Dinner at The Franklin Fountain

Tonight we did something that we've never done before. We did something that I have dreamed of... contemplated... anticipated and finally... something that I have executed. Dear friends, we went out and had ice cream FOR DINNER.

I know, I know, my invitation to the mother of the year benefit will likely be rescinded before our clock can say "tomorrow." If it's any consolation to you, Jay told the girls that we were NOT eating ice cream for dinner. Instead, he said that we were skipping dinner and just having dessert. I actually think it's worse to feed your children nothing for dinner. Also, I considered arguing the point that breakfast for dinner is still dinner, so it only seems logical that dessert for dinner is still dinner. But when you have a gigantic ice cream in front of you, who wants to argue about anything? Let Jay skip dinner. But me? I don't skip meals.

We walked down to Old City and grabbed a few tables outside of the The Franklin Fountain.

We all sort of shared, but the girls stuck to their usual green tea ice cream while Jay and I devoured a Stock Market Crunch. (This is ROCKY ROAD ice cream coated in thick peanut butter sauce and paved with crumbled salt pretzels. William Dreyer and Joseph Edy concocted the first batch of rocky road ice cream in 1929 following the great stock market crash to give consumers something to SMILE about during the impending Depression.) Soon, Jack and Jill met up with us and experienced the fountain for the first time.

Mmmm... this was so good.

I feel like this is a good place to delve into my food relationships and the weight that I've lost and the lifestyle change that I have made. But, that's probably a really long story and better told on a day when I have more time to write.

Though I doubt that we'll be eating ice cream for dinner ever again on a regular basis, it certainly was worth it.

New House In South Philly

So, I definitely spent the better part of tonight feeling unhappy about our new space.

What is wrong with me?

broken wing

This is old news, but I think that I should have an entry about it. It's early and I'm without coffee, so bear with me.

While in Florida this summer, B broke her arm. The girls have been playing roughly all summer. Each day was filled with too much arguing, wrestling and outright fighting. By the time that the day came when their strained relationship actually caused an ER visit, I didn't know how much more of it I could take. The fact is that I did less parenting and more refereeing this summer. They disagreed just to disagree and went to great lengths to make each other unhappy.

On the day when B's arm broke, they were racing around the house while I tossed on a swimsuit so that we could make our way down to the beach. I had just gone into the bathroom with my swimsuit when I hurt a thunk come from my bedroom that was followed by a tortured scream. LLBean had given B a forceful kick to the ground.

B's arm is broken on her humerus, just below the clavicle.

It's been really swollen and she's had a terrible amount of pain, though that seems to be getting a little bit better now. I feel so sorry for her. Her last two weeks in Florida were spent outside of water, sitting around and in pain.

After taking B to the ER I followed up with a visit to the Ft. Myers Orthopedic Pediatrician. Today, I'll take her to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for another visit. We have to have two more x-rays to see how it's healing. I worry that she's using it way too much. As happy as I am to be at home, I am sad that she'll have to start her school year with her arm in a splint, sitting against the wall while everyone else plays at recess and participates in movement class. Poor little Bun-bun.

Hello World!

I turned 34 yesterday! We are moving into a new home, LLBean is starting kindergarten and I am finally, after a rough transition, becoming comfortable with myself as an urban-savvy-character. After two years of feeling entirely mortified by the city of Philadelphia, I dare say that I am starting to notice a bit of beauty. And though there are things that I dislike about this city, such as extreme poverty, filth and grumpy people who seem to live in a perpetual rush, there are also many things that I do like. I won't prattle on with a boring description of Philadelphia's rich history and really great food. I'm not there yet. Hopefully this blog will indulge my need to brag, analyze, refute, assert and establish new opinions on things that would otherwise leave me speechless.

In a nutshell, I need a place to come where I can talk about my life honestly. So much is changing. With both of my girls in school full-time, I have choices that I haven't had in years. It's as if when I was admitted into the maternity ward on April 11th 2004 someone said, "I'm going to need a security deposit, you see. You can go ahead and sign away every-minute-of-your-life for the next 6 1/2 years. If you do a pretty good job at keeping this person and any other people you grow alive, I'll return some of your free time when your youngest is able to tie her shoes, count to twenty, share her toys, choose fruit over fries and do a perfect cannonball into the deep end." Here I am. Within a few weeks, I will have 7 hours of free time all to myself for five days a week. I don't know if I should panic, cry, dare to dream or get a part-time-job.

But before I can do any of that, we have to move.

We've been living in a one bedroom + loft in Center City, Philadelphia for two years. When we moved here we decided to sign on for one year (knowing that we'd quickly outgrow the space). Our location is fantastic and would be a dream if we were single. Though we live in a beautiful building and within walking distance to absolutely everything great that Philadelphia has to offer... our location is terrible for children. So, we're making a move. I will be honest, I'm a little bit concerned about our new neighborhood. I've heard some bad things about it. Philly is very block to block as far as safety goes and this is an area of the city that is historically bad but is being gentrified. Oh, and the other problem is that I haven't actually seen our new house. My husband fell in love with it while I was visiting my parents in Florida and he took the leap so that we wouldn't miss the opportunity. Hopefully, I'll rest easy when I have the luxury of my own washer and dryer and my own tree in my very own backyard.

We make our own happiness.

Repeat.

I make my own happiness.

Here I go.