The 1st grill of the season

One of the best things about living in Minnesota is enjoying the way the seasons change. Sometimes it takes a cold, crappy winter to appreciate the warm-ish weather that comes along in the spring. Yesterday was a beautiful day here. I'd say it got into the mid-50's, and it was sunny. The sun is the key factor here. When the weather starts to get nice like this, it automatically puts me in a good mood, the same way that the first snow of the season does. So anyway, it was beautiful outside, and we decided that it was time to bring the grill out of hibernation from the backyard shed.

We invited our friends and their 2 kids over for dinner, and then had cake and ice cream--an early birthday celebration for Lauren and me. My birthday is Saturday the 15th, and Lauren's is Sunday the 16th. Being that they fall on Easter weekend this year, we figured that if we were going to celebrate, it was now or never. The dinner was nothing fancy or exotic, but being that it was the first grill of the season, it was the best meal I'd had in a long long time. Burgers with the standard: cheese, ketchup, mustard, onions, pickles and tomatoes. We also had some yummy potato salad, fresh pineapple, strawberries, and grapes. Michelle and I shared a bottle of wine while the guys enjoyed their beer that had been shipped in from Germany. Let me tell ya, there is just nothing else like it. The leftover burgers that the kids and I had tonight were a yummy encore. But tell me, does the following story make me a bad mom?

There were 4 burgers left over from last night. Jason was at work this evening, so it was just me & the 3 kids for dinner. At first, I was just going to heat up 3 of the burgers--1 for each kid. They had all agreed earlier that leftovers sounded good. At the last minute, I decided to reheat all 4 of them, and I'd have one myself. When it came time to sit down and eat, I looked and saw that Alex had 2 buns laid out on his plate, and was happily decorating them with ketchup and mustard. (I think the kid is obsessed with money, as he had drawn a "$" in mustard on his bun.) Seeing that he had his eyes on 2 of the 4 burgers, I realized that I would not be having a burger at this meal. I said, "You're having 2 burgers, huh Al?" "Yep" was his reply. Oh well, I'll have cereal or something, I thought. Then Lauren started whining, "I don't want a burger!" I saw this as my opportunity. If she didn't want the one I made for her, I could make it my own! Now, I'm not a completely horrible parent, practically taking food from my kid's mouth. I did ask her 2 or 3 times after that, "Lauren, do you want a burger to eat or not?" Her response was "No" each time. Okay then. I ate the extra burger, and it might have been even better than it was last night, if that's possible. And what did Lauren end up eating? She was very happy with her potato salad, slice of tomato, and empty bun. Apparently they nicely complemented the 1/2 pound of purple grapes that she ate shortly before dinner. So, yes, she had a dinner that didn't have a ton of nutritional content, but I guess she's eaten worse. But I knew that if I forced a burger onto her plate, she'd eat 1 bite and the rest would go into the garbage. So to give her crap for dinner and eat her burger myself was really my only choice, right? Yeah, I think so too. And not only that, it did not end up being a big battle. So in a way, any points I might have lost for eating her dinner, I actually gained back by avoiding a power struggle. At least that's how I like to look at it.