The Waffle House

My kids think they live at Waffle House, where they can order anything they want off of the menu at any time of the day they please. And to make matters worse, all three of my kids LOVE to eat. "EAT, EAAATTT, EAAATTT MOOOORE" is Maggie's favorite saying, in fact. Just trying to keep up with the dishes that come with their orders is a full time job. And honestly, I know I am blessed to have 3 children that love food. I have plenty of friends that aren't so lucky. As the daughter of a farmer, we always have plenty of food around but I often wonder that if they eat this much now, how am I ever going to be able to afford to feed them?

On most days, I cook three different breakfasts at three different times, according to when they wake up. Ian is (and has always been) an early riser. Sometimes, he is up at 5:30am. Ugh. And he wants to eat as soon as his feet hit the floor. This morning, he wanted cereal. That is not hard to manage. Then Maggie woke up and she wanted a banana, oatmeal, and some jelly toast. Done. Will woke up shortly after but he is more of a brunch kid. So when I started his breakfast at 9:30, Ian and Maggie were hungry again since they had been up a while. I made blueberry pancakes for all of them. It seemed like as soon as I got the kitchen cleaned up, they were ready for lunch. Cole was here so that meant another order to take. In all, I made 3 ham sandwiches, 4 hotdogs, supplied 3 kids with sun chips, one with cheetos, Maggie ate some watermelon, Cole ate grape tomatoes, and I made myself a salad. PHEW!

Not even an hour later, Will comes to me begging for a snack. Over time, I have learned this is often a ploy for junk and not really because he is hungry. I offered fruit or veggies as an option and suddenly, he wasn't ready for a snack afterall. But an hour later, he really was. They ate some fruit, some tomatoes, and some wheat thins. And hour after that, I discovered that Will busted the child lock off of the "junk" cabinet and provided nutty bars and oatmeal creme pies to himself, Ian and Cole while I was rocking Maggie. The empty wrappers and busted lock were the only evidence.

By 5:30, all three boys were claiming they were "starving" and needed supper. I served spaghetti at 6:00. Will ate a salad with his meal. Ian ate three helpings of supper while Cole and Will each had 2 plates. Where do they put it? I mean, they are all active kids. Other than a few cartoons in the morning over breakfast and reading time during the day, they are outside playing. I realize that burns a lot of calories but really, that much? And I admit, I am completely jealous of their metabolism. I can't even dream of eating like they do. But their healthy appetites do worry me. They are all skinny now but bad habits start early and I worry that they will always think they can eat like this. They won't. Every time I bring it up with the pediatrician (every 3 months when I go to Maggie's well-check), she assures me to be grateful that they eat well. "Kimberly, no one EVER complains to me that their kids eat too much." And that might be true. However, she isn't playing waitress of a 24 hour diner with three little people that NEVER leave a tip!

Watermelon!

I told you I could eat this whole slushy!

Yummy Pizza!