Grateful for Round Table Pizza

First, you must know that if there was no other food on Earth except pizza, I would be so happy.  I love pizza.  Even not so good pizza is good in my mind.  I'm not picky about toppings either.  I'm fine with just cheese.  Pizza is an amazing creation.  And good pizza is pure bliss!

Today I got to enjoy pizza at one of my favorite places in the whole world -  Round Table Pizza. (Round Table is not paying me, I just love their pizza!)  What's even better is that I got to enjoy said pizza with 3 other moms and their children.  It was so nice to hang out and chat and have the kids play.  I really love getting to spend time with other moms and feel like I'm not completely insane.  They are so nice and friendly and willing to take my son for an afternoon so I can enjoy a quiet day of mommy time.  Since I don't have family close by to watch my boys it is truly a cherished time for me.  I enjoy the friendships I'm making and really appreciate seeing my son make friends.

So yay to pizza and yay to good friends!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Picky Eaters Suck

I love my family, really I do.  But my children are such picky eaters... well one in particular (oh little one you try my patience) is really bad.  The big one will take a bite and try things but then he politely says "I don't care for the noodles (or whatever he is eating)."  The little one will just whine like a big baby and/or vomit at the dinner table.  Drives me crazy.  I think there are only about 2 home-cooked meals I can prepare that the family actually ENJOYS.  Tacos (little one will only eat meat and the hard taco shell - but will do so without complaining).  And spaghetti (little one will only eat garlic bread dipped in the sauce - no noodles - 90% of the time without complaining).

Everything else is a big no-no.  That list is so long I get sad.  Some of the things I would like to make are soup, macaroni and cheese (homemade or in a box), any noodle-bake dish, any rice-bake dish, any noodles or rice period, pasta dishes, mashed potatoes... i could go on, but I'm getting depressed with this list.

Things they will eat but only in their whole form - never mixed with any of the above... broccoli, most fruits (not bananas though), asparagus, cauliflower, carrots (not cooked), chicken bites (even plain non-nugget style), plain BBQ meat.  This sounds like the list of meals would be wide open right?  Nope, because I can only get them to eat these things if they are REALLY hungry.  If they are even a little filled up, they won't eat a "good" dinner and then they complain about being hungry later.

Now I know that there is a MOUNTAIN of research out there that I could read that talks about how to fix these problems.  I have tried including them in the cooking process - doesn't work for the little one.  He wants to cook, but still won't eat the food.  I've tried making them eat it later or even the next day for breakfast - doesn't work.  I've tried letting them choose the meals - sorta works but boring for me because I never get to try new recipes.  I've tried having them eat the food repeatedly (the exposure method over and over) - doesn't work - they still won't eat rice or pasta.  I'm at a loss.....

I hear about families with boys where they complain that the boys eat them out of house and home... won't be me.  Won't be my kids.  EVER.  Unless I let them eat only chicken nuggets, pizza, hotdogs/hamburgers (for the big one), waffles/pancakes (for the little one), and maybe bacon.

What spurred this rant?  Dinner tonight.  I made this yummy Sour Cream Noodle Bake from Pioneer Woman's blog.  Oh my gosh, I thought it was delicious.  But alas the dinner did not win the hearts of my children and got only a mild "it was good" from the husband.  I enjoy cooking but the family does not get excited about food and could care less when I try new things...

What did my family get excited about most recently????  This recipe for Monkey Bread also from Pioneer Woman's blog.  Why did they like it?  Was it homemade and super delicious?  Homemade?  Not by my standards - it involved 3 "cans" of biscuits.  Super delicious?  YES!  The little one liked it because it has LOADS of sugar.  The big one liked it because it was his idea - he had it at a friend's house one time.  The husband liked it so much that he ate too much and the declared that he felt sick - oh how I love to hear my food made him sick.

I have no idea what to do.  I want to try new recipes, but alas it just isn't worth listening to the complaining and whining at the dinner table - it stresses me out and makes me not enjoy my meal.  And on the occasion when the little one vomits... well that is obvious how that makes the night go.

So what's for dinner tomorrow night?  I HAVE NO FREAKIN' CLUE!  I may have to just leave the house and let my husband feed them whatever...  I'm so exhausted from trying...

Snow Day

If you know me, you know I'm not a HUGE fan of the snow or cold weather.  I just don't love it.  It is inconvenient at best and mostly a pain in the booty.  I don't like shoveling snow or sweeping the snow off my car.  I don't like my shoes getting snowy or wet when it turns to slush.  I don't like being cold and when the wind picks up on a snow day, brrrrrrrrrrr.  It's just not my favorite.

But for some reason, I like going out in it with my boys.  I do have fun throwing a snowball at them.  I like watching them get excited about it (especially my little guy).  I enjoy their enthusiasm.

This snow pic was from about a week ago.  Canon built a baby snowman.  Complete with carrot nose and stick arms.  He ate the carrot right away.

This is from today.  The boys built a "snow fort" and then had to climb on top of it and act all tough!

They do make me smile, in spite of the snow!

The Q and U Wedding

My youngest is in kindergarten.  Those clever kindergarten teachers have come up with this REALLY cute way to teach the kids about how Q and U go together in most words.  They have Q and U get married.

It is a BIG deal.  I mean really big deal.  The whole school attends the wedding.

The girls are Q's (because ladies are first).  Sorry I didn't take a picture of the girls.  I wasn't thinking.  I was so focused on getting pictures of my little guy.

The boys are U's.  They all have to dress up (because it is a formal occasion).

Then they play wedding music and the boys and girls walk in.  Arm-in-arm they walk up to the stage.  The principal conducts the ceremony and reads this really cute story with lots of QU-words in it.  The Q's have to say "I do" and then the U's have to say "I do."  Then the wedding is over and they all walk out.

Then comes the reception (yes, I'm serious).  They have a wedding cake - with Q and U on top of course.  And then after cake they have dancing.  So cute to watch the boys boogie down!  It was the highlight of my day/week.

Here are the boys getting lined up (girls are on the other side of the stage).

Here's my son NOT smiling for me.

Here's him NOT smiling again.

Here's how he looks when it's NOT me taking the picture.

(You can get an idea of what the girls looked like from the little girl behind Kieron.  They had cute little veils and flowers!)

So Good To Be Home!

I did not abandon my blog.  I was in Australia for 2 weeks and it took me a week to recover from the trip home!

Australia was AWESOME!  The boys did so well on the trip there, while we were there, and on the trip home.  We all had so much fun seeing crocodiles, feeding crocodiles, holding crocodiles, petting a wallaby, seeing and holding snakes, feeding fish at high tide, swimming in the hotel pool, swimming in the wave pool, walking around Darwin, riding the Croc Bus, and SO MANY other fun activities.  I really could spend the next few weeks blogging just about my trip.  I may make a few posts as I'm going through my pictures and such.  But for now, I'm going to just post a couple pictures and call it good.

Baby croc (about a year old)

The wallaby fur feels a lot like a soft cat or dog.

Feeding the fish at high tide.

The trip home was the hardest part.  We were all so tired when we arrived at LAX.  I think it took me 2 full days to feel "normal" again.  But it was all so worth it and we really had an experience of a lifetime!

I'm very glad to be home and sleeping in my own bed again!  The boys go back to school tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to the routines of the week again.

Our family (or maybe just me) has a passion for bowling.  Amazing how the bowling shoes in Australia look just like the goofy bowling shoes in America!