Voting & Chicken Noodle Burritos

Election day was Tuesday and this is what Shaw has to say about that...





Then, today was rough... Shaw threw up in the car... Twice.  By dinner time he was pretty hungry having "given up" his 2 previous meals of the day.  As I was making dinner he was insisting that he was no longer sick and would like a tortilla.  I gave him a tortilla along with some chicken noodle soup which mostly consisted of noodles.  I went on having a chat with Andrew and a friend that had stopped by then looked over to see Shaw seemed to be not just eating a tortilla but a burrito?!  Upon closer inspection I discovered that he had placed his noodles inside the tortilla rolled in up and was eating what I would describe as a Chicken Noodle Burrito.  I just giggled and let him scarf the rest of it down, then finish off the can of soup as well.  I feel like I've had a glimpse into his teen years... Oh Shaw boy how I love you!

Chili's Coma

The other night we went to Chili's with a few friends, it was a busy night there and we waited for awhile and the kids were really hungry by the time they got their food.  

Shaw had a corn dog kids meal and 3 glasses of chocolate milk, he was a happy camper.  We were all visiting and Marinn leans over to Melissa and says, "SHHHHhhhh, Shaw is sleeping." And she looks over to see this....

 Shaw was totally out, in a Chili's coma.  This is very uncommon for any of my kids but it was soo hilarious.  How could we not take a picture??

Shortly after this we headed home and as we were walking to the car, Taurin says to Shaw, "Shaw Boy,  you looked so cute when you were sleeping in the rest-R-ant.  You looked sooo cute!"

Healthy Eating.... Kid Style

Over the past few weeks we have been transitioning our eating habits to a much healthier way of living, more veggies and fruit and less sugar and dairy.  Anyhow, even though it is extremely challenging we are enforcing healthy eating not just for us but our entire family including a 5 year old, 3 year old, and 2 year old.  Have they complained at most of the dinners I have made in the last few weeks? YES! But they have eaten it and sometimes even enjoyed what I served.

Tonight I made hamburger patties with a tomato and cucumber salad and some sweet potato fries.  I thought the kids were going to be ecstatic at the idea of fries as part of our meal, but to my surprise they weren't interested in the fries and were asking for seconds of the tomato and cucumber salad.  I think I might be winning over their healthy taste buds!  Could it be?!

After dinner they were rewarded with a delicious healthy dessert:

1/3 sliced banana
1/8 C. blueberries
handfull of sliced almonds, large flake coconut, raisins
1/4 C. of Almond Milk

They really enjoyed their dessert, but asking Marinn what she thought she said it was good but it would have tasted even better with a large scoop of chocolate ice cream in the middle.  Ahhh glad to see they are still kids at heart.  ; )

Health Food and Fasting

As parents we try to feed our kids healthy foods, but what do we do when they don't enjoy our selections?  Do we give in to their pleas of disgust and give them the bad stuff they enjoy? 

In general my children have done pretty well eating what I serve them,  I always try to make things taste good and allow them small servings at a time so they aren't overwhelmed by new flavors.  Recently there have been many meals where my kids just don't want to eat what I'm serving and the other night at dinner I was frustrated that no one was eating and asked Andrew what I should do to solve this problem.  He had an idea that we have seen used by friends that has been effective and decided it was time to get serious.  

THE RULE: When dinner is served you have 30 minutes to eat what you are served, if you do not complete your meal dinner is over and you can continue eating what was served for dinner at breakfast the next morning.  This rule continues to all remaining meals until it is finished.  

So... I let the kids know the rule even gave them some incentive of a piece of chocolate cake for finishing their dinner.  Here were the results.

Marinn: Quickly finished her food and happily enjoyed a piece of chocolate cake. 

Shaw: Ate a few bites and was dissatisfied with the flavor.  He was served the same meal for the following breakfast and ate a few more bites,  but still didn't complete the meal.  Lunch time came and his hunger got the best of him, he quickly finished the dinner and then gladly enjoyed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  

Taurin: Ate a few bites of the dinner.  Ate a few bites the next day at breakfast and lunch.  All day she was hilarious... she kept saying she was sleepy, that she wasn't hungry, giving us puppy dog eyes and asking for hot dogs.  The funniest part was I kept finding her laying like this....

Face down in the carpet, pitiful and patiently waiting our surrender.  Dinner came and she had about 5 bites of food remaining from the dinner before.  She finally finished and was rewarded with lots of mac and cheese, a hot dog, and a cheese stick.  

Since that day, meals have been pleasant.  Everyone is gladly finishing their food and actually complimenting the chef.  

Shaw Boy turns 2!!!

We are still working on the fingers for forming the "2" sign.

 It's good to have sisters : )

 His new Hot Wheels trike! 

He loves pushing all the buttons that make the songs and lights go off. 

 He got a bunch of balls and was super excited! 

One of his presents from Mar Mar was this swimming suit / floaty, we tried it on him and he just hung out in it for awhile... it totally made him look like he had really been working his upper body : )

Shaw is such a boy and even at two he is such a brut, so strong but sweet at the same time.  Aww my baby boy has grown up so much! 

*I wanted to share the recipe for his cake because it turned out amazing and super easy! 

1 Box Devil's Food cake mix

1 large box chocolate pudding mix

1/2 cup approx. of sour cream

I mixed up the cake mix like directed and then added the pudding and sour cream and baked it for the time suggested on the box. In two 9" round pans. 

When assembling the cake I just put a nice layer of Cool Whip in between the 2 layers of cake. Then frosted it with a homemade chocolate cream cheese frosting that I got off of allrecipes.com

Frosting Recipe:

1 Cup Semi sweet chocolate chips

1/4 Cup whipping cream (I used canned milk because I didn't have cream)

1/4 Cup Powdered sugar

1 package of cream cheese, softened

Melt the chocolate chips and cream on double boiler until fully melted and then mix with cream cheese and powdered sugar.  I sifted the powdered sugar (suggested from the recipe site where I got this).   It turned out creamy and delicious and after frosting the cake I just put it in the freezer for about an hour or two to help the frosting thicken up a bit.  

Now cake is not in our meal plans, but I couldn't help but have a few bites of my creation.  It was heavenly... not too chocolatey or sweet.  Perfection! 

Scammed by Advertising via a 2 year old!

I started making the cake for Taurin's Birthday today and Taurin wanted to help. I was a little reluctant because I just wanted to get it done.  Then she saw the above advertisement and said, 

"Mommy that little girl is helping her mommy make a cake. I want to help my mommy make a cake." 

How could I say no to that? 

How could the mom on the cake box be cooler than me? 

Needless to say she got to help me make the cake.

Baby Squash

While in the store today the girls began to get a bit restless. I was purchasing a spaghetti squash... I cradled the squash gently and explained to Taurin I needed her to hold my baby.  She gently held the squash giving a little "shhh shhh" here and there.  The awesome part was she was completely still fully engrossed in caring for the baby squash.  

Marinn was feeling a bit left out of the mommy circle and asked for a baby of her own... the only thing I had left that was close to a baby was a jar of Ragu... I picked it up and cradled it gently and passed it off to Marinn.  The remaining time in the store was spent sitting quietly taking care of their babies.  

On the way home in the car, Marinn now holding the baby squash, says, "Mom the baby squash is sad because she misses her mommy and daddy."  I explain we can adopt the squash and she can be a part of our family. Marinn responds, "Yes, and we can eat her."  This answer surprised me considering her love for the squash but I thought it was hilarious at the same time.... 

the logic: part of a family= you get eaten?!  

Ice Creamy Goodness

There is nothing sweeter than some ice cream after a long day at the park.  

Marinn was the first to finish her ice cream cone.  She's such a pro.

Taurin was so funny eating her ice cream. She was really focused.  

I love this shirt on Toto, I just think she looks sooo cute. 

Pancakes & Oatmeal

This morning my mom was making pancakes down stairs... when Taurin woke up the first thing she said was, "Pancakes!? Pancakes!? Pancakes!?"  This continued until we made it downstairs to the pancakes.  She loves pancakes, she'll eat a whole stack and ask for more.

Toto's other favorite breakfast food is oatmeal... she will throw down a good 3 bowls in one sitting if you let her. She actually has asked me for oatmeal for dinner on a few occasions.  I wonder why she loves it so much?