Getting ready to bake cookies for Santa!
Fresh-baked cookies and a Christmas shooter (vanilla egg nog) for Santa!
Owen wanted to put his new Lego creation out for Santa.
Christmas jammies and Santa hats…
Along with lots of outtakes!
One good family picture out of about 15 attempts!
Uncle Grob!
And then a ticklefest ensued.
We had errands to run after swim lessons then we were hungry so we found a coupon for a hibachi place. Owen had been to one years ago but this was Katie’s first time.
She liked the chop sticks.
She was freaked out by the first big shot of flames (which of course they START with) but overall she thought it was cool.
Of course she didn’t like ANYTHING on her plate.
He liked all the showy stuff; tried the soup, salad, shrimp, and scallops (the soup and salad were okay, he didn’t like the others); and actually ate quite a bit of his chicken and rice. He decided he liked Tom’s filet better than his chicken so he wants that next time. 🙂
We were invited to a friends’ house for Thanksgiving. She and her other guests cook in quantity like we do…so there wasn’t quite enough food for six adults and nine kids. 🙂
Katie’s dinner? A roll, crackers, and cheese. For dessert she tried pumpkin pie, said she liked it, then proceeded to eat just the whipped cream.
Owen’s dinner? A roll, ham, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream.
I did really well overall. I splurged on two glasses of wine throughout the evening…and it was deeelicious. (I haven’t had a glass of wine in probably four months.) Foodwise:
Dessert was cheesecake. I took a full slice intending to eat the whole thing dammit. And then about halfway through I said “This doesn’t even taste good anymore.” And that was that. Voodoo. 🙂
This is what she picked to wear. And she was damn cute. 🙂
The kids all had fun playing and the adults ended up watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles. 🙂
I didn’t get the best picture, but these two were having a stare down at lunch.
She always wants to comb my hair but I only let her on days that I wash and condition it.
He said it was costume day so we did this (he can’t get in/out of his costumes by himself).
ABCs while shopping.
This is what she was busy doing while I wasn’t watching. And this is her pout when I tell her she needs to pick them all up.
She tried a ham and cheese (no condiment) sandwich—and actually ate most of it!
I decided to make my all-time favorite garlic toast today because the bread was on sale B1G1 at the store.
“Mama, I want to put the water in please.” Except 98% of it didn’t make it in.
Outdoor lap selfie!
The little stink beat me!!
The kids got to make their own fruit skewers at playgroup today!
Tonight was the rescheduled community pool party and the kids had a great time. Unfortunately, it started raining right as they were handing out ice cream so we just headed home.
Katie ate the ice cream sandwich the entire ride home and didn’t drop one piece. That’s dedication.
We let Owen pick what he wanted for dinner to celebrate the end of the school year. He chose Papa John’s delivery. And he wanted to eat out on the deck!
This is what Katie wore to dinner. 🙂
The kids were super excited!
Anything she holds up to her eyes are ___ zombie eyes. Today just happened to be blueberries. Another time was pistachios. No, I have no idea where she got this…but I’m somehow guessing big brother. 🙂
Mom, can I have more strawberries, please?
So when I told Owen what I was making for dinner (grilled cheese) he was adamant he wanted to help. I was really NOT in the mood but I let him anyway because the last thing I want to do is discourage anything kitchen- and food-related.
Of course, within the first 15 seconds or so, he dropped the fully-buttered knife down the cabinet front so I was cleaning that and the floor. But he did okay overall. I did learn that he needs to be making his own sandwiches for practice. 🙂
Owen pushed my very last food button tonight. From now on he eats what we eat for dinner. And I predict he’ll go hungry for a few days.
That’s what I posted on Facebook after an extremely frustrating dinner. What happened? Well…as you all know, we’ve had issues with Owen and food since just about the time he started eating real food, but really about the last three years. We’ve tried SO many variations of feeding and mealtimes over the years that I’m honestly just at my limit.
So.
As per our current normal dinner rules, all Owen has to do is eat a tiny piece of what we’re eating (there’s a promise we won’t give him something we know he hates or won’t like (like pasta salad or sushi)).
So tonight was grilled chicken, steamed broccoli, and garlic bread. I know he doesn’t love chicken but will eat it. I know he doesn’t really like broccoli but he has eaten his one piece before without too much issue. And I know he loves the bread. His “extra” favorite foods were his yogurt and fruit.
Of course he saves the broccoli until last so it’s cold. And then when we remind him he needs to take his bite, he whines and takes the minutest nibble ever (I think I saw a tiny green speck on his tongue). We remind him he needs to eat the whole bite (it’s only like a 1/2″ piece). We go through the same spiel about how it might not be his favorite food—or even one he kinda likes—but he needs to take his one bite because that’s our current deal. Then he whines that he doesn’t have any yogurt left to dip it in—and we tell him that’s why he should eat it first. He then proceeds to play with it to avoid eating it and drops it in his water.
Well, I’m condensing the story a bit, so by this time Tom and I are at our limit so we fish it out and and say he still needs to eat it. He throws a fit so we take away his video game privileges for a day. He keeps on and then loses video games for the rest of the week. He loves his weekend video game time with daddy, so that causes a tantrum and he says he’ll eat it. I say it’s too late—he had plenty of time to eat it before now.
Now, I normally never reverse a decision, but after some quick back-and-forth we said if he ate it, he’d just lose his game time tomorrow. He said okay, so we were nice and gave him a fresh, non-water-soaked piece. And you’d have thought we were asking him to eat dog crap for all the gagging and whining he was doing. There was more drama about the stupid piece of broccoli…and that was the final straw.
We had already had this talk (months ago) that he had to do the one-bite thing or else we were switching to the eat-what-we-eat plan. That he was getting older and mommy was tired of making multiple meals at each meal time and he was old enough now to eat what we were eating. So he had been warned it would come eventually…so it just happened a bit sooner than planned.
We told him there can be foods he absolutely hates and doesn’t want to eat—and we won’t make him eat those—but they’ll be limited to a small list. If he doesn’t eat what we’re eating, he’ll be hungry. Plain and simple.
Oh, and Katie will be following the same plan, too. I’ve been thinking about it, and I just can’t go through three more years of this with her. And since Owen is doing it, it makes perfect sense.
Tom and I still need to discuss the exact terms, but we can decide specifics as we go. All I know is it is not going to be fun.
I ordered pizza for dinner and the kids love to watch the progress meter (ordered, baking, out for delivery, etc.). They didn’t move an inch for a good 15 minutes. 🙂
Okay, a bit of randomness that I didn’t feel like composing separate posts about… 🙂
We decided to give Owen a haircut. We had asked him before we left if he wanted it cut or if he wanted to try and grow it out (with the condition that if he wanted to grow it out, he had to let me put gel in it for school) and he said yes, he wanted to grow it out. Okay, fine. Fast forward a few days and he decided yes, he wanted it short. That was fine by me, so Tom cut it. I didn’t get an actual after picture, but stay tuned until later in this post.
More cool color-changing silverware from Grannie Lin!
And notice the haircut!
And notice Katie in her ballet shoes that she HAD to put on after her bath. 🙂
tecjh
She found color-changing straws so everyone had ice in their drinks at dinner! If you look closely, you can see Katie’s pink straw is turning purple and Owen’s blue straw is turning purple!
Last year the gang went to Fudpuckers while I stayed home to let Katie get a good nap. This year, we both went along.
They are known for the alligators…and I have to be honest and say they just creep me the hell out. /shudder
Beth and I decided to split this 40 oz margarita-ish drink.
And made mom try it, too. 🙂
Feeding the alligators.
Being a ham.
Attempting to get a cousin pic…and failing. 🙂
More creeptastic alligators.
Owen by his name that he wrote there last year.
Then this happened on the drive home.
The kids’ first time at Waffle House—and both loved it (and both chose waffles and bacon)!
Katie didn’t want to finish her lunch.
And then…happy again!
With all the recent snow days, Owen’s class was behind on celebrating Dr. Seuss Week, so the making of Green Eggs & Ham was this week. The teacher had emailed asking for volunteers, but with Tom gone and me prepping for our vacation, I opted to skip it. Then. The teacher emailed me directly asking if I could come in because no one else had volunteered. Hoo boy. So I said of course.
We got there as they were reading the book. Owen was, as usual, super excited to see us and gave Katie a hug.
While the teacher explained what the groups would be doing today, kk played in the kitchen.
And then it was time for centers. And as I had imagined, it was pretty much a cluster. Thankfully another mom showed up—as normally we’d have three 15-minute sessions of 4 kids each but since they were trying to make up time, we had three sessions of eight kids each. Yeesh.
There was cracking of eggs (after the mess the first group created, we broke the eggs ourselves), stirring of the eggs with food coloring in two bowls, sharing turns stirring, then cooking the eggs in an electric skillet and cutting the ham, the kids crowding around us trying to cook and us trying to keep them from touching the pan and burning themselves, trying to rember who can’t have ham due to religious reasons, then serving the eggs and ham and trying to keep things cleaned up while cleaning up the utensils for the next batch. WHEW.
The first session was SO crazy that I never had a second to snap a picture. Thankfully Owen was in the second group and we were getting the routine perfected by then.
Giving me a thumbs up on the green eggs!
Thankfully Katie is pretty well-behaved because I couldn’t do the eggs and watch her at the same time. I did see her with the assistant most of the time, and she was at a table coloring another time. I apologized to the assistant and she said no worries, Katie was really very good. PHEW.
And then just like that, it was done. And even though it was crazy, it hadn’t been that bad. 🙂
I don’t think kindergarteners should be left in full control of their lunch accounts.
So at the beginning of the year, we anticipated Owen buying hot lunch now and again, so we put $20 in his account. A few months in, I happened to check his account and saw a lunch deduction. I questioned it (emailed teacher, etc.) and found out he had purchased a pretzel. That was fine with us, the lunch people fixed the deduction to show the cost of a pretzel vs. the cost of a lunch, we had a talk with Owen about buying food at school, and life went on.
Fast forward to last night when I get a robocall from the lunch account warning us our balance is low, and we have $6.90. WAIT. WHAT? The last we knew, he bought a 75¢ pretzel in October. I looked up his account, and yep, there were four lunches purchased—one in October, November, December, and one JUST THE DAY BEFORE!
WHAT?!?!
We figure maybe somehow some other kid had randomly punched in Owen’s account number. So I fired off an email to his teacher, saying we tried to get an answer from Owen but that’s near impossible (oh, he isn’t quite sure what we’re asking, but then says yes he had a burger (but that was the one I brought him for his birthday)) and he says he doesn’t even know his lunch number so I can’t imagine he’s punching it in. We do know from past experience, however, that if the kid doesn’t know their number, they just give their name and the staff deducts it later.
The teacher writes back that in talking with her assistant (who usually goes to the lunchroom with the kids), she remembers a time or two he bought a lunch (once when he couldn’t find his lunch bag—WHAT?!?!) and once he bought a milk—but the others she had no idea so was going to ask the lunch people.
So I’m sitting here just gobsmacked. Of course the money isn’t the big deal here—we just need to get Owen situated with buying things and telling us he did so we’re not shocked when his account is suddenly $13 less than we think it is…and if I’m not packing enough food and he’s still hungry he needs to tell me! He has been adamant he has never bought anything aside from the pretzel! And he has never brought home an uneaten lunch. We told him he wasn’t in trouble at all—we were just trying to figure out what happened. We asked if he was extra hungry so bought more food? No. Was he buying food for someone else maybe? Or giving away his lunch? Nope. Ugh.
So, I was eagerly waiting to hear the post-lunch report.
And boy, was I surprised.
[The assistant] talked to the cafeteria lady and we all seem to feel that it is pretty accurate. I think there were only four lunches purchased and a couple of extra items and three of the purchases were made prior to January. It is really hard to expect a child to remember what he/she did a couple of hours ago, much less a couple of months ago. We will try to make sure that Owen does not purchase lunch unless he needs to. The cost for lunch is $2.90, so it doesn’t take much to go through twenty dollars. I hope this clarifies things for you.
Well, honestly, it doesn’t clarify much of anything other than you are pretty sure he did buy that stuff. They did give us an exact printout of what he bought, and it still blows my mind. Owen is not a big liar—granted, his memory for things non-Lego is pathetic—but I can’t believe he’d forget BUYING LUNCH THE DAY PRIOR.
Needless to say we’re not putting any more money in the account this year. And for future, I’m setting a “low balance reminder” for like $1 less than what we put in his account so we’ll get notified when he purchases anything.
And we’re hoping this behavior gets better in first grade!
I took Owen a Five Guys cheeseburger and fries for lunch. 🙂
Katie got some fries, too!
Handing out his birthday treats (mini candy bars) to his classmates!
The kids wanted hot chocolate after playing outside. It’s the one time Katie gets a real mug. 🙂
Super hero time!
Level 8 of the parking garage across from the aquarium. Owen was pretending to swim like a turtle when I snapped this!
On the drive here, I saw that there was a Capital Grille very close by—a restaurant we both miss from Troy—so we decided to eat lunch there! We stopped at Panera first to get the kids a bagel, and then it was a few doors down for our fancy lunch!
The kids enjoyed the bread basket, Tom had a lobster and crab burger with truffle fries (which Katie ate most of), and I had scallops with wild mushroom risotto and a side of lobster bisque (and the obligatory food porn shot with the single lobster piece for mom):
And then on to the aquarium! (We actually bought a family membership because tickets for today alone would have been about $100 and if we want to go again within the next year—which we will!—it would be even more because Katie will be over the “free” admission age—and we got a discounted membership for $155. It also gives us discounts on parking and gift shop purchases.)
The kids spent the whole time running from exhibit to exhibit like crazy people. Pretty much all Owen said the entire time was “COME HERE! LOOK AT THIS! OH WOW! MOM! DAD! COME HERE! DID YOU SEE THAT? LOOK AT THIS! COME HERE! COME HERE! OH MY GOSH! LOOK AT THIS! COME HERE!” Katie was a little less vocal but enjoyed everything but LOVED all the turtles and the penguins and puffers.
The octopus actually looked fake but was definitely real!
Super cool looking star fish! I just want to squish him!
This was the view from about the third story. That turtle was HUGE—probably 6-7′ long. The guide told us she was only 16 years old!
Heading up into the Amazon Rainforest: “It’s raining! It’s raining!” (They had misters at the very top of the escalator so it did feel like it was raining!”)
Owen loved all the escalators!
Then it was time for the 4D Spongebob movie ($5 extra per person of course!). We couldn’t take pictures during it, but it was AWESOME. I hadn’t been to a 4D movie since Honey I Shrunk the Kids at Disney probably 20 years ago! This production had bubbles, rumbling, lightning, wind, snow, and jellyfish tickling our legs! 🙂 OWEN LOVED IT…but was confused when it was over so soon because he only knows movies to be LONG.
And then my favorite exhibit—jellyfish!
Owen had a bit of a meltdown after our trip through the gift shop because everything he wanted was either too expensive or stuff we just didn’t want to get (he just didn’t need MORE cars or stuffed animals or a $30 T-shirt or cheap plastic toys). We offered a handful of different items (books, a Lego-ish type shark to build, etc.) that he could get but he didn’t want any of them and was just in a total snit about it. We explained he didn’t need to get a surprise every time we went anywhere and we did have limits on what he could get, and if we was going to act this way after a big day full of special things, then we just wouldn’t do stuff like this anymore. By the time we walked back to the car he apologized. 🙂
Katie was out before we exited the parking garage:
On the way home we both decided we didn’t want to cook dinner, so we were going out to eat. The place we wanted to try at the mall had an 1:30 wait—NO THANKS!—so we went to a 4-star Yelp sushi place across the street where we were the only patrons! The kids made do with rice but balked at the shrimp and veggie tempura we got them (who doesn’t like deep fried anything?!). Owen made a puppet out of the bag from the chocolate we bought earlier:
And then after a whirlwind day…we finally headed home.