Happy Easter!

Saturday morning, before Easter Sunday I started the weekend off by taking Reagan to the Farmington City Easter Egg Hunt. Last year, it was phenomenal! This year: not so much...
I think the weather had a lot to do with it. Last year the weather, the morning of the hunt, was chilly/borderline-freezing. This year, the weather was nice and warm, so a lot more people turned out for the event. This meant that there were a lot less eggs to go around. It was a free event, so I shouldn't complain. But next year I will probably just take Reagan to the Fruit Heights Easter Egg Hunt, if I take her to one at all.

Here are some pictures from before the hunt. Reagan didn't want her picture taken. Surprise, surprise.

When we got home from the lackluster Easter Egg Hunt we all decided to go to Home Depot. Nick needed to pick stuff up to fix a few shingles on our roof.
Jackpot!
Home Depot turned out to be a great place to visit with the kids, that particular Saturday!
They had an Easter Egg Hunt in the garden area. They gave both of the girls free flower plants (since it was also Earth Day), and all of the employees around the store gave the girls little Easter Goodies! It was great.

In the evening we went to my Parent's house. It was wonderful to have my Mom and Dad in town for the Holiday. We ate Pizza and my Mom put on an Easter egg hunt for the kids. My camera was out of battery, so I didn't get any pictures.

Sunday Morning, the girls enjoyed their Easter baskets!

Reagan was, once again, subjected to the sponge rollers.

The end result was very pretty!

I didn't take too many pictures of my pretty princess, because she and Elsa are going to have them done professionally, by Korie, later in the week.

All of my family came over to our house for dinner. We had the traditional Easter meal of Ham and potatoes. And the kids were given a second Easter Basket from my parents. Grandma and Grandpa sure spoiled their grandkids!

Reagan had a great time playing with the Easter Grass from her basket. And now, it is everywhere in my house!
Oh well, a small price to pay for a great day!

Camera Lover/Camera Hater

Just a few recent pictures.

If you look really closely, you may be able to tell which of my daughters likes it when I pull out the camera, and which one isn't as fond of having her picture taken. The difference is subtle study the snapshots carefully.

After I had dressed and accessorized Elsa one morning, I could resist taking her picture. I loved her sweater-dress, boots, and hat. I thought she looked adorable.

When Nick saw her, his comment was that she looked like a cross between: "a gypsy, and a chemo patient". I guess Dad's just don't appreciate style.

Dinner Frustration.

To begin with, I am no cook. I am not good at cooking, and I don't enjoy it (probably not the first time I have said this, and definitely not the last).

I was fortunate enough to marry a man that has gourmet skills in the kitchen! Nick is amazing. But I can't expect him to take care of all household meals.

I can get Reagan to happily eat vegetables. But that is her only abnormal child eating habit. The rest of her diet usually consists of: Pizza, Chicken Nuggets, Corn Dogs/Hot Dogs, Mac & Cheese... You know, typical kid food.

I wanted to make an effort to do more of the cooking. I was finding plenty of recipes that Nick and I would enjoy, but certainly not food Reagan would willingly eat. It seemed really counterproductive to me, to be making two separate meals at dinnertime. Plus, I didn't feel like the stuff Reagan was eating was terribly healthy, even if it were always paired with a side of veggies.

I wanted to find recipes that were healthy, and kid friendly. Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook Deceptively Delicious seemed to fit the bill. I know it was "all the rage" a few years ago. I figured I'd give it a try. I picked up a used copy, and started cooking. The book is made up of recipes that kids generally love, the twist is that you add vegetable puree's. Hence, the "deceptive" part, because the kids don't know the vegetable puree's are in the food.

My initial thought, when I was reading through the recipes, was that the book seemed bi-polar. On one hand, a recipe will call for whole-wheat "this, or that", on the other hand (MANY) recipes have you frying things in oil to cook them???

I already had the book, so I thought I'd at least give things a try.

The first recipe I tried was the ice cream sandwiches. The ice cream is made using plain, lowfat yogurt, and is seasoned with lemon zest and juice, and you are supposed to put it between two graham crackers. When the ice cream was the consistency of soft-serve, it tasted great. But once I froze it between the two graham crackers it was rock-hard. If you let the ice cream thaw a little bit, so that it went back to a creamy texture, the graham crackers turn to mush. Fail and Fail.

I had high hopes for this recipe, especially because ice cream is the one sweet Reagan consistently asks for; and I'd feel a lot better giving it to her if it weren't so full of fat. But this recipe didn't fit the bill.

Next, I tried the recipe for Donuts. I made them when the Wallwork girls were at my house. I tasted the batter before I cooked the donuts, it was really insipid. I added more brown sugar, but it didn't improve the taste. I thought that if I added even more sugar I'd defeat the purpose of having healthy donuts. So, I put the batter in the donut machine, as-is (or was). When cooked they looked really pretty, but they tasted awful.

I didn't get a picture of the donuts I made (not that my pictures are that great- but I liked having proof of the fact that I made an effort in the kitchen). So, I used the one from the cookbook, because the Wallwork girls inhaled them! I am convinced that the only reason they ate them was because they were able to drown them in chocolate frosting. Reagan took one bite, and refused any more. Thumbs down for this recipe too.

For a main dish, I made the individual sized pizza's. The "deceptive" part of this recipe is the spinach puree that is spread underneath the pizza sauce.

Nick didn't love the whole-wheat pita that is used as the crust.

But overall, this recipe wasn't bad. Reagan ate it.

I also made the Tropical Chicken Kebabs. Nick and my brother, Brian, loved them. I thought they were too heavy (cooked in oil), and with a lot of coaxing, we got Reagan to eat some.

Another complaint about this cook book is that the directions weren't the greatest. With the Kebabs, I cooked them according to the directions, and ended up finishing them off in the oven, because they didn't cook thoroughly on the stovetop.

I don't feel like I hit a "home run" with any of the recipes from this book. And the past week, I've been back to giving Reagan her "usual" options for dinner.

Is there a better way? Or am I going to have to resign myself to giving Reagan Easy Mac, & Tyson Chicken Nuggets for the remainder of her "picky eating" years?

Review Month Three

Should I start off with the good, or the bad; when I report on my New Year's Resolutions? How about the neutral, and I'll work my way to the end of the post, from there...

Working out. I was doing really well at the beginning of the month. And then... I got a sinus infection (the second one I have ever had, in my life!). I thought I just had an awful cold, but after 16 days of not being able to smell anything (which turned out to be bad for everyone, because I could never smell a poopy diaper. I was constantly having to ask people if my kids smelled stinky, because I couldn't tell.), I figured it was a little more than a cold. I went to see my Family Practitioner, and she gave me a wonderful prescription that helped me get well, almost immediately. Thank heavens for RX meds!

During my bacterial sinus infection, I couldn't manage to get up early enough to get on the treadmill. The Nyquil I was taking before bedtime probably had something to do with that. So, good at the start of the March, bad at the end.

Spending Fast. Bad, Bad Bad. I was actually in the "red" this month. A large chunk of my expenditures came in the form of celebrating for our wedding anniversary, and my birthday. We ate out WAAAY too much this month, too (to the tune of over $400). I suppose, the only thing I can say is: on to next month.

Potty Training. This is where I feel enormously successful this month! Reagan has made huge strides in this area. Granted, it is probably because I figured out her "currency", and have used it to bribe her. But whatever works, right?! When the Wallwork's were here to visit, Randy gave Reagan a chocolate egg. She thought it was awesome (there was a prize inside), and delicious. She kept asking for chocolate eggs, thereafter. So, I went to the grocery store and purchased a bunch of the Reese's mini chocolate eggs. The eggs have been her reward for using the potty! These days, she has been happily picking out panties to wear in the morning! She is still in a pull-up, for naps and at night. And I still can't get her to poop on the potty. But I have been able to take her out of the house in undies, and she hasn't had an accident for over a week. We even went to the treehouse museum, and she didn't wet her pants the entire time we were there!

Just call me one excited Mommy.