Singing the praises of....McDonalds?

Okay...so everyone who knows our daughter KNOWS that getting her to eat anything at all is next to impossible. So when we stopped at McDonalds the other day and I saw that they now offer apple slices with the happy meal and have replaced the larger fry with a smaller one I was in love!

Why? Because in the past she would have automatically chosen the fry over the apples. And now.. well she can have both and that means she will EAT both. HOORAY!

Look at the tiny fries and the apples!

The fries are so small and cute! (see above compared to the milk). This may not seem blog worthy- but believe me when I say that I am happy to celebrate small victories with this child. I think the last time I saw her eat a full meal was like 15 months ago (Clint back me up here).....

So today I am singing the praises of the Golden Arches because not only did my daughter eat her whole meal- but she ate apples too and thought it was a really cool thing because it was part of her kids meal!

Happy meal with apple slices and chocolate milk consumed + Smiling daughter= One happy mom!

Boy... how kids meals have changed over the years.... but I am happy to see her eat the whole darn thing ( and I should note she chose chocolate milk instead of pop- another victory!) Now if I can only get the BOYS on board.......cauliflower with an angus burger maybe? I am not keeping my fingers crossed!

Menu planning

Have I mentioned that menu planning in our house is a nightmare? Set aside the fact that unless it contains meat and potatoes and a vegetable that my husband does not consider it a meal. Also set aside the fact that right now we are in lent so we do not eat meat on Friday. Without those 2 variables (which I can easily overcome) look at the fact that even after we can have meat again my freezer is full of only beef and that I have a daughter who thinks all beef is "disgusting" and what is left that will please my whole family?

Granted... I can try the whole "you will try it or you will get nothing" approach. I did this last night till a certain father caved and allowed my daughter to enjoy a delicious dinner of fruit treats. Really? Fruit treats? Not much a dinner... and yes Clint I see they are fortified with vitamin C.

If he had his way my daughter would live on a daily diet of hot dogs... because as our friends know, she has eaten up to 4 before and called it a meal.

So as I sit here and rifle through pages and pages of cookbooks trying to plan out the perfect meal plan for not only this week but also for the confined space of an RV for a 10 day excusion (some of which will be spent with family in a house so I will have a break for that thank goodness). I am thinking to myself that I have.....

1. Limited space including a pantry the size of my medicine cabinet at home.... seriously
2. A tiny oven that basically is useless for "baking"
3. a child who eats only processed food
4. A husband who believes all meals should be at least three parts of which pasta does not count
5. Two growing boys who will consume way more than will fit in an RV refridgerator
6. Room for only 1 gallon of milk in my tiny RV sized fridge ....currently we buy at least 4 gallons at a time.

So microwave pasta is not considered a meal? I think not....and tortillas and melted cheese? Yep it counts. At least for now it does :)

Wish me luck.....I only take the time to write this because I think my family needs to see how difficult a task this is. Not easy- so kids and husband please be kind. Smile and say how delicious dinner is.... and if you don't like it, well I am sure there is always cereal!

A little bit country

Well I must say I think the boys are becoming a little bit more country every day... is this a good thing? Who knows...time will tell. What I can say is that I came home today from work to the boys sitting on hay bales TALKING together. Not fighting- not arguing-not planning each others demise but talking. A rare occurance. This could be because they had the day off of school...or it could be because the last fighting incident resulted in a 2 week ban from TV. Whatever the reason....they were spending time together and this mom was happy.

I am thinking we need to ban TV more often? Maybe I spoke too soon.

I get asked all the time what I think of living in the country. Well.......uh.......all I can say is that we are growing accustomed to some things (5 years later) and other things (ahem... mice) not so much.. At least they are not in my house so I will count my blessings.

Anyway I will share what I drove home to- this sight which made me smile

Don't you love the chore boots? Not something I would have put my kids in several years ago....but to fit in you must adapt!

And while I am at it... I better introduce one of Nate's 4H projects that was peeking over the fence...Beau. Yep...he had to see what was going on and I could not resist the sunset behind him.

I guess country life is not so bad after all......

Do you know what it takes?

Do you know what it takes to pack a family of 5 in an RV for a cross country trip? Clint and I realized today we have 19 days..... 19! Till we leave for Florida. We have to pack food, clothes, items of entertainment for three kids for a 23 hour adventure so we BETTER GET ON IT!

So here we are getting the bad boy out of storage....

and here is my best attempt at organization....labels

so everyone has a pocket. I mean how can you keep straight 4 phone chargers? 3 cameras a kindle, 2 DS game systems and Ipod chargers? This is my best attempt.

I am hoping to maintain my sanity on this adventure....Clint I think permenantly has a smile on his face in anticipation.
Will keep you posted!

Welcome!

Well... I am going to give this blogging thing a shot I guess. I think the reason I wanted to start a blog was because I think the years with my kids are flying by. I sat down last night with my two boys and watched a family movie with them from when Nate was 6- and Ty was 4. That was only 6 short years ago. Where has time gone. They have gone from two small toddler aged boys to grown kids. So so hard as a mom to know time is tick tick ticking away,

So here we are. I think the best way to show them all our family hopes to share with them is by documenting it. So why not try a blog? Anything is worth a shot. Just be patient as I am not computer savvy nor am I always a good reader or writer. So welcome to my world! Enter at your own risk... and we welcome you to our busy...hectic...joyous....chaotic...funny....silly....disorganized.... and organized...peaceful... happy lives! :)