Posting A Day Late

Tuesday was National Pretzel Day.  I did not know this until I checked another blog I follow.  This blog is also where I found a fabulous soft pretzel recipe.

I didn't get around to doing this post until Wednesday, but in honor of National Pretzel Day

and because I had given all my soft pretzels to my dad when I visited him over Spring Break, this is what I did yesterday...

Mmmmmmm.....  This was the last batch and was sprinkled with salt (I do half salt and half cinnamon-sugar).  I know this was the salt batch because I finally broke down and had one!  Soooooooooooo delicious.  I really make these for my older son.  He takes them to school for snack.  I try not to eat too many of them since the carbs have lots o' calories.  But I couldn't resist and it was soooooooooooooooo worth it.  DELICIOUS.

I also love that they freeze well (since that keeps me from eating them).  And then they thaw in time for my son's snack at school!  Win, win, win!

If you haven't tried making pretzels you should TOTALLY do it!  Worth the time.

Sorry if you missed out on National  Pretzel Day.  Maybe next year!

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...

Sleep-over!



I have recovered... I think.  And for fear of being accused of whining (by my brother) I am not complaining in this post.  I am simply relaying the events as they occurred for Canon’s party.

 

Due to the upcoming Australia trip!  (Woohoo!)  We celebrated Canon’s birthday a little earlier than I would have normally.  I didn’t want to have to figure it all out when we get back.  Canon requested a sleep-over party.  Like the real thing with his friends actually staying ALL night.  Didn’t want to deny him his birthday party wish so we did it!  The party was Friday night (5:30) to Saturday morning (10:00).

 

Here’s the events as they transpired. 

1) boys arrived and ate pizza.  This was good and enjoyed by everyone.

2) bubble gum was chewed – boys tried to blow bubbles (mostly unsuccessfully) and then I had boys take gum out of mouth and stretch it as far as possible and then put it back in mouth and repeat.  yum.

3) boys were given a small container of playdough and asked to make the LONGEST snake they could make.  This was funny because mostly they didn’t get the concept of making the whole snake thinner they just kept pushing in the middle and had a snake with a fat head and fat tail.

4) balloon popping – boys were to grab a balloon and use ONLY their body to pop it.  there were about 70 balloons for this activity.  balloons were popped and then cleaned up!

5) pinata – this was VERY entertaining.  canon broke the level 1 stick in half.  we managed to get to the level 3 stick. (level 5 was a golf club putter)  one cute little boy was whacking the pinata and the stick came back and whacked him in the forehead.  there was a little crying but he recovered!

6) birthday presents were opened!

7) birthday brownie and ice cream was eaten

8) pj’s were put on and sleeping bags put out

9) the first Harry Potter movie was watched (and kettle corn was eaten!)

 

When Harry Potter ended it was about 10:30ish.  The Bread Winner had already left me half-sleeping on the couch and gone to bed.

I put the next video in (Woody Woodpecker).  I was thinking kids would start to “crash” at about this time.  But no.

Kieron had fallen asleep but the other 7 kids were still up.

By midnight the other two smaller kids were asleep.  The 5 “die hards”were still awake!  At about 12:30ish Woody Woodpecker was over and I turned the tv off.  They accused me of “trying to make them go to sleep.”  "Not me” I said!

So as the boys were laying in the “dark” I could hear the bodies moving.  That’s the only way I can describe it.  They wouldn’t stop moving.  Arms were waving in the air.  Bodies were wiggling.  I knew that if they just laid still for a few seconds they would fall asleep.  But they wouldn’t stop moving!  I finally couldn’t take it.  I was SO tired myself that I walked over to Canon and whispered that if he didn’t just lay still and TRY to go to sleep I was NEVER going to let him have another sleep-over EVER.  I left the room to go to the bathroom and feel guilty for threatening my child when he was just trying to have a good time at his first ever sleep-over.

When I returned and laid down on the couch the moving body syndrome had stopped and by 1:45 all 5 boys were FINALLY asleep.  I went to bed at about 2:00.

 

At 6:00 AM I heard the voices.  Not just one.  ALL of them.  SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?  6:00 AM?!?!?!?!!? I smacked The Bread Winner and told him it was HIS job to turn on some cartoons or something.  I was so EXHAUSTED!!!

 

At 6:30 I got up and started organizing breakfast (muffins, grapes, smoothies).  They ate breakfast, cleaned up their sleeping bags, and got dressed.  Then they played foosball and built Legos.  Then we went outside and they played football and soccer.  Thankfully parents arrived and took their children away.  The parents all looked so refreshed.  Like they had a good night’s sleep.  They were all smiling.  They were happy.

 

I went upstairs and tried to have the energy to do something productive.  It was relatively unsuccessful.  I eventually laid down on the couch with Kieron.  I think I slept for 45 minutes.  After the short nap and a shower I felt mostly like a real person again.  But after a full night’s sleep I’m actually feeling MUCH better today – I’m so old.

 

It was a long party, but the birthday boy really enjoyed it and the boys were good.  They all had fun and were so excited about staying up ALL night!

Frazzled

I don't normally feel frazzled.  I normally feel like I have everything under control and on schedule.  But I must admit with a birthday party (sleepover) and an upcoming trip to Australia... I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed!

I'm trying to keep it all in perspective.  I don't have to go to a "real" job on top of all this.  I have this awesome deal where I stay home and take care of my family.  So that is great!

However, I'm still feeling a bit "out of it" with getting ready for everything.  I'm trying to stay focused on the birthday party since that is happening first.  And things are moving along for that.  But then the Australia trip creeps into the back of my mind and I know I have a million things to do for that!

Let me repeat that I am glad to have all these things going on.  Better to have good things frazzling me than bad things.  So I do feel fortunate about that.

Nevertheless, my brain does not seem to get much of a chance to rest.

On a side note, Canon is blowing me away with his insane reading ability these days.  He is on Harry Potter book 4.  He is only in second grade!  He has even taken the Reading Counts quizzes on the first 3 books and passed them!  BLOWS ME AWAY!

He was so cute last night when he finished book 3.  He came out from his bedroom and told me that we were going to have to go buy book 4 the next day.  Little did he know that his mama had it all covered!  I had bought the book 2 days before since I knew he was close to finishing book 3.  Mamas rock!

Then I decided to give him one of his birthday presents early because he passed his quiz at school.  So he got to build the Lego Quidditch set today after school.  He was SO excited!  Maybe a picture of that will get posted tomorrow - if my frazzled brain has time!

Science Fair

 

My baby (not the youngest, but they are both my babies!) did his very first science fair project!  HOLY COW!  It was a very proud moment for me on Sunday afternoon when he glued the last piece of his project to the board.  I just can't believe it!

What is really exciting is that he WANTED to do the project and actually asked several times over the past couple weeks, to work on the project.  We weren't scrambling at the last minute to push and get things finished.  The project isn't even due until tomorrow and it was done yesterday!

I'm also very proud of him because he sorta understands what he did.  I helped, but I didn't DO the project for him.  He really did the work.  Ran the experiment, collected the data, drew the pictures, typed the report, cut and glued stuff to the board.  It was so great to see!

I'm not going to say that his is a 1st place project.  I have no way of knowing yet.  This is the first time I've ever done a science fair project with a 2nd grader.  We will find out tomorrow.  But whether he wins or not, I'm so proud of him for what he accomplished!!