Picky Eaters -- All My Fault

For the past 2+ years I've let my kids choose what they want to eat.  It was never really a big deal to me to make them something separate, because it never required me to actually cook 2 meals....they just eat stuff I can pull out of the fridge or cupboard.  Most days it's actually easier to feed them hot dogs and string cheese than make a meal anyway.

Somewhere in all of this, they completely stopped eating what I make for supper.  I'm not sure if we just stopped offering it to them, thinking they wouldn't like it anyway, or what??  I think, I was making meals for a little while that didn't seem very kid friendly, so I just automatically gave them something that was.  That, or when James travels I never cook and we just eat random stuff...they may have gotten a little used to that in the whole month James was gone last winter.

Anyway, fast forward to today....if I put MY supper on THEIR plate, they act like it is rat poison and refuse to even let their fork touch it.  If I make tacos....they will eat it....without the meat or veggies...just cheese and a shell.  If I make something with spaghetti sauce, but it isn't spaghetti...uh uh, no way are they going to try it.  And please, don't even ask them to eat ANYTHING with meat in it!  We don't do veggies much in this house (I have it with my breakfast every day, but of course they don't eat what i'm eating for breakfast)...so they definitely aren't getting their veggie nutrition.

One of my kids is so picky --- she only likes her milk with chocolate syrup in it, water only if it has juice in it, macaroni only if it is Kraft and the original shape noodles (I thought pumpkin shape would be fun -- nope, not having it), hot dogs only if they are microwaved (who doesn't like grilled hot dogs?!?!?!). UGH!

Okay, I totally get it -- I created this problem all on my own.  I have no one else to blame.  When they first started eating solids, I made their foods and gave them everything (except meat because I didn't think that would taste very good in puree form).  They were both great eaters for a really long time and loved everything they ate. (hold on, I'm having an "ah-ha" moment.....I'll get back to that..) They even ate what we were having for supper once they could chew.  I have no idea why I ever decided to start giving them "kid foods" like hot dogs, chicken nuggets, mac n cheese, PBJ, etc.  But as soon as I started I must have decided they always needed to eat those foods ----actually, it was probably more like, I realized how easy those foods were to prepare.

So, I've been wanting to get my kids away from all the crap they eat and not only have them eating healthier, but also eating what James and I are having for supper.  We have been trying to get them to try our foods, but neither will.  I know what the answer is and what several friends have recently told me they do......  don't offer them anything else!  (this was my "ah-ha"....when they were first learning to eat, they didn't know other options existed, so of course they always ate what was in front of them...duh!)

Today we were at a friends house and her three children ate grilled chicken, peas and sweet potatoes for lunch.  I was shocked....you'd never catch my kids eating those foods.  She told me that the kids know there is no other food....eat that or go hungry.  I'm SO AFRAID that my kids will actually starve themselves if I only offer them one meal. They both go hungry at school when they don't like the lunch (or snack in Rylee's case as she doesn't have lunch at school).  Which reminds me--- I was looking forward to my kids having to try new foods at school...hoping they would come out of their picky shells.....but instead, they are perfectly happy to not eat.

I have heard of parents making their kids try one bite of every food.  Wyatt just won't open his mouth and Rylee gags so bad I'm afraid she will actually throw up one of these times (my niece did that once when forced to try something).  When we do force her to eat something that we KNOW she will like, she makes a face like she is eating bugs and won't eat anymore --- so stubborn!!!

I've started researching (by that I mean pinterest and google of course) healthier foods that kids actually like and will start trying some out.  My first step was to move all of their snacks up high where they can't reach them and eat all day long (the little rascals always still find a way to get to them).  I've been denying them snack times too, which is tough because I also don't like hearing "I'm hungry" a million times.  Both of my kids like to have a constant flow of beverages too, so I've started saying "no" to some of their requests for drinks.  Seriously, Wyatt would drink milk the entire day with no food and be happy....pretty sure he can down a gallon all by himself in one day.  When the pediatrician told me not to let them have more than 3 servings of dairy in a day, I was like, "Haha, yeah right!!"

I know it won't be an easy feat to get my kiddos eating better, and more importantly, eating what James and I eat, but I'm giving it a shot.  It's annoying to have to bring them their own food everywhere we go because I know they won't eat what someone else made.  I was picky like them and my mom always made me whatever I wanted, so I didn't branch out much.  I don't want my kiddos to miss out on yummy and nutritious foods (Rylee and half her class passed up apple crisp for snack at school -- crazy huh?!?!?!).  I didn't try my first strawberry until I was in my 20's...couldn't believe what I had been missing out on for so many years!!!  I just started eating sweet potatoes a little over a year ago and they are now one of my fav foods!!

Besides wanting the kids to be healthier and less picky, I'm pretty sure my grocery bill will be cut in half when I stop buying so much of the foods they are used to....that in itself is worth the effort!!

If you have any great food ideas for me to have them try, I'm all ears!!  :)

Things they will actually eat that are healthier:
Apples (sometimes with PB)
Applesauce
Berries
Grapes
Cheese
Yogurt
Cottage cheese
....and that's about it. 

Farm Chores

We have been in our new house a little over a week now and are finally feeling settled....at least I am, anyway.  The kids still follow me everywhere I go and have no idea where anything is.  But, they do love their yard and all of the outside play time they are getting in.  James still has a long to-do list, but he got to enjoy some time on his farm this weekend.

We are all enjoying the farm actually.  Everyone has farm chores already.  James of course has a lot....he started with mowing the pasture this weekend. I'm not real sure what the long term plan is for the pasture --- Grandpa A. wants to have goats, but I think hay is more what James has in mind. Hay makes money, goats probably won't (because we would keep them as pets). James also has this strange belief that every kid needs to know how to bale hay.

Speaking of Grandpa A. and mowing....my dad loves a beautifully manicured farm lawn as much as I do and volunteered to mow for us.  He has always enjoyed mowing and is participating in the chores with us. 

Wyatt, as you can see, just helps with everything -- he's a guys guy and likes to ride the big equipment. He had his little lawn mower out while Daddy and Grandpa were mowing. He is also getting good at driving the little power wheels car -- he gets it stuck and then tries to push it :)

Mine and Rylee's chore is to feed the cat every day.  If it were up to me, we would feed her closer to the house.  Heidi (the cat) has been on the farm for several years and apparently prefers to eat in the barn.  We make the trek to the barn and as soon as she hears food hitting her bowl, she comes running.  She is becoming fond of Rylee and lets her pet her while she eats.  Rylee saw that Heidi had a kitty friend with her in the barn today -- she told me they "might be in kitty love" :)

The kids are joining the ranks of other good farm kids by getting as dirty as possible.  Our septic tank was replaced right before we moved in, which left a giant mound of dirt in our yard...I was upset by the mess, but it quickly became the favorite thing to play with outside.  Even the neighbor kids love it....our bathtub had a thick layer of sand/dirt after this particular day of playing outside.

We are all very proud of our new farm and are enjoying sharing it with others.  I even walked around and picked up all the trash that blew around over night last week -- that's something I wouldn't have bothered to do at our last place.  While I loved our last house and our amazing view, this place is much more my style.  Every day I pinch myself at the fact that we actually get to live here and call this place ours.  The property is amazing, with a giant flat yard, fenced in pasture, crop field, timber, red outbuildings.....just couldn't ask for more.  And the house -- while I definitely have updates I'd like to make, it just feels so warm and cozy and "us".  We are in love for sure!

All moved!!

I don’t remember being this exhausted after any of my previous moves!!  Holy cow I’m tired!  We are on day 5 in our new house.  We closed on Thursday morning and had originally planned to move on Saturday, but my dad took Thursday and Friday off to help, so we decided to go ahead and start right away.  I’m so glad about that decision now because we needed a full 4 days to get everything done.

After signing our life away at the closing (which shockingly only took 15 minutes), we headed to our new house to start cleaning.  The house was already very clean, but I like to do my own cleaning as well.  Plus, they had 2 indoor cats and a house dog – we had LOTS of vacuuming to do!!!  We have the Dyson pet vacuum – we vacuumed each room 3 times and got an entire canister of pet hair after each room.  That was all the convincing I needed to never have an indoor pet (don’t hold me to that – I still want a cat someday).

While I finished cleaning, with the help of my kiddos and mother-in-law (Rylee was such a great helper this weekend!!!), James and my dad loaded the UHaul back at our rental house.  They pulled up to the new house about the same time we were finishing cleaning.  A couple of James’ co-workers came over to help unload as they were just getting done with work (we only live a few miles from their office).  We had the entire truck unloaded in two hours.  It was almost 8:00 at this point and we were exhausted, so we didn’t do any unpacking other than throwing sheets on the mattresses. 

Friday morning we made a couple more trips back to the rental house to get the rest of our things.  We finally got to start unpacking Friday afternoon and I was so overwhelmed. Normally I would start with the kitchen, but it was the last thing I wanted to do.  By the time I did finally unpack the 28 kitchen boxes on Saturday, it took me 3 hours – and I’m sure I will rearrange everything sooner than later. 

Fast forward to Monday and I finally have 90% of the unpacking done.  Somehow I still don’t feel done though.  I know there is still organizing and rearranging to be done at some point.  We also don’t have much furniture, so the house feels a little empty and unsettled.  We drove over to Redekers on Saturday to pick out a dining table as we did not have one and had been eating on a folding table the past 5 months.  We got to bring the table home, but the chairs are on back order for about 6 weeks – so folding chairs it will be J  We also got a couple of new barstools last week for our kitchen counter, but one is missing pieces, of course, and can’t be put together.  I called Homemakers this morning and they are sending me the pieces -- in two months!!!  Ugh! 

While James and I are feeling pretty drained (we were in bed by 8:30 almost every night since moving) and still have a long “to do” list, the kids are thoroughly enjoying the new place!!  As kids who watch 8+ hours of tv a day, they have impressed us so much by finding things to do while we don’t have tv!!  The first day out here we didn’t even have furniture or toys for 6 hours –they ran around the house a million times, played in the yard, looked for the cat we inherited, etc.  They never got bored.  Rylee hadn’t been out here more than an hour when she asked if she could finally take her socks and shoes off and run through the yard J  We weren’t ever able to go barefoot in either of our previous yards.  Our new yard has a nice lush lawn perfect for bare feet J  Watching them run through the yard is just priceless.

Saturday night our new neighbors invited us over for supper. This was the best thing ever!!  We really needed a break from cleaning/moving/unpacking.  It was so nice to sit and relax and even better to have a home cooked meal after way too many fast food meals!  The kids had so much fun playing together too (Rylee and their middle boy are in the same class).  We are really excited to have this family as our neighbors!!

Yesterday I had to clean the rental house—that was the absolute last thing I wanted to do when I still had unpacking to do at our new house.  Today the new tenants move in – we are so happy to have found sub-leasers and be done with the rental!!!

Today I’m finally relaxing a little bit (to write to all of you).  I got the tv and DVD player hooked up for the kiddos and they are happily watching a movie while I type.  This afternoon we have lots of errands to run....including a trip to Grandma's so I can use her internet to send this post :)  We haven't decided what to do for internet out here yet as our options are very limited, so will be without it for a bit. 

We got to wake up to deer in the yard already.  Although we saw them daily at our Truro house, it was still special to see them in our new yard J  We have also had turkeys too. I imagine once the corn is harvested we will have lots of turkeys!  James and I went on a Gator ride Friday night while the kids were at my moms and we saw lots of deer – the wildlife is definitely present here! 

Our inherited cat Heidi is loving us already!  She let Rylee pet her for about 10 minutes last night even.  I’m not sure if she loves her new name or not – Ry keeps calling her Sophia-Heidi.  She brought us a mouse Friday night and Rylee saw her carrying a ground squirrel in her mouth last night.  It will take me a while to get used to all of that!  She sat right outside our front door last night – guard kitty! 

We truly are thrilled with our new house.  It feels so warm and cozy and generally perfect for us J  It won’t take long to feel settled and be back into a routine.  For now, I’m too tired to care about the blue carpet, green countertops and gold fixtures.  The beautiful fall scenery we have outside more than makes up for the 15 year old décor inside the house.  We are hoping to spend more time outside than in until winter gets here and forces us inside. 

We are excited to share our new place with everyone.  Let us know when you will be in the area and can stop by!!