I think we'll have green beans tonight

These photos could probably stand on their own, but I just can't restrain myself.

I worked hard in the toddler years to instill, if not a love, at least a tolerance for broccoli, spinach, and carrots. In my mind these are some of the most nutrient packed veggies, and I didn't want to battle over the business of vegetable consumption. Most nights we have one of these three with our entree.

The other night I managed to shirk dinner duty, and my husband did the meal-making honors. He is happy to cook, but on this particular evening making dinner was no small feat as we were frighteningly low on food. He poked around the kitchen and came up with ingredients for chicken enchiladas in a tomatillo sauce. Veggies were a little more difficult. We had bits and pieces, but not enough of any one vegetable to go solo. He ended up sauteing summer squash, zuchini, onions and tomatoes with a little garlic.

The girls were called to the table, and were immediately suspicious of the veggies.


Look at the picture above. Abby is in the purple stripes. She is literally clutching her plate to her chest to prevent her father from serving her. Her eyes say it all. And then there's Emily sitting next to her. She was uncharacteristically quiet. But her face clearly says, "Dear God, what ever did I do to deserve this?"

Abby has conceded defeat and relinquishes her plate.

She is not accepting defeat graciously.

She eventually ate her veggies, but it was a tough nite for her.

Unfortunately, I have no photos of what happened next. Emily was sitting next to her sister and was being fairly quiet. Emily is not usually quiet when she is unhappy. Not by a long shot. She put a forkful of the squash in her mouth, found it offensive, and then tried to wash it down with an enormous gulp of water. Except, apparently, she couldn't quite make it go down.

When I finally finished snapping pictures of Abby's torture I turned to look at Emily. She was sitting next to me with her cheeks inflated as though she were a squirrel with a mouth full of nuts. There was a tiny trickle of water leaking from the corner of her mouth that she was dabbing, somewhat frantically, with her napkin. Her eyes were a bit glazed and held a mixture of panic, sorrow, and utter revulsion.

I told her to swallow it.... just get it over with... it's not so bad....

She made a valiant effort. She tried to swallow and it looked as though she was forcing a boulder down her throat. I thought she had it. And then everything came back up. All over the table.

I mean, I prefer green beans myself, but geez.

Note: This dinner was absolutely surreal. I was laughing as I took these pictures. And even writing this post I think I belly-laughed at least a half-dozen times. I think the pictures are hilarious. My husband doesn't find them quite as amusing, but I just have to tell you that this is one of my two favorite posts of all time -- this is the other.