Go Fish!

I've never been a huge fan of Goldfish, but my kids seem to like them. Then we discovered new Flavor-Blasted Goldfish, and boy are those tasty! So, the last time I saw them on sale at Target, I decided we should try out several of the different flavors. My pantry is stocked with 3 packages, only one of which was opened. The other day, Ashley brought me an unopened (green) package of Ranch-flavored Goldfish and wanted some for a snack. Not wanting to have 3 opened packages at one time, I went in search of the already-opened package which was nowhere to be found.

Me: "Chris, did you finish off the Mozzarella Goldfish?"
Chris: "No. Did YOU finish off the Mozzarella Goldfish?!"
Me: "No. I just wondered why they're missing all of a sudden if nobody has eaten them."

Ashley was sitting at the table when Chris, strangely inspired, opened the trash can and pulled out the half-full (golden-colored) package of Mozzarella Goldfish.

Chris: "You mean THESE?!"
Ashley: "NOOOOOO! I WANT GREEN!"

Hmmmm....I just WONDER how THOSE got THERE!?

To Say That I Was Sufficiently Warned...

I was trying to think of what to make for dinner tonight, and I admit I was being awfully slothful about it. Chris was taking a snooze on the couch, and the kids, who really should have been starving, were happily playing together in their room. I felt no pressure.

A little while later, I managed to get the kids to emerge from their room and I began probing them for some easy dinner ideas since, clearly, nobody seemed to really care WHAT I made. I asked the kids if they would like corndogs. The only problem with corndogs, or so I thought, was that Ashley will only eat the breading part. And on a day like today, if all she wants to eat is corndog breading, well, so be it.

Zachary piped up, "I want to eat a frozen corndog!"

Well, I have heard this a number of times before, and I have always been opposed to the idea. I'd kind of think that CPS might rightfully be called if I knowingly fed my kids frozen meals without preheating them first. I would never do such a thing, because I do *try* to be a good mother...even on my lazy days (like today.)

I speak only for myself when I say that I was doing what any lazy mother ought to be doing and was checking out Facebook instead of making dinner for my family at 7pm. So, it was no surprise when I heard my kids scrounging around in the kitchen for something to eat. I wasn't going to be on the computer for much longer, and kids in the kitchen (at least at MY house) always warrants an inspection and a quick one. That was going to put a hasty end to checking out my friends' status updates.

Just a few minutes earlier, the kids had been asking for Pillsbury Toaster Strudels for dinner...or in Ashley's own words, "Toaster Noodles." I had rejected that proposal, so when I heard the opening of refrigerator/freezer doors in the other room, I figured they might just be helping themselves to those anyway...or maybe they were after the tub of Cool Whip in the fridge. I knew it wasn't the parmesan cheese they were getting into, because I recently placed that on the list of "Foods That Are No Longer Welcome In My House" after the fourth container (in about 6 months' time) was emptied onto the table and eaten fingerful by fingerful. I wouldn't have been surprised if they were munching on chocolate chip cookies. After all, there was a tray of those sitting out unattended on top of the stove. But no...

What should I find when I emerged from my momentary Facebook stupor but Ashley with a corndog in each hand, frozen ones of course, with polk-a-dot-sized pieces of breading missing from each of them. In the kitchen, Zachary sat at the table with 3 frozen corndogs in front of him--two of them already half-eaten and the third one mostly unscathed. After initially being grossed-out, I wrestled the corndogs away and popped them all into the microwave and, voila!, "It's what's for dinner."

So today wasn't a stellar day for me in the balanced meal department. In my own defense, however, this is definitely not typical, so please don't call CPS. (After giving it some thought, I really wasn't very lazy today, either, because I got a lot of cleaning done.) You win some, and you lose some. But just where my kids get their crazy appetites, I think I will never know!

My Husband's Hidden Talent

For anyone wondering if I was making up all that stuff about Chris liking to bake, I have to brag on him just a little bit. Chris is a man of many talents, but here is one that many people do not know about. He is the designated cake decorator in our family. I didn't know about this before we got married, so I like to think of it as a nice bonus. I am amazed at some of the things my husband can do that most guys don't typically do. In this case, it's a skill that many women can't do well (unless your name happens to be Alison and you happen to also be my neighbor, and then that's another story!) I would love to learn the fine art of cake decorating, but I will be the first to admit that I simply do not have any artistic ability whatsoever. Chris, on the other hand, just watched his mom decorate cakes over the years and picked it up just like that. Go figure!

Here is the (belated) birthday cake he made for Zachary yesterday so we could celebrate again with my sister who is visiting from Boston this week.



I was most impressed with the Elmo cake he made for Zachary's 2nd birthday:



And he asked me to add a shot of the monkey and giraffe cakes he made for Zachary's first birthday (we did a party with a jungle theme.)





I have to keep getting on Chris' case because he hasn't made one of his special cakes for Ashley, but to his defense, her birthday falls right before finals, and I guess those are kind of important. But, Chris, if you are reading this, I am helping her keep track and she knows you owe her big! ;)

Chocoholics Anonymous, Here We Come!

You may remember an incident that happened a couple of months ago in which I caught Zachary in the act of filching hot fudge from the bottle with his finger. If only it was an isolated incident! Now we have TWO children who have been caught countless times consuming chocolate conspicuously from containers. Perhaps this pattern is beginning to pose a problem? (Aaaaaaagh! I know... Enough with the alliteration already!)

So, last week, I found Zachary seated at the kitchen table with one of his squiggly straws inserted into the hot fudge container, and he was just merrily sucking away like...like perhaps this was premeditated! Aside from his ingeniousness to use the straw on his second attempt, having previously learned his lesson the hard way while trying his original method of manual extraction, a squiggly straw wasn't exactly the most brilliant choice of tools. I didn't think to tell him that using a squiggly straw to suck hot fudge from the container was certainly doing the deed in a roundabout way. Personally, I would have opted for just a plain ol' straight straw, or I might have just skipped the straw altogether, but that's just me and I'm NOT the one here with a problem. He seemed to have been somewhat successful, as I do remember his face bearing plenty of hard evidence, but the fudge had only filled the straw halfway. I guess I saved him from several more minutes of some serious sucking!

This week, on Wednesday, the kids and I spent the afternoon swimming with Grandma at her neighborhood pool. Afterwards, we went back to the house and enjoyed some frozen yogurt. Then, she and I ventured back into the living room to visit some more. As I recall, Zachary was playing nearby while Ashley disappeared and later emerged as such:



The Hershey's syrup had been left on the counter, and leave it to Ashley to get her hands on that! After allowing her ample opportunity to ingest it for awhile longer while I snapped a few shots for the sake of sharing, I retrieved the bottle from her and set it aside and, apparently, forgot all about it. I didn't even realize it had been forgotten until the next day when my mom told me that my dad had found the bottle EMPTY in the other room and had asked about it. Suddenly, Mom solved the problem that had been puzzling me since the night before: Why was Zachary awake until ONE A.M.??? Now we know: Caffeine consumption from the chocolate syrup, of course!