Good-bye, Chick-Fli-A

I love Chick-Fil-A... it's a fantastic fast food joint with great values and polite, helpful staff.  I also love it that they've got family night every Wednesday with free kid's meals from 5-7pm.  We went last night, and I am sad to think that it is probably our last time for quite a while.

I was sitting at dinner, enjoying a wonderful spicy chicken sandwich with my family, and thinking about how great it would be to make it a tradition to go every other week (the weeks that Randy's off on Wednesday) and invite some friends to join us.  See, not only do they have free kids meals, they also provide activities for kids.  In fact, last night Monkey got his face painted for the first time!  He was pretty tickled that the lady, "write on face".  He also loves their small, toddler friendly playground.

Monkey's first face painting, he was very serious and still for the lady

Here's the problem though.  After 1 chicken nugget, Crackers' face started breaking out.  By the time he'd eaten 2, we noticed his hands were swelling.  Scary? Yep!  You see, I'd forgotten that the nuggets have just a tiny bit of egg in them to help hold the batter on.  Crackers is allergic to eggs, but has never reacted to the nuggets like that. 

The solution seems simple enough: don't give him nuggets.  Unfortunately for us, their only choices for kid's meals are battered chicken.  We tried once to get him grilled chicken instead of the kid's meal, and they charged us some crazy price for just a piece of grilled chicken.

There it is, Chick-Fil-A will have to be one of those places that is only for mommy and daddy for a while.  *sigh* and mommy and daddy don't really get out all that often - so, again I sadly say, "Good-bye Chick-Fil-A".

The truth is...

I'm intimidated by chicken.

There.  I said it.  I am all for conserving money on food, and living more green, and eating a bit more healthy... but I just can't figure out what to do with a chicken that has skin and bones.  Maybe I am just spoiled.  It just makes me want to gag when I think about it.  Ugh.

Any advice on getting over my fear of chicken with skin and bones (but no head or feathers).

Wordless Wednesday: First Time

The Princess and the Playground

Yesterday, after a rather important doctor's appointment (yeah, we have a lot of those it seems), we stopped by Chick-Fil-A for free french fries!  Mmmm.  I love Chick-Fil-A, and free food is hard to resist!

After sharing some fries, a few nuggets, and Monkey's brownie, we headed off to the play area.  I love the Chick-Fil-A play area.  It's small, clean, and has toys that both of my boys can play on.  Actually, this was the first time Crackers had decided to venture onto it.  He loved it.

While supervising my boys I had the joy of overhearing a pair of princesses preparing for the ball.  What a treat.  I loved evesdropping as 2 sweet little princesses (both about 5 years old) found their make-up, beautiful dresses, ponies, unicorns, flying ponies, baby ponies, and more.  These girls were so in to their imaginary play that one could almost see the scene with them.  There was drama, as there should be when playing princess - one of the baby ponies and baby unicorns got loose and stuck somewhere. 

I loved watching and hearing them play.  It made me a little sad for them though.  See, these girls long to be princesses, and there is a likelihood that they never will be.  I know, I know - it's fun and healthy to play pretend when you're 5.  I see so many very little girls who are overly concerned about their appearances though - having the right dress and yes, even makeup - is fun play, but where do they begin to incorporate their play into what they know is real?  At some point these girls begin to believe that their worth comes from looking good. 

I probably played princess too (although, truthfully, we played more school).  My kids will play similair games.  I've got a challenge now - I have to help them see that they are beautiful from the inside, regardless of what the world says.  My children ALL need to know they are loved and valued simply for being themselves.

Monkey, Crackers - I love you guys!