My Boys, My Boys, My Boys...

Talkin 'bout my boys. My boys!
(and a couple other things too)

I need to post before too many things slip away...
Here's a snip it of how we've been spending our time.

Breakfasts in the family room. 
I rarely allow this, but when I do it is a BIG DEAL.
Yes, that would be chocolate chip muffins and cheez-its...
and yes, they are watching Scooby-Doo.
(or as Charlie says, "scary, scary monster")

Little Man and I snuck in a morning trip to the museum on a rainy day last week.

We played and played and played.

Grocery store, post office, car repair shop, vet, diner, construction.

I've been to museums in Columbus, OH, Indianapolis, and Chicago with our children, but for me

the Cincinnati Museum Center still takes the cake.

If you are ever close (I mean even within a 2 hour drive) it is absolutely worth a visit.

We spent our time in the Children's Museum last week but there is oh so much more...caves, glaciers, trains, riverboats, an old fashioned downtown Cincinnati...

On Wednesday evening, I had 4 of my oldest friends over for a potluck dinner.
We don't get together as often as we should.
Between our combined 10 children, all ages 9 and under, life gets busy.
It took the one out-of-towner coming in on business to do the trick. 

We've been friends for more that 20 years.

I should have taken a picture.  They are beautiful girls.

We talked over dinner & wine, with the fire going, and many candles lit...
and we stayed up well past our weeknight bedtimes. 
There is nothing like the friends you grew up with.  They will always know you in a way others can't.
Thank you girls. It did my heart good to spend time with you.

(Here's the one and only pic I took.  The doorbell rang as I was taking it.  And I'm sorry, even though these girls know me all too well, there is something really weird about taking a picture of your dining room when no one is at the table. blog or no blog.  It's strange, so I put the camera down.  It was 8:00 on a school night, it was a simple dinner, nothing like my pre-children dinner parties of the past. But it was just right.)

Ok, back to my boys...

Andrew had his first real swim meet of the winter season on Saturday.

I love watching him swim. 

He doesn't have a competitive bone in his body when it comes to sports, but

he has a great attitude (90% of the time) and really tried hard at the meet.

He swam 6 events.  It was the first time he swam 50 meter events in a competition and he held his own.

Lookin' good Foley, lookin' good!

 

The week ended with an evening of assembling Luminaria kits with our local mom's group for the village.

I'll blog more about this event soon.

I was asked to bring an appetizer. 

I tried something new, Baked Brie with Raspberries and Rosemary, 

and I daresay I might have a new go to appetizer recipe.

It is easier and faster than assembling a cheese tray.

It tastes good even after its been sitting out for 2 hours.

I know baked brie was a trendy thing in the nineties.  I'm a little behind, but as one mom so

eloquently said  Tessa's "bringing brie back"  to the tune of the Justin Timberlake song.

Here's the recipe...

It's Grandparent's Day at School tomorrow and Andrew is presenting his Native American Project.

I'm just hoping the Indian village built of sticks, grass,bark and hot glue holds up long enough for them to finish.

My brother and his family are coming in the afternoon from Chicago.

I can almost smell the turkey and stuffing....