Speed Bump

My parents were runners. They took us to road races when we were kids. I distinctly remember standing along the side of the road, waiting excitedly to see my Mom or Dad run past. They took turns, as Ryan and I do now, with one running and the other being responsible for the kids and cheering at the finish. Ryan's Fan Club

I am torn. Torn between work and home, career and kids, the age-old argument without new solutions. Torn between wanting to have something to call my own and wanting to be the best mom I can be. Can I be good at both my career and being a mom?  Are the two mutually exclusive? This idea was recently discussed on a blog I love, Motherlode (there is a link to the NYTimes blog on my sidebar). You can check out the book Torn: True Stories of Kids, Career & the Conflict of Modern Motherhood and one of several blog posts on the book here . As a college student I always said I was going to wait to get married until my 30s (check), I would marry a man totally supportive of my having a career (check, check) and he would be an excellent chef and do all the cooking (check, check and check!). I also said I wouldn’t get married until I made my FIRST million. Well, three out of four ain’t bad.   Back when I made those checklists, they were simply ideas in my head of how I though...

It took some major effort to take this self-timed photo. The out-takes would take an entire post. C & H need a family picture for their rooms at school so we had to give it a shot. Not bad for a Tuesday evening, post-work, post-school, pre-dinner, 95 degrees, with a very skeptical husband, 2 squirmy kids and a dog. I'll take the glare from the sun and call it good. 

MVI_2857.AVI a video by Pager13 on Flickr. Don't forget to check out pictures on my new tumblr site http://maniger.tumblr.com/  and you can find a permanent link in the page bar above, My Tumblr. Here is a short clip from our rainy day picnic last week.

We took Charlie to the Leavenworth County Fair and he had a blast. The baby goats were one of Charlie's favorites.  These pigs were much bigger than he was. He touched one of their ears.  Izzy wasn't sure what to think about all the birds and chickens in the hen house. It was loud in there! By the time we left, Charlie had a fireman's hat and a balloon and he was happy and tired. So were Mom and Dad.

We made our annual trek to the Lake of the Ozarks with my family a couple weeks ago. I didn't take many pictures this year but you can tell from the few I took that Charlie really had a great time. He liked the boat, even tried out the innertube. He is fearless in the swimming pool and kept up with his cousins a little more this year. It was incredibly hot, as it has been most of this summer, so Izzy stayed inside and kept cool much of the weekend. Next year she will be trying to keep up, too.

We celebrated Haley's second birthday this past weekend in Elmo style. It was a great party, thanks Haley!

I've been having a hard time keeping up with current pictures on the blog since baby #2 and I don't see this getting any better. So I'm trying a new approach. I'm posting iphone pics of random daily events  here . You can also find the link in the My Tumblr page at the top of this blog. I will continue to make longer posts here but add pictures more often on Tumblr. Posting from my phone on Tumblr is super easy and makes it something I can do on the fly or with a kid (or two) hanging on my arm. So check it out. We're also looking to add more content. There is a new section titled From Ryan's Kitchen where we will post recipes and meal ideas. Ryan is such a great cook and we eat like kings pretty much every night. Thought we would share some of his recipes and see if it inspires someone else to cook healthy food at home. So if there is anyone out there following along here (Hi Mike & Sharon and Julie!) let us know what you like and give us some fe...

Once a week is pizza night. With a busy schedule, pizza is easy, quick, no mess, and generally a nice break in cooking in the middle of the week. Given the fact pizza is on the menu each week, I do what I can to mix it up. Pizza is so great by virtue of the fact it is like a blank canvas; add what you want, what you have on hand, what is in season. The secret to pizza is simplicity. Yet, if you're only going to use several ingredients, they each better be good. Tonight's recipe: 1 large pre-baked pizza crust (I recommend 365 Whole Foods brand whole wheat pizza crust) 3 tablespoons pizza sauce 3 cloves minced garlic 12 oz. hand pulled mozzarella 5 thin slices prosciutto Black pepper to taste Dried red pepper to taste Fresh basil Last week our oven stopped working. The top range works, the broiler works, the oven...not so much. Time to improvise. Typically, I place the pizza on a pizza stone in an oven (about 425 degrees for 12 minutes). Tonight, I placed the piz...