Eating Out

OK, so I've been spending WAY too much money eating out lately (not to mention how unhealthy it is for Christina and I).  Mainly it's just eating out with friends, grabbing lunch while we're hanging out together.  For the sake of our health and pocketbook, I'm going to have to start eating at home more.  The problem of course, is what do I do when I'm hanging out with my friends and it's lunch time?  If we're at my place, I could always whip up some sandwiches and chips for us, but what about when we're out and about?  I would feel a bit wierd brining a sack lunch with me, and I KNOW I'd have a very hard time resisting getting something if my friend wanted to eat out!

So if you're my friend and you're reading this, let me know if you have any ideas.  I NEED to make a change, but I need my friends on board too!

Jack in the Box

My friend Ashley and I took our kids to lunch with us at Jack in the Box on Friday (I know, I eat out a lot!). Christina decided it would be fun to play with the wet floor tent and put it on over her head. (You wouldn't even know she's in there except for the little legs at the bottom!)

At the Jack in the Box that we went to, they had two options for ordering. You could wait in line to speak to a person, or you could order your food from a kiosk. I decided to try out the kiosk, and it worked great. I even got finished ordering and paying before Ashley, even though she started first (she was ordering from a person). Although, she did get her food before I did. I was telling her, before we know it we'll be like the Jetsons, where you just tell a machine what you want to eat and it spits it out for you. Or maybe it will be like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, where you get a whole meal from one piece of gum.

Speaking of Johnny Dep (Did you follow my train of thought there?), I saw a picture of him from the new Alice in Wonderland movie that's coming out next year, and it's pretty freaky. This does NOT look like a kids movie!

McDonald's

Christina's and my only outing today was a trip to McDonald's this evening. Sean is with his friends in Seattle enjoying the Penny Arcade Expo for the weekend (He just comes home to sleep, and two of his friends are staying with us. Then they take off early in the morning.). I was in a lazy mood today, so Christina and I mostly took turns watching our shows on TV (very productive, huh?). But I decided I wanted to try to get out of the house and do SOMETHING, and all I could really think of was to grab a bite to eat.

So we got our food at McD's and started to eat, then I remembered that we needed to pray. I asked Christina if she wanted me to pray or if she wanted to. She decided to pray this time, saying "Dear God, thank you for fries to eat. Amen." Then she said she wanted to pray for church (I had told her we're going to church tomorrow morning). So again she folded her hands and bowed her head, saying "Dear God, thank you for church. Amen." Watching Christina pray is just the highlight of my day. I'm not sure if she totally understands what it means - I've told her that when we pray we're talking to God, and she seems to get that. I pray all the time that she will grow up to have a closer relationship with God than I've ever had. I want that so much for her.

So after we were done eating we went out to the car, and as usual, Christina wanted to spend a few minutes sitting in the front seat and pretending to drive us home. Then she saw the full moon outside the window. She started reaching up to try to "touch" it, and I told her it was up so high, we'd have to fly in a rocket just to reach it. So she said she wanted to fly up in the rocket to get to the moon and then we could "throw it like a ball!" I guess from way down here it does look like a good size to throw around.

"Fireproof" Movie

My friend Kristina loaned me this movie quite a while ago, but I just got around to watching it tonight. It was great. I highly recommend it to anyone who's married, especially anyone going through marital problems (and who hasn't?). The story lags a bit in spots, but the message is fantastic!

The Happiest Toddler on the Block: The New Way to Stop the Daily Battle of Wills and Raise a Secure and Well-Behaved One- to Four-Year-Old by Harvey Karp


My rating: 1 of 5 stars
The farther I got in this book, the less I liked it. Many of the authors methods - like "Patience Stretching" - are very manipulative. He even admits that it may seem like teasing, but he says that because a toddler's brain works differently than an adult's, it's actually an effective exercise. This guy does not follow Attachment Parenting at all, and a lot of what he advocates just makes me uncomfortable.

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Things to Do with Toddlers and Twos by Karen Miller


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book gives some great ideas for activities to do with kids. It seems specifically written for day care centers, but most of the activities can also be done at home. There's also great advice on how to interact with kids and build their creativity. I especially like that there are recipes for homemade finger paint and play dough that cost a lot less than store-bought. Some of the activities are things that parents would most likely come up with on their own - playing with pots and pans, drawing, sand and water play, filling and emptying a bucket, blowing bubbles. But there are lots of new ideas as well, so this book is definitely worth checking out. Best of all, most of the activities don't require a lot of set-up - I hate it when I have to take 20 minutes to prepare an activity that only holds my daughter's attention for 5 minutes!

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The Happiest Toddler on the Block: The New Way to Stop the Daily Battle of Wills and Raise a Secure and Well-Behaved One- to Four-Year-Old by Harvey Karp

My review

I'm only on page 47 so far. Really agree with the idea of viewing kids as little cave-people rather than little adults. But I hate it when books talk about "the good old days." In this case, it's the days when the village, not the nuclear family, raised the child, and kids could play outside by themselves without parents having to worry. I'm sure those days were great, but reminiscing often doesn't provide any actual help. Once you get past that, though, there are some really good pointers.


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