I had to pick up some booze from the grocery store in order to finally make some homemade vanilla and I had already run a couple errands that morning so I knew that just popping in and out of the store for this ONE thing would be OK. I wouldn’t be stretching the patience or my luck with 2 kids in tow.

Except, when did I ever think that my luck ran that far?

I was holding my son, two years old, through the store because my daughter, 5 years old, asked to push the smaller version of a grocery cart to which I said yes, she could.

Half way through the shopping trip my son decides that this set up is not fair and he loses his marbles. Literally kicking and screaming in my arms. The folks in the aisle infront of me stop, turn and watch as I pass with my five year old pushing a cart with the biggest bottle of vodka available and me holding my thrashing (and filthy) two year old in my arms.

There wasn’t blood. I hadn’t been hit or bit or scratched, so it wasn’t that bad right?? He did finally get his stuff together and we make it through the check out line.

He’s sniffling and I have to tell them both that, No, we are not going to be riding the Penny Horse today – I almost get out of the store (Vodka in hand) when I walk right into the exit door. Still holding my son.

Which means that I smacked his head into the exit door, while holding Vodka and trying to corral my daughter into following me more closely as to not run into traffic.

Which I stopped dead when he started screaming from the pain of getting his head smashed into a door. It was an accident!! And the vodka wasn’t for me (kind of) … I wasn’t going to be drinking when I got home (although, who wouldn’t have thought that after seeing me?).

People from a good 300 feet away turned around, stopped returning their carts or loading their groceries and watched me walk to my car with my vodka, filthy/hurt/screaming child and my daughter.

I got in my car after calming my son down and making sure he was ok and sat there.

Just. Sat.

I was in shock, stunned.

And then I called my mom.

I thought about taking a shot when I got home, don’t you worry, but I saved it for the vanilla.

There’s a crack in the door of the kids’ bedroom. Through it we can see what kind of mayhem the youngest is currenty getting in to … and he get’s into a lot of mayhem.

He’s supposed to be napping but has discovered how to climb out of his crib. Right now, as I’m taking sneaky photos of his shenanigans through the crack in the door, he’s standing on top of his older sister’s bed reading a book.

Then there was movement and I could no longer see him through the crack so I opened the door slightly to get a better view. I am so on top of this.

He’s pulling his “ki-ki” out of the spokes of his crib, still supposed to be sleeping, still unaware of my Private Eye capabilities.

OH NO! He spots me.

He gives me the “Mom, I can see you!” look and is slightly too believable in his disapproval of my watching him disobey nap time.

Wait a minute young man! This is too convincing! I’m the one who should be crossing my arms at you. But he’s SOOOOO cute.

And he starts to smile – which makes me weak in the knees because of his dimples. Wait. Wait ONE MINUTE. There was a nap that was going on in here. Well, sort of. How did we get here?

He’s on to me, he grabs his duck … he dashes!

IN YOUR FACE, MOM!

Touché, my son.

Here it is. Our living room in the apartment. I just uploaded the first photos of the apartment … the day we moved in and stayed the night for the first time. The very first time the kids see their beds in a new house, their couch in a new living room and their toys in different places.

Coming home. Again.

We woke up this morning to this master piece in progress:

Seems like more than just my creative juices have been released since moving.

She’s fantastic.

Snacking. Grazing. “Just a little piece”.

All excuses for not eating dinner, “just ONE bite, mom?”.

My kids are snackers. Love the snacking, will snack all day … because I let them.

They eat the square meals with us as well and we have rules at the table about clearing your plate and only taking what you know you’ll eat, but also trying something new … no matter what.

This is just what works for us as a family and they’re not snacking on cheetos all day, although … I do let them have those types of things once in a while. It’s a variety – that’s how they like it, that’s how we deal with the dinner time blues.

Both of our kids are Little Dippers. They love to dip their snacks. Carrots in ranch or hummus, pretzels in peanut butter or hummus … hummus goes with everything. They dip in yogurt, soft cheeses, even ketchup on occasion. They love sauce!

That’s a t-shirt – “My kids LOVE the SAUCE”

We frequent the Farmers Market for in-season berries and fruit and I generally let the kids drive the “what are we getting” train. Some times that means we spend $15 just on fruit and sometimes it means we splurge on things like dips, sesame sticks and organic butters. It also means that by the time we’re home they’ve probably already devoured the raspberries (they’re FAVORITE) or made a great big dent in the 20 pound box of blueberries.

I don’t mind that they eat A LOT of the healthy food and some of the not-so-healthy snacks. An ice cream cone peppered in between some avocado and hummus is OK with me. I want both of our kids to love food, not be afraid of it or worry about calories or the junk factor.

I realize I’m sounding like I’m a pro at this which isn’t my intention – but I get the feeling that there’s a huge rift in how we feed our kids and how we view food ourselves. Maybe it’s just my generation (specifically the legacy the women before me left about food) and that I grew up believing that food was evil and the only good thing about it was the sense of control we could feel if we gathered our intentions and stood on the scale obsessively.

I still struggle with this, personally, daily. Food isn’t “good” and it cannot be “bad”. Food is not a moral. It can be healthy or unhealthy, it can be a choice you make for your self, for your health, for your emotions. The most important thing about food, aside from the intake we need to survive, is that we are in charge of the choices we make about food.

The book you just read can’t make the decision for you. The doctor you just consulted with has no power over what you put in your mouth. The magazine cover you stare out as you’re paying for your groceries is asking you to believe in graphic design more than what would be best for your life, for your body and for your family.

I don’t feel that are many RIGHT and WRONG answers when it comes to food but I do feel that food is a journey to be enjoyed and that it’s not always smooth sailing.

So I let my kids along for the ride.

They just happen to be really adventurous … such is their life on a daily basis.

hmmmm. Our weather today was not conducive to this kind of fancy.

However. We told those clouds where they could stick it. For like, 10 minutes.

See more photos here.

In the rain!!

Maybe it’s because yesterday was the very last day of preschool or that I can’t stop comparing years ago to today in photos but this summer smells of something Big for us.

I cannot put my finger on it, nor do I really want to. But it feels like we were just released into the great unknown, that something is coming. Hopefully good, hopefully wonderful and amazing. Hopefully an adventure.

Schools OUT! It’s SUMMER! The freedom alone in those words is delicious. Beach time, both of my babes every day all day. Sun burnt noses and freckles. Berries to pick and a garden to sew.

I feel like we’re on a countdown to when the “Real” parenting begins, the official school season of our lives begins in kindergarten with homework and science fairs and all kinds of sleep overs and hot lunches.

She doesn’t need a push – she’s all ready to go.

Get ready, world.

Here we come.

This is now.