Hooray! It’s National Pancake Day!

You may not know, understand or, heck you may not even care, about the reason for National Pancake Day! But it’s not just IHOPs attempt at battering up business. National Pancake Day, also known as Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday, is observed in most English speaking countries and is a tradition that is linked to Easter. Typically foods like sugar, fat, flour and eggs are considered part of a restricted diet that a lot of people adhere to during Lent. So before all of the fasting why not gorge yourself with pancakes and syrup? Don’t mind if I do!

While our family does not observe the season of Lent…we decided to head to our local IHOP to eat breakfast for dinner (always fun) and help the breakfast chain raise money for charity.


As you can probably guess the place was absolutely packed! Surprisingly, we only waited 10 minutes for a table. During our wait Gabe was very aware of a group of High School students standing outside – specifically, a couple of girls. Trying to be coy, he knocked on the glass paned window a few times, but when the girls turned around to find the cause of the noise he looked away shyly and grinned. As the next group of patrons was called to their table a space opened up on the benches across from us and the group of teenagers stepped inside to continue their wait. Let the flirting begin! Gabe spent the next 5 minutes or so showing off for the ladies…how was he showing off you ask? Duh! By practicing his beat boxing skills! Oh my! I’m sure there was a puddle of spit on the floor where we were sitting by the time we were called back to our table. But Gabe felt bigger than life – and the young girls were very sweet to show him a little bit of attention.


As we walked toward our table we realized the IHOP staff members were dressed in Orange Lorax t-shirts. This was a pleasant surprise! The Lorax is the new Dr. Suess inspired movie that’s soon to release – and of course the kids are dying to see it! IHOP was even giving away bookmarks with seeds attached as part of their Plant Three Million Trees campaign (we’ll be planting those soon so stay tuned for pics). The kids were very well behaved and the service was fantastic. I’ll admit I was a bit leery considering how busy the place was but we’ll definitely be going back next year!


In case you missed this year’s free hotcake craze…this National Pancake Day schedule should cover you for the next couple of years!

2013 — 12 February 2014 — 4 March 2015 — 17 February 2016 — 9 February 2017 — 28 February 2018 — 13 February 2019 — 5 March 2020 — 25 February 2021 — 16 February 2022 — 1 March 2023 — 21 February 2024 — 13 February 2025 — 4 March 2026 — 17 February

2027 — 9 February 2028 — 29 February 2029 — 13 February 2030 — 5 March 2031 — 25 February 2032 — 10 February 2033 — 1 March 2034 — 21 February 2035 — 6 February 2036 — 26 February 2037 — 17 February 2038 — 9 March 2039 — 22 February 2040 — 14 February

2041 — 5 March 2042 — 18 February 2043 — 10 February 2044 — 1 March 2045 — 21 February 2046 — 6 February 2047 — 26 February 2048 — 18 February 2049 — 2 March 2050 — 22 February

Pickles Again?

Jonathan made a super delish dinner tonight! I’m so lucky to have a husband with great culinary skills, because Lord knows I am severely lacking in that department. And I love that he actually enjoys cooking – sometimes I think it’s possible that he missed his calling as a chef. One thing we can’t agree on though is how he prepares squash and zucchini…

Now in his defense, it IS a bit strange that in most cases, I would much rather eat my veggies raw instead of cooked, but when it comes to squash and zucchini my husband tends to overcook…leaving them floppy and soggy.

Gabe and Eden are a lot like me in this way – they love to eat raw bell peppers, onions, asparagus, broccoli…the list goes on. And because of our ongoing squash dispute, I normally take over for this part of the food preparation…but tonight it was all Jonathan.

I set the table and we all sat down to eat and Gabe picks up a slice of zucchini and examines it. ‘Eww it’s so slimy! What is this’, he asks with a scrunched up face.

‘It’s zucchini honey it’s just been cooked’ I reply.

‘Is it like a pickle’, he asked. ‘Sure. Kind of like a pickle in texture. It’s good, take a bite.’

He bravely brings the slice to his mouth and takes a small nibble…we all silently wait for the critique.

‘Like a pickle’, he says mockingly, ‘But disGUSting’!

We all burst into laughter! I found it especially funny because of Gabe’s history with pickles. See ‘The Stuff Dreams are Made of’ blog post from August 2011.

We're Expecting!

Look out! The Matthews’ family is adding another member to the clan! That’s right! We’re getting a puppy! What? Did you think I was going to tell you we were having another baby? Yeah right! We’ve got our hands full with the two we’ve got – you know what I mean if you know us or if you read our blog regularly.

Anyway, sometime after Christmas Jonathan and I decided that we were going to get the kids a dog…they’ve only been asking incessantly for as long as they could talk. And let’s face it – Jonathan has been driving me crazy about a dog also. So this is me giving in (and secretly grinning and giggling on the inside). We knew we wanted a French Bulldog or a Boston Terrier so I did some searching online and found that a Boston would suit our family dynamic better. Next step – find a puppy. This was not an easy task! Jonathan wanted to make sure we weren’t supporting a puppy mill so we went to the AKC website to find a registered breeder to buy from. And what we found is that there are only 3 registered AKC breeders within 200 miles of where we live and as most responsible breeders do – they only have liters once a year. Two had puppies that were born in November and one breeder had a liter born in December. I called and emailed Deer Graze Kennels to ask if there were any puppies left.

About an hour later I received a voicemail from Sue – a wonderful lady that I would soon get to know very well and be forever inspired by. Good news! There is one male puppy that is not spoken for. Sue promised to send pictures soon so we could decide whether or not we were still interested. Needless to say when I received the following picture not long after speaking with Sue…my heart was stolen!

3 weeks old

Over the next month and a half Sue and I spoke at least once a week and she continued to send pictures of our little four legged cutie. As each picture arrived we made a collage and put it on the refrigerator so we could watch our little guy grow. I’m not going to lie…time seemed to move so slowly. Since our pup was born December 9^th we couldn’t pick him up until mid February.

4 weeks old

6 weeks old

8 weeks old

Jonathan and I set a date with Sue – arranged for the kids to stay with Aunt Wendy and planned our trip to Vernon Hill – 200 miles from Yorktown!

The morning of Saturday, February 18^th Jonathan and I woke up at 4:30 a.m., packed the car and got ready for our trip! After one stop at Chic-fil-A, an hour of getting lost and a creepy gas station stop to use the bathroom we finally made it to Vernon Hill around 11:00 a.m.

Now! The final part of the trip (according to mapquest) told us to turn left on Sue’s street and be aware that ‘portions’ of this road are ‘unpaved’.  Portions Mapquest? Portions? Try – all parts of this road is unpaved! Almost 3 miles of unpaved-ed-ness to be specific!

We pulled up to Sue’s farm home a few minutes later and she met us outside. She’s originally from New Jersey and has been in the dog breeding and showing business for over 40 years. She has an adorable house and (I think she said) 300 acres of land. Here she is handing over our little boy to Daddy! Oh! Did I mention we decided to name him Linus?

Sue also raises her own cattle and sells all organic beef. SUPER COOL! These cows loved her! Just at the sound of her voice they all came running from about 2 miles away. At stood at the fence fighting over who she would pet. All of the grown cows were named after candy or some type of sweet.

There were even a few baby cows – which she doesn’t name for obvious reasons.

And then there were the bulls – bulls the size of Mini-Coopers! The full grown bull (who’s name is Hershey) is definitely a momma’s boy. He started calling to Sue as soon as she was in sight. She told us about how she raised him from birth and bottle fed him when he was a baby.

He was so huge I’ll admit I was a little scared. Even outside of the fence. But then Sue climbed in! And this massive beast rubbed up against her and leaned in to be scratched. He acted like an over sized dog bending and closing his eyes as she scratched his head and body. He even bumped her side wanting her to climb on top and go for a ride. WHAT?!?! Domestic bull-riding? Who knew?!? Not this girl!

After about an hour of getting to know Sue better Jonathan and I signed all of the AKC required paperwork and said our good-byes.

OK – so I’m a sucker for landscape photography – here are a couple of pictures of some of the old tobacco and farm houses on Sue’s property.

The ride home was interesting to say the least. Jonathan wanted to be the first to bond with Linus so I got to drive home while he held the baby…who we soon found out has absolutely heinous flatulent issues!

In a small town called Charlotte Court House, Virginia who’s population as of the last Census was a whopping 404 people – and less than an hour of driving – I got my first speeding ticket! Noooo! This State Trooper managed to pull over two vehicles at one time. Yes…I cried, but only when the officer walked back to his car.

OK back to Linus. We stopped a couple of times to let the little stinker go to the bathroom and finally made it to Williamsburg to pick up the kids around 5:00.

Here are some pictures of us introducing the kids to their new brother.

Linus wanted to sit with Gabe on the way home – so sweet!

He eventually made it to his bed and chewed on his monkey for a while before conking out.

Welcome home Linus!

valentines day

Happy Valentine’s Day! Jonathan got the cutest cards for the kids this year. Gabe’s was Star Wars (his new obsession) with a note inside from Daddy written in Yoda speak (which I had a hard time impersonating) and Eden got a singing Disney Princess card (I’m sure I’ll know this little tune by heart very soon). Jonathan and I put the cards and the stuffed animals my parents sent, in the living room before we went to bed, so the kids could wake up to their goodies.

Gabe read most of his card by himself!

The kids were very excited and super appreciative of their surprises, it was very sweet. However, about 2 minutes in Eden yells ‘PILLOW FIGHT’ and starts beating Gabe with her stuffed animal – I can’t think of a better way to show love for someone than mauling them to near death with a stuffed winged horse.

I finally separated the kids and told them it was time for breakfast, one last hug for your new lovey and then it’s off to school.

Later that evening Jonathan and I made heart shaped pizza with the kids. Super fun, and not as messy as I thought it was going to be (whew)!

Gabe loved rolling out the pizza dough but Eden didn’t like the texture.

A few spoonfuls of pizza sauce from our favorite local pizzeria – Vinny’s - YUM! Just a little tip:  If you’re going to make homemade pizza I would strongly suggest stopping by your favorite pizza joint and asking for a couple rolls of pizza dough and a container of sauce. It only costs a couple bucks and is way better than anything you can buy at the store.

 

Turkey Pepperoni anyone?

The finished product…can you tell the boys had pepperoni duty? I wish I had a picture of the pizza after it cooked – they actually turned out really well – but the kids were starving and dug in before I could get a pic.

Hope everyone took a minute to spend time with the ones they love today. I’m so thankful for my amazing husband and my adorable kids. I’m very blessed!