"What can I eat?"

On the weekends my children can go through several boxes of cereal, eating it for breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, etc, but on week days it doesn't seem to be an option. Each school day I'm asked, "What can I eat?" This week the children chose yogurt, oatmeal, chicken salad sandwiches, cheese and crackers, grapes, leftover BBQ chicken, hard-boiled eggs, oatmeal breakfast bars, peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and fluff, Fiber One bars, etc. for their breakfast, never cereal. In an attempt to eat healthier for myself, I made a small crock pot full of wheat berries for breakfast one morning. I knew there would be leftovers so I planned on added them to the meatloaf I had planned for the following night's supper. As the kids started getting up and asking that same old question, "What can I eat?" I offered them some of my wheat berries. To my bowl I added Stevia, raisins and walnuts that I shelled myself. (These came from my father's tree.) It was delicious! I made the same combination for Ashton. Brady wouldn't settle for Stevia and had to have brown sugar, Avery and Bryson followed suit. They've had wheat berries before, but it had been awhile. Avery was the only one that bulked after the first bite, but did eat some. The other three enjoyed their bowl of wheat!

I didn't end up with near the amount of wheat berry leftovers that I intended for my meatloaf!
Crock Pot Hot Wheat Cereal

2 1/2 cups of water
1 cup wheat

Place both in the crock pot the night before, I usually do it at 10:00 pm. Cook on low through the night. By 6:00 am it's ready to eat! You can then add any, all, or none of the following: butter, honey, sugar, brown sugar, Stevia, (whatever sweetener you prefer), nuts, dates, raisins, seeds, etc.
The next morning Brady requested another large bowl of wheat! Unfortunately, I hadn't put any in the crock pot the night before so he had to settle for oatmeal. Now if I could just get myself and the rest of the family to eat healthy at every meal!

My Birthday 2010

Because my birthday fell on a Sunday this year, Dale took me out the day before. We first took Kenzie and a friend to a birthday party. While they were there, Dale and I went to what has become my favorite restaurant, Red Lobster! I had the Cajun Chicken Linquini Alfredo, too many biscuits and shared The Chocolate Wave with Dale for dessert! YUM! Dale had the Shrimp Linquini Alfedo.

My morning was spent working at my Dad's house with my three brothers. While they went through the basement, I went through dresser drawers. I found the biggest treasure of all... old letters written to my father from his father, his brother, his adopted sister, his future brother-in-law and best of all, love letters from my mother! Can't wait to continue reading them! During the Boy Scout fund raiser auction, I won a made-to-order birthday cake. My friend Alicia was the one that donated her services. I told her two weeks ago that I won the cake and would love to have it for my birthday. Alicia is so busy... three young children, a husband in the Bishopric and in nursing school and she starts working this week, I hated to remind her of it, so I didn't. Well bless her heart, she remembered!!
As are all her cakes, it was delicious!! I had to put two slices in the freezer for a rainy day, and in case my kids eat the rest before I get any more!

When we got home from church Kassie found this baby squirrel that she says walked right up to her.

After supper the kids found another one too. I had them take the two squirrels down the road a small piece and put them near the woods. I'm so afraid I'll run over them since they wouldn't stay off the driveway. Hope they found other squirrels to hang out with!

Well, another year gone, another year older. I'm now without both my parents, my oldest child is a senior in high school, my youngest goes to Kindergarten next year and I still haven't beaten my addiction to food! On the bright side, I have three wonderful brothers, the best of friends, seven beautiful children and a devoted loving husband. I also have the gift of the gospel of Jesus Christ... truly I am blessed!

Oh, that Brady!

During last year's school year Brady had oatmeal for breakfast each morning. Sometimes his oatmeal was plain, sometimes he added other cereals or fruit, sometimes he ate the instant oatmeal with different flavors, etc. Whatever else was in the bowl, it also always contained oatmeal. He got out of this oatmeal habit over the summer, but with school in session again, he started it back up. On the morning of school day number two (yesterday) he informed me that the oatmeal from yesterday gave him terrible gas. He said oatmeal does that to him, but once he gets used to eating it every day, it will no longer have that effect on him. In the meantime he said he would just take this bottle of liquid antacid with him to school! He placed the bottle in his pocket and proceeded to walk away as if headed to the bus!
Of course, he was joking... what a nut!! He is his father's son!

Kaden's turn

Kaden watched as each of his six older siblings got to go school shopping and enjoy a lunch out with Mom. It got harder and harder on him to watch me leave the house without him. I had to have one of the older children hold him back kicking and screaming as I pulled out of the driveway. On the first day of school, Kaden finally got his turn. He picked McDonald's so he could also play in the "fun land". All he wanted to eat was french fries. After that he was ready to play... or so he thought. As it turned out, McDonald's "fun land" wasn't so fun after all. It took a great deal of convincing on my part to get Kaden to climb through the structure, and even more convincing to get him to go down the slide. After the second time down the slide he was done, especially since I wasn't willing to climb or slide with him.
I think if Kaden would have had a friend there with him, he would have enjoyed it more. Maybe next time.