Popcicles

It is "almost" the season of frozen treats! I don't give the kids nutritionally empty stor bought versions of popsicles. Rather I use their inherent love of all things rocket shaped to sneak in a serving (or 6) of fruit and veggies...

Chcocicles

one avacodo
one banana
1 TBS flax meal
1 squirt Agave nectar
2 dates
1.5 TBS cocoa powder
2 TBS vanilla rice milk (or regular)

blend and pour into molds


Tropical fruitcicles

one fresh pineapple
one kiwi
one banana
one mango
one handful of berries (raspberries are so good!)
one handful of frozen greens (spinach, kale etc)
one can coconut milk
one splash of orange juice or water

blend, pour into molds.

We usually have a bowl as "ice cream" before pouring in the molds. You can add hemp or chia seeds to the top as sprinkles.

***I really just make them up as I go along. Whatever I have with some banana, pineapple, and coconut milk (this makes them really creamy! and is SO good for you...full or minerals and vitamins, good fats and electrolytes to stay hydrated in weather warmer then this).

Boy Genius

At 15 months old Jake doesn't say a whole lot yet; "all done, more, moooo, mama, da, beeeee (Ben) and a lot of variations of AH". He will also reluctantly sign a few things too. He sure understands everything though as he loves to follow directions and get little jobs like "go get Mommy's shoes" "get a book" "throw this in the garbage". Yes, a bright little fellow and pretty easy on the eyes too.

Recently we had a bit of a Helen Keller breakthrough though in terms of how badly he wants to communicate and how creative he can be to get you to understand.
Jake was banging on the garage door. Not a place where I let them play I took him up the stairs and watched him have a mini fit. Since it was a definite "no" on the garage play I held firm and watched him get up, brush himself off and march his little self over to the book basket. He went through them with purpose until he found the one he was looking for...flipped to the page of choice and marched back over to bang it on the gate and yell at me.
I went over and picked up the book...there was the picture...and there was his fat little finger pointing furiously at...the bubble.
I asked him if he wanted to get the bubbles from the garage and he squirmed, squealed, grinned and waved his arms.
Yes. It was very much what he wanted:)

Couragous Parenting

When I am doing for my children what I know is right, often there is judgment from those who are not doing the same. Often there is difficulty in enforcing the things I know are best (not easier) and sometimes...those very children, that I am working so hard for...resist.

This is when the courage comes in.

Ben is almost four. He knows what he wants. He has ALWAYS known what he wants but now he has the vocabulary to express exactly how right he is in all things and how very much I suck.

I really don't like this part.

I like the part where he cuddles up to me on the couch with a stack of books, rubs my hand as I turn the pages and stops me to say "I love you so much Mommy, you are my BEST girl".

I really love that part.

What I don't like...loath, really, is when that same sweet, big minded (and mouthed) boy decides that his will and mine are not the same. He lowers his head, clenches his fists and gets that "just try to make me" look (that I admit may have been inherited from a certain someone not appreciating it in this moment). He will stare me down and say in his last chance voice "I will not."

Then I have to decide. IS he going up to his bedroom after pinching his brother because I didn't let him have a forth popcicle?

I meet him eye to eye.

"I am counting to 3 (oh the dreaded words...) if you don't come with me on your own then I will have to help you."
(I am really hoping for the first option...)

His voice is low and firm.

"I WILL not".


If I drag him out from under the table where he is glaring at me I will also have to lug him up the stairs while he shrieks at decibels only known to mother's of willful three and a half year olds and likely he will slap me and kick my thighs all the way there.

I will have to round up every bit of patience humanly possible to CALMLY carry him up the stairs, and in my robotic I-MEAN-BUSINESS voice tell him "you are in your bedroom because you are hurting people. When you can make good choices and be gentle you can come out". Then I will shut the door, to the ever present wailing and shrieking and wait for the dagger...

"I DON'T LIKE YOU ANYMORE! YOU ARE NOT MY FRIEND...OR my best girl"!

Then he will sob and I will have to stay firm in my discipline choice. I will have to not go in that room and pick up my big boy with dangly limbs and emotions too big for his body and hold him in my lap. He will always, no matter how mad he is let me hold him. Even when I think he will surely push me away, he never does. I have to will myself not to cuddle this little boy as he is discovers the power of his words. I would say, "what do I have to do for you to like me again? To be your best girl? I will do anything! Ice cream...toy stores? A puppy? A tiger cub? I can't bare for you to be angry with me! I will never ever make you do anything that displeases you again!I will take you to the park 3 times a day for a month and let you eat chocolate chips for breakfast!"

No that would be too easy. To raise strong men, they must learn as boys. Self control, discipline, consequence and unconditional love...(and that slapping your mother is among the top 10 worst things that you could POSSIBLY do!) It is hard to make the less popular choices, it is hard to expect excellent behavior, manners, respect and obedience, it is hard to set and enforce limits, it is hard to be unpopular and be the brunt of anger. It is hard to set the example when I feel like throwing the blocks and screaming too. It is hard to say no. But if it wasn't hard I wouldn't be doing it right.

I would much rather go to the toy store and eat chocolate then have to set curfews, block internet sites, censor music files, take away driving privileges, confiscate cell phones, demand social networking passowords and insist on group dating. I would rather buy take out then make green smoothies, let them quit their lesson rather then force them to see it through and watch them struggle with a new skill until they succeed. I would rather chose the popular way, the mom is awesome way, the easy way.

It is hard to be the parent sometimes.

So I pray for courage.

...And then I tiptoe hesitantly up to his bedroom door.

"Ben?"

He swings it open, grinning.

"Oh hi Mommy! I got the back of my plane to open and that is where the suitcases can go, see this cord? That is the gas station, it fills up the-"

"Hey Ben? why were you in your room?"

"Oh, um because I didn't make a good choice and I hit"

"That's right? What do you need to do now?"

I get a bear squeeze, Jacob gets a turn and we all get a lesson in airline travel playmobil style as though nothing happened at all.

"Hey Ben...um. If you had a favorite girl...who would that be?"

"Ohhhhh Mommy! That is so silly! Of course I do AND it's YOU!".

Whew.

Spring...so far.

So, they say it is spring.

According to the hail, rain, snow and cold that has been outside our house for the last month I would deduct that THEY are big fat liars of the worst kind. (I don't pretend that this sort of thing doesn't put me in a bit of a foul mood...).

There has been a few teases here and there. We wake up to thrust open the windows and lay in the dusty pools of light on carpet. We put on sharky boots (and by we, I mean "they") and head to the park. Never mind that my hands are so cold I can barely push the stroller...this is the best we've got. We will go with it.

***Jacob strips off his clothes in protest and waits wistfully for a wading pool....

Happy Easter

Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.


***Ben, putting a picture of Jesus on the fridge that he found in his bedroom after hearing the Easter story.

Announcing...

My Book!

If someone had told me a year ago how much work it was to write a little ol children' book I would have...well done it anyway! Although my expectations would have been a little more realistic.
It goes something like this...Find publisher-submit manuscript-rewrite manuscript-repeat-repeat-repeat-repeat-repeat (seriously I am not even exaggerating!) detail illustrations to illustrator- post edit and repeat-repeat-repeat-repeat...(again!) then move to final production and...well...you get the idea...but now we are weeks away from the release and let me tell ya, it was so much fun!

If you would like to pre-order a signed copy (or not signed...I shouldn't be so presumptuous...) go to my facebook page to get the link to the book website (I don't post personal information on this website or our last name) Jon designed the website...he is so talented...and cute...

Just Wondering...

So I have this feeling that there is a little girl who will one day belong to our family. I don't know when, but I feel like we will have some pink in our home one day.
Oh I don't even have to say that I love boys to bits. I would have 100 of those stinking little muddy boys who smooch their Mommy and leave slobber on her cheeks.
But one day we will have a little princess too...I just know it.

So I kind of buy clothes for her... sometimes. Only when I see something so fabulous I can't resist and when that fabulous something is on sale...I buy it. You know, for our "one day girl".

I went to a mom to mom sale last weekend (these are my addiction...they are like a big indoor garage sale of childrens items and clothes) and there was a woman who must have had the best dressed little girl in the entire city selling her clothes...more like giving them away...and I couldn't resist. I came home with a whole darn bag.

While I going through them to wash before I tuck wistfully in the "one day girl's" bin of fabulousness I wondered what she may look like...which was the time that her future big brother came wondering in...and...yes I did...

Something to Clear Up....

When we saw our home before we purchased it the previous owners had already moved out. We saw it completely empty and assumed the obvious nature of the rooms. There were two spaces that bothered me. On the open concept main floor there is a looooong living room. On one side it is open to the island and bar, the other end is a half wall separating the entry way and the other end has a window. It was difficult to organize our living room furniture in but I thought we made it work. The other problem area was the dinette, the open area of the kitchen for the dining table. It is not a huge area so the table took up the whole space and blocked the patio door to the deck.

When our house was for sale our agent asked if there was any way we could stage the living/dining area with a table to define area's more clearly...huh? Living room/DINING room? We have a dining room???? I couldn't imagine the space that way after using the long room only as a living room. We bought a small table for the dinette this weekend and moved the dining set into the "dining area" sure enough the whole space made sense...finally! After four years of living in our house, we found our dining room! (Yes. We feel dumb.)

Mini Kung Fu Master

Jacob LOVES Daddy's kung fu weapons. Whenever he sees Jon's bag he toddles over as fast as he can to get his fat little hands on them. I am sure in 5 short years he will be already well rehearsed before he gets his white belt!

Play

At three and a half Ben's play has evolved from banging blocks and throwing balls around to intricate scenes and story lines. He will immerse himself in a forest village for the morning, pause for a picnic lunch with his monkey and rabbit and then fight fires (notice the high heeled foot peddles on his fire engine...)build a car wash from a kitchen chair and fly to the moon in his cardboard rocket ship and bucket helmet for the afternoon.
I am in awe of that little boy with the great big imagination. Truly he has inspired me... and yes, that is a hint of an announcement...

Not a Surprise...

It is not a surprise that Jacob's favorite activity when he is not eating, is to be pretending to do so...while he awaits the sympathy of someone who believes he is as starving as he pretends to be and feeds him his 16th meal of the morning.

Facepaint!

Oh the Joys of face paint... we learned the hard way that if you let your three year old monster sleep with it on his face because he acted like washing it off at the end of the day was near torture it won't come off for 2 more full days...