Dinner Update

Two or three weeks ago I posted that I was going to try (or demand) something new with getting my boys to eat dinner. If they eat their dinners every night, Sunday thru Friday, then on Saturday they get to have a Happy Meal. It's working! The first week they tanked. Only Rob and I got something on Saturday. (Side note--we didn't eat Happy Meals but Chinese instead.) The second week Adam and Matt did better. And this week has been great. I've intentionally cooked dishes that they wouldn't try before--one a chicken dish with a creamy mushroom sauce and the other sloppy joes. They tried them both AND really liked them. In fact, they asked for seconds, even thirds on the sloppy joes. Matt keeps reminding us that we get to go to McDonalds if we eat our dinner. Tomorrow I'm going to try a potato chowder. Neither of them like soup, but that's because they haven't been willing to try it. They do realize they only have two more dinners to go 'til Saturday so I'm hoping they eat it. We'll see how it goes.

So Cute and Dapper

Here are some photos of Matthew before church yesterday. He just looked so cute I had to take some pictures.

Trick or Treat

Adam and Matthew had lots of fun trick-or-treating last night. The weather was great. We didn't even need jackets. They were so excited they ran from house to house. Rob and I just stayed on the sidewalk while they went as fast as they could. They're old enough now that they can walk the entire time and don't need us to hold them.

Matt dressed up as Diego. He's with the pumpkin he designed and carved.

Adam is Ben 10. Great pose, eh!

Here they are after two hours of trick-or-treating. Quite a stash! Adam ended up with 6 lbs. of candy and Matt had 5 lbs.

Kitchen Update

Here's a couple photos of the new countertops. Someone (Holly) has been bugging me to post some pictures. They turned out pretty well. We had the granite come up on the wall four inches. The workers forgot to bring the backsplash piece near the cooktop. They're coming back next week to fix that. You can see our new appliances, too. There's still a few things left to do: paint the cupboards where the old countertop hung over, tile the rest of the backsplash, and change out the rangehood to stainless like the appliances. Eventually it will all get done.

What Season Is It?

Saturday was a busy day. We took out our old countertops and repaired drywall where the old backsplash had been. We took out the sink this morning. The new countertops should be here in a couple of hours. Yippee! While we were working, the boys were busy outside. First, we raked all of the leaves into a huge pile and Adam and Matt had fun jumping into them. They would take a big running start and then dive into the leaves like they were homeplate.

They got hot after that so they started playing with the sprinklers and hose. Is it summer or fall? Thank goodness for Kansas weather. It can be freezing in the morning and hot in the afternoon.

A Little Bit of Inspiration

This past Sunday we had a lesson at church about our trials and struggles and the lessons we can learn from them. This caused me to think about Adam and his OCD. It's been a year now since we really started dealing with this. A year ago he was starting to wash his hands 50+ times a day, thought everything that was outside the house or left the house was contaminated, and couldn't touch particular things. When we got the diagnosis of OCD and learned it would be something he would have his entire life, it was quite overwhelming. It has taken months of treatment and medication to get a grip on it. At the moment he is doing well. However, it can change daily and so we have to be vigilant about doing his coping exercises. At the beginning of the year, when things were really bad, I decided to keep a journal or record of the blessings that have come from OCD. Initially this was quite hard because it seemed like it only brought grief and heartache. And really, what good could come from OCD? A few weeks ago, during Stake Conference, I had a bit of inspiration. I have regularly thought about why Adam has OCD--not why does he have this as a complaint, but why does he have this as a wonder, what is the purpose behind him being given this trial. During the meeting, the thought came to mind that Adam is learning at a very young age how to truly decide between two things--good vs. bad. The OCD is like a voice in is head trying to convince him to choose the OCD side. The voice tries to convince him that the OCD side has to be chosen or else something terrible will happen. If he obeys the OCD then he'll feel better--for awhile, until he does the ritual again. He is learning how to examine his thoughts and look for the truth in them--what's his real thoughts and what are the OCD thoughts. By the time he's a teenage he'll have had lots of practice. I'm hoping this will help him then to be able to look at what other kids say and the peer pressue and be able to determine what is really the right thing to do and not just the path that others tell him to follow. I'm not sure if this makes much sense. I find it hard to accurate describe what OCD is like to those that have not either lived with it themselves or had someone close to them with it. Sometimes I think it is similar to an addiction--not that the person is addicted to the behavior but the feeling that something has to be done in order to live or survive.

Stroke of Genius

So, I had a stroke of genius recently. Literally, one of those moments when you're like, "holey-moley, that is the best idea ever". My boys are picky eaters. Part of it is my fault, I understand that, and part of it is theirs. Another day, another dinner, and another "Ewww, gross!" And then the lightbulb went on--during the blessing on the food (prayers are answered). I said, "You know how you love to go to McDonalds or Burger King. Well, we'll go every Saturday night, your choice, as long you eat your dinner every night. Those who eat it get to go and those who don't will have PBJ." Why didn't I think of this earlier? The benefits are endless--1. Save $--it will be a long time before we go to McD's (I'm guessing a month); 2. Eventually they'll try new foods; 3. I get a break from cooking every Sat. night (it's nice to look forward to that). So far this week, both Adam and Matt are 0-2. We'll see how they feel come Saturday night while Robert and I are eating 'restaurant' food and they're eating PBJ. Perhaps they'll do better next week.