the proper care and feeding of the wiley children

I'm hesitant to post this since it is basically exposing my underbelly -- the inner-workings of our household at this particular period in our lives. But it might also be interesting for us to look back on years later and remember this snapshot. Please hold judgment on what the kids eat -- no, they're not particularly fond of fruits & veggies and I am not a very creative chef. But they do eat Flintstones vitamins every day so I'm sure they'll be fine, right?

Anyway, here are the pages of instructions I left for my mom as we were leaving town for 5 days/4 nights. And from the report from Grandma and the kids upon our return, it sounds like everything went smoothly and everyone was happy and healthy and well entertained and cared for during our absence.

Meals
Here are some ideas of what the kids like to eat. Of course it can be adapted.

June:

Breakfast choices
Oatmeal
Cheerios w/ milk
Scrambled eggs
Banana

Lunch choices
Cottage cheese
Yogurt
Hot dog
Fruit cup
Applesauce
Top Ramen
Mac & Cheese
Avocado

Dinner choices
Usually there’s part of the dinner meal she can eat cut up
Mac & Cheese
Hot Dog
Chef Boyardee mini-serving cups

Snacks
Goldfish crackers
Sliced cheese
Frozen gogurt
Fruit snacks
Fruit loops
Etc.


**She likes to try to feed herself, so let her have a spoon and the bowl on her tray and you can use another one to help.

**She drinks water from a sippy cup. Offer it to her frequently during and between meals

**She takes a bottle of whole milk at night before bed and sometimes in the morning before breakfast


Meals (con’t)

Oliver:

Breakfast choices
Frozen waffle w/butter & cinnamon sugar
Toast w/ butter and sometimes honey
Mini bagel toasted w/ butter
Cereal w/milk
Leftovers from lunch or dinner the day before
Any combination of lunch or dinner choices


Lunch choices
Corn dog
Top ramen
Mac & cheese
Frozen pizza
Peanut butter & honey sandwich
Hot dog w/ ketchup


Dinner choices
Usually there’s a component of the dinner meal he’ll eat
Any of above lunch choices
White rice w/ soy sauce
Plain pasta w/ parmesan cheese
Frozen kids cuisine meal
Make your own pizza


**If you’re going out to eat, it is best to get Chinese food – that is what he will eat the most of. In particular Panda Express orange chicken w/ steamed rice. Also other Chinese places sweet & sour chicken w/ white rice.

** He will occasionally eat McD’s chicken nuggets but not always reliably

**Often I will require the boys to eat a fruit or veggie with dinner in order to get dessert. Oliver always chooses cut up green apples with the skin cut off. Sometimes he might go for watermelon or grapes.

**The biggest treat for Oliver is to get Hot & Ready pizza from Little Ceasars. Or order dominos pizza


Meals (con’t)

Brenden:

Breakfast choices
Scrambled eggs w/ toast
Scrambled eggs in a tortilla (breakfast burrito)
Pancakes
Frozen blueberry waffle
Toast w/ butter & cinnamon sugar
Hot chocolate


Lunch choices
Chicken fingers
Hot dog
Cheeseburger
Peanut butter & jelly sandwich


Dinner choices
He is usually pretty good about eating the meal provided
Or see lunch choices above
Fish sticks
Make your own pizza (he always likes the idea but doesn’t usually eat much)


**Often I will require the boys to eat a fruit or veggie with dinner in order to get dessert. Brenden always chooses to drink a big glass of V-8 Fusion juice. Sometimes he’ll eat some grapes or cut up red apples.

**Brenden is pretty agreeable as far as going out. Usually we tailor the choices towards where Oliver will eat and Brenden is happy to go along. The food court at the mall works well too.


Meals (con’t)

Dinner ideas

There should be fixings in the kitchen for the following meals that generally go over well. Of course feel free to improvise or go out or do whatever is easiest. These are just some ideas.

1. Chicken cordon blue – bake chicken in glass dish at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Make a basic cream sauce gravy or use chicken gravy packet in pantry. Serve with mashed potatoes (there is instant in the pantry or real potatoes in the fridge) and green peas (frozen). Maybe also serve bread – from Pillsbury rolls in fridge make croissants or French loaf. Oliver will eat bread, mashed potatoes w/gravy & green peas.
2. Pigs in a blanket – wrap croissant dough around cheese hot dogs. Serve with apples or grapes
3. Tacos – there is ground beef in the fridge and a taco seasoning packet and hard shell taco shells in the pantry. Also sometimes we like to add some refried beans to the meat – in the pantry. Sometimes I’ll make corn bread to go along (boxed mix in the pantry). Also can serve with Spanish rice. Oliver will eat a quesadilla or a soft-shell taco with rice and cheese and some corn bread with honey.
4. Pasta – Could use angel hair or penne (both in pantry). Brenden likes it topped with a combination of marinara and alfredo sauces (I think there are open bottles of each in the fridge). Sometimes I’ll add some shredded chicken to the sauce. Oliver will eat plain pasta with parmesan cheese. Could add some garlic bread or green peas.
5. Pot roast – The boys actually don’t eat the meat, but like the fixings. But I bought a roast in case you wanted to fix it on Sunday for the girls, etc.

Basic daily household schedule

7-8am – boys wake up (they’ll watch TV and snack on their own for quite a while)

7:30-8:30am – June wakes up (change diaper, give her a milk bottle)

8-9am – breakfast for everyone

9-10am – more TV/video games. Boys get ready to go to Seven Peaks

11am – Seven Peaks opens. Best to be there right at opening time. Rachel said she’d take them for a couple hours every day. (sunscreen, swim shirts, and passes are all in swim bag in laundry room)

June’s nap – sort of flexible, but if you’re staying home, might be good to coordinate it with when boys are gone. Usually she’ll be ready to go down somewhere between 10am and noon. To put her down for a nap, make sure she has a pacifier and blankie and close the doors and put her in her crib. She often will cry for about 5 minutes and then settle herself down.

1-2pm – lunch for boys after Seven Peaks and for June if she’s awake

3pm – probably a good time for an afternoon activity (see list of activity options)

5-7pm – Dinner prep & served

7-8pm – evening play time – encourage boys to go outside

8-9pm – bed

Boys bed routine:
Jammies. Dessert. Brush teeth. Floss. Rinse. Go to the bathroom. Read books. Prayer. Music on. Lights out.

June’s bedtime routine:
Prepare a bottle of whole milk – warm in microwave for 30 seconds. Jammies on.
It’s usually best to just wait until after the boys are in bed to put June down, since it’s virtually impossible for the boys to be quiet enough for her to stay asleep when they’re going to bed. So after they are quieted down (maybe before reading books) go into June’s room & close doors. Get blankie and pacifier and turn on music. Turn off lights. Sit in glider and feed her the bottle. When she pushes it away give her the pacifier and blankie to her face. Then take her over and put her in her crib and walk out. Sometimes she’ll cry a bit when you walk out, but usually she’ll calm herself in about 5-10 minutes.


Other schedule items:


Thursday @ 4pm @ Wasatch Elementary – Oliver’s TBall practice. Take glove (in black baseball bag in laundry room). You could arrange a carpool with Jacob Gates (344-0141) or Preston Lee (714-757-2033)

Saturday baseball games
Oliver’s game is at 11am
Brenden’s game is at 12pm
They are both at Edgemont elementary (on Timpview drive right across from Timpview high school).
Take Oliver’s green shirt, Brenden’s yellow shirts, both gloves, one hat to share, cleats, blanket to sit on, water bottles, snack for June, bat if Brenden wants his own. (most equipment is in black baseball bag in laundry room)
I’d expect them to hand out medals and pictures as this is the last game of the season.


Sunday church
11am-2pm @ 600 E. 700 N.


Monday swimming lessons @ 7 peaks
10:20-10:50am -- private lessons. not sure who their teachers are yet. Monday is the first day of the 2 week session. The staff at 7 peaks is completely inept and disorganized so I fully expect them to not know who we are, but I did call and schedule and pay for the lessons so just persist.
Remember to take goggles and maybe swimming shirts or else sunscreen.


Oliver likes to play with Jacob Gates and Joe B Jorgenson in the neighborhood.

Brenden likes to play with Chandler and Dylan in the neighborhood.

List of possible afternoon activities
The boys might want to contribute to this, but here’s a start

Color me mine (Riverwoods)
Chuck E. Cheeses (Brenden’s been saving his money for tokens or tickets)
Nicklecade
Feed the ducks (pond south of BYU)
Thanksgiving point (June would probably really like the petting zoo and pony rides now)
Bowling (either at Fat Cats or BYU)
Bike ride
Dollar store
Rock climbing @ the quarry (R & C know how to do this with the boys)
Library (I think Brenden has a library card in his wallet)