How to Cope ... or Not

I actually made breakfast for my family this morning on St. Patrick's Day -- made the eggs green and pressed a shamrock cookie cutter into the toast. So festive. Added some regular sausage links and potatoes.

Well, Ben saw his plate of breakfast and said "I can't eat that." Of course not. The eggs were green and there was a shamrock on his toast. He moaned and groaned and griped and moaned but mom still said "this is breakfast today. You can eat this or you can go and play." Oh, no.

Internal Dilemma for Ben: I'm very hungry, but this food that I normally love does not look the way it is supposed to. External Manifestation of this Dilemma: 10 long minutes of anxiety behaviors -- moaning, fidgeting, pained eyes, "I can't eat that" in a strained voice.

So how did Ben eventually solve the problem? Well, by establishing a new rule, of course. He took the plate of weird-looking food to my bed, sat up under the covers and ate the food in bed. He was quite proud of himself for finding a way to eat the weird-looking food ... he certainly couldn't eat it at the table like he does with regular-looking food.

This is how Ben's brain works. This is how he copes. This can make life so complicated...

Sailing

Today Jeff and I sailed the San Francisco Bay on a 55' catamaran. It was a beautiful, scenic afternoon ....

Jeff taking a turn at the helm:

The beautiful Golden Gate Bridge (we sailed under it into the Pacific Ocean and then back next to that tower in the photo):

After the sail, we went in a gallery at Pier 39 and fell in love with the work of this photographer: Rodney Lough, Jr. He's even a BYU grad! Stay tuned for sightings of his work in our home...

Another IEP Down, Many to Go

Today was our annual IEP meeting for Ethan. An IEP (Individualized Education Program) is a document that specifically outlines the special education services your child will receive and why. At the annual meeting, all the educators who work with your child meet together to report progress, set goals, and determine services for the coming year. Almost every year we leave Ethan's IEP meeting feeling so blessed.

Today we walked in a few minutes late, and all seated around the table ready to start are 9 people who are directly involved in educating our son: teacher, assistant, principal, speech therapist, occupational therapist, behaviorist, adaptive PE teacher, psychologist, and full inclusion specialist. Wow. That moment just overwhelmed me with gratitude.

We are so blessed because we genuinely believe that these 9 people are working hard to do the best they can for Ethan. It's just amazing. Every child should have this level of educational support. Not all IEP teams are so wonderful, but Ethan's is wonderful and we are blessed.

Here's our boy reading to Eliza at bedtime tonight:

Trader Joe's Favorites

TJ's Pizza Sauce - you can find this in the aisle with pasta/sauces. I MUCH prefer this pizza sauce over the fresh in the refrigerated section version. But we definitely like the fresh pizza dough in a bag - whole wheat even.







These boxes contain little packets of liquid broth concentrate. You squeeze one little packet into a cup of water and voila - chicken (or veggie or beef) broth! I've not compared flavor quality, but I love convenience quality. Storing can after can of broth is space consuming and making broth is time consuming. So here's a perfect option! Someone want to do a flavor quality comparison for me??? Oh, and these are reduced sodium too.

These are veggie corn dogs. My kids have never asked and I've never told and so they like them. I want to believe they are healthier than a regular corn dog, but I've never compared nutrition facts (probably cause I've never bought the "real" kind of corn dogs). Honestly, I've never even tried these soy corn dogs myself, but the kids like them so I buy them =)


Thanks, Lacy, for this TJ's tip! These are sooo summerly satisfying. They are just the right amount of refreshing for a hot afternoon and for only 80 calories. We like the raspberry the best, though they also sell a mango version. No stick, so a little harder for the kiddos to eat, but that's what bowls are for.





Pour the bag into a pot of sauce (TJ's makes a yummy marinara in a jar) and heat and serve on spaghetti. Yum yum! They have turkey meatballs too. We use either.







Sun Dried Tomato & Pesto Torta -- yum-a-li-cious. For entertaining, just open, flip onto a plate, remove container and surround with sliced baguettes. During the holidays TJ's sold a bigger, fancy-shaped version. I also like it as a lunch perker-upper.



Of course I haven't tried this personally, but I've made enchiladas with it for different crowds, always with rave reviews. Quick grill job, slice up, sprinkle a bit of jack cheese and wrap in a tortilla. I LOVE this enchilada sauce . Voila, carne asada enchiladas.



I add this to my collection of TJ's favorites with little to no nutritional value, but excellent flavor. It's in the "super premium" ice cream category so I can still claim allegiance to Dreyer's (a premium ice cream and a former employer).





We have a long established love affair with this spicy black bean dip. Great as a munchy dip (with longboard chips, of course)... I also spread on top of refried beans to perk them up a bit in a layered dip.




Jeff takes issue with TJ's chips ... except for these. Longboard shaped, light and just salty enough. The shape is perfect for dipping in TJ's Spicy Black Bean Dip and festive for summer parties.







Sweet potato fries - all the rage - even in most restaurants now. These obliterate the Alexia brand version and make me feel a little better about feeding my kids french fries.








I'm loving this smoky dip - standard daily fare right now. It's medium on the spicy scale so you have to like spicy. Nice big chunks of peach. Yum.








Finally a sweetened, Greek style yogurt, individually sized, for a steal. High in protein, low in sugar, hooray!