Victory!

It may be possible that Ben had not eaten a green vegetable for two years. I know, what kind of parents are we anyway? As many of you can relate, when you have a child who is a finicky eater who barely eats at all, with food allergies to boot, you carefully pick your battles, right?! My theory: always offer and put it on the plate, but don't create a struggle over it.

Well, on Saturday, we experienced our first green veggie victory! You cannot imagine the excitement that resulted from this mama! Ben loves chips, so I made kale chips. I can't say I had ever eaten kale myself, but supposedly it is a super food, so I thought we'd give it a try. Here is how you make it:

1 bunch of kale
1 tbsp of olive oil
seasoning salt

Cut the kale away from the thick stems. Wash well and rip into bite size pieces. Some of my pieces were too big and didn't get crispy, so next time I will make sure I really make them bite size. Drizzle the kale with olive oil and salt to taste. Toss together. Spread on parchment paper on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 until edges are brown, but not burned, probably about 10 minutes.

I watched in stunned amazement as Ben devoured them, had seconds, and then had thirds. Unbelievable! Kale chips are going on the current short list of "likes" for Ben!

Halloween Weekend

Halloween at our house was quite festive! We had a lot of fun doing activities beyond Trick or Treating, although that was a lot of fun, too. Ben gets such a kick out of us having "parties", so of course, we had a Halloween party at home filled with all kinds of fun and treats.

Our Halloween festivities started with some slime! This water and cornstarch mixture is a throwback to the solid, liquid, and gases science units in elementary school. Ben played in the "slime" for 45 minutes and told me, "I could play with this forever!" I think we'll have to do that again sometime!

Ben and I enjoyed making these black cat brownies (box brownies, York peppermint patties, candy eyes, chocolate chip ears, white decorative frosting). We also had pumpkin floats (orange sherbet and 7Up). Besides the candy from Trick or Treating, why not add litte more sugar to it?!

Nothing says Halloween like eating dinner by candlelight with black candles covered in wax rats.

No Halloween party would be complete without a little pumpkin carving.

Getting ready for Trick or Treat! It was a beautiful night and Ben had such a blast filling his pumpkin with candy! Seeing how thrilled he was made it lots of fun for Brant and I, too. Abby, our adorable pumpkin, rode along delightfully!

Happy Birthday, Abby!

It is hard to believe our sweet Abby was born a year ago today! Now, she is walking, trying to say a few words (Da da is the only audible one at this point), and shaking her head "no" to anything she considers undesirable (which ironically, is often Daddy... and being fed with a spoon). Happy birthday, darling girl! We love you to the ends of the Earth and are blessed you made us a family of 4 a year ago today.

This picture is a perfect characterization of Abby's growing personality. Why use your hands - just jump in head first!?

Favorites and Funnies

Ben's Funnies:

- Uncle Alex broke his collar bone while training for the HyVee Triathalon. When Grandma was explaining to Ben that Alex fell off his bike because a brown, furry animal ran in front of him, Ben asked, "Was it a chinchilla?"
- At dinner tonight, Ben told me that in sunday school today he learned about when Jesus was "bath-tized" in the river.
- During the later part of the summer, we had a pool set up. It was about 12 feet wide and 2.5 feet deep. Ben and Brant were playing a game that necessitated a whale. Brant asked Ben, "Am I the whale?" Ben replied, in a quite obvious tone, "Of course you are!"

- One day, Ben said, "Mommy, is there a baby in your belly again?" I replied no. Ben said, "Will there be soon?" I replied that I didn't think so. Ben said, "Well, I want 3 brothers and 3 sisters."

Ben's Favorites:
- Preschool. Ben really seems to be enjoying his two mornings a week at preschool. He recently tried to lead Brant, Abby, and I in circle time.

- Arthur stories. In Arthur's sleepover, Buster the Bunny is so scared that he says, "I thought I wet my pants." Nothing could have been funnier to Ben. We read it multiple times a day for a week and he would still laugh hysterically.

- Camping. Brant and Ben camped in the backyard a few weeks ago. Ben had been wanting to do it all summer and when the perfect late summer Friday night arrived, we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, played games in the tent, and ate popcorn.

- Jammie parties. This generally includes getting in our pajamas, popping in a Land Before Time flick checked out from the library, and eating popcorn and M&Ms. I love it too.

- Zucchini muffins. We had a lot of zucchini in the garden this year and I have approximately 7 dozen of these muffins in the deep freeze, but at the rate we are going, I'm not sure how long that will actually get us. Ben cannot get enough!

- Painting. An affinity for watercolor paints, in particular, has developed. I'm okay with this. It is much easier to clean up!

- Baseball. All summer we played baseball and I have to say, Ben's got a pretty decent swing for a three year old. He LOVED to get home runs while I chased those darn whiffle balls all over the place.

- Taking pictures. In fact, Ben took one of Abby and I that is posted above (hence, the finger in the flash!)

Abby's Funnies:

- As Abby's personality emerges more and more, we are finding that she is a girl who knows what she wants. One morning, Brant was getting Ben some juice before heading to babysitter (which took 2 minutes, at the most). Abby was in the playroom, or so Brant thought. When they went to go put Abby in the car seat, she had disappeared. Brant looked in the living room, bathroom, and dining room. She had apparently vanished. Brant worried she had fallen down the basement stairs, but she hadn't. So, doubting that she could have gotten upstairs alone, he went up to double check. Sure enough, the vanishing baby had made it all the way up the stairs and into Ben's room and was playing with his toys. It is worth noting that all toys with small pieces have been relocated to Ben's room. It is funny now. I did not find it funny then.

- For some reason, this girl loves to growl. I'm not sure how she learned to do this, but she has a deep, throaty growl and loves to hear us make the sound back.

Abby's Favorites:

- Waving, clapping, and reading "5 Little Duckings."

- Ben and anything he does, plays with, or says. She giggle and giggles at him.

- Food. After Ben being so picky from the start, this is a relief. The only thing I haven't gotten Abby to eat yet is toast with jelly. She especially loves watermelon!
- Abby loves to play on pillows and cushions. Right now, she always wants to be on the couch to flop around.

- Abby also can't get enough of throwing things out of drawers. Bibs, towels, clothes... it really doesn't matter. Now, if I could only get her to learn to love putting things back into the drawers.
- Swinging. Abby can't get enough of this when we are outside!

School Days

Ben had his first day of preschool this week. If I'm being honest, this is definitely something I've been a bit emotional about lately. There may have been a day where I may have cried a little bit about it... in public... when thinking about dropping him off. Then, I might have cried about it another at home too. So, Brant dropped him off on this first day, but I did pick him up. Things seemed to go pretty well and the report today was even better. Ben was excited to tell us about painting and a song he learned about 5 Little Monkeys and an alligator that goes "SNAP!", but I think he may be a typical boy who won't talk about his day and I may be the typical mom who wants to know everything! And so it begins.