Egg-ceptional hunting

I'm still super busy. Too busy to talk about it. But, here are some pictures of one of the many, many things we've been doing. We went to the Daily Sentinel's annual Easter Egg Hunt and, of course, a egg-ceptional blast. My kids and their cousins made a haul this year.

Thanks Sandra for putting your kids to work stuffing eggs.

My brother — great father, role model

Seven years ago today, I lost my best friend and the closest person in my life when my twin brother, Drew, suddenly passed away. He was so much more than my brother, he was truly an inspiration in many ways. Our brotherhood was incredibly important to both of us.

Beyond being a great brother and my best friend, Drew was a great father. My nephew, Josiah, was born a little over a year before Drew passed away. Josiah was the answer Drew was looking for. My brother battled some demons in his early 30s that often left him confused and sometimes sad. These emotions weren't as serious as it may seem. Just a hindrance. My brother had a great career as a district manager for a chain of restaurants in Kansas City and loved life and lived it to the fullest. But something was missing. That all changed when his son born.

I saw a complete man when Josiah was born. As a single father, I wondered how Drew would do it, but he always told me it was the one thing he needed to complete himself. Drew was a changed man from that point on. Seeing him father his son was more than impressive — it was admirable. My brother's son was his everything. Everyday Drew spent with Josiah was another adventure for father and son. He had tremendous patience and his drive to be as nurturing as he can be was a sight to be seen. Drew and his son — there simply wasn't a better pair. No two were truer for each other.

I learned so much from Drew as a father. I've never been a patient person and have dealt with anxiety issues for as long as I can remember. I always knew when I met the right person and got married I would want to have children. However, it scared me because I didn't  know if I was father material.  When Kelley and I got married, our initial plans was not to have children. We talked about it and decided we would put off discussions for a couple of years and if it came up again, we would cross that bridge then. Three years after being married, the discussion came back up and we decided if it was meant to be, it would happen. As you all know, my son is a year old now and I can't imagine my life with out Elliott Andrew.

I'd like to think I'm a great father. I have my moments as I think we all do. Since Elliott was born, my entire meaning of life has changed dramatically. My top priority is being the best father I can be. I get a lot of that direction from the type of father my brother was.

As I said before, Drew was so much more to me than just a brother and my best friend — he was a great role model, especially when it came to being a father.

Momma ‘til you drop!

It's always feast or famine with me. I'm either normal busy and bored or crazy supermom busy.

This week is one of those crazy supermom busy weeks.

Just as an example, let's take yesterday.

4:45 a.m.—Make first breakfast for hubby.

6:45 a.m. —Make second breakfast for boys.

7:10 to 7:45 a.m—Get three boys ready for school, including lunches, socks, and backpacks. Fight morning traffic for drop-off.

8 a.m. — Check office email and other administrative work tasks.

9:15 a.m. — Head to office, edit video.

12:15 p.m. — Forgot to eat lunch. Head to McDonald's drive-thru, call the lawn man while ordering food, call the vet while waiting for food.

12:45 p.m. — Head to Fruita Middle School for annual Career Fair appearance, eat Filet O'Fish in car.

12:50 p.m. — Begin one of three sessions for students discussing my MoJo job.

2:40 p.m. — Head back to GJ to pick Soren up from school.

3:10 p.m. — Log back into work system to finish up work day

4:15 p.m. — Drive nanny home

5:30 p.m. — Head to Little League practice

7:00 p.m. — Back home to make dinner

8:00 p.m. — Make three dozen drop sugar cookies for Jonas' Easter party. Make Soren do his homework.

8:30 p.m. — We're skipping bath and stories tonight because mommy is EXHAUSTED.

10:00 p.m. — Crashed.

Every single day of the week looks like this. I don't know why I do it to myself but somehow it didn't ocurr to me two weeks ago when I scheduled all this stuff that it would be so overwhelming.

It's okay though, it's my job. I'm tired but seeing my kid make his first base hit at practice — frickin' awesome! Hearing Jonas say to his teacher with pride "Look at the cookies we made!" Well, worth it.

And getting a Facebook message this morning from a middle schooler that said ""i saw u! i luved it and thts wat i wanna be wen i grow up thnk u!" is the kind of thing that keeps me forging on.

Momma ‘til you drop!

You’re eating what?

Next week, we employees of The Daily Sentinel are starting a new fitness challenge. We set goals for weight loss, dietary changes, exercise goals, etc., with a focus on making healthy life changes.

It seems everyday there is a new must-try diet or exercise developed by doctors, fitness professionals or quacks.

Popular right now is the Paleo Diet. It is based on the idea that before agriculture, our species ate meat, vegetables, fruit and nuts. And that's what our bodies are designed to process. No dairy, refined sugar, processed foods including bread, pasta, grains, etc.

Makes sense to me. But I was raised American and the possiblity of never eating a sandwich again ... well, I can't get there. I'm fine with giving up pasta, but cheese ... what's the point of living without cheese?

However, I've been trying to focus my diet on healthy fresh foods and trying to cut out as much processed foods as I can (without giving up on sandwiches a couple times a week). We've got a great source for fresh, grass-fed beef and we're trying to grow our own veggies this year.

When I'm really sticking to those foods, I find the weight comes right off and I feel better. But staying away from sweets and not gorging myself on nighttime kitchen raids is hard for me to do.

Regardless, that's my food goal. For this fitness challenge, I'm focusing on getting rid of processed sugars out of my diet (and this right before all the delicious Easter candy will be tempting me at every turn). I figure if I can get rid of sugar then a couple slices of wheat bread and some cheese won't be my total undoing.

We know Richie is on the whatever-takes-the-most-eggs diet, but what about you? What are you eating?

Spring program: In its entirety

Last night, we rearranged dinner, hurried through chores, stuffed everyone in the car and barreled down 12th street to listen to Soren sing for 2 minutes. It was well worth it.

I recorded it in its entirety for your enjoyment.

(Notice the little girl on the left. That is not Soren's twin sister, although damned if even I can convince myself that she's not an Ashcraft. If I had a girl, that is exactly what she would have looked like.)

Here it is

Bloomin’ crazy!

Two Decembers ago, my mom and I were shopping an after-Christmas sale at Home Depot. On a lark, we picked up an amaryllis bulb in a pot and a pot full of paperwhite bulbs on clearance for five bucks each.

We popped them in the kitchen window sill and waited. We were delighted by the fast and furious manner in which they sprouted and bloomed ... well, except the smell of the paperwhites kept Bill out of the kitchen until after they were done blooming.

That year, I read an article in The Daily Sentinel about how to get your amaryllis to bloom each year. That inspired me to try to save the bulb for this year in hopes of getting my discount flower to bloom again (because I love my husband, the paperwhites were not invited back for an encore performance).

After they amaryllis was done blooming and the leaves started to turn brown, I dumped the dirt, threw the bulb back into the now-empty pot and tucked it away in the garage in hopes that I'd remember it this season.

And I did remember. OK, it was a little late, but I figured it couldn't hurt to try, so I refilled the pot, stuck in the bulb and put it back in the kitchen window. I watered and waited.

For a couple weeks it didn't do anything. My mom wanted to give up on it, but I though the remains of last years stalks seemed greener. I keep watering and waiting.

Then on Feb. 28, I noticed this:

That, my friends, is a  new leaf!

I was excited, but not at all prepared for what would happen over the next month.

That baby grew like greased lightning. I marked it's growth on the window with dry-erase marker and took pictures every couple of days (I'm sparing you all those photos).

But check this out. On March 28 — exactly one month later — this is what that discount amaryllis looked like:

Crazy what can happen in a single month, eh?

Oh, but as Ron Popeil would say, that's not all.

For Christmas, I got my mom a heated germination system. Basically, it's a tray for seeds with a cover and a heating pad.

Last Thursday, we planted 12 different vegetables and herbs. After only three days, we had this:

Those big guys are zucchini, after having been a seed three days prior.

To me this is all crazy. I had no idea things germinated, sprouted and grew so dang fast.

Last night, exactly one week after planting the seeds, we had to transplant some of the zucchini, cucumbers and green beans out of the germination station and into a pot because they were already crushing their little, leafy heads against the lid.

They don't look like much, but considering they are seven days old, I think they look great:

And just where are we doing this indoor gardening? In my mother's bathroom, of course.

Seriously, my mom's bathroom is more like a greenhouse there days:

Yes, that is her Jacuzzi tub. The closest my mom has ever gotten to using the tub was to turn the water on once. Now it is home to an antique end table that is hosting the germination station. The transplanted seedlings live on the sill of the magic window. I call it magic because we've been able to grow crazy things in that window sill. It's a huge, frosted, south-facing window that gets lots of sun. Because it's right next door to her shower, there's humidity, too. So far, we've got an ever-blooming violet, my orchid (which bloomed for the first time since I got it after we moved into this house), a new cyclamen, a begonia which also blooms all the time and a snake plant.

Since our backyard has no dirt, let alone anywhere to plant a garden, we are going to replace some of the grassy strip that runs along the south side of the house with raised vegetable beds. Hopefully, our seedlings will be feeding us this summer and fall.

What a party!

We had my son's first birthday party this past Saturday and if I could have made the day last forever, I would have. To see my son, Elliott, so happy, excited and involved in his first birthday party was something I will cherish the rest of my life. First birthday's, as I'm told, are one of those times you want to make as special as possible. It was a week-long-to-do list for my wife, Kelley, and I leading up to Saturday's party. And with the help of many good friends, the party was a smashing success.

Our son, although 1, is very laid back. He goes with the flow while his curiosity always seems to be leading his tiny little brain around. This was evident when it was time to open presents. There he was, sitting in the middle of our living room surrounded by other children and parents as Kelley and I opened his presents. Each toy we opened, we tossed to the middle of the birthday mosh pit. For the most part, the other children ended up playing with the toys while, at the same time, showing Elliott how they worked. Occasionally, Elliott would reach out, push a button on a toy, roll a car across the floor or shake a toy that made a rattling noise. Elliott sat with curiosity as he watched and smiled at all the excitement going around him. There was a moment I saw him sitting with his little hands clinched in fists and by his waist — you could tell he was super excited. See for yourself:

To our amazement, Elliott interacted great with the other children at his party.

And when it was time to eat his first piece of birthday cake. Kelley was trying to cut his cake into small, eatable pieces. But our friend Robin jumped in:

Robin: "Kelley, what are you doing?"

Kelley: "Cutting up his cake so he can eat it."

Robin: "Just throw it on his tray. He'll be fine."

Kelley: "But what if ..."

At that point, Robin yanked the plate of cake out of Kelley's hands and threw it in front of Elliott and he went to town.

As the day wore on, the party moved outside and Elliott was playing our friends Bill, Paul and Emily.

Once Elliott was born and we got into a routine as first-time parents, we couldn't wait for his first birthday and it was as wonderful as we hoped it would be.

Culling the herd

I had a very productive Sunday. After a year and a half of living in our new house, I finally sorted and organized our giant walk-in closet in our bedroom.

I packed up three bags of my clothes to be donated to Goodwill. Now our closet is all cleaned out of junk, sorted, folded and organized.

But there's still one job left.

Here's an actual conversation I had with my clothes-horse husband:

Me: Included the pair you are wearing, you currently have 22 pairs of shorts.

Him: Huh. Really? I might need to get rid of some.

Me: Do you think?

Who has 22 pairs of shorts? Nine pairs are plaid. Seriously. Nine pairs of plaid shorts. I have a total of three pairs of shorts. Exactly zero are plaid.

Elliott Andrew turns the Big 1

It's hard to imagine that today my son, Elliott Andrew, turns 1. So many of my friends said the first year will go by fast, and they were all right. Although this past year has gone by quick, it has been filled with the type of sublime happiness I spent my twenties and most of my thirties dreaming about. Heck, it took me 37 years to find my soulmate and angel in my wife, Kelley Lin. Since then, the days continue to get brighter for me ...

You've all heard the story ... Kelley and I decided to have a child and it seemed ten minutes following that conversation, she was pregnant. From the moment we found out Kelley was pregnant, we both transformed into what seemed like robotic-type people — we changed the way we did everything for the better and never missed a beat during her pregnancy. We were very determined to make sure everyday she was pregnant was filled with positivity and to do everything we could to make sure our son was going to be healthy as can be - and it all worked. Since we brought Elliott home from the hospital, he has been a blessing I just can't explain. He sleeps through the night in his own bed, he eats great, he hardly ever fusses or cries, he's very active, very curious and you can tell he has a very independent mindset about him. Honestly, Elliott has made parenting incredibly easy for us so far.

Becoming a parent, we quickly realized, is an opportunity to become great parents and to begin the molding process of what we can only hope will be a great human being with outstanding manners, respect and enough smarts to one day find enough success so Kelley and I won't have to work until we have one foot in the grave. We were lost in the beginning, but as with any first-time parents, we took the time to figure out what worked best for us and for Elliott. And now, a year later, we have this parenting thing down pretty good. Of course there are still moments we feel clueless, but we always figure it out.

When we decided to have a child, it was incredibly intimidating. We thought for sure we knew everything, but we knew nothing. Both of us were in our thirties and had been through many trials and tribulations in our lives, but nothing compared to the a reality of being a parent. It's the ultimate responsibility and is the one thing in life getting wrong is not an option for us.

So happy first birthday, Elliott Andrew. You've made your parents very proud in your first year and we are truly blessed and honored to have you as our son.

Mollet Eggs Florentine — a childhood favorite — not!

I was serious when I said I was just going to blog about eggs this week.

Here's another egg recipe that I perfected in the past few weeks. The hubby saw it on Create TV during a Chef Pepin show. It's called Mollet Eggs Florentine.

Isn't it beautiful?

Mollet is apparently French for soft-boiled egg. The first time I made this, I had never soft boiled an egg before. His recipe requires you to prick each egg shell with a pin before you boil the eggs for exactly six minutes. I ruined at least a dozen eggs, once overcooking, once undercooking, and breakfast turned into brunch.

I had to keep trying and I finally figured it out. What? You're laughing because you soft-boil eggs all the time. Yeah whatever, it's hard.

I finally figured it out though and here's my method. Boil salted water with a lid until it's rolling. Skip pricking the eggs because that's tedious and stupid. Sorry Pepin. Put the eggs in, put the lid back on, then boil for exactly six minutes. Don't forget to set a timer. Then I immediately put them into ice water to stop the cooking process and loosen the shell.

This dish has a layer of wilted spinach, the mollet eggs, topped with a white sauce. I used creamy havarti because I had it leftover from the souffle and it was perfect.

Here's the recipe straight from Chef Pepin.

Oh, and my kids think this dish is super yucky! It has green stuff in it, fer ish. I don't really care because we have that rule about eating whatcha get and don't throw a fit. But, out of pity, I fry them some potatoes and we toast thick pieces of French bread with jelly. I'm hoping they'll eventually like the spinach.