The Battle with Food.

I am pretty sure I am a different mother then what I thought I would be. I am not saying I am a bad mother or the best mother, just different than what the image in my head was. I thought I would never be a short order cook. I was sure that since I liked healthy food that my children would embrace vegetables. And I knew we would always sit at the table as a family and my kids would have to ask to be excused. Well as most of my fairy tale thoughts about having a family have been shattered, these too do not ring true.

Jackson is my battle child. He fights me with everything even if he doesn't know what he is fighting about. He is the boss and I am the child. Or so that is how he wants it to be. Food is a difficult subject with most of my friends who have toddlers. We discuss this subject practically everyday. It's FRUSTRATING.  Jackson does not want to eat anything unless it was his idea. For breakfast I'll ask him what he wants (maybe this is where I'm going wrong at) and we run through the list. Eggs, waffle, cereal, bran muffin... And we run through them again and again until either I just make scrambled eggs or he tells me. Lunch is usually a disaster. I can't remember the last time we ate at the table for lunch. I usually make him a sandwich and he eats and watches TV, yet another thing I swore I would never do.   And for dinner I am just begging him to eat. For weeks he would come up to the table and push his plate away and scream  NOOOO, or he will just cover his mouth with not one, but both hands like I am trying to force feed him poison. He refuses to eat anything we eat. Not chicken, steak, pork, potatoes, rice, pasta, vegetables...nothing. He says it is "nucky".  He also in the last 6-8 months has decided that he does not like pizza. That is a sin if you ask me.  He eats chicken nuggets, peanut butter sandwich and an occasional hot dog but that usually gets the hand over mouth treatment. He refuses to eat any sauce with pasta (so there rules out the old blend vegetables in with sauce trick). And recently he refuses to eat macaroni and cheese. I'm out of options and sanity. He usually goes to bed without supper. I feel bad about this but I don't know what else to do.

This battle with food is so wasteful. I throw away SO MUCH. Not to mention little Brecken who also seems to be not liking things either. It drives me so crazy when I spend so much time making food for my boys for them to turn around and not eat it. Especially when Mr. Boss man told me that is what he wanted. I'm actually laughing now as I'm reading that last sentence because I'm sure my mom felt the same way when she would go and make us meatloaf and I refused to eat it or covered it with ketchup to disguise the bad taste in my mouth. Kids are wonderful aren't they?

I have one thing going for me though and it is Juice Plus. My friend Marie introduced me to Juice Plus a year ago and sent me some extra gummies she gave to her little boy. Jack LOVED them. And yes I tasted them too, and they are quite tasty.  And lucky for me now my Pilate's instructor is a sales rep for Juice Plus, and she is so sweet that she will purchase them for me so I don't have to sign a continuous contract. I am so thankful for her because I don't like to sign up for anything when they are taking money out of your account every month. So at least I know Jack is getting all the benefits from fruits and vegetables with these vitamins, and at least I can rest easier while we struggle through this battle. I'm hoping one day he will stop telling me that everything is "nucky" and will become a better eater.

You Rock, Valentine!

I LOVE being a stay at home mom. Maybe it is because I can not stomach the thought of sending them to daycare and being lucky enough not to have to.   Or perhaps it is because I don't HAVE to work for "the man", or I have made friends along the way who are also stay at home moms. I feel so grateful to my husband who has made this happen for me and my boys. And I'm very grateful for my friends who are always setting up great parties and play dates that we get to take part in. It makes staying at home a lot more fun.

Michelle is possibly one of the very sweetest people I have ever had the pleasure of getting to know, and she is always thinking outside of the box to get our kids to have fun. A few weeks ago we had a Valentine's Day party at the cutest little gourmet cupcake shoppe (which my friend Barb LOVES when she comes to visit). It was fun. First the kids colored their Valentine's Day boxes, then they passed out their Valentine's to one another and lastly they got to decorate cupcakes! They each got two cupcakes and a giant tube of their insanely tasty frosting. Luckily they served lemonade too so they could wash it all down. 

This year I decided to make our own Valentine's Day cards.  Thank you Pinterest for the inspiration. I of course waited until the very last minute, as in the night before the party at 11pm. I was so tired and wondered why I do this to myself time and time again. I had a flash of what school projects are going to be like in the future. I can not wait for all that stress (eye roll).

 I traced Jack's hand, cut out hearts, and used a lollipop for a handle. I love them. I am sure I went above and beyond what was necessary because I did them for THREE parties, which meant I made over 40 of these. And out of those 3 parties only two other people decided to make homemade valentines. I decided that I would only make handmade Valentine's for Jack's closest friends the next time around, and maybe by then he can help me.

 Coloring the Valentine's Day box.

Don't touch the candy! So hard to put children in a candy store and tell them they can't have any. Cruel punishment that is for sure.

 Teagan and her giant tube of frosting.

 This picture cracks me up! They were also not supposed to eat the cupcakes until they got the tutorial on how to frost them. Not an easy task for toddlers.

 Grayson's cheese face!

Wobble wobble!

This picture makes my heart melt.

 Brecken's girlfriend Isla. She also makes my heart melt.

And here we all are. Happy Valentine's Day!

These boys make me smile.

Best picture ever!!

The other morning when Jack woke up and did his ritual....Fridge, pantry, fridge, pantry.  It ended with a complete meltdown because Kevin told him he could not have any sour cream.  I said give him a spoon and let him have some. So he did, and Jackson dipped his spoon in and howled in utter disgust. His tongue was hanging out and I was wiping it off as fast as I could with a paper towel because he was acting like he was dying.  I feel like my entire days are filled with episodes such as this. Today Jackson finally used the toilet to go #2,and when I turned my head Brecken was dipping his hand in. I have caught Jack on several occasions giving Brecken his boogers, and we all know what Brecken does with them.  And if ANYTHING, such as a leaf, is left on the floor Brecken has already digested it before you knew it was there. And Jackson is a such a stinker he tells me every day when I get him up from his nap..."Chips mama chips", and when I repeat "You want chips Jackson?" He proceeds with Otay....and hops out of bed and starts the decent downstairs. Who wouldn't give this kid what he wants. He is so cute.  Jackson after 2 years and 8 months is telling us that he loves us. Kevin and I have waited so long to hear this. We love you too Jackson. Now I hope its a lifetime before I hear the words I hate you mommy.

A few weekends ago we decided to go back to Kevin's parents house. This was the first "long" road trip that Brecken has been on.  It was an exhausting trip there since I was jumping back and forth from the back seat soothing not one but two children. However, it is always a nice surprise when we arrive because Kevin's parents are always so excited when we come that they stay up and wait for us even when we do stroll in at 3AM.  Of course Jackson was so wild, running around in circles and showing off that it was very difficult to put him to bed at almost 4. We had a great short visit, and it included Kevin and I going antiquing (just the two of us) AND having a night to go out with some friends, which we have not done since our anniversary in July. It was like I was let out of prison. We had SO MUCH FUN! We started the night at a wine bar, which was AMAZING, and ended it dancing, which I don't remember. But while we were having the time of our lives, Jackson was  making memorable moments with his pop pop. I misspoke or mistyped a few posts back saying he calls him pa pa..its actually pop pop. Jackson LOVES pop pop. They have a new game, which we play now at home called knock knock pop pop. As you can imagine we go to the front door, knock, and well that's it. Jack followed Kevin's dad everywhere, and if he left Jackson was screaming for him to come back. It's very sweet to see such love between the two of them.

This last weekend we went to a birthday party for my friend Shana's little boy Carter. I can't believe he is 3 already. Well since Kevin is mildly allergic to animals, espeically horses, and it was at a farm,  I told him I would take the boys and let him have a few hours to himself at home. Much to my dismay it was rainy and COLD.  But Jackson did not seem to care, and the second we pulled in it was horse this and horse that and he chased the ducks and the turkeys and the peacocks. I felt like I had NO control over him, and I wore flats. Flats to a farm in the knee deep mud holding Brecken the entire time. Anyway, Jackson has learned a thing or two from school, and one of them is he has to sit everytime you give him something to eat or drink. Well unlucky for me, on this muddy day when I hand him his juice he says "I sit mommy, I sit!" and proceeds to sit in a HUGE puddle of mud. But the best part about this is that we went on a hayride immediately after and a sweet girl next to me said she didnt mind if Jackson sat on her lap. Of course I did not pass that offer up.  But my classy self  accidently was telling my girlfriend next to me what he had just done and did not even realize what I was saying until my girlfriend started busting out laughing. So sorry sweet girl who offered to hold Jackson.

Who needs girls when you can give your boys a ponytail!!

I love this little hat of his.

He is so happy with Pop Pop

Knock Knock Pop Pop! (Video)

Aunt B check out these boots!!

Brecken's Cheerios.

Jackson makes Brecken laugh ALL DAY LONG (Video)

Me and DA girls at yet another dinner which ended in A LOT of dancing!!! Pitbull anyone?

Who wore these most adorable batman pajama's better...You be the judge because I think its a tie!

Brecken Jan 2012

Jackson Dec 2009

Looking forward to 2012

Can he get any cuter??

Again..Can he get any cuter?

Have you ever run in the rain? I have not in a very long time. When I lived in WA this is what I did daily. You do everything in the rain. Wash your car, go to the park....really anything you would do on a sunny day because there is rarely any sun at all. A few days ago I ran in the rain. It was overcast, and even though I felt like it should be cold it was not.  I squinted from the rain hitting my face, my hair was slicked back and my entire shirt was wet, but I felt refreshed and happy. Happy because people looked at me like I was crazy and knowing that I'm definitely in the minority of people who would do this in the south. I even got a shout out of "Don't you know its raining outside!!" I want exercise to be a big part of my life again. Since I got pregnant with Brecken it has been a very rare occasion that I would make myself go for runs and exercise. I want this to be a priority, and I want it to pave the way for Brecken and Jackson too. Although, I did feel a bit sheepish last week when I took both the boys, bundled of course, on a run in 32 degree weather with a wind chill of 17 degrees. BURR!!!! It hit me when Jackson started crying and telling me "I cold mommy, I cold", and two different people I saw made comments such as "I can not believe you are out here." But you know Brecken was knocked out cold so the weather did not phase him but  I will never do that again.  I  made a promise to Jack and then took him to McDonald's to because he loves his "pop and chicken nuggets" which I'm embarrassed to say he asks for constantly along with lollipops, popcorn and chips.

I am hoping that this year I will keep running races, my first being a 10k at the end of March with my girlfriends! I am also hoping we will have only a few trips to McDonald's and making better choices for all of us.  This year I am hoping that one good decision leads to another.

Our first fire. Jack was very upset because he wanted a COLD hot dog. But don't worry...Its kosher.

Shorts...Hummm...

Blowing kisses!

So I have a few pictures that I love and want to share but never made it on the blog in the month of December. My plan is to get a hardback book made of my blog every year and this will be the last post I will have to wrap up 2011. Thank you for reading!

Priceless looks on those boy's faces!!

<3 Brecken's face here too.

So beautiful.

His hair cracks me up! He woke up like this and NO I did not style or put hair gel in.

This is what happens when your 2 year old becomes independent and pours his own cereal. Lucky for me his cereal of choice is bran flakes.

Someone likes to use the highchair these days!

Painting our Christmas trees with Aunt Leah!

Lanny and Brecki =Besties

Fabulous art

Do you see anything wrong about this picture that was sent home with Jackson from school...

Early Morning cuddles in Mom and Dads bed!

Best invention ever for a baby seat in a tub.

Look at this picture of my Nephew Kordell and beautiful nieces Maygan and Korri! Love that Kordell has no shirt on and wearing a chain. Ha!