Iowa vs. Nebraska…Am I really a Traitor?

Well, if you are anywhere near the heart of America you know what is happening this Black Friday (It has already been termed, “Black and Gold” Friday at our home). Yes, finally after countless taunting over whose team is superior…the Hawkeyes and the Huskers will face off in Lincoln, NE.

As most of you already know, when I married Scott I also married the University of Iowa athletic program. Scott never forced me or even coerced or bribed me to convert; it was just sort of a gradual slide to the Black and Gold side. Some say that since I am a Nebraska native, I should cheer for Nebraska. Well, if I follow that theory I will just trace my heritage back further and root for Notre Dame. I’m really more of a fighting Irish gal than one who husks corn, anyway.

I must be clear on this fact, changing my affiliation was not something that I took lightly. To be honest, despite several binding ties to UNL…I never really considered myself a “Husker.” My dad is somewhat of a super fan, Alex Henery is actually a cousin of mine, I even babysat the senior fullback Tyler Legate a time or two in my younger days. I would say the peak of my Husker support came in college when my friend Mindy and I Ironed big red letters spelling out HUSKERS on the front of tight white tees for our waitressing gig. It was more a ploy for tips than a show of support, however.

The real switch came a few years ago. My daughter bleeds Black and Gold. She proudly wears her Hawkeye hair bows and tees to school…win or lose. She is very passionate about it. So, imagine her dismay when at the age of 8…EIGHT she was the recipient of an obscene gesture from a man in a restaurant wearing a Nebraska jersey. What was the cause of his disdain, you may ask? Gwen was wearing an Iowa T-shirt. A little girl wearing an opposing teams t-shirt enraged this man to the point of flipping her off in a public eating establishment!

Now, I am all for team spirit but at that moment I dropped any kind of interest in the Nebraska Cornhuskers. I am not naïve enough to think that there are not bad fans for every team…but he ruined it for me. I am not saying that I wish for the Huskers to lose…but I don’t really cheer them on either. Considering our logistics, we are destined to get ribbed by co-workers, friends, and neighbors. And I can take it and dish it out in good humor. However, I am careful what I say. I always remember the guy at the restaurant and I remind myself how ugly poor sportsmanship can be. I can be a fan without putting other teams down. Hopefully there are people that share my feelings and welcome the Iowa fans into Lincoln on Friday the 25^th for a good day of conference football. I love the Big 10! Let’s do our conference proud.

So, win or lose this year I will still don my family in black and gold next season and trek the 4 hours to stand outside and BBQ hot dogs with our friends. When it comes down to it, it is all about the environment. Go Hawks!

Update: I forgot to mention how powerfully I dislike Tommy Frazier. I have reasons…oh…I have reasons.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from the Peters!

This Post is Brought to you Today by the Letter P

Pinterest has possessed me to prepare some pretty projects for you to peruse.

P is for Peters:

I saw this leaf monogram on pinterest and thought that it was easy enough for even me to complete!

You can get the full tutorial here.

P is for Pretzels!

I made these little pretzel bites using only Rhodes frozen dough. They are perfect for a football snacky afternoon.

The recipe suggests a parmesan or cinnamon sugar glaze but I just sprinkled some sea salt after brushing the butter on, get the recipe here.

Finally…P is for Pierced…as in ears…as in Gwen’s ears.

In prime Gwen fashion she somberly walked into the mall and nodded to me, “It’s time, mom.” It went very well, no tears, and she looks like a little lady.

Gwen’s also been working on her own projects, her assignment for school was to “disguise” her turkey for Thanksgiving. She disguised hers as an Ipod. Check out her turkey’s playlist below:

What’s new with the Peters?

To be honest there is really nothing new with us. But with three kids and jobs and home and activities…each day is an adventure.

So, I suck at blogging. I was doing so well until School started up again! Grr! I’ll try harder.

Rylen is starting to say a bit more. Watch out for this guy…he has a real mischievious spirit:

AJ is doing great in Soccer and really enjoys it. He’s the kind of guy who plays by his own rules so…I’ll just show you the video:

Gwenny is doing great as always. We have 1 volleyball game left in the fall season and she is pulling straight A’s so far this year. She has worked really hard and we are SO proud of her. She is still learning electric guitar, maybe she’ll let me video tape a concert?

As for Scott and I? We are just enjoying the journey.

ABC Baby Show

The best part of my job?

C’mon, it’s looking at all the cute little baby things everyday! My theory is that anything is cute if it is tiny. This weekend was the ABC Kids Expo in Louisville, KY, as in the Derby and the Sluggers (and according to Expo rumors it was also home to Pauly D on Friday night, can you believe I missed him?). My boss Michaele and I packed up Friday and headed out on this year’s adventure.

There were a lot of great things to see, here is a brief rundown of my favorite stuff:

Nuk’s Line of Annabel Karmel Food Prep was pretty impressive. New this year is a steamer/food processor. (I could not find where this is available yet, but it should be coming soon). Annabel Karmel has really been on the forefront of the natural baby food trend and this line looks very nice. How many moms out there would like to make their own baby food? If you have an opinion I would love to hear it.

The most innovative thing I saw at the show was the grow up cup from Sassy:

It is a spill proof cup that your baby can drink from at any angle, there is no spout. it is a pretty nice transition to a regular cup, in my opinion. If you like them on Facebook you can receive a BOGO coupon for these at BRU. See link here.

Pacifiers really suck! (LOL at myself) This year many of other brands are coming out with their own version of the “Soothie” The one piece all silicone pacifier. My personal fav is the gumdrop line from TOMY (First Years).

These have sold well for us and are given to Moms in several hospitals. Plus I think they are a bit more aesthetically pleasing compared to a Soothie.

One thing that  won my personal award for “Greatest Grandparent Item” was a 3 stage high chair from Evenflo (also could not find this on the market yet). It converts from a regular high chair, to one that is lower to the ground, then it converts again to a toddler table and chair. Great for Grandma’s house says this baby retailer!

Finally, have you seen these:

They are handy dandy (pardon my pun) little magnets that you smack onto the side of your car. They are available in several patterns and keeps your kids safe in dangerous parking lots. Kids know that they need to put their hand on the magnet and wait there safely until mom can buckle them in. Great for moms with kids of multiple ages. So Simple and Clever, two of my favorite things!

My other favs included pretty much all of the bedding from Kidsline (Carters), including a crib set that was full of adorable rockets and monkeys in space helmets. I was also digging a lot of the gear at Dorel (Cosco and Safety First). there was a new tandem stroller as well as a new car seat that had built in fans on the side to keep the kiddies nice and cool.

Watermelon…and Waterlogged

This last weekend was the very first Iowa homegame of the season. As is our tradition, we made it a family affair. There is only one word to describe the entire experience…soggy. It rained, and rained, and rained, and (you get the picture). I will spare you details of the mud, wet food, and cold children.  Despite our circumstances, we had a great time.

We tried to get a family picture but what with the torrential downpours…we didn’t fit it in.

I can’t help but show my watermelon keg…

I first saw this idea on Bower Power and with a few minor adjustments I had the ultimate football beverage!

I started by finding a watermelon that would easily sit the tall way. then I cut the top off and scooped out the watermelon as I would a pumpkin for a jack-o-lantern:

Then I pureed the watermelon in my blender and strained it to make sure there was no pulp or seeds. I then took a can of frozen pink lemonade, instead of 4 cans of water I prepared it with 3 can fulls of watermelon puree and 1 can full of pink lemonade vodka (UV). I stored it in am empty 2 liter soda bottle for transportation.

This next part is what I like to call, “watermelon acupuncture.” I propped him up on an icecream bucket, printed of a tigerhawk logo that was the desired size, and started poking him. I left two skewers in to keep the paper in place and with the pointy end of another skewer and dotted the design’s outline.

 

(Yes, it was late at night…yes, I was watching Jersey Shore)

My final step was to take a scraping tool from a pumpkin carving set and scrape the top layer of the watermelon away to reveal my design.

And as fast as Pauly D could say T-shirt time…I had a pretty hawkeye watermelon!

I waited until we were actually at the game to insert the spigot. I got one at Home Depot and bought an additional piece that screwed inside the melon to keep it in place. using a screwdriver I made a hole and little by little carved around it until the spigot was through and I could fasten the back piece on. I then filled it with the delicious pink melonade (I just thought of that!) and a good time was had by all…for 1 hour…until the rain started…then we were cold.

Preschool

Today was AJ’s first day of preschool.

He was so nervous! It had me a bit worried. I never had to deal with Gwen being nervous. She was just so easy going that she would just jump into whatever was her next thing. AJ is more reserved (more Abby-like). It takes him time to warm up to things.

He was super excited until it was time to get out of the van…

After a few minutes I realized that my calm reassurance was not going to cut the mustard. I didn’t want to force things, afraid that that would have the opposite affect. As a last act of desperation I remembered that I had a Saint Gerard medal on me (patron Saint of Motherhood…boy did he earn his title today!) I told AJ that I was really shy as a little girl and that if he got out of the car, I would show him my secret weapon.

I showed him the medal and explained that I keep it with me and it gives me super Mommy powers. I told him that he could keep it in his pocket and whenever he felt scared, he can feel the medal in his pocket and remember that he is brave. Believe it or not…that seemed to work.

Miracle of Miracles he met me at the door 3 hours later with a big smile. “I had a great time, Mom!!!” He said. phew! Crisis Averted. Here is the photo-journalist version of the story:

Before:

During:

After:

 

Additional Comments:

I forgot to mention that I took the young man to McDonald’s (as requested) for a happy meal and he proceeded to pull out my chair for me. Not only brave, but a gentleman as well.

In other news …I let Rylen know that he must be my baby forever. He responded by hugging me, then pushing his way out of my arms to follow his brother. I think that was his kind way of saying, “Fat Chance.” I don’t know how much more of the “aging” I can take. As is tradition at our house the kids get ot pick thier First Day of School meal each year. AJ chose Mac N Cheese (a complicated dish, I know). Ry finished his, pushed his bowl away, pulled AJ’s bowl over and finished that as well.