My Children Have Hollow Legs

Joe is out of town on business (again) which means I am on my own with the twinfants. And let me tell you it is survival of the fittest here in our household. In addition to trying to shrink the list of things to do to get the house market ready, securing our financing and going to contract on the new house...I'm also managing the kids, the dog, the laundry, the groceries, the cooking, the cleaning. I'm freaking beat. Thank goodness my kids nap.

Yesterday, in my effort to win the title of supermom, I went to two grocery stores to get all of our food for the week...with the kids in tow. Then I made them lunch, cleaned them up and tucked their little tushies in for a nap. And while all I really wanted to do was take a nap myself, I set about cooking lunches for the entire week and dinner that night. I made the kids homemade macaroni and cheese and roasted zucchini. They love macaroni and they love cheese and zucchini is one of their favorite vegetables. I thought dinner was a slam dunk.

Ryan literally threw every godforsaken morsel on the floor. I'm not even sure he put a bite into his mouth. I was so pissed, I cleaned him up and put him in the ball pit without dinner. Reese ate two elbow noodles (do you know how freaking small an elbow is?), four small pieces of zucchini and a handful of strawberries. Defeated I cleaned up the table, and the floor, and set about putting everything away when I was struck by a wave of guilt over letting my 14 month old "go to bed hungry". So I grabbed Ry out of the ball pit, sat him in my lap with a plate full of strawberries. And do you know what that little SOB did? He threw them on the floor. Done. Nail in his coffin. No soup for you!

We played in the basement and then moved upstairs for bedtime. (Which couldn't come soon enough.) And then I did what any good wife would do. I bawled my eyes out while folding four loads of laundry.

So tonight, when I set about making dinner I braced myself for another night of table tossing and promised myself I wouldn't a.) raise my voice or b.) cry. Ry took an extra long nap today, so my sous chef and I set about prepping dinner until he joined the land of the living.

Then we played for a bit outside until I got too cold (I swear my kids are part labrador, they are impermeable to cold). I made the kids beef and mushroom sloppy joes. Joe and I make this recipe often, but this was the first time I attempted to serve it to the kids. And dear lord was I surprised when they ate THREE WHOLE SANDWICHES. I'm talking full-sized hamburger buns stuffed with sloppy joe. And then a whole oven potato and a pint of strawberries.

Success.

Successes like these are hard to come by, so I figured I'd share the wealth. Or in this case, the recipe. The best part is this recipe is from Cooking Light, so you can cook it without guilt. Hopefully your family makes you feel like supermom at the dinner table too.