Balancing the Beam of Life

Balance. That word can bring to mind a gauntlet of definitions and interpretations. While my fellow bloggy cohorts, Jen and Joe, have done well with finding a balance with healthful foods, I am going to strike out on a different tangent.

Balance is something I am continually trying to find. As many of you can relate, it is a challenge with a house, husband, kids, work and trying to manage it all. I love my family having varied interests, but sometimes I feel like we are going too many different directions with practices, playdates, lessons, clubs, work, school---and that is not even mentioning the weekly drudge of errands and chores.

Don’t get me wrong. We love being busy. I love the opportunities that my children have to get to try so many different things. They are lucky to be able to do that and I am appreciative.

Our family solution is that when the kids are involved in something, my husband and I are involved too. I don’t just mean showing up on time to pick them up from piano lessons or bringing cupcakes after a basketball game. We are truly involved. It could be coaching, volunteering in their classrooms, or learning how to play the piano with them. It doesn’t need to be a lengthy commitment, but at least we are spending time with our kids and maximizing our time. Plus kids have all the fun, why not have it with them?!

No....they aren't starving!

I got a phone call from mom this week and after discussing this, that and everything in between, came the concerned and wondering question of if my children were... hungry. My mom is pretty quick and knows how my children don't embrace different foods too readily. I reassured her that it wasn't just new foods I was giving them, but all the usuals too. Pretty much every meal we eat as a family includes all of the food groups. I am pretty big on that, but am also big on the fact that I am tired of the basic carrot sticks, apples and bananas. Bottom line: these kids need to expand their palettes. Here are a few more foods this month that we have tried;

Rice Milk (huge frowns from the girls, Max guzzled it like a pro)
Quinoa
honeydew melon
Garbanzo beans
Monterrey Jack Cheese
Cheddar Cheese
Hot Chili Powder
Cauliflower
Summer Squash
Salsa
Sun Dried Tomatoes

As I was doing my menu planning for the week, Megan suggested sardines. Maybe she is coming around...


In case you are wondering; Sardines did not make it onto the grocery list. Never. Ever.

7 Days + 7 New Foods=

7 frown faces

(from my picky seven year old) ;-)

I think that Megan may be getting a bit self conscious about our calendar where we are tracking the new foods we try. She was trying to change her frown face marking to one that resembled something in between the frown and straight face. The end result was quite the unique looking face!

Lucy and Max on the other hand have loved the variety and have digging right into the "different" foods without so much of a thought.
Lucy enjoying her crab legs at dinner

The biggest positive I have seen so far is that my younger two children have been readily trying the new foods. A week ago, the "different" food would have sat on their plate untouched. So now if we could only get big sister to have such gusto...

New Year=New Foods!

Hello 2010, Good-bye Food Rut!

Provisions have been purchased and the pantry and fridge are stocked. The 2010 New Year=New Food challenge is underway for the Weis Family! Every day we will try a new food that has already been recorded on our 2010 calendar. There is room for each child to "vote" or give their opinions on each new food selection via a smiley face, straight face or frown face.

For further information on why we are doing this and our few guidelines, please read here.

To kick off our first week of January here is a list of the new foods we are trying!

Cranberries
Mushrooms
Tomato
Swiss Cheese
Couscous
Onion
Green Pepper
Sunflower seeds

As I make out this list, I realize that this will be a little more difficult then I originally thought. While I already try to menu plan, this will really force me to think ahead for my once a week grocery shopping trip (which is one of my personal goals).

I do think this will be lots of fun and force us to be more adventurous with our food choices. It will definitely be a learning experience!

Try a New Food Every Day for Year

Call me a cliche, but I really enjoy setting goals and resolutions at the beginning of each new year. We can always make ourselves better right?! This year, I wanted to involve my kids so Lucy and Megan each set a personal goal and we made a few family ones.

One of our big goals is to try a new food everyday for a year. After enjoying lots of holiday goodies (with a minor downfall being Lucy nearly gagging from eating a kiwi, (she claimed "the seeds were choking her"), and Max announcing "don't like it" the second the plate is placed in front of him, I have decidely come to terms that the kids are in a bit of a rut with trying new foods. With them not in charge of the grocery shopping and me being their parent, I find a teensy itsy bitsy part of the blame resting with me.

Enter this year's New Year's Resolution: Try A New Food Every Day for a Year!

I was excited about this and immediately set to rallying the kids, which admitedly responded a little dubious. I told them they were lucky, as my first thought was for it to be 365 new fruits or vegetables, but now to think of the array of foods they can try! That didn't seem to sway them and the dubious looks continued. Next came my promises of needing their help to pick out the foods and how I needed them to rate each food (smiley face, straight face, frown face) so I would have a good record of what they really liked (wink wink). Slowly the kids began to come around.

To avoid the, "I've never had brownie double fudge ice cream before" or "I wonder what green gum balls taste like?", I had to set a few ground rules.

1. The foods must be as close to their natural state as possible. This eliminates a lot of the overy processed and enriched foods, but leaves room to try things like hummus, sushi or quinoa.

2. This applies to foods that the kids haven't tried. I will eat along with them, but since I am more of an adventurous eater, I didn't know how I would come up with 365 completely new foods (I am sure I could, but that wasn't really my point).

3. Each new food comes with a minimum of 3 bites. I already know from experience that the first bite and anticipation (or fear) of trying something new has already clouded their judgment. 3 bites will give them enough to know what they really think.

We will be beginning January 1st and I plan to post the food selections and reactions. Now...I think I had better be doing some grocery planning and shopping...

The Future Face of Internet Solver...before the Internet was even invented

ok...we need to lose the Hawaiian shirt, but you can catch the drift.

Check out the young Dave Weis here.

Walgreens: 5x7 Photo Book for $1.99 shipped-- October 2, 2009!

You have 30 days from now to make your book, just log in so you can get the deal by midnight tonight.

click this link and follow the instructions, you can get a Photo Book for $1.99 shipped.

Christmas gift for someone?!