Project 19 to 19: Day #6

Favorite Foods

If you have known Wonder Boy for any length of time, then you know that food does not hold a high priority in his life. His list of favorite foods has never been very long. We tease him and say he has a "selective palate."


We see our sweet boy here enjoying a bowl of cheerios, watching TV (most like watching "Go, Diego, Go!"), and breaking in the Batman cape and cowl made for him by his grandma. I was so thankful that breakfast was a pretty easy meal since both lunch and dinner were bound to be a struggle.

I am thankful that these days, it really isn't a struggle to keep him fed. It's true that he prefers simple foods, with a fondness for steak, chicken, and pork leading his list. And at the very tip top of that list, is bacon! According to the Boy, Bacon is heaven sent and should be enjoyed as often as possible.

In days past, bacon was reserved for the weekend, but since the pandemic has us all at home, all day, every day, it is not unusual for it to find its way onto the menu for breakfast and/or lunch.


Our dear boy has only one request for his birthday this year - bacon at every meal.Looks like I have some meal planning to do!

Project 17 to 17: Day 5

These days, it seems like so much of what we do is centered around preparing the boy for the next stage of his life. And one of the most important preparations is making sure he can feed himself.

He can prepare about 4 or 5 of his favorite foods. And there is always sandwiches, waffles, and cereal when that fails. And I am certain that ordering a pizza is always a fair backup plan.

In addition to building his skills in the kitchen, we are having the oh-so-interesting chats about check books, credit cards, annoying roommates, and how often you need to text mom to keep her from losing her sanity. You know, the important stuff.


Looking back, you can see that we started this process at an early age. Even today, Wonder Boy enjoys a good slice of homemade pizza. And he doesn't even mind helping to assemble them before we pop 'em in the oven!

Having him give me a helping hand in the kitchen is something I truly enjoy so I'm going to enjoy it as long as we still have him here!

Sixteen!

Project 16 to 16: Day 9

Today has been a long day. We've all been battling some kind of a virus. The Boy and I are finally on the mend, but Wonder Dad is still somewhat under the weather. And even though I am feeling better, I am certainly not ALL better just yet.

But with that said, it's been a long day for us all. And to top things off, the Boy has a very full study schedule for tonight! Assignments in 3 classes and his first cumulative exam of the semester!

We are learning that the secret to a successful night of school work is the proper FUEL for the Boy's brain! Now, don't get me wrong, we make sure he eats plenty of good-for-you-foods during the day. But we don't mind indulging him these kinds of snacks if it helps him focus on the work at hand.


In our look back for today I wanted to share one of my all-time favorite snaps of our sweet boy! I wanted these photos to use as a special gift for Wonder Dad. But by this age, Wonder Boy was very tired of me pointing my camera at him at every opportunity. However, I was in for some serious luck this afternoon! The Boy was in a mood to tell me knock-knock jokes. And while he really needed to work on his delivery, just the act of telling the jokes had us BOTH in stitches throughout the little photo shoot!

This is one of those afternoons that I will never forget! Just the sight of his smile in this snap and I can literally HEAR him giggling as he tried to surprise me with the punchline for his next joke. He laughed before he ever got the words out and that made CERTAIN that I too would double over with laughter!

Sometimes looking back on these photos is bitter sweet, but with a memory like this one, it's just plain sweet!

Project 16 to 16: Day 2

For those that know him well (or those who have heard my lament when trying to find pants that fit this kid), you won't be surprised when I mention that Wonder Boy is a .... let's call it "selective" eater and always has been.

He has ridden the same 25th percentile for weight since the day he drew his first breath (his height is another story though). And finding nutritious foods that he enjoys eating has always been a challenge.


I am pleased to say his menu is considerably more diverse than it was in his younger years, but compared to the vacuum cleaners that characterize so many teenage guys, Wonder Boy is still rather choosy when snacking.

In the top photo, you see the Boy's favorite food of all time - carnitas! He could (and sometimes DOES) eat carnitas at every meal. It's the one food that I know he will never turn down (and if he ever does, I'm taking him straight to the doctor). As a matter of fact, he had a couple of carnitas tacos for dinner last night and then again for breakfast this morning. And as we were leaving for school, I caught him checking to make sure there would be more for dinner tonight (there are!).

When he was small, he preferred chicken, especially chicken strips. He still enjoys those, but he's become a bit of an aficionado and only likes certain chicken strips. His favorite come from Cane's. He also really liked the chicken and waffles sliders from a local joint called Micky's Sliders, but they closed down just this week (so I guess we'll have to come up with someplace new for his birthday dinner).

In our look back, we see the Boy just before his first birthday at what was probably the time in his life in which he was most adventurous when trying new foods. Back when he first started enjoying solid foods, we could get him to at least TRY pretty much anything we were also eating. We can thank pasta and veggies for this fun little snap.

Wonder Boy has been learning to make all of his most favorite foods, including the carnitas pictured above. We all want to make sure he'll be able to fend for himself when he goes off to college!

Holiday Wrap Up

There was much for our little clan to celebrate as we close out another wonderful year together. We were blessed to see many of our family and friends over the course of this Christmas break. We didn't get the chance to all gather at once, but that just means we got to spread the holiday cheer a bit longer this year.


We started off our holiday tour of Texas with a trip down to Wharton to visit with Nanny and the crew down there. They rolled out the red carpet and welcomed us with open arms and a stuffed table. Our time ended too quickly, but at least we got to spend the afternoon together as a family. Nanny has had a rough year, health-wise, and it was a joy to spend this time with her. I am hoping that our visit helped to bring a bright spot to her day as well.

Just a few days later, the 3 of us enjoyed our traditional-for-us Christmas Eve festivities: an early service, a special dinner, a reading by Wonder Boy, and an always anticipated gift exchange! There were some FUN THINGS under the tree this year. One of the highlights (for me) was watching Wonder Boy open a seriously surprising gift: a melodica. As he unwrapped it, he looked rather confused and it was obvious he just didn't even know how to react to it! But by the time he unboxed it and tried out his first tune, he was hooked! I'm also pleased to say he entertained us throughout our holiday travels with it. NOTHING breaks up a 3 hour car ride like a lively tune from the back seat.

Christmas Day brought the Huntsville family into town. We enjoyed another over stuffed table and another afternoon of catching up with family. The 3 youngest had a great time unwrapping gifts and playing with Wonder Boy. Wonder Dad and I enjoyed having the littles around too. There is just nothing like the holidays with young kids. And while I am in no rush for grand-kids, I do get glimpses of things to come and it warms my heart.

After 3 separate family Christmas celebrations, we were able to prolong our holiday gatherings with trips to see friends in San Antonio and in Katy. It was a great way to wrap up our vacation. And it was our yearly reminder of the things that truly matter in life - precious time with those we love the most. I feel renewed after this time away from the hustle and bustle of life, surrounded by those I love the most, my heart completely full.

Happy Ho, Ho, Ho!

This holiday season, once it got ramped up, was about a 5 day extravaganza! We visited with friends, had quality time with family of all shapes and sizes, and still managed to garner some special just-the-three-of-us moments as well. I took a BOAT LOAD of photos and have a few here to share. You will see that I had a hard time cutting down what to post. But I just didn't want to leave anyone out!


Honestly, I couldn't cram half the pictures on here that I really wanted to share. So for now, this will have to do.

We enjoyed a small gathering with friends the weekend leading up to Christmas. We spent a wonderful Christmas Eve with a traditional-for-the-three-of-us feast. And then Christmas day almost all of my family made it in for a wild and wooly lunch with kids ranging from 2 to 13 running, playing, joking, eating, and infecting everyone with a good dose of holiday cheer.

I don't think I could have scripted it any better - aside from some family members that need to pay more attention to their watches *ahem* and the addition of a couple of folks who couldn't make it this year. It was a good day. A very good day!

I think what I will remember most about Christmas this year is the feeling of contentment from being around those that I love and who love me back in return.

Merry Christmas! And may God bless us, EVERYONE!

Merry Christmas!

I'm actually posting this on the way far side of Dec 25, 2013 (it's now 2014, but I'll be back dating this post). I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to work on this. Perhaps it's because our holiday this year was so nice and peaceful that even taking the time to write a blog post seemed like an intrusion on our family time. Whatever the reason, here is a brief review of our 2013 holiday ...

Instead of one big family gathering, our celebrations were a bit more spread out this year.

We launched our family festivities with the Christmas-ification of the house, both inside and out, on Thanksgiving day. And we kept adding decorations and other such signs of the holidays all the way up until the week of Christmas!

On Dec 20th as schools (both big and small) shut down, we kicked off our long winter break with a family wedding. The next day Wonder Boy tested successfully for his purple belt in judo (post coming soon). And the day after THAT we welcomed our first visitors and had a great lunch and early present exchange.

Christmas Eve found us at home, just the 3 of us. We enjoyed an early service, had a super special (though quite non-traditional) dinner, a reading by Wonder Boy, loads of Christmas movies, and the exchange of our gifts to one another. Christmas day started pretty early with more presents and was followed by another wonderful family visit for yet another great lunch and even MORE gifts.

*WHEW* That was exhausting even to type! Honestly, It was a whirl-wind of excitement and we have all enjoyed it immensely. Here are a few sights from our season of celebration:


We'd like to wrap up our holiday re-cap by wishing each and every one of you a happy and healthy 2014!

Friday Fun

Most of the month of January has been spent in a direct effort to get our little home cleaned and better organized; trying to make the best use of every bit of space we have available. Spring cleaning come a few months early, as it were.

And as you can guess, that means a focused effort by all members of the family. It hasn't been much fun (for any of us), but we HAVE gotten so much done and the effect on the house has been amazing (imho).

But as I mentioned, it's not a lot of fun. Especially for Wonder Boy. He's entertained himself on the days we haven't set him a task or two. And he's done a lot less complaining than you might expect for a 10 year old boy stuck at home with little to do but housework.

SO ... to give him a break and to reward ourselves for some of our hard work, we let him invite one of his best buds over for some fun time after school.



The guys made Jolly Rancher stained glass sugar cookies and played video games until their hearts content. And they both closed out the day with a high five and a smile.

A good day indeed!

birds on the brain

Our obsession with Angry Birds is growing. It started simple enough ... down loaded the game and played every now and then.

From there things deepened ... and before you knew it, we had moved on to scale models and papier mache replicas.

Next came whole celebrations with the birdie theme.

But now ... now we have hit a whole new level .... we've moved on to FOOD!



The effort to produce these treats was worth every sugar filled second though. And this is by FAR the yummiest way to fuel our Angry Birds summer.