Burnt Offerings

My poor children. When Nick works at night (which is only once a week), my kids are used to less than gourmet cooking. For at least 6 weeks in a row we dined on chocolate chip pancakes (at least the pancakes were wheat, I tell myself) and then Emma burned out on that meal! (imagine that) Lately, we have switched it up a little by rotating between spaghetti, pizza, and grilled cheese sandwiches. Tonight it was grilled cheese sandwiches. It seemed to be taking awhile to heat up the griddle, so I ran to the bathroom for a minute. When I came back the tomato soup had boiled over and the girls' sandwiches were black! So, I got everything out again and started on round two. When I called the girls for dinner I presented them with the burnt ones first--just to test their reaction. Emma looked at them for a minute and then looked at me and said, "Mom, these are burnt." (uh, yeah) So I said, "I know....I'm sorry. They burned when I ran to the bathroom!" So, Emma took her plate to the table and as Brielle joined her she said, "Brielle, Mom burned the grilled cheese sandwiches when she went to the bathroom." I waited for more reaction.....I waited for the refusal to eat dinner (which happens when I don't burn dinner).....I waited for demands of a new dinner.......nothing! I was biting my cheek to hold back from laughing. Emma just started dipping her sandwich in her soup. Then she commented, "Brielle, it's pretty soft if you dip them in soup and you can't even tell it's burnt!" Brielle starts biting into hers and while I'm watching her she says, "I can't really taste the burnt....just a little bit." (really? because they're totally black!) So, being the mean mom I am, I watch them take another bite or two before I realize that they are going to eat their whole burnt offering unless I stop them! So, I grab the second-round sandwiches and tell them that I made them new ones when I burned the first ones. The charred sandwiches quickly end up in the garbage as we laugh about it. And then I start to wonder--- do I really have the best kids or is my cooking regularly this bad? Maybe it's a combo of both!