Dinner Update

Thank you everyone for all your ideas.

It's been 3 nights of stress free dinner in our house. All we did is not say anything to the girls about eating. and guess what??? They ate! Imagine that.

It's hard to just sit there and let them talk and push food around on their plates. Kimber had like 3 bites of chicken on her plate for 25+ minutes (meaning all her other food was gone except for the chicken for those 25 minutes) but I didn't say one word. She realized it was almost time for dance and she ate it on her own.

It appears that they didn't need the nagging - yes I just called myself a "nagger" - they ate in about the same amount of time but no one cried, no one yelled, no one threatened.

We haven't achieved the continuous-bite-taking that we are looking for, but everyone is much happier.

We've really liked many of the ideas about how to make it less stressful. I'm sure we'll end up using many more of them in the near future. Thanks again!

Help!

Dear Blog- reading-advice-givers,

Okay so I am at a loss. I have no idea what to do with my children and dinner time. They refuse to eat unless we ask them to take every single bite. Okay it's not always that bad, but I'd say 4 nights a week we have to remind/ask them to take more than half the bites. May I remind you that they are 3,5, and 8.

They also refuse to sit still. Kimber is constantly standing/sitting/kneeling/squating.

Tonight was Kimber's night to fight. She didn't hate the food we were eating, she was just taking a very long time to eat it, plus constantly in and out of her chair. After 30 minutes of asking her to sit down and eat her dinner, I told her she lost her dessert. Today for some reason that was a BIG deal. Instant tears. Instant "you don't like me's" and "I'll never get dessert again b/c I'm the worst child ever". Instant stomping. Instant screaming. I could go on and on and on. Kimber did. Go on and on and on. We're talking 45 minutes or so. This is over like 5 bites of dinner (that I will remind you she didn't hate...probably didn't love...but definitely didn't hate).

So my question is...am I being to strict? Should I allow my kids to have a full hour+ to eat what any normal person could eat in 15-20 minutes? How do I teach them that they need to be responsible and do what is asked of them, IN A TIMELY MATTER?

We have decided half our dinner problems come b/c 3 nights a week we have somewhere to be after dinner...thus we have to eat quickly. Let me inform you that I almost always allow 45 minutes for them to eat "quickly". If we have to leave the house at 5:30, they will have their dinner infront of them at 4:45, 4:55 at the latest. I really think that should be plenty of time to eat...don't you? BUT we have to beg them to finish in time, nearly every single time.

I am tired of dinner fighting. I'm tired of drama. What do we do to fix it? How do we make it less stressful for everyone involved. Someone out there has to know....please help.

Sincerely,
Stressed-Out-by-Dinner

Crazy Hair Day

It was crazy hair day for Kimber and Sam at school today. I think we accomplished our goal! :)

Baby Shower

Last night I hosted a baby shower for my friend Elizabeth. We had a great time visiting, eating, and oohing and aahing over baby Shawn (he made an early arrival so was able to attend the shower).

Sorry ladies...next time I'll warn you!

I made these yummy dessert pizza's. I could eat these things all day long. Some of the girls wanted the recipes, so here they are: 1st - Chocolate Pudding Pizza

preheat oven to 375

1 pkg (17-1/2 oz) peanut butter cookie mix

1 carton (8-12 oz) softened cream cheese

1 3/4 c. cold milk

1 pkg (3.9 oz) instant chocolate pudding mix

1 carton (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed

1/4 c. miniature semisweet chocolate chips (last night I actually used toffee bits..I also like using mini Reese's pieces as well)

Prepare cookie mix dough according to package directions. Press into a greased 12 in. pizza pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until set; cool. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Spread over crust. In another bowl, beat milk and pudding mix on med. speed for 2 minutes. Spread over the cream cheese layer. Refrigerate for 20 minutes or until set. Spread with Whipped topping. Sprinkle with chips. Chill for 1-2 hours. (12 servings)

#2 - Fruit Pizza

preheat oven to 375

Crust:

3 cups finely crushed pretzels (almost a whole bag)

2/3 c. sugar

1 1/4 c. cold butter or marg.

Mix pretzels and sugar. Cut in butter (using either a pastry blender or two forks...I used a combo of both)

Press into a pan - I used a larger cookie sheet/jelly roll pan.

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate 30 minutes.

Filling:

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. confectioners' sugar

2 cups whipped topping

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Add whipped topping; mix well. Spread over crust. (this would make a great fruit dip as well)

Topping:

Fresh fruit.

I used strawberries, bananas, kiwi, and grapes.

#3 - Caramel Apple Pizza - one of my favorite things EVER!(although I could say that about many desserts...)

preheat oven to 375

1 recipe sugar cookie dough (I normally just use Betty Crocker's sugar cookie mix)

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

1/4 c. peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

2 or 3 granny smith apples

caramel ice cream topping (or you could melt caramels and use them as well...the topping is just easier!)

Prepare cookie dough, according to recipe directions, and roll out on a 12 in. pizza pan (I just press it in...no rolling for me). Crimp edges. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes or until edges start to turn brown. Cool. Beat together cream cheese, brown sugar, peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Spread over crust. Slice apples very thin and arrange them on the pizza. Drizzle with caramel sauce.

*(sorry it is all squished together...I tried to fix the spacing but it won't let me! I hate when blogger things it is smarter than me!)

A Busy Day

This was last Saturday (4/18/09)....

1st - Kimber's last soccer game. They ended the season undefeated! Go BoneCrushers!

Kimber and her two bestest friends:
Surprisingly she didn't fall down after this kick...
Running after the ball...

2nd - Woodland Park Zoo

We were heading into Seattle for a Mariners game and decided we'd take advantage of our zoo pass and stop by the zoo for a few hours before the game. We didn't come close to seeing everything but still had fun. It was fun to have Konrad with us, he doesn't normally venture out on these type of trips (only b/c we go during the week when he has to work). Here are a few cute pics I got that day:

Allison:

Konrad and our monkey's...

Kimber...I just love the look on her face. She cracks me up. Even makes sitting in a tree a "glamorous" place to be. (I just sang the song Glamorous in my head to make sure I spelled glamorous right...music is very useful!)We were all decked out in our Mariner gear...I thought Kimber and Konrad looked cute in there matching shirts.

3rd adventure for the day - Mariner Game

My parents ended up with 4 extra tickets to the Mariners game and invited us to go. It was so much fun. We were right behind home plate, so we had a great view. Our only complaint, well by "our" I mean MY (because Konrad doesn't know how to complain...which is really nice but also really annoying :)), was the very large person that was sitting next to our last seat. He took over his own seat plus ours. His body was hanging into our seat so that we didn't even feel comfortable using it. We squished all 5 of us into 3 seats! (we only had 4 seats to begin with...luckily they let Alli in without a ticket). Oh well, we'll take what we get and enjoy every minute!

Griffey's back! It was fun to cheer for Griffey again. Brought back many memories of me and my BFF and sisters cheering for him. Fun times!

Grandpa supplied the cotton candy...

Rally cap time...
unfortunately it didn't help, the M's lost. Oh well. We had a blast and can't wait for more "extra" tickets! Thanks for sharing Mom and Dad!

We were very tired by the end of the day, but had a lot of fun. It's amazing how a week makes you forget all the whining/crying/fighting that happened on our day of fun! :)

My Week

So we've been a little busy in the Crabtree house lately. Here is what is happening this week:

Monday: school/preschool, 5 loads of laundry, grocery shopping (and I forgot the stupid peanut butter - I can't even believe we ran out of peanut butter, I always have 2 extras...so sad - so I have to go back tonight to get some (I need it for preschool tomorrow)), walking for 30 minutes, swimming lessons, swimming during free swim

Tuesday: school/preschool, dance, church tour

Wednesday: school/preschool, dance, set up for Ward Potluck, Ward Potluck, Young Women Camp kick-off, swimming lessons

Thursday: school/preschool, watch my sister's kids while she finds out if she is having a boy or a girl :), throw a baby shower, soccer party, Konrad's basketball game

Friday: so far only aerobics :) - oh and start watching my sisters kids for the weekend

Saturday: Scrapbooking all day long :) My goal is to start and get current on all the preschooler's porfolios. Wish me luck.

I also need to throw in some cleaning in there. Maybe on Tuesday...

Easter Sunday

We had a wonderful Easter this year. The girls were excited to see that the Easter Bunny had come and brought them eggs filled with candy and baskets full of loot. Kimber was so excited that she couldn't sleep that night...I was always the same way (I still can't sleep on Christmas Eve, it's just too exciting!).

Church was wonderful and we learned a lot about the Resurrection of our Savior. It is nice to know that our girls really do understand the real meaning of Easter. Between Sharing Time, Singing Time, and Konrad's FHE lessons he did this week based on Easter, they picked up something! Even Alli can tell you all about the "tube" where Jesus was placed and the stone that was placed in front of it (Thanks Mel!). (we're working on switching to tomb :))

We ended the day at my parents with 29 other people (yes there were 34 of us there) (thanks Mom, for letting us invade your house) complete with a delicious dinner and a VERY VERY VERY wet egg hunt. I think it was one of the wettest we've ever had. The girls had a blast running through the rain, searching for the eggs.

Coloring eggs last night:

Easter Dresses

and suits... :) (he was feeling left out)
picture courtesy of Sam

checking out the candy

Happy Easter!

Mom's B-day Continued

For my mom's b-day present we (my sisters and I) took her to see the musical Stunt Girl at the theater in Issaquah. It was a great show. I hadn't been to that theater before. It is small and even the balcony seats are close enough to really be able to see the actors/actresses. I enjoyed it much more than any other play I'd been to before, I think it's really b/c even though we were cheap and bought the "cheap" seats we could still see! Happy Birthday Mom!

Easter Egg Hunt

I decided to put together another Easter egg hunt this year. It rained, we got wet and cold, but we had FUN!

Hiding their eyes while we hid the eggs

Alli hunting

R. and Sam with their baskets
Kimber, Alli, Sam, and A

The whole group
I LOVE EASTER EGG HUNTS!

Spaghetti

I wonder why I make it when they end up looking like this....

But at least they ate it!

I wonder when it gets less messy????

Oregon

We enjoyed a great 2 day trip in Oregon, visiting my sister Michelle. My other sister Stephanie also came with us. We went to the zoo (thanks Topeka Kansas Zoo pass), played at the park twice, hung out in the back yard, and played Blokus. It was so much fun. Thanks Shell and Richard for letting us take over your home!

Getting ready to leave for the zoo:
The animals were awesome...they were up and playing. Here is the polar bear:

My two polar bears:

watching the walking elephant:

The monkey was hiding under the box. None of knew he was there until his arm snuck out from underneath and grabbed some lettuce. We all jumped. Pretty funny.

Sam:

All the kids: Sam, Jack, Kimber, Kenna, Alli, Natalie (in stroller), Jordan (also in stroller)

Taking a break:

Kimber and the zebra:

Check out the hippo was swimming then got out of the water and strolled around. Huge!!!!

Splashing in the water in the backyard:

Shell and Steph and Natalie (notice Steph's little prego belly)

Don't ask:

Jordan had a blast in the water. Even after falling in (or being dunked...we aren't sure which)

Kimber:

Walking back to Shell's house from the park. Aren't they cute?

Sam and the Kenyon's new puppy Daisy Duke

All lined up. (everyone but Natalie)

Alli:

One of the girls took this picture:

Sam being a helicopter:

The girls are determined to live at Michelle's. Kimber wants to "live in the country where there aren't any stores, no busy streets, and it's nice a quiet." Thanks again!

*Sorry there were so many pictures. I had 205 to choose from...at least I narrowed it down! :)