Houston - Part 2

Day 2 - We got up pretty early - but not too early. Had a yummy breakfast ate at the hotel and headed over to Space Center Houston located at the Johnson Space Center. We knew they didn't open until 10am but in the past we have gotten in early to places so figured it was worth a shot. We arrived at 9am. 1st ones in the parking lot!! Well, they didn't open those doors until 10am on the dot...dang it. Oh, well.

As suggested by BIL, Alan, we headed straight back to the Tram Tour. Whew! Thanks for the advice, Alan, because this would have been entirely too hot and yucky to have done later in the day.

We toured the grounds of the Johnson Space Center, went into a building where the astronauts train on mock-ups of the shuttle, space station and lunar vehicles.

The Space Shuttle Mock-up behind Evan

The 2 new Lunar vehicles that they will use in the Constellation Missions

We then went to Rocket Park where the Saturn V is parked - this was the giant rocket that launched all those Apollo Missions to the moon. Amazing and overwhelming to see that. It has been restored to some degree...but just thinking about sitting on top of that rocket as it was about to launch...wow!

You can see 4 out of the 5 engines on the Saturn V in this picture

We headed back to the museum and watched some shows, saw actual space craft, space suits, learned how the astronauts live in space, learned about the International Space Station and current missions, just to name a few...

This was the Apollo 17 spacecraft - the last to return from the moon.

Did you know that there has been a human being living on the Space Station at all times for the past 9 years?

Did you know that 3 more astronauts joined 3 astronauts on the Space Station last Thursday night?

Did you know there are only 2 more Space Shuttle missions left - forever??? The last one is in November. The Shuttle missions have been the longest running NASA missions since 1981. Go to nasa.gov and watch the video of Atlantis - it's last mission back in May.

Did you know the Space Station will be complete in November 2010?

Did you know that NASA has a contract with the Russians to use their Soyuz spacecraft to travel to and from the Space Station? Did you know it lands in the desert of Kazikstan with a big thud?

Did you know they are currently working/testing/experimenting new technology for the Constellation mission? The missions that will take astronauts back to the moon and possibly to Mars??? The first mission is scheduled for 2014.

Just incredible

We pretended we were on duty at Mission Control and what it was like to fit inside the Apollo spacecraft. We saw real moon rocks, moon dirt and the space suits that went to the moon.

The mock-up of the Space Shuttle controls

Touching a piece of moon rock

I find space, Astronauts the whole NASA program to be amazing. I would want to be an astronaut if it wasn't for the non-fear of heights, dizziness, extra-smart, multiply degrees and pilot pre-requisites. It's really too bad that the media does not highlight what is currently happening with the space program and what amazing vehicles we have built and what amazing scientific research has been conducted. Instead we hear about Jon and Kate's divorce, Lindsey Lohan's drunken episodes and instead we should be looking in the sky and seeing the space station float by...yes, you can see it, too. Okay, off my soap box.

I'll check in later for the continuation of Day 2....

Houston - Part 1

Right after the VBS program on Friday we headed down to Houston. We decided to take a little mini-vacation just for the weekend. I found a La Quinta to stay at online that was in Seabrook. Just South of Houston between Downtown and Galveston. It was right on Nasa Road and a mile from the Kemah Boardwalk in Kemah. The perfect location for our little vacation.

Day 1 We stopped in Huntsville to check out the statue of Sam Houston - 1st president of Texas. He was big, it was hot, we didn't stay that long. But, just long enough to pretend to pick his nose.

We made it to Seabrook about 5pm - checked in to the hotel then headed down to Kemah Boardwalk to find some place to eat.

We found the Aquarium...think Rainforest Cafe meets fish. They had a huge aquarium with big giant fish swimming around.

After dinner we headed out to the Boardwalk to explore. We rode the train and the boys each rode a ride.

We had ice cream, too! It was pretty hot and humid so we headed back to the hotel after all the fun we could handle.

Settled in to the hotel to get ready for Day 2 - Space Center Houston!

Summer Fun Begins

We've been enjoying and taking advantage of the summer concert series at the Levitt Pavilion in Arlington. Free concerts Wed-Sun nights in June! We have had a blast and love the music!

We went to a kids concert one Wednesday and saw The Boogers. It was hard rock kid tunes like Twinkle, Twinkle, etc. Brennan hated it - not his preferred music genre but Evan and our nephew Reid ran around and danced - loving it.

We also went out to Ft. Worth to the Concerts in the Garden in the Botanical Garden. We heard the music of Queen. Excellent weather, excellent food, and excellent music. It was a great night and the boys had fun too.
Brennan spent some of his own money on a Nintendo DS. I'm sure this is how we'll see him for most of the summer.

Last week marked the start of summer with Vacation Bible School at Church. The boys seemed to have a great time and came home exhausted everyday. I didn't help this year with the music - which was nice to have a break and get some me time. I went walking almost everyday (okay, 3 days) and we would walk 3-5 miles each time.

Next up....Houston!

I'm Back

I took a bit of (okay, a long) break from blogging. My only excuse is that I got an iPhone in February and now I rarely turn on the home computer. And, I can't blog from work - not that I have any free time to do that. wink. wink.

Summer is approaching and I'm getting back into my bloggy groove. I have lots I want to share and hopefully I'll be more faithful to my blog followers to keep you updated on The Music Mommy.

I also have another great reason to blog more often.

I got a new camera!!! A Canon EOS Rebel XS. It was an early birthday present to me. I plan on practicing more photog taking this summer. I'm really excited about learning how to use this camera and improve on my picture taking skills. I love that I can get so many action shots! Yippee!

Here's a sampling of what I took this week:

St. Patrick's Day

On St. Patrick's Day, we had a bit of a family party at the house. I don't know why I feel such a need to make this little holiday so much fun for the kids and provide some sort of traditionally recognition....I guess it must be the Irish heritage and the number of family members with Patrick in their name.

I made some clever party favors from an idea I found on Skip to My Lou. This is one of my newest and most favorite websites right now. Such cute ideas! They were filled with Andes mints for the adults and Lucky Charms for the kids.

Brennan and I (and some help from Evan) made the cutest Rainbow cupcakes. I found this idea in my favorite magazine Family Fun. It was super simple to do and tasted yummy!

Here's a pic of them on our festive table!

For dinner we had Corned Beef and Cabbage with Potatoes, carrots, Irish Brown Bread. I found all the recipes online Family Fun as well!

And Bryan dressed up in his Irish attire.....am I the lucky one or what?!!??!

I do wish everyone a little bit of the "luck 'o the Irish" this year.

Spring Planning

Spring Break has sprung and it is now back to the daily grind and the downhill slope toward the end of the school year. We had a great break, played, worked, and relaxed. The weather was perfect (except for the unseasonal cold/snow yesterday) and I can't say I'd have it any other way.

Looking ahead at our calendars, I was realizing how busy the next few months are going to be. And that always seems to make dinner time a rush or an extra expense to eat out (yet again)!

I've been loving the e-mealz.com website where I receive a low-fat meal plan for the week with shopping guide and recipes. But, I'm also considering the time crunch on some of our weekends and that seems to be when I do the weekly grocery shopping. And I just won't have all the time to prepare the meals from start to finish after getting home from work. So, I dusted off my Super Suppers Cookbook and found some recipes that I know we like since we've tried them before and did a little shopping yesterday. My plan was to shop on Saturday and cook on Sunday then store all the meals in the freezer to have ready any day.

I organized my recipes, shopping lists and coupons. I went to Kroger's (alone!) and purchased about $150 worth of groceries. Everything I bought was either on sale, had a coupon or the store brand OR I already had the recipe item at home. I'm also using Cellfire.com - which you can load coupons directly to your Kroger card (or Tom Thumb Card) and then it will automatically deduct the savings when your card is scanned at the register. Double points - you can also use a manufacturer coupon as well for that item and save even more! Triple-points - if you own an iPhone, get the free app CardStar. You can set up all your store cards on there and it creates a bar code - so all you have to do is show your phone to the checkout and they scan that instead of having to carry around a wallet or keychain full of store cards - Nice!

Anywhooo....I started cooking around 9:30/10:00am , took an hour break for lunch than finished up by 2:00. Not bad for finishing off 11 meals!!! I made Lasagna, Tex Mex Beef Fiesta, Chicken Enchiladas, Chicken Dijon, Maple Mustard Chicken and Thai Chicken Wings. All the recipes came from my Super Suppers Cookbook but I'll copy them here if you wanna try them. The only one we had not previously tried was the Thai Chicken Wings - but they sounded yummy.

It's best to start with the kitchen neat and clean and your recipes and ingredients all laid out in front of you. I changed some of the recipes by using the low fat or fat free version of ingredients and using smaller pans to portion each meal up.

First - I started with the chicken recipes: I poached a couple chicken breasts (4) to use for the diced chicken in the enchiladas and everything else you didn't have to cook ahead. I also made sure to have plastic wrap, foil, square foil pans, sharpie marker and ziplocs.

As the chicken was cooking - I put together the Thai Chicken Wings, and Maple Mustard Chicken. I then moved on to the Chicken Dijon while I let the cooked chicken cool. By then, it was cooled off and ready to assemble the Chicken Enchiladas. I got 3 serving pans out of this 1 recipe!

After lunch I cooked 2 1/2 lbs of ground beef in 1 skillet with the ingredients for the Tex Mex Beef and cooked the other 1 lb in another skillet with the ingredients for the lasagna. I was able to multitask and work on both of these recipes at the same time.

I love that the freezer is full of yummy things to eat and not just frozen pizza and chicken nuggets! Hopefully this will get us through some busy evenings and supplement the standard meals we seem to make. I also stocked the freezer with frozen vegetables and the pantry has rice and canned veggies.

I hope you find some of this helpful and try some of the recipes listed below: My changes are in red.

Thai Chicken Wings

Ingredients:

24 chicken wings, tips removed, cut into wings and drumettes

8 cloves garlic , coarsely chopped 6 cloves

1 T ginger 1 teaspoon ginger powder

4 t soy sauce

4 t honey

2 t coriander

2 t fish sauce

One - Place chicken wings in a large resealable plastic bag; add remaining ingredients. Seal bag; turn to coat chicken wings. Refrigerate for 2 - 24 hours.

Two - Preheat oven to 350

Three - Place wings on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake, uncovered, 15 minutes. Turn and bake 5 minutes more or until chicken is no longer pink (Or broil 10 minutes. Turn and broil about 5 minutes more or until chicken is no longer pink).

Freeze Ahead: Prepare through Step One and freeze up to 2 months. Defrost completely in refrigerator. Continue on to Step Two.

Maple Mustard Chicken

Ingredients

2 T Dijon Mustard

2 T maple syrup

2 T honey

2 t lemon juice

1 3-31/2 lb chicken, cut into 8 pieces 3 chicken breasts and a few tenderloins

2 T vegetable oil

One: In a large bowl, stir together 1st 4 ingredients. Add chicken pieces, turning to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 1 - 6 hours

Two: Drain chicken, reserving mustard mixture. Preheat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken pieces on both sides. Turn heat to low. Pour mustard mixture over chicken. Cover and simmer gently for 30-40 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.

Three: To serve, place chicken on a large serving platter. Pour pan juices over chicken.

Freeze Ahead: Place chicken pieces and mustard mixture in a freezer bag and freeze up to 2 months. Defrost completely in refrigerator. Continue according to Step Two.

Would be so easy to double or triple and make several bags of chicken ready to cook up in the freezer.

Chicken Dijon

1/2 cup bottled ranch salad dressing

1/2 cup Dijon mustard

1 cup Italian-seasoned bread crumbs

6 medium boneless, skinless chicken breast halves package of chicken tenderloins

One: Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 13x9x2 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Two: Stir together salad dressing and mustard. Put bread crumbs in a shallow dish. Use a pastry brush to coat both sides of each chicken breast half with the salad dressing mixture. Coat chicken with the bread crumbs. Arrange chicken in the prepared baking dish. I put ranch/mustard in one pie pan and bread crumbs in the other. Dunked the chicken in wet mixture than bread crumbs and put them on a cookie sheet.

Three: Bake, uncovered, about 20 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.

Freeze ahead: Prepare through Step Two. Cover with plastic wrap and foil. Freeze up to 1 month. Defrost , and continue on to Step Three. I flash froze the chicken on the cookie sheet than placed them in a ziploc...than I can take out however many I want to cook up at a time.

Chicken and Green Chile Enchiladas

1 3-lb chicken, stewed and meat removed, or 3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, poached and chopped (3 cups). I used 4 smallish chicken breasts I had in the freezer.

4 cups shredded cheddar cheese

10 green onions, thinly sliced - 1 bunch - so maybe 5 green onions

2 t chili powder

2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup fat free

2 cups sour cream light sour cream

1 7 oz can diced green chile peppers, undrained 2 4.5 oz cans

12 6 inch corn tortillas

One: Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 13x9x2 inch baking dish with cooking spray

Two: In a large bowl stir together chopped chicken, 2 cups of the cheese, green onion, and chili powder. In another bowl combine soup, sour cream, and undrained chile peppers. Stir 1 cup of the soup mixture into the chicken mixture. Spread 1/2cup of the soup mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking dish.

Three: Place 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture on 1 tortilla. Roll up tortilla; place in baking dish. Repeat with the remaining mixture and tortillas. Place any remaining mixture on top of rolled tortillas. Pour remaining soup mixture over tortillas; sprinkle with the remaining 2 cups of cheese.

Four: Bake, uncovered, for 35-45 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Freeze ahead: Prepare through Step Three. Cover with plastic wrap and foil. Freeze up to 2 months. Defrost completely, preheat over and continue to Step Four.

I got 3 square foil pans out of this recipe...but I don't particularly like to have leftovers and I know our family will only eat a smaller portion. Clearly this would be easy to double and do several batches. It is really good, too!

Tex-Mex Beef Fiesta

1 1/2 pounds of ground beef

1 cup chopped onion - 1/2 cup

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1 t minced fresh garlic

1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained

1/2 cup sliced pitted black olives - you could leave out if you like

1 T chili powder

1 t salt

1/2 t ground cumin

One: In a large skillet cook ground beef, onion, mushrooms, and garlic over medium-high heat until meat is brown. Drain off fat.

Two: Stir in undrained tomatoes, olives, chili powder, salt and cumin. Bring to boiling. Turn heat to medium-low. Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring often.

Freeze ahead: Place cooked meat mixture in a freezer bag and freeze up to 2 months. Defrost completely in refrigerator. Reheat over medium-low heat.

I doubled this recipe and put 2 1/2 cups in 3 freezer bags. This is really good served in tortillas, taco shells, over corn chips or on top of bagged salad mix. A little cheese on top would be good too.

Easy Family Lasagna

1 lb ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 t dried Italian mixed herbs

2 26-oz jars pasta sauce

1/2 cup water

6 dried lasagna noodles

1 16 oz container cottage cheese low fat

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese reduced fat

1 t minced fresh garlic

1 t dried parsley

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

One: Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 13x9x2 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Two: In a large skillet cook ground beef, onion, and Italian herbs until meat is brown. Drain off fat. Stir in pasta sauce and water. Spread 1 cup of the meat mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Top with 3 uncooked noodles. Pour 2 cups of the meat mixture over the noodles.

Three: Stir together cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, garlic and parsley. Dollop cheese mixture on top of meat mixture and spread carefully. Top with 3 more uncooked noodles and remaining meat mixture.

Four: Bake, uncovered, about 1 hour or until hot and bubbly. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake 10 minutes more.

I went ahead and made 2 square foil pans of this. I divided the mozzarella cheese up into little sandwich bags and froze it between a layer of plastic wrap and foil with each pan.

Roller Derby

Over our "mid-winter break" last weekend we were getting a bit stir crazy being at home with all the snow. On Valentine's Day (Sunday) we decided to plan something fun.

Roller Skating.

Brennan has been asking to go for a few months now. Ever since a coupon to some roller skating rink was sent home in his folder from school. He wanted to try it and we were willing to let him try it.

We get to the Arlington Skatium and everyone gets their skates. We put them on and I carefully have the boys stand against a pillar so I could take a picture to document them in their skates.

That's when this event went on a downhill slide real quick. As you can see from the above photo....Brennan looks a bit unsure of himself and his ability to roller skate. Evan, on the other hand, has less experience as a 3 year so he does not yet fear the roller skating.

Immediately after this picture was taken - Brennan leans back on the pillar and his feet go out from under him and he falls smack on his butt. The kind that really hurts!!!

We get him to shake it off and just follow up with getting him on the rink. Bryan has Brennan, I have Evan. But, at this point, Brennan is already too afraid to try and listen to any instruction. He is just holding on to the wall for dear life.

We all make it around the rink 1 time...get off so they can play the Red Light, Green Light Game and we can watch the skater's technique. Evan makes his way over to the video games (with no help) and parks himself in a driving game. Bryan takes Brennan out for another spin and I'm stuck trying to pry Evan off the game - he stated that "he didn't want to skate. It's not fun."

Now, we have paid $24.78 for this fun experience - and I had planned on spending some time here to "get our money's worth". Ha!

I turn around in hopes to get Evan off the game one last time and he has peed his pants. It has trickled down his leg and into his skate. The bathroom is clear across the rink from where we are....and do I have a change of underwear and pants, no!!!!! Oh, yeah and I'm on roller skates, myself...it's not like I'm a champion skaters either.

We make it to the restroom in hopes there would be a hand dryer - nope. Nothing. So there we are stuck with pee pants and Brennan who is yowling out on the rink. I wave Bryan down he gets off the rink with Brennan (who is actually skating better, but not realizing it). I tried one more time with Brennan out on the rink - to no avail. He carried on and was in such fear of falling that he was paralyzed to try and would not even listen to direction.

We quickly changed or skates and got out of there. Epic Fail.

Both boys asleep in the car on the way home. Awesome.

Let it Snow!

Last week was Snowfest 2010! In North Texas it doesn't usually snow...with real snow or snow that stays for more than a day, or snow with which you can actually build a snowman. But last Thursday, February 11th, it snowed the ENTIRE day. The airport officially got 12 1/2 inches of snow.

School was cancelled on Friday, since DFW doesn't know what to do with all that snow and many people's power was out due to fallen branches on power lines or power lines breaking from the weight of all the snow.

It was beautiful snow.

It was snow that reminded me of growing up in Michigan. The days we would put our snowsuits, hats, scarves, mittens, and boots on and go sledding, ice skating, and playing ALL day in the stuff. I also remember shoveling snow off the driveway but I don't remember any days off from school...I'm sure there were. I just don't remember because it snowed every winter. You could count on it in Michigan. In Texas, there is usually a "snow" day but it is more like an ice day - not a foot of snow.

We built snow people - one in the backyard and one in a cul-de-sac near our house. It was definitely a winter wonderland.

It was such quiet snow - snow with no wind...it stayed right where it fell and didn't move. It was so peaceful and quiet the next morning. It made everyone slow down and take a breath.

It was also snow that caused destruction. In Texas, there are some trees that grow that just aren't meant to take the weight of a foot of heavy, wet snow. By Friday morning, the damage was starting to be apparent. We had some damage - but nothing too catastrophic.

An old live oak tree couldn't take the weight and lost a few branches right on our front porch. This was a definite stimulus to the tree trimming companies of DFW!

Most of the snow is melted now, it is a high of 60 today. But more snow is predicted for next week. We'll see what happens then.

I am Spoiled

It's my husband's fault, you know.

He spoils me everyday.

I sleep an extra 30 minutes while he gets up, lets the dog out, showers and gets dressed before he wakes me up with a kiss on the cheek.

I then can shower and get dressed and ready in peace while HE wakes the boys, makes breakfast and makes lunches for me, Brennan and himself.

He will then prepare a travel mug of coffee with just the right amount of French Vanilla Fat Free Creamer for me.

On cold mornings, he will start my car and turn the heat on so it is toasty warm inside.

On evenings when he can tell I've had it, he will entertain the boys, bathe them and get them ready for bed.

He will sit and watch ridiculous TV with me most evenings.

He actually enjoys walking around Target or Costco with me.

He lets me be weird and goofy and doesn't judge me for it. (At least, not out loud).

These are just a few of the reasons I am spoiled.

I appreciate every single one of them because I know that everyone is not as lucky as I am to have such an awesome husband and father to her kids.

Love you, Bryan!

Grocery Store Nightmares

Why is the Grocery Store such a nightmare?

Okay, why is the grocery store such a nightmare when you take your 2 kids?

I know this. Yet, for some unknown, non-sensical reason I attempt to take my kids with me to the grocery store. The oldest one is mostly okay - he stays relatively close by and helps put things in the cart on the third time I ask him (did you sense the sarcasm there?). It's the walking with the head down and standing in the way when I'm clearly turning the cart...can't he predict my next move with the cart?

And the cart...well, let's start there. Clearly, Brennan is too big to ride IN the cart. But, Evan wants to be like his big brother and walk too. But this is not yet an option as this will increase risk of running. So, I, on occasion, will opt for the giant cart with the race car attached to the front. In hopes this will entice the Preschooler to stay in the cart for an extended period of time. This ALWAYS back fires on me. As the car is closer to the ground and a faster means of escape.

Today, after work I had to pick the boys up from school. Duh. But - then I had to go grocery shopping. I have lists - e-mealz.com lists, grocery game lists and other essentials lists. Plus, I'm working with coupons in one hand and some in my purse. I had to go to the grocery store so there would be something for dinner that evening as everything we had was frozen rock solid in the freezer and it was 4:00. Surely, this could be a quick trip to Kroger, right? Wrong.

1. I attempt the giant car cart - epic failure. Evan immediately jumps out because he wants to "help". So then I look like a complete moron steering this monstrosity throughout the store with no child riding in it. I then look like more of a complete moron as I continuously say, "Evan get in the car....now....PLEASE"!

2. Produce section first - epic failure. The boys suddenly want a lesson in various types of fruits and vegetables - plus touch them all. (And why is the store soooo busy on a Tuesday afternoon?)

3. Lists - failure. This wasn't a complete "epic" failure because in the end I did save $20 something on my bill...plus everything for the week was under $100. BUT, the lists kept blowing out of my hand or cart having to stop and pick them up off the floor. Also, trying to juggle 3 lists and coupons was more than my overly-tired-why-am-I-doing-this-brain could handle.

4. Time - epic failure. Time was not on my side. This ended up not being a quick trip and when my time ran out - it really ran out. Meaning Evan decided to escape from the giant car cart and started running at full speed down the frozen food aisle and turning the corner. I attempt to push the giant car cart a little faster in hopes to catch up - but this blew my three lists on the floor, Brennan was dragging behind because he's still looking at his feet as he walks and the lady we kept passing on every other previous aisle says "oh, there he goes". Nice. Like I hadn't noticed. Maybe she could have stuck a leg out to trip him to help a Mommy out.

5. The Seatbelt - epic failure. I catch the little booger - after I almost knock down an end-cap display and strap him into the car cart seatbelt. This begins the yowling at the top of his lungs "OWWWW"! The kid is not hurt - but he is smart enough to know that he will get a bigger reaction if he acts like he is hurting. So, every person in the lunch meat section is staring at me like I'm ignoring my child's cries for help because he is in pain. I happen to see a Mom (who I had made cupcakes for her kids birthday once) and she says "Hi, how are you?" Not in the mood to play nice, I said "I've been better." (As shrill yells are coming from my car cart). She says back, "oh, yes, I hate taking the kids to the grocery store." Isn't she wise?

6. The Checkout - epic failure. After 45 minutes of this self-inflicted torture I finally head to the checkout. There is 1 lane open with 5 customers all lined up (again, why is Kroger suddenly so busy?). Evan is still screaming and now attempting to escape. I have a basket full of stuff and I'm going to have to stand here forever?!!! They open another lane and kindly ask if I want to go first....after zipping over there, Evan has finally Houdini'd his way out of the seatbelt. He wants to help put things on the conveyor but he is so pissed he is chunking them and throwing them up there. I try and redirect him...but this causes him to take off out the front door of the store. I leave everything behind - as the checkout guy is asking me if I have a Kroger Card - and go running after him. He quickly found himself strapped into the cart part - but this causes even louder screams than before. "Jesus, God, just get me out of here!"

So, that sums up why I hate the grocery store. And just think - I still had to come home, unload the groceries, put them away and then start dinner.

I'm having a glass of wine now.

Food Experiments

If you are a parent of Toddler through School Age kid than you know that the food thing can be a challenge at times. Brennan was such an awesome eater as a baby. I made a LOT of his baby food from fresh produce in hopes that he would grow up to love fresh fruits and vegetables. His favorite was sweet potatoes! Now, the kid wouldn't put a sweet potato near his lips. Once he hit 2 years old and his independence started to take over he actually started having opinions - go figure! Brennan still does pretty good with eating but he likes your typical unhealthy fair - hamburgers, chicken tenders, mac 'n cheese, hot dogs, and his favorite - grilled cheese. He will eat apple sauce, pears, peaches, oranges, pineapples - but of the container variety that is covered in syrup. I tried to make myself feel better by purchasing the "light" syrup - but knew that it didn't replace the real thing. But, Brennan never liked sweets and still will not eat most cookies, candy, and cakes. . at least we have that going for us.

Anyways, I was reading in one of my favorite magazines Family Fun about a tip from a parent that said she tried doing food experiments to get her kids to try new foods. I knew this was the answer for Brennan. Brennan is a kid that needs ALL the facts before he tries something new. He wants to know all the details before just jumping in and taking anyone's word for it. Even pure logic wasn't good enough for him...example, "But Brennan, you like apple sauce, apple juice, cinnamon apples from Chili's, why won't you try an apple slice?" It just didn't work with him. Oh, AND he LOVES to do experiments! This was perfect! We talked the idea up to him and he chose to do apples as our first experiment. We went to the grocery store and found 10 different varieties of apples.

I got a big piece of butcher paper and divided it up into sections and we took our data on each apple. The way it looked, smelled, size, shape, color and taste. We even looked up info online about where it was grown and when it was discovered.

We then rated them if we liked it, it was okay or didn't like it. Brennan was gobbling up slice after slice of apple!!!! I about lost my mind. He decided he liked Honey Crisp and Golden Delicious apples the best and Granny Smith the least. I learned a lot as well...I learned that I hated Red Delicious, liked Granny Smith and loved Honey Crisp. And here's a picture of Brennan taking a bite out of his first apple at the age of 6. He now loves to eat apples for snack and will take them in his lunch....SUCCESS!!!!

Our second experiment Brennan chose to do was pears.

I think we also found 10 different varieties of pears and that was really fun. There are some really yummy pears out there and some that are not that great....for instance, you'd think that the French Butter Pear would be absolutely mouth watering. Nope, not at all. It was pretty gross. The asian pear tastes more like an apple and the Bartlett and Bosc are the most popular. We decided we liked the Bartlett and Red Bartlett the best.

Our next experiment included citrus fruit. 12 different varieties - from the largest Pummelo to the smallest kumquat. We liked the Ugli fruit, oranges and clementines the best. We invited some friends over for this experiment and we all learned about some new things that we liked. And tasting 12 different varieties of citrus in one night IS too much citrus!

We even got ambitious and tried a variety of dried fruits. Brennan was not as big a fan of the dried fruits - but it was still fun to go to Central Market's bulk food section and pick out 1 piece of each type of food. Nan joined us for this taste testing. And part of the experiment is that you have to try it even if you think you won't like it.

This has been such a success that we are going to keep running with this idea....tropical fruits, exotic fruits, stone fruits. Then move into the veggies.... Okay, so what are some of your ideas we could try?

Every night at dinner I cut up a piece of fruit and put it in the middle of the table. It has made me so happy to see Brennan grab for the fruit on the table first and say how delicious it is! Wow! It's just mind-blowing to me!