Moooooooove Over Pride…We’re Eatin’ for Free

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Jennifer

Last Friday, much to Derek’s dismay, we dressed in our cow costumes and headed to Chick-Fil-A for our free meal. Two years ago we dressed as Star Wars characters so we decided to be “Rock Stars” this year.

Derek was completely mortified as we walked into the building. I reassured him this was only temporary, we’d get a free meal, the kids would enjoy it, and he wouldn’t have to dress like a cow for another 364 days.

Well, as we entered the restaurant, the store manager came over and took our picture. She very excitedly informed us that our picture would be on the stores’ Facebook page. I kept staring and smiling at her, completely ignoring the look of horror that suddenly came across Derek’s face.

When the manager walked away I looked at Derek and said, “It’s for the children.”

“And more importantly, the $25 meal we are about to receive for free.”

So I present to you…..

Moo Hendrix, The Stubborn and fiercely independent 6 year old who refused a name, The Black Eyed Cow, Sheryl Cow, and MooDonna

Picture of Family Dress for Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a

My chicken sandwich and waffle fries were delish!

Already contemplating our theme for next year….Derek is desperately hoping he’ll be out of town on business.

You Are My…

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Jennifer

Look what I just bought for my breakfast nook wall!

Go to The Williston Letter Company to find this print

I also love these…

I LOVE ETSY!

Dress Like a Cow = Free Meal

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Jennifer

Friday (tomorrow!) July 8th is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A

If you and your loved ones dress like a cow your meals are FREE!

(Chick-fil A has a downloadable cow costume on their website.)

Partial costume = free entree Full costume = free meal

Two years ago we dressed up in a Star Wars theme and ate for free. You do not need to have a theme to your costumes but it added an element of fun. Here are our construction paper and reversed t-shirt ensembles from two years ago:Fortunately I translate baby faces and can tell you what she was thinking

Dammit lady – I don’t even eat solid foods yet and you have dressed me like this. Why must you do this? I will be beyond embarrassed. What if my friends see me? This family is a mess. I cannot wait till I go to college.

Hurry! Get a costume and have an “udderly” good time!

Undercover Veggie

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Jennifer

Shhhh….my kids ate zucchini today but they have no idea.

Somewhere I failed as a parent in regards to my kids’ eating.

We are not one of those families where the kids eat everything on their plate.

“Oh, Johnny just loves his salmon with asparagus and sushi.”

No, it’s more, “Oh, Alex loves his hamburgers and grilled cheese,” over here.

But to be honest, I’m not really worried.

At one point my youngest sister ate only white food.

For years.

Mashed potatoes, pasta, mashed potatoes, pasta?

Seriously, I don’t know what she ate but she seems to be fine now.

Plus, her food groups have expanded to include green and red foods so there’s hope for my kids.

I have begun “sneaking in” veggies as a little backup for my confidence that all will be fine.

Caroline likes orange juice. In fact, she eats and drinks just about every fruit.

But not one vegetable. I’m sorry I misspoke, she is a corn on the cob connoisseur but that’s it.

So now she drinks her 3/4 orange juice and 1/4 carrot juice combo in the morning. She’s happy and I feel like I can color in one minor section of the food pyramid.

The boys are not much better since they do not stray far from salad and carrots.

I came across a banana chocolate chip zucchini bread recipe in blog world. What? One of these things is not like the other. Zucchini? There have been several gagging incidents at our dining room table over cooked zucchini. Amazingly, we’ve never had any gagging incidents from banana bread or chocolate chips.

Soooooo…I immediately printed out the recipe, gathered the ingredients, and made the bread this morning (naturally doubling the chocolate chips suggested).

I admit the smell was pretty enticing. When I announced the chocolate chip banana bread was ready there were whoops and hollers.

Well folks. Good news. Caroline ate her piece while Andrew had seconds and Alex had thirds. I am pretty sure they consumed exactly 0.05% of the daily serving suggestion for vegetables but it’s more than before.

Hmmm…anyone for turnip tiramisu?

***UPDATE*****

Apparently the one sitting where they consumed a large portion of the brad was a fluke. Alex & Andrew are now refusing to eat the the very same bread they fought over exactly one day ago. Excuse me while I go bash my head on a tree.

A Watched Pot

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Jennifer

Last week as Alex was searching for something for lunch he asked me, “Do you know how to make mac n’cheese?”

I took it as an insult.

While I am admittedly a bad cook, I can at least make mac n’cheese.

From a box that is.

Let’s not get all crazy and make it from scratch.

Plus, I’ve made it a good hundred times or so for him. Doesn’t he remember at least one of those occasions?

Alex decided he was going to learn the very detailed and complex process of making this gourmet lunch.

I walked him through all the steps and watched as he proudly served his brother lunch.

Turns out his first attempt was so successful he decided to cook it again today. This time though he drove me crazy. Off and on. Off and on. Off and on went the lid.

I explained the phrase “A watched pot never boils” to him in hopes of getting him to walk away for a few minutes.

I should not have bothered.

He thought his idea was much better.

I cannot wait to see what he does when I explain, “A chip on your shoulder.”

Rainbow Vanilla Pops

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Jennifer

I first saw the idea of pudding pops here and decided it would be a fun project for the kids

Items you need: food coloring, plastic spoons, instant vanilla pudding mix and milk (not shown), and small plastic cups (not shown)

Prepare the vanilla pudding according to directions

Use food coloring to change the pudding into desired colors

Watch out for little hands who are “helping”

Fill the plastic cups with various colored pudding amounts

Argue constantly that your brother is getting more of one color than you

Place a plastic spoon in the cup and place in freezer

Enjoy your frozen treat after a rough day of playing with water balloons

Are you making any fun summer treats?

Piano Week

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Jennifer

Andrew & Alex started piano lessons last week. In an attempt to add to their excitement, we had PIANO WEEK at our house.

What might you ask is Piano Week?

Well, it’s just a week of activities I thought up or found which dealt with music. This was an attempt to give a little structure to our summer days. The focus being on little.

Here’s PIANO WEEK:

Visited: a piano store and received a tour by a very enthusiastic employee

Created: Alex created a power point about John Williams while Andrew made a poster. I originally thought they would choose Beethoven or Mozart but once we stumbled upon John Williams there was no turning back. One morning we spent over an hour watching him conduct on You Tube.

Read Books: 1. Beethoven – A Value Tales book 2. Duke Ellington by Andrea Davis Pinkney 3. Ludwig van Beethoven by Eric Summerer 4. Keyboards by Wendy Lynch

Made: Thumb pianos – directions found here

Listened: to a Mixed Classical CD from Target in the car all week

Food: We ate SHARP cheese, ate BACHli (I’ll be honest – Derek and I are the only ones who ate the broccoli), talked about fish SCALES while we ate fish sticks, and planned to make cinnamon FLATbread but never got around to it.

We also made dessert PIANOS compliments of Alex. We used ice cream bars but white Kit Kats bars would make prefect piano keys.

Movies: We watched the movie Beethoven with Charles Grodin and Bonnie Hunt. Yes I know it has nothing to do with music but the kids loved it.

We capped off the week with a trip to eat ice cream at Braum’s (BRAHM). I wanted to finish up the week at a piano bar but Derek thought otherwise.

We had some LOWS and HIGHs during piano week but overall it was enjoyable. The boys have enthusiastically practiced piano everyday since their first lesson and can’t wait to find out what this week’s activities will focus on.

What fun things are you doing this summer?

Important Mommy Trait #1

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Jennifer

One of the most important traits a mom can have is the ability to silently consume a bag of M & M’s while standing next to her children.

At least in my book.

Killer Cake & Entry Way

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Jennifer

Finally, the last installment of Andrew’s Lego party.

Go here for part 1 (lego bingo) and here for part 2 (lego party boards).

Andrew decided he wanted a “Killer the Croc” cake. Actually Killer the Croc was a third choice since I vetoed the first two choices in the name of difficulty. I need to watch a few more episodes of “Cake Boss” in order to tackle those particular mini figures.

So, who is Killer the Croc you ask? Apparently, he’s a bad guy from the Batman Legos.

Step 1: I made 2 sheet cakes and placed them next to each other. I then iced over both cakes and outlined the shape of Killer the Croc with a toothpick. With the outline already drawn, it was easy to know where to cut the cake.

Andrew wanted a strawberry and vanilla cake. Ask and you shall receive!

Step 2: Spread the colored icing for his body and his pants.

Step 3: Add white icing for his mouth

Step 4: Add red icing for the eyes

Step 5: Use a thin icing point and outline the eyes, teeth, and muscles? scales? in black

When Andrew saw the cake before the party he said,”This is my best party ever.” Now that’s a pretty good review even before the party started.

I put together a simple Lego display guests saw when they first entered our house. The boys created the “6” and chose the minifigures to display. I copied a picture of Killer the Croc, and gave him a word bubble which said, “Andrew, we love you to pieces.”

I’m pretty sure we will have another Lego party in our future so I hope to use some of these ideas again.

Father’s Day Gift – Part 2

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Jennifer

In addition to the printables the boys filled out for Derek, we put together a few snacks for him to take to work.

I bought 3 of these containers from Target

Filled them with snacks: honey roasted peanuts, “kisses for Dad,” & sweet candies

Wrapped a ribbon around the sides – secured with tape

Alex created some labels for each jar: Super Dad, #1 Dad, We love you

I desperately wanted to edit the labels Alex created by enlarging the word size, changing the font but I held back. How it looks is really not the point. In the end, Alex was so proud of his labels and so was I.

I chose these containers because they are stackable and would take up less space on Derek’s desk at work

At Target we also found some firework paraphenalia – pops & confetti bombs

So we made personalized sign covers for them. Cheesey I know.

Pop sounds like Derek is 75 years old but we just went with it

Here’s the final Father’s Day gift: the 3 containers, the father’s day printables, the dynamite gifts, and messages written on hand tracings. (Some people are having trouble printing out the printable. Please email and I will send you a copy if that happens.)