Happy Mother's Day 2013

Happy Mother's Day Demi!  I hope all the Moms out there have a wonderful day.  You all deserve it.

I Need a Twix

Homework! Homework!  Give me a break!  I have been working the Caz on make up assignments all week.  He has until Friday to hand them all in to salvage some of his grade.
     It sure isn't easy.  Not all the teachers use the Student Portal at all, let alone for homework assignments.  Some teachers use the Teacher's pages on the school website.  Other's have their own websites.  How is one supposed to find it all?  Of course Caz should be writing it all down.  If he had, we wouldn't be here today.  I know his ADD makes it tough but he's got to figure out a system.  So we continue to work on finding on.  It's exhausting though.  I thought my homework days were far behind me.
     It's a hard balance.  How much to I help.  How much is reasonable to expect of Caz?  How do we find a system that works for how his mind works?  Which isn't like how my mind works.  Until we figure it out, we keep working at it.  It's what parents do, right?

Baby Nolan

Welcome to the world, Baby Nolan.  Demi's nephew and wife had a baby this AM. 7 lbs 4 oz.  Everyone is healthy and feeling well. I had a good time teasing Demi about being a Great Aunt and her sister a grandmother.....until I realized that I was a Great uncle....Doh!

Zero Dark Anniversary

The one year anniversary of the Bin Laden raid passed without much fanfare.  Just as well really.  On both sides.  I am really glad the press did not play it up.  And I am glad there was not any acts of vegenence.
     Demi and I took the boys to see Zero Dark Thirty.  We thought it was important to see one view of history.  We had a full family discussion about it afterwards.  It was good healthy discussion.  Productive.  It is important to talk about these things as a family unit.

Gourmet Kitchen

We found a great new family dinner spot.  The Gourmet Kitchen in Hingham.  It is Asian cuisines with a twist.  They promote good health and good eating.  This goes beyond just eliminating MSG.  They use local organic foods.  The have a healthy rice, Akai, that is low sugar and high dietary fiber.  They have gluten free options.  They really do a nice job.
     The decor is nice.  It is not fancy but a bit more than family casual.  The boys were good and wore collared shirts.  It was fairly quiet, so having family conversation was not a challenge.  The service was friendly.
     We ordered the perfect amount of food.  The fried calamari appetizer was OK, not great  But the Korean pork dumplings were very good.  The house fried rice was a hit.  Demi and I tried the Akai rice and thought it was a good option.  The boys were less enamoured with it.  The orange flavored beef was excellent, as was the pad Thai noodles and sweet & sour chicken.  Demi was really pleasantly surprised with the S&S chicken.  We were really full after that.  But we did not say no when the complimentary dessert came out - ice cream coated with corn flakes, whipped cream, and chocolate drizzle.  We will definitely be back.

The Circle of Life - Teenage Edition

So Caz had one of your typical adolecent relationships.  Demi thought it a bit odd.  But a one week boyfriend/girlfriend stint is pretty common.  Or at least that is how I recall it, while growing up in Duxbury.  Coco was good, he didn't make a single comment about it.  Caz didn't seem fazed.  He just kind of shrugged.  I tried to console Caz a bit.  I told him when I was in 8th grade, I had a girlfriend for a weekend.  There was a dance on Friday night.  We agreed to "go out".  On Monday, the girl changed her mind.  I don't think I batted an eye.  And thus the wheel keeps on turning.

The Coverage

 The TV coverage of the manhunt was unbelievable today.  I haven't watched this much TV in years.  The closest thing I can think of is watching the coverage of the first Iraq war, while I was in college.
     Actually, my participation started with the radio.   That is where I first got a sense of the chaos going on, and had been going on while I had been sleeping.  I still had to work but the TV was going.  I was not going to miss a thing.
     We had my brother's family over for dinner.  I shut off the TV figuring my niece was too young.  My sister in-law actually asked me to turn the TV on.  My niece was in the other end of the house.  The draw of the news coverage was just too much.
     After the family had gone home, I wondered how much the boys should see.  But they were really interested in what was going on.  It was a good time to talk and explain what was happening and what to expect.  Neither one of the boys looked concerned or bothered.  They were really interested, so we let the TV fly.  It's going to end up one of those moments where you will always remember where you were.  And for this, the boys were with their family.