Eat Your Carrots

Two nights ago Liam was eating all of the little carrot pieces out of the rice from Muchas Gracias. So tonight Mac decided to add cooked carrots to our menu - steamed with a little bit of brown sugar.

I pretty much only eat carrots cooked to a mush and pureed either into a soup or a sauce, but if it meant my kids would eat more veggies, I would play along and eat a few bites of orange dirt-root, too (well, after slipping half of my serving onto Mac's plate).

Both kids immediately declared the side dish "disgusting." Mac told them he wouldn't make carrots again (hurray!) but they each had to have three bites tonight.

Megan ate hers with a grimace, but few complaints, but Liam wouldn't touch his. So Mac gathered all three small bites on a fork and shoved then into Liam's mouth. His initial response was to spit them out but we told him he couldn't.

So he sat there with his mouth open, carrots exposed for the next five minutes. We told him to chew; he made one mash and started to scream. We gave Liam some milk and told him to wash them down. He drank all the milk but held the carrots in his cheek. We implored him to swallow. He closed his mouth for a second and then made a little gag - the carrots were still in his mouth.

"Liam, just swallow the carrots!" Mac ordered. Liam closed his mouth and made a little swallow, followed by a burp and big up-chuck of carrots and partially digested milk all over his shirt and table, thus ending the battle of the carrots and our dinner.

Liam 1, carrots (and parents) 0.

We have all agreed that carrots no longer have a place on our dinner menu.

11 Years

A night out at Andaluz for our anniversary.

LA Trip

Mac took the kids to his parents for the week to visit. The kids especially like getting to play with cousin Jared. Mac is trying to turn them into baseball fans at a young age, so last night the kids went to their first Major League game. Go Dodgers!

Li'l Swimmers

Swim lessons were a high priority for this spring. In three sessions, Megan went from being a little timid about getting her face wet to being able to jump off the diving board and swimming to the side completely by herself as she climbed the ranks from Pike to Eel to Ray.

Liam...well, Liam is very cute. He likes to splash and play but he hasn't been able to graduate from the Pike class because he won't willingly put his face in the water. In fact, when the teacher told him he had to go under enough to get his forehead wet, he grabbed the side of the pool and leaned backwards till his forehead was under but his face was still high an dry. Hey, he did do what he was told and you've got to give him points for cleverness!

Hopefully, a summer of splashing is all he needs to get over his fear.

Memorial Day Ballet

Who in the world would schedule a kids' event on Saturday night of Memorial Day weekend, essentially removing all hope of getting out of town for the holiday?? Discovery School of Dance, that's who!

But it was hard to be too upset when I saw my gorgeous princess all dressed up for her first ballet recital.
The whole thing seemed a little over the top for a bunch of five year olds, but Megan loved it. I felt like a wanna-be beauty pageant mom, caking make-up and hairspray all over my young innocent little girl. But we were given specific instructions: "Put enough make-up on them so they look like a hooker." Awesome, just what every mom wants - her daughter to look like a prostitute before she can even ride a bike.

We celebrated her five minutes on stage with flowers and ice-cream, which should guarantee that we will be doing the same thing next Memorial Day weekend.

Isn't my little hooker-ballerina beautiful!