St. Patty's Day Food

Breakfast Dinner

This is one of those fun things about silly holidays to me... I could care less about St. Patricks Day but coming up with lots of green food was fun! Brody wasnt to sure about the green eggs and neither of my kids liked green jello but they both thought green rice was pretty cool (you can make any color rice by adding food coloring to the water before you cook it... who would have known=) On the dinner plate is grapes, green apples, kiwi, celery cucumbers, ranch dressing with green food coloring,avacado, green goldfish (I bought a colored bag of goldfish and picked out the green ones), green jello, green rice and sprite with green food coloring and a lime on the side of the glass (Brody said it was spicy- meaning the carbonation).

I started blogging for many reasons. One being that I have completely failed at scrapbooking any memories of my childrens lives... in fact, the very thought of it now is just overwhelming. Another was so that people that dont live close to us can see what goes on in our day to day lives... except that these days, my blogging is not so day to day as it is week to week or even month to month...

I also wanted a way to document fun things we do, so that when my kids get older and think all I ever do is make them clean their rooms and do homework, I can show them all the fun things we really do.

But one of the main reasons I started blogging was for myself.... because I happen to know that most of the things I write on this blog, are for me, for my memories, and for all the things I want to hold onto in my kids lives... the things I never want to forget... the precious moments that only happen once in a lifetime.

We just came home from an amazing week long vacation to Florida. Yes, there will be several posts about it and yes, I took a rediculous amount of pictures... but this trip was not about the BIG things for me. It wasnt about watching Reagan be transformed into a princess at the Bippity Boppity Boutique or watching Brody meet his all time hero- Buzz Lightyear... it was about my kids, and the overwhelming feeling of being their mom.

It was about watching them play together and see that they are truly becoming the best of friends. It was about looking at them and wondering where the time has gone... where my babies went but being excited about the future of continuing to watch them grow and develope. It was the moment of sheer emotion when Reagan described her favorite part of the trip as "just being with you" while hugging Stephen and I, and Brody's sweet voice at the dinner table the night we got home saying "your the best mommy ever" even though the only edible thing in our house was ramen noodles and pickles. It was about holding them close to me at night and smelling them, and being completely in awe of the little people that they are becoming. Their are no words to describe the love I have for my kids, but I cant imagine ever forgetting that feeling!

Dear Mr. Dobson-

I have read your book... twice. I feel the need to tell you that you have no idea what your talking about. I read your examples of "extreme cases" of strong willed children and... well... can I just say... why don't you come to my house for a few days... then you will really know what an "extreme case" is. Actually, I don't even know if my Reagan fits into the category of "extreme cases"... she breaks the mold and stands in a world all her own when it comes to strong-willed children. Come to my house and you will truly see what a strong-willed child is... and then maybe you can write a book that I will read and find the least bit useful.

Sincerely-

Reagan's exhausted mommy!

*I feel the need to add here that I can appreciate the fact that Reagan is strong willed - she comes by it honestly and I know one day it will be to her advantage... I just wish I knew how to better deal with it right now =)

Soccer Mom

Well I am officially a "Soccer Mom" minus the mini-van... I will never own a mini-van (there... its written in stone, someone show me this if I ever mention owning a mini-van). I actually hate that term... what does it even mean? Does it mean you have a mini-van and go to soccer all the time, or just any sporting practice all the time, while shuffling around kids and grabbing fast food for dinner because your so busy going from one thing to the next? Does it mean you have all sorts of stuff falling from your car as the doors open up because your car has become your new home ( I have had crap falling out of my car as the doors opened ling before I even had children so maybe thats not accurate).
Anyway, last week Reagan started soccer. It took some convincing once she realized she couldnt wear a tu-tu to play in but I got her a soccer shirt with some bling and pink shin-guards and that seemed to satisfy her. Her team only has 6 kids on it and only 3 play on the field per team at a time. She had fun, which at 4 years old, is all I really expect from this. I think its good to let them try lots of things in the beginning to figure out what they really like.
She turns cartwheels on the field, she celebrates like a crazy woman anytime she kicks it in the goal (which isnt to hard to do since they dont even play with a goalie at this age) and she already thinks she is the best soccer player ever (I would say that mentality come from her daddy) but she is having fun, getting exercise and getting some experience.

I would say that makes being labeled a "soccer-mom" pretty worth it.

Oh and to make it even more exciting (insert sarcastic voice here) I got nominated to be team mom because... well... I stay at home with my kids and dont have real job to go to during the daytime. Yes, that actually came out of Reagans coaches mouth... her coach that happens to be a WOMAN! Seriously? I wanted to take Reagans soccer ball and .... well you get the idea.

A Battle of the Wills

This is Brody- trying to outlast his mama... little did he know, I wold have sat there all night!

I am not a big fan of making your kids eat EVERYTHING on their plate. I think that teaches them an unhealthy habit of eating just because there is food in front of them. I am however a huge believer in making my kids at least "try" everything on their plate.... that is until I had Brody unload the entire contents of his stomach into his dinner plate after forcing him to try a bite of a green bean. After that I cooled it with making him try things... He has proven, on several occasions, that he has an easy gag reflex. He gags if he cries to hard or coughs to hard so making him eat something I know he wont like (mainly green vegetables) will only result in me cleaning up vomit at the dinner table.

Tonight I made tilapia. Stephen hates fish (actually I am pretty sure he has never tried it) but my kids love it... and so do I. It was a pretty standard dinner... Tilapia, wild rice, fresh green beans, and fruit salad. I wasn't going to make the mistake of making Brody eat a green bean again so he only got fish, rice and fruit salad on his plate. He devoured the fish... I mean he literally ate it in record time and asked for more. He had a few bites of rice and then went on to proclaim his utter disgust for the fruit salad on his plate. (I mean seriously?... this kid just got done eating almost 2 entire fillets of fish and he is going to fight me on fruit salad which consisted of pineapple, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, and strawberries all cut up really small kind of like a chunky salsa...please!) So I dug my heels in and told him he had to try one bite before he could get down. I knew he liked the fruit that was in it and that he wouldn't gag it up but he was just being stubborn ( hey- he comes by that stubbornness honestly).

45 minutes later he finally took a bite. Let me just say here that Brody is pretty even tempered... Reagan is a different story, but Brody is pretty mellow most of the time but when this kid throws a tantrum its like a different child overtakes his body and he goes crazy! He fought me tooth and nail tonight, only to take a bite after 45 minutes and say "mmmmm this is yummy" and take 3 more bites. The best comment of the night was when he looked at me and said, with big crocodile tears running down his cheeks, "Mommy I don't want to have Hulk muscles!" (sometimes when I am trying to get him to eat something I will tell him it will make him strong like hulk muscles since he really likes The Hulk right now).

I also need to say here that I am not a big fan of fighting my kids to the death about things... I don't do it often. I believe in choosing my battles and letting go of the rest of it... but I also believe you "Say what you mean and mean what you say". Maybe next time he will remember that.