Our Picky Eater!

As a mother of toddlers, I am constantly worried that the kiddos aren’t getting enough proper nutrition. I was told by a far off source that if a child is lacking protein, carbs, and/or vitamins they will crave and eat those foods to fill that void. Boy is that off. Needless to say I have a picky eater, a VERY picky eater. Every meal we would put veggies and fruit on the lunch and dinner plate and every meal they would go untouched (unless they floated in the drink.) I tried not to make too big of a deal out of it, thinking that someday she would get curious about the “other” side of the plate. But when I found out that she was becoming deficient and it was affecting her health, I knew I had to take immediate action. So here are some tools that I have used to help solve my dilemma.

“Deceptively Delicious” book—it’s a recipe book by Jessica Seinfeld teaching mothers to sneak in veggies and fruit into everyday “kids” foods. I still serve the green beans with the spaghetti and meatballs but I don’t stress out that they don’t get eaten. The spaghetti is now fortified with wheat pasta, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes and spinach. I LOVE trying the new recipes and inventing my own with the added veggies. In all honesty, the food tastes good and we are finding it fills us up a lot faster than before (we are getting added veggies, too).

“Eat this Not that” book—this book is comparing the pre-prepared items in the grocery store. It is teaching the consumer (me) that just because it looks or says that the food is healthy doesn’t mean that it is (and it tells you why so you can make an informed decision). So now I am taking this book to the store with me and every time I buy a premade dinner, bread or juice. I then consult my new healthy food reference and make the best possible choice. I love it because it brings a new challenge to the food shopping trip and I can still get my chocolate and sugar fixes (and not feel guilty.)

The Snack Boxes—we bought a small Tupperware for each of the kids. We let them decorate it and color them. I then put the boxes in the fridge filled with good choice snacks. Now when the kids want a snack they can go into their box and grab which ever suits their fancy. Each snack is the proper portion size and since I control what goes in there I only put the best in there. I only fill them up once a week so once it’s gone, it’s gone. So when snack time rolls around I am not scouring the cupboards and then settle for fruit snacks or the eighth cookie that day.

I am still in the beginning stages of this uphill battle but I thought I would share some of the things that I have found that works. Do you have a picky eater? Do you have any advice? Let me know what you think?

Cool Song

I thought this was a really cool video. I think Kay is my new favorite artist. I hope you enjoy.

Drama, Drama, Drama!!!

I don't mean to sound negative but I am SICK of going to the emergency room. I was privileged enough to make another visit yesterday (Sunday) just as church began. It turns out that my silver ballet flats don't have very much traction when it comes to black ice. So after sitting down in sacrament meeting for about two minutes we decided to make a bee line to the ER. Luckily I only came away with a sprained wrist, but that doesn't take away the pain. Under normal conditions they would prescribe some feel good drugs but because of Aloysius Hector the III (the baby) I have to brave this arm with over the counter Tylenol, (an unenthusiastic, yeah.) So I would post more about this unfortunate event but I am one handed and I need to elevate my injured appendage.  

Need a pick me up?

Any time I am feeling down I think, "if only I could have someone there to pick me up." I think this is my answer. I hope it makes you feel better too! There are some more funny videos at Failblog. Just make sure you click on the G-Rated stuff.

It's Unofficially official!

James accepted a job offer in Texas! Yeah! The best part is they don't want him to start until the summer so, we will have time to sell the house and have a baby. We are really excited about it and can't wait for the warm weather!

Here's to do it yourself!!

Toilets get a bad rap because they handle all the stuff that we don't like to think about. In reality, as long as they are clean, they are not that bad. When our toilet started to run a month or two ago I thought, "oh great there goes another $100 to the plumber." Now, I know the plumber has to make a living too, but January is not the month to have to call a repairman. So I got brave, did a little research, and found out that toilets are an easy and simple mechanism. It just took about 15 minutes of reading, cleaning and repairing. It didn't even cost a penny. So now I feel like I can fix anything, and our toilet doesn't run now. 

"It's Morning!"

Every morning our little Lucy wakes up in the best mood. The first thing she says is, "it's morning" and then she todles into our room and says, "Mama, it's morning. Dada, it's morning." We love her cheerful, happy spirit!

Wow, What a Month!!!

I can not believe that this month is almost over. I have been super busy so I have neglected my blog, I am sorry. December is a busy month for everyone, but it seems to have hit me hard this year.

Grades were FINALLY posted on the 22^nd and I am happy to say I got straight A's. A Brittany first. That is not to say that there wasn't a lot of sweat and tears involved, because there was, but at least the final grades were worth it! 

So I was going into Christmas pretty excited, that is until Thomas opened three gifts and all of his stocking stuffers a week before Christmas. That was a stress beyond belief but we survived that too. On Christmas Eve we told the kids they we are having a baby and they both wanted to sit next to the baby while we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Christmas was going well until I ended up in the hospital at 7 a.m. with the stomach flu. Our family was shown the true spirit of Christmas as a family in our Branch brought over Christmas dinner and several people offered to watch the children, even on Christmas. But that was only a little detour from our Christmas celebrations.

I think the cutest part of this all is when I came home from the hospital Thomas wanted to see the new baby. The next 5 months are going to be long for him. 

Anyway, I just wanted everyone to know I have not disappeared. I have just been very busy and I plan to be more attentive. Thanks for reading and let me know how your holidays turned out. 

But, to end on a better note, I have been feeling the baby kick! Yippee!

Our Chocolate Fiesta!

On Friday, the 28th, we had a blast at our house. 

We pulled our our chocolate fountain and had our annual Chocolate party. 

Our guests brought food that ranged from strawberries and bananas to cheese and bacon. We played a few games and had a good time visiting with our friends. 

Next to Thanksgiving, our chocolate party is our favorite part of November. 

Chocolate, Chocloate and more Chocolate!

In Celebration of my Chocolate Fiesta on Friday I want to share a story with you that will get your taste buds salivating!

A guy found a bottle on the ocean, and he opened it and out popped a genie, and he gave him three wishes. The guy wished for a million dollars, and poof! There was a million dollars. Then he wished for a convertible, and poof! There was a convertible. And then, he wished he could be irresistible to all women... poof! He turned into a box of chocolates.

What's that?

Lucy was at my feet reading books while I was cleaning today. In her animal book at every page she would say, “What’s that?” and I would respond a monkey, bear, dog, etc. She knew all of the animals, but asked anyway. So when she got to the crocodile I responded saying, “it’s a bird.” Lucy retorted, “No mama, that’s a Cayman. Caymans live in the water.” I was quite taken back; I think I was about eighteen before I knew about Caymans. What a little smarty!

It's Coming up!!!!

The thing I love most about Thanksgiving is that it is one holiday away from Christmas!!! I love everything about Christmas, especially the tree. This year I have decided to do something new. Instead of bringing out all of our normal ornaments I have decided to make my own. Now we have had a pretty tight budget this month, but I was able to make all of these ornaments for about $5 TOTAL. I bought some oranges and apples and dried those out (needless to say, our house has been smelling Fabulous!!!!) and glued a few nuts together. So now I am up to about $4. I bought a remnant of fabric for a dollar to accent the ornaments. I had the buttons and string and made a button garland (it was going to be popcorn, but could you imagine the mess.) I made the little "gingerbread men" out of cinnamon, applesauce and Elmer's glue. Finally, the giant star tree topper--I made from sticks found on the ground in the park. So now I am all ready to decorate the tree. Sadly, I won't be doing that until the 29th of November, but I will post and let you see how it turns out. The only thing I want to add are some candy canes, but I will wait until we are on next months pay check. So what do you think? Have I given you any ideas? I was even thinking of picking up some pine cones and putting those on the tree too, but I think I will wait and see how it looks. I don't want to overload  the tree. (a little side note: This is just a sampling of the ornaments I have made. I actually have a ton of each. I couldn't take a picture of all of them because the apples are still drying out.)

I finally did it!!!!

I was inspired by my friend Shaye. I have made myself six shopping bags to use while grocery shopping. I have gone to the store with them twice now and I LOVE them. I just keep the bags in my car and pull them out when it is shopping time. Once I have brought in my groceries I hang the bags on my door so I can't forget to put them in my car. I no longer have to worry about the tons of shopping bags that fill up my cleaning closet. 

Making the bags were so easy to make that I am embarrassed that I was so intimidated about making them. I found the pattern here at the green bag lady's website. And the best part about it was I didn’t spend a penny on the bags. I used thread that I already had and the fabric was an old shower curtain (which made SIX bags, one with an extra pocket.) 

The kids love having a job to bring the bags into the grocery store and I really feel like I am helping out the environment by not wasting the many plastic bags. I have felt like I have needed to do this for a long time. I am glad that I have FINALLY taken a step to improving the environment. 

I get mixed responses from the checkers at the store. The first girl thought they were brilliant, beautiful and that I should sell them for $5 a piece. Another checker kept trying to put my groceries into a plastic bag, and I had to keep taking them out of the plastic bags and put them in my eco friendly repurposed bags. It irritated be at first but I will try to get use to impatience.

 I highly recommend everyone taking the step to make and use these FABULOUS bags. I tell you what, if you want some bags but don’t know how to make them, I will GLADLY make some for you—only if you promise to use them. I think they would make wonderful Christmas gift, too.  

The Joys of a Democracy

I don't know if there are any American Idol fans out there, but I know I watched the show religiously. This kind of reminds me of the recent elections. Sometimes we can feel this way when the one we root for doesn't prevail. I guess I am happy I was rootin' for the winners. Enjoy the drama!

Banana Butternut Squash Muffins

Yum and Double yum!!!! This was a hit at my house. I have been scouring the Internet to find butternut squash recipes for more than just soup. Did you know that you can take just about any pumpkin recipe and subsitue butternut squash? So that is what I have been doing. This recipe organally called for pumpkin but I swapped it. So try it, it is worth it!  

Banana Butternut Squash Muffins

INGREDIENTS:

2 ripe bananas, mashed 2 eggs 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1 1/3 cups butternut squash puree 1 cup white sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 3/4 cup raisins or chocolate chips(optional but make them yummy!)

DIRECTIONS:Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a muffin tin or line it with cupcake papers. In a large bowl, stir together the mashed banana, eggs, oil, squash, and sugar. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pie spice and cinnamon, stir into the banana mixture until just combined. Fold in the raisins and walnuts if desired. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Add powder sugar frosting if desired. For the Powder sugar frosting, mix about ½ cup of powder sugar with about 1 tsp to 1TBSP of milk.

The First Picture!!!!

We got our first picture of our new little baby! It turns out that I am 8 weeks along, just what I wanted. The baby looks healthy and perfect, except that he/she kind of looks like a duckling. Duckling or not we are just glad that little Herkimer is growing well. I will probably get another ultrasound in about 8 weeks and hopefully that will be good news too!

What do you think? Do you see the duckling?

Believe it or Not!!!!!

Six years ago today, I was trying on my dress, having dinner with the future in-laws, and was so excited that I couldn't sleep. So much has happened in the last simple six years. We have moved from Lindon to Provo to Denton, Texas back to Orem, Utah and finally to Chadron. Who knows where we will be next year? There have been three other marriages in our family since we tied the knot: Randy and Rebbecca, Brooke and Blake, and Dad and Shirley. Not only marriages, but children came, too. Let's see if I can name all of our nieces and nephews that have been born in the last six years: Benjamin, Adam, Abby, Rachel, Sophia, Olivia, Emma, Daniel, Eden, Kyle, Brianne, and Alex. I think the best thing that has happened in these last six years is our Thomas and Lucy. They are such a blessing in our lives and we pray for them every night. We have been very blessed the last six years and we hope for the next six years are just as exciting, fun, and rewarding. I also must say how much I love James, we dated for a VERY short time and we are fortunate that we made a good decision. We are a perfect fit! James is so thoughtful and caring, and I love having him in my life. Also, I am so glad I do not have to say goodbye at the end of the day, like when we were dating. He is with me always! I love it! So I have been digging through some old files and hope you can enjoy some pictures of us the day before and the day of the wedding. I was surprised at how young we look, it hasn't been that long, has it?

You're my inspiration!

I don't know if you have ever been to the Grosgrain blog, but I love it. I always feel so inadequate when I see the amazing stuff Kathleen does, but she has inspired me this Halloween. I got the kid's Halloween costumes last year when they all go on sale after the holiday. Sadly, the only costume I could find for Lucy was a bride's dress, talk about creepy! So after seeing the wonderful dresses on Grosgrain I got a little ambitious and attempted the impossible. There were some heartaches and frustrations but I pulled through. Now it's not all that great compared to what Kathleen does, but we all learn on our own levels of knowledge. I added a pink layer under the tulle and the flowers. There also was a pink trim, but I had to please Lucy and she was not a fan of the pink trim. So this year Lucy is going to be a princess/fairy. I guess I am doing fine if she gets to wear a pretty dress. 

Thomas this year is going to be a vampire and when we were trying on his costume he wanted to go up to James' work to "scare" all the students. So he ran up to the library and when he reached James he said, "I didn't scare ANYONE." What a cute boy and if you see him in his costume please tell him how scary he is--he will love it.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

So I have been slacking a bit on the blog, but my life has been pretty busy. This week is midterms, so I am studying and writing essays for that. Thomas started preschool today (where has the time gone?), so I have had TONS of paper work with that. I have also been trying really hard to keep up with my scrapbook, so maybe I can give an update on that soon. And don't forget, James is still healing and he is about as helpful around the house as a 4 year-old. So between my studying, writing, worrying, scrapping, and taking out the garbage I have not been able to upload pictures, or write the things I would like to on my blog. So unless you want me to post a blog about Roman civilizations and Feudalism, you have to be patient. Thanks. Oh, and by the way, that essay I wrote about the the '89 earthquake, I got an A. Yippee! You can read it here. Did I mention that I am pregnant and that takes a toll on a mother too? You know someday my life will calm down, I just fear that it won't be until about February, YIKES!

Book Birthday Party!

Today we had Thomas' birthday party. Thomas had a really fun time and we hope all the other kids did too. The theme was kind of Dr. Seuss kind of book party, but it was just a good ol' fashion party. We played lion cub, pass the parcel, I love..., ring around the rosies, and duck, duck, goose. This party was a bit different in that everyone brought a book and we swapped them. So the kids were all able to go home with a new book. Kids can never have enough books. Anyway, it was lots of fun! enjoy the pictures!