Wordless Wednesday

Parenting Practices: Humility

Well, one lesson that will never fail you as a parent is this one:
Kids will never perform as you expect, especially if you have publicly made some sort of statement about it.

L.S.N.E.D.: ?????

I am not sure how to categorize this, but I felt it needed discussion.  FYI none of these images is mine.  I totally stole them from other people.
This meal is being advertised as kid friendly.  Quite frankly if I were a kid and my mom served this I would have been disgusted.

I am considering an experiment with my kids and I'll let you know their reaction.

Reckless Recreation: Addiction

I think I might have a new addiction.  Aaron has always wanted a pet skunk.  I have actually looked into it, and it is pretty expensive.  So until we hit the jackpot, this guys is going to have to keep Aaron company.

I know he isn't perfect, but I had so much fun making him.  I am already plotting and scheming what I am going to felt next.  That is when I have more supplies...

I made some modifications after I scheduled this post.  I still want to fix his nose and eyes some more.

W.F.D.T.R.: Lentil Soup

  I got this recipe out of a magazine a few years ago and I only just made it for the first time.  When I served it the kids looked at me like I was crazy, but they all ate it and at least liked it.  Aaron and I on the other hand LOVED it.  I think it is the first soup that hasn't gone bad in the fridge as leftovers in a very long time.

Lentil Soup 

adapted from Country Woman Oct/Nov 2007 Yields 2 quarts (8 servings) 1 cup=219 calories (with original recipe)

2 cups sliced carrots
2 celery stalks (I tend to use more)
1 large onion chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 T olive oil (original recipe called for butter)
7 cups chicken or vegetable broth (I use water and better than bouillon)
1 1/2 cups dried lentils, rinsed
3 T pearled barley
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes (I used a 15 oz can of petite dices tomatoes with roasted garlic and onion)
2 T lemon juice
4 1/2 t molasses (I fudged on this and just added a glop)
1 T red wine vinegar (don't have that so I just used regular white vinegar)
1/2 t pepper
dash each of dried thyme, basil and oregano (I don't have thyme and I hate oregano so I only used basil.

Saute carrots, celery, onion, and garlic in olive oil.  Add broth, lentils, barley and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer 20-25 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients and return to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes or until lentils and barley are tender (it took WAY longer than the recipe indicated.)

Parenting Practices: In the Moment

Yesterday was Martin Luther King Day, and in addition to being a day to remember an amazing man who taught us about hope for a better future, justice, equality and peaceful protest, it was a day off from school.  

With the toboggan we got from my sister for Christmas and four red cheeked, stuffed dumpling like children in tow, we searched for a good hill.  We tried a few locations and finally found one that wasn't too hard to climb, but gave us good speed and a long run.  

I began taking runs to pack down a path and in the meantime the kids were having the time of their life.  

Sophie had an icicle that she was licking into the perfect shape and using as a dagger to defend herself from some unseen foe.

Ben was launching himself head over heels down the hill, sometimes like a buffoon who lost his balance and was attempting to be a human snowball and sometimes with amazing speed, precision, and agility.

Jacob took off to the far reaches of the field and was finding the biggest snow rollers (the snowballs created by the wind in an open field) and trying to balance them on his head.

And Noah?  He was trouping through the snow, bouncing between the other three kids.  His eyes were watering and snot was running out of his nose and he was clearly cold as evidenced by his round red cheeks framed by his knit hat and hood. He would pleasantly come to me every few minutes and ask me to fix his mittens because his thumb wasn't going in right. 

As I observed all this I had a fleeting thought that I should go get the camera, but I quickly realized that if I had to go all the way back to the house to get the camera, this moment would be over.  

So my dear blogger friends, (I am assuming that someone is reading this!) you get a blog post with no pictures, and I have the images and memories tucked away in my brain because I was there to see it all.

Family Friday

Slow Family week I guess.  All I have are these two pictures:

Noah asked me to help him get the cow costume on and he played around for several minutes and then said, " Mommy, get a camera!"  I asked what for and he answered, "Take a picture of me in the cow!"  So I did.

I used the last of the apples we picked this fall to make a pie and I had some fun with the crust.

And this is how Jacob ate it!

That's it from Craftsbury Cottage.  I could yammer on about things we have done and things the kids have said, but life calls.

Reckless Recreation: Felting

While I am on break from classes I have been madly crafting.  Yesterday Noah was feeling neglected because I had a project I really wanted to finish, so when I was done I asked him if he wanted me to make something for him.  After perusing pinterest we decided on a felted mouse.

Sophie got a felting kit for her birthday a couple years ago and I had used it a bit with her, but with no specific project in mind.  

I pulled up this picture from August of 2006 and used it as a model.  I found needle felting therapeutic.  I am wondering if I should be worried that I enjoyed stabbing a long barbed needle into something so much...but that is a subject for another day.

So I know it is not perfect, but I think I had enough success that I am excited to explore felting more.

Parenting Practices: Reminders

Sometimes I get down and think that I am not an awesome mom.  At moments like those, I find it helpful to remember times like these:

December 25, 2012 My children have their very first exposure to Cheez Whiz

Unknown date sometime in the year 2012, while grocery shopping, Ben sees a Twinkie and asks, "Mommy, what is a Twinkie? "  Followed by: Sunday, January 13, 2013 when Ben asks, "when are we ever going to have a Twinkie?" And I get to answer, "Probably never, that company went out of business."

Thank goodness for moments like these that remind me that at least I am doing something right!

Wordless Wednesday

L.S.N.E.D.:The Core Program

For years my friend told me about an exercise program that would change my life, and for years I put her off.  I finally looked into it and I should have listened to her years ago.  Here is what I love about it.  

• 15 minutes (though it took me longer when I first started and became familiar with it.)  It is not aerobic and should not replace other exercise
• It claims to rid your body of aches and pains, AND IT DOES!!!!
• It claims to energize after only one time, AND IT DID!!!
• It targets problems that even healthy thin people suffer from; carpal tunnel, sciatica, neck and shoulder pain, back pain...
• It is a program that is designed specifically for women with their unique hormones, body composition  form, and function.
• Peggy Brill is a physical therapist who had dedicated years to the study of the musculosekeletal system and it "hot spots" that frequently cause problems
• Most of all I love it because it has really worked.  My neck is much better, my numb tingles in my limbs are on the mend, and it was easy to fix!
• It has step by step photos and descriptions so you can make sure you are doing the exercises effectively, and best of all, Peggy Brill is the model for the pictures and she is three months pregnant  so she has a little belly pouch, no skinny mini!

I am sure men could do it too, but I think every woman should try it out and STAT!!!  It is supposed to stop the aches and pains that so many attribute to aging with the benefit of strength, flexibility and energy.

http://www.amazon.com/Core-Program-Fifteen-Minutes-Change/dp/0553380842

Bust a Move Saturday: It's a Stretch

By which I mean what I am about to post has absolutely nothing to do with diet and exercise.  I totally stole this off  facebook.  It is  not mine, not a stitch of it, but there may be some truth to it.

The connection is that I do have life goals to be fit and trim and when I get online to record my food on Lose It! I spend so much time online that I don't have time to exercise.  Just kidding.  I have been counting calories  and exercising regularly for about a month.  It is a slow process, but I am hoping for life change not yo yo change.

Family Friday: Christmas

My lack of posting on here now has nothing to do with classes.  Now it is because I needed to get pictures off the camera.  I don't want to bore people with just my words and I feel like I have to have pictures.  I am not sure why.  Christmas vacation was wonderful. We spent most of it just detoxing from the intense semester we all had. We got together with family on both sides, which was  never long enough, but mostly spent a lot of time getting reacquainted as our own little family.

Festivities began with getting a tree.  For months Sophie had been keeping an eye on a tree she could see when we drove by, that she INSISTED was The. Perfect. Tree.  It was a hike to get to it, through frozen streams, tall grass and several fields.  This is not the tree, though we tried to convince her it was.

When we arrived, we determined the tree at the top of the branchless trunk was perfect (it really was.)  In the end we did take the tree that Sophie picked.  It really was perfect.  When we began cutting it Sophie said in surprise, "you're taking it!?  I didn't think you would actually choose it!"  I am not sure if that makes me feel like a good parent or a bad one...?

This is an important manly job that requires the expertise and advice of all males present. 

This one his on here just for me.  I still get twitterpated when I see Aaron.

The tree was decorated, and decorated, and decorated many times over the next couple weeks thanks to a toddler who shall remain nameless.

Proof that I exist.

We got bolga baskets at Easter thinking they would be the holiday baskets and they would be the kids "stockings" for Christmas.  In the end it just didn't look right without the stockings so we did both.

We had an extra bounteous year.  We caved and got a Wii with most pieces being second hand.  I got a Wii fit which was one of my stipulations for getting a Wii.  Aaron carved amazing wooden guns for the boys and they also got helmets and canteens on belts.  Sophie got an American Girl Doll that looks like her and at this point her name is Miri (My-Ree).  Sophie saved up half the cost by selling cookies.  I had a secret santa that got me the 1812 American Girl Doll, Caroline.  I know it is silly for a grown woman to have a doll, but it is like having a toy Dashwood sister which you have to admit sounds appealing.  We also got a toboggan from my sister.  We waxed it up and took it for a run and look forward to many more.  Aaron has to wait for his gift of a 30 flying lesson.  He could do it now, but wants to wait for nicer weather.

While the gifts were bounteous this year we are ever aware that not every one is so materially blessed and that we have an obligation to serve and love others as the Savior, whose birth we celebrate, would do.  The gifts are not about expense or number, but about learning the joy of giving and seeing the joy it brings to others. We had such a wonderful vacation, just detoxing from the intense semester we all had because of me and life. We got together with family on both sides.