This is 14-1/2. I love that her half birthday come This is 14-1/2. I love that her half birthday comes as we wrap up family summer birthdays so she is included too. 🥰 She loves lululemon, fountain Coke, and long hugs. She is a fiercely loyal friend, is the best debater I know, and sleeps later than I ever did when I was a teenager. 😂 She is quiet and loud all at once and is forever the biggest cheerleader her brother and I could ever have. My rainbow baby is growing up before my eyes and I love it and hate it all at once. Love you to the moon and back kiddo. 💛
“Everything good, everything magical happens bet “Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August." Jenny Han
The disco ball was hung there temporarily for a ho The disco ball was hung there temporarily for a hot minute but when it starts showing off at sunset, how could I move it anywhere else? ✨
Did the lyrics to “Sitting on the Dock of the Ba Did the lyrics to “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” just run through your head or are you young? 😂 I despise Parkway traffic in the summer but love that our kids get to have a Jersey shore summer just like we did when we were their age. 💛
Any time my kids ask to have dinner with me, I con Any time my kids ask to have dinner with me, I consider it a win… dinner date with my oldest at Cava to close out the weekend, perfection. 🥰
The five grandkids recreated one of the candy boar The five grandkids recreated one of the candy boards from @ainttooproudtomeg’s cheese board deck. They may have eaten about half as much as they arranged, but that’s the point, right? 😍
We hope today made you as happy as this little chi We hope today made you as happy as this little chippy who hit paydirt with a $100,000 grand candy bar he found. 😍 (he actually had found himself TWO candy bars from we don’t know where, but we squired one away bc that felt like a sugar coma waiting to happen 😂)
If burrata is the question, the answer should be a If burrata is the question, the answer should be a loud and emphatic YES. Unless you’re lactose intolerant or somethin’.
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Sweetnicks

Food and Life

New Years’ Eve 2009

December 31, 2009 · Narrative

Nick and Twenty Ten Glasses

So here we are on the last day of 2009.  While just like a birthday, the new year is nothing more than a different page on the calendar.  But is it?  Isn’t it more?  To me, just like a new school year, it signals a fresh start.  A clean slate.  A promise of something.  Anything.  Everything.  And nothing.  You can shed the mistakes of 2009.  You can set goals for the new year.  Or not.  An opportunity for a new beginning.  A refreshed outlook.  A reflective look back on the past.  A chance for magic.  Or to believe in it.

Looking back on our own 2009, it’s been a wild ride.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think The Husband and I would split up.  We started the year with a vacation, and ended it apart.  I didn’t foresee selling our house.  Or moving back to our old one.  Such are the twists and turns of life.  This year saw Nick finish first grade and enter second.  It saw a year for him filled with Boy Scouts, summer camp, soccer and karate.  A year with 102 scores on tests and four missing teeth, two of which he even pulled out himself.  Blech.  There are days when I am literally amazed by his maturity, particularly as he took on a slightly different role in the house with The Husband gone, but then there are days that I’m instantly reminded that he’s still just seven.  My little man.  This year brought us a fun little personality in Madeline.  Never a day goes by that Nick or I don’t crack up at something she says or does.   A little pistol that now shushes us if we are telling her something she doesn’t like.  An almost two year old that, although she wants zero help in using a fork or spoon, still ends up wearing a lot of it.  So much food is on her face that I can’t even Photoshop it out.  Unfortunately spilling food is a trait amongst the women in our family … I swear not a family meal goes by without me, my mom or my sister dropping some sort of food on our clothes.  Madeline is in good company.  My mom took one for the team during Christmas Day dinner.

Yes?

This year saw my first niece, Sophie, turn two, and my newest niece, Sadie was born.  And I became her Godmother.  I love that. It is so fun to see the three girls play together and I love that we live close enough that hopefully they will be close to each other growing up.  And poor Nick, outnumbered by them, and sometimes bossed around by them, but certainly loving every minute of it.  Almost every minute anyway.

From the kitchen, this year saw things like the Rainbow Cake, those divine Cranberry Almond Bars, a new go-to Chinese dinner, perfect kid-friendly macaroni and cheese (and an adult version to boot!),  and oh these glazed apple bars, easy vegetable pancakes, the babysitter’s favorite cookie to date, strawberry cupcakes for a sixth birthday, to-die for fudge that is making another appearance this weekend, a yummy spread to start your day, crazy simple chips, and these appetizers that I completely forgot about, OMG fried calamari, and many more creations.  Another OMG dish was just added tonight as part of our traditional New Years’ Eve feast.  Thought the guest list changes, the tradition remains the same.  A seafood feast on New Years’ Eve, something begun some thirteen years ago.  Although some traditions have changed or been altered, this one is here to stay.  (More on the OMG dish next week, promise).

And so with a new year brings resolutions.  Promises.  Goals.  Attempts.  Do you make resolutions?  I have a short list.  Some personal.  Some professional.  Some with the kids.  Some for me and me alone.  One of the resolutions that the kids and I made together, actually a few months ago … is that we will take a trip a month.  It can be a day trip, an overnight trip or something as simple as finding cows for Madeline.  An adventure a month, if you will.  We actually started in October when we went to Hershey, and Nick and I talked about it on the way home.  I don’t want to miss out on anything, especially with the kids, just because The Husband and I are separated.  One of the vows I made to myself early on was that I wasn’t going to let that stop me from doing something.  True, some things are definitely more of a challenge… have you tried to stop for a bathroom break?  On the Garden State Parkway?  With two kids?  And a dog?  In the dead heat of the summer?  Like, what do I do with the dog?  He can’t stay in the car.  I can’t tie him up outside.  And Madeline?  Who tries to crawl out from underneath the bathroom stall?  And Nick who is at the age where he shouldn’t be hanging out in the women’s room.  Such are the challenges of being a single mom, but I don’t want that to get in the way of us exploring, adventuring, being.  I just figure out a way to make it work.  So in October it was a trip to Hershey with The Neighbors.  November it was our quest to find cows for Madeline.  December a trip back to Hershey for their Sweet Lights tour and more Chocolate World fun.  As for future monthly excursions?  They involve penguins.  Amish people.  The shore.  A certain White House.  An indoor ferris wheel.  A dairy.  And down time.   Time to chill.  To garden.  To listen to quiet.  To just be.

My Babies

And the kitchen?  It will be buzzing as usual.  I am going to try to get back into menu planning.  Base case, it makes me much more organized.  And it’s easy to answer the daily “what’s for dinner” question (even from me!) when I have a plan.  I might not be successful.  Maybe sometimes.  Maybe all the time.  But I’m going to try.  I will also be listing, at the end of the month, all the new recipes I tried.  I used to do that, and I think it’s fun to go back and see what we’ve tried out.

The Spring will find us in the garden.  Planting.  Sowing.  Watering.  Last year we had a successful herb garden and Nick has been asking for a vegetable garden that he and his sister can work on together.  We will try.  I promised him that much. My green thumb isn’t always green, but I know someone I can rope into helping me.

For all the bumps along the 2009 road, there were many blessings to be had.  Two of them are snoring right now and I am thankful every day for them.  Sometimes even for the snoring.  Every day with them is a new adventure, and they definitely keep it interesting.  I am going, going, going from the moment we wake up until they are in bed at night.  And then I’m right behind them, falling into bed exhausted, but happy, earning every second of a sound sleep.

I am looking forward to closing the door that is 2009 and opening wide the one to the new year.  A fresh start.  A new beginning.  A year full of possibilities.  And promise.  And maybe just a touch of magic.  It’s all there for us if you just believe.  And I do.  A belief in the fact that anything is possible.  And knowing that, who knows what new adventures await us?

Happy New Year from the Sweetnicks’ home to yours.  May the new year bring about whatever it is you’re looking for.

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Posted In: Narrative · Tagged: New Years' resolutions

Comments

  1. Sarah Caron says

    December 31, 2009 at 11:48 pm

    I love, love, love the idea of a trip a month! What a great plan. The kids and I took quite a few trips in the fall and loved it. I might have to borrow this one from you!

    And vegetable gardening? So much fun. I hope you guys do that! It was way easier than I expected.

    Happy New Year!

    Reply
  2. mandy says

    January 1, 2010 at 12:55 am

    “A fresh start. A new beginning. A year full of possibilities. And promise. And maybe just a touch of magic. ”

    For me this is what the new year is all about. Happy 2010!

    Reply
  3. Mellisa W. says

    January 1, 2010 at 4:25 am

    Thank you for sharing your life. I enjoy it and am inspired by it. Happy New Year!

    Reply
  4. Joanne says

    January 1, 2010 at 2:11 pm

    Happy new Year to you too Cate! This was an excellent post. you have been through so much this year but have accomplished so much as well. Here’s to another great one!

    Reply
  5. Kris #40 says

    January 1, 2010 at 6:11 pm

    Happy New Year!

    Reply
  6. pamela says

    January 1, 2010 at 10:52 pm

    What a wonderful post, Cate! You have many fans cheering you on! Thanks for letting us be a part of it! Happy New Year!

    Reply
  7. Rebekah Williams says

    January 2, 2010 at 1:23 am

    DARLING photos! Love the “glasses”!

    Sorry to hear about you and “The Husband”. Bet you’re glad to step away from 09 into a brand new future. I wish you the best.

    And I have my own little shusher in this house. Miss Lilly.
    Nathan asked, “Where did she learn that, honey?” I swear I don’t know. I’m innocent. I never shoo my kids away. Ever. wink wink.

    Reply
  8. Cynthia says

    January 2, 2010 at 12:16 pm

    Happy New Year!

    Reply
  9. Jen says

    January 2, 2010 at 12:29 pm

    Adorable pictures! Wishing you the best in 2010! I enjoyed reading your post. Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
  10. Jen says

    January 3, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    wishing you all the best, happy new year!

    Reply
  11. Magda says

    January 3, 2010 at 11:57 pm

    Happy New Year! Maybe you could throw in a trip to California…?

    Reply
  12. Laura says

    January 4, 2010 at 9:31 am

    This was such a inspiring post Cate….I wish the best for you in the coming year!

    Reply
  13. Ramona says

    January 4, 2010 at 1:19 pm

    Happy New Year! I think you are a very strong woman and you can do whatever you set your mind too. You have 2 great kids and I love the way you are raising them.

    Reply

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This is 14-1/2. I love that her half birthday come This is 14-1/2. I love that her half birthday comes as we wrap up family summer birthdays so she is included too. 🥰 She loves lululemon, fountain Coke, and long hugs. She is a fiercely loyal friend, is the best debater I know, and sleeps later than I ever did when I was a teenager. 😂 She is quiet and loud all at once and is forever the biggest cheerleader her brother and I could ever have. My rainbow baby is growing up before my eyes and I love it and hate it all at once. Love you to the moon and back kiddo. 💛
“Everything good, everything magical happens bet “Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August." Jenny Han
The disco ball was hung there temporarily for a ho The disco ball was hung there temporarily for a hot minute but when it starts showing off at sunset, how could I move it anywhere else? ✨
Did the lyrics to “Sitting on the Dock of the Ba Did the lyrics to “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” just run through your head or are you young? 😂 I despise Parkway traffic in the summer but love that our kids get to have a Jersey shore summer just like we did when we were their age. 💛

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This is 14-1/2. I love that her half birthday come This is 14-1/2. I love that her half birthday comes as we wrap up family summer birthdays so she is included too. 🥰 She loves lululemon, fountain Coke, and long hugs. She is a fiercely loyal friend, is the best debater I know, and sleeps later than I ever did when I was a teenager. 😂 She is quiet and loud all at once and is forever the biggest cheerleader her brother and I could ever have. My rainbow baby is growing up before my eyes and I love it and hate it all at once. Love you to the moon and back kiddo. 💛
“Everything good, everything magical happens bet “Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August." Jenny Han
The disco ball was hung there temporarily for a ho The disco ball was hung there temporarily for a hot minute but when it starts showing off at sunset, how could I move it anywhere else? ✨
Did the lyrics to “Sitting on the Dock of the Ba Did the lyrics to “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” just run through your head or are you young? 😂 I despise Parkway traffic in the summer but love that our kids get to have a Jersey shore summer just like we did when we were their age. 💛
Any time my kids ask to have dinner with me, I con Any time my kids ask to have dinner with me, I consider it a win… dinner date with my oldest at Cava to close out the weekend, perfection. 🥰
The five grandkids recreated one of the candy boar The five grandkids recreated one of the candy boards from @ainttooproudtomeg’s cheese board deck. They may have eaten about half as much as they arranged, but that’s the point, right? 😍
We hope today made you as happy as this little chi We hope today made you as happy as this little chippy who hit paydirt with a $100,000 grand candy bar he found. 😍 (he actually had found himself TWO candy bars from we don’t know where, but we squired one away bc that felt like a sugar coma waiting to happen 😂)
If burrata is the question, the answer should be a If burrata is the question, the answer should be a loud and emphatic YES. Unless you’re lactose intolerant or somethin’.

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