Today I remember Maurice Sendak, creator of Where the Wild Things Are.  A man that wrote about our love for Max.  Before Max was even Max.

But the reason Max became Max.

The Wild Things still live.  In our hearts and in this house.

Inside all of us is a Wild Thing.  Awooooo!

You are the owner of this world. Everything you see is yours.

Hey King! What is your first order of business?  Let the wild rumpus start!

I have a sadness shield, it keeps out all the sadness.  It is big enough for all of us.

Small is good. 

We'll take care of each other, and we'll all sleep together in a real pile.

I'll eat you up, I love you so.

Sports and Max.

Y'all.  Hockey.

Can we talk? For a second?

If you don't know me, I am a HUGE sports fan. Like more than most men. Like obsessed.  Not in the way where I know stats on every player or the score of a game from ten years ago.  I am not THAT fan.  I just throughly like a good game.  It is my comfort food.  But hockey is one we don't really watch.  It is forgotten about until the Olympics or the Stanley Cup Playoffs roll around.  Then we are hooked like crazed fans, yelling at the tv, pacing, cheering... every. single. game.  Each game asking each other "How do we always forget about this sport? It is AWESOME!!"  Because it is. It really is.

Guess what? It is playoff time.  And the hubbs and I are all up into it.  Tired from late game watching. Loving every minute.

Let's break it down, shall we?

The Fans.

Tucked safely behind some plexiglass they are free to cheer, chant, taunt and heckle and at the end of it all, even throw things on the ice.  If you are a lucky one with front row seats you are in some prime real estate.  Players slamming each other into this glass.  Not only slammed but slammed and then held there by the opposing player for what could be minutes... leaving you, the fan, the perfect opportunity to show this poor player just how much you hate his team by banging on the glass like a wild man screaming anything and everything you wish.  Go ahead, tell him his momma is ugly, IT'S ALLOWED!!  Where else are you going to find this player/fan bonding time.  Player there, face all smashed up against a see through wall inches from fans hand banging players smashed up cheek.  It is fabulous.  And then, my friends, if your team won?  Throw some rats or squid on the ice.  Go ahead, IT'S ALLOWED!!

The Players.

When the Playoffs start, there is a tradition of not shaving while your team is still in the running for the cup.  So the deeper into the playoffs we are, the longer and bushier the beards get, leaving the game a cluster of beards and sticks flying all over the ice at an amazing pace.  Upon closer look of these huge bearded men, you will find war scars, broken noses and missing teeth.

It is fascinating looking at these players when the camera manages to get a close up shot of them.  Missing teeth seem to be badges of honor.  Knock a tooth out? Oh no big deal.  Replace it?  What the heck for?! It's not like it will stay there.  They wear helmets with guards that go no further than the bridge of their nose, if one at all.   They don't care.  Just let them play.

Until there is a fight that is.  Now this is not like some other sports, where you get tripped and then wail around on the ground pretending to be hurt waiting for a foul to be called.  Not these guys.  They get tripped and pushed and slapped with sticks and just keep skating along.  They are like a bunch of kids out there.   During the face off,  if you watch the guys not in the play, they are back there bumping each other and whapping each other with their sticks.  Whap. Whap. Whap.  It seriously cracks us up. But then one will say or do just the right thing and WHAM!  the gloves come off.  Punches are thrown.  And thrown. And thrown.  and guess what?  IT'S ALLOWED!!  The ref during this time?  Watching.  Moving helmets out of the way so they don't trip on them.  You know, making it a safe area to fight in. They let it go for a couple minutes and then break it up.  You know, no big deal.

The Game.

Is fast moving.  The puck, impossible to keep track of.  The refs, wildly jumping out of the players way.  The announcers, somehow managing to follow the puck and know what player has it all while calling a very exciting game.  A good game announcer makes us anxious.  He builds up the play so fast and with such enthusiasm and then calls the goal with such excitement that we can help but get all caught up in the moment.  A goal is celebrated with such fanfare!  Sirens cheering lights and sticks all go up at once.  If you are the home team that is.  Not so much for the away team.  Sore a goal on their ice and not a single thing happens.  Nothing.  No indication that a tiny puck just managed to squeeze its way past a huge man doing the splits.  It's as if to say "we will give you the point, but this house? we do not recognize this goal in any way."

And we love it.

Conversations.

For half of the game, hubbs and I sit there in bewilderment.  When we do manage to get some words out it goes a bit like this:

"Was that a goal??" "I have no idea I can't follow this puck!!"
"OMG HE IS BLEEDING FROM HIS EYES"
"If I were a hockey player I would be wearing a full face mask." "I know, these guys are NUTS!"
"I have GOT to start playing hockey!" "No love, you don't"
"OHHHH, did you see that hit?"
"Seriously.  He is missing all his front teeth."
"How does that big guy bend like that?"
"So is there some sort of timeline for how long to let a fight last?" "I have no idea, they just let them at it!"
"This is FANTASTIC!"

And it really is.  Just last weekend the announcer summed it up best.

"You get a ring that is too big to wear and a trophy you can't keep, but don't tell anyone it isn't great."
        - Mike Emrick

                                                                             ***

Now I get that some of you are here just to see my behbeh's...  So I leave you with Max.  Who got a toy in his Happy Meal and well, he loves it.

Ramblings and Strawberry Lemonade {a recipe}

Hello everyone and Happy Wednesday!

A bit of celebrity chat to start the day, perhaps? Sure why not! By now we have all heard the news that the very preggo Jessica Simpson FINALLY gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.  Congratulations, Jessica! Now can we discuss your choice of names?

If you follow me on Facebook or The Twittaaaa (if you think I'm a chronic Facebook poster, don't follow me on Twitter. Oh by the way.) you saw my annoyance, well more disbelief..awe..wtf???..with the name Maxwell Drew for her sweet prince.  I mean princess.  You guys!!  Let's get real here!  They totally made her a Quarterback!  I'm pretty certain I know exactly what happened. Dad had dreams of a boy and while he didn't get said boy, he still won the name battle because, and we all know it, J Simps is a loon. Absolutely beautiful and sweet, but a loon.  I completely understand wanting to use a meaningful family name and such, but could we have not paired Maxwell with, oh I dunno, Sarah.. Elizabeth... Jessica... Brittany... Alice or just about ANY OTHER female name besides Drew?  Or oh hey, use it as a middle name!  Or here's another thought, save it for when you have a boy.

Now I know I am getting some eyebrows raised at me asking "Now Kelley, you sound bitter that she is using the name Maxwell because your son is named that?"  Not at all!  First off, Max is not the only Max out there, obvs, and second, Max is just Max. Not Maxwell, Maximillion, Maximus, Max Headroom.. Just Max.  Or Mad Max as the EMT named him before birth.  Or Big Max because lezbehonest, he is not small. Or in our house, Mister Max.  Which became just Mister. Which then became Mitter.  Which then became Mitter Mitter. Don't ask. It just happened.

And yes, Milo was going to be Benny if he was a girl, but I was going to use my above logic of having paired with a very feminine middle name, so shut it.  It is my blog anyways. I can write what I want. I just wanted you to know I can hear your eyebrows raising.  I can HEAR them.

Back to the issue of social media.  Yes, I do in fact post a lot.  I was asked "Why do you post so much, are you a loser?" Ok, they didn't ask the second part but I know they were thinking it.  So no I am not a loser but here is the deal.  I am home. All day.  With two boys under two.  Sitting in front of my computer.  Working.  Don't get me wrong, working from home is fantastic. Honestly I am blessed to do what I love and still be able to take care of my babies, play with them, raise them and watch them grow.  But as lucky as I am to have a job that allows this, editing pictures isn't exactly mind stimulating so it tends to wander.  And all those random thoughts pop in my head and when that happens I like to write them down or voice them.  And voicing them to a two year old goes a little like, Hey Max did you hear what Jessica named her baby girl? and he is all PooPoo? and I am all, No Not PooPoo. But she might as well have.  And he is all Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle and yells and runs out of the room.  Leaving me to post my random thoughts on wherever I so choose and continue about my work.

There is actually a point to today's Blogginess and it is not because Twitter limits my thoughts to 150 characters.  I have a lovely refreshing drink for you guys!  Summer is in our sights and it is getting on the warm side of things here.  It is also still strawberry season so I am finding things to do with all these berries.  This is a drink for the kiddies, but will be just as yummy with some vodka thrown in the mix to make it a fun adult beverage to have after a day at the beach while sitting outside and grilling.  

I love all things about that last sentence.

This is pretty basic.

You take a cup of sugar and a cup of water, put them both in a sauce pan over medium heat stirring until the sugar is disolved. 

Let us all take a moment to admire my mad photography skillz in this above pic. Amen.

This is now your simple syrup. Set aside to cool.

Take 6-8 lemons and squeeze the crap out of them till you get 1 cup of juice.  Pour juice in pitcher.

 

Take a pint of fresh strawberries, cut off the tops, throw them in the blender and puree.  

If you are at my house this become the: One for Max, One for the Blender game, so make sure you have plenty.

Pour puree into your pitcher with the lemon juice.

Add your cooled simple syrup and about 6 cups of cold water.

ENJOY!

Homemade Fruit Roll-ups {a recipe}

If there was one thing I loved growing up, and still do for that matter, it was a good ole fruit roll-up.  I used to fold it up as small as I could and pop the whole thing in my mouth. So fruity and tasty!  And I am pretty sure packed with sugar.  And a bunch of fake stuff.   Not these babies!

I've had this recipe tucked away for awhile and finally got around to trying it out.  Actually, I was waiting until Max was old enough to eat them.

mmmmmm!

These are super easy HEALTHY and as you can see, super yummy.  

And most importantly, kid approved.

all gone!

HOMEMADE FRUIT ROLL-UPS

As I stated, these are beyond easy.  All you need is some fruit and something to sweeten the fruit a bit.  Be creative on the fruit!  Peach, raspberry, strawberry... so many yummy possibilities!  Mix and match and even use frozen fruit.

Start off with 3 cups of your fruit of choice and add about 3 tablespoons of honey and 3 squirts of lemon juice.  You can use sugar if you would like but I used honey because it is delish and a little bit good for you!

In a food processor, puree the fruit and honey mixture.  Once again, I do not own a food processor so into the trusty blender it all went.

Let's play a game.  NAME THAT KITCHEN APPLIANCE I WILL BE PURCHASING NEXT.

How beautiful and scrumptious does this look?!  I could drink it.  This however is not a drink recipe, so  don't drink the blended fruits.  Thank you.

Taste the blend to see if it is sweet enough for your liking.  If not, add some more sweetness.

Now loosely line a pan with cling wrap, leaving about an inch overhang on all sides.

I'm not really sure if this picture could be any more boring, but I needed to show you how to line the pan.  Do not press the wrap down around the sides.  The overhang is also important because the cling wrap will shrink in the oven (yes, this is all going in the oven) (no it won't burn or melt. the oven isn't hot enough for that) and you want some to stay left out.

Ahh.. before all this you need to turn on your oven to 140-170 degrees.  For me, that meant barely even turning the oven dial.

I know, another fascinating picture but do y'all have one of these?  If not you really should get one.  Your oven's built in temperature gage is probably off, ours is by 125 degrees, and most ovens, when it says is preheated, is actually not at the full temp you set it to yet.  So if you are having issues with over or under baking when you cook go get yourself a oven thermometer.

Now pour your fruit puree onto your lined pan and spread evenly with a spatula.  Try not to stick your face in the stream of fruit as you pour.

Put the pan in the oven and just let it sit in your 170 degree oven for about 6 hours.   Yes, it's awhile,  but go do laundry or something.  You are basically drying out the fruit and well, that takes time.  It smells fabulous though.

After about six hours, check your dried fruit. You will know it is ready when the fruit will not stick to your finger or leave an indention when you touch it.  Take it out and peel it off the wrapper and transfer it to some parchment paper.  Slice off the outer edges because those are hard and crunchy and pretty much don't taste real great.

Slice into strips and roll them up.  I used regular scissors for this. I found using them was much easier than cutting with a knife or even a pizza cutter. Tie the roll with a piece of string and store in an airtight container.

ENJOY!