“Show Mommy how the little piggy eats…”

Do you remember that line from The Christmas Story? It’s when Ralphie’s mom tries to encourage his little brother Randy to eat his dinner…then the kid starts snorting up his food while oinking? Got the image now?

That is how dinner was tonight with Luke. I made stir fry and we gave him one piece of chicken and told him to eat it, then he could have the fried rice. He started to throw his tantrum about not wanting to eat it, etc. So after 15 minutes, I tried a new approach.

First we told him to smell it. He does so.
Then we told him to lick it. He does so and doesn’t freak out.
So next I said, “Stick it on your fork and lick it like a lollipop!”
Son: (Laughs and licks it)
Mom: “Lick it some more.”
Son: (Laughing hysterically now and licking super fast)
Mom: "Now, chew it like bubble gum!”
Son: “MMMMM!!! More chicken please!!”

All the while in my head is playing the scene from above mentioned movie. Too bad I wasn’t filming our dinner.

Words of Wisdom

"Learn to write your hurts in sand and carve your blessings in stone."

I read this in the comic Pickles by Brian Crane a couple of weeks back and liked it. Thought I'd pass it on.

Who's That Nibbling On My Gingerbread House?

Thanksgiving night we herded ourselves down into my parents basement to deocrate Gingerbread houses. It was especially fun as this was the first time Luke & Brooke have ever done this. I didn't worry about getting fancy like the rest of the fam, I just put blobs of frosting on the house and let the kids stick whatever candy they wanted onto it. They loved it!

Mornings Suck

In a rare moment this morning, as my children played upstairs with the kids I baby-sit, I turned on the TV for myself. As I looked at the channel guide at what is offered at this hour for adults, I came to realize that I hate morning TV. This should not surprise me, as I hate mornings.

I HATE to wake up early. Now that I have kids, I’m up at 7 or before all the time. And if they do choose to sleep in, it’s on a day when my baby-sit kids are coming early.

Breakfast is something else I’m not big into. I have NEVER liked breakfast food offered at places like McDonald’s and Burger King – as a kid it was one of the worst things about cross country travel. I’m not a big fan of pancakes and waffles – I do like bacon, however. Instead, I would rather eat leftover pizza or a frozen burrito.

I also hate taking showers in the morning. I feel it is a form of torture to have to get out of a nice cozy bed and stand under water pelting down at you. And that’s not even the worst part! You still have to have to walk out of the warmth you’ve finally created into a cold morning and look longingly at your bed knowing that it will be hours before you can climb back in again.

So anyway, back to this morning. As I lay exhausted on my couch looking over the pathetic choice of shows to choose to waste my free time on, debating whether or not I wanted to make cereal to eat, I just decided to turn off the TV and hit the fridge for my leftover pizza and read a book. And they were great!

Elves

Today the Elves came to Gardner Village, so I took the kids to see them. Luke refused to have his picture taken with them, but I did get one shot with him near some.

Snow Babies

First Snow (that stuck) of the Year

Sweeties

I don't know how my cousin Shannon gets her photos to turn out so nice, but here is my attempt to get our kids to pose...

No Regrets

Lately I find myself thinking about my many regrets, so today, I thought about some of the things that I don’t regret.

* My last minute decision to go to Hawaii with my friend Gorgi (1999)
* Every bite of ice cream or pineapple whip I ate while I was there
* Taking off a week of work to go to Norway with my cousin Jeremy, and ending up in the Bahamas instead (2000)
* Buying a second Pina Colada because the first was the best I’d ever had (Bahamas)
* Skipping a week of school to go to Hawaii with my family (2000)
* Walking with my dad to the Hale Koa to get Pina Coladas and taking him up on the offer to have a second.
* Voting for George W. Bush
* Loving the Bee Gees
* That strawberry cheesecake ice cream cone I bought in Vegas at the Ghirardelli ice cream shop (however, I DO regret not spending the $8 for the big Peppermint Sundae)
* Paying the extra bucks to sit in the “Hot Potato” seats at the Wiggles concert (twice) with our kids
* Putting Luke in preschool
* Learning to embroider from both my Grandmas
* Moving to Seattle & Portland for work
* Buying the house we currently own
* Learning Spanish
* Watching Zoolander and enjoying it

Scratch ‘n sniff

I stole the idea for this topic from my friend Jessica (thanks!)

Some of my favorite smells:
Peppermint
Vanilla
Wild Prairie Roses
Carnations
Bacon
Fireworks
Mosquito repellent
Hot apple cider w/cinnamon sticks
Black dirt
Taco Pizza
Lilac

Least favorite smells:
Dirty diaper
Deviled eggs
Skunk
Gasoline
That new asphalt smell
Cigarettes
Coffee

Mother Nature

Thank you Mother Nature for:
* the sight and smell of Wild Praire Roses
* the sight and sound of Canadian Geese
* the color of Cardinals
* the song of the Western Meadowlark & Wood Thrush
* budding flowers in the Spring
* changing leaf colors in the Fall
* the sound of a small stream flowing over rocks
* the wind blowing
* a forest with sunlight filtering through the trees

Halloween

Here are the kids on Halloween.
Luke was happy to be Superman and Brooke is "a cat like Dora" (in the Dora Halloween special Dora dresses up as a cat). For over a month, Brooke has told me that is what she wanted to be. Two days before Halloween, she decided she wanted to be Supergirl. Of course by now Wal-Mart is sold out of that costume! Thankfully the day before she went back to her original wish, as we already had everything she needed to be a cat.