New Year, New ME?

i have several things I want to do better in 2009, so what better way to remind myself than to put it out there for everyone to read??
-read the Bible in 1 year(I have never done this :o( )
-blog 1x a day w/a picture(anything)
-read to my kids everyday
-turn off the TV and have more family time-outside, games, reading, dancing. ETC
-read more, learn more
-be a better wife, mother, daughter, friend
-get in better shape(you notice I am not going to lose weight??)
-continue to declutter-keep only what matters
I am sure there are more, but I wanted to get this down while I was thinking about it!

More about that darn Tater Tot casserole.

So. Daniel did send the boys both to their room last night from the table. Then he went and talked to them. Logan came out and said he was sorry and could he have a new bowl(they have a bad habit of smothering their food in BBQ or ketchup before trying it-working on that, just did not catch it in time...)so I gave him a new bowl and he ate it. Dawson came out later started eating it and then was sobbing because he hurt my feelings.
I always try to have something in the meal that I know each person likes, just so I know at least they can eat something. Last night was Tater Tot casserole, um, hamburger, cream of potato and cream of mushroom add a bit of milk and tater tots. They eat everyone of those items! Never thought it would be a problem.
We have decided that we will go to eat what is cooked or not at all. I just have to get a handle on this now. I am not able to put ti in the fridge and make them eat in the am-ok, able yes, willing, no. I had this done to me when I was little and I vowed I would not do it to my children-I do believe it works, don't take me wrong, I just know how picky I was and well, that is how I started my bouts of bulimia, being forced to eat what I didn't like. I respect everyone of my friends, please don't get me wrong. I could also try to get them involved in menu making and the cooking more...I just have so many kids that it is a lot to think of all them helping-maybe one a day would be good. They could each pick a meal and then help with it...Thanks for all your great ideas!
I have 2 underweight children who don't eat enough at all(Piper is <25 and Logan is in 3rd grade and is maybe 50lbs) and a 5 year old who told me her thighs were 'fat' yesterday morning, add in one who -usually-eats every thing! We had a good talk about her being perfect in God's eyes and that is all that matters.
So, if you have time, shoot me some of your kids favorites so I can see if I can find some new things to try. It is time to make a new shopping list for Jan!!!

Kids+Food=Not a good night here

Why do my kids never want to eat what is cooked for dinner?

Anyone else have this problem?

Daniel decided that tonight, we go to the old rule, 'Eat what is made or don't eat at all'.
We shall see what that brings. Any suggestions would be great.

tonight it was tater tot casserole-All things they like in it, but the boys refused to eat it! I just don't get it.
To say the least I am frustrated.

Belated Merry Christmas

I hope all of you had a great Christmas and remembered the true meaning that comes with the holiday!

We have been very busy here in our family. We missed 3 of the last 5 days of school due to freezing rain and snow. We did manage to survive, even if just barley. I have been very busy taking mom to dr appointments, Sammy to therapy sessions and trying to keep up the house. I must say the last one has suffered the most! Daniel has been so amazing during this last 2 months. November and December have been rough months and we are looking forward to the new year and all it has to offer.
The kids all had a great Christmas and rated it a A+++, so I think we did a good job. We decided to do very little for each other this year and hope to take a trip w/o kids next spring, so that will be great! I did get an adorable zebra print purse w/ purple trim and a purple wallet to match! I got Daniel Call of Duty World at War for the Wii with the Wii blaster to go with it...he is playing it right now!! Let's see, the kids got Wii games~GH On Tour(from grammy and pawpaw), Playground(from the babysitter), Outdoor Challenge(from Grammie) and Wii Music(from us). Sammy got a purity ring, a scarf-hat-glove set and 2 of the Twillight books from us. Dawson got GHWorldTour for his DS, a guitar stand and Club penguin book. Logan got an MP3 player, 30Clues book/card set and Tommmy boy nerf gun. Gabi got Cupcake Maker, Barbie Swipe Cards(for her computer game)and Hannah Montana guitar. Piper got a Little mommy doll(the one that talks in English/Spanish-she really wanted it!), dress up clothes and Sharpay microphone. They all got a lot of little things in the stockings....ds games, make up, card games etc. Santa did a good job of picking up some stuff as well. Daniel and I had all our shopping and wrapping done on the 20th of December! But, we still stayed up way too late on Christmas eve making sure it all looked perfect! It was worth it!
Went to my sister's and had dinner w/family and that was good as well...
Piper and Gabi both woke up sick today, fevers and runny nose plus cough. Hope they feel better int eh am(as I type this, Piper is on the couch-she fell asleep at 6 and woke up at 10:30!!)
We played GH World Tour tonight and I even sang! OUr HSM Sing it microphone works with the GH, so now all we need are the drums...I think we may have to do it! Then we played a game of Clue(we got 5 new board games from Santa!)Daniel won and we all had a lot of laughs.
I really need to do better at updating this thing. We did get a new tower for the computer since we are using a friends. It is having all the stuff we need put on and then I should be back in better buisness with that! Daniel put in a bid on it at work and he won! $60 for it. Not a bad deal and it is still underwarrenty, so Dell sent him the start up disk w/everything we need. Very excited to be able to upload pictures and such on here! We had some pictures done and I will try to upload it, but I don't know if it will work.
Weell. I better try to get this kid to bed....she needs rest!

Christmas Shopping

We started in 2002 only giving our boys(at the time)3 gifts each, because we wanted to focus on the real meaning of Christmas and we thought that seemed like a good way to do that. Then we found out there was a big Christian movement where people were doing that. We still do that and as we had more children, it became helpful so we would keep the cost of the holiday down some. I do the shopping for my Mother in Law and my Mom as well. It gets confusing.The little girls are about done, I think I need one thing for Piper and then something for her from MIL and she is 100% done. Gabi is 100% done from everyone. I usually have an idea of what I am going to do, but I sit here tonight and realize that I have no clue what to do for my boys. I have no 'big' thing for Logan, he really isn't into anything, so I have 1small thing for him and that is all. ugh. I still need one thing for Dawson. He wants all big ticket items, so it makes it tough, because we don't spend a lot on each of them. Then, we have Sam. ugh. I think for one, I am going to get her a few books and put them in a cool box/basket for her room. Maybe a yoga mat, a jewelry box w/ some jewelry in it(but it is now hard since she wants 'emo' things). I do want to get her some scrapbooking stuff and a notebook to draw in.I have no idea what to give my hubby. none. he said tennis shoes. oh fun! (i actually typed run before fun!!!)