Mother Bought A Coconut...

Whenever Xander comes grocery shopping with me, there are some standard areas where he needs to go. First and foremost is the toy department, where he checks out the latest in action figures and Legos, does a little begging, and compiles a mental list of toys he can't live without. Other hotspots include looking at the fish over in seafood, and checking out pineapples and coconuts in produce. Only this time we actually brought a coconut home.


Xander was chomping at the bit to get into that little brown ball. He pestered Joe and I until finally last night Joe hacked it open. He gave Xander the glass full of coconut milk and told him to have at it. What he had was one sip, followed by a water chaser. The coconut milk was a no-go. I think Joe drank the rest of it.

Next came an actual chunk of firm white coconut, which Xander nibbled on. (I did too, but I have to say I'd rather have it honey roasted. It's much tastier that way!) Once again, my son was underwhelmed by the taste of the coconut. I can't blame him - the raw stuff does nothing for me.

All in all, I'd say Xander was fairly disappointed in the whole thing. I don't know what he thought it was going to taste like, but clearly it wasn't anything he was hoping for. Still, now he can say that he's tried coconut. I wonder when he'll start asking for a pineapple...

Week In Review

It's been an entertaining week for the Brunos, which started on Sunday with dinner at our friend Nancy and Josh's house. It's the first time we've dined together that hasn't been in a restaurant, and they went all out. Josh BBQ'd these huge steaks (which were insanely delicious), and Nancy made twice-baked potatoes from scratch. Even Xander ate one! We'll be seeing them again on Saturday at the motorcycle club's annual dinner at the Heartbreak.

Tuesday we picked up our rental car (our regular car is having some issues at the moment). They gave us a Kia Optima and I'm now doing almost all of the driving because Joe just can't fit behind the wheel. Watching him try to get in the other day was hilarious! Hopefully our car will be back on the road next week sometime.

Wednesday we had dinner at Eli and Krissy's - corned beef and cabbage dinner number one. The kids played, the grown-ups hung out, and Joe immediately became addicted to something called Angry Birds on Krissy's Droid. Dinner was good, and followed up by a giant cupcake made with rainbow colors. It was delicious!

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day, so there was lots of wearing of the green and more corned beef, just for us Brunos. Joe had it cooking in the crock pot all day and it was delicious! Next year we need to get a bigger corned beef or something, though, because there's not even a crumb left. Xander at corned beef both days, and some potato. I'm so proud of him for trying new food!

Today it's already warm, though we do have a wind advisory. It's a big conference day at work, and Xander normally wouldn't have had school but they used up all their snow days. Sorry, buddy! I've been up since 6am because Joe was snoring so bad I couldn't get back to sleep. It's going to be a long day!

The Camera Man

Xander loves taking pictures. I don't always love seeing them, though, since he finds everything worthy of a photo - dirty laundry, clutter, his feet. He got out my camera yesterday after Joe took some pictures of him. Among the many things he took pictures of (including numerous pics of the show he was watching on TV) these are my faves:

Stuart, snoozing on Xander's bed.

Xander's room, with all his posters and drawings on the walls.

Joe, taking a pic of Xander. (Don't tell him I posted him topless, LOL!)

One of these days I'll get my boy his very own camera. And it will definitely be digital - can you imagine paying for developing for fifteen blurry pictures of a movie on the TV? I don't think so!

Salad and PARP

The big news of the week is this: Xander ate salad! Yes, he willingly and without complaint ate something that was green. It was a big moment for the Brunos. As you can see, he didn't really have that much he had to eat. We did find out that he doesn't like bacon bits though. Now I wonder what my chances are for broccoli. LOL!

In other news, PARP (Parents As Reading Partners) started this week. Xander's school does it every year. At the end, he gets to join in an ice cream party and gets a coupon for a free book. So what we've been doing is having him read a book to us, and then one of us reads one after. On the first day it was Joe reading The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. The other night he followed that up with How the Grinch Stole Christmas. (Can you tell we're big Dr. Suess fans?)

I'm happy to report that Joe qualifies for unemployment, so that's a relief. (If you didn't know, he was fired last Friday from Hospice.) We've been talking about making some big life changes, but it's all still in flux right now. As always, we Brunos like to keep things interesting! LOL!