food.

(this is not a post about my 30 days of no sugar, no grain, no legumes, no dairy....yes, I am still doing it and it's going great - I'm on day 26 and will talk more about it later)


This is a food post about my kids.

I had given up.

Nora and Sophie have a VERY limited palette.
A few months before the move and through the move and now a few months after the move their food choices have gotten increasingly more .... bland.  And as a result, less nutritious.

I think I worked harder (had more energy) with Lydia and Samantha because when prompted, they will eat just about anything.

I. couldn't. take. it. any. more.

It was evolving into me cooking two separate meals - ONE for the girls and ONE for me and Jake.
And then Samantha would look longingly at the adults plates wondering why she didn't get what we had.

Besides the added work I didn't feel like I was training them to just go with the flow and eat what was given them - thinking more about the nutrition than about the flavor.
I felt like they were becoming snotty and picky and I WAS DONE.

So, Jake and I came up with this:

You eat what mama cooks for everyone.
You have 30 minutes to finish with a good attitude.
If you finish in that 30 minutes with a good attitude, you get one cookie after dinner.
If you need a few more minutes and have had a good attitude about it, you still get the cookie when you're done.
Bad attitude/too long = no cookie.
You can choose at anytime after the 30 minutes to just be done BUT:
You get to eat your leftovers for breakfast.
At breakfast you have 30 min's.
If you're still not done,
You get the same leftovers for lunch and yet another, 30 min's.

IF you're still not done but I see that you made an effort at all three sittings, you can chuck the leftovers and start over with the new dinner.
If not....leftovers again and 30 min's again....

You are not, at anytime, allowed to tell me you don't like it.  You ARE to tell me if you do like it and I'll know by your omission that you did not like it.
You are allowed to tell me you don't like it if I ask but you must say it with kindness, not a gross face.
(note: I'm not so concerned with them making a gross face at me, I'm more concerned about them practicing manners with other people)

We have completed a whole week of this.

Nora is struggling the most but even then, she's only had to have one meal three times and another meal two times....and she's only thrown up once ;-).
Sophie cried through her entire plate of Paleo Pad Thai the other day, but by golly, she gobbled that Spaghetti Squash, Egg and Chicken up...she did.

But, the success stories?
THREE MEALS that I just KNEW Nora and Sophie would HATE...
they figured out ways to LIKE them.
examples?
Cauliflower, Brisket, meat on a quesadilla...and TOMATOES.

I did not expect such quick results....at all.
They are doing great.
We will overcome this.
I'm stickin' to my guns here

(with lots of Jake's help, 'cause see, basically if my kids skips a meal I think they are going to end up malnourished and on the cover of a Children's Fund add...ridiculous? COMPLETELY but just like they are overcoming their food issues, I'm overcoming mine.)

Is the food battle an issue in your house?
What do you do?
Do you deem it important enough to battle over?

How was it growing up for you?
(my parent's fought it hard and I am soooo glad - I will eat ANYTHING...like, anything)

oh California

this place is cracking me UP!

#1 - in my yoga class the other day there were a line of girls.
our names went like this:

Holly next to Sunshine next to Iris.

and that is not the first time something like that has happened.

The name HOLLY is sooooo popular here - it's a hippy name.  Who knew?

#2 - I saw bright RED, like natural red, dread locks the other day.
they made me stare at them.
I couldn't help it.

#3 - speaking of dread locks - OH MY GOODNESS....we live in the land of dread locks and I love it.
(always been a secret desire of mine to have some one day ;-)

#4 - I have been told twice I 'look' like I'm from the city I live it.
By complete strangers.
Once by another military wife, actually, she asked me if "I came like that? Or did you start dressing like that when you moved there?" and another time I was in Sacramento shopping and was told I look relaxed like someone from the Nevada City area....

#5 - that same guy offered me a free aura reading while I was checking out at the grocery store.
right.
apparently I have a nice aura.
right.

#6 - I have been offered pieces of garnet (the rock) on the side of the street because I have so many girls and it will calm them down if I have some in the house.  Preferably under their pillow.

#7 - I saw a business man waiting at a crosswalk, doing yoga while he waited.
Right behind him was a 40 yr oldish dude on a skateboard with dreads that swept to the ground...OH, and he had a 1980's boom box on his shoulder.
Beautiful.

basically, I laugh here...a lot.
lovin' it.

Dear California,

Please do not be surprised if we NEVER LEAVE.

Seriously.
I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that THIS is a 15 min drive from our door step.
And it's only 15 min's because you are going 25 miles an hour along a gravel road on the side of a mountain:

Miles?
4.5.

4.5 miles.

(a few have asked...the purses....my Aunt Sarah is just amazing like that - she is an artist.  I haven't asked her but I guarantee you she just made it up after she saw something like it.  I know they are made from t-shirts and there are three lines sewn around the edges of the rectangle and then she just cut and the handles are tied on from strips of the same t-shirt....hope that helps!?)

so, we didn't bring any swimming stuff thinking that the water was going to be too cold.

it is melted snow after all.

but alas, it was just cold and way too tempting.

daddy was the first to just jump in, clothes and all:

 

and he started a trend that lasted two more hours

 do you see why I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around this?

 

 the water was COLD but the rocks were WARM!!!

no adventure with this family is complete unless we find every creepy living creature known to that area:

 sophie:

more creepy creatures

crawdad?

 dryin' off NorCali' style.

the only only only bad part?

now the girls KNOW it's there.

now I know it's there.

we may never get anything done other than this.

yikes.

Majestic.

San Fran Day 2

we started with breakfast at:

 followed up by a serious giggle session with the sea lions.

those are some FUNNY animals.

so so funny.

 Played around on Pier 39

and the rest of our day was pretty much spent here:

 Picture overload, sorry, but it was THE BEST BEST BEST museum I have EVER been to.

Like, by a long shot.

A long long long shot.

Adults or kids...GO HERE.

Plan your vacation around it.

SO COOL.

I'd call it a physics and probability museum.

They call it a hands on science museum.

We spent the first 10 minutes outside the building on the fog bridge - they literally could have spent all day out on this bridge.

We had to peel them away!

 First stop, use the bathroom, get a drink:

 ;-)

there was a regular water fountain right next to it and a sign telling you they were just the same and then asking which you chose:

 self portrait in this cool christmas ornament thing:

 the 'staff' were all young college students....Science majors of all kinds.

they were TOP NOTCH.

 We watched an entire dissection of a cow's eyeball.

The boys had a hard time with it, our girls....totally intrigued ;-)

 ok.

not all our girls.

this one did not watch....neither did her daddy ;-)

 sophie's eye ball...lots of them.

 the only exhibit that bored Nora and Sophie?

the one where you line your face up with someone else to try and trade facial features...

um. it doesn't work on identical twins.

you just get the same feature ;-)

but this one, they were at for a while ;-)

two left halves and two right halves of your face put together.

we spent a good 30 min's watching this guy do card tricks and then explain the math behind them, soooooooo cool.

THAT is math people.

build a marble run...one of their favorite spots:

and...back to the fog bridge....and I promise I left out about 100 pictures.

back in the car, back to Pier 39 for dinner and then back home!

phew.

sooooo tired and sooooo ready to go back!!!!

All six of us fell in love with San Fran!