Food war...

Eek. What happened to me? Not that I think many of you were concerned, but I am still here. I just was uninspired/too busy/running around with like a chicken with my head cut off to blog. All kinds of ideas have swirled around in this "pretty little head of mine" (direct Mr. Shook quote) but I haven't taken the time to listen to them.

Yes. We had the holidays.
No. They didn't go as planned. What does, really?

But tonight we had a food war. I will preface the story by saying this RARELY happens here. So when it does maybe I'm thrown for more of a loop than I expect.

Today I made crock pot macaroni and cheese. I will also step in and say that it was not one of my 5 star meals. I'll even say it wasn't 4 stars. 3 stars might still be a stretch. But, it was a meal. I will also say that I knew in it's anticipation that it might not be good. I will consider myself pre-warned. But, I still had to try it. It was a meal that tasted better than it looked. Have you ever had one of those? Unless your Martha Stewart, I really hope you can go along with me here. Can you relate??

Needless to say I was anticipating a few turned up noses here. I thought maybe we should have a plan B but Mr. Shook said No. Everyone will try it.

Ok I said...and waited for the groans. I might even say that there has been a time or two where our youngest will say something looks yucky. Yucky??!! What could one possibly mean?? Ha ha.

We have been instilling the courtesy bite idea for a while. It usually works and then they realize, hey that isn't so bad (i.e. meatloaf). But, our dearest, oldest child wasn't falling for the courtesy bite tonight. No can do. Without giving the nitty gritty details, because after all, you've all been there, right?, we held our ground and made him try it. I think he was even more upset after his 2 sisters stabbed him in the back and said that it was good. After all aren't siblings suppose to stick together??!! The food war has begun and it wasn't pretty. There may or may not have been a tear or two, there may or may not have been a threat or two, there may or may not have been a bite the side of my cheek so I don't burst out laughing at how ridiculous you are acting Mr. almost 7 year old moment. Ugh. Maybe not our best parenting moment but then again was is our best parenting moment I ask you.

Unless your name is Carter Jones and you eat EVERYTHING!! I hope you can related in just a tiny way to our food war. These are the moments that will give us really good family memories, right?

And because I'm completely JEALOUS of the Jones' and their stellar eating boy is the only reason I can use him as an example. xoxo

27 days...

We have had a first here.

This is really quite a stride for The Shook's.

27 days represents something for us in the month of July.



27 days of NOT EATING OUT OR EATING FAST FOOD!!



Unbelieveable.

But, really not that hard and I'm not sure I even really missed it. And I mean the fast food part. It's nice every once in a while to eat out. It can actually be fun. But we are really trying to do everything in moderation.

No running through McDonald's, no stopping at Jimmy John's or Subway. No LaGondola. Now I'm not going to say that every meal here was gormet, but I fixed 27 dinners. And some of them were pretty darn creative and yummy.

I rewarded the kids by making a trip to McDonald's on Friday with some friends. We actually ate inside, which we rarely do, and I have to say that I immediately remembered that I don't even really like McDonald's. Of course, the kids had a blast so I can see where a treat, every now and then, is actually a good thing. A sacrifice from their Mom!

Less eating out is also good for the wallet. It can get really expensive for us to eat out. For a family of 5, who's small people don't actually eat that much, we can't leave McDonald's without spending $20. That's kind of ridiculous when you think about it.

I think this is an experiment that we will continue for a while. It's a healthier choice, too!