Thoughts On Frozen

I love Frozen.  We saw it for my 30th birthday, and every day until it was released on DVD my kids asked if we were going to get it.  Of course, I pre-ordered it as soon as I could, because I loved it, too.  They have watched it nearly every day since it arrived in our mailbox.

My daughter has this thing with Christmas songs (she gets it honestly), and since she was about 18 months old I've sung a selection of Christmas songs at bedtime (upon request) in lieu of lullabies, which she calls her "summer songs."  The Christmas songs, and mind you I only sing one verse if there are multiple verses, are: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Holly Jolly Christmas, The First Noel, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, Silent Night, The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting), I'll Be Home for Christmas, and O Little Town of Bethlehem.  In case you're curious, her "summer songs' are:  Hush Little Baby, Rock-a-bye Baby, Brahms Lullaby, and The Riddle.  On occasion I throw in the verses I can remember of Scarborough Fair.  Anyway, back to last night...

I started singing Rudolph, and since my son had been pretending to be Sven (the reindeer from Frozen) all evening, I changed the lyrics to include Kristoff and Sven in place of Santa and Rudolph.  Then it hit me like...Wow!  Frozen is in part Santa Claus is Coming to Town!!!  Oh, my goodness!  How did I not see this before?  Keep in mind that the characters I'm comparing are from movies - Frozen and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

1. The legend of Kris Kringle originates in Germany, which is a stone's throw from Arendal (Arendelle), Norway, where Frozen is set.
2. Kris Kringle was raised by toy elves; Kristoff was raised by love trolls.
3. The Winter Warlock wouldn't let the toy elves pass the mountain until Kris Kringle gave him a gift (toy train) which thaws his frozen heart and turns him human; Elsa the Snow Queen can't unfreeze Arendelle until Anna gives her the gift of true love which thaws a frozen heart.
4. Kris Kringle flies in a magical slegh and talks to reindeer; Kristoff drives a sleigh (which flies off a cliff) and talks to a reindeer.
5. Sweet, tender-hearted, school teacher Jessica (with reddish-brown hair) becomes Mrs. Claus; sweet, tender-hearted Anna (with reddish-brown hair) is loved by, and loves, Kristoff.
6. Olaf the singing, dancing snowman is either Frosty or Sam the Snowman from the beginning of the Rankin/Bass Rudolph
7. It's a stretch, but Hans is the Burgermeister

Did I miss any connections?

Lent pt 2

Just out of curiosity, how do you define yelling?  Is it vein-popping, loud, screaming, scary momster?  Is it raising your voice and using your Mom tone?  Either way, apparently I do a LOT of it.  For Lent (see previous post) I decided to work on giving up yelling.

To me, yelling is in-your-face, voice level 10, forehead-vein-popping, steam rolling out of ears, screaming, scary (possibly terrifying) momster.  Those moments were becoming all too frequent, and it was hurting everyone.  I did not like who I became when my inner momster reared its head.  I did not like the looks on my kids faces when the momster made an appearance.  I did not like what it was doing to my kids...or to me.  They say the first step to fixing a problem is to realize you have one.  Well, I realized a problem existed a long time ago, and several times I have half-heartedly attempted to address it and fix it.  There's always an obstacle standing in my way, though.

For starters there are some people in my life that no matter what I say I'm going to attempt (learning to sew by jumping right in with a huge project, starting to exercise most days of the week, being more patient and positive, yelling less, eating better...) they laugh and say, "You'll never do it."  Or they just give me that look, the one that says, "MmmK.  We'll see how long that lasts."  That used to make me more determined than ever to prove them wrong (for instance with the sewing - which I did), but with some things it made me start to believe maybe those people were right.  Maybe they know better what is at the core of who I am.  Maybe I am just a mean mom who yells all the time.  Maybe I'm broken and don't have the ability to be patient and positive.  Maybe, though...maybe it's those people who are wrong.

I don't have a lot of self-esteem anyway, and it's easy to let others' negative opinions of me and my abilities negatively affect my life, which in turn negatively affects my kids' lives.  That is why for Lent I determined that I would not be telling anyone what I was giving up.  Have you figured it out yet?  I gave up yelling...well, I tried to at least.  For the most part, I did ok.  Far from perfect, but ok is somewhere to start.

The first week was really easy.  I lowered my voice, I didn't yell, even when my daughter was having some kind of a major melt-down hissy fit and being very verbally abusive (at least as much as an almost-6-year-old can) towards me.  I was in tears, and yet I kept my cool (by a hair's breadth) and tried to diffuse the situation without going Momster on her.  Past that point it got much more difficult.

There were a few times that I lost it, but I could count on one hand the number of those times.  I started paying more attention to how kind and loving my kids are.  I started being able to have fun with them again.  We were happier.  The last time I lost it was Friday night - consequently the last night of Lent.  It made me feel like all the work I had done, all the progress I had made was just thrown out.  My three-year-old son has started hitting, and punching, my daughter.  If I call him down for it once a day, I call him down for it 5 times or more.  He doesn't just hit arms and legs, he punches her in the belly.  I honestly don't think he's doing it to be mean and to try to hurt her.  He does it because he still isn't quite sure what to do with his anger and frustration.  The last thing I want is for my kids to turn out like me emotionally - easy to anger and unable to deal with it in a constructive manner.  I have prayed for a longer fuse, more patience, better ways to deal with emotions.  I still have a lot of trouble with it.  At any rate, Friday after I picked my daughter up from school, the kids picked at each other and fought all afternoon.  It was tiring.  I had dealt with it level-headedly as much as I could.  My son pushed my daughter and then started punching her.  And.  I.  Lost.  It.

My son ran to another part of the house, hands clamped over his ears, bawling his eyes out.  Then I got a tongue-lashing from not one, but two of my near-constant-audience-to-my-parenting-screwups.  I didn't even have time to process what had just happened before I was being told (in no certain terms) that I was a bad parent and needed to apologize to my son.  Let me first state that anytime I lose it in front of or because of my kids, I do apologize for my behavior.  I do not want my kids to think that I don't have to be accountable for my actions and words because I'm Mom.  There is nothing wrong with a parent admitting they were wrong and should not have done "that."  But, at that point I just needed some time to myself, maybe just 5 minutes, to decompress and figure out what had happened and what to do.  Instead I had two other adults talking down at me, telling me how badly I'd damaged my kid, possibly for the rest of his life...and yet they wonder why I think I'm a bad parent.  Tell me how many of you have never once lost your cool with your kid, and I'll tell you how big of a fish-tale you're telling.

Friday night was spent depressed and broken-hearted with an irrepressible flood of tears, a stuffy nose, a flurry of texts between me and one of those people (who also happens to be one of my biggest champions).  My kids were so incredibly sweet during that time - they brought me tissues, shared stuffed animals to cuddle, told me they would do everything for me from helping me get dressed to cooking and washing dishes.  I came out of it with a new resolve that this is not who I am.  I will not allow myself to be that person any longer.  It is a daily struggle - believe me.  It is going to take time - lots of it.  But this, this coward's way of dealing with my kids' misbehavior, of not dealing with any underlying issues that cause my hair-trigger, short-fuse, ticking-time-bomb inner momster, this has to end...n-o-w yesterday.  I have a good start.  It was not a perfect Lent by far.  I'm only human, and I fall down a lot.  Let's just pray that I will fall down less often and not as hard when I do.  Maybe I can get to a place where I only trip, stumble, but catch myself.  Maybe there is a place in my future where I will walk gracefully, peacefully, and parent without even needing to raise my voice.  Here's the thing, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me, and He does just that, daily.  I just have to remember to take a breath and ask for His guidance and patience before I deal with difficult situations rather than ask for His forgiveness after I've dealt with it poorly.

Lent

I've grown up hearing about Lent but never really understanding what it is.  We are Baptists, and as such we don't participate in Lent.  As I've matured, Lent has held more appeal.  It is about sacrificing something, typically a luxury, for the six-week observance period of Lent as a form of penitence, reflection, and drawing closer to God.  Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the desert, during which time Satan tried to tempt Jesus.  Jesus' 40 days of fasting in the desert are symbolized by the 40 days of Lent.

Lent 2014 began on Ash Wednesday (March 5 - yesterday) and goes through Thursday, April 17 (the day before Good Friday).  I did not realize that Sundays are not typically counted as part of Lent.

In years past I have had a difficult time deciding what to give up for Lent.  So much of a difficult time that I ended up saying, "Forget the whole thing, I'm not Catholic."  This year something just clicked for me.  I had a friend giving up Facebook, which I thought extremely admirable, though not likely something I would be able to abstain from for an entire 40 consecutive days.  I had another friend ask me for suggestions:  refined sugar, bread, caffeine, chocolate.  I have already sacrificed a LOT of foodstuff since September, when I started Weight Watchers so I could watch my weight creep slowly down instead of steadily up like it had been prone to do my entire life unless I starve myself and exercise frenetically.  I didn't really feel like that was an option for me.  I don't smoke or drink, so I couldn't give that up.  

I wasn't so much praying for an answer as just pondering it while washing dishes when I felt a lightbulb hovering over my head.  Call it an "aha moment," an epiphany, a subliminal conflict resolution, a smack in the face, or a "still, small voice" speaking what I needed to hear (that's what I'm going with).  It was an "Oh!  I could do that!" feeling that I had after I heard those words in my heart.  They weren't in my head, they were in my heart.  This thing I am giving up is going to have a much larger impact on my life, my kids, my husband, every person I come in contact with.  It is so very hard, and I think that is part of why the challenge was given to me.  I have tried giving up this particular thing before, and it has always either backfired in that those around me picked up the bad habit in its absence from me, or it has lasted a few days and then come back with a vengeful, make-up-for-lost-time presence.  

Today is only day 2, and already I have struggled several times.  Yesterday was easy, today has been challenging, tomorrow will be worse I'm sure.  However, I will not allow this to be a failed first observance of Lent.  My hope and prayer is that by the end of the six weeks I will have forgotten about this bad habit, and the new habits that form in its stead will begin to heal the hurt caused by this bad habit.  As a personal preference I am not going to divulge what I am giving up for Lent - I don't want any positive or negative commentary, I don't want a betting pool on how long it will last.  I want to see if it makes enough of an impact that someone else in my close circle can look at me and say, "Hey, when did you stop..." or, "Wow!  You don't...anymore!"  Check in with me April 17, and I will reveal what I gave up and how it has changed my life.  I already noticed minute changes happening yesterday.  I can't begin to imagine what the next month will bring.

Operation Beach Bucks part 2

You didn't ask for it, but here it is anyway - our first update!  Yay!

The first week has ended, and already I've reached a very important conclusion.  I will be broke by July.  No kidding!  The way my kids are putting in extra effort and being recognized for the good things they are doing encourages them to do more good things (i.e., things they ought to be doing anyway) which results in them earning mucho dinero mas rapido (sorry if that is in the wrong order, I'm a bit rusty on my español).  My son is earning 50¢ every time he tries a new food, and he has decided that trying new foods is not all that bad.  So far he has tried scrambled eggs, barbecue sauce, chicken nuggets, Cincinnati chilighetti, and fresh pineapple (which was his idea, in the produce section by the way - as long as he didn't have to eat "those pokey things").  My daughter could earn that much as well, but she is a much less-picky eater already, so there are not that many "new" foods for her to choose from.  Either way, they are consistently earning at least one dollar each day, and with approximately 150 more days they can earn Beach Bucks before tallying up their dizzying amounts of money, I could be out well over $300!  That ain't chump change in this house.

After having this epiphany two days ago, whilst taking our kids on a much deserved outing to see "The Nut Job," I had a second epiphany.  I can use the Beach Bucks like tokens that the kids have to trade in if they want to engage in certain activities while on vacation.  A short list of activities that we ordinarily engage in, as well as a few extra special treats thrown in, was easy to mentally compose:

1. SnoBalls
2. The Shake Shop
3. Smugglers Cove Adventure Golf
4. Egmont Key ferry from Ft. De Soto
5. Dolphin Quest on Boca Ciega Bay from John's Pass Marina

For the less expensive things that we always do at least once, the token amount will be small - maybe $10 worth of Beach Bucks for a small SnoBall or milkshake.  For bigger things the price will be more like $50 worth of Beach Bucks.  That may seem steep, but, hey, they are going to have Bucks to spare.  I'm only going to reserve $20 that they can exchange dollar-for-dollar and spend on whatever souvenir they want.  We will likely souvenir hunt at John's Pass, or if we are lucky enough to get to visit Tarpon Springs again they can spend it there.

Additionally, I may make them work harder each month to earn the coveted Beach Bucks.  For example, instead of getting 10¢ each time they clear their dishes from the table, they will get 10¢ for clearing dishes after every meal for one entire day.  If it is getting to school on time, it may be two days in a row to earn 25¢.  On second thought I may keep that one the way it is!  We don't want any tardies.

So, what format am I using?  Well, you're in luck because I am going to share my Beach Bucks chart and money.  I printed one chart and slid it into a page protector, which I taped to the wall at kid-eye-level.  Each day I use a dry erase marker to check off what they have accomplished so they can see what they are earning.  I also use a STAR stick, which I mentioned in Operation Beach Bucks.  This is because my daughter's school uses this as a behavior/classroom management tool.  I painted a paint stirrer and colored clothespins for each kid.  That way it is a constant visual reminder of how they are behaving.  Most of the time I make them move their pins so it (hopefully) makes them think about what they did that was good or not-so-good.

Beach Bucks envelopes

For the envelopes, I used what I had on hand - #10 (business size).  I simply taped one piece of each value of Beach Bucks to the front using clear packing tape.

STAR stick, start every day on GREEN

Each day you start out on GREEN.  If my kids behave they get to move up a color.  If they misbehave they move down a color.  It is not a static stick - in other words they don't get stuck on a color.  If they make it to red and then do something wonderful (or even mediocre if it is good behavior), they move back up.  If they are on purple and misbehave, they move down to blue.  If they are perfectly behaved all day (yeah, right), they get to move up to the star.  I used basic red, yellow, blue, and purple acrylic craft paint from WalMart.  The star is gold glitter glue on a silver background.  The black space is no-man's-land basically.  It is either used for nothing, or if my kids are being horrible and are on red and still misbehaving, I move them to black - which they can NOT get off of unless they exhibit some exceptional behavior.  I have been using this for a month or so now, and only once has one of them been on black.  Then again, only once have they made it to the star.  There have been plenty of days where they stay on green, though, and this momma is thrilled with an all-green day!

Please keep in mind this is only a suggestion.  You will need to tailor it to fit your lifestyle and expectations of your own children.  I printed five copies of the money so I could be sure to have enough to last for a while.  When I run out of the smaller Bucks, I will trade them in for the larger ones.  I'm not sure if you can edit the documents using the same fonts I did - mine were from a font program (Cosmi Print Perfect Fonts), and the style is called JI-Drapey.

Word Document:
Beach Bucks Pricing List

Beach Bucks Money 

PDF:
Beach Bucks Pricing List
Beach Bucks Money

Operation Beach Bucks

As most parents experience at some point, I have been stuck in a rut with my kids' misbehavior and the consequences that go along with it.  Time Out does not work for us, and spanking (while a controversial practice for some) is a short-term fix - it stops the behavior for about 10 minutes.  I want to change the way my kids behave through positive reinforcement so that I don't have to yell, threaten, take away toys, or spank bottoms.

Last week I was catching up on some reading.  My daughter was finally back in school (for 2 days) after 12 snow days since Christmas break was over, so it was just my son and me at home.  He was watching a cartoon, and I found myself with a few minutes to relax and indulge in mommy reading time.  I had a back-issue of Family Fun, so I read it cover-to-cover while the cartoon played.  One article talked about how a mom created a system of paying her kids for chores that would allow them to earn "money" to spend on souvenirs on vacation.  That set my thinking wheels in motion.

We have a family vacation coming up this summer (if my daughter isn't still in school...), and while I do not do much souvenir shopping, my kids love to bring home little trinkets.  I always balk at the idea of spending "that kind of money" on something like that, i.e. something of poor quality that is going to break before it makes it home.  I was also trying to think of what kinds of "chores" my kiddos could do that would allow them to experience success on a daily basis.  I've learned that if the reward is not immediate, at least in the beginning, my kids are not going to put in the work it takes to earn the reward.  I also had a hard time figuring out what kind of graduated payment system to use.  I didn't want to make everything worth the same amount of money and then trade in a certain number of bucks for real money.  That just seemed like trickery.

Enter Operation Beach Bucks.  I made a list of everyday type things that needed improvement (cutting back on time spent in the bathroom, etc.) and made those worth a dime, bigger daily things like bath time without complaint and getting to school on time are worth a quarter, homework/good behavior (green) all day/cleaning up toys/trying new foods are worth 50 cents, and then we get to the big things - folding laundry and putting it away/staying above "good" behavior (blue) are worth $1, staying two spots above good (purple) is worth $2, and making it to the STAR is worth a whopping $5.

Obviously this is going to have a rate of diminishing return.  I can't keep paying out lots of money every day for the next 5 months, or I would be broke just trying to exchange their Bucks for real money.  Once a month I plan to reassess which items on the list have been mastered, and they will be moved down the list of value.  Most likely they will either be worth less money, or the kids will have to do multiple consecutive days to receive the same pay.

Day 1 (yesterday) turned out grand!  The day started horrifically with yelling, arguing, and refusal of basic daily duties.  After I explained and implemented OBB, my children were transformed (for most of the day).  My daughter earned $3, my son earned $1!  Part of that was for TRYING NEW FOODS!!!!  That is a huge accomplishment for my son, less of one for my daughter.  After overhearing my mom say she wished someone besides her liked to drink buttermilk, my daughter came to the kitchen and exclaimed she wanted to try it.  I poured her a tablespoon of it into a glass, and that little booger drank it and said she loved it.  Whether she actually liked it or not remains unknown, but she said it tasted like cottage cheese, and she does love that.  She proceeded to call my mamaw (her great-grandmother) and tell her that she had tried it and liked it.  Then she tried chicken tortilla soup, which was new for her!

My son, bless his heart, is a very picky/stubborn eater.  His main dietary staples are peanut butter and jelly, Ramen noodles with cheese, oatmeal with butter/sugar/cinnamon, and fettuccine alfredo.  There are a few other things he eats when they are available, but those things are his day-to-day foods.  I didn't give him the choice in what his new food to try was, because I knew he would say "jus' nuffing."  My husband scrambled an egg, and we plated it with a small pile of shredded Mexican cheese, a tablespoon of honey barbecue sauce, and a tablespoon of ketchup.  He immediately pushed his plate away and declared he was not hungry.  I took a very small bite of his egg, to show him that I was not afraid to try his "new" food, which isn't a new one at all, just one he hasn't eaten since he was 18 months old aside from one bite he took of an egg sandwich I ate last month.  After that he tolerated his plate being in front of him.  Then he picked up his fork, and I thought, "This is it.  He's either going to take a bite or rake it all in the floor."  He had a large bowl from their play kitchen, and he said he would eat his food if it was in that bowl.  I'm sure he fully expected me to refuse to put his food in a play bowl.  Instead, I had my husband wash and dry it, and I asked my son whether he wanted all the egg or one bite in the bowl.  He said one bite, and he wanted the ketchup, too.  It took him at least 2 minutes to work up the nerve to eat that first bite.  He put it on his fork, played with it in the ketchup for a while, counted to four a few times, and then after we all hid our eyes so we couldn't watch him, he finally put the bite in his mouth, chewed, and SWALLOWED!!!  I almost cried!  No kidding, I felt tears stinging my eyes when I saw the look of joy on his face that he had tried something new and hadn't gagged or spit it out.  We all clapped and said how proud we were of him.  He ate about 3 more bites of egg dipped first in ketchup then in barbecue sauce (which is another NEW food for him), and each time he counted to 3, 4, or 5, chewed, swallowed, and beamed with pride.  Each time we clapped and told him how proud we were, this included his older sister.  After he had eaten about a fourth of the egg, he said, "I'm done."  I didn't push him to eat more, I was satisfied.  He earned that 50 cents!  I had told them that trying a new food meant they had to take one whole bite, chew it, and swallow it, or it wouldn't count.  They both more than earned the Beach Bucks for that particular task.

The other big thing that Beach Bucks has (so far) helped with is homework and practicing piano.  Day 2 and homework is done.  We haven't practiced piano, yet, but we will.  Fingers crossed that this alleviates some of the stress and frustration we all feel every day.

To Puree or Not To Puree

That is the question of mothers everywhere who face the dilemma of children who refuse to touch anything that resembles a vegetable.  How this problem begins is a bizarre chain of events that begins somewhere around the time we introduce our children to breads and meats.  Who needs a vegetable then?  When we start our babies on pureed foods, it begins with vegetables, progresses to fruits, and finally ends at meats, which lets face it only a few babies tolerate much less eat enthusiastically.  Around the time they begin eating meats, they also get table food slipped to them - a nibble of a graham cracker here, a torn piece of bread or roll there - and they get "Baby Snacks" such as Puffs which have been affectionately called Baby Crack by my husband.  Of course there are other choices, but these are the most obvious ones.  So, there you go.  A child who has eaten nothing but fruits and vegetables (and milk of some form) for a couple of months suddenly has the choice to eat bread, and you and I expect them to still be ga-ga over those veggies?  Who's the crazy one now?

Fast forward a few years, and you have toddlers who are notoriously picky, often fixating on one particular food that they will eat, eschewing all others.  Gloriously, this phase for my daughter was short-lived, and at nearly-age-5 she will now eat almost anything we give her.  This child would eat an entire 15 ounce can of carrots or peas by herself, willingly, would ask for them by name, when she was old enough to transition from puree to solid...until we tried "Honey Carrots."  Those things were disgusting!  They tasted like they had been cooked with coconut.  She was the first to try them, and she literally threw them up immediately after eating one bite.  To this day, 3 years later, she will not eat canned carrots by themselves.  My son is still stubbornly stuck in the carbo-loading phase of toddlerhood.  PBJ is his go-to meal.  He loves pasta, oyster crackers, potato chips...pretty much anything with little-to-no nutritional value is his favorite.  He will not try vegetables, doesn't like the most basic and bland things like mashed potatoes.  He does enjoy fruit - raw apples, bananas, dried fruits.  All the same I still worry that he may be neglecting some of his nutritional needs by avoiding anything with color and nutrients.

Hiding on my cookbook shelf in the kitchen for the last couple of years has been a pair of recipe collections by Jessica Seinfeld.  Titled Deceptively Delicious and Double Delicious, they sound like something naughty and forbidden.  I suppose if you get down to it, you are lying to your children, which is naughty, if only by omitting the full answer to "What is this?" and "What's in it?"  I bought them through a bit of foresight, which is rare, knowing that one day my children might not enjoy vegetables as much as they did as babies just learning to appreciate the finer points of food with taste.  I am turning to them now in desperation, sheer and utter desperation.  There is no other way to speak of what I feel when for the third time in a day my son asks for PBJ.  Of course I do not allow him more than one a day, but there is still a part of me that thinks, "My gosh, I have failed to get this kid to like anything other than peanut butter, bread, and jelly.  What is he going to do, eat it for the rest of his life?"  So I have begun my journey down the road of deception, trickery, and lying by omission to my children.

My first step was to look through the meals section of Deceptively Delicious and choose things that I thought would effectively conceal the taste of vegetables.  There were 13 such meals, and I dutifully wrote them down, noting how many servings and what type and how much of each puree I would need.  Then I decided there were 3 main purees that I would be using for that set of recipes:  sweet potato, cauliflower, and carrot.  I purchased 5 pounds of sweet potatoes, 1 head of cauliflower, and 2 pounds of carrots.  Then I tried to figure out how to properly steam them.  The sweet potatoes weren't much trouble, because I had oven roasted some the week before and kind of knew what I was doing and how long it might take.  The cauliflower and carrots, however, presented a problem.  Roasting them dries them out, and I didn't have a steamer or steamer basket.  Improvisation, my friends, improvisation.

I roasted sweet potatoes, pureed them in the food processor, cooled the puree, bagged it, and froze it.  A couple days later I repeated the process with the cauliflower and carrots.  I decided my first attempt at deception would be macaroni and cheese.  That's usually a good side that everyone likes.  Not this time.  Five of the six adults who tried it liked it, zero of the two kids liked it.  In fact, my son didn't even get his one elbow macaroni piece swallowed before he threw up.  Yep.  Just what you want around the dinner table, a 2 year old puking as you're trying to eat.  I don't think it was the cauliflower, because surprisingly you couldn't really taste it at all - just a faintly earthy flavor that was not-at-all unpleasant.  His issue was with the cheese.  See, he has problems with cheese anyway, especially sliced cheese.  This was cheddar, and it does not melt as smoothly as Velveeta, my mac 'n cheese cheese of choice.  I will try it again with Velveeta and see if the outcome is the same.

In the meantime, I will share with you my step-by-step process for roasting these three vegetables.

Sweet Potatoes

approx 5 pounds yields 6 cups puree

- Scrub outside of potatoes and pierce with the tip of a knife all over, cut off ends
- 350° F  directly on the top rack (middle position) foil on bottom rack to catch any drips for 1 hour 15 minutes to 2 hours, check at 45 minutes, then every 30 minutes after that; potatoes should yield easily to the "squeeze test" - be careful, the peels are HOT!
- Cut potatoes in half lengthwise and let cool slightly before scooping out flesh into food processor fitted with metal blade. Pulse to start, then turn on to puree.  Scoop out puree to a large bowl, return any chunks to the processor for another whirl.  I did this in 2 batches (3 potato innards per batch).
- Place plastic cling wrap across top of puree (it should touch it), and refrigerate overnight
- Measure 1/4 cup amounts into snack-size zipper bags, squeeze out air, press puree out flat, and lay flat in a square dish to freeze overnight before bagging in gallon-size zipper bags labeled with the type of puree.

Cauliflower

1 head yields 2 cups puree

- Remove all leaves and the main center stem from head.  Using a sharp knife, cut large florets from the head and then cut them down to 1/2" thick pieces and remove any thick stems (more than 1/4").  Rinse with cool water.

- Place enough water just to touch the bottom of steamer basket, add cauliflower, and turn on medium heat.  Steam for 10-15 minutes until fork tender and stems are slightly translucent. (If you do not have a steamer basket, use your largest colander fitted inside your largest stockpot with a lid).

- Turn cap off and let water stop boiling before removing cauliflower.

- Pulse, then run, to puree - it will be chunky.  Add water 1 tablespoon at a time (up to 2 Tb) and puree/scrape down bowl each time until it is smooth but thick.

- Measure 1/4 cup amounts into snack-size zipper bags, squeeze out air, press puree out flat, and lay flat in a square dish to freeze overnight before bagging in gallon-size zipper bags labeled with the type of puree.

Carrots

2 pounds yields 3 cups puree

- Peel, rinse, trim ends, and cut carrots into 1/4" thick sections

- Place enough water just to touch the bottom of steamer basket, add carrots, and turn on medium heat.  Steam for 20-25 minutes until fork tender. (If you do not have a steamer basket, use your largest colander fitted inside your largest stockpot with a lid)

- Turn cap off and let water stop boiling before removing carrots.

- Pulse, then run, to puree - it will be chunky.  Add 1 tablespoon water and  puree/scrape down bowl until it is smooth but thick.

- Measure 1/4 cup amounts into snack-size zipper bags, squeeze out air, press puree out flat, and lay flat in a square dish to freeze before bagging in gallon-size zipper bags labeled with the type of puree.

Year of Living Optimistically

Negativity?  Psht!  This is my year of living optimistically...or at least my best attempt.  I don't consider myself to be an overtly negative person.  I'm not all doom and gloom, glass half empty, the sky is falling.  Most of the time I feel like things are going to be fine, and that is because I have some pretty powerful players on my team.  

With that being said, I do tend to be hyper-critical of everyone, myself included.  That is a negative personality trait that I have prayed about for years.  I don't remember it being so bad when I was in high school, but something about college brought out my cynical side and my critical nature.  Maybe it was because I was upholding myself to nearly unattainable standards (which is understandable when you consider the educational achievements of those who graduated before me), or maybe it was because of all the negative things that happened during my senior year of high school and shortly after graduation.  Who knows?  At this point I don't really care how it happened or why.  I just want to fix it so my children do not grow up thinking that criticizing others (and themselves) is an appropriate behavior to indulge in.

I am trying to start small.  This is in no way a "New Year's Resolution."  I honestly do not believe in making an NYR, because simply giving it the title of a resolution dooms it to failure.  I also believe that you can resolve to make a change at any point during the year (and fail just as completely), so why force yourself to start a new year that you can't even remember to write correctly with a huge goal that you have no intention of fulfilling?  Here is an example of a failed NYR, and it's only the third week of the new year...I resolved to get out of bed at 8 o'clock each morning for the entire month before gradually moving my wake time backward until I was rising early enough to ensure I could get my daughter to school on time when she starts this fall.  I did well for the first week and a half, and then slowly I began to add just 5 more minutes until I either get up at 9 or fall asleep on the couch as soon as I'm out of bed.  Last year I waited until February to make my resolution, and it stuck much better - I am still exercising most days of the week.

So, get on with it, you say.  Alright.  The two littlest loves of my life, who have the largest chunks of my heart, are where I am starting.  I had already begun to avoid talking about my kids' bad behavior in front of them.  So if they've had a really bad day, been in trouble a lot, I try really hard not to mention it while they are in the room - preferably not even if they are still awake.  My mom gave me that jewel of an idea.  It makes sense, though.  If a child only hears the negative things that they have done, they soon begin to believe they are "bad" children and are doomed to failure and getting in trouble.  Why on earth would I want to set my kids up for a lifetime of feeling like they are "bad" people?  I've been there briefly as a child, it ain't pretty!  

That has been going pretty well, but lately I've noticed that the anger I feel toward their "bad" behavior outweighs the joy I feel at their "good" behavior.  My kids have been yelled at quite a bit lately - yes, I do yell when they won't listen to me.  They have been in time out or had toys taken away as punishment.  I have been at my threshold for dealing with this type of stuff.  So a couple of nights ago, as I was trying to go to sleep after a particularly trying day, I prayed.  Remember those powerful players I have on my team?  Yeah, I was talking about God and his Only Begotten.  I asked God to give me some way that I could turn this around and make it better for us all.  A way that I could focus on the goodness in my children (who really are angelic when compared to a lot of their age-mates).  

As I was about to drift off to sleep, it came to me - Write it down.  I thought, huh?  What do you mean write it down?  Then again - the image of an index card with all the good things for the day just written on it.  Specifically it was a lilac colored index card.  I was literally on the verge of being out for the night, and when that message was sent to me my eyes popped open and it was like Grampy's lightbulb was hanging over my head.  I went to sleep with a smile on my face, a thank you in my heart, and I slept very soundly for the first time in a while.

The next day I tried to figure out the best way to write down these kindnesses and good behaviors.  Should I use index cards and bind them some way?  Should I get a pocket calendar for each child?  Should I keep a journal?  After church I went to the Family Dollar store and tried to find something, but there was nothing that really stuck out to me.  I didn't want a perforated page, because I didn't want the chance of the evidence of their goodness being ripped away.  I want this to be something they can look back on and see that their mother thought they were good children, caught them being good, and took the time to document their goodness.  I finally settled on standard issue black and white composition books with 100 pages.  Yes, I realize that if they had a LOT of goodness in one day that would not be enough for an entire year, but I estimate these will last more than a year.

It has been nice to focus on catching them doing good things.  Picking up the room without a fight, playing nicely together, giving me random hugs/kisses/I love yous, wiping down and then setting the dining table, sharing toys, waking up with a smile.  I am focusing on what my kids are doing right rather than what they are doing wrong.  It doesn't mean that I don't still discipline them.  I am just taking a different approach.  In the last two days I have not yelled once (at my children), and I have only marginally raised my voice.  They have still had a few time outs, but because I am not focused on what they are doing wrong I am allowing them to make mistakes and learn from it with gentle correction rather than being made to feel like they are horrible children.

I pray that this year will bring wonderful things for my children.  I want to have a close relationship with each of them, and I want them to know how much I cherish every moment that I spend with them.  I want to look back at the end of the year, read through their books, and say, "Look at what a good year you had."  Is a child inherently good?  Absolutely!  It is up to the adults in their life to point out the ways that they are good and encourage more goodness.  If a child feels worthless or as if they can only do bad things, they might just grow up to be adults who do only bad things.