The kids and I made cookies after school yesterday.
I wasn't sure at all how yesterday would go. Sara is attending two different preschools at the moment. The morning one meets three times a week, the afternoon one meets every day. I was worried about getting her from one to the other, mainly because she wants to ride the bus. While we have plenty of time to get her from school one to home in order to meet the bus, it doesn't leave a lot of time for her to eat lunch.
The easy solution (and I'm sure Sara's preferred one) would be to grab something quick. However, as a mom who struggles every day with weight and issues, I prefer a healthy lunch. She has a busy schedule she needs fuel, not fat and salt and sugar disguised as food in brightly colored bags or boxes. I readily admit that I give my kids fast food. I hope that by teaching them how to eat all sorts of food, they can avoid the struggles that I have when they get older. And that basically boils down to portion control and moderation. So while I don't mind the occasional kids meal, at least one part of it needs to be somewhat nutritious. Chicken nuggets with apple fries? Do-able. Grilled chicken sandwich with fries? Manageable. Tucker can actually eat an adult sized meal with no problem. He has the metabolism to burn it off right now, but he won't always. So it's worth the battle to keep him at a kids sized meal (which is plenty big) and then let him supplement with additional fruits or vegetables.
Yesterday, Sara had a bean burrito for lunch...well, what she'd eat of it. She was too excited to eat much and was worried that she's miss her bus. As she was (literally) hopping on the bus, she asked me if we could make cookies that afternoon.
Heck yeah! I LOVE to bake. Everything about it is soothing to me. The kids are at the perfect age for helping me bake too, and I love having stuff to do that doesn't involve spending tons of money, watching TV, or eating crap. I love that you can work in a math lesson or two without it sounding like you are trying to work in a math lesson or two.
By the time the kids' bus was due, I was excited to hear about their days and to get started with the baking. I heard the bus coming, and went outside to meet them......only to find out that Sara would be on the second bus drop off about thirty five minutes later. Oooops. Parental fail. I assumed the school would put the preschoolers on the same bus as K-2. But they didn't.
So, 35 minutes later, Tucker and I were hanging at the bus stop waiting for Sara. This is going to work out beautifully! Every day I'm going to get 35 minutes with just me and Tucker. He's a great sport (most of the time) about not getting tons of one on one attention. So the fact that we can have this time every day makes me incredibly, blissfully happy. I still have two mornings a week with just Sara, so she is in no way being left out.
Sara got off the bus, no worse for the wear. I was concerned that she would be upset that Tucker wasn't on her bus, but she was with the big kids, so she was in hog heaven. They all think she's so cute, and I'm not going to say or do a thing to ruin that image. ::snort!::
We walked back home, got right to the cookie making, and finished up right as R was walking in the door. I was pleased that this recipe for oatmeal cookies turned out so well, because the recipe has changed on the oatmeal container since the last time made them. Guess I should have written the old one down, huh? But I pretty much remembered it, so all was well in the end (and yes, I wrote it down this time.)
I wish that smell-o-vision and taste-o-vision were available because these bad boys turned out as well as I've ever had cookies turn out.
YUM!
2 comments:
So I do try to help my son make healthy decisions, but he is a picky eater and makes this task a bit hard. My son really likes the cereal bars, and I do get the ones that have less bad ingredients in it (you know the ones you cannot pronounce lol). One of our favorite meal bars is a brand called Larabar. The commissary here sells a coconut cream pie, peanut butter, and cherry pie. I've had the coconut cream pie and the peanut butter (my son has had these too and loves them!!). So let me tell you what is in the coconut cream pie bar- dates, unsweetened coconut, almonds, cashews, and extra virgin coconut oil. The peanut butter one is peanuts and dates, so they are pretty healthy.
It's hard when they are picky! My daughter likes fruit and veggies more than my son does, but he'll try more things with an open mind than she will. Neither of my kids will eat lettuce in or on anything, but they love shredded wheat. Go figure!
I've tried Larabars, I like them too! If I'm giving them cookies or sweets, I'd much rather give them something home made versus pre-packaged. The problem is my husband and I love my baking too, and sometimes they disappear way faster than they should. Of course, he's not overweight and has the metabolism of a 15 year old...sigh.....but that's what Zumba's for, right? LOL!!!
Thanks for reading and your comment, Christina!
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