These few pictures capture just what I love about family travel! Can you see how excited my daughter is, she’s literally jumping for joy!
Also the huge smiles on my kids faces, that just warms my heart. I love what we do!
4 Easy Tips for Picky Eaters
My oldest daughter was my pickiest eater. I always told myself I was never going to make different meals to accommodate the kids’ whining and distaste for what I cooked. That didn’t work out like I planned.
I’m not the best chef, but it killed me to see my daughter turn her nose up at the food I made, make gagging sounds as she attempted to eat it, and outright refuse to try new things. I was hurt, but I never could say, “you’ll eat when you’re hungry.” On many occasions, I made two lunches or two dinners.
My challenge was figuring out how to introduce flavor and seasoning into her palate so I could just fix one meal for all of us.
TAPER
Slowly, I began adding light sauce to my oldest’s spaghetti. I’d top the sauce with cheese (something she loved) and then slowly added more sauce and less cheese. She now only sprinkles parmesan on her saucy pasta and not a pound of shredded cheese!
PAIRING OPTIONS
With finger food like Tyson chicken nuggets, I’d add flavors like ranch and honey mustard dipping sauces instead with traditional ketchup for dipping. Other times it would be bbq sauce and teryaki and we’d omit the ketchup. This has, over time, led to her now eating some semi-spicy chinese food!
ADD VEGGIES TO FAVORITES
Pizza is a favorite of my daughter. Making pizza at home we’d finely chop up bell peppers and mushrooms and sprinkle them into the sauce and cover the pizza with cheese and pepperoni. Eventually we could stop hiding the veggies and the taste and texture of them weren’t so bad for her.
COOK WITH THE KIDS
This one is easy and fun, and works like a charm! Our younger two kids always loved to help us prepare our food and they were more “proud” to eat it. Now, we shop with my oldest and ask her what we could make together. She’s 14.5 now and can help make more mature decisions and even cook with some of the tools in the kitchen on her own. We emphasize creativity (especially with vegetables) and even suggest she peruse fun sites like Pinterest to seek recipes.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Tyson Chicken Nuggets. The opinions and text are all mine.
Yesterday’s Geeks are Today’s Cool Geek Dads
Yesterday’s geek = Obsessed with technology and socially awkward
Today’s geek = A cool geek dad who is the definition of cool – confident, tech-savvy, engaged father who shares his passion for tech with his kids, creating new family traditions in his own way.
Do you know a geek dad or are you married to one? I’m proud to say I’m married to one! The Confessions of a Geek Dad survey conducted by Cisco Linksys sought to shed light on the emerging generation of guys fed on technology as children, and is now passing on this passion to their kids.
The survey conducted in December found that…
— Proud to be geeks: Nearly 70% of geek dads consider themselves to be cooler than other dads, with 75% of them attributing it to creating a home their kids’ friends enjoy hanging out at.
— 70% of geek dads say their kids think they’re cool because they’re tech-savvy, and that makes 87% of geek dads proud or humored.
— Tech savviness still comes with some trade-offs: 35% of geek dads say their partners get annoyed when they spend time alone playing with technology, yet 92% say their partners expect them to be the ones to maintain the home tech. (It’s truly a catch-22 in our household!)
— One in five geek dads admit to using technology in secret to avoid being discovered by their wives.
— Redefining quality time with the kids: 71% of geek dads spend more time doing activities with their kids than their fathers did with them. 72% are more excited about teaching kids how to use tech tools than traditional tools, like a hammer or power drill.
Full details of the survey can be found on the infographic below: (click to enlarge)
These statistics are part of a new wave of fathers who are using technology to connect with their families to create fun and memorable traditions and are more confident in their own abilities as parents. I personally wouldn’t want it any other way!
School Days: 100th Day of School Art Project
In Kindergarten, my daughter had the assignment of coming up with a 100th day of school art project. I remember this well from my other two kids, as with my few years teaching kindergarten and first grade. It’s so fun to brainstorm ideas…first we talked about it.
K: Can we do 100 dollars?
Me: In Monopoly money, maybe.
K: Can we do 100 kittens?
Me: Probably not!
Then we strolled in Target searching the food aisles.
K: We can do 100 apples!
Me: That is a lot to carry!
K: How about 100 Go-gurts?!
Me: Something smaller.
Finally, in the Valentine’s Day section we came across candy conversation hearts. Perfect.
First we counted out 10 hearts. Then we made 10 piles of 10. We counted by 10’s to get to 100. We added, we multiplied, we divided. 
Then I said, “go for it!” She made pictures with my help with glue. Hearts, stars, a flower, her first initial. Then she adhered every one of those 100 candies onto cardstock paper. She even read most of them. “Mom, what’s loll mean?” Oh she means LOL (laugh out loud)…she’ll learn that soon enough on modern technology.
“I’m tired. You finish my name mom.”
Minus a few that fell off in transport, we made it to school and did a quick touch up.
The 100th day falls on her 6th birthday this Friday. Such a happy week for my youngest!
Chicken Taco Soup in the CrockPot Recipe
With our hectic family schedules each week, I need to cook easy and fast meals but they have to be healthy too. I was at the store, thought chicken is the main protein of the meal and quickly googled crockpot recipes. I came across a few for chicken soup, but I always love a twist. My husband loves when I make my blog-friend’s chili recipe so I wanted to give this chicken-soup-slow cooker-thing a kick so here’s what I came up with for Chicken Taco Soup!
Chicken Taco Soup
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
1 15 oz can black beans
1 15 oz can whole kernel corn
1 22 oz can diced tomatoes
1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
1 12 oz beer of choice
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 small can green chilies
–Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beer, taco seasoning, and green chilies to the crock pot. Drain black beans and corn and add to pot. Submerge chicken into the soup and set on low for 5 hours. Remove and chunk or shred chicken and add back to pot, cook on low 1 more hour.
–Serve in a bowl, top with sour cream and shredded cheese or with tortillas spread with melted butter.
