Kate Gosselin's Love Is in the Mix (19 page)

W
hen Cara and Mady were very young,
my hairdresser told me how she allowed her kids to have ice cream for dinner once each summer and the impact that made on them. As adults, they still treasure those memories! At that time, I just couldn’t imagine doing that:
Where were all the food groups in that meal?
As unlike me as it was, I decided to try it … and I have come to enjoy the squeals of delight when I announce it’s “ice cream for dinner night” at our favorite ice cream place! Play at the local playground always follows … to run off the sugar high.

I
n the last few years
we have started the ever exciting orthodontic visits, which have slowly but surely resulted in more and more of my kids displaying metallic smiles. I, too, have had braces, but I had them as an adult. Still, I sympathize with my kids on the discomforts and food alterations, and I know that part of being a kid is gum chewing and gooey candy ingestion. So to help ease their complaints and lift their spirits, I started to hold Braces On and Braces Off parties. Little did I know that these parties would become a standard super fun tradition in our house. Here’s what we do.

Braces On:
Once someone has their appointment set to have braces put on, I allow them to invite a few friends over to help “celebrate.” They get to choose the gum, candy, soda, and crunchies that will soon be forbidden … and they pig out! It’s their last chance to taste some of their favorite chewy delights for a year or two, so why not?

Braces Off:
When the braces are finally off, the kids can invite a few friends and choose the candy and snacks they have missed, but this time I order or make a cake and decorate it with a smile (using shoestring licorice for the smile and Chiclets for the braces). “Happy Braces Off” it says!

I usually make my homemade pizza for each of these parties to make the celebrating extra fun.

If you have ever been a parent of a child with braces, then you are ready to celebrate right along with your child when they finally come off. I know I am!

E
very year, just like any parent,
I fill my kids’ Easter baskets with varied assortments of candy I hope they will like. I also include little toys and some gift cards—almost forgetting that this is Easter and not Christmas. In recent years, I can’t help but notice how expensive candy has become. In fact, for eight kids it has become quite an investment. Often times, much of the candy goes to waste because some kids don’t like some of the candy they find buried in their basket amongst the fake Easter grass. So this year, I acted on a brainstorm that I had while wandering the grocery store, eyes glazed over, considering all of the Easter candy options.

In an attempt to buy a smaller amount of candy and allow my kids to choose their personal favorites in a fun way, I set up a “Candy Shoppe” at home where they could “buy” their favorite candies. I bought an assortment of different types of candy, which I placed in colorful Easter baskets in a candy store–type display. Using a fifty-cent piece and construction paper, I traced and cut out “coins”—fifteen coins for each child to be used to “buy” candy. I called the coins “Bunny Munny.” I added a cute little picture of a bunny on each coin. Then I found eight small paper bags with an Easter bunny on them, inserted the coins into each bag, and placed the bags in their Easter baskets, along with their solid chocolate bunny and their money or gift card as their main gift.

I made a sign that said “Ms. Bunny’s Candy Shoppe” and placed it at the front of the “store.” I covered a table with a fun Easter tablecloth and displayed the many baskets containing the kids’ candy inside, complete with a price tag for each kind. Some candies were even “on sale,” and I noted that on their price tags.

When I gave the kids their Easter baskets, they were surprised to see their large chocolate bunnies and money—but NO candy? I told them to look inside the bunny bag. There they found their Bunny Munny. I told them that after church, they would be able to shop for their own candy. Happiness ensued! That afternoon I set up the candy shop, wearing my bunny ears (after all, I
am
Ms. Bunny), and waited on my eager customers who alternated between “buying” candy and eating candy until the store—and their bags—had run out of stock! It was super fun, and the tradition will be back next year by overwhelming demand. It was egg-citing to the kids and me!

V
alentine’s Day is a special day to go above and beyond
in order to remind my kids how much I love them. There is no set menu on Valentine’s Day except that everything I make turns into a heart shape. For example, toast or pancakes in the morning are cut with a cookie cutter into a heart shape. At lunch, the kids’ sandwiches are a heart shape and so on. I also include an especially love-filled note (on heart-shaped paper) and put it in their lunch boxes, too.

In addition to meals, I leave small gifts at each child’s place at the table and put a few in their Valentine’s mail pouches (which I hang on their chairs), too. They find their gifts when they come downstairs in the morning to eat their heart-shaped breakfast.

Despite my best efforts, some days just don’t go according to plan. Okay, let’s be honest, there are many days that just get away from me. I am diligent about making a schedule with a detailed list for each day. This list always includes what I am preparing for dinner. But, when the day takes on a life of its own, I always make sure to have a freezer packed full of meals that just need to be defrosted and popped in the oven. These meals are also used when mom is traveling for work. Cara once said “When you’re not here, Mommy, it feels better when we still have ‘Mommy Meals’ for dinner.” That was all the reinforcement I needed to be sure that every meal that is served—even when I’m absent—is a Mommy Meal. Here are some of the most common meals that I keep in my freezer:

I always make sure to label all meals before freezing, putting the current date on them as well as a “use by” date. It’s easy to keep adding to the freezer and lose track of things that are already frozen.

In addition to dates and contents, I label with last minute instructions, such as: “Crush 3 cups of croutons and spread evenly over top before baking. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.” These quick instructions serve as a reminder to me and also make them “feeder-friendly” to anyone—including my babysitter if I am away on business.

I use masking tape (with a tab on the edge for easy removal) to label.

Try this cook ahead method and you’ll quickly get the hang of my “cook one for today and one to freeze for a crazy day” method.

If you have kids who are very young, give yourself a much-needed break and use a “get out of the house free” card. Wait until your spouse gets home from work or hire a babysitter so that you can go to the store alone each week.

I find that it’s easier to compare prices, orchestrate coupon usage, and read my grocery list when I am shopping alone. Sometimes it was the only break I got all week when my kids were very young. I enjoyed the outing (that’s an understatement!), the quiet, and the ability to focus, which translated into money saved! I didn’t just save, I made it “my job” to save, which I always thought of as money earned. I spent all week looking online for coupons, scouring the sale flyers, and making my grocery list to purchase items for the least amount of money possible during my long-awaited evening out of the house alone!

Sometimes, I would take one child at a time along to the grocery store with me in order to spend some rare individual time with each one. With only one child, I found that I could still concentrate on the shopping, while he or she “helped” me shop and we spent valuable time together.

With so many young children, I rarely got to zero in on one child at a time during everyday activities—on their facial expression, thoughts, and words—and even just a trip to the grocery store became a treat for both of us!

Saving money, especially in today’s economy, is of extreme importance to everyone. But it doesn’t have to be an overly stressful event. Grocery shopping is “necessary” shopping but I tried to see beyond the money stress, combining a mini vacation away from home with a chance to connect individually with each of my kids. So rid yourself of the guilt, get a babysitter, and go shopping—grocery shopping, that is—alone (or with only one child at a time)!

One of the very few times our family is all in the same room—and in the same place—is at dinnertime. I like to make it a point to sit around the dinner table together.

Taking turns talking is definitely a challenge as I have eight eager-to-talk kids with a hundred different stories or things to share. We often go around the table in an organized manner and take turns saying the blessing (sometimes two or three people want to pray, and I allow it and even encourage it—but it gets long!) or saying what we are thankful for. Conversation sometimes centers around what the kids learned in school that day. When my “littles” were learning to spell their names, we would go around the table and spell every night. To this day, I can hear Collin spelling, “C-O-L-L-I-wis-a-dot-N.” Such sweet memories.

In recent years, when all six have experienced the same adventure, we take turns telling the beginning, middle, and end—dividing up all the parts of a story to allow each child to contribute. It’s very challenging to find a way to allow six kids of the same age to each share the same exciting story. Dividing the story in part is one way. The only other option is to allow each child to tell the entire story while I listen—a total of six times! Certainly an option, but a bit tricky, especially on a school night.

Start feeding a wide variety of foods to your kids at a very young age. This will eventually help avoid what I call the typical toddler “four-foods fight.” Many toddlers insist on eating the same four (or so) foods for every meal, every day. My kids never developed this pattern because I provided a great variety of foods, textures, and colors—beginning with their very first foods on a spoon!

Here are some other tips to fight picky eating:

• If a particular food is not received well, try serving it again. Don’t omit a food in the future because your child didn’t like it the first time. Sometimes, my own kids will initially not like a certain dish, but the second and third time I serve it, I receive many yums! Persistence pays off.
  
• If necessary, change the name of a meal and make it sound like a fun thing. We used to call scallops “sea chicken,” and calamari was “rubber bands.” Once kids love the flavor of foods, it won’t matter to them that they are eating seafood.
  
• Make sure you serve a well-balanced meal, containing a food from each of the food groups. Continue to do this even if only certain food groups are well received. Eventually, your child will become more adventurous and will hopefully try a bite from each group. It is also important to display a balanced nutritious meal so that your child knows that there are many more colors and varieties of food in the world—that is, much more than macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, and fries!
  
• Don’t require the plate to be cleaned. Praise your child for trying a bite or two of something new!
  

Whenever my kids request a specific meal that they are hungry for, I make sure to prepare that meal within the next week or so. This helps them feel included in kitchen decisions and usually increases their willingness to help in the kitchen.

The kids often help by running to get different meal supplies from the pantries and storage areas throughout the house as I am cooking.

The kids also enjoy throwing cans into the recycling bin and food scraps into our “chicken bucket” (a compost bucket that we fill with food scraps and feed to our chickens). Typically, someone will offer to set the table and fill cups, too. We enjoy chatting while we move around the kitchen together. Each day a different bunch of kids will float into the kitchen and ask how they can help.

Cara and Mady have become the self-assigned “waitresses” and serve prepared plates of food to the littler kids. In recent years, they have begun helping chop, cook, and bake, too!

The kitchen is always a busy hub of activity in our home. I love having my kids by my side while I’m in my kitchen, preparing. There’s something for everyone to do, and I think it’s where our family teamwork works the best.

It’s rewarding for all of us when we finally sit around our table together and eat what we’ve all helped to prepare!

• Use coupons whenever possible.
  
• Don’t make a habit of using coupons for items you wouldn’t normally buy.
  
• Read sale flyers. Plan weekly meal schedules according to what is on sale at the grocery store that week.
  
• If an item is on sale, stock up! The goal is to never have to buy something on your grocery list unless it is on sale.
  
• Save/freeze leftovers for another meal or to turn into another meal (for example: a chicken carcass can become chicken noodle soup or chicken pot pie).
  
• Shop at various stores and compare prices at each.
  
• Buy in bulk. This usually helps lower the price per pound cost.
  

To make lunches fun, I try to present the food in special ways. Adding love to the preparation and presentation makes them even better.

1. Make “face lunches.” Make the peanut butter crackers be the eyes, the strawberries the nose (or noses!), and the string cheese the mouth.
   
2. Make theme-color lunches: Macaroni and cheese, carrot sticks, orange slices, and cheese puffs—all orange!
   
3. Make specially shaped sandwiches. Sometimes I cut the kids’ sandwiches into heart shapes—especially on Valentine’s Day.
   
4. To give the kids more control over how they eat, I sometimes place ingredients on their plates and let them assemble their own sandwiches—or eat the meat, cheese, and bread separately. The important thing is that they are eating (I don’t care how they do it!) and letting them play helps them accomplish
   my
   goal!
   
5. Using dinner leftovers and changing them up a bit can sometimes result in a great lunch. For example: If I’ve made
   Very Sloppy Joels
   for dinner, I will warm and serve leftovers with tortilla chips for lunch (with yogurt and apple slices to complete the meal).