I finally did it!

I finally got the missing pictures in our Birthdays & Christmas 2008 post, so go check them out here...

A Very Different Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day. For some people, the mere mention of this holiday makes them break out in hives. Others look forward to it all year long. Of course these are most likely the florists, chocolatiers, and card companies who can literally make it or break it based on this annual winter event.

I know for me, growing up, I tended to be a lot more enthusiastic about Valentine's Day when there was that special someone. Although I'll admit, having a special someone around that time didn't always guarantee a happy occasion. In fact, I can remember one especially memorable Valentine's Day that was during our church youth group's winter weekend camp. Everything started out great. I had a boyfriend who was also going on the trip, there was lots of snow promised, and it was looking like it was going to be a fabulous weekend! Then said boyfriend decided, on Valentine's Day, to break up with me! Nice, huh? Oh well, his loss.

Then in college, my best friend Kippy and I decided we were going to boycott Valentine's Day, as it was a silly holiday---too much pressure for those who had someone, and too painful for those who didn't. So we started a new tradition of wearing all black, instead of the normal red, pink, etc., in protest. Scary thing was, it kinda caught on, once we explained what we were doing, and why.

I also remember working downtown in a big office building, after graduating from college, and seeing the wave after wave of balloon bouquets, flowers and boxes of chocolates being delivered all over, and just wishing that for once, there would be one for me. It also didn't seem to matter if Valentine's Day fell on a weekend. It just meant that Friday would be delivery day instead, but the amount of loot was just the same.

This year, like the last several years, I'm a stay-at-home mom, with a young daughter who is not yet in school. So Valentine's Day looks very different than in years past. We made homemade valentines with construction paper, markers & stickers, baked heart-shaped sugar cookies from scratch with Daddy, and David & I went out to dinner last night to avoid the "day-of" restaurant rush. Funny thing was, we chose what we thought was mostly a non-kid-friendly restaurant, Benihana's, as we hadn't gone there in a long time, and had a babysitter :-) We knew it wasn't going to be a quiet, intimate experience since we were a party of two, and you're always going to be seated with 6 total strangers, surrounding a large grill, and its loud exhaust hood. But we were surprised at how many young kids were there, even babies!

Now it's Valentine's Day proper, and we've just finished dinner at home, all three of us--poached salmon, steamed rice and applesauce. And in a little while, we'll have a little ice cream & a couple of our cookies for dessert. Sounds like a great way to celebrate to me :-) AND, I'm wearing red!

Happy Valentine's Day friends!
k~

The Great Scallop Debate

As I'm typing this, our 3yr old daughter is slouched down in her seat, at the table, all by herself, engaged in what we have now named, "The Great Scallop Debate". Both David & I like scallops, and also try and introduce new things to Kyra now and then, so she will have a more varied palate then just mac & cheese and peanut butter & honey--things she'd live on if she could.

So the other day David went grocery shopping and picked up these big beautiful scallops from the seafood department, and tonight I found a recipe for them. It turns out it was not one of our favorite scallop recipes, as the marinara sauce really overpowered the delicateness of the scallops. However, both my husband & I ate our fair share, and paired with green beans & pasta, it made a good dinner, at least from the adults' point of view.

Kyra, on the other hand, has refused to even try the scallops, and is saying, "I don't like them, I don't like scallops." And we're saying, "How do you know if you like them or not? You haven't even tried them. All you need to take is just one bite."

So now the scallops are cold, she sits alone at the table, and has been told there will be no getting up from the table until she takes one bite...She doesn't even need to eat the whole scallop, just one stinking bite!

I know when I was growing up, we always had to have what my parents called a "No thank-you" portion. Basically we had to at least try it. I also remember my sister trying to feed our cat her lima beans because she did not want to finish them. And I know all the parent guidebooks say don't make a big deal about food, because you will have kids with food issues when they grow up. And I know they also say pick your battles.

So here is a little snip-it of her pleading her case, and our responses:

Kyra: I don't want to eat all my dinner....Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, I don't want to eat all my dinner. I don't want to eat all my dinner, Mama.

Me: Just one bite of scallop, and you can be done.

David: Don't you want to read Curious George? Just eat one bite.

Kyra: MOMMY, are you listening to me? I didn't eat it. Daddy, Daddy, Daddy...

David: You don't have to finish it all, just one scallop.

Kyra: Mommy, Mommy, Mommy I don't want to eat all my scallops. Is there ONION in here? I don't like onions! May I please be excused?

Me: No, Kyra. Get back in your seat, and eat your one bite of scallop, and then you can be excused. Just one bite.

Kyra (getting down from the table): I'm done eating. I DO not like scallops! I'm not done eating, you can't eat ice cream if I'm not done.

Me: Get back in your seat, and eat your scallop bite. 1...2....

David: Ok, Kyra. I'll eat this half, and you eat the other half---just a little piece. If you eat this I'll get you that popsicle you wanted.

Okay! We now have progress. The scallop piece is in her mouth. Of course, the hysterical crying and moaning has also started--her modus operandi when she has something in her mouth she doesn't care for.

So, we sorta caved. We promised dessert if she would eat it, which is also a big no-no according to all the experts, but she ate the scallop!

Does anyone out there have a good tip or two for getting kids to eat things they're not really enthusiastic about? Would love to hear from you.

Take care friends!
K~

P.S. Now she just said she loves scallops---Don't you just love 3 yr olds?!?!?

Birthdays & Christmas 2008

I know, it's the middle of January, but I just realized I'd never written about this year's Christmas & Birthday marathon, so here we go.

In my family the birthday/Christmas whirlwind that is December and January, begins on December 12 which is David's Dad's birthday. Next is my birthday on the 23rd of December, then of course Christmas Eve & Christmas Day, then Kyra's birthday on the 29th of December, then New Year's Eve & Day, then David's birthday on January 3rd, and then finally David's brother's birthday on January 4th. Let me tell you, that's a whole lot of celebrating! We have a joke in our family that we have 5 weeks of birthday cake :-)

However, this year's celebrating was a little different due to a certain snowstorm and a prophetic statement made a full year ago--more on that later. It started with my birthday. David & I were going to go downtown to the Melting Pot for a nice quiet dinner, just the two of us. But with the icy streets, we decided to forgo that plan, and made fondue at home instead! We also got to use our fondue set that we got for a wedding gift, so that was fun. Kyra wasn't too thrilled with the whole idea, as she said the cheese was "too sour & too hot", but she liked the bread :-)

Next up was Christmas. Typically we've spent Christmas Eve at my parents' and Christmas Day at David's folks---we got lucky in that our two families had celebrated like that forever, and both sets of parents live in town. And this arrangement worked fine for the many years we were just us, no kids. But as any parent knows, dragging little children around from place to place, missing naps & regular bedtimes does not make for a very happy time. So after last year, David looked at me the day after Christmas and said, "Ok. You have 365 days to get ready for Christmas AT OUR HOUSE next year."

One thing you need to know about me. When God was handing out the spiritual gift of hospitality, I must have been absent that day. In fact, I read somewhere regarding spiritual gifts that you'll know if something is your spiritual gift if the pleasure of doing it, outweighs the work it takes to do it. For me, having people over is very difficult. So when David said that, I said, "Well, that will never happen. I have 365 days to change his mind."

Well God must have been doing some big work in me over this past year, because we did have Christmas Day dinner at our house. We still had Christmas Eve dinner at my parents' house, because my mom insisted, which was fine, and really nice.




All in all, Christmas day dinner went well. However, I still struggled, because although I did ask people to bring something, I still ended up putting together a pretty elaborate sit-down meal using my good china & wine goblets, of beef tenderloin, risotto & sauteed green beans, none of which could be done up ahead of time. This meant I was stuck in the kitchen, while everyone else got to visit. Yes, this is partly my fault. I could have ordered take out Chinese, or pizza, but some part of me wanted to make it nice for everyone--pride maybe?? Anyway, it was a nice gift for my husband, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.







Then came Kyra's 3rd birthday. Awhile back she had asked me if I was making a Pooh Bear cake for her birthday this year (see last year's birthday post here). I said, "No, we'll do something else this year. What would you like? How about Veggie Tales?" This little girl lives and breathes these vegetables. So she says, "Bob & Larry?! And Junior, and Laura, and Archibald, and Madame Blueberry!?! That's a LOT of cake". And then she just cracks me up, because she goes on to say, "We're going to have to invite a LOT of people!"

So after searching online for a Bob & Larry cake pan, which I found out they don't make anymore, I found a site where people had posted their own Veggie Tales cakes. Using that as a guide, we did a pretty good job of making our own---It turned out so cute! And this time, like in past years, we ordered pizza for everyone, nice and simple :-)

Someone does not care for the
Birthday song...

Kyra & her good friend M

Finally David & his brother typically don't make a big deal about celebrating their birthdays, as they're only one day apart, so no big parties were planned. This year, David wanted to go fishing for his birthday, and I said I would go with him. Now remember, it was still extremely cold, and most of the local rivers were flooding, but I was willing to go anyway, to spend time with him. We even had a babysitter lined up for Kyra. At the last minute, he decided he didn't want to go fishing, and we ended up touring the wintery Columbia Gorge with Kyra---much more fun, in my opinion :-)



So there you have it--our birthday/Christmas Celebration for 2008 and part of 2009. Enjoy this beautiful sunshine!
K~

A Helpful tool

Ever have one of those days where you think, "If I get through this day with everyone still alive, it'll be a miracle!"??

I'm guessing if you're a parent of small children, this can be a daily mantra for you. Whether it's realizing your child has just discovered Sharpie markers make great eyeliner pencils, or your Dry Clean Only bedspread was the recipient of a stubborn child who refuses to use the big-girl potty, we've all been there. That moment where you become a raving lunatic, eyes bulging, face turning bright red, and noises coming out of your mouth that you thought only wild animals could make.

Luckily I've found a great book that has helped me tremendously in navigating this journey with our wonderful little spunky and spirited girl. It's written by two moms, Michelle Nicholasen & Barbara O'Neal, who have been there & done that, and have survived! Everything from throwing food to potty training, it's in there.

What I really appreciate about this book though is that it's written in such a way that if you need a quick reference, the table of contents is designed to jump quickly to a particular topic/conflict, instead of having to wade through a bunch of pages to find what you need.

And yes, like most self-help books, some of the language or phrases they suggest you use while in the middle of a situation sound a little Psychology 101, like you couldn't ever see yourself saying that. However, I find because I have to slow down to "talk like that" because it's not natural, it gives me that extra few seconds to reign my temper in, and catch my breath, if you will.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is currently in the middle of the toddler/preschool years, and would even go so far as to give it as a baby shower gift, because those days are coming sooner than you think :-)

Have a great weekend, friends and be sure to get out and enjoy this beautiful sunshine! And, Hang in there! :-)
K~

A Day of Firsts

The other day I was getting ready to send some pictures to be developed, and realized I'd never posted many of them--GASP!!! So in the next couple days I'll try to get caught up :-)

These were from this past Veteran's Day, when David had the day off, and we decided to go to the beach. Usually we go to Manzanita or Cannon Beach, and avoid the more touristy places like Seaside. But I'd heard from some friends that the Aquarium at Seaside was a good place to take little kids, as they could feed the sea lions, as well as see lots of things, and it was indoors---the weather didn't look very promising so this was a good thing.

On the way, we stopped at a park which used to have the tallest Sitka Spruce tree in the world, because we wanted to see what it looked like after last year's storm--we had heard it'd been split in two by a lightning strike. If it's any indication, they no longer advertise it as the tallest Sitka Spruce, but as a Heritage tree. This was the first of our Firsts that day, because Kyra had never seen trees that tall before, or walked underneath a tree (see below).

We continued on to Seaside, with it raining most of the way. However, when we got there, the sun was shining, which was a very nice surprise.

Then we headed to the aquarium, where Kyra wanted nothing to do with feeding the sea lions, so I got the smelly task--yuck! But she loved looking at all the fish, the octopus was really cool, and she got to touch the sea anemones and other animals in the touch tank, which was a big hit.

Afterwards, we walked on the beach a little bit, and then we decided to go ride the Carousel, as this was also something Kyra had never done (#2 of the Firsts). I've always liked carousels as I remember riding them with my grandma when I was Kyra's age. My great uncle George (my grandma's brother) either worked with, or was the owner of Rainier Shows, a traveling carnival--I'm not sure which. Anyway, at the time, Rainier Shows were set up at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle Washington, and I remember Uncle George letting us ride the carousel. Good times.

At first Kyra was a little reluctant to get on the carousel, but by the end of the ride, I could hardly get her off her horse. David tried to take a couple pictures, and as you can see below, Kyra is hanging on for dear life :-)


After the carousel ride, we were starting to get hungry. We had packed a picnic lunch, so we decided to drive down to Ecola State Park and eat there. This was another First, as I had never been there before. The weather was beautiful, but really windy. While we ate, a herd of elk came and grazed right by the parking lot, which was really cool, and Kyra got to hold her first--yep, #4--woolly bear caterpillar. There were tons of them everywhere, so of course, we had to stop and pick up each one of them.

This one's my favorite...
She's so excited about the caterpillars!

After that, we headed into Cannon Beach, stopped at the yummy bakery for some sweet treats and coffee, and then headed for home. It was a great day, and one we'll remember for a long time!

Cute Christmas Craft Project--Homemade Advent Calendar

On my previous post, I mentioned that I have a Craft Disorder, so the fact that I was able to pull this next thing together, which was from the Queen of All Crafts, Martha--yes, that Martha, still amazes me. And I realize we're already 17 days into December, so you might want to wait until next year to try it. Or if you have more than one child, you could have them catch up by taking turns opening up multiple days. Anyway, I apologize for posting this so late, but if any of you are just dying for something to cure your Cabin Fever, you could try it.

Like my friend Allison has been posting, it's often hard to help children get the concept of waiting until Christmas Day for all the presents. So this year since Kyra is old enough to understand presents, but doesn't quite get the waiting, I thought it might be nice to have an Advent Calendar. That way, we can count down the days until Christmas, as well as practice counting numbers, and if we're very lucky, even get a little sweet or treat as well.

So around November 29th or so--nothing like planning ahead, right???--I started looking in the stores for an Advent Calendar, but never found just the right one. Either they were way too old for our 2 yr old, or really, really expensive.

I decided to search online for "homemade advent calendars" because you can find anything on the internet, and lo and behold, hundreds of sites popped up. Some were so beyond me though, I thought, "Yikes, that would take me the whole month just to complete"--remember NOT crafty!

But then I stumbled onto a mom-friendly site that had lots of different calendar options, one of which was a link to an old Martha Stewart article, which used baby socks, ribbon, mini-clothespins, and stickers to make the most adorable advent calendar. Finally, something I could do! And best of all, the only things I had to go out and buy were the mini-clothespins (found them at Michael's), and the ribbon. And amazingly enough, I still had 24 baby socks of Kyra's that she'd outgrown, and that hadn't found their way to the consignment shop!!!

This was a great family project, because David hung the ribbon for us, using a few small nails every so often along the length, and Kyra helped me put the number stickers on each sock--good counting practice! Then we attached each sock to the ribbon, using the little clothes pins.

Now what would an advent calendar be, without a treat for each day??? When we were growing up, ours always had chocolate behind every door. This was my intent as well, so I went to Costco and bought their bag of truffles, because I knew everyone liked them. Then during Kyra's nap, I filled each sock with a truffle, and we were set.

December 1st came, and Kyra opened Sock #1. She squealed with delight as she found the chocolate inside. Then the practical Mommy side of me woke up, and said, "Do I really want to give this child 24 days of chocolate?" So the following day we needed to go to Fred Meyer anyway for some groceries, and there I bought some small candy canes, little hair barrettes and a couple of cute bracelets to mix things up a little bit.

Day 2 came, and Kyra was again so excited to open up that day's sock. However, this time it was a set of hair barrettes. You should have seen her little face...."Where's the chocolate?!?!", as the tears were rolling down her face. So I explained that not every day will have chocolate; some days there will be other really fun stuff. I don't think she bought it.

Anyway, here we are at Day 17, and the Advent Calendar fun is still going strong--today was a Chocolate day, so we were especially excited :-) I've posted a couple pictures below so you can see our little calendar. And the best thing is you can use it year after year.

Check out the frown...
No more pictures, Mom, just let me eat the chocolate!

Enjoy the snow, and stay dry & warm!
k~