High Five for Friday (3.21.14)

1. Did you celebrate National Pi(e) Day? This ridiculous but fun holiday takes place on March 14th (March 14th = 3/14 = 3.14 = Pi), the same date on which my banana-cream-pie-loving mom celebrates her birthday. And since my mom spent her birthday visiting us in College Station, we celebrated by making from scratch an absolutely scrumptious banana cream pie. Yum! (And pretty too, right?)

2. In past years I have attempted to cram all of our St. Patrick's Day treats, crafts, and activities into just one day. That whirlwind of green and gold and rainbows and shamrocks and pinching and eating and drinking made for a lively day, but I always felt overwhelmed and as though the "show" I put on trumped actually experiencing the holiday. This year, with the hope of slowing the holiday's pace, I spread our craft projects, shamrock-adorned attire, and green food and drink out throughout the weekend and Monday. What a difference this change made!

 

3. My mom knows her way around a head of hair (she cut my and my sister's hair until we entered middle school and started asking for complicated, layered styles, and I don't think my dad has set foot in a barber shop since he married her), so I feel completely confident letting her begging her to trim my hair and Hallie's hair whenever she visits.

On this visit she cut Hallie's hair in the bathroom while Hallie sat on the edge of the counter with her feet in the sink. And so that Hallie didn't end up with hair inside her clothes (I don't own a drape), we took off her dress and wrapped her in a hand towel. Said a confused little girl as the hair cutting process began, "at the other hair cutting place I keep my clothes ON". Yes, yes you do. And you always will.

4. I savored Erin's "I So Deserve This" Latte yesterday morning while catching up with a wonderful friend and then catching up on all of the writing I put off while working on house projects and hanging out with my mom earlier in the week. High fives all around.

5. And last but not least…  Will drew this. I accidentally laughed out loud when I saw it but was quickly reprimanded for doing so because, "Mama, squirrels are NOT funny animals." Oh, it's a squirrel. Thank goodness.

Happy first-weekend-of-spring, friends!

Linking up with High Five for Friday!

Let the Games Begin...

...March Madness!

When last year's NCAA Basketball Tournament began I shared here on the blog a brief history of my family's associated activities. You can catch up on the details (and watch an adorable video of two-year-old Will making his tournament picks) here, but in case you don't have the time, here's a quick synopsis.

It all began 10 years ago with a simple, friendly competition between newlyweds. Eight years ago our cat, Duke, joined the game. (Yes, we helped Duke the cat fill out his own bracket using a complicated treat- and toy-based selection system. Yes, we are super dorks.) Six years ago Will participated for the first time, and four years ago we entered Will's bracket in our online pool for University of Michigan graduate students and he didn't finish in last place. Last year Hallie participated for the first time, though she only cared that every notation on her bracket be made with either a pink ink pen or pink highlighter. In a twist that surprised us all, Hallie correctly picked more than half of the first round upsets and led the competition for the first week. She couldn't hold on, however, and in the end my bracket came out on top.

10 years after that first friendly competition between newlyweds, March Madness has turned into an all-out (and only kind of friendly) battle between the four Ferri.

And now, after weeks of preparation (Will's been reading back issues of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Kids, waking up early to watch Sports Center, and "borrowing" my iPad to check player statistics on ESPN.com), the battle has begun.

Erin's Bracket

 Hallie's Bracket

Tom's Bracket

Will's Bracket

The competitor in me wants to win. Badly. (And I wonder why both of my kids have such strong competitive streaks.) But the mother in me wants Will to take home the victory this year - he's worked the hardest in preparation, and I think he "wants it" more than the rest of us…even more than me.

What I found when I checked on Will the night before the brackets came
out. In case you can't tell from the picture, he'd fallen asleep with the
March Madness issue of Sports Illustrated for Kids draped over his face.

Let the games begin!

Texas Bucket List: Blue Bell Creamery

As I began to compile my Texas Bucket List three years ago, I asked friends to share with me their favorite activities, events, landmarks, and destinations throughout the state. The recommendations came rolling in, and my list grew and grew…until it became so long that I couldn't look at it without feeling overwhelmed. I decided to prioritize my list based on the number of "don't miss ____" emails, texts, and comments each adventure received, and as a result of this system, visiting the Blue Bell Creamery in Brenham quickly skyrocketed to the top of the list.

I must confess that I had little interest in visiting Blue Bell. I'm from Wisconsin - the Dairy State - so 1) I've toured a creamery or two in my day, and 2) Blue Bell ice cream isn't the best I've ever tasted. Yes, Blue Bell ice cream goes down smoothly, but my personal favorite ice cream comes from the Babcock Hall Dairy Plant and Store in Madison, Wisconsin.

I assume that very few people have tasted both brands of ice cream, as Blue Bell ice cream isn't available in the Midwest and Babcock ice cream isn't available in the south, but if you happen to be one of those people, I'd love it if you weighed in on your favorite. Katie, I'm talking to you here.

Will couldn't jump on board the Blue Bell bandwagon either, primarily because of his proclaimed hatred toward all things dairy-based (a mental block left behind by the dairy allergy from which he once suffered), ice cream in particular. Poor boy lives a sad, sad life.

Hallie, on the other hand, loves ice cream of all kinds and begged me to let her "see cows and milk and ice cream and eat so much cookies and cream ice cream because I LOVE cookies and cream ice cream!" Monday morning revolved around a "super fun" speed and agility camp for Will, so I decided that Monday afternoon should include an ice cream adventure for Hallie.

We purchased tickets for the tour, but because Blue Bell was CRAZY busy that day, we found ourselves with more than hour to kill before our tour start time. We browsed the memorabilia, shopped in the gift shop, took pictures with the outdoor decor, and finally enjoyed a dish of ice cream. Hallie devoured Cookies and Cream, I indulged in Mocha Almond Fudge, and Will - in a strange and exciting twist - thoroughly enjoyed Rainbow Sherbert. I'll to teach that kid to love dairy if it's the last thing I do.

After all that, we took the tour. Will found it fascinating. Hallie cried - literally cried - out of boredom. I wanted more ice cream, and to not have to carry Hallie anymore.

All in all, I'm glad we visited this historic Texas destination. I enjoyed learning the history behind the company, watching the ice cream-making process, and of course, my scoop of Mocha Almond Fudge. Oh, it was good. So good. Maybe as good as Babcock's Mocha Macchiato or Berry Alvarez... 

I'm thinking seriously about organizing an ice cream social that would include a blind taste test of Blue Bell and Babcock ice cream. They can ship ice cream, right? Let me know if you want to attend!

High Five for Friday (3.14.14)

1. My mama comes to visit today! I haven't seen her since Thanksgiving, and can't wait to spend the last few days of spring break (and a few days next week as well) with her. Our plans include baking a banana cream pie, celebrating her birthday (which happens to be today), visiting the outlet mall, going to see Peabody and Mr. Sherman, an outing to Spoons, cutting my and Hallie's hair, and painting my front door. It's not too late to weigh in on what color we should go with, by the way!

2. I crossed two adventures off my Texas Bucket List this week! Next week I'll post about our day trips to the Blue Bell Creamery in Brenham and the Aquarium in Houston.

3. After years of waiting for the right time (as defined by an assortment of dentists, orthodontist, and oral surgeons), Will's two-year-old molar that never fully formed or emerged from his gums was finally removed on Wednesday. I have severe anxiety about all things dental, and even worse anxiety about medications - like the general anesthetic needed during the surgery to remove Will's tooth - that rob people of their faculties, so Tom graciously volunteered to completely rearrange his schedule and take Will to his appointment. Will did wonderfully throughout the procedure - the surgeon told him he behaved more maturely than most 15-year-olds, a compliment to which he held on tightly so that he could pass it along to me when he arrived home - and though there were a few rough moments during the 48 hours post-surgery, he hung in there.

4. Mother Nature finally cut us a break, just in time for spring break. The sun is shining, the temperatures are in the 60's and 70's, and for the first time in quite a while, the grass and flowers and trees have color and life to them. Come visit us in Texas, friends, where you can roll down the windows, feel the sun on your face, and let the wind whip through your hair!

5. I usually post links to pieces I've written a few at a time, but I wanted to share this link on its own because of its time-sensitve nature. When you have a moment, check out a variety of delicious meals and snacks as well as quite a few fun activities and crafts in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

Last weekend I made the clover-shaped Rice Krispie Treats, which the kids and their friends loved, and the weekend before that I tacked the wreath and the clover cubes so that I could add a little more fun and whimsey to our St. Patrick's Day decorations.

Happy St. Patrick's Day cooking, baking, crafting, and playing!

Linking up with High Five for Friday!

Design Star, Chasing Roots Edition (Poll)

"The journey is the destination." I try my best to keep that sentiment in mind throughout my day-to-day life. Whenever possible, I pause to appreciate the ordinary - my kids singing along (loudly, and somewhat off-key) to the Sound of Music soundtrack in the car on the way to gymnastics or the 45 minutes spent alone with my thoughts while cruising the aisles at the grocery store - instead of powering through the "everyday" in pursuit of the kids' bedtime, my bedtime, "wine-time", the weekend, or our next vacation.

There is one area of my life, however, in which I don't appreciate the journey: projects. Craft projects, gardening projects, landscape projects, home projects. I want to enjoy the process - thoughtfully creating the plan, gathering or shopping for materials, and carefully following the instructions though to the end - but the reality is that I just…don't. I love the finished products though, so I regularly pull out my glue gun, hedge trimmers, or painting supplies to tackle whatever smaller-scale projects need to be done around the house.

Luckily for me, my mom LOVES projects of all kinds. Over the years she's helped me remove wallpaper; paint walls, trim, and ceilings; remove carpet; lay tile; build pantry and laundry room shelving; replace light fixtures; clean and stain decks; and lay patio stones…and she's done it all with a smile on her face, which is saying a lot because while I always work hard (I actually enjoy the physical hard work part of the deal), I complain A LOT. 

My mom flies in to College Station for a little spring break vacation on Friday, and we plan to tackle at least one product during her five-day visit. We haven't nailed down the project with which we'll start, but right now a small task - painting my front door - tops the list. 

Because reddish-brown brick dominates the facade of our house, our reddish-brown wooden door blends in and can barely be seen from the street. I know that painting the door a brighter, contrasting color would allow it to stand out and greatly improve our curb appeal…I just can't choose a color. 

That's where you come in - help me choose my color!

Here's what the front door looks like, both from the street and up close, right now:

Could it look any drearier outside? I'm ready for blue skies, green grass, and
dry enough weather for me to beat back those bushes with the hedge trimmers!

I grumbled through making that St. Patrick's
Day wreath a couple of weeks ago.

And here are a few of the (poorly photoshopped) colors I'm considering:

Originally I wanted black, but now I think black would cause the
door to blend in to the front of the house even more so than it does now.

A deep red, found about halfway between candy apple red and maroon.

A deep, sunset orange.

A warm, mature yellow.

A medium to medium-dark green with a blue undertone.

I chose these colors because they make sense with the colors one sees immediately upon walking through the front door and into the living room. I would love a bright or midnight blue door, but going that route just doesn't make good design sense. Or at least I don't think it makes good design sense. I don't really have good design sense, which is why I'm asking you to help me make this decision.

So please, tell me what color you like best! Comment here or on Facebook, or send me a message here (erin@chasingroots.com) or on Facebook. Thanks for your help!

The Worst Monday Morning of the Year

Argh.

A lovely way to start a post, right?

Sorry about that.

I can't stand Daylight Savings Time. I don't want to lose an hour of sleep on Saturday night. I don't want to spend Sunday searching for all of my clocks' manuals in order to figure out how to change their times. (Actually, I never changed the clock in our office last fall, so this spring I had one less clock to change. Score!) I don't want to arrive late to church, or to feel like I'm "behind" as we move through our Sunday activities and chores. I don't want to wake up under the cover of darkness on Monday morning. And more than anything, I don't want to walk Will to school before the sun has crested the horizon. It's just mean to send kids to school when it's still dark outside.

Did you know there is a 10% increase in heart attacks on the Monday and Tuesday following our shift to Daylight Savings Time? Maybe we should listen to our bodies - and follow the lead of states like Arizona and Hawaii that don't observe Daylight Savings Time - and stop setting ourselves up for sleep deprivation, decreased immune function, and out-of-whack circadian rhythms...

(source)

So, how does one motivate oneself to get out of bed on a morning like this one?

For Will, Sports Center does the trick. Tom and I granted Will permission to watch Sports Center in the mornings once he's completely ready for school. After waking up on his own at 6:30am, he gets dressed, makes his bed, tidies up his room, makes his own breakfast, puts his dishes in the dishwasher, and brushes his teeth. Then he runs - yes, runs (I can hear him cruising through the house while I still lay in bed) - to the playroom and settles into the giant beanbag chair to catch up on the sports-related happenings of the night before. We've had absolutely no problems getting him up and out the door for school on time since we implemented the Sports Center policy. (In fact, on the morning the policy went into effect, I found Will completely ready for school and watching Sports Center at…5:25am. We had to amend the policy to add a "you may not get out of bed before 6:25am or exit your room before 6:30am" clause.)

For Hallie, the promise of beautiful hair pulls her out of bed and keeps her moving. A couple of weeks ago she asked me to style her hair like Elsa and Anna from Frozen, and I agreed, if she was ready to WALK OUT THE DOOR ("ready" and "ready to walk out the door" are two completely different states of being in Hallie's mind) with 20 minutes to spare. Sure enough, Hallie turned on her own alarm clock each evening and got out of bed when it went off each morning. And because she upheld her end of the deal, I had to uphold mine. My fingers were sore - and Google Images had been given quite the workout - by the time we worked our way through the four Frozen hairstyles Hallie wanted to try.

Early Elsa

I'm quite proud of this hairstyle - perhaps my best work in the series.

Late Elsa

These pictures make this hairstyle look like a hot mess, but I swear it 

wasn't when Hallie left for school. I forgot to take pictures that morning, 

so these were taken after school and after she'd changed clothes twice.

Early Anna

This hairstyle was by far the hardest of the four 

because of the texture and length of Hallie's hair.

Late Anna

It was nice to end on a hairstyle with which I'm familiar!

For me, there is no magic motivator. Well, I take that back. It's coffee. Just coffee.

How many days until we "fall back"?

High Five for Friday (3.7.14)

1. Catching Fire comes out on DVD TODAY! I plan to pick up my copy this morning, and then spend the remainder of the day counting down the minutes until Will and Hallie go to bed and I can watch both the movie (for the fourth time) and all of the special features.

2. Divergent tickets went on sale this week! A few friends and I bought ours on Tuesday and are looking forward to finally see one of our favorite books come to life on the big screen.

3. Little League baseball started this week! Well, baseball kind of started this week. We were supposed to practice on Monday, but our coach cancelled practice on account of the weather - it was 27 degrees with a windchill of 20 degrees outside. (To be clear, I'm not complaining about the cancellation. Sitting on ice cold bleachers…in the dark…bundled up against the frigid cold and biting wind…for 90 minutes…all while trying to entertain Hallie sounds about as fun as sticking my pen in my eye.) We were supposed to practice on Wednesday, but our coach cancelled practice on account of the standing water - what remained after Tuesday's ice storm - on the fields. (A second to be clear, the city keeps an unbelievably tight reign on their baseball and soccer fields, opening them to youth practices and games only when weather conditions don't pose a risk to the fields' conditions. The fields have been closed all week, so even if our coaches were willing to brave cold weather and standing water, practicing would have meant risking a $200 fine.) At least we had a team meeting with our coaches, parents, and players…go Blue Claws!

There's just nothing better than watching kids find their footing in and then succeed at the activities and sports they love. Will looks and feels at home on the baseball field, and I am so proud to sit in the stands and cheer for him.

Will's very first tee-ball game two years ago. 

4. Will and I rediscovered "Just Dance for Kids" on the Wii. Someone gave us this game years ago, and while we played it once or twice after it was first opened, it spent most of its time in our media cabinet. Last Sunday afternoon, when the rain and freezing temperatures made playing outside nearly impossible, the kids were going a little stir-crazy. Will had wrapped himself in Ace bandages and was jumping on the beanbag chair in the playroom, and Hallie was SCREAMING the words to Little Red Riding Hood's "I Know Things Now" from Into the Woods while wearing only her yellow, polka dot bikini and pink blanket as a cloak. I needed something - anything - to help them expend energy, and though I usually hate turning to the Wii, the electronic device seemed my only option.

Will and I ended up dancing for a full hour. I broke a sweat, added nearly 6,000 steps to my daily step total (I happened to have on my sports watch), and had a blast with my boy.

Meanwhile, my gal - who didn't want to participate - settled in to watch us and eventually fell asleep under her cloak while we danced circles around her. Literally.

5. And finally, I loved this compilation of photos that together aim to change the way we as a society look at women. Show these to your daughters, friends.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Linking up with High Five for Friday!