Don't Put All Your Eggs in One Carton!!!

When I buy eggs, I usually buy an extra dozen. Why? Hard-boiled eggs are a great snack. They are a quick breakfast. The kids love 'em. They are even great in a picnic lunch!

I found it most convenient to boil a dozen at a time and -- boom -- instant healthy snack. In the fridge, ready to eat.

I keep ours in a labeled egg carton, on top of the carton of raw eggs.

Last week we were reading in Ramona Quimby, Age 8. One chapter focuses on a new school lunch fad -- hard-boiled eggs. Everyone is bringing eggs in their lunches and crack the eggshells on their heads. Ramona is excited to see that her mother has included an egg in her lunch, per her request. However, when she cracks the egg on her head, egg white and yolk emerge to make quite a mess in her hair. Her mother had put the wrong egg in her lunch!!!!!

If only Ramona's mother had labeled her boiled eggs! 

So, boil your eggs. Eat your eggs. But, don't forget to LABEL your eggs!

Brownie Heaven

If you are a fan of a good old-fashioned brownie, I have a recipe for you!

I had a tub of milk chocolate frosting that had been sitting in the cupboard for months. I am sure I bought it for a pinterest recipe and then forgot about it! Anyway, I was growing tired of this tub of frosting taking up valuable real estate in our kitchen so I decided it was time to bake up a batch of brownies.

This is the best ever brownie recipe, compliments of Nestle®! If you are looking for a delicious chocolate treat, look no further!

]

Baked Sugar Doughnuts . . . From Biscuits????

Megan.
Friday morning. 
7:02 a.m.
Our kitchen.

Me: What would you like for breakfast this morning, Megan? 
Megan: Doughnuts.
Me: (I RARELY buy doughnuts, so of course we have none.) 
Hmmmm. Well, I don't think we can have doughnuts unless your dad wants to run over to the Amish bakery and pick some up. (hinting)
Matthew: It'll be awhile before I finish the chores.
Me: I could try to make some. 

I have never made doughnuts before. But I did remember seeing a shortcut recipe using refrigerated biscuits, which we happened to have in the refrigerator. Why not? 

I was skeptical. I mean, who makes doughnuts out of biscuits????

But they were delicious! It helps that they are dipped in butter and coated with sugar, but I like to treat the family sometimes! Besides, they are baked, not fried. It's a nice break from our usual breakfast menu options!

So, here is the recipe, straight from the Pillsbury® package!!

Baked Sugar Doughnuts

1 can Pillsbury® refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

3 Tbsp butter, melted

1/3 c. sugar

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Separate dough into 10 biscuits; flatten each to a 2-1/2 inch round. 

With 1-inch round biscuit cutter (or a shot glass), cut hole in center of each round. 

Dip all sides of biscuits and centers into butter, then into sugar.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown.

Compare Prices . . . Not Children

I can remember being a new mom. We thought our little "Baby Doll" was perfect. We thanked God for her wonderful health and good nature. We marveled at every yawn. We "awwww-ed" with every smile. We held her while she slept. (Ok, try to remember that she was our first and I was blessed with the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom with her.) We were both completely in love, and life could not be any better.

Then, I found myself doing the most awful thing! I found myself comparing her with other babies. It wasn't intentional. But I would read lists of milestones and mark them off as she hit them, beaming that she was developing "early." 

She could roll over before the expected milestone (although her brother now holds that family record!!). She impressed her physicians with her early vocabulary. She was an expert crawler. For some crazy reason I thought that the earlier she did things, the better. I would see other babies her age and think, "Yeah, we have an overachiever over here! You should see her . . ."

I am embarrassed to admit that I gave nearly everyone I met a resume of our child's accomplishments. 

I didn't think our baby was better than other babies. But, if I were completely honest, I wanted her to be above average. I wanted her to be at the top of her "class." I wanted to see her succeed at the highest level. Logically, I know, the age at which you finally put your first string of words together to create a sentence certainly does NOT guarantee success, or failure. (Albert Einstein was a late talker, and proved that missing that expected speech benchmark did not mark him for failure!) But I always wanted her to be the best that she could be!

I can remember having these feelings -- wanting our child to be advanced. And, you know what, she was advanced in many areas of development. . There were areas (and still are areas) where she showed great growth. But, there were also areas where she brought up the rear of her age group developmentally. 

Here is one conclusion I have come to after 10 years of parenting: Every child is developing in their own time!

And that is ok! And it is cool!

I wish I had realized it long ago. It would have saved me some worry. It would have spared me with unnecessary pride. 

Now, I realize that, medically speaking, there are times to be concerned with slow physical or mental development. Obviously, physicians are well trained to look for warning signs. And I am thankful that our pediatricians never overreacted to some of our slow developments. 

I was talking with a friend, whose first child is about 6 months older than Eli. She was concerned that her son is not interested in the alphabet. I knew where she was. All I could do was reassure her that this is NO indication that her son will not be able to read. He will. He hasn't shown interest, and that is ok. He is great at a lot of other things. Sure, it is a great idea to continue to expose him to letters. In fact, Eli loves the alphabet. But, he isn't as interested in numbers. He can recognize a few numbers, but not most. I'm ok with that. He'll get it! He'll catch up when he's ready.

So, I have decided to compare prices in the supermarket -- not children!!!!! 
I am throwing out the development charts and not losing hair over when the training wheels come off their bikes. I am not worried about how long it takes to learn decimal equivalents to fractions, or whether a child stutters. I am letting go. I am allowing my children to be fully loved!

They are all different. They are all wonderful. They all have potential! They are all special.

Now that we have three children, I marvel at the new things they learn every day. But I don't sweat it anymore if they struggle with things that come naturally to some children. I want to be their encouragement to try again, and again, and again. I want them to know that there is no normal -- that we are all different and that is good! Above all, I want them to know that I love them no matter what! I love them for who God created them to be. I love their sweet spirits, not what they can or can't do!

Learning By Doing at the Depot

I was excited to hear the the Discovery Depot finally opened their doors after undergoing a complete facelift! It isn't a huge children's museum, but gives plenty of hands-on learning and role playing. And it's close to home!

We chose a day that was bitter cold so we could convince Dad that it was too cold to work outside and that he should come along. It didn't take much convincing! He was caught up on bookwork and anything outside could wait until warmer weather.

Check out these photos. The place looks great! Updated and fresh and fun! There is a supervised art studio with a planned project. They also offer a home school program on Thursday afternoons.

It was a lot of fun, but I do have one word of warning to those who have been blessed with OCD. (Don't know if this is you? Look in your billfold. Are all your dollar bills facing the same way??? I am talking to YOU!!!)

You will be constantly compelled to sort and straighten up. 

I sorted all the pizza toppings into separate bins, organized the grocery store and lined up the firefighter's boots by size. My advice to you is RESIST! In about 8 seconds, some pre-schooler will come and trash the whole area. Take a deep breath and remind yourself that someone else takes home a paycheck for cleaning up the mess! I have taught my children to pick up after themselves, but I had to let go of feeling responsible for picking up after every other child in the museum. LET IT GO!!!! And enjoy your kids!

Pretty Kitty!

I never posted anything about Halloween because it was such a traumatic event. Who would have thought dressing up and collecting candy could produce so much drama? One of our children participated with flying colors. One of our children wanted the candy, but wasn't thrilled about wearing a costume. And our third child wasn't interested in a costume OR the candy! But I am now recovered and willing to talk about it -- three months later.

We don't put much emphasis on Halloween. Usually, it is just fun to let the little ones decide who (or what) they want to pretend to be for an evening and visit family. It isn't a monumental day, and we don't bring home massive amounts of goodies. And it is enough.

This year, I asked the kids what they wanted to dress like for Halloween. Megan wanted to be a cat -- easy enough! Emily just couldn't decide (translation: I want the candy without the costume!). And since Eli is really too young to understand what is going on, and he gave me plethora of different response. So I took the liberty to find an adorable monkey costume for him. He loves Curious George, so I thought it was perfect. We tried it on. It fit. It was adorable.

So, Halloween comes. Matthew and I decide to take the family to Quincy to trick-or-treat in the mall. it was cold and I am not built for cold. So, one-stop trick-or-treating sounded good to me!

Megan jumps into her costume and lets me paint her face. That's the way it's done!

Emily still can't decide what to be. So she decides to be a farmer. Blue jeans, plaid shirt, boots and a chore bucket. Good enough!

Eli refuses to wear his costume. He is NOT going to be an adorable monkey with a long tail. My heart is somewhat broken, but I am relieved that I got a good deal on his costume. So, we decide on Bob the Builder, and he wears a hat and carries his toy tool box and tools. He can surely do that much to collect a bucket full of pre-packaged treats! I think to myself, he'll surely love trick-or-treating once he figures out that he is going to score some candy!

We drive to Quincy. We wake the little man. He is less than thrilled about the whole inconvenience. The girls are anxious to collect candy. Eli could care less. He walked through half of the mall collecting candy, then rode in the stroller, completely uninterested in this meaningless tradition.

Well, the evening could've just ended with us driving home. But we were all hungry and it would be late before we got home. So, we all decided that a bucket of KFC sounded good. All was going well until Eli vomited all over our booth. No fever. No warning. Just me with a lap-full of puke.

Why in the world was I disappointed? We have never made a big deal about Halloween, but I wanted everyone to have so much fun. I wanted everyone to wear the cute little costumes and to take an album full of photos. But, in the end, who cares? 

The truth is that I lost sight of what was important. I forgot that spending time with my family and making memories is more important than having a picture-perfect day. I got tied up in the silly details. I forgot that my desires are not necessarily the desires of our little people. I ended up disappointed.

And I learned a lesson.

Next year, it doesn't matter to me if we don't go trick-or-treating. I would be just as content spending an evening playing games or popping popcorn and snuggling in warm blankets on the couch watching a movie. I would love to hand out candy, if anyone stopped by. 

I will not be disappointed, because what everyone else is doing does not dictate what we should do. What we have done in the past does not determine what we do in the present or what we will do in the future.

Lesson learned -- through a memorable experience!

So, here is our only willing participant from Halloween 2013. And, if you know anyone who could use a size 2T monkey costume -- super adorable -- let me know!!!

Painting Monster Cookies

What do you do when it gets unbearably cold outside and you have spent too much time cooped up in your house? You mix art and baking!

I picked up this cookie kit for the kids to have fun with. I thought they would taste disgusting with the icing "decal" on top, but they were really good, and really cute. 

I Resolve to Just Be ME!

New Year's Resolutions. Let's be honest -- they rarely last past February.

We all have good intentions. But change is not easy.

So this year, I am avoiding all the disappointment that ultimately comes with these resolutions and I am going with something that should be easy -- I resolve to just be ME!



Sounds easy. Sounds ridiculous, but for me I have struggled with who I am for years and tried to change. And some days I can pretend pretty well.

Why do I try to be someone I am not? Because I don't think my personality type fits into society. Society ignores people like me. Society doesn't find value in someone like me. And I want to fit in. I don't want to be ignored. I want to have value.

I am shy. 

It takes effort to get to know someone new. I feel uncomfortable talking one-on-one with someone. I WANT it to come naturally. I envy those who are outgoing, people who make friends faster than you can brew a cup of coffee. 

I have a small group of friends with whom I feel comfortable. And, of course, my family are my best friends. But going outside of this small circle requires effort.

Growing up I was extremely shy. I had a small group of friends in school. I never wore anyone's BFF necklace. I was teased for being reserved. I couldn't fit in. I never wanted to be popular, though. I NEVER aspired for fame and fortune! I just wanted to be able to open up to people. 

In college I made some great friends and I came out of my shell. But it has always been difficult. I WANT to be more outgoing. but it just doesn't come naturally. 

I have lots of acquaintances -- you know, more of the "small-talk" type. And I have no trouble talking to strangers that I may never see again. And I can speak in a group with ease. And, I love to be with children. But one-on-one is so stressful for me. 

Maybe it is the pressure of being rejected or not accepted. Maybe because I feel inferior. 

I am saddened for my oldest daughter because she definitely has this same personality. I try to challenge her in this area, encouraging her to be more independent of me in public. But I know this is extremely stressful.

I am saddened because she is bright and talented. She is motivated and has a fun personality. She is giving. But, she is overlooked and sometimes considered "unimportant" because she doesn't speak up. She has trouble talking to people. I know that she is not trying to be rude when she doesn't answer someone. She is experiencing deep anxiety! I know how she feels.

So, from now on, I resolve to be content with who I am. I resolve to quit wishing to be different. I resolve to be who God created me to be. I resolve to serve God and make contributions to society -- quietly. I resolve to cherish my wonderful children, even if nobody else ever knows what treasures they are!

I resolve to be -- me. 

Rubber Band Art

The girls got a loom to make new bracelets. (Thanks to Aunt Mary and Uncle Jeff for such a thoughtful Christmas gift.) It has expanded the styles of bracelets they can make. I love the creativity they put into choosing their colors.

They are still selling bracelets to earn money for World Vision. If you haven't bought one and still want one, let me know. These loom bracelets are $4 each, and you can choose your colors. They still have the $1 bracelets, $3 fishtail bracelets and $2 necklaces to sell too! 

They put ALL the money into a box for World Vision, so you really are helping two little girls meet their donation goal!

This is called a fishtail bracelet, and can be done in any color scheme.

These are all fishtail bracelets. 

The necklaces are $3.

These bracelets are $4 each.

This is a starburst bracelet, and can be done in some really cool color combinations. It is $4.