Meera on her 4th Birthday, May 28, 2012

Meera turned four with a flourish of festivities that were just right for our sweet special girl. [She had made it very clear– she did not want 100 people on the guest list, as K & O have for their birthdays; she did not want it to last too long, as opposed to K & O who would go for days upon days if we’d let them; she was very concerned to make sure that her friends all had lots and lots and lots of fun; she was excited, but also nervous for the impending big day, and she let us all know it.] “Well, my little girl,” I assured her, “you’ve got just the right Mama for you. I know just how to do this.” And, it should go without saying, but we’ll say it anyway: “Your big brothers and your Papi?! Well, they’ve got you covered. You need not fret.”

All her 4-year-old birthday dreams came true– a “Tea & Bubbles” Party; a bike for her ‘end-of-the-bed-present’ from Mommy and Papi (complete with perfect hand-made basket from MorMor!); “high heels” (from Owen– you can always count on him); and her first ever “real Barbie” (a toy that she had been coveting, and her Mama had been holding out on, for approximately four solid years, and one which Kyle found the perfect opportunity to present her with); a day at the pool; and a Slip-n-Slide fest with her brothers. As Meera has been saying, over and over and over again, in the days that have followed, “It was awesome!”

We settled on a “Tea & Bubbles Party.” We sent out the invitations–

–and we waited for the day to arrive. (The excited anticipation is at least half the fun!) Once MorMor and MorFar arrive, we have a tradition of 3-generational-pedicures in preparation for the big day–

(MorMor and me were absolutely stunned when Meera chose yellow! Yellow?!?! Not pink?! There was absolutely no explanation, other than that on the verge of turning 4 it is clearly a girl’s prerogative to turn on a dime and to shock and surprise! And shock and surprise that choice of yellow sure did! Note: the “sparkles on top of the yellow” was absolutely no surprise at all.)

And then, with our painted toes, we got the party started! ~~~ Some things are too good to put to words. I’m gonna let the photos tell the story from here…

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The fun about birthdays like Meera’s 4th is that they just last and last. The memories are seeped in us. The joy is not just in the moments, but in the moments long, long after. We talk about it together for days and days (and weeks and months and years) later. Remembering certain moments, recalling certain happenings. “Remember when we tried to do the twin ‘Human Bubble’ and Meera kept popping it?!” “Remember when we went to pick up Lucinda and it was her first time ever going to a birthday party?!” “Remember how Meera ate so many marshmallows that she couldn’t even eat her birthday cake?!” Meera smiles when she thinks about her birthday. She felt singled out, special, and celebrated. So… goal accomplished.

I will post soon about our celebration of Meera’s 4th birthday! In the meantime, let me just tell you: we had a Tea & Bubbles Party! (Or, as Owen came to call it: “a Tea Party slash Bubble Party” — he became very fond of his newfound correct usage of the word ‘slash’ and has since been using it often… i.e., “it was a great slash awesome party!”; “the end of the school year is happy slash sad”; “when I get ready to pitch in baseball games I feel nervous slash excited”… etc. You can hear him use “slash” in this video {click}).

Anyway…. back to Meera’s party. She couldn’t decide between a tea party (like last year) and a bubble party (a party where we all blew tons of bubbles). So, we decided she wouldn’t have to choose, and we’d throw her a Tea & Bubbles Party. It was so much fun to plan it — and I went a little crazy (what else is new?!) with the ‘tea and bubbles’ theme — and somewhere in the whole planning process, Braydon (who normally has absolutely zero role in any part of party planning), came up with the greatest idea: “I was thinking,” he casually said to me one day, “we should have bubble tea! Get it? Bubbles. Tea Party. Bubble tea!” I looked at my darling husband and fell in love with him all over again: “Oh yeah, I get it! YES!!!!!! YES! BUBBLE TEA!!!!!!!!” It was the perfect idea, and it was all his idea (which made it more perfect because I sometimes get a little… ummm… how shall I say this?…. a wee little tiny tad bit frustrated that I am doing what feels like just about everything for everyone all the time).

Anyway… back to the bubble tea. It was Braydon’s idea, and it was a fabulous idea, and we love bubble tea, and we knew that most people at the party wouldn’t drink it, but we went for it anyway, and we’re so glad we did! Because through the process we mastered the art of making homemade bubble tea! Braydon and I love love love bubble tea. We have a ritual of getting it every time we’re in Chinatown. The bambinos sort of dabble in liking it too, but it is kind of an acquired taste, and we like to think they are still in the process of acquiring it (even though we’ve been trying to get them to acquire the taste basically since they were infants).

Anyway… back to the art of making homemade bubble tea. In preparation for Meera’s party we spent some time researching how to make bubble tea at home, buying the supplies, and then practicing making it. Bubble tea turns out to be very easy to make. And today I want to share with you the very simple art of making this very special drink!

You’ll need:

• Tapioca Balls (We bought these both online and at our local Asian market. We prefer black, but we also tried out “rainbow” and liked those too.)
• Bubble Tea Straws (Again, you can buy these online, or at your local Asian market.)
• Black Tea
• Evaporated Milk
• Sweetened Condensed Milk
• Ice

To Make:

1. Brew some tea. Make it super, super, super strong. Let it steep for a long, long time until it is very, very dark. Store in fridge until cool and ready to be used.
2. Meanwhile, constitute and sweeten the tapioca balls. You can follow the directions on the bag, but here is what we found to work best– Put a couple inches of water into a small pan; heat over high heat; add about 1/3 cup sugar; stir until sugar is totally dissolved and the mixture is boiling; add a couple of handfuls of tapioca balls; let boil until the balls start floating on the surface; remove the balls with a strainer; set balls aside in a glass cup or jar; add about 4-5 tablespoons of the sugar-water mixture; let sit just a few minutes until the liquid is fully absorbed by the tapioca balls (no longer than 20 minutes or they get too mushy — you want them to be a firm texture and rubbery to chew).

3. In a cocktail shaker combine ice, tea, evaporated milk, and condensed milk. Add evaporated milk and condensed milk to taste (as sweet and creamy as you like — traditionally, bubble tea is very sweet and very creamy). Shake it up, baby! Place some tapioca balls in the bottom of a glass (or a plastic cup if you’re throwing a Tea & Bubbles Party!). Layer some ice on top. Pour iced tea mixture in.

Now, take a sip through that great big bubble straw to suck up some of those tapioca balls. Yuuuummmmy!

When Papi is away on work trips I often let the bambinos watch morning cartoons while eating breakfast before school. They had forgotten this special Papi-On-A-Work-Trip-Treat all week. But this morning Kyle remembered it and asked for it. I said yes, of course. So they sat at the counter and ate breakfast and watched Phineas and Ferb while I packed up their lunches. For many weeks now they’ve basically been eating the same thing for breakfast– Kyle daily wants a very large fruit-yogurt-and-wheat-germ smoothie (that’s my choice also, so I make it for us both, and often Owen has one too); Meera usually wants an egg-over-easy (which, at this point, she practically makes herself, with only very little supervision from me); Owen is our Big Eater at breakfast, and always wants some sort of huge hot breakfast that involves 100% real maple syrup — pancakes, french toast, waffles (I sometimes make it for him, but more often we warm it up in the microwave– I buy packages of frozen pre-made breakfast items for him and keep cases upon cases of them in the freezer). But this morning they all surprised me — Kyle and Owen ate cereal and Meera ate a “squeezy yogurt” and they all drank orange juice. Big change is in the air. I see them sensing it and acting on it. Even in the most subtle of ways. They know that school is just about done and we are very close to embarking on the much anticipated, long-awaited, glorious season of SUMMER. We cannot wait to be done with the school year daily grind. I know that come September I’ll be so ready for them to go back. But right now, I’m nothing but ready for them to be done and for our routine to ease up a bit. Only four more school days to go!

With very rare exceptions, Meera is always the first one up in our house. She usually wakes up sometime around 6-7, but for the past few days she’s been up, wide-eyed and ready to start her day, around 5:20-5:30 a.m. Braydon is away on a work trip this week, so I’m holding down the fort myself. This here is really a 2-person operation, so doing it solo is tough. I was still exhausted from the night before when Meera cheerily and enthusiastically woke me up at 5:23 a.m. this morning. She did her normal morning routine– I got her warm milk, which she slurps down in record speed, and she then played very quietly by herself and let the rest of us continue to doze a bit. Bunny is her constant steady companion. He (Meera has always been quite insistent that Bunny is a boy) is with her always, everywhere she goes. The early morning is no exception — even when the whole house is quiet, and everyone else is still in dreamland, Meera always has Bunny to keep her company as the sun is rising. This morning, once we hit a more reasonable hour, Meera insisted that she wanted to take Bunny on a walk outside. So I sipped my coffee in the driveway while Meera and Bunny — our two Early Risers — played in the yard.

This year it was a “Ball Birthday Party!” The invitations had gone out, the RSVP’s had come in, and long before the party even officially began, Kyle and Owen were officially 2 boys turning 8 on Cloud 9.

The thing about Kyle and Owen is that they notice — and appreciate — everything. They get it. They really do. And that (in large part) is why it is so worth it. I go all-out for them. And they know it. For example, their favorite color is orange (yes, both of them have the same favorite color). A few days before the party I came home with freshly orange-painted toenails (I had gone to get my first pedicure of the season and chosen orange in preparation for my boys’ big day). I know, I know, I know, this is on the level of absolutely-crazy-mother-riduculous-stuff… but the thing is– I hadn’t been home more than five minutes before each of them noticed, and commented on my toenails: “Orange! Mommy! You got your toenails ORANGE!!!” “Yes! for the party!,” I said. And you would have thought I had just given them a million bucks. These boys are special. And I don’t mind telling them that — in even the most silly and untraditional ways. I find all sorts of little ways to do (not just say) “I love you.” And you know what? Those orange toenails… that manicure that lasted a full three weeks long all shiny and bright… every single time I looked down at my feet I thought of my boys and their big day. So, go ahead, and call me crazy. I am to the point where I really don’t care. We’re living this life the best we know how. And one thing is for sure: nobody can ever accuse us of not making the most of it. Live it up baby!

40 kids, along with their families, and a bunch of very-important-people-in-our-lives came to celebrate Kyle and Owen’s 8th birthday. We invited a big old mix of school friends, neighborhood friends, family friends, and — a major highlight for K & O — I invited 8 of my most very favorite students from Lehigh to come help out (8 students that K & O look up to and adore). It was over 100 people total, and it was a grand time. It was a classic, quintessential Kyle-and-Owen-Birthday-Party. And K & O were in their glory.

A ball theme, an 8 theme, and an orange theme were threaded throughout. But the big activity was a huge treasure-hunt type game involving 8 stations of various ball-related action-packed fun challenges. The deal was that upon the whole group completing each station each kid would get a rubber bracelet. When every kid at the party had 8 bracelets each, they’d get to partake in the treasure: Birthday Cake!

Station 1: Parachute with Beach Balls!

Station 2: Throw Balls to Knock Stuff Off a Shelf!

Station 3: Cover Driveway with Chalk-Drawn Balls!

Station 4: Find a Grown-Up to Blow Up Your Punch-Ball-Balloon and Cheer for K & O to Shoot 8 Hoops!

Station 6: How Fast Can You Get a Tennis Ball Passed Around a Circle?…While Also Eating Ice Pops?!

Station 6: Ball Arts!!!

Station 7: Holding Hands, Kick Balls Through the Front Yard!

Station 8: Piñata!!! (Filled with hundreds of Bouncy Balls!)

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After 8 stations, every kid had on 8 bracelets, and so… it was CAKE TIME!!!

And then we sang to Kyle~

And then we ate cake!

Some ate cake in quiet spots… and some ate cake in the sunroom with the music volume turned way, way up — courtesy of Owen, who took it upon himself to initiate an impromptu dance party!

The Ball Birthday Party was a classic K & O birthday party. A lot of fun was had. A lot of rum punch was drank. It was a good, good time.

And of course, no one ever goes home empty-handed from one of these shindigs!

  

And in the wake of the whole thing… there was a big huge mess… and a lot of smiling faces~

It was just exactly what a great big deal celebration should be.

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And then there is their “actual birthday” — that’s what they call it; May 8th. Which, after all the birthday party hoopla, is always relatively low-key. It is anchored, though, with a couple of big traditions– one at the very start of the day, and one at the very end of the day. Tradition #1: end of the bed presents. This year Kyle got a trumpet (rented!), and trumpet lessons. And Owen got an electric piano (with earphones– thank God!), and piano lessons. They’ve been waiting for years to get to take music lessons. We held off purposefully, waiting until we thought they were really, really ready. And they are really, really ready. And they are LOVING trumpet and piano!

And they each got a present from Meera too~

And MorMor and MorFar gave them their first ever tickets to Fenway Park — they’ll be headed to their first game at Fenway this August with MorFar. I love that the few special really big gifts they get are so thoughtful and lovingly given.

This year, for the first time, we kept K & O home from school for the day. I just couldn’t bear to send them off on their birthday; I felt like I needed to stay close to them that day; so I took the day off from work and spent the day with them and Meera and MorMor and MorFar. At their birthday party K & O had received tons of gift cards to their favorite store on the planet– Dick’s Sporting Goods. They had a lot of money to spend, and that’s what they wanted to do on their birthday — go to Dick’s and use some of their gift card money. And so we did. They bought a new baseball bad, they each got a lacrosse stick, and they picked out new sporty outfits in just their style (and clothes they know that their mother would probably never have bought for them! ha!). And then MorMor and MorFar took us out to lunch at K & O’s current favorite restaurant — Kome — for hibachi.

They were supposed to have a baseball game that night, but it got rained out. So we had pizza at home, and put a good dent in the couple of dozen cupcakes that we had planned to bring for their whole Little League team~

May 8, 2012 ended with Tradition #2: sky lanterns, in honor of Kyle and Owen’s birthparents, sent out to the universe, from us, to them, with so many wishes, so much gratitude, and such depth of mixed emotion.

It is ok to have it be everything. It is ok to go all out. It is ok to feel sad and happy at the same time. It is ok for there to be all sorts of really different ways to express love for another. These are some of the lessons I’m learning from Kyle and Owen’s birthdays. What a privilege it is to be their mother.

Happy 8th Birthday Kyle and Owen!

Grilled Teriyaki Salmon, Sautéed Spinach, Brown Rice

When I’m planning our weekly meals I often ask K, O, M, and B for dinner requests. For a long while now, whenever I ask, Owen always requests salmon. He loves salmon, and lately it seems like he just can’t get enough of it. (See the portions in the photos above?… well, last night Owen ate two of those, and then took a third in his lunch for school today; I buy two pounds of salmon– one for Owen, and one for the rest of the family.) His favorite all winter and spring was a salmon I make with a maple-mustard glaze (recipe here). This week, when I asked for requests, he, yet again, of course, enthusiastically requested “Salmon!!” I don’t want to discourage his salmon-loving, but the dilemma for me was two-fold: 1) I have eaten enough of the maple-mustard salmon now to be officially tired of it [plus that feels like a winterish meal to me and we’re marching straight into summer right now], and 2) even though that is a very easy meal to prepare, it does take some prep to make the glaze and let the salmon marinate [plus I cook it in the oven, and this time of year with the heat rising the last thing I want to do is turn on the oven]. So, this week, I switched it up a bit and last night’s salmon supper turned out to be a Super Fast Easy and Tasty (‘SFET’) late spring/early summer supper!!!

Owen loves to order salmon at our favorite local hibachi restaurant. They serve it Japanese-style with a thick teriyaki sauce that Owen goes nuts over. Inspired by that (and not wanting to have to make a sauce from scratch), I went ahead and bought a bottle of decent teriyaki sauce at the grocery store.

Here’s a cheat sheet for this SFET dinner—–

1. Heat up grill on high for a while, letting it pre-heat so that it gets scorching hot.
2. While grill is heating, make brown rice. (I have a rice steamer, so this takes no time/thought at all. If you don’t have a rice steamer yet, get one!!!)
3. Prepare salmon for the grill by slicing a large salmon fillet into large portions, then brushing each lightly with olive oil. Let salmon come to room temperature.
4. Turn grill down to medium, and place salmon, flesh side down (i.e., skin-side up), directly on the grill grate. Close grill cover, and let the salmon get a nice dark sear on it. After about 3 minutes, flip it over. Cover each piece with a thick coat of teriyaki sauce. Close grill cover. After about 3 more minutes, salmon should be done (it should be pink and moist in the center, but seared and crispy on the outside). Take off grill, and let sit.
5. Meanwhile, heat up some garlic and olive oil in a large wok. Quickly sauté a huge batch of spinach (I buy the large 1-pound plastic container of organic spinach at our grocery store and my family easily devours the whole thing). While sautéing, sprinkle with a couple of large pinches of salt. Spinach should wilt down but still have some ‘springiness’ to it.

And voila! There you have it! Owen loved this, and says he loves it even more than the maple-glazed salmon… so we’ll probably eat it weekly (if Owen has any choice in the matter) for the rest of the summer!

Lastly, I also just have to mention these absolutely devine lemon cookies — the “Lemon Crinkle Cookies” that our blog reader, Ashley, gave the recipe for in her comments on a recent post (click here)!!! MorMor made these last week and brought them with her when she came for Meera’s birthday weekend. Last night they were the perfect dessert after our meal, but they are probably just about perfect for any time, any place, any occasion… seriously, these are soooooo good!!! Kyle, especially, loves them! {A big thank you to Ashley! …and to MorMor for making them!}

Meera at her Birthday Party, May 27, 2012

On Monday our baby girl turned 4. She had a “wonderful” (her word) birthday party on Sunday afternoon. The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with the people she loves most (her family and her MorMor and MorFar). Her birthday always falls around the long Memorial Day Weekend. It feels like a mini-break-from-reality. I hope she remembers her birthdays as dreamy, love-filled, truly “wonderful” times. They sure are for me. I mean, there is the normal folded in there too — the annoyance that her brothers sometimes provoke, the Mama that frequently runs low on patience, the things that don’t go exactly as hoped/planned… but, Meera’s birthday always seems to feel a bit more dreamy, creamy, and soft-edged than regular day-to-day life. It is a little bit of Meera’s spirit, poured out with a thick froth over a few days. It is nice. It is like a steamy, creamy, frothy, sweet cappuccino on a special day; it doesn’t mean the daily dose of straight-up black French Roast is not great… it just means that the special is noticed. The special is special. I hope Meera always feels truly special.

Birthday party postS (because I’m still due for a big post on K & O’s bday too) coming soon. In the meantime, I’m trying to wrap my head around the fact that our baby is now 4. Where does the time go? And how on earth did we ever live without her? I cannot grasp the fact that I spent a whole 36 years on this planet before Meera’s precious little soul was in my life. She is JOY personified. She makes our hearts sing.

Happy Birthday Meera Grace! We are eager to see what is in store for your 4-year-old year, and so honored to get to be part of it.