Kitchen Confidential

James has been stepping it up a notch in the kitchen as of late. I write out instructions to easy recipes or giving him simple boxed mixes (Sunday was coffee cake) that he has to follow without my micromanagement.  It's harder to keep my mouth shut than I anticipated, although I'm sure it comes as no surprise to YOU.  I continue to remind myself that mistakes can be wonderful learning opportunities...unless we're talking about messing up something like chocolate chip cookies.  Hey--there are reasonable limits to my patience.  Jokes aside, I do hope that all of my boys can become comfortable with navigating recipes, al-libbing ingredients, and rockin' the kitchen CLEAN UP (all caps, italics, bold) as they grow.  It's not that I envision them acquiring culinary expertise--they have the wrong teacher for that.  But, I do hope they can operate with a comfortability in the domestic realm that will allow them to eat something other than frozen dinners and take-out during their bachelor days.  To be real, I do expect a certain degree of tv dinners (are they even called that anymore?) and In-N-Out runs during their early adult years.  That sort of thing is a rite of passage.  However, I have ambitions that they will return to their roots in time.  Oh, and I will drill into them that McDonalds and Del Taco are Absolutely. Off. Limits.  They will each be leaving home with a copy of the Bible and Fast Food Nation--be sure of it.  Hey!  There are better ways to die, I say.  Scale the Grand Canyon, but stay away from Burger King meat. And, yes, I intended meat to be in italics.  : )  Boy, am I full of it tonight.  Too many late nights...Too many BOYS!  On that note, and before I find myself in a sinkhole (seriously off-color joke considering this week's current events)--night-night.

Monday Oatmeal...Tuesday ZOOOOOOOP! (Name that children's book...)
-riff on Eric Carle's "Today is Monday"-

Fried Eggs--His Specialty
(When my breakfast doesn't pass muster for a beefy, growing seven year old, he supplements with fried eggs.)

Lemon Pickin' Time
(We have ambitions to make lemonade this week.)

Picking a lemon tree takes some finesse; they are thorny as all get-out!

Dinosaur Dirt Drawing
(These are ideas totally conceived by the boys during their backyard romps.  We recently raided the library for all books dinosaur.)

Far Right "JJ" for James & Josh