Life – Page 20 – And Now We Are Five

The kids have started taking a more active role in meal prep of late. They are interested in what we are eating and where it comes from, the nutrients in the meal and how the ingredients are made or sourced. They have also started cooking. Owen makes a mean quesadilla, Jonah is good at chili mac and cheese and Kate loves beans on toast.

We have also been talking about what makes a meal good, and what would make it better. To that end, we’ve been scoring each dish, on a scale of 1 to 10, but talking about what we would do to bring any score (usually 7 or higher) up to a perfect 10. I want the kids to learn how to be instinctive cooks, and I think that a lot of what goes into building that skill is the knowledge of what tastes good together (or doesn’t) and the courage to try new things, plus a hearty dose of cooking skills.

A couple of suggestions thus far:

more zuchinni
fewer cooked tortilla chips
butter on the toast
more cheese

It’s a good start!

My cousin Josh and the girl that he’s ~~just hanging out wit~~h going to marry, Rachael, came for a visit, along with Josh’s son Dave.

Josh and I saw each other most summers when we were little, and then reconnected as adults. We’re actually second cousins, and the kids had a bit of a struggle trying to figure out just how exactly everyone fits together in the family.

Dave is only a few months older than Jonah and Owen and the boys are having a blast playing together. I think Kate would like for there to be a girl cousin in the mix.

Rachael and I met two years ago at a conference and hit it off. I like to tease her about having a hard time committing to being in a relationship with Josh, but now they’re engaged!