Ready, Set, Relax!

Hiiiii! Hope you're getting ready to relax tomorrow! It's Labor Day weekend...which means it's September...which means Ima' turnin' 30....which reminds me that I have three kids and I'm not quite 30. Woah.

Today, I'm sharing a few things on my radar...plus that recipe (the official one) I promised you. Enjoy!

 I'm loving the Magisto app. It turns your photos into quick little movies, complete with music and visual effects. 

  Here's the link to my veggie soup...you'll want to try it as soon as it cool outside! (Try it with your favorite meat also). My friend Zac makes the wellfleet sea salt pictured...what's food without salt?

Finally...labor day sales are out of control! I have my eye on a few things. What about you?! 

The Big Apple for boys

I rarely post twice in one day, but many of you are asking about our trip up the East Coast. You want to know more about kids+DC and kids+NYC. Here's a quick list for what to do with boys in the big apple. Please leave comments if you have other fun ideas! 

Our experience has been that kids are kids no matter where they are. It doesn't matter what you're planning...history, culture, amazing eats, the arts...little girls want to play dress up and little boys want to throw rocks. SO! While you can and should plan fun adventures, I'd encourage you to go with the flow a bit, be spontaneous and follow your little dude's lead. Sure you can guide him in the right direction, but don't force it. I promise, you'll both have more fun this way! 

The free, everyday things can be the best part of a visit to NYC. Here are a few do's (musts): 

Take a picture with New York's finest...what little boy isn't obsessed with cops and firemen? This was the highlight of Ford's trip. 

Feed the ducks. (Get a disgusting hotdog from the street vendors...choke it down and feed the bun to the ducks). There's something about throwing bread in water and the temporary fear that comes with three dozen ducks chasing you down the sidewalk looking for their next bite.

This mini fair was in town while we were visiting in August. It was pricey, but a fun respite from tall buildings and big crowds.

Central Park has an AWESOME play area adjacent to the climbing rocks/restrooms (easily found if you're coming from 5th Ave near the apple store/the Plaza hotel). The park has a cool stone castle structure with a water mote. You can see part of it in the background of the pic below. There are usually balloon people and face painters and such near the entrance...the $5 balloon swords are unavoidable (but let's be honest. He'll love it so much, he won't even notice that you're dragging him into Topshop later. Totally worth it). If you're dude isn't into swings and slides, there's also the Central Park zoo, the boathouse where he can sail a tiny sailboat, and lots of green space to run around and go crazy.

For lunch, try 5 Napkin Burger. There's plenty for you and your little one. Afterwards, head next door to Lip-Schmakin' Good Cookies!

If it's hot or rainy, check out the children's museum or the dinosaurs at american museum of natural history. 

Let's see...if you're tired of walking or if it's the weekend and you're having a panic attack because it's SEC football time and you're in a fashion museum, then head to Brother Jimmy's. Grab a sweet tea and/or a beer, enjoy some good BBQ, and catch up on all the scores. They have multiple locations, so you won't have to go far. 

Sweet William has cute and unique finds for little boys...I'm a fan of these: 

Of course, there are a ba-jillion other things to see and do (like Time's Square/Toy's R Us, great bookstores, Brooklyn has awesome waterfront parks I hear, etc...). I hope this helps you get in the travel mood! Be sure to fill me in when you get home from your trips! We're always looking for new little treasures in the big city! 

FYI (for your inspiration)

Here are four pinners I find interesting.

And...about that soup. I gave my fridge a good cleanse yesterday...meaning, I dumped all the “need to eats” into my slow-cooker. It morphed into the best veggie soup ever. You’re welcome! Here's how to make it in 5 minutes or less. Dump the following ingredients in your slow-cooker, set on high, and go about your business. Let it sit for at least 30-40 minutes. Mine sat and did its thing for three hours- The longer, the better, right? You could check out the ladies above while it cooks...

The snuggie with a side of kleenex

Hello friend! You are looking lovely today! I can't actually see you, but I have this feeling that you look amazing right now...your hair is washed and dried, I bet you remembered to zip your jeans, and I'm willing to bet that you have two matching shoes on your feet. Am I right? See?! I told you...you're looking great. I on the other hand...

I'm at war with seasonal allergies this week. Even though everything's a bit foggy, I still answer to MOOOMMMY!!!. As you well know, cooking, cleaning and other housewife things don't care if you feel like 'shapoopy'. We were running late, as usual, this morning and I didn't have time to dry my hair. Normally work-out clothes and a baseball cap would fix this, but today I had a lunch date with a new gal in town (She e-mailed me after finding and following Proj HW...yay!) 

I ran all the necessary errands this morning and then found myself hustling like a professional loiterer in Ulta, pretending to sample make-up and perfumes (because I had neither with me). Then...brace yourself...I dried my hair with a round brush and their built in sample hair dryer (the one with argan oil ions, of course). Who does that?! Not normal. 

I bought the round brush and some bronzer, which seemed to take away the whole loitering aspect and made me less of a super-nova weirdo...maybe. 

It's naptime now and I'm making a big pot of homemade veggie soup for dinner. It's below 98 today and football season starts this week, so I feel that soup is appropriate. If it's as good as it smells, I'll share the recipe with you! In the meantime, here's another recipe, if you need some last minute
inspiration.

Keep on keepin' on!

The Weekend WORD.

...when your man turns on the tv and says, "Good timing, this game just started!" and you say, "This game happened seven years ago." (and he continues to watch and cheer as if it hasn't happened yet)

...when your man is mad that you forgot to buy dog food, then moves (the new bag of dog food you bought that morning) out of his way, so he can get in the truck to go buy dog food.

...when your man tells you he'll watch the kids for 10 whole minutes so you can take a shower...so you won't have to go to that child's birthday party looking so rough...

Men...Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. I'm laughing all the way to the nail salon...actually I'm not on the way to the nail salon. I'm still sitting on the couch watching a football game from 1865 and thinking about the nail salon. 

I'm thankful the Mac-daddy is intelligent, good looking, has a sense of humor, and is faithful to provide for our family (otherwise I wouldn't give him a hard time). I'm also thankful he doesn't write a column; He'd have lots of "...when your woman" material.

Roadtrip Recap

We got to Times Square at 11:30 pm Friday night and it was nuts. There were people wearing nothing but paint, people wearing costumes, what seemed like 300 motorcycles decked out with neon lights, and a construction barricade in front of the Marriott entrance. Mac and I’ve been to New York many times, but when you go with your kids, you see things you’ve never seen before…Aside from a little public nudity (Ford doesn’t like clothes either these days, so he felt right at home), this trip was the most awesome thing our family’s ever done together. We came home with no regrets and lots of good memories. My friends have been asking if it was horrible traveling that long with everyone in tow, but honestly, I was pleasantly surprised by how well our kids adapted to the gypsy life. If only we’d bought a go-pro to film it all. 

Driving into Time's Square at 11:00 pm

MC didn't know much about American Girls, but she was still excited to see the store!

Taking a picnic break in Central Park. They loved the "freedom."

Our first stop was Tuesday, August 5th in Charlotte, NC.  Mac spent the week working with Lowe’s (the kids and I played with friends). At the end of the week, we moved on to Washington DC and saw all the obvious attractions. Monday morning, we made our way up HWY 1 to West Chester, PA and Mac worked most of the week at QVC while we did some damage at the King of Prussia mall, took a field trip to Philly, etc…Thursday, we headed over to NJ for dinner with friends, followed by a late night cannon-ball (pun intended) into the heart of Manhattan, NY. A total of 1600 miles, 11 days, 25 Starbucks stops, five hotels, and a BFF’s house…and we hit our trip’s midpoint. 

We were on the road for up to eight hours at a time, with two to four day breaks in between, so we took great lengths to keep ourselves from going mad.  We stopped along the way and played at nice looking playgrounds, made a couple of Target runs to replenish snacks and coloring books (we had an iPad, but no DVD player). There were a few ‘chinese red light’ drills (except they were more like pull over on the side of a country road, get out, run across the grass, touch the corn, run back to the car, and buckle up again); and I don’t feel bad about letting Ford take off his clothes to streak around Duke’s campus for 20 minutes. I mean, a boy’s gotta do what a boy’s gotta do! 

98% of the time everybody was happy, but we had some issues too. Moms, you know the feeling. You want your kids to act like sweet girls and boys, not wild animals, right? I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure mine remember their good manners in public. However, sometimes they just couldn't remember anything from mommy's etiquette bootcamp. 

Our friends are kind of a big deal in the food world. So, when we went to dinner at their house, I wanted to make sure the kids were on their best behavior. That went well. The second we got there, Ford stripped…all but naked and MC made it clear that she only likes her dog and not anyone else’s. They continued their streak by eating NOTHING- No watermelon, no chicken, no veggies, not even Marge's special mac n’ cheese. I thought we were grateful southern boys and girls who “get what we get and don’t pitch a fit!!!” Needless to say, I was mortified. Watching Marge scrape her perfectly baked cheesy pasta out of her beautiful little Le Creuset dishes, into the trash, made me want to jump in a sewer and suffer for a while. Thank goodness Beeland was obsessed with David and he was obsessed with her, so it wasn’t so bad when she insisted on baptism by dog bowl water! Wow. 

It’s good to be surrounded by friends who are gracious, understanding, supportive, and who love our kids so well…even if they are a bunch of toddlers. I learned so much about myself and about our family on this trip. We were a good team the last two weeks. I fell in love with the four of them all over and call me crazy, but I’d do it again in a ’New York second.’ (Just give me six months, several massages, a few dozen bottles of wine, and several date nights, sans children.) 

We could not have done this trip without a few major players… Marriott, for their awesome service and for literally being an extension of our family; BOB strollers, for allowing us to get around easily with our sturdy single jogger (yes it can take three kids at the same time, 14 days in a row), and GMC for their awesome, comfortable, and roomy 2015 Yukon XL…the features kind of blew my mind. 

Over the next few posts, I’ll be sharing some tips for traveling with multiple kids (from our mistakes) as well as ideas on pit-stops, do’s/don’ts, where to eat, how to get around a big city, etc…

2000 miles and a basket full of bribes

I agree- 2000 miles in a car with three small kids and eight different hotels/beds sounds a little loco. We are halfway through our adventure and I have to say...best spur of the moment decision ever. I'm sure some of you are curious how this is possible, spur of the moment...I would be! We've been tossing the idea around for quite a while, so we were mentally prepared (and that's important...trust me). A few trips to China took care of unplanned hotel costs...thanks, points! We also have a holiday savings account which goes untouched all year. We allow six months worth of that for vacation and the other six months for Christmas shopping. This extraordinary trip up the east coast and back has costs us a fraction of what a week at the beach cost us last summer. Every minute has been totally worth it and aside from a few minor meltdowns and typical sibling battles, the kids have been amazing travelers.

We had the best time in Charlotte! We got to visit some of our good friends and reconnect with HIGH SCHOOL/college friends which was awesome. Monday, we moved on to Washington D.C. and ended up spending an extra night because it was so fun...and because none of us could bear another five minutes of interstate. We did more than we planned on in DC (our kids are rockstars)...the capital, the white house, played on the mall, Lincoln memorial, Thomas Jefferson, one of the Smithsonians (MC needed to get the hope diamond and Ford needed to see the dinos).

1000 miles down and 1000 to go...we're thankful for XM radio, a really long, really comfortable Yukon XL and my special basket full of bribes (chocolate, crackers, juice, toys, etc...) More later!

The Queen City

Blogging from my phone tonight, so please forgive all my errors in advance! Day two of our massive undertaking (or road-trip) has been, well...I'm hoping it's kind of like a cleanse. Day one is exciting and perfect and easy...day two is horrible and you get a sick headache and you want to quit and eat a pound of chocolate...etc. Eventually, things even out and the outcome is glorious. Yes? I'm crossing my fingers!

We made it to Charlotte, NC late last night and crashed into bed. It would've been cool to have taken a group picture in front is the 'welcome to SC and NC' signs...but "ain't nobody got time for that!"

Mac had to work today with his Lowe's crew, so the kiddos and I got to play all day with our dear friends (check out Terri's awesome hand lettering over at her Etsy Shop, Scribbles and Such)! They recently moved up here and though we miss them in Columbus, we're stoked to have people to see when we're in town!

Terri and I took the kids (all 2 million of them) to lunch at Pike's Old Fashioned Soda Shop in South End. If you haven't been here, it's a great little area of Charlotte with good restaurants and cute shops.  I'm not sure who was more worn out by the time we left...the kids, the moms, or the poor people sitting around us (oops).

Magically, everyone went to bed as soon as we got home. Later, our family headed to the hotel for a bit then enjoyed a great, relaxed dinner outside at Chuy's. Live music, guac, and beautiful weather...I'll take that anyday!  After dinner, the kids thought it'd be a fun idea to dunk themselves in a huge fountain before we could get to them. As if that wasn't adventurous enough, Ford pulled the fire alarm in the hotel elevator. Good times on day two!  Night y'all!

sing-alongs & pit-stops

Remember that time we discussed an all-american, family-style legit road trip? You voted and you probably thought we forgot about the whole thing...but, oh no! You can always depend on the Plummers to keep you in suspense until the last second. At midnight LAST NIGHT, over a bowl of
cinnamon toast crunch, we decided to wake up this morning, get in the car (with all the kids and all their belongings) and drive up the east coast. Grab your paper bags and breath...I don't wish to cause any panic attacks. Here's the deal- Our kids start school in two weeks. Mac's working on the road for two weeks and I was having a panic attack thinking of all the art projects I didn't have planned and all the potential when is daddy gonna be home-talk...so I went all Sugarland on Mac in the early morning hours, with the kids help. What guy can resist an off tune serenade of you and me baby, we're stuck like glue...? We piled into the Yukon XL and to my surprise, Mac cranked the car and drove out of the driveway (and never turned back). Holy moly...we're roadtrippin' on a whim.

I'm so thankful to have this next week or two to be "stuck together" with these four and for good folks who agreed at the last sec to keep our house and pup company until we return. Tag along and send us your tips for restaurants, kid-friendly stops, and photo-ops! We'll be using #roadtrippin and #thisisgmc. Follow along and send feed back! Now sleep...

Paying Homage with Ice Cream

I used to know a man named Clem. He worked at the A&P where my mother grocery shopped. I was three or four and he was probably 50 something; but from where I was standing, he looked like he was on the verge of taking a morning stroll down Heaven's golden sidewalks.

Clem used to pick me up, as soon as he saw us, carry me to the freezer aisle and pretend to lock me up, door closed and all...granted, he always happened to stick me next to the ice cream and popsicles, which takes the whole scenario from potentially creepy to incredibly generous. 

Anyway! I had forgotten about my favorite bag boy (man) until this weekend, when I was walking through the freezer section with my own "helpful" toddler/shopping buddy and saw a coffee ice cream named Clemmy's. 

This treat is sugar free and aspartame free, gluten free, cost free (gotcha!), and rich & creamy just like the container says...it was tasty. I did some research and it turns out this company is doing more than just making good ice cream. I feel like Jimmy Fallon needs to write these guys a thank you note: Thanks, Mr. rich and creamy ice-cream maker man for reminding me of my freezing cold childhood and for the extra jolt of energy at 11 pm...and for the weird orange and blue sugar free coffee lid that reminds me of that creepy underground convenience store my neighbor took me to in 1987 where I ate a party-size bag full of cheese-puffs. 

Ha! You gotta love good memories, good causes, and good ice cream. But do change that lid.

Night, y'all!