BoyMom Texts…Come n’ Get It!

Food for you….

The most common communication between a mother and her sons for many years of their youth (perhaps whole lives) might truly center around food I’m quite convinced. Do you need a drink? Want some milk? Need some juice? Here’s your water cup. Where’s your water cup? Why don’t we have your water cup? If you get out of bed quick you can have pancakes before school! It’s Sunday morning it’s really breakfast day! Anyway, thanks to technology nowadays I often skip the words for meal time and just send them a picture. Funny thing is I can interrupt their viewing in nearly any room with a sweet little image of a short stack o’ hot cakes and foot steps pound the hall right quick. Saves me raising my voice and them feeling yelled at just to call them to a meal. It’s a win win all around. Then when they arrive I can turn eating time into communication time. Family devotions and my chance to pour into their little ears and hearts happens best over a plate of food when my audience attention is captive to their tummies wishes. With 5 sons aged 3 up to 15 it requires a dedicated system of delivery to connect all at once. I know it’s vital though, and while chaotic often we press on in love.

So there they come at the woo of pancakes that I with all my Mamma love got up early and made for them. My sweet very active tribe of 5 boys that will likely never tire of that stack of warm syrupy love. I hope not really ’cause that way I can keep sending foodie messages and they’ll just keep on running with anticipation and smiles. Oh, the blessedness of boymom texts! I love that a simple family meal can be the gathering call for a family meeting. They don’t even have to know its happening. Whomever has the number 4 under their plate has to clean the litter out of the front yard. Whomever has a number 5 needs to vacuum the upstairs hallway and so on. They groan a little protest between bites of food and I sugar coat the chore list letting them know I finally baked that cheesecake they’ve been wishing for forever! It’s in the fridge setting up for after dinner tonight. Undoubtedly somebody will come ask about it long before then. Whoever wants some has to dig 3 fence post holes for the new fence going in along the road, thank you very much! Saves Mamma time, energy and lots of harping. No worries, the line has already been strung and holes marked for digging.

During our chilly days and the stay at home times we love to picnic inside sometimes roasting hot dogs over the fireplace. This requires ‘cooking’ in shifts since it’s not a 5 boys wide fireplace and they are not docile and mute when very hungry(nor fully quiet ever). They have the normal competitive we’re gonna run out of hot dogs there’s only like 30 in that package. “I should really hold the ketchup so no one uses it all before I want some…” In the end they all get their fill and somehow there’s still hot dogs to go back to the fridge. At last my great idea of a easy meal over the indoor ‘bon’ fire that created a little more family bonding and full tummies eases them all into a relaxed full milder state. Then, I can enjoy the warmth of the fire and a tiny bit of calm. Clean up is a breeze and I’m back to whatever task I can do by the seat of my pants nearby or else I get some toddler snuggle time. I love those for as busy as my life is at present, it feels really good to sit still some. I fully treasure these times with my littles. Thank you God for giving me every one of these boys to love and nurture and feed. I am so very honored to be their Mamma!

Oh, my boys sure do love their Challah bread! I grew up making Challah bread for Sabbath breaking. Yes, we braided several strands and baked it loosely on a flat pan. Nowadays I like to braid it and bake it in loaf pans so we can slice it nice for sandwiches and toasting and such….besides it goes farther. Believe me when I say they would eat the whole loaf and fight over the crumbs if left unattended. French bread is one of their favorites, and that is one they might just disappear out of the bakery kitchen with an elbow to hand length portion. Funny thing is even though I run a bakery for a living my boys are just learning to eat sandwiches. My toddlers just this last week got introduced to peanut butter and jelly toast. With bigger brothers spreading and hot cereal forgotten in the toast excitement they polished off two full jars of strawberry jelly. Wait til they have peanut butter and honey… that was both Daddy and Mommies favorite. Food just got a little more exciting around here and maybe a little easier cooking for Mamma for the summer at least. Yippee!

“On your way down for chicken, could you take the trash out? Thanks Buddy!” “P.S. I love you!” “P.S.S. You can tell you brothers on the way out or on the way in…up to you!” For the time being I quit putting food in serving dishes on the table. Why make extra dishes? Plus then, I can usually stand at the counter and help serve each boy and monitor a little easier. Most often there is already a boy or two in the kitchen. I love having a helper, teaching them to chop veggies or cook simple things, or even just do some steps of more complex cooking. They often walk away during the longer portions of cooking or baking, but I do love when they come and hang out with Mamma for a bit. Someday maybe they will need their kitchen skills for more than home use. I guess they’re getting on the job training from the most patient boss ever right here. I’m happy for that. Some days feel long in the moment…but fly away so fast. I treasure my boys! I’m thankful for every way the complicate and abundantly bless my beautiful life. Dear God hold us close…being a boy mom is quite and experience! Thank you for this adventure!