Today’s Activity:

Have Breakfast for dinner.

Note:

Here’s an idea for a YUMMY meal.  It is from the Family Cookbook for the Flat belly diet.

Chocolate Stuffed French Toast.

Evaluate:

This breakfast was SO good I cannot believe it is from a diet cook book!  As Elese was finishing eating she said, “This is so good I can hardly speak!”  It’s true, I felt the same way.  Both Max and Elese loved having french toast for dinner and the fact that it was filled with chocolate made it even better.

Invite some family or friends over for dinner and/or dessert.

Note:

Little ones love having friends eat over at their houses.  I remember eating at my friend Brooke’s house once for dinner and we ate cream corn.  I’d never had cream corn and it became my new favorite.

Evaluate:

My in-laws came over for dinner and then Stevens brother and his family came over for dessert.  It was nice to just visit while the kids played with their cousins.  I have to admit though that the best part was after they left and my little family sat together and watched Wall-E, ate popcorn, snuggled and laughed together.  There’s not doubt that I’m blessed with the best family ever.  Sorry but it’s true, don’t take it personally and I won’t take it personally when you disagree. 

Today’s Activity:

Let the kids help cook dinner.

Note:

Try making something that you know your little ones like.

Evaluate:

Elese LOVED helping me crush up all the crackers for our Parmesan Chicken and Max thought it was pretty cool to see the Pillsbury dough roll pop.  At first Max was reluctant to help me roll the dough but once her realized that it wasn’t gooey he decided it was pretty darn cool.  Although there were several spills while having them help it was still so much fun to have them help me in our new kitchen.

Tonight while eating dinner turn out the lights and eat in the dark.

Note:

If you’re dining area is well lit the maybe cover the windows with blankets or close the blinds.

Today’s Activity:

Let your kids choose what to cook for dinner.

Note:

That’s right, I said “cook”.  Chances are they will say McDonalds but make sure they know it is something that you can cook at home.  You can even have them help you make it.

Evaluate:

Elese got to choose what to have for dinner and the first thing she said was “McDonalds”.  So I gave her a few at home choices.  She chose eggs and tortillas aka huevos rancheros.

Monthly Goal:

Today I helped my kids clean their room.  It was really more for me than it was for them but things look and feel SO much better now!

Don’t forget to leave a comment about something good you did today so you can be entered in our drawing for a $25 GC.  Go here to learn more about our giveaway.

Today’s Activity:

Turn tonight into a learning dinner.  While eating teach your kids about proper etiquette and how to behave while eating in public.  Turn this into a game if you can to get them more excited.  You could even come up with a secret silly word that will help them remember how to act when you are out at a restaurant.  You could even refer to each other as Sir and Mam.

Note:

If you want to have them dress up in nice clothes for this dinner it may help them sit more still.

Evaluate:

This ended up being a lot more fun than I thought it would be.  First off I told them that Bruce Wayne and Princesses eat at really nice tables and they are very proper when they eat.  I asked them a few thinking questions before we started, “If you pull on the table cloth what do you think will happen?  Should you wipe your mouth on your sleeve?  What should you wipe it on?  How do you properly ask for more milk?”  Then we got started.  I even set the table with our wedding china and a table cloth.  A table cloth is a HUGE deal for me.  In the end Max asked if we could do this every night.  We focused on using nice words and not interrupting so Max loved that he got all of our attention when he was telling a story.  We loved listening to Elese talk about her day because it really didn’t make a lot of sense but it sure was cute!  Not only was this a great teaching moment for the kids but I was reminded that dinner is about the kids too, not just getting in the necessary calories and catching my husband up on the day.

RECOGNITION!

Amy taught her kids about the Olympics and watched some with them.  You my friend are two steps ahead of me…that’s what we have planned for Saturday. 

Today’s Activity:

My friend Jana tells a story about how when she was in high school she mentioned that she was going to have breakfast for dinner and she was very excited about it.  While telling her friends all about it a passer by said, “Well at my house we have breakfast for breakfast!”  Well tonight, at our homes we are going to have breakfast for dinner!  You can do this one all on your own or let your kids help you plan and cook.  Either way they’ll love having bacon and eggs for dinner, or maybe even chocolate chip pancakes.

Note:

I’m lucky to have a husband that enjoys cooking breakfast and he does it nearly every morning (we have cereal when he doesn’t).  Every so often I come across a breakfast meal (usually on the food network) that I really want to try and make.  Take this opportunity to make something you’ve been dying to try but haven’t wanted to deal with early in the morning while pushing the kids out the door to school.

Evaluate:

My favorite breakfast place closed several years ago so I like to make my own version of my favorite thing on the menu.  It’s hash browns with sauted green peppers, onions and bacon in them topped with cheese and scrambled eggs.  As you can tell by the picture I forgot that the green peppers, onions and bacon go in the hash browns and I put them in the eggs…it was still yummy but not the same as my favorite breakfast place.  Max kept saying, “Time for Breakfast!” and thought it was great to be eating bacon at dinner time.  Oh, and I don’t recomend buying the cheap bacon…that’s what I did and it was horrible!  So I went and bought the brand that I prefer and it turned out that it was on an unposted sale and was only .50 more than the cheap kind I bought.