Toast 2 Mom

An Eggs-ellent Day

We got in all of our egg activities in one day....coloring, decorating, hiding and seeking. It wasn't a traditional day, in many ways, but we had a wonderful day anyway. Happy Easter to my little bunnies.

Guilty, Not Guilty

I think as mothers, parents, we find ourselves in positions all the time where guilt sets in - in some form or fashion. When we multi-task all the roles we have, we tend to neglect our children in some way. When we get mad at our kids for no other reason but that our lives are momentarily feeling out of control - later we feel guilty for our tone. But tonight I did something that at first I felt a little guilty. Then...I reconsidered my feelings - and thought, yeah, that was one pretty slick move this ole Mommy had!

Tonight was Taco Thursday (we missed it on Tuesday). I'm really trying hard (er) to get new fruits and vegetables into the mouths of my babes. I need to add them to mine as well. I had to do something with the hamburger tonight - and tacos are always pretty successful. What was also glaring at me were the sweet potatoes on the counter starting to get that worn out look. So I made them.

I peeled them, cubed them and roasted them with a little olive oil and salt. I considered going sweet on them by adding some honey and cinnamon; but I thought they'd be sweet enough.

It's plate time. I made each girl a taco - and bonus, I added spinach to the tacos instead of lettuce. For whatever reason, my girls seem to love spinach - so that's a good thing. My two sweet potatoes made many cubed pieces. I put about 10 cubes on each girl's plate.

Sydney's habit is to eat things in order - all of one thing, then all of the next and so on. She starts with what she likes least.

She took her first bite of sweet potato and got that gag look about her. Her first question was, "how many do I have to eat?" I said, "all of them." "What do I get if I eat them all?" she said. I said, "a healthy body." She was not amused. Her look did not amuse me. Then she said, "it tastes like I have vomit in my mouth." Oh good, I thought, what lovely dinner conversation. She ate the next one and chased it with her chocolate milk.

I told her to break up the dinner and have a bite of taco, then some sweet potato. Meanwhile, Cheekers is over there chomping away on the sweet potatoes, saying, "mmmmm, yummy," offering to eat her sister's potatoes for her. Whenever one of them is in trouble, the other one decides this is the right time to display some major angelic behavior. They take turns at this.

After some more gagging noises, I'd honestly had enough myself. So I said she didn't have to eat them. No dessert tonight or tomorrow night. Yeah, I'm hard core.

In the back of my mind, though, I had a plan brewing. I know Sydney always wants more than one taco. Tonight was no exception. When she asked for her second one, I came up with a plan to distract her. She had her art supplies still on the island. I had her draw me something.I took her plate, the one with the remaining seven sweet potato cubes. I grabbed a tortilla, put some cheese on it and put it in the microwave to melt the cheese. Then facing away from her, I took her sweet potatoes and mashed them up on her plate. When the tortilla was warm and cheese melted, I added the mashed tators on top of the cheese. Then I added the taco meat, finally topping it off with a couple pieces of spinach. I rolled it up tightly and handed it back to her with a smile.

She cleaned her plate.

So, did I have another guilty moment today? A little bit. Do I cherish the fact that I got my girl to eat the rest of gaggingly disgusting sweet potatoes - completely unknowing....yeah, you bet I do!

So tonight, the verdict....this Mom, NOT guilty! 

Just Put it on the Plate

A couple of days ago I was venting to Hubby about what a cooking/feeding rut I was in with the girls. Meanwhile Cheekers was sitting next to me, listening the whole time. I was saying how I just was tired of making the same old boring kid things to eat. My girls don't like things mixed up. They like food side by side - and prefer those kid-friendly foods...hence the name kid-friendly. 

After a few minutes of my yammering on, Cheekers finally chimed in and said, "Mommmm, just put food on our plate and make us try it."

WHAT?!?!  I felt like that was my once in a lifetime moment - right then, right there. My mommy lessons of "just try it" finally became a quote back to me from my four year old.... And so I ran with it. 

I went grocery shopping that day. 

And last night for dinner - the girls ate soup.  Usually soup is a complete whine-fest whenever I suggest it as a dinner option. They had chicken noodle soup (albeit princess style - but who cares), yogurt and peanut butter on graham crackers. Gobbled it up.

And tonight, drum-roll... they ate turkey meatloaf (with sneaky vegetables inside) AND cauliflower disguised as mashed potatoes. Whahaahahaaa! (evil mommy laugh). And yes, they ate it all! 

Taking a bow....and my job is done. :) 

Sing-Along

I spent most of my afternoon making cookie dough. Thank goodness I have two girls that are exceptional at self-entertaining. From reading, to playing with dolls to singing, the afternoon zoomed right along...and during the process I got some entertainment to listen to from the kitchen. 

Food

Our house smells like one giant bacon cookie....otherwise known as "The Daddio". 

With 13 Things

Every photo has a nice story....and this is a pretty fun one. Today's photo challenge was "You with 13 things". My week is hectic in a good way because I have sold several dozen cookies this week  for Father's Day gifts. But that mixed with activites for the girls and this and that has caused me to think of photo ideas on the fly. So since cookies have been my theme this week, why not a picture of me with thirteen cookies.This picture below was taken tonight as I was trying to fly out the door to attend a meeting with school mom's to discuss a fundraiser for next year. Oh, and my six year old took the picture! :)

Fruit

Strawberries for a summery dinner...