We've been playing a new game at our house.

You could call it Mommy-is-Sick-of-Feeding-the-Ungrateful-Masses, but as I am not bitter, it's really about a simple points system.

I told my food-fearing, taste-starved children that I was going to cook what I wanted for dinner and no one was going to make them try a bite of anything anymore. They were in charge of their own hungry tummies for each meal and they couldn't be unkind about the food I make and that whining about dinner would no longer be tolerated. (Then I throw in the sweet part...) "However," I said, "every time you try something new, a nickel-sized bite of something, you will get a point. If you get ten points, you will get a prize. You'll get a bonus date with mom and dad, a game rental from the Redbox, a snowcone... (stuff around a dollar)"

And I left it at that.

It has been magic!!!

Just last night, watching Bryce dig into a mushroom-filled wild rice casserole was more rewarding than finishing a good book.

Over the last two weeks my kids have eaten kale chips, kohlrabi, carrots, that rice casserole, steak sauce and grilled garlic spread on grilled french bread. The funniest part is how surprised they are that they actually like things.

I didn't think it would work this well. 

They only amendment I made to the original statement is that they could get up to five points per new thing (to encourage truly tasting what they put in their mouths).

We have had snow cones, rented Epic Mickey...and that's just the beginning. Bryce is DEFINITELY in the lead on this. He just cleared his third set of ten yesterday. Ella's had two and Dane one.

The final benefit is that I'm enjoying dinner again. Family dinner is quality time instead of tense and unhappy. I'm not afraid to share that in the past I have left the table in tears because food and filling tummies has always equaled love to me. I think my love may be better spent elsewhere, instead of using it as a cooking ingredient.

What do you wanna bet that she doesn't sit down the whole meal?
My great-grandmother never sat down during family dinners. My grandmother never does. My mother and her sisters are the same. Looks like it was passed down from long ago.

You see, my grandma and great aunts have always been proud of the fact that we have ancestors that came over on the Mayflower in 1620.
In fact, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem The Courtship of Miles Standish is about my ancestors John and Priscilla Alden. Miles Standish was too shy to give an offer of marriage to Priscilla himself, so he had his good friend John Alden give her a letter containing a proposal. Little did Mr. Standish know that John was already quite taken with Priscilla himself (at least that's how I remember it going).

Anyway, below is the Merrie Melodies version of the tale entitled "The Hardship of Miles Standish." It's pretty funny. Elmer Fudd plays John Alden.



Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

I exercised again today. Yesterday, I learned that muscle soreness and fasting can confuse the weary mom into believing she may have the flu. Exercise caution. I wasn't sure if I was sick or not, but I've been drinking water like crazy and that seemed to be the main problem (the lack of water).

ANYWAY...

I meant to share this before Halloween but had not time for anything other than costume making.

Cameron works out several times a week at their work campus fitness center and they had a contest pre-Halloween to win this...

So the craziness is that I love most of this candy and it's in convenient big-mouth-sized pieces. Cam won by guessing how many calories the jar contained.

How many calories are were in jar? 12,528

I have this huge jar of candy now and no one in my family is really going to help me. Cam can't eat any of it. I gave away a couple of pounds of it pre-Halloween, but it's still 1/3 full.

And I choose to start eating healthier and exercising. CRAZY.

Peanuts are good protein, right?

Neighborhoods are filling up with haunting Halloween decor.

The stores have all turned black and orange with purple accents inside.

Do you do Halloween big or small?

Are you dressing up this year or not?

What about your significant other?

It's funny how cool I get about Halloween once Cameron decides he wants to participate. I mentioned before that he wants to be Professor Snape from Harry Potter.

This is what I have to sew, but I don't care because he wants to have fun!

My friend Angie and I are taking our youngest two to Gardener Village today to see the witches they have displayed all over the place (and maybe get some fudge...uuuhhhhh...fudge). I'm really looking forward to some Halloween fun!

Last question: If you've already bought your Halloween candy...how much of it have you eaten?

I just love these pictures of my lovely little angel making family home evening treats last week. I had a bowl full of crushed Oreos from Bryce's birthday cake and thought we'd make a type of pudding parfait.
She made all five individual dishes by herself, with minimal instruction.

Nice work, Ella!

Have I ever complained about Dane's very limited eating spectrum?

Oh. You don't say.

Well, the other day, he decided to fancify his favorite meal, following after our example of using our fresh basil to garnish just about every plate of fresh tomatoes.

The result is almost appetizing bowl of mac-n-cheese.

I thought it was pretty cool. He loved it and may have even taken a nibble or two of the chive.

What are you hungering for today?

I finished a little clothing project for Ella today and I find myself hungering for more creative out-letting.

I'm also hungering for this and maybe chocolate administered intravenously.

You?

Make your favorite cinnamon roll recipe into a caramel cinnamon roll recipe with this easy tip.

1. Whisk together 1 cup packed brown sugar and a 1/2 cup whipping cream.
2. Undercook your rolls by 10 minutes. Take them out and invert them onto a flat surface (cutting board, tray, etc.
3. Pour the cream/sugar mix into your roll pan and coat the entire bottom.
4. Slide the rolls (upside down) into the pan and gently press them into the goo below.
5. Return to oven for the remaining 10 minutes.
6. Invert rolls once again so that they are right side up and now coated with the caramel yumminess that bubbled up during that 10 minute cook time.
7. Enjoy!

My kids are so picky. It drives me up the wall and into depression. It is absolutely NO fun to try new foods on them, but I know I have to because they are truly not getting the nutrients they need.

So, I've been borrowing kid cookbooks from the library to show the kids, to see if they could find something they'd be willing to try. Usually, I chicken out ( you would too if they looked at your loving efforts and proclaimed "This looks disgusting!") However, on Saturday morning, with Cam about to go grocery shopping, I had them sit down with two different books: Bryce was excited by each and every page of the World cookbook (he being the least of the picky eaters) and chose pork shish kabob. Since the kids like pork anyway, I think they can deal with a vegetable touching it, right? Okay, good.

Dane and Ella take forever, carefully weighing the ickiness of each item. Then Dane asks me "Mom, what is teriyaki?" He was looking at a teriyaki noodle bowl. I told him about what he was seeing, what it would be like and then *bing* inspiration hit and I said "We'll get chopsticks to eat it with."

"Really? Okay! This is what I want to try!"

Ella then chose vegetable fried rice, which I thought was perfect.

On Monday, I decided to serve Ella's and Dane's choices together. Dane was dismayed to learn he'd have to eat what Ella chose as well, but I shrugged it off and kept my cool.

Right before dinner I prayed, asking Heavenly Father to please help this to be a good experience for the kids and that they might feel comfortable with the new foods.

Before the prayer, I gave everyone chopstick lessons. That got them very excited.

I tried hard not to damage my cheek muscles from smiling at my kids eating and eating and eating their food. Understand that my kids have never had anything on their broccoli besides butter and salt and here it was in a teriyaki flavored soup. Ella ate the match-stick carrots. Dane ate the ramen noodles in the soup hungrily. They ate the chunks of chicken (even though they "don't like chicken that's been in soup") Dinner was a lot longer than usual as the kids tried to perfect their chopstick handling. The water chestnuts didn't kill them. It nearly killed them to have to use a fork on the fried rice, but Dane (the one who has never liked rice EVER) said that he really liked it (as he shoveled it into his mouth).

Sigh...

This dinner was big for me (it was also yummy). Too bad their aren't any other odd eating utensils out there. Maybe we should try crab so they can crack open the legs.

And since you were probably wondering...I chose the Tandoori Chicken Legs for my choice.

...to discover the joys of a bread-making machine.

When my friend Anisa (THANK YOU) gave hers to me a few months back, I didn't do a lot with it.

However, now that I've got my Better-for-Bread flour, I have gone to town.

Today's discovery was using the machine as a dough mixer/maker.

I made dough for two pizzas and cinnamon rolls today and I didn't start until 2:30 PM! Amazing!
We had a pizza picnic out in the park for FHE. Cam, Dane and I tossed a frisbee and then we all played around at the playground. (This sounds like we're all healthy, which is a joke. Cam and I are doing poorly, though we've improved and Dane is so-so. Bryce and Ella are fine.)

Then we came in for the cinnamon rolls:

Well, this week the world began to look like Christmas, but I tell you, once the smells of homemade caramel begin wafting through the house, it is Christmas. Just imagine warmth, melting butter, brown sugar and whipping cream and you've practically scratch and sniffed your monitor.
Early stages, butter chunks still melting...Heating up to firm ball stage. This is when you begin to drool.

Pouring...so amazing!

It's crazy hot, but I'd still like to swim in it.

Why not have some Chocolate Chip Cookies as well?

Yum!!!

So we had a barbeque at Eric's house (this beaut was my dad's b-day present from Eric. The bacon part was to die for. Thanks pig!) Ryan got us started on playing guitar hero.

By the way, who does Bryce look like? This is who. My brother, Ryan.

Ryan is a perpetual good influence.

The battle of the brothers. Ryan won, but Eric played the best. It was a bitter defeat for him.

I cannot play Guitar Hero. Someone gimme a karaoke machine.

Dane had fun strumming away.

Eric, Stephanie, me and my kids, my dad, mom, Ryan and Kyler came and we had a great time and great food. Great grilling from our host, Eric. Thanks, little brother!

Bryce.

Bryce. Bryce. Bryce.


This kid will not sleep in his bed.

We've felt like we've put ourselves into a difficult position having our boys share a room because we haven't been able to teach Bryce to stay in his own bed in the same way we taught the other two because we didn't want Dane constantly waking up from Bryce's displeasure.

Last night was the first night in weeks that Bryce has slept through the night, reminding me how sweet it can be.

Our new plan of attack is to put Dane through the nighttime routine in our room temporarily while we train Bryce in how this all works (then we'll move the unconscious Dane into his bed before we retire). Wish us luck. Our basic training has always consisted of walking the kids back to their beds each time they get out until they're so tired of the business (in a week or so) that they just stay in their beds. I think it's the consistency of our actions that trains them...I suppose that is the definition of training. I really hope it works because I need my sleep!

Other than getting a rare full-night's sleep, I am also grateful for ice cream.

Isn't this stuff great? It goes with everything, has more bribe-power than any other force known to man-kind, and it makes me so very happy!

My favorite in general is Rocky Road.


My favorite 'specialty' ice creams are:

Ben and Jerry's Creme Brulee


Ben and Jerry's Karamel Sutra


Blue Belle's Pecan Pralines and Cream



Blue Belle's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough





Dreyer's Slow-Churned Rocky Road (there's something oddly and delightfully weird about their low-fat marshmallow swirl)

Let's hear it for ice cream! And sleep...let's definitely hear it for sleep! Yay!

Husband: Yessir...This is your true road side rotgut!
Wife: Mmmmm
Husband: Don't tell me you're enjoying this stuff!
Wife: John, it's amazing what tastes good when you don't cook it yourself!

My children are extremely picky. I've made no secret of that here.
Lately, I throw dinner together nearly every night with stuff that ranks just above junk food (with a side of broccoli) just to avoid the belligerent whines and complaints about any and everything that isn't exactly what each of them wants.
For awhile, I was making them try new things, bribing them if I had to, and it's worked up to a point. Yes, they'll now eat chicken that hasn't first been breaded and fried, they'll gobble up pork roast as well. Broccoli takes a little more persuasion than usual, but probably because it's cold nowadays.
You see, when the kids complain they are sent to their rooms for a break (it sounds severe, but if one complains suddenly each kid loses their appetite). This delays the start of dinner and everyone gets increasingly cranky.
Sunday dinner, sadly, is our worst day. I really make a nice effort that day to give Cam what his mom would do if she were making dinner. Lots of extras...stuff I would rejoice over if it were made for me, yet even so I'm excited to eat.
It takes us two hours to eat Sunday dinner with several trips down the hall to talk about appropriate and respectful behavior. I guess the more food their is even though they aren't required or expected to touch most of it the more breaks they need from the table.
It's exhausting.

Will the madness ever end? Will my kids ever learn to eat food based on trust and not what their eyes tell them? Will they ever eat carrots? Will they ever savor the glorious taste of a home-grown tomato? Will they ever have salad with their croutons?

Is this the end this mother sanity?

Yes. Yes it is.

This was such a great family week!
On Wednesday morning my cousin Curtis and his family came for breakfast, passing through on their way to Las Vegas to visit her family.
I was really excited about this because I had not yet met his wife, Chelsea, although we've been blog buddies for way more than a year now. (I hesitate saying years...could I have been blogging that long?!) The 90 minutes they spent with us just flew by and was so nice. My boys loved playing with Caleb. Makenna loved playing with...me! It's so rare to have someone else's kid take to me so I was more than pleased. I also got to hold little Mason. Dane was enchanted with that little guy.
I am so glad they came to visit.

Ella felt a bit shy about the whole thing and she even missed out on pictures. Dig Bryce's crazy jammies!
Me and my boys...

On Friday, Cam surprised me by calling and asking if I minded if we went out to eat for dinner. If you know us at all...well, it just about knocked my socks off. Thanks, Cam!!!

After we ate, we played at Sky Park. Bryce decided to be the photographer.

Daddy

Mommy
The slide
Bryce's personal favorite: his nostrils

When I got my camera back...

Ella

Bryce and Dane

My three little monkeys

And now today...

we had Cameron's parents and sister's family over for dinner.

So much fun to be with family!!!

(Kristine, Bryce, Ella, Dane & James in the sandbox)