When you have a parent with 7 siblings who happens to be one of the older members of the family chances are you wind up with aunts and uncles not too far off in age from yourself. This is the case of my dad’s family and as a result I have several cousins who are relatively near in age to my own children. 2 of my cousins are currently here visiting while their mother recovers from a recent surgery. Both are girls- one 15 and the other 10, and we’ve been enjoying their visit to the utmost.

Today I took them all to the grocery store to grab a few more items for our 4th of July family get together. The 15 year old was walking around with her ipod on while helping wrangle the younger ones through the aisles. As we went to checkout our cashier smiled at her and asked “Oh, what are you listening too? Do you have some Li Wayne on there?”

Now, my eyebrows immediately raised when this woman threw that artist’s name out to my teenage niece. This cashier was certainly not african-american so I had several thoughts come to mind as to why she’d ask any minor that question, let alone my cousin. Thankfully my cousin had it all undercontrol. She replied with a very emphatic “Oh no! I happen to be listening to Hannah Montana.”

My cousin is a very sweet and kind young lady who happens to be nearing 6 feet in height, and is all for breaking stereotypes regardless of who tries to place them on her. The cashier jumped in surprise and commended her for her positive taste in music. I later applauded my cousin and thanked her for making me proud- she told me that she knew the lady was not being nice and she had no problem letting her know she is not someone who can be judged or categorized. I had to call my uncle to relay the story and let him know just how well she handled herself. I never realized Hannah Montana could be a source of pride but I’m so proud to watch my cousin as she grows into an upstanding African-American young lady.

Since my memories of EBoy’s pregnancy became lengthier than expected I’m now continuing with my nostalgia from the pregnancy of ETot.

As I said in my Mother’s Day gift post- ETot was definitely the best Mother’s Day gift ever. Soon after finally realizing I was pregnant I was hit with a few different cravings.

Red Onion
Every morning I started my day with one of my family’s signature dishes- sausage and gravy with rice. Sounds strange to anyone outside of my family but once you try it you can’t help but get hooked. I’d make my gravy from scratch but I’d saute lots of red onion in the process of making it. I’d also make grilled chicken wraps with red onion and loved them on burgers as well. It was around this time when I finally learned about quercetin which helps rid the body of the affects of allergies and happens to be present in red onions.

Buffalo Wings
Hot foods couldn’t get hot enough for me while I was pregnant with ETot. EDad would buy me the hottest hot wings for me and I’d top them with additional hot tobasco sauce. I’ve never been one to eat super spicy foods but I simply could not get enough. I have yet to open a bottle of tobasco or eat atomic spicy wings since having ETot. He barely tolerates food with pepper on it so there’s no correlation with the spicy food cravings thus far.

Spicy Chinese Food
Our favorite little drive through Chinese spot became even more favorite when I discovered I could request level of spice in my food. I’d have them make my rice extra spicy- as a matter of fact the spicy fried rice is one of the things I ate the night before I went into labor with ETot.

Discovery Health
My strange television watching focused on watching surgical shows on Discovery Health. Perhaps ETot will be a doctor someday?

Lavender
Smell aversion was standard with both pregnancies, my nose became extremely sensitive making be able to smell things that most could not imagine. As a result I had to throw out every single bath and bodyworks fragrance oil I owned because the scent drove me crazy. My most soothing scent for this pregnancy became lavender- lavender cleaning products, lavender fragrance oils, lavender candles, and of course bowls of dried lavender. The day I went into labor with ETot I was on a cleaning frenzy and had lavender scent emmenating from every corner of my home. I still like lavender but its not my scent of choice at this time.

I’m glad to finally be in a place where I can look back on both pregnancies with memories of more than the nausea and sinus issues. It’s amazing just how much pregnancy affects women and how different each and every experience can be. I’m thankful for both of my pregnancies and even more grateful for the wonderful boys that resulted from 9 months of interesting cravings and occurrences.

Thanks to the mother of our little Wonder Twin I’ve finally learned what a beautiful place Chuck E. Cheese can be. Last week ETot’s favorite playmate had her 3rd birthday so we had a walk in party at the rat’s place and wonder of wonder’s it was the most peaceful, relaxing experience ever! How might you ask? Well the party was at 10 am on Monday morning. Our party was the only group there for the first hour. Even as the day progressed the light trickle of additional patrons added to the fun without overwhelming numbers of screaming, running children, fighting to obtain mountains of golden tickets as quickly as possible.

The smaller children were able to enjoy climbing up and down on things (as usual most of the little ones weren’t interested in actually putting any coins into things, just playing for a minute and walking away) and the Mom’s had a relaxing conversation while watching our kids play their hearts out. We were even privy to early morning employees carefully wiping down each and every surface in the game area with antibacterial. Previously I thought the idea of a 10 am party was a little strange in such a place but now I totally get it. If you need an air conditioned summer playdate idea that won’t break the bank try the Chuckster. Be sure to go onto their website and register for the Chuck-E-Club for automatic coupons (such as 100 tokens for $10).

Thanks to peer pressure from Tifi (ok maybe not EXACTLY pressure- perhaps just snack envy) I tried this wonderful recipe for homemade soft pretzels:

In a large bowl combine 1 1/2 tsp live active yeast with 1 1/2 cups 110 degree water, 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar and dash of salt. Let sit 5 minutes

Add 4 cups flour mix well and knead for 5 minutes

Put in greased bowl and cover with damp towel and let sit 1 hour in a warm place.

Divide into 8 to 12 pieces -we divided into 16 pieces-and they were still pretty thick.

Roll into rope and shape , dip into 1/4 cup warm water that has 1 tablespoon baking soda mixed in.

Bake at 500 degrees for 8 minutes

Brush liberally with melted butter and sprinkle with kosher salt or 2 tablespoons mixed with melted butter and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar or parmesan cheese and garlic salt and serve with marinara sauce.

The only difference in our recipe is I substituted spelt flour and EDad (our resident baker) had me use instant yeast so we did not have to do the initial growing the yeast in water for 5 minutes. Instead we just mixed it in with the dry ingredients and then added the water. The boys had a blast making their initials in the dough and even more fun eating their cinnamon sugar pretzels. My preferred pretzel had salt and granulated garlic. These pretzels were so wonderfully yummy and easy to make I can’t wait to make more.

Check out this website for more fun baking ideas for kids: B is for Baking

The science of yeast: Explore the Science of Yeast