last couple of weeks.

We live in such a great town! Recently, the city held it's annual touch-a-truck day, where they park all the city vehicles in a lot to let the kids play in them. Carter played in a dumptruck, an electric meter-maid car, a SWAT team truck, an ambulance, a firetruck, and more. It was a little insane -- and very noisy (they let the kids operate the sirens), but Carter had a blast!

On the topic of our great town, this weekend the city held an Easter egg "hunt". I say "hunt" because what they actually do is toss candy all over the lawn (NO hiding) and let the kids have a free-for-all grabbing it up into their baskets (you can see all the candy scattered on the ground behind Carter in the picture below, taken just before they said "Go!"). We "hunted" in the Kindergarten section of the lawn because the candy was WAY better (and the lawn much less crowded) than in the Preschool section.

Carter's class had a camping day last Friday. They pitched tents, napped in sleeping bags and ate smores. I went for part of it to help and got a few photos. We were one of only 3 families that forgot to send PJs for this activity, but we did bring one of the tents, so I think it evens out.

Car(s)

Last weekend, we bade farewell to our family sedan. We had bought it sight unseen when we moved to Atlanta from NYC (well, it was seen by Thomas' dad, on our behalf...), and it served us pretty well for over 2 and a half years (save the rear view mirror continually falling off).

We had been a one-car family since moving to Atlanta. Thomas would take the train to work most days, and we'd get a zipcar when we both needed a car. However, with the impending move of Thomas' office (away from the train line), we've known we would need a second car sometime this year. And, as Carter is getting older, we wanted a car that would allow us to haul more than 2 kids at a time. And, our marriage contract stipulates no mini-vans.

So, we bought a Highlander with a third row of seats. Then, in order to assuage our guilt over buying an SUV, we traded in our car and got a Prius. So now we have two new (to us) cars, and we did it all in under 5 hours.

Triathlon Training

Thomas has been doing a terrific job training for the triathlon that we're doing in June. He's working out a ton and has done several practice 5Ks and a 10K with our friend Matthew, who is also doing the race. As for my training, it's not going as well. But I did recently do a 5K, so that's one workout down... Later that night, Thomas, Matthew and I made flaming steak sauce to counteract all those calories I burned.

We're still looking for more friends to join us in the triathlon... I could definitely use a buddy!

Maniacal Carter

Since I've been traveling so much, I'm trying to make the most of my weekends at home with Carter. One day, I think I may have overdone it with the fun. The morning trip to the zoo, followed by burgers, followed by ice cream had him really loving life!

What's that smell?

I've been a bit of a disaster in the kitchen lately, burning things left and right. Once night, I actually burned something so terribly that I had to throw out the pot -- and the house smelled for days! Thankfully, the ruined pot was the last hold out from an old college set, not one of my nice ones, but, still.. ruined pot, ruined dinner. The last in a string of burned meals.

I blame my pretty intense workload. I can't seem to focus on the food for long enough to cook it. I walk away, and before I know it... burned. I threatened to ban myself from the kitchen entirely, but we do need to eat, so I'm on a kick of heavily leaning on Trader Joe's frozen foods to supplement my meals, so that there's less for me to do. That seems to be going well so far.

The one thing that has been going well in the kitchen lately is PIE! Carter and I made a blueberry peach pie for Pi Day (3/14 -- get it?), and then made a blueberry strawberry pie the following week (trying to use up a LOT of CSA blueberries).

Okay, okay, I burned the second pie a little. But I'm only sharing the picture of the unburned (if slightly overfilled) Pi Pie.

Bowling!

Carter had his first bowling experience today at a friend's birthday party. Instead of the old school inflatable gutter guards, they had these cool retractable rails that would go up or down based on the age of the player. They also had these ramps that the kids put the ball on to let gravity roll the ball for them (very hard to describe; just trust me that the 3 and 4 year olds wouldn't have been doing much bowling without them). Not sure if his favorite part was the bowling, the cake or the trophy! But it definitely might have been the bowling. He wants to go back soon!
















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Breakfast for Three

When I was in Philadelphia this weekend visiting Patrick, Kirstin and sweet baby Eavan, I recounted the following story, and they promptly chastised me for not having blogged it. So, without further ado:

One morning several weeks ago, I woke to the sounds of Carter moving around in the kitchen. I went downstairs to discover him sitting on the counter, wearing an oven mitt and preparing to remove three waffles from the toaster oven. Three waffles that he had taken from the freezer, climbed on the counter and cooked.

When I came in (and just before I gave him the speech about how wonderful and smart he is, but that he still isn't allowed to use the toaster oven alone), he told me that he was making breakfast for the three of us. He then showed me the three plates he had pulled from the cabinet and lined up on the counter, ready for plating up the waffles. The counter also held a (pretty heavy) carton of milk that he had pulled from the fridge.

But here's the best part. I went to make coffee, and as I started to pour water in the coffee maker, it overflowed -- because it had already been filled with water. Carter said, "I tried to make coffee, but I couldn't get the top off [the part that holds the grounds]." I finished up the coffee, and we sat down to eat our waffles.

The following weekend, he filled the coffee maker again (this time I checked before adding water). Again, I ground the beans and finished up the coffee. As I was sipping the coffee, I looked over at the coffee maker and wondered how he filled the it with water. Both times he had completely filled it with water. The pot itself would be too heavy if it were full, so he was probably filling it in several steps, but it might be a bit unwieldy for him, with the lid and all. I asked Carter how he filled up the coffee maker. "Do you use the coffee pot?" "No." He points to a dirty glass sitting next to the sink. "I filled it up and poured it in until it was full."

I remember that glass from last night. I remember how, when we went to bed, it was sitting next to the sink, containing melting ice and the remnants of a bourbon and coke.

Coffee prepared by my precocious and very thoughtful three-year-old... even when it's made with pretty gross water, it tastes great.

Dinner what?

Since I was especially tired this evening and do not posses Eli's ability to make awesome meals from whatever is in the house, I told Carter he could choose what he wanted for dinner. After carefully examining the fridge... he chose steamed tofu and lima beans, with milk to drink.

I have no idea whose kid this is, but I suppose at least he'll be healthy! I mean, there were hot dogs right there for the taking!

Ballet Ball

We went to the Atlanta Ballet ball last night. It was a nice excuse to get all dressed up.

We wrestled Thomas' bow tie until he nearly gave up, but upon discovering that he had no clip on alternative, I made it happen! It wasn't terribly pretty, but it was tied.