Things that make me scratch my head and go "hmmm...."

Today, I came across this piece of paper from Isaac:

"Things that you need" - for what??? When I asked him, he looked puzzled. "Mom, it's just stuff that you need!" Must be a boy thing. Sure enough, I have found all of the above items in his pockets at one time or another, except for the heater. A heater? In Arizona?

Things that make me smile?

Our oldest and our littlest baby playing together. 

It's little stuff like this each day that makes life wonderful.

Memorial Day

Hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday weekend. 

The kids said that they did not want to do school work yesterday, but would rather catch up the lost day during the rest of the week.

It could have been a relaxing day, if I had not decided to first tackle the laundry monster, which had gotten entirely out of control last week. That done, I decided to just completely de-clutter and reorganize their toys and books, most of which are stored in our room, not the kids' bedrooms. My preferred method of cleaning is with a big garbage bag, and we filled several of those by noon (some were for donations). 

Needless to say, this was very tiring for me. I was about as graceful as an elephant getting up and down off the floor. But by the end of it, the room was in perfect condition. Watch, that will last about 24 hours.

Next Stop Insane Asylum

Am I the only pregnant woman who is easily irritated? Surely not - at least I hope so.

Besides the nausea and fatigue, the constant feeling of irritation (often for no reason whatsoever) is my biggest pregnancy complaint. I'm sure hormones are to blame, but that excuse only goes so far.

It seems that as soon as I turn around or sit down and put my feet up, the kids come up with some fun (for them) project or experiment. Today, they devised a swing in the front yard tree made from rope and a produce box, into which they would climb, and then crash full force into the tree trunk. No worries, the tree was not harmed at all, and the kids were smart enough to don their bicycle helmets for this one.

Overheard at the Breakfast Table

Every morning, the school bus drives down our street at half past seven. When it does, the light reflecting off of it makes my entire living room light up bright yellow, like a strange sort of sunrise. Could this be proof that without our government intervening, the sun would not even come up in the morning?

Every morning, as the rumbling sunrise on wheels goes by, I am in the kitchen cooking breakfast for the family.

And every morning, I thank God for another day in the company of our children. 

 Yes, Becky dressed herself. Why do you ask?

Natural skin care and cleaning products

Sometimes I get comments asking what type of skin care products we use, or what we do in the way of cleaning products.

The transition to more natural, non-toxic products has taken us years, and the choices below came after much trial and error. A couple of areas, I am still not entirely satisfied with. The list below is not intended as a recommendation, but simply as information on what we use.

I highly recommend the EWG's website for checking the toxicity of any personal care product, and for comparing it to other brands.

AhaHaHaHa! Parenting

Bad parenting is nothing new. Humanistic philosophies that go against the Bible are as old as time itself. So what appears to be a new trend by the name of "attachment parenting" (AP) is nothing but horrible parenting by a new, cute name.

In fact, the name implies that these parents are going above and beyond, when in truth they are conducting a dangerous social experiment on their own children, and those of others. An experiment that is sure to fail, because it goes 100% against the Bible.

You know you have fallen for the attachment parenting style if you can say any of the following, and mean it:

Breastfeeding your omnivorous child

Please note: This post discusses issues surrounding breastfeeding. While I will make every effort to keep my wording appropriate for all age groups, reader discretion is strongly advised. Children, please do not read on without the approval of a parent.

I am not a fan of blogging on bandwagon issues. There has been enough ado about last week's "Are you mom enough?" Time magazine cover, featuring a woman breastfeeding her almost 4-year old. If you have not seen the image, I don't suggest you do. I for one found it extremely offensive and perverse, mostly because of the provocative pose the woman is striking, and her prideful expression as she stares into the camera obnoxiously.

But get on the bandwagon I will, simply because there seems to be confusion among breastfeeding advocates like myself, even Christians, as to whether this is a right-and-wrong issue, or simply one of personal preference and cultural programming.

Hodgepodge Post

Things just never slow down around here for very long. Last week was a busy one.

The kids and I went peach and apricot picking at a local U-pick early Thursday morning. We had a storm the night before, so the temperature was actually pleasant and not infernal. The peaches were for eating fresh, the apricots for making jelly. 

Chocolate-dipped ice cream cones

Ah, summer... when it's not strawberry shortcakes for breakfast, it's ice-cream for snack time. Every afternoon. I think our kids don't even know it is possible to go out to the pool without a popsicle or ice cream cone in their hand.

I am literally never tempted to buy fast food, or conventional junk food, when out and about. Not even if the kids are all hungry, and I am tired. Just the thought grosses me out. BUT: I have one major weakness. That weakness is chocolate dipped cones from Dairy Queen. 

Dear fatheads...

Apparently, some of the lovely ladies reading this blog, and making a habit of leaving their anonymous hate comments, took exception to my recipe for Strawberry Shortcakes. 

While I rarely publish their comments, I chose to do so just to show their insanity. Here's my favorite one:

Goodness gracious, that is terribly unhealthy. There are approximately 1284mg of cholesterol in that recipe and 640 grams of fat. (20mg of cholesterol in a tbs of cream, 5 grams of fat in a tbs of cream, 16 tbs in a cup, 4 cups in the recipe) The cholesterol is equal to 16 Big Macs.

Recipe for Strawberry Shortcakes

This recipe is not only quick enough to pull off as an impromptu dessert or quick breakfast (yes! - beats boxed cereal any day), it also uses only honey, and whole wheat flour.

The preferred parent

Anna, at just a few days short of being 17 months old, has a new preferred "parent." 

At first, when her only interests in life were food and comfort, that favorite parent was of course me. Then, when she figured out that her daddy is willing to carry her all day long, every day, while doting on her and  singing to her, and that there were other food sources in life besides me, she quickly transferred her affections to him. 

Judge Judy can KEEP her job!

There are parenting truths nobody warns expectant parents about. Like, the countless times you will spend an hour trying to super-glue a junky toy from the Dollar Tree, because your child just cannot live without it, and they no longer sell that particular piece of trash.

Another painful reality is having to be a judge to the children's daily drama. Some of this can of course be eliminated by telling them figure it out themselves, or to get over it, or to not be a tattle-tale. But there are always those cases that make it necessary to invoke the special jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, i.e. Mom. 

My current daily schedule

My daily schedule varies some with the different seasons of life, as well as the actual seasons. For example, when I am pregnant, I need a full 8 hours of sleep at night (minimum), as well as a short nap in the afternoon. Also, we tend to sleep in later in the winter when it is dark out, than in the summer when it gets light as early as 5 am.

With being pregnant this summer, I still cannot drag myself out of bed before 7 am, unless I absolutely must, , even if I go to bed early the night before. Not what I prefer, but this, too, shall pass. Yesterday, I finally resigned myself to this reality, and typed up our current daily schedule accordingly. I am the type that really needs written reminders of everything. Also, the more children we have, the more necessary it has become for me to stick to a structure for our daily lives that I try hard not to deviate from.