Happy as a Clam on a Red Trike!

Busy, busy, busy.  Holidays and preschool and cooking and cleaning and shopping and traveling and sewing (and basically just having a lot of stay at home mom kind of problems).  I'm very happy the world didn't end (I guess those Mayans just ran out of paper, huh?) and I was able to enjoy a little more of it.  

And I've really been missing the blog.

Occasionally I witness something ridiculous and share-worthy like a lady crocheting while driving and my daughter asking a total stranger if she can give his dog a noogie (and then hearing him respond, Well . . . sure!  I think that would be okay . . . ) or the mom at Little Gym who was basically encouraging her child to be a brat about having a new teacher (and you KNOW how I love to do some eye-rolling over stoooopid parents being stupid), and I think about how I might have something interesting to write about on my blog.  But then I remember I have so much catching-up and picture uploading to do that my head spins, and I just make a loaded bagel with cream cheese instead.  

Or I do something like this.  

Thanksgiving was yummy and Christmas was beautiful and New Year's Day made me grateful for another year.  Another chance at trying to be awesome.

I want to be an awesome wife, an awesome mom, and even an awesome friend, stranger, and human in general.  I am going to fail miserably, but I'm putting it out there right now that I am attempting.  For a long time I've had a very insane view of what this means for me -- I've tried to be a lot of things I am not and cannot be (which I will totally blame on Pinterest and those moms who try to make everyone else look bad).

If you're confused, I'll explain.  You know that mom who has her kids on a fabulous schedule and learning to write their names at three and turning cartwheels at two and walking calmly next to her in crazy places like an airport or a mall?  And then she married a guy who gets home at 5:00 and splits the work with her while she puts a fancy meal on the table and plans her next PTA meeting and cocktail party?  Yeah, I'm not her friend either.  And if she claims all this is true she is on Adderall and her kids are doped up on Benadryl.  And if she really does exist then I hate her and what she's doing to the rest of us.

Now that you're up to speed on my expectations for myself I should probably make some resolutions for this new year:
1.  I will try to start flossing again.  I gave up last year around June.
2.  I will change the 8 light bulbs that have gone out in the past month and are way too complicated for me to change.
3.  I will use PeaPod grocery delivery and GrubHub for ordering take-out as much as I feel like.
4.  I will act like a complete brat unless I occasionally have time to do the three selfish things I really, really like to do:  reading, sewing, and writing posts for this neglected blog.

If I can achieve at least one of these goals (I'm thinking #3 is a no-brainer), then I will feel like this guy:

Happy as a clam on a red trike!

Do you know why he's so happy?  Because he's bad.  That's why.  He's destructive and strong and silly, and maybe that's all it takes for him to grin.  He does exactly what he wants to do and doesn't run it by anyone first.  But watch out, Mack.  Speech therapy starts next week, and you WILL tell me what's going on under that big blonde hair of yours.

On the other hand, I know WAY too much about what's going on in this blonde head.  And it scares me.  I had this stoooopid meltdown a couple of weeks before Christmas about how I have one child who pretends no one else exists and another who needs everyone to know she exists, and I have no clue how I'm supposed to parent them.  They're stubborn and smart and, whew, have endless amounts of energy.  But I'm going to be awesome from now on, remember?  So I've got this.

Alrighty, time to get to family togetherness and holiday photo extravaganza.  Here goes.

"Helping" Uncle Tyler fry a turkey.  Yes, it was awesome.

With Minnie.

Darby men in the country.  Of course Clint is wearing his fancy loafers.  Of course.  

I love to hear a screen door slamming.

Little family.

Fancy loafers on a four-wheeler.

Keepin' those evil spirits away.

Best Nixon Thanksgiving ever.  My mom knows how to cook some casseroles and turkey.  

I can't remember a football game that was this fun.  Hotty Toddy!

My two oldest nieces.  And they adore me.  Heh heh heh.  Seriously, I adore them.  They are at an age that scares me to death, but they both seem to laugh about the silly teen girl drama.

My brother is a giant.

Soooo . . . why is Betty Ann's cooking so good?

Sweet, sweet stuff.  

By the way, my parents visited not long after Thanksgiving, and Mom and I ended up at the ER.  No, it had nothing to do with the Crisco.  We had a fierce and angry stomach virus that I wish on absolutely no one.  After some Zofran and FOUR bags of fluids (what??), I was finally not about to die.  My mom of course tried to take care of me the whole time while she felt like poo because that's what she does.  Geez, they don't make them like her anymore.

One of my favorite parts of being a mom of a girl is hanging out with her and her buddies.  This is one of Mimi's faves (and mine, too).  They are so stinking silly together.

Connect Four and cupcakes at Molly's.  And then some crazy dancing (flirting) with the teenagers.  These girls are t-r-o-u-b-l-e. 

Fancy brunch with Santa.  What is that behind us?  Oh, that's just the entire city of Chicago.

So, Santa, for Christmas you need to bring a purple teddy bear that I left on a plane over a year ago, a huge bouncy princess castle I can jump in, and a long black tail like a cat.  These are easy, right?

Show me some skin, Santa.

Oh, just the tree for our den.  It'll fit, won't it, Clark?

Rice crispy treats houses for kiddos to decorate.  So stinking cute and fun with the neighbors.  (Although they did a heck of a lot more eating than decorating.

I've decided that between my two mom neighbors and myself that we could make the perfect mom.  One is crafty and a former elementary teacher, the other is super organic and up to speed on the latest studies and trends in all things baby, and I'm, hmmm, I let them watch all the TV they want.

SANTA CAME!!!!

And this was the only present Mack thought he got.  Buzz freakin' Lightyear.  Hells yeah.  He has played with little else since Buzz came into his life.  I actually lost  hid Woody, and when we found him Mack quickly introduced him to Buzz (I'm not kidding).  Now they're all best friends and have toy conversations.

I love a smiling face and fuzzy hair on Christmas morning.  

To infinity . . . and BEYOND!!!  Whatever that means.

Not too much damage.  Clint and I are trying to not go overboard.  And I have a really, really hard time relating all of this present-giving to baby Jesus.  God sent himself in human form to show us how to love each other and to save the human race.  And that means my children get dress-up princess clothes and a scooter.  Hmmm . . . Americans seem to have this all wrong, but it sure is a lot of fun to see the surprised faces when coming down the stairs!  Goooo Christmas!!  

Happy as a clam on a bench with Buzz!!

So Santa could NOT find the teddy bear at the Nashville airport, BUT he found this sweet little lavendar one!  Mimi was instantly in love and even decorated her all fancy-like.

Awwww, everybody loves a new Darby family dog.  Especially when all he does is snuggle on the couch AND his name is Chubby.  Precious.

There are no words.

Nonstop cousin madness.  So fun but where's the Benadryl?

Yay, Lalaloopsy!!!!

Yay, Beavis and Butthead boxers!

It wouldn't be Christmas without a major award.

Another surprised face!!  And he hasn't even opened it yet!!

Mimi, what are you doing to that poor dog?

Mommy, he needs to have more friends.  He's very shy.  And they want to snuggle.

Tea party with Taylor Swift and Prince, I think.

Holy moly, get the heck out of their way.  This is nothing but a bad idea.  But, my word, they love it.

My sister bought tickets for the entire Nixon clan to get hypothermia and pinky toes amputated at this thing called ICE in Nashville.  I would probably be giving it rave reviews right now with all its fancy Shrek ice sculptures and really cool ice slides, BUT the slide-keeper Nazi on one side would not let me go down (after standing in line for what seemed like hours) because my shoes didn't have rubber soles.  She called them cowboy boots, and I do NOT wear cowboy boots (not judging those who do because I'm begging Mimi to wear some, but they look silly on me) and then told me I could stand in line again on the other side where the more lenient girls were guarding the slides but she was NOT letting me go down hers.  Grrrrr . . . whatever.

Holy crap.  First of probably too many Build-a Bears.  

We traveled all of the world this holiday season and even ended up in a very tiny and gorgeous town somewhere that I will not name (to protect the innocent), to see this sweet cousin and her parents.  Oriana and Mimi are only a few weeks apart in age, and they had soooo much fun together.

The way we do New Year's Eve now.  And I don't have any regrets.  Chances are I felt a heck of a lot better the next day than some of you I know . . . (said in my very snippy stay at home mom voice).

And now back to life in 2013.  The year of awesome and happiness.  Wife, mother, friend.  Reading, writing, and sewing.  Flossing and changing light bulbs.  Let's do this thing.

I Pretend to Be Well-Traveled

(Somehow I skipped posting this one a couple of weeks ago -- I'm sure someone was crying or pulling on me or I maybe I just got up to pour more coffee and forgot to post.)

This once a month posting thing I'm doing is just garbage, I know.  When I started this blog, I intended to post weekly, but life has gotten in the way of my blogging about life.  I'm going to stop beating myself up about this and hope my children will forgive my lack of documentation about their little lives.  I'm the youngest of four, so you can imagine how much my parents worried over writing down every little thing I did.  Seriously, they only have like 7 photos of my childhood and a few things scribbled in a pink baby book, but I have somehow managed to live a normal life without hating my parents.  

So, anywho, the Darby family is still recovering from a looong trip -- but a trip that has been one of my favorites.  We packed way more than necessary into 10 days but somehow never felt too rushed.  We drove to Memphis then to my hometown of Corinth, Mississippi . . . then to my college town of Oxford, Mississippi . . . and back to Corinth and then to Memphis . . . and then back to Corinth . . . 

  . . . okay, you can take a break here if you need to and scroll down to look at pics or use the bathroom . . . 

. . . and then Clint and I caught a plane to California ALL BY OURSELVES (woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!) and drove to Pebble Beach and after a few days to Calistoga in Napa Valley . . .AND THEN flew back to Memphis and FINALLY drove back home to Chicago.  I just got out of breath typing all of that.  

Running around barefoot in the Darby's backyard.  Being barefoot outdoors is so foreign to my children.  In the city they would surely contract some sort of disease that would cause their toes to turn green.

Super Mimi!!  Her new fave pose.

Fun at the Memphis Zoo (I still looooove this zoo) with a snake.  I almost wet my pants when I saw this thing out of a cage but it didn't even phase Mimi.  What's wrong with her?

Our sweet friend Emerson and her mom and new baby brother (who I almost stole because he was so sweet) joined us at the zoo.  Em's dad has been BFF's with Clint for about thirty years and she and Mimi were at the same daycare as little ones.  Mimi is still the crazy one and Emerson is still the reasonable one.  It will be fun to see where they are in twenty years . . .

Fun at Bebe's house.

Hotty Toddy, gosh a'mighty, who the hell are we?  Flim flam, bim bam. Ole Miss, yes ma'am!!  And then we lost.  But whatever, still fun to see old friends and schmooze in the Grove.

Mimi and her sweet cousin Anderson. 

Mack had so much to tell Top.  "Abba do?  Dubba dubba dubba.  Ha ha ha ha ha!!!"

What do you get when you have 2 cousins in a red wagon?  I don't know, but it has something to do with trouble.

Rowdiness.

Mack's favorite toy.

And then Clint and I flew to California.  Aaaaaaahhhhh.  So much fun.  Yes, we did rent a red Mustang convertible.  As one of Clint's co-workers told him, You can take the boy out of Mississippi . . . 

Gorgeous, gorgeous drive into Pebble Beach.  We stopped at this little barbecue spot in a town called Aptos.  IF you are ever in the area, definitely eat here and order the rib sandwich on garlic bread.  My, oh my.  But don't breathe in anyone's face for a few days . . .

Like a little boy in a candy store.

No golf for this girl.  

But that's okay because I had a spa and Carmel to occupy me.  Awwww yeah.

I had no idea how cute this town would be. There was a film festival going on while we were there, and I stared and squinted and craned my neck but saw no one who look remotely famous and fabulous.  Well, lots of fabulous but not famous.

On our way out of Pebble, I made Clint stop in Carmel so we could eat brunch at a place that looked like this:

That served coffee on a tray like this:

And had French toast that was oh so divine . . . 

It was in the 60's and a little drizzly (is that a word?) in Pebble Beach, but I was blown away by how wonderful the wood burning fireplace in our room made me not seem to care so much about that.

And then came my favorite part of the trip.  This.

The drive south toward Big Sur was a drive on my Bucket List that I didn't know I had.

Drop. Dead. Gorgeous.

Just to prove I was here and I didn't steal the photos from Wikipedia.

This one makes me roll my eyes.  Looking to the south while brushing my hair out of my eyes and wearing boots on a beach.  Whatever, Jeri Anne.

My handsome husband . . .

. . . who gets surprised by a wave . . .

. . . uh oh . . .

 . . . mumbling cuss words . . .

 . . . and CRASH . . .

 . . . heh heh heh.

And THIS is why you rent a red convertible when you plan to drive along the California coast.

And through a redwood forest.

I swear a velociraptor is about to pop out behind one of those trees.

After getting many fabulous recommendations, we were able to plan a very successful day in Napa Valley.  The last time we visited I was about 30 weeks pregnant and would have been happy eating and watching TV in the hotel.  Oh wait, that's what I did.  Because of that, I wanted to make this trip awesome, which we did. I like reds like Cabernet Sauvignon the best (Napa is the perfect place) but can definitely appreciate most other reds along with Sauvignon Blanc.  I know that soil and humidity and temperature are factors, but I really don't get it and don't really care.  I just want something yummy to eat with frozen pizza, so if you're as dumb as I am about being a wine snob and about this area then feel free to steal some of my suggestions.

A Dummy's Guide to Napa Valley (by another dummy):

1.  Stay in a really cool bed and breakfast or old hotel in a neat area.  We stayed at Mount View in Calistoga -- the area that is at the top of the valley with the best views.  The hotel was quaint and comfortable, which was all we wanted.  Next time I would like to stay in St. Helena, which was also my favorite place on our last visit, because it has the cutest shops and restaurants.

2.  Use a driver or shuttle service and share the cost with friends.  The drivers can give good recommendations on wineries and on the order of visiting them that makes the most sense.  Do not gripe about the costs -- no one needs to drive after tasting wine.  If the weather is nice, bikes may be fun but even though cops don't give DUI's to bikers, it might not be the safest idea.  

If you don't have a driver, then who else will take a goofy touristy photo such as this?

3.  Try to get suggestions for a winery that is educational, one that has pretty views, one with laid-back and friendly people, and of course some that have really tasty wine.

These are the ones we visited:
Sterling -- I do recommend visiting this one FIRST.  Visitors take a really cool tram up the mountain to the winery, and the line can get really long early.

Our buddies on the tram with us.

Mr. and Mrs. Darby.

Some of the best views of the day.

You go to Sterling for the tram, the views, and the self-guided informational tour.  The wine is not too great, but everything else makes up for that.

We also visited Frank Family -- Clint's VERY favorite wine (and one of mine, too).  Definitely recommend this place.

Another favorite was Heitz -- another one of Clint's favorite wines.  Order the red Zin.  Yummmm.

I also recommend Conn Creek, where you can actually make your own wine.  There is a room in the back that I totally snuck into that looks like this:

You can taste all the wines and then make your own tasty blend.  They had one of their own that was called Anthropology (I think) that consisted of about 9 different types of grapes that is oh so yummy.

We also loved Twomey.  Very quaint with the nicest people ever.  We even got a hand-written thank-you note a few weeks later.  Really?  Who does that?
Twomey was started by the same folks who have Silver Oak, which was also good but a little pretentious at the moment we were there.  Maybe it was the group of overdressed women with way too much make-up and big hair and crazy tall skinny heels that turned me off.  So the wine was good but those women were obnoxious.

Our last visit was at Peju, and I'm so glad we visited this one at the end.  We were exhausted and everything started tasting the same, but we had a few minutes left before it closed -- so why not?  The guy telling us about the wines was also, get this, a rapper.  Hilarious.  So glad he busted out some cheesy rhymes about his wines.  Loved, loved, loved him.  Peju has a wine that is a mix of red and wine that would be so, so yummy with Thanksgiving turkey.

The only one we skipped that I really wanted to visit was Cakebread.  But there's always next time, right?

4.  Last but not least -- eat some good food.  Definitely hit up one or ALL THREE of Cindy Pawlcyn's restaurants:  Mustards, Cindy Pawlcyn's Backstreet Grill, or Cindy Pawlcyn's Wood Grill and Wine Bar.  I made res too late to get into Mustards, but I recommend the burger at Backstreet for lunch and ALL the appetizers at Wood Grill for dinner.
Check out Taylor's Refresher for another fantastic burger during lunch if you can handle the lines.  We hit this place in both Napa AND San Fran the last time we visited, so, yes, it's awesome.
Several people recommended Auberge de Soleil and the Culinary Institute.