Ugga Mugga

I developed a new love the past few months. 

I LOVE me some Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. It is so damn cute.

And a Facebook friend pointed out one reason why. They use silly jingle-like mantras to help them get through life. WE DO THAT! And it probably was what made it cute at first. 

Over time though I love how sweet and sincere Daniel is. He is sweet and silly. He shares his feelings. He isn't perfect but he tries and he's learning. He reminds me of my Andrew. They both are often without pants. 

Actually the Tiger family has so many similarities to our family. It is Daniel and his Mom and dad and their new baby Margaret. Mom and dad are typical modern day parents- dad tiger wears baby Margaret in a carrier. They seem to genuinely love each other and playing together. 

The episode where baby Margaret was born made me cry. Seeing (in a 100% positive light) the addition of a new baby through little Daniel's eyes. 

I'm fully in the DT club. Since it is pbs there isn't the merch that Disney or Nickelodeon shows have, which works for me. It means any DT merch we get is special and I'm not bombarded everytime we walk through a store. 

I did buy the most awesome cookie cutters off etsy after Daniel made trolley cookies for the neighborhood. The plan is to make cookies for our neighbors but my social anxiety is preventing the implementation. 

I absolutely dreaded introducing tv shows to Andrew - lame shows, whining about more tv time, unwanted ear worms. But while there is whining at times and the little jingles are certainly ear worms, I think DT is warm, charming and helpful and I'm happy to have him in our house. 

Ugga Mugga!

Daniel, it's you I like. 

Husband award

Michael gets a spouse award for our trip.

It was five days in sunny Southern California which can be titled "Andrew and Miranda Tour 2016"

We stayed with family friends. In a kids bedroom. The four of us, one full sized bed, one pack and play and one dockatot. 

It was tight. And lacked the couple time we usually love on vacation.

But it did have a pool, a trampoline and a makeshift construction site. So basically it was a resort. And we could utilize the amenities during naptime which was a bonus. 

(I love this picture)

But the real reason for his reward was the sheer number of people who wanted to see us (if I'm honest the order went they wanted to see the kids, then me and then Michael). 

Day 1: our hosts. 

Day 2: my oldest childhood friend and her daughters in the morning. 

My only slightly less old childhood family/friends at a birthday party bbq that night. 

Day 3: my college friend's wedding. 

Day 4: my college roommate and her kids. 

Day 5: swim, pack, fly. 

It was not the most relaxing vacation ever. Many, many California highways were traversed in annoying traffic. For him it also meant sitting in the noisy seat, handling the kiddos at meals, chatting up the strangers at our table at the wedding and otherwise being the uncomfortable one so that I could talk and catch up with folks. It feels really good to have finally introduced my family to these important people. He made it happen and made it easier for me which i truly appreciate. 

Reason #475 that round is my default shape

One major tip for weight loss is you shouldn't bring bad food into your house. The problem with that is that when I am feeling like junk food I turn into MacGyver. Because even household staples can be turned into junk food. 

So I bring you the recipe for Ghetto Chocolate Mousse 

1 box of the shelf stable whipping cream from trader joes. 

Some amount (1/2cup or so) chocolate chips. 

Directions 

Whip the cream until nearly stiff peaks. 

Melt chips and slowly add chocolate to whipping cream until just incorporated. 

Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate. 

Bonus, use a rubber scraper to scrape any extra chocolate and swirl it into cream. It gets crunchy. 

This is ghetto because while it was delicious it was a little too grainy to be called mousse. 

The great thing about having little kids around is that I got to justify this as a learning experience. Andrew was seriously impressed watching the liquid cream grow larger and more solid. 

But let's be real- I just needed dessert. 

I may have created a monster

If you remember, our green day dinner was a fun success. And I was stoked because I have wanted to do that with Andrew since before he was a glimmer. 

But now he thinks all of our dinners should be color themed. 

Yesterday was purple dinner because he saw saw a purple cabbage and exclaimed adorably while we were in the grocery store "look mommy, for purple dinner." I couldn't resist and we hunted down more purple- red onion and eggplant- which was perfect for stir fry. 

Extra credit I made the rice with a few cabbage leaves and it came out a pale violet. 

I can't imagine we'll be able to do blue day without busting out the food coloring. 

I'm trying to help him understand that this is a once in a while thing and not every meal needs a theme. But he is so persuasive with his cuteness.