The Joys of Cooking….when done by others.

I will be the first to admit, that I am no, Julia Child when it comes to cooking. However, having had six children and all of them still living, I'd say I'm not THAT bad of a cook. Ok, I'm lying, their dad usually does the cooking.  I'm the house cleaner. Pretty good arrangement, wouldn't you say? And, I guess it's safe to assume that the kids have gotten use to eating spaghetti or chicken nuggets thrown into the oven.

Earlier this year, when I was working full time, Robert (15 yr old) took it upon himself to cook dinner so when “mommy” got home, dinner was ready and the kids weren't starving, waiting for me to get home and THEN start dinner. Boy, did he make a mistake in doing that. It soon was expected of him to cook and let me tell you, the kid can cook.  Grabbing pointers by watching dad cook, sure paid off. Soon, the younger kids were wanting Robert to cook and not me. Ok, really?! I don't cook that bad. I do know how to cook a steak, bake a chicken and steam vegetables. Geesh!

Now, that I am at home full time, my kids are dreading my cooking or the thought of having the same thing cooked repeatedly. It's gotten to the point where Nicholas, my 5 yr old has announced that he's become a vegetarian due to the idea of eating chicken and pork chops every other day. No lie. I'll switch up the “side dishes” but the main course always remains the same. Poor Nicholas. Yes, I can get a cook book and believe me, I have one but the mere thought of having to open, read and follow instructions is a tad bit much for me at the moment. I'm too busy with other things, like cleaning, doing laundry and spending time on Face Book and Social Cam. Haha.

It wasn't until two days ago, that my dear, loving, caring (are you reading this Ryan) son, Ryan decided he'd try to BBQ dinner for the family. Dinner consisted of tri-tip, pasta and salad. Yummy! Kids loved it and it was a hit. So, tonight…..mommy begged Ryan to cook again and he obliged. BBQing again, he cooked hot dogs, pork chops and chicken. Yes, the usual that I cooked, but it was marinated differently and it wasn't cooked by me. Darn kids ate it all. Including my “now vegetarian” son, Nicholas.

So, what is the point and moral of this story? 1. It pays to have older kids that can help with the little ones. So, sure have 1/2 dozen kids….ages spread out though and 2. “”Pretend you don't know how to cook, so one of them WILL cook for you. I'm sure by the end of next week, Ryan will be sick of cooking and well,  we'll all be back to eating spaghetti and fish sticks. Good times!