City Lights and Movie Nights

Last night, we were treated to one of Dane's favorite movies, Ice Age outside, right in our back yard! During the month of August, the NYS Parks Department is hosting a film series Beat the Heat on Thursday nights.

Since Dane LOVES the Ice Age movies, I put him down for a late nap so he could stay up late, packed up a picnic with wine, sausage, cheese and grape juice, and ran down to the park behind our building (Gantry State Park) to set up our blanket. What fun!

Some of Dane's friends were there, as were ours; we all had a great time. It was nice to watch a movie with friends and not have to worry about our children running around making lots of noise. This brought back fun memories of going to the drive-in with my family, watching movies from the roof of our huge, rust-colored (and covered) Chevy wagon.

Next week they're showing "The Cutting Edge", not kid-friendly, so Chris and I will make it our date night. We both like the price, FREE.

What happens when Mommy's sick?

Last week I posted about hen soup for sickies. Well, I got the privilege of hosting Dane's virus, making sure to keep it's genetic programming alive in my willing body.

What happens when daddy or baby gets when sick:
1. Sleep. Lots of it.
2. Chicken or hen soup (see past posting) and limitless tissue disposal.
3. Said soup in bed with orange juice and Tylenol. More sleep.
4. Cold compress on forehead with loving strokes in hair.
5. Hushed tones to ensure the ultimate goal of sleep.
6. Mommy by the side of the sick person - so they know they are not alone.
7. If stomach flu: mommy to hold hair back over toilet, automatically cleaned floor and bed clothes so returned sickie can sleep in cleanliness. Again, a cold compress for forehead and back of neck for nausea relief.
8. Middle of the night doctor's calls, visits and occasional visit to ER in mommy's arms. Sleep for patient when needed.
9. Round-the-clock-dosing of meds with cool glasses of water or juice.
10. Automatic suppository insertion and waste removal for really bad cases of constipation. More sleep.

What happens when mommy gets sick:
1. A normal, busy day.
2. Accumulation of dishes in sink and laundry in large pile by washer.
3. Absolutely no sleep whatsoever.
4. Feverish, and somewhat trippy drives to school or summer camp, depending on season.
5. Lonely trips to toilet while heaving quietly as to not wake rest of family.
6. No sleep.
7. Dust and food build up on carpet floor b/c of lack of regular maintenance. Don't worry...it will be there in 7 days when the virus leaves...
8. Normal, exhausting, witching "hour" of whiny child(ren) from 4pm until bedtime, which happens to be earlier than normal.
9. No shower.
10. Take out for dinner.
oh, did I mention no sleep?

I'm praying daddy gets home early tonight to relieve my babysitting duties. What I wouldn't give for a full day in bed with a servant serving me fresh chicken soup.

No pics today, I look like death.

It's Pizza Party Time!

I remember being at Food Emporium years ago and finding a little ball of pizza dough in the refrigerator section in a plastic bag. I was surprised and curious and thought I'd see if it was as good as the stuff I was making at home. The first time I tried it I was hooked. It was absolutely SIMPLE.

Now I make it a point to always have pizza dough (and sauce and cheese) in my fridge for "one of those days". It never fails, a day will come when you have not even begun

to think about what to serve for dinner and you feel the tension rising in the house, kids are fussy, you're losing control of the mess and dinnertime is creeping up on you. Believe it or not, this is the perfect time for a pizza party!

Once you announce the pizza party everything seems to shift; moods lift and excitement grows and it's one of the easiest things to make with the kids.

Start by going through your fridge to see what might work on a pizza. Any vegetable, meat and even some fruits will work. Keep an open mind!

We just had a party last week and didn't have much in the fridge but we found broccoli, cheese, ham and sauce and it was delish!

Here's how you do it:

Take the dough out of the fridge and let sit for at least 20 minutes.

Sprinkle flour at each place where your child will be assembling their own pizza. Section the dough and place one serving on each floured spot.

Either roll out the dough for your child or have them do it themselves.

Fill small bowls with whatever toppings you find and place them around the table.

Here's where the fun begins! Let them create their own pizza and try to stay out of their way :)

Once they're done with their masterpieces place each pizza on a baking sheet lightly coated with olive oil or a pizza stone.

Place in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes or until done.

Let cool and enjoy!

You can always try new foods on a pizza so keep the conversation going all month. If you see a food they haven't tried, ask them "Should we use this for a pizza party?" You might be surprised at the answer! xo Christine

New Foods for Picky Eaters

Have a picky eater? Want your kids to try new foods? One of the best motivators is getting them involved and excited about new foods instead of insisting they try something that randomly appears on their plate. It will take some effort on your part, but it's worth it in the end. A good place to start is the grocery store.

I took the kiddos to Trader Joe's recently and they had this great big display with yellow watermelons stacked up almost to the ceiling. Yellow watermelon!?? We couldn't believe it. So we dumped one in our cart and talked about what it would be like on the inside, if it had seeds, how dark the color yellow would be, if a fairy had turned it yellow etc..

It looked like a regular watermelon on the outside, so by the time we got home the suspense was killing us (yes you will need to ham it up a bit to keep their interest!) So we put the groceries away and took the yellow watermelon outside and plopped it on our picnic table. When we cut it open it was as if we had performed a magic trick...

There... where a juicy red center was supposed to be... was a bright yellow interior!

We rated the taste on a 1 to 10 scale (it came in at about a 5), we came up with words to describe it (grainy, sweet, a little bland etc.) and sat in the backyard talking about this wondrous new food as the juice dripped down our chins.

Fruits are a great place to start when introducing new foods to picky eaters. But once they're comfortable with the process start to try vegetables and meats. If they don't like the new food just smile and be grateful they were brave enough to try. Eventually they'll eat new things. And you have just spent a few hours educating them and nurturing their relationship with food. That is time well spent!

Happy Eating!

Christine S. Naylor

Fruit Kabobs

I was asked to provide some suggestions for kids and food for a summer BBQ by a local reporter (Staten Island Advance - Kids in The City). I'll post the article when it comes out, but Dane and I decided that we felt like making the Kiddie (Fruit) Kabobs today. We were supposed to do this with friends, but it just didn't work out, so we did it together.

Hibachi-san

After a fruitful trip to Trader Joe's out in Queens, we decided to stop by a small roadside, stripmall Hibiachi restaurant for dinner on the way home. We weren't expecting much, but it was actually really fun and Dane loved the presentation :)

Our chef put on a good show chopping up ingredients, igniting fires, cracking eggs on his spatula - I HIGHLY recommend Hibachi for a family outing - kids can get loud and watch the cooking process which somehow encourages them to try new things....Dane ate all his zucchini! I admired his skill on the skillet!
xo
Lis