"Mom, my toast didn't taste very good today."

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

This past Sunday after church, we were having toast for lunch. It was the "healthy" precursor to our Sunday Sundaes (our weekly bribe for good church behavior). Ezra served everyone toast with what he called his new "secret sauce". He later showed us that he had added a little sprinkle of nutmeg to go with the cinnamon and sugar we normally use. We all thought it was a nice twist to our standard toast.

Today I told Brendan to make his own breakfast while I showered. At our house, "making breakfast" generally means pouring yourself a bowl of cereal and milk. Brendan took advantage of my absence today and decided to do a little cooking on his own.

So as I was finishing drying my hair, Brendan came into my bedroom. Here is our conversation:

Brendan: "Mom, my toast didn't taste very good today."
Lisa: "Toast? You made toast?"
Brendan: "Yes, but it didn't taste very good." (makes a yucky face)
Lisa: "Umm, okay (trying to be patient while thinking of the mess in the kitchen). Did it get burned?"
Brendan: "No."
Lisa: "Well, why didn't it taste very good?"
Brendan: "Well, I tried to use Daddy's secret sauce. But I didn't know which one it was. (remember, he's still learning to read) So I had to use them all."
Lisa: "All of what?"
Brendan: "All of the little things."
Lisa: "You mean all of the little spices?"
Brendan: "Yes, spices."

I came downstairs to find his toast preparing station:
Here I have lined up the spices so they can be clearly seen. He remembered from Sunday what the nutmeg container looked like and found all of the similar-looking canisters in my spice rack:
And here is the tasty toast. That is a quarter-inch-thick layer of spices on the second slice!
And yes, that is also a snickerdoodle on his breakfast plate. I guess he found that in the freezer while getting out the bread. I'm not sure why he didn't finish that.

I think tomorrow I will stay in the kitchen while Brendan makes his breakfast.

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Update

Friday, December 26, 2008

Wii won.

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Tae Kwon Do

Monday, December 15, 2008

When soccer finished we immediately started looking for another activity for Brendan because everyone seems so much happier when he has something to keep him busy. Luckily, his school had a Tae Kwon Do class for a few weeks that seemed to channel some of his energy.

At the end, they put on a show and had an official "Board Breaking" ceremony. If you are not a grandma or grandpa, you may not be interested...but we thought his little performance was quite cute. Especially as he tries to keep up with the other kids.



Let's just say he is quite pleased with his performance...

Oh, and we signed him up!

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A Driveway with a View

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Who says Oregon winters are dreary and gray?

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"Santa is all I can think about!"

Today Brendan said to me, "Mom, when it's Christmas like this, Santa is just all I can think about."

He left, and then after an usually quiet fifteen minutes, he came back and said, "Mom, I'm sorry to tell you that as I was counting the Christmas presents, my biggest present ripped open. All I could see was some black, so I don't really know what it is. I repaired it with some orange paper."

Now didn't he do a nice repair job?

Other Christmas comments by Brendan:

"Santa doesn't really go down each chimney. He just flies over each chimney and drops the presents down. He has to hurry because there are so many houses."

"Santa has a pocket with every garage door opener in the world in it. That's how he really gets in."

"Santa doesn't get to sleep. He just has to keep delivering presents to all the houses."

"Santa is already delivering presents. It takes him so so long because there are so many houses. So he has to start now."

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Way Behind

I hope our blog readers (both of you) aren't feeling neglected at our lack of posts. This blog is not the only thing that we are behind on. Although we did get our Christmas tree, half of our Halloween decorations are still up. And this will probably be the first year of our marriage that we won't be sending out Christmas cards. Apologies to all. We promise to make them extra-glittery next year.

But we just might get a couple of new blog posts up soon. We certainly have plenty to blog about. Just don't hold your breath waiting for the new posts!

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A Typical Saturday Morning At Our House

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

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"The Worst Mom"? "Dumb"? Ouch!!

Monday, November 10, 2008

On the way home from grocery shopping on Saturday, Natalie casually mentioned that the kids in her class think that I am "the worst mom" because I don't make very good lunches since I don't put many treats in her lunch box.

Well, I believe that fruit snacks are equivalent to gummy bears, that goldfish crackers are essentially cardboard, and I actually follow our pediatrician's and dentist's advice to cut out most juice, especially the juice box-type drinks. So if that makes me "the worst mom" then I guess I am, in fact, the worst mom. But, ouch, that hurts my feelings! I don't want to be the worst mom. I don't want the kids at school to think Natalie has a witch for a mother. This is not a fun feeling.

I then asked Natalie how many kids' moms write notes to them on their napkins that are packed with their lunch? She could only think of one other child in her class. So I felt happy that at least she knows she's loved when she gets her napkin note from mom every day at lunch.

Now this morning as I was packing her lunch, she mentioned that the kids in school think that I am "D-U-M-B" (yes, she spelled it out for me) because of the things that I write on her napkins. Ouch again! I do write rather silly things on her napkins, like "Boom Shaka-Laka" or "10 days til Halloween" or "Thanks for making your bed so nicely this morning". I can picture the kids sitting down at their lunch table and someone saying, "So, Natalie, what did your mom write today?" in a mocking voice and everyone laughing. Again, not a fun feeling.

I expected peer pressure to come someday on clothes, music, going to sleepovers, etc., but SACK LUNCHES? I must confess, that every once in a while, I DO buy fruit snacks, goldfish crackers, and red-colored sugar water mislabeled as "juice", mainly because I recognize that a sandwich and fruits and veggies can get boring day after day. But I guess an occasional treat is not enough for my daughter to escape ridicule.

Should I just ignore the pressure and take satisfaction in knowing that she is eating healthy? Or should lunches from our house become a pre-packaged party of sugar and cardboard?

Signed,
Lisa (aka "the Worst mom")

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Lightning Brendan

Saturday, November 1, 2008



Brendan played on the Purple Dragons soccer team. The kid is fast if you just can keep him moving in the right direction.

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Natalie Soccer



Natalie played on the Purple Panthers team this year with a crew of her friends and did great. \

Check out the war paint she put on to keep the sun out of their eyes...wait...this is Portland in October...there is no sun in your eyes!

(Hint: You can click on the picture for a larger image)

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Summer Doing What She Does Best

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Halloween



Two pioneer girls, one pumpkin, and one Boba Fett with a laser gun (that makes an awful noise). The funniest event of the evening was seeing this 8 year old pioneer girl run around with a laser gun...

Lisa made the pioneer costumes, don't they look great!


And AJ had a great time.

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Carving the Pumpkins


We originally planned to go the pumpkin patch, but after unending weeks of soccer, we were exhausted. On the way out of the last soccer party we saw a pile of pumpkins at a grocery store and offered root beer floats and one pumpkin each if we could just pick one out and go home...boy I'm sure glad the kids like root beer.

As can see, the kids designed them and then we helped cut them out. For the first time, Natalie scooped everything out by herself.

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Summer Smiles

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

It's been appearing randomly for a couple of weeks, but today we finally captured it--Summer's smile!

"Should I smile for Mom?"
"I guess maybe just a little smile."

"Okay, you can have a big smile."
"Here it is!"

"Now give me back my fingers to suck on!"

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Move over applesauce, Amanda's got a new favorite food

When she gets hungry, she knows just what to do--head straight for the freezer for some Tillamook!

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