Mother's day motherload...

I'm happy to report we had a great first Mother's Day, and to quote Karen, "This is the best Mother's Day ever!" She said that at 7 am, so the day started out pretty good if you ask me. I had been thinking about this for weeks... What to do, how to make the day special, and the pressure was definitely starting to get to me. I was leaning in two directions and with each one thinking that throwing some cash behind my idea would definitely help!

Leading up to MDay, Karen had said that she didn't want to be "whisked" away anywhere without Annie. No problem. Other than that, not too much guidance. The first idea I had was for all of us to go out for a really nice brunch (original, I know), and she had mentioned in the past that there was a jazz brunch at the Langham Hotel that she had wanted to attend. I called and almost made a reservation when I happened to inquire about the price... $86/per person. What?! So we're spending at least $172 on brunch, not including drinks or tip!!! Yikes! And really, what is brunch but fancy breakfast food that no matter how much you dress it up, it's still mostly flour and egg based, not the most expensive ingredients. Ridic. Cross that off the list. Now I felt some real pressure because I had to come up with something else!

Jewelry. I guess I hadn't really thought of this before, because I don't usually buy Karen jewelry. A) it's not really my cup of tea, and B) I just think that if you're going to buy something that expensive you should just pick it out yourself. But me having the best wife and all, she doesn't normally ask to buy herself jewelry. So I tooled around on the web, found some things I thought she'd like and then headed out. I had decided on this ring I wanted to buy, so I walked into the jeweler and they had it. Coincidentally not only was it the last one, but there had just been another customer looking at it before me who almost bought it, but instead purchased the matching earrings. Now, maybe I'm a bit of a sucker and the sales lady was feeding me a good line- which if she was - it definitely worked so good for her, but that helped reinforce my belief that Karen would really like this ring.

Present done, now what? We have a whole day!! And not only did I need to get a gift, but Annie needed too as well, two gifts! So I took Karen's favorite picture of Annie and had it turned into a "photo panel" from Snapfish (and also ordered extras for the grandmothers). Basically it's like a frameless photo, sort of. I'm explaining this really bad so if you're curious just go to snapfish and look it up!

Back to the whole day thing. I thought that since Karen would love the gifts and she just wanted to spend the day together, that a picnic would be a lot of fun. So on Sunday morning I had planned to head to Whole Foods and pick up stuff that she'd like (and that I normally wouldn't eat...) and then surprise her. Gifts done, day done, relax. Almost...

Alright... now onto Mother's Day. Annie got up pretty early, shocker, so I got up with her and Karen got to sleep in. When Karen got up, Annie immediately gave her the biggest hug, hence Karen's "this is the best Mother's Day ever!" remark. She opened her gifts, and loved them. However a wrench was thrown into the rest of my plans... There were serious winds ripping through the city, and a picnic looked out of the question. So we decided to go downtown instead and went on a nice walk then headed down Newbury St to find a place to eat. Not the easiest feat considering it was Mother's Day, the city was packed, and we didn't have reservations anywhere. But we lucked out, and were able to get right in at this Tappas place we like, Tapeo. It was a lot of fun, and Annie again had a lot of different foods. And afterwards we headed to Ben and Jerry's for some ice cream!

Volvo Ocean Race

We had such a great weekend. Not only was it our first Mother's Day (more on that later) but the weather was awesome and we were downtown a lot. Saturday we headed down to Fan Pier, which is I guess technically is in Southie, but more like downtown, but not really. Anyways, those of you familiar with Boston will know where I'm talking about, and those of you who aren't, it's not that important.

The racers competing in the Volvo Ocean competition, which basically takes place around the world, had stopped in Boston and we wanted to check out the boats. Also they had a lot of different vendors and food things set up, there was supposed to be an Oyster Festival, shocker - we went for the food... But I guess we went too early because the darn ships were out for a race and the oyster fest hadn't begun yet! D'oh! We still had a great time. We found parking no problem (also the sign of a great time waiting to happen!), we got to watch a sail boat race, and we had some decent food while Annie took a nap! All in all it was a really fun day!

Pants on your head?

Hmm... I think someone replaced our 10 month old daughter with a cleaning lady from the 70's! Here's Annie modelling her pants on her head. She's been super silly lately as she crawls everywhere, especially places she's not allowed. Last weekend we had to put up barricades in our living room to try and keep her contained. We've also got the pack-n-play setup, it's become a permanent fixture in our house... And Annie has gotten pretty quick too.

We're all set with this teething thing though. Annie has four top teeth coming in, and the past few weeks have been trying to say the least. Two weekends ago she refused to take naps- all weekend. Last weekend she went back to normal and took great two hour naps both mornings and afternoons, so that was good. What's not so good is that she's been waking up around 3ish each morning. And it's taking longer and longer to get her back down. Karen and I used to sit around and wonder where our good little sleeper went, but in retrospect Annie's never been that good of a sleeper, so we shouldn't be too surprised. And of course you can never be sure really of why Annie is waking up, so you don't know whether you should give her a little tylenol or motrin, or try and soothe her, or get back to sleep training and let her cry it out... Decisions, decisions!

This weekend is Mother's Day, so we're pretty pumped to share our first Mother's Day!

X marks the spot!

Here are some photos from Annie in the bath! She has these foam letters that she loves to play with in the bath. Lately she has really been enjoying bathtime. She gets crazy -- crawling back and forth, splashing water all over and throwing things out of the tub. And the best part is she gets so amped up that after her bath she's completely tuckered out and ready for bed!

We had a great weekend. Saturday the weather was beautiful and we took Annie on a long walk through the North End and Fanueil Hall area. Sunday after church we went to the Border Cafe. That's one of our favorite Mexican restaurants and Annie likes Mexican! We gave her some chicken, rice and beans... You name it she ate it. We're quite amazed at her tolerance for spices, although, seeing the food her mom likes it shouldn't be too surprising.

Weekend get-set

Boston, MA
54°F
Current: Partly Cloudy Wind: W at 11 mph Humidity: 40%
Fri67° 50°
Sat77° 58°
Sun76° 61°
Mon76° 58°

That's the forecast for this weekend, boo-yah! I'm so pysched we're going to be home again this weekend! What's on tap? Tonight we'll be keeping things low key. I think Karen and I have come down with something sketchy ( I say sketchy because we feel like garbage), we're both not feeling 100%. Saturday our friends Scott and Jen are coming over for brunch, and that's it for our plans! I'm sure we'll have lots of blog-worthy items to talk about later!

Spring Cooking!

Hi everyone- This is technically my first post. Justin does such a great job summarizing Annie Bananas that I never feel the need to add to anything. But this past weekend, the first in five weekends that we've been home, I thought it would be a great forum for me to use as an outlet for food and cooking it. So many times I make something I really like and never think about it again. This way I can share my ideas, techniques and recipes I come across that I really like.

This past weekend was perfect Spring weather and all I could think about was cooking the perfect Spring dinner. Something simplistic and gorgeous so I dragged Justin and Annie to Whole Foods with nothing in particular in mind, which is my favorite thing to do. Whole Foods had one aisle that really interested me. It consisted of local organic vegetables that looked like they could be in a magazine. I decided on leeks, carrots, and fava beans. To compensate the cost of the produce I picked trout fillets that were on sale. I finished the purchase with lemons and basil. Now one of my favorite challenges about cooking is finding great looking ingredients and figuring out how best they all go together. Tonight's dinner was grilled trout with sauteed spring vegetables.
Grilled Trout:
2 Trout Fillets
1 Lemon and its zest
salt
pepper
chopped basil

About 15 minutes before I wanted to put the fish on the grill I rinsed the fillets and patted them dry on paper towels. Rub on the salt and pepper, lemon zest, basil and olive oil. Frankly, grilling fish scares me. I've found if you buy the Reynolds Release aluminum foil, you can lay it down on the grill and cook the fillets over top. They don't stick at all and it doesn't make your grill stink. Since the fillets were thin, I cooked them on each side for only 3-5 minutes a side. Trout is a thin fish but this recipe could be used with any fish. Salmon would take longer because it's obviously thicker. Once the fish comes off the grill, squeeze lemon juice over it. I swear you don't need any sauce.

Sping Vegetable sautee

Baby Spring Carrots
Leeks
Fava Beans
Basil
Lemon Zest

There are no measurements here because this method is for any vegetables you can find and that are fresh. I decided to pre-cook the carrots and beans beforehand so when the fish went on the grill I could throw the vegetables in the pan to warm them back through. Plus, I actually cooked them when Annie went down for a nap and set them aside until dinner. "Pre-cooking" means boiling them in water for a few minutes to soften. The carrots went in for about 3 minutes.
(Fava beans are a different story. They take a bit of time but are so worh it. They taste like butter when cooked correctly. Fresh fava beans come as bean pods and have to be shelled. Then put them in the boiling water, after the carrots come out, and cook for 2 minutes. Believe it or not, they have to be shelled once more. The boiling loosens the skin on the actual edible part. You need to peel the skin off the bean. I admit it was a lot of work for not much, but I am one of the few that enjoy the process, subsitute regular peas and it would be great.)

Once the fish was on the grill, I sauteed the leeks in a bit of olive oil and added salt and pepper, until soft. Then I added the cooked carrots and beans. I finished the dish with lemon zest, chopped basil and a small pat of butter (it was Saturday night!).

I'm telling you this simple dinner made my weekend. It looked beautiful and tasted really fresh. Oh and did I mention that I found homemade garlic bread at the store for 99 cents??

Anyway, it feels good to share a dinner I enjoyed so much. Most of the time, I just call my mom to share my excitement. It's nice to finally write it down. I actually wanted to write about two dinners I made this weekend. Since I didn't realize how much I had to say about the first, I'll save the second for later. Bye!

Sunny day in the city

This was our first weekend home in what feels like ages but was actually 5 weekends away/busy.  Saturday the weather was beautiful.  We started out by going to brunch at Soundbites.  So good.  Then we needed to pick up a baby gift and Annie needed new shoes,  so we headed across the street to Twinklestar.  Afterwards we went to Davis Square, in Somerville, and went for a long walk on the bike paths.  Then we grabbed a quick lunch on the fly at this organic eatery.  

For those of you who aren't familiar with Davis Square, it's Hipster central.   Very trendy, but not Newbury Street trendy.  Hipster-vintage-organic-granola-crunchy-black framed glasses trendy.  So we both ordered wraps, Karen got some tuna/curry wrap, and I got a chicken terriyaki wrap and a "Bee Strong."  What's a "Bee Strong" -- it's carrot, celery and beet juice.  The first half went down good... and I felt energized.  Later though, my body began to reject all the nutrients and it left me feeling a bit queezy...  So Karen finished it.  Then she felt queezy.

Then it was off to Whole Foods, which ranks right up there with Costco in my book.  I know Whole Foods' nickname is whole paycheck... But it's worth it.  This is a place where you know pretty much everything you buy is good for you.  Everything is organic, good for the Earth and good for you.  We got some fresh trout, fava beans, baby carrots (not the kind in plastic), and leeks for dinner.  So good... And Annie got some oatmeal that she had for breakfast Sunday.

Annie had so much fun... She played with mommy in her tutu.  And she got to feed herself...  So, we were feeding Annie her chicken with brown rice, and midway through she decides she's done.  So we give her the spoon and bowl (I don't know what we were thinking... just that a bath was in her future) and she went crazy.  Crazy.  And I think she probably got a few more spoonfuls in her mouth, so I'm chalking that up as a win.  Annie is also getting to love bathtime.  She loves to crawl back and forth in the bath, she loves it when the faucet is on and playing in the water pouring down on her!  And I have to say her least favorite part is getting the lotion... A constant battle.  And she's getting so much smarter about avoiding things she hates.  She hates to have her nose wiped.  If she sees a kleenex her head turns like in the Exorist.  And if she sees lotion... fuggadeboutit.  Here is some video from her feeding herself...  Clean freaks beware, this video is cringe-worthy...

Easter Weekend

Bea and Snuffaluffagus

Everyone in their Easter best (Thanks for the dress Auntie Alicia!!! -- it's from Bangkok!)

Easter morning

Larry (the Godfather) with Annie & Bea

Justin, Annie, Uncle Chuck, Stephanie, and Karen

We had so much fun at Easter! Luckily Annie was over her pink eye, and by the time we arrived in Detroit she was at least not contagious. Mom and Dad ran into one small snag though... When we arrived at Logan, we headed to Terminal E. We were both so surprised at how peaceful and calm everything was in the Northwest terminal. Well... turns out since NWA merged with Delta, NWA moved into Delta's terminal... and we were in the wrong place, D'uh! Luckily, Terminal E connects to Terminal A, although you have to take the longest pedestrian walkway ever. And since we were just going to Detroit for the long weekend, we were carry-on only. I swear we walked at least a mile, and then when we had to ditch the luggage cart through security, to get to our gate we had to walk through another long tunnel under the tarmac. Exhausting...

But it was well worth it. We arrived in Detroit and Grandpa and Grandma Drummy took us out to lunch! Annie had a blast. Then I got to go to the Tigers opening day. Well, we went to a party at the Detroit Athletic Club (DAC -- where our wedding reception was) that overlooked the game. That was a ton of fun. Meanwhile the girls (Annie and Mom) had a play-date and had a great time!

Saturday we got to meet Bea! Larry , Alex and Bea drove up from Dayton. Annie and Bea had so much fun together! Later that day we went to a brunch and got to see a lot of friends we haven't seen in quite some time. Saturday night I finished up a paper (boring) and we all had a delicious dinner. Sunday we went to Easter mass, and then all the Griffiths came over for dinner. Joan outdid herself and made one heck of a leg of lamb. Monday our flight wasn't until late afternoon, so we were able to catch our breath, pack at a leisurely pace and not rush at the airport. Annie was such a trooper the whole time. I can't believe what an easy little girl she is. She just rolls with the punches and has a smile on her face (most of the time).

They laugh - They cy - They love eachother!

Also from last weekend (4/3), some photos of Liv and Annie laughing, crying, and playing together. I don't know why I don't have any pics of Jackson and Sam, but at least they're represented in the video below. Albeit having their hopes and dreams crushed by Uncle Jordan!

The Scarlett Letter isn't an A...

It's P -- for Pink Eye!!!

I got the call yesterday at 3. "Mr. Ferguson, our little cherub has pink eye. She'll need to be picked up and won't be allowed back for 24hrs and she has a Dr.'s note."

side note -- "cherub" really? who talks like that. this isn't 1864 and i'm not 12 yrs old.

Ugh. So, last night we spent an hour at the doctor's office, followed by an hour at CVS. Why so long at CVS? Well, that's because the prescription was allegedly sent to a different CVS, and my insurance wouldn't authorize another refill until the other pharmacy was called, the order was cancelled and the system updated. What do people without insurance do?

The good news is that Annie was an absolute champ through the whole thing. She didn't fuss at the doctor, although she was less than cooperative during the exam. She was just there two weeks ago, but this time was reaching and clinging to dad the whole time! I have to admit, it felt really good to have Annie not want to be with anyone else but Dad! Of course Mom wasn't there, if she was I know she'd be #1. In the past few weeks Annie has really started loving her parents, reaching for us and wanting to be held, which feels really really good. And she sure loves her mom! Probably because her mom doesn't let her cry in her crib at night like her dad!

So as for today, I'm at home with Bananas and we'll be focusing on naps and applying ointment! And Annie is only contagious for today, and by the time we leave for Detroit-rock city she'll be good as new when she meets her cousin Bea!