March Madness

It was a different kind of “March Madness” at the B household recently. For 16 consecutive days, we had company; now that’s madness! But we loved every minute of it. My nephew, J, visited us during his spring break from CSI. Now you might ask what is a college student doing visiting his “old” aunt and uncle during spring break? Well, I’m thinking it had something to do with free room and board. Luckily for us, his plans changed at the last minute and it was too late to get reasonable accommodations at more exotic places like Florida or Mexico. But luckily for him, the week he was here it was like being in Florida or Mexico. We experienced very warm weather, nearly 80 degrees on some days. He was able to take in some bass fishing while he was here. He got educated the first day but “schooled” Uncle J during round two. (Pardon the pun!) And if you know him at all, you know he had a wonderful time spoiling M. H called in sick one day which left us without a nanny. Luckily, J came to our rescue and was our “manny” for a day. If you watch the video, you’ll see they played baseball. And as you can see from the picture, they did a lot of reading, or at least that is what J told me!
The day before Easter, mom and J’s sister, my beautiful niece, K, joined the festivities. We (mostly the “girls”) spent Easter morning preparing our lavish Easter dinner. Okay, not really lavish, but to a starving college student, a high school junior who is too busy to eat during the week, and a grandma who was supposed to be on vacation and not cook, it was a lavish meal prepared by a daughter/aunt who was happy just to have everyone there. We had the traditional ham and scalloped potatoes, but I think the tradition ended there. I boiled what I thought were sugar snap peas but ended up being edamame. It was a first for all of us and probably not something we will carry on in the family tradition. The meal was rounded out by everyone’s favorite – the strawberry jello and pretzel salad. Mmmm, mmmm, good.

J left not long after Easter dinner, which meant mom and K had the freedom to spoil M, and spoil they did! I’m not sure M touched the ground during the week they were here. But that’s not all bad, because I don’t think J and I changed too many diapers while they were here, either! Since visiting at Christmastime, Grandma L has expressed her disappointment in the fact that M is not much of a cuddler. Well, we were able to catch the non-cuddler in the act and quickly snapped the picture. It was a beautiful moment for all. But because it was so short-lived, Grandma spent the week teaching M to give kisses. And although a little sloppy, she was a fast learner. Grandma was very proud. And most of you may know the challenge it has been to transition M into eating solid foods. Well, K was determined to help M make the leap from liquids to solids. We learned a lot in a week! Apparently one is not to stick with the parenting books that suggest “baby steps” when introducing solids. Oh no, jumping right into pancakes with syrup seems to do the trick. And the most important thing we learned from K – with the help of Grandma, I think – is that no spoon is needed and self-feeding is fun . . . and messy!

Since we're on the topic of food, it's important to note that this blog would not be complete without the "pancake story". My mom is well-known for her good cooking. During dinner one night I asked J how the dinner that I had fixed was. He replied, "It's good, Aunt N, but not like Grandma's." And with an analogy only J could use, he explained that our cooking was like two basketball teams. We both had good starters, but Grandma had an awesome bench. He went on to explain that while I had a good main course and side dish, Grandma would "go to her bench" for a fruit salad, a lettuce salad, a veggie side, and, of course, a knock-your-socks-off dessert. While I was a little disheartened, I was glad that my "starters made the team." So imagine my surprise one morning when I hear from the kitchen, "N, get in here and make the pancakes!" Who could that be? To my surprise, it was Grandma wanting me to come to the rescue and make my pancakes because hers just weren't turning out. There was a bit of pressure on me to make the pancakes that morning - about the only recipe I make without directions. But as you can tell in the picture, my "team" won the game that day. For those of you who may not be pancake experts, let me just say that pancakes should not hold a shape similar to a piece of cardboard, but should be light and fluffy. Unfortunately, J had already gone home, but luckily for me, K was there to witness this big event and was relieved when Aunt N's pancakes made their way to her plate! Sixteen days sounds like a long time, especially when family is involved; but the time flew by and I wish we could start the time all over again. A huge thanks to J, K and Mom for choosing to spend their spring breaks with us. We couldn’t have asked for a better time!