Times Are Changing!

Yep, things are changing around this place and thankfully, many of the changes we've been seeing have been good ones too.

The weather has been nice a couple of times in the past couple of weeks now. We'll ignore the snowstorm that arrived a little unexpected in volume this past Sunday and also, the fact the the forecasters are predicting a possible re-run of that storm tomorrow, Thursday and Friday.

I've said this before and I'll say it again but I think they should stop calling this week in March "Spring Break" week and change it to say "Storm Break" week because darned near every year at this time -just about the time the students leave the university for their so-called "spring" break, somewhere in that week, we tend to get hit with a lovely wintry storm -or two. Hopefully this week, this three-day spell they are saying will affect us won't be as harsh as the one on Sunday was!

However, this post wasn't intended to be any updates about changing weather conditions but rather about changes we've seen now in both the kids -but especially in Kurtis. I'm really happy to say there have been some very marked improvements and changes in the eating habits of Maya and Kurtis lately.

Maya's appetite seems to increased -a lot -of late. She still has her little quirks from time to time, occasionally reverts back to the pickyness, but for the most part, she's been doing very well and even eating things she would steer clear of in the past -like meats for an example.

Kurtis too has been more willing of late to try foods he wouldn't previously even look at much less taste.
This cake - angel food with a layer of whipped icing and strawberries in the middle (and some whipped icing on top) -is a prime example of things he previously wouldn't go near!

I baked this cake Sunday afternoon and when the kids finally arrived back home Sunday evening (after the snow/transportation debacle with their dad), Kurtis actually tried a piece of this cake!

Here he is -eating away at the cake and even tasting the strawberries too! Maya, on the other hand, wouldn't think of eating any of this because of the strawberries. Can you believe that? The fact that neither of these kids like to eat any kind of fruit type things -except for applesauce -always amazes me. Amazes my son too because strawberry anything has always been at the top of his favorite foods list!

But to let everyone know that Kurtis does like other foods too, here's what happened with him at church Sunday morning.

He and Maya had both been very well-behaved during the service -busy, quietly coloring in the coloring books in their activity packets that they pick up as we enter the sanctuary. They both went up to the altar and participated in the children's sermon Pastor Carrie gave and came back to their seats each with a little red plastic flower pot, a ziplock packet of soil and a bulb-type seed to plant in their little pots. (Which reminds me -Mandy better get those bulbs planted in the soil so they can take their flower pots back to church on Easter Sunday to show the changes that will come about from planting a seed, ya know!)

Anyway, as we were preparing for Communion, Pastor Carrie takes the loaf of bread off the alter and holds it up, well above her head, and announces "Come to the banquet. The bread is now ready." And, this Sunday morning when she said that, Kurtis said in his best voice to Mandy, "I like bread!"

Wish you could have seen my neighbor and good friend Kate, who was seated just down from us in the pew, as she was just shaking with laughter after Kurt's little comment there!

And yes indeed, the boy does love himself some bread, that's for sure! Plain store bought bread, whole wheat, rye, homemade breads -you name it and if we have it here, he will eat that if he won't eat anything else some days!

Tonight, since today is Shrove Tuesday -also known in many circles too as "FAT Tuesday" -the day before Ash Wednesday - we will be going out to the church for supper consisting of Pancakes and Sausage -all being cooked and served by the men of our church. It's a really nice event that we've had for several years now and one which both kids really like going to it too because Pancakes are high on both their best-liked foods lists!

Always nice to partake in a meal at church, especially when it's one where we can pretty much depend that the kids will both eat and quite heartily too of the food being served!