There's more to buying a bike than pointing and saying, "I'll take that one"

I decided to get Sammy a bike for his birthday (he's turning four next Saturday). Little did I know it would take a whole hour to pick out just the right one.

I went looking at bikes a couple days to see what was out there. I discovered there are more girl bikes than boy bikes, at least at the three stores I went to. I also acquainted myself with the different sizes and shapes. I figured a 16" bike is what I was looking for, giving him a some room to grow into. Now all I had to do was find a color, and voila, I'd be done.

WRONG. I took Sammy bike shopping tonight, and let me tell you, buying a bike is a lot different than buying a hot wheels (his current cool ride). The first thing I found out was that 16" was too small. It just fit him, and as tall as he is and as fast as he's growing, a 16" would not do. His knees came to just under the handle bars when his pedal was at the top of the rotation. We looked at 16" wheels with a longer frame, but that stretched him out too far.

So we moved up to an 18" wheel. There were several that we tried, but they just didn't fit him right. Some were too hard to pedal, on one the training wheels weren't even, others were too big, etc, etc. And then we found GOLDIE. It was the right shape frame and right size wheel, and Sammy loved it. When the salesman from Toys R Us pulled it off the rack, Sammy's eyes got big, and he said, "Wow! That's a COOL bike."  Heaven help me. He wanted a gold bike. If I could talk him into another bike, I would try my hardest. But honestly, this bike really was perfect in every way (except color). It was small enough to fit him but big enough for him to grow into. The frame was the correct length, and it was easy to pedal. The orange 16" bike that cramped his knees that he HAD to have 5 minutes ago was forgotten. This was it.

I was talking myself into actually buying him a $100 gold bike when the salesman said, "I don't know why we don't have more boys bikes out on the floor. Let me go see if we have anything similar to this in the back." :D  <---This is me grinning and begging the salesman to PLEASE go look. If I had to buy him a flashy, blingy gold bike I would, but in the end, I didn't have to. He came back out with a green bike in the same style made by the same company. And it was only $75 (score!). And it was on sale for one more day for $20 off (double score!). This bike was mine. I even paid the extra $10 to have them assemble it (which made my brother happy).

Here's a pic of Sammy on the gold bike. Now imagine the bike as a light (but masculine) grass green. Yep, this is gonna be one good birthday.

My Attempt to Make Bread Pudding

 A couple weekends ago, I attempted to make bread pudding for the very first time.  I tried out a recipe from www.ourbestbites.com. My family enjoyed it, but I thought it was just all right. I think I had added too  much liquid.  Well, I don't think. I know. I've had bread pudding before, and it isn't supposed to be that liquidy...just an excuse for me to make it again.

I didn't have any day old bread, so I cut up half a french loaf and let it sit over night so it'd be dry enough to soak up the eggs, cream, and vanilla. The recipe calls for adding bananas, which I did, but I also made one with apples. The general consensus was that the apple one was better, but that could have been because the bread didn't have much texture to contrast with the softness of the bananas. But texture aside, I did like the flavor of the apple version better too.

The recipe has you cook the bananas and then place them between two layers of bread crumbs before you add the cream/egg/etc mixture. I'm not sure this step is really necessary. Next time I'm going to skip it and just mix the fruit and spices together with cubed bread. The liquid definitely needs to be added last. Next time I just won't add so much.

Without further ado, here are a few pictures I took. Don't laugh. It was my first attempt.

Mise en place (it's essential to have everything read BEFORE you start baking)

Apples going in the oven

Bananas going in the oven

Both bread puddings ready to be cooked

the finished banana bread pudding
(I later added a little whipped cream too)

My New Year's date

Sammy was less than enthused about getting a New Year's kiss and posing for a pic. It was all I could do to keep from laughing.

Has this snow scrooge's heart grown?

Technically it's a day-after Christmas snow, but it's close enough to Christmas to call it a Christmas snow, right? It hasn't snowed this close to Christmas here in eastern North Carolina in a long time. And it's a beautiful snow too. Sometimes, our snows are more sleet and ice, but today was a real snow.

I'm an admitted snow scrooge. It doesn't snow much in this part of the state. We usually only get one snow per year, typically in January. So far this winter, we've had three, thanks to the jet stream dipping lower. I'm not fond of snows because my clothes get cold and wet. It melts during the day and freezes over night, causing lots of ice on the roads and driveways and sidewalks and porch steps. People here get stupid during the snow. We're just not used to it.

But we don't have to worry about the ice until tomorrow. Today, we have fun.

Sammy really loves playing in the snow

Say "cheese"

He ran all around the side yard

He made a snow angel and kept falling down in the snow because it was so much fun.

There's nothing like hot chocolate and warm pajamas after a fun time playing in the snow.

Sammy Helps Make Grandma's Cake

   

The H-D-A-Y melted on top of the mini oven. "Happy Birt" Mom!

Saturday with the Boys

My nephew Adler came to visit on Saturday. He, Sammy, and I decided to have to have some fun.

First, we collected pine cones and then went down to the creek to throw them in.

Then, with Grandma's help, they made ghosts for the halloween ghost tree.

Adler climbed the ghost tree

  

Before AND after lunch, we went 'splorin' through the woods.

 

Before dinner, the boys collected leaves, sticks, and pine cones for a little fire. When the fire started to die out, they'd go get more. Certain sections of the yard are now pristine!

I couldn't let the day pass without taking a picture of me with 2 of my 3 favorite boys. (Adler, on the left, will be five at the end of November. Sammy, on the right, will be 3-1/2 on Christmas.)

Wordless Wednesday

Today, We Finger Paint

Sammy found the finger paints a couple days ago, and has been asking to "paint with my hands" ever since.  Today, we finger painted.

This is the result of his labor:

This is the aftermath: I didn't get a picture of his hands and arms, but they were covered with paint

   

Update - 8:30pm  (Sam took a couple pics of Sammy's hands on his phone and I snagged them. What can I say? He's all boy, and he loves making messes)

  

Farwell Poppy

My Dad called this evening to let me know my grandfather passed away this morning.

In February 2010, I went to Paducah, Kentucky to visit my father and grandfather. We went to eat at one of my Grandfather's favorite restaurants (it has crab legs on the buffet), and I took a picture of us. On the left is my grandfather, Archie Swearingen. (I called him Poppy when I was a kid. I'm not sure why.) Then it's my Dad, my Uncle Denny, my Aunt Diane (Dad's sister), and me.

My grandfather had been sick for a while. Several months ago he was moved out of his assisted living facility into a nursing home. For the past month, he'd been in the hospital. A couple weeks ago, my Dad called to tell me that the doctor's said he had about six months left. Then this evening, my Dad called to tell me my Grandfather died this morning.

While his death wasn't a shock, it was unexpected. When Dad called a few weeks ago, I planned to fly out there yesterday to begin my vacation, but instead I had to push back my vacation a day and finish up things at work. When I told my Dad I wasn't going to be able to make it, but that I was planning on coming in October, there wasn't any concern.

I'm not quite sure how to feel. I'm not sad. I didn't know him very well. For many years, I didn't have any contact with my father or grandfather. But in the past 2-3 years, I've been trying to rebuild my relationship with my Dad. I've been to visit him twice, and was able to spend some time with my grandfather during those times. He talked about my grandmother Doris, his work (he was an engineer), and some of his travels (his work took him around the world). It was nice. I wish I'd had more time to get to know him better.

Becoming Annie

Apparently Aunt Susanne is hard for an almost two year old to pronounce, so for many months, Sammy called me "uuuhhh". But then one day, many months ago, everything changed. We were in the dollar store, and I had my car keys hooked to my jeans. Sammy pointed to them and exclaimed "uuuhhh" because he wanted to hold the keys. When I asked what he wanted, he said "Annie's keys". My heart melted. I was no longer called by a generic sound that was also used for "yes," "what's that?" and "want that". I was separate and distinct from everything else in the word. I had been named. This is a picture that was taken a couple minutes before this fantastic moment. We had found some "rawr" hats that he absolutely loved...for 20 minutes (as soon as we were in the car, his attention was occupied on other things).  But when we were trying them on and giggling at how funny we looked in them, I took a picture of us so he could see himself in the hat.   And I'm so glad I did because now I have something to remember this day by.