Snap Crackle Pop!

05. January 2008 · Comments Off on Snap Crackle Pop! · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

Today I’m at the commissary with my friend Paul. He’s to blame for things like why I now have a GPS and this addiction to the Pioneer Woman’s website!

(Military 101: The commissary is the grocery store on the military base. By regulation, it provides groceries to authorized buyers at cost + 5%.)
Anyway, we’re looking for snack foods and I see those packaged rice krispie treats…and it reminded me of one of my other attempts to give some homemade goodness to my boys.
Which do you think tastes better? This:


Or this?

Since when is KFC the authority on family values?

05. January 2008 · Comments Off on Since when is KFC the authority on family values? · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

Bring Back Dinner <– Click the link to see more! This isn’t meant to specifically pick on KFC. I don’t mind the occasional (read: 1-2 times per year) fried chicken dinner from a no-kidding friend chicken establishment. (But I’d prefer to go here.)

I’ve been seeing KFC’s TV ads about how they can help you re-establish those good-old-fashioned daily family dinners. I admire the company’s attempts. I also have sympathy for families who are attempting to balance the kids’ busy schedules, the parents’ work schedules and the need for sustenance.

But there’s something about suggesting that KFC at the dinner table is the definition of “family dinner”. It just doesn’t seem the same…

I have a serious soapbox about kids’ fitness and kids’ weight. I’m not the model mother, I’m not super-organic, zero transfat, 8-10 servings of fruits and veggies kind of gal by any stretch. I consider myself a moderate…for the most part, my kids have a healthy diet. And it’s important to me they get lots of playtime…and Jake’s starting to venture into organized sports, and I’m thrilled he’s enjoying his soccer.

Many times over the years since Jacob was born, I’ve seen Jacob and Timmy show interest in a particular food or dish. Let’s start with Kids’ Cuisine:

I consider this the first food that Jake “noticed” at the grocery store. You know what I mean — he’s about 2 years old, I’m pushing him in the cart, and we’re in the frozen foods section. He sees the cartoon character and starts asking for it.

So I get it for him.

And he loves it!

And he asks for it again…and again…and again.

And I want to see my little boy happy, so I’m happy to get it again, especially when it’s on sale for $0.99 apiece at Super WalMart!

Well, in my opinion, these meals are pretty gross. So after a few weeks of this [no, I wasn’t giving these to him every single day — probably 2-3 times per week, though!] it was high time Jake started eating the family dinners, so it was right about when Timmy was born that I started my “Mom can make anything from scratch” campaign.

Starting with Betty Crocker home-baked macaroni and cheese and hand-breaded, baked chicken nuggets. (Pictures are representative only, not my own!)


“Mommy, I don’t like this!”

Let the games begin!

…To be continued! I’m tired!

Wiped Clean!

03. January 2008 · Comments Off on Wiped Clean! · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,


As I’m writing this on my upstairs desktop, that kitchen laptop so proudly pictured here is in the middle of a re-format/re-installation.

Sniff sniff…like I have time for this. Of course, here I am blogging to all of you.

Cinnamon Rolls, Mommy! The ones you BAKE!

03. January 2008 · 2 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

Yeah. The ones I BAKE. You don’t know how badly I want to try the cinnamon roll recipe featured here:

http://www.thepioneerwomancooks.com/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_.html

But that is NOT what the kids mean. THIS is what they mean:

I was at Target today and was looking for the Pillsbury ones, but alas, they were ALL sold out. Even the “Grands” and Reduced Fat versions. I think the orange flavor was available, but that would not have worked with my kids!

So it was Market Pantry Cinnamon Rolls…and here are some pictures of my “home baked” dessert for my boys.

Yum —

Applying the baggie of icing…actually, I like it this way better than Pillsbury’s thick stuff that slides right off the tops.

Don’t these look like Pioneer Woman’s? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

But hey — when you have two happy boys who cares???



PS: This might lead to more posts about how my kids enjoy foods best when they’re quickly prepared out of a box with a cartoon character on the front — Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls featuring the Dough Boy…I rest my case.

FRUS-TRAY-SHUN!

02. January 2008 · 3 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

I came downstairs this morning to my kitchen laptop having all these red icons in the lower right corner. You know, down there with the clock. There’s this Windows Security Alert that’s red, McAfee antivirus in red, an AOL Active Security Monitor that’s blinking red…
…so I guess there’s a problem, huh?

Upon further investigation, I see that my anti-virus was attempting to run and was having some problems. I spent WAY too much time trying to figure this out before throwing in the towel and uninstalling my entire McAfee Computer Security Empire software suite (provided free by AOL — see? I knew keeping AOL all these years was good for something!)

In fact, I’m writing to you from an unprotected computer!

That sounds bad.

I’m in the middle of downloading a new version of the McAfee Antivirus suite…we’ll see how this goes. Don’t worry, I won’t let the computer sit unprotected for more than an hour or so. Too bad the computer has to be unprotected while I’m downloading the new software — what’s up with that???

So don’t send me any viruses, okay?

"MOMMY! I ‘need’ you."

01. January 2008 · Comments Off on "MOMMY! I ‘need’ you." · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

Timmy’s new mantra. He’s my 2-year-old. Starting about a week ago he decided he could say this and I’d pick him up. He’d been on an independent streak until recently — now he wants to be held all the time and I’m just not into that anymore. He’s almost 3 years old (end of January), and he had gone months NOT wanting to be held all the time. I guess I had felt used to it.

What makes it all the more emotional for me is how he actually says “Mommy, I need you.” as he extends his hands out for me.

Things were much easier with convincing Jacob to walk on his own, my ob ordered me to not carry anything over 20 lbs. in my 3rd trimester with Timmy because of sciatica. He said “Especially don’t carry Jake.”. Jacob is from the school of hard knocks.

The New Year’s Resolution — who thought of that???

01. January 2008 · Comments Off on The New Year’s Resolution — who thought of that??? · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

Not to sound like Jerry Seinfeld, but it’s a topic of conversation Dave and I have every year. Why do we need to have a New Year’s Resolution? I think Dave put it right yesterday during the Dick Clark New Year’s show when this girl was going thru the crowds asking everyone’s resolutions:

“If I think I need to improve something about myself, I’ll start improving immediately and not wait till January 1st.”

Of course, one of things we always do on Jan. 2nd is start our Annual Vollmer Diet Attempt. We’re coming up on the 13th Annual Vollmer Diet Attempt tomorrow! Yep — lose 10 pounds by Feb. 1st! Whoo hoo, the enthusiasm is there, can’t you tell???

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