I can't. My Back Hurts.

Ok. I know. I've been remiss with the blog. But I've got good excuses... ok. Maybe not that good... But at least this is something!

So, I've been struggling with some back pain lately. Lately being since about the time Caden was born three years ago. I ignored it because it was intermittent for a long time, a long time being about three years - give or take. Then it took a turn for the worse after the holidays this year. So to make a long story short(er)... I started physical therapy a couple of months ago (see... who has time for a blog too!?)

During all of this the boys have been hearing a lot of, "Mommy can't do that because it will hurt her back" and "No! No! don't hang from Mommy's neck like a Monkey! Mommy's back! Mommy's back!" and "Don't step on the cracks or you'll break you mama's back!"

You get the idea.

Tonight, as I was lying (gingerly) on the bedroom floor with Beck playing a little board game (or more to the point, getting my bum kicked at a little board game), I heard this conversation take place in the kitchen between Caden and Alex:

Cade: "Daddy, will you pway storm twoopers and Cody wif me?"
(Star Wars references from Caden who is playing with action figures placidly at the counter while daddy cleans up from dinner...bless him!)

Alex: "No, sorry Caden, I have to finish cleaning up the dinner dishes... But YOU can help me if you want too!"

Cade: "Uh. No. Daddy. I can't. My back Hu-wurts"


I laughed so hard I nearly broke my back!

(Sorry. No time for pictures - but the boys are just as cute as always these days!)

It's not ALWAYS about B and C (despite the title of the blog...)

So, we (A & D) decided that it was high time we got out more - alone. In December we decided to institute "Date Night" every other Tuesday night. We lined up sitters through March 2009 and headed out the door. Something we probably haven't done, together, sans kids, after 7pm on a weeknight in, let's see... how old is Beck now... FIVE years!

We've decided to leave it up to UrbanSpoon to decide where we go every other Tuesday night. (If we didn't, I'd likely keep us going to Salut and Broders Pasta Bar every chance I got!)

So we shook my (super-cool-new-can't-live-without-it) iPhone and UrbanSpoon landed us at:

Victor's 1959 Cafe at 37th and Grand Ave S. Cuban food. And Perfectly located! Still right within my coveted five mile radius!

Of course, my fancy new iPhone has a built in camera... Which... of course, we didn't use since it doesn't have a flash... (or video... okay, so it's not perfect. But even so, I still can't live without it). And we took these photos to share our newest dining experience with the always trusty (and pocket sized) Canon PowerShot (that Alex conveniently had in his coat pocket).

It started out like any other night out. A bottle of (cheap - but quite good) house wine. We had the Yuca Frita ANTOJITOS (an appetizer where the yuca is steamed, then fried, and served with a special garlic & lime juice mojo with lightly sautéed onions.) It was a little bland - but the mojo helped.

And the games began...

And kept going... and going... and going... (remember, this is a school night and we're not used to this whole being-out-after-7pm-on-an-empty-stomach-after-work-thing!)

Fortunately dinner arrived. Alex had some Cuban thingy with Shrimp (3 stars). And I had "old clothes" (4 stars). Who knew someone's old clothes could be so tasty! (I also had it for lunch the next day and was sad when it was finally all gone...) I'd rave more about the food... but I generally get bored reading food reviews myself, so I won't subject you to my writing about it. Your welcome.

Then the games continued...


And we debated about what to do for POSTRES (dessert). Go somewhere else? (What the ??? - no way! It was well below zero outside!) We finally settled (quite easily) on the Xango!Chango! (rich smooth cheesecake with a slightly tangy finish, rolled in a melt-in-your-mouth flaky pastry, tossed in a sugar and cinnamon blend, then served on a fresh guava puree) and a couple of Café con leches.

Oh... wow! Was that the smartest thing we did all night. (Since it looks like the cheap red wine probably wasn't...) It's worth it to go to Victor's for the Xango!Chango! alone!

And then of course, we did what every other patron that has ever visited Victor's 1959 Cafe has done... we wrote our name on the booth. Well, actually, we carved our name in it... the wood was so old that the ball point pen (given to us by the waitress... we're not complete hoodlums!) was sharp enough to actually cut through it!

All in all - Victor's was a roaring success and we'd go back in a heartbeat. I'm sure Minneapolis/St. Paul magazine will be knocking down my door for permission to reference my blog in their next review!


But more importantly, DATE NIGHT was a blast. Why didn't we think of it sooner?!

AT LAST

Here's a quickie:

Alex and I were dancing (think waltz style) in the kitchen to our wedding dance song a few minutes ago... Etta James' - "At Last". (It's still playing in the background... Soso can only dance for so long when there's a football game to be watched... so here I am...)

We were all cozy and swaying to the music (waltz style) with #1 and #2 watching from the counter eating up the remnants of their lunch...

And Beck says: "Hey, you guys look like a teapot!"

Beck wants out of politics

Yesterday morning, lying in bed, I looked over my left shoulder and found Beck wide awake staring at me intently, practically willing me awake.

He had something to say:

Whispering, so as not to wake up Caden over my right shoulder: "Mommy, I know what I want to be when I grow up!"

Me: "What's that, Bug?"

Beck: "I want to be an Ice Cream Man!"

I tried hard not to show my disappointment. Can you imagine what this will do for my diet!?

Leveraging candy

Friday night. Halloween. Ooooohhhhh... Spooky...

I think I have a new favorite holiday! I've never been much for Halloween (at least not since I was ten or eleven years old). But I think that's changed now that Beck and Cade are old enough to get the concept of Halloween and trick or treating. It was so cute to watch them yell "Trick or Treat" to complete strangers and then use all of their little will power to take "just one" piece of candy... looking up beesechingly to see if they'd be offered more than that at this house.

Then coming home and weeding through the insane amounts of candy in those little orange jack-o-lantern buckets (that I had to carry the majority of the way when they got to heavy) looking for the perfect treat to have before bedtime. And then they were so tuckered out. I love halloween now...

The morning after...

Woke up to a car race between Chick Hicks and Mr. The King next to me in bed (Caden). But it was smooth sailing from there on out. All of our ealry morning conversations went somthing like this:

Q: "Can I have a piece of candy?"
A: "When you finish your breakfast"
A: "OK!" munch, munch, munch...

Q: "I'm done! Now can I have a piece of candy?"
A: "After you get dressed?"
A: "OK!" then "urgh, upmph, I can't do it!, uh, oh, there, I got it on!"

Q: "I'm dressed! Now can I have a piece of candy?"
A: "When your brother is done eating and dressed, then you can BOTH have one."
Q: "Caden, do you want me to eat that????!"

And so on until everyone was nourished and dressed for the day. I wish we had the power of candy on hand everyday. It sure makes the morning routine go smoothly!

Spagetti dinner...

At just about every dinner we end the meal with a game of "Who am I" or "I spy with my little eye" or "Opposites" or some joke telling. Tonight was joke night. And Caden was on a roll:

Him: "Knock knock"
Us: "Who's there?"
Him: "Corda-doo-daba!"
Us: "Corda-doo-daba (huh?) WHO?"
Him: "Corda-doo-daba BOAT!"
All of us: "he he he he he he he he he!"

Gotta love three year old knock knock jokes!