Category Archives: Family matters

In which we discuss matters of the family.

Bandwagons, Family matters, National Blog Posting Month

How to throw a Star Wars birthday party and turn a bunch of kids into Jedi knights

11/03/2012 Nichole 4 Comments

First things first: Today is my sister-in-law Chloe’s birthday. Happy birthday Chloe!

Secondly: Today is also Pete’s 5th birthday party. He wanted a Star Wars party, so that’s what he got. I had big plans to make a Death Star cake or something extravagant like that, but I ended up ordering a cake from the grocery store instead. And guess who doesn’t make Star Wars cakes? The grocery store. So I ordered a pretty plain cake and added some of Pete’s “Star Wars guys” to it.

My (slacker) plan for the day was to let the kids play in the backyard and then eat some cake. Pete somehow remembered that I’d mentioned doing a Jedi Training Academy party some six months ago, though, so instead of being total slackers this morning, Rockford and I made about 20 storm trooper balloons for our Imperial Guard. Here’s what the kids had to do to earn their honorary Jedi status:

The Jedi Training Academy obstacle course

Five jumping jacks.
Run through the Dagobah swamp.
Leap out of the swamp.
Do a somersault. (Not, as Poppy feared, in midair.)
Climb the tower of the Imperial Palace.
Secure a light saber.
Leave the tower via escape pod.

The young padawans’ light saber training

Rockford led the trainees through a series of very impressive moves with the light saber in our Jedi training grounds. I had no idea he had such skills.

Elude the Imperial Guard

This is where our storm trooper balloons came into the game. We strung them from the monkey bars on the playset — only two of them popped before the party guests arrived — and the kids had to “battle” through them with their light sabers in order to get to their final task.

Defeat Darth Vader

I printed out a couple of Vader heads and taped them to the tether ball. And then we set the little Jedis loose on it.

The kids had quite a lot of fun battling the Imperial Guard and putting a major hurt on Darth Vader before and after cake.

Family matters, menu plan Monday

Pinning my hopes to the food-chain train

10/22/2012 Nichole 3 Comments

A few weeks ago I decided to make a Big Move on the picky-eating front. So I made an appointment for Poppy, and last week she met with a couple of specialists to determine whether there might be a physical reason behind her aversion to fruits and vegetables. It was a rather long appointment. They talked to her, they watched her eat a few things, and they asked her to put a dried banana chip on her tongue. Which she did, albeit not happily. And at the end of the appointment, the experts had reached a consensus: It’s all in her head. Or her heart, or wherever it is that she stores her anxiety.

That’s pretty much exactly what I was expecting them to say, and even though I hate that she seems to have inherited my anxiety along with my eye color it’s still good news. But it means that there isn’t really a clear course of action or a defined therapy to help her. Their recommendations were that we continue what we’ve been doing, which is to let whether or not she eats something be her choice. To keep offering fruits and vegetables, of course, and to have a rewards system (or two) in place, but not to make it into an epic drama.

They also suggested we try something called “food chaining,” where you pick one food and offer it up in a variety of ways. Poppy decided she’d like to try food chaining with apples this week, because she loves applesauce. After a little Googling, I opted for the following:

Whole-wheat Pumpkin Applesauce Muffins

Sauteed apples

Alton Brown’s Baker, Baker baked apples

Maple-glazed apples and carrots

Stewed apples

We already have a long-term deal with Poppy that involves trying everything on her plate, no whining and the dream of someday having an American Girl doll. The therapists said we should have some short-term goals in place, too, so we’re going to link those to the food chaining. Most of the rewards she asked for have to do with spending one-on-one time with friends and family.

And now let us perform an entirely ungraceful segue into this week’s menu plan.

Poppyseed Chicken Casserole gollums me — My precious.

Monday: Poppyseed chicken casserole: This is one of my favorite fall comfort foods, but I try not to make it too often. Because it sort of turns me into Gollum.
Tuesday: Baked ravioli: It would be a stretch to find an easier meal. You cook some ravioli, toss it with marinara, top it with cheese and bake it until the cheese is slightly browned. And then it’s dinner time!
Wednesday: Chicken, macaroni & cheese and green beans: This was Pete’s request for kids’ choice night, verbatim. I’ll be using a copy cat recipe for Cracker Barrel’s “grilled” chicken tenders.
Thursday: Chili: I ended up not making chili last week, so it’s on the schedule again this week.
Friday: Pizza