Kids in the Kitchen: Cooking for Life

At any point in their lives my children will be able to cook themselves (and their kids, spouses, and maybe their incredible parents) a delicious home cooked meal. They will be able to look at ingredients at a farmers market or a sparse fridge and be able to whip up something filling. We think it is an important skill to have.

I have personally witnessed so many benefits from having my kids help in the kitchen. Food has taught them things I never even thought of.  I just thought they had fun rolling dough, shaping meatballs, and adding ingredients to the pot.

No. It has been so much more.

Both Troy and Athena are far more likely to try new foods.  Spawned from a very picky father, these two have a long list of "no way" foods. Athena's SPD (sensory processing disorder) helps that list gain length. We have taught them that tasting ingredients and your food as you cook is very important. They now taste new foods and enjoy eating the finished product...even when there is broccoli in it.

Troy has learned to focus and uses it in school to combat his ADHD. As with all kiddos (and adults) when Troy enjoys an activity, he tends to focus more. He concentrates while sliding his kid-safe knife through cheese and is using that skill with his math homework and handwriting. He even overcame one of his huge behavior triggers (writing) by concentrating and mastering it.

Athena is learning patience. Something that can be very difficult with Aspergerians. Waiting has never been easy with her.  When you make the pudding for a cream pie, you have to stir, and stir, and stir, and stir some more. And then a little more.  The stirring creates a rich, silky, smooth filling. Otherwise you get clumps and it just isn't the same. Learning that patience (and asking for help to switch off stirring shifts) would create an amazing dessert taught her that sometimes waiting is worth the  end result.

The allergy symptoms in the house have dropped drastically when we started cooking more from scratch rather than boxes and cans.  Everyone of is has an intolerance or allergy to something. Gluten, dairy, egg, soy, red dye, and MSG is the short list.

All of that, and the memories.

Every time I make sweet potatoes with the little marshmallows on top, I think of my grandmother.

When I bake Texas Cherry Bake (pie filling, pie crust and cobbler crumb concoction) I remember the first time my mom made it after finding it in a magazine. My dad was supposed to take it for work but ended up getting the  munchies and chowing down.

My special Stop Light Pepper Chicken brings back memories of the first recipe I ever thought up on my own and serving it at my first adult dinner parties.

And the cream pies. Oh the cream pies.

Every holiday from the time I was old enough to stir I would sit on the counter and continuously stir the delicious pudding that would fill our pies. I was so pride and would beg everyone to eat the pie...even before dinner was served.

Yes, it takes a little longer sometimes as you teach and demonstrate, but so worth it. Get your kids in the kitchen and you will have a blast as well.

Swap Loot! : Mythological Creatures and Cryptids

What an awesome mail day!  You know those days when there isn't a bill nestled inside your mailbox?  Those days are awesome, but even more awesome is when your mailman has to ring the doorbell because you have a package.  And even better, when you have 2 packages!

Which is what we had today.  It was a massive swap loot day.  I received an amazing package from the Mythological Creatures swap on Ravelry as well as an equally amazing Cryptid package from RantyHippie on Craftster.  

I was so in love with everything that we took about a million pictures.  Since Persephone has seperation anxiety, she had to be in most of the pictures, but she is too cute not to be.  

First, the Cryptid swap on Craftster:  We opened the box to find this: 

An adorable sea serpent, a mermaid dolly, and a GIANT squid.  

The sea serpent was claimed by the kids, the squid has a home on my bed, and there is a funny story behind the mermaid.  Perry is a hair puller and I have been contemplating getting her a dolly to pull it's hair and maybe not mine.  (pipe dream, I know.)  Earlier in the day I was at the store and looking for dollies.  I couldn't find one.  So imagine how awesome it was to find a mermaid dolly in the box!  Perry loves it.

 So many thanks to RantyHippie for the amazing swap loot.

Next I opened the Mythical Creatures package.  Look at these extras!  Gorgeous purple yarn, dragon toys for the kiddos, stickers (that  my older and tomboy daughter declared were for the baby's scrapbook, amigurimi eyes, and delicious smelling tea.  Oh, and Troy has asked to hang the postcard in his room.

 Medusa hair bookmarks.  Such a clever idea!  My daughter has decided that I may have one because I don't get to read as often as she does.

Then we found a present for Steven.  Chthulu.  And he is riding along with Steven at work tonight, although the baby loves him too.

A beautiful mermaid tail scarf that has been confiscated by the girl child...but she looks so cute in it!

And a unicorn lovey for Perry.  I have also been looking at getting her or making her a lovey and instead we have a beautiful homemade lovey...with a unicorn.

And a few bonus pics of the kiddos playing with the dragons.

Dinner Failure

Dinner did not come easy this evening.  I was late out of work and needed to stop by Kohls to buy some new work pants as mine were so worn, my co-workers could tell me the color of my polka dot, cheeky underwear today.  Whoops.

So I ran over there and tried on too many pairs of pants and settled on one pair.  Why only one?  Because cloth sizing sucks!  It differs between all brands and I couldn't find any that fit, looked nice, and cooperated with the uniform dress code.  So I settled for one pair that almost fits dress code and rushed to pick up the kiddos.

My plan was to pick up the kids and run to the grocery store and pick up items for Wild Tree's strogonof mix that I am excited to try.  When I walked into Grandma' house, I saw my son in soaking wet pants.  Turns out he had an accident while napping.  It has been so long since this has happened, that I never even thought to send extra clothes for a few hours with grandma.

So that would be an extra stop home, then to the store, and then home to take 20 minutes or so to make dinner.  It would be after 7 pm before the kids ate and I need their tummies to settle before bath and bed.  So I made an executive decision.  A decision that I did not feel totally comfortable with and my stomach will hate me for in an hour or so.

I went to McDonald's.

I ordered happy meals and chicken nuggets for myself.  The kids were excited.  I ate my fries and nuggets and reminded myself that this is not an every night thing.  We eat fairly healthy and one trip to the golden arches won't kill us...I hope.

I sat at the table with my three smallest children (baby in my lap) and finished my meal in a little under four minutes.  During that time the following statements were made with a mouthful food in between rushed bites as the baby wasn't having any of this "mom sitting down" nonsense.

Perry, let's not post pics to Facebook.
Athena, stop playing with the bug and eat your food.
Troy, can we wear pants please?
Perry, you can't have sweet and sour sauce.
Athena, food.
Troy. Boxers are not pants.
Perry. please don't erase my apps.
Athena! I am going to take the hex bug away. Come eat now.

And then, for about 22 seconds I ate in peace with the exception of baby hands grabbing my eyebrows.

Tim Burton Swap Received

I received an amazing swap package from the owner of Sweet Serendipty 37 Etsy shop.  She was my stalker/spoiler in the Tim Burton Swap on Ravelry.  The Odd Ducks Swap group has been so awesome to be apart off and this is my 2nd swap in that group.  My spoilee will receive soon and I will post all the goodies I made for her.  But for now, on to the pictures!

Here is the box after I opened.  All those goodies waiting for me to peek inside.

The first thing I opened is this incredible Beetlejuice pillow!  It is going to sit on my bed in all of its awesomeness.

Then I opened up some yummy K Cup coffees that Steven is super excited about nd some yummy yarn that I cannot wait to knit with.  A few more packages revealed a pumpkin stamp, a Batman flashlight (but she said I had to give it to the kids) , black and white ribbon, and the book Burton on Burton which Steven and I have been longing to read. 

But wait!  There is so much more!  Oreo truffles.  Those are demolished already.  See the pics of my kiddos for reference.  There is also a pattern for an adorable sand worm scarf like Lydia Deets wears in the cartoon, and a very nice note.

I have wanted a Zero scarf for YEARS!!  And look!  He is mine...although Persephone likes him too.

And a Jack Skellington shirt.  It fits comfotable and is on an awesome jersey fabric that is super soft.  The note said something about being pajamas, but this is one kind of PJ's I'll allow in public.

 Thank you so much for the wonderful package!  It really made my day.  I am  hoping my spoilee enjoys her gifts as much as I love mine.

A Little Time for Mommy

This weekend I was selfish.  I had Sunday off work (which never happens and at first I wasn't pleased about it) and I wanted to take full advantage of that.  My beautiful friend Nina (who makes the most amazing cakes at Rockabilly Bakery) was celebrating her birthday and I was excited that I would get to go out and cut loose with her and some of our amazing friends.  I rarely get to go out because waking up at 6 am to feed the baby with a hangover sucks.  Plus, I breastfeed and pumping and dumping is actually a very heart breaking thing to do.  Also, I like to be "on my game" for those weekend morning serving shifts - as much as I can be waking up with a small child sporadically throughout the night- so that I can make my money.

So this was a rare event for me.

The day started out normal.  I went to work and served people pancakes and bacon for a few hours while storing my tips in my apron.  After work we rushed straight over to a roller skating party for Nina's youngest little man.  I was still in my syrup stained work shirt that permanently smells of bacon.  Even the brand new shirts my manager just gave me reek of bacon straight out of the bag.  Not sure why this happens, but it is not nearly as cool as it could sound.  

But I digress.  Roller skating fun was had.

That cake was made by Rockabilly Bakery LLC 

We then rushed to the store so that Steven could purchase a new microphone headset for the World of Warcraft raid he had scheduled after the kiddo's bedtime.  We grabbed a few things for dinner and a small birthday gift for my friend.  As soon as we reached home, I had to start getting ready.  Usually if I go anywhere, I brush my hair back and throw on a bit of eyeliner and mascara.  Not tonight.  Tonight I was going all out.  Hair, makeup, adorable retro shirt...the whole nine yards.

I did my hair in a suicide roll and had Steven drop me at Nina's house.  We chatted for a bit and put on our makeup. Then it was time for selfies.

I borrowed a shirt from her that matched my polka dot wedges and we were off the the club.  We had to battle a lot of traffic from Taste of Colorado and deal with lane closures, but we made and met up with our good friend Kelly and a bunch of other people.  There was cake, cocktails, 80's music, industrial music, and lots of dancing to be had.  I danced long and hard until my butt fell off and my heels gave me blisters.

Kelly and I (in Nina's ridiculously cute shirt)

Now, I am not 21 anymore and the next day was not pretty.  I pumped and dumped (crying as I watched all that milk hit the drain), dealt with cramps, and had a wicked headache for a few hours when I first woke up. But it was worth it.  I spent time with friends, saw people I had not seen in a long time, and got to celebrate the birthday of a very beautiful soul.


And I had time for me.

As a mom, I forget how important that is.  I rarely do anything without a baby on my hip, a 6 year old using my shirt as a napkin, or a 9 year old asking if she can use some sort of electronic device.  I get so caught up in making sure the diapers are washed and the dishes are clean that I forget to just stop and be me for a moment.  We mothers need to have time for ourselves.  Maybe that is a night of drinking and dancing.  Maybe it is a date night with your partner.  Or even a stolen Snickers Ice Cream bar in the closet while the kids are engrossed in a video game.  The other night, grandma took the kiddos for a walk and Steven and I just relaxed.  We actually fell asleep on the bed.  Sometimes we parents need that.  It is good to recharge and know that a piece of ourselves does exist outside of parent-teacher conferences and endless laundry.

It may not sound logical, but it makes me a better parent.

Welcome Butterflies!

For a few years, Athena has been asking if we could buy plants that would attract butterflies. It has been on the to-do list but never came to fruition.  Until the other night.  We had dinner at Gunther Toody's and walked over to JoAnns to get some supplies for my Tim Burton themed craft swap.  In between the two establishments is a Lowe's and outside was a clearance rack filled with ground covers and bushes.  After my citation from the city for the weeds on the side of my house, we have been looking for ways to improve the landscaping around my house.  We decided to purchase a few Blue Juniper bushes for near the stop sign (where the weeds can grow rampant) and went inside to purchase some soil.  As we looked around the store, Athena pointed out every plant that had a butterfly on the tag indicating that it would attract butterflies.  We found some Rudbeckia (Black-Eyed Susan) with beautiful yellow flowers that were on sale 3 for $10.  We picked up three plants and the next evening we replanted them into navy pots that sit outside the house.

We still need to get the weeds killed and the bushes planted.  I had planned that activity for today, but Perry has been attached to my breast and Troy came home sick from school.  Maybe tomorrow when I get off work.