Visitors

My cousin Wendy came to town and I got to see her and her cute family!

Halloween

Here is my obligatory "look at my cute kids on Halloween" post, almost a month late. Peter was an elephant like last year but without the cape. Peter wanted to be spiderman, and then he changed his mind and wanted to be a crow (with wings). I convinced him that he actually wanted to be batman because we already have a batman costume.

Tissues

I will say it up front: there are no pictures of costumed kids in this post. They are still on my camera and I will get to it. Eventually.

Collin just gave me a snickers bar and I gave him a tissue. Des bought Collin a little white board and he has been having a grand time writing on it and wiping it off with a tissue.

The problem is that he will only use a tissue once to wipe off his little board. He then crumples up the tissue throws it in his little garbage can. Every two or three tissues he takes his garbage can and dumps it in the kitchen garbage. Then he wants another tissue. I tried to convince him that the tissue could be used more than once. No go. I offered him a washcloth. After one use it was in the hamper.

So I decided to start charging him. One piece of Halloween candy per tissue. Either he will stop wasting tissues or he will run out of candy. Either way I win.

Tonight all uneaten candy is going in the trash. Candy is gross but it makes good money for a five year old!

I Have Been Baking

This time of year makes me want to bake. Even though it isn't cold I still like the smell of banana bread in my kitchen. However, while I do make good banana bread (my biscotti was good last year too) I should probably not be allowed to use my oven for anything else.

I have been trying to learn to make bread. My first loaf a few weeks ago was kneaded by hand after I almost broke my mixer with the lump of dough that never did "window pane". It turned out with a good flavor but was very very dense.

My second try was the dutch oven method where you let the dough rise overnight and don't knead it at all. This was really easy and the finished bread was very pretty with nice big holes inside. Unfortunately it was sticky inside. So much so that it was difficult to cut.

Last year I bought these fabulous leaf cookie cutters in the after thanksgiving sales. I was very excited to practice for thanksgiving, try a new crust recipe and make a beautiful, crisco free pie. The pie is beautiful don't you think? Unfortunately the crust is hard and slightly crunchy and my apples were dry and also slightly crunchy. So, if anyone has a good crust recipe that doesn't involve crisco I would love to have it.

Our Own Private Air Show

Every year there is an air show in our area. It just so happens that a lot of it takes place in the skies above our house. In past years I have vowed to go away for the weekend because it is so loud and annoying but this year the boys and I enjoyed watching the planes from the back yard.

For a panoramic view we climbed up our swing set to watch. Here is Collin and Bunny.

Peter is a bit exited and I think a little scared.

Preschool Open House

We went to Peter's preschool open house/ice cream party. Here is Des and the boys playing in one of the classrooms.

Time to start watching the Food Network again

I have lost my will to cook. I think I am a decent cook, there are things I know how to make that turn out well. I love eating and I love food. But lately I have been out of ideas and willpower. My kids don’t like food. Mexican food = plain tortillas, Italian = plain pasta (Collin will eat alfredo sauce). Des and I have very different tastes, in the past I would make two separate casseroles with slightly different ingredients for each of us. I was the only one who ate the leftovers.

It isn’t that I haven’t tried; I made a list of all the dishes I normally cook and planned weekly menus. Now I look at the list and despair. My kids will only eat a couple things on the list and a week of mac and cheese can make you crazy.

What do people feed their kids? I have heard rumors of kids that eat real food, vegetables and all but I have no experience with it myself. Should I embrace “kid food” and feed them horrible non nutritious over processed junk like chicken nuggets, hot dogs, french fries, jello and whatever else kids universally eat? Or should I insist they eat what I eat and send them to bed hungry until they comply?