Kids these days!

I don't know what is wrong with kids these days. They have no table manners and always play with their food! What are their parents teaching them at home?

Fall Giveaway

Being a mom of five girls I have become a collector of dresses. Most of these dresses
were given to our family as gifts or seconds. It's been such a blessing and very enjoyable to see my girls dressed up for church or just for fun. We have all seasons and all sizes from newborn to now size 14.

But I admit that I have been a little sentimental knowing that there will no more little girls coming to dress up. I've slowly been weeding through the smaller clothes donating them here and there or saving the ones with special memories. But then there are others that are just too precious and valuable to donate to Goodwill or the garage sale.

Knowing that dresses are getting harder to come by these days and that often the cost is unreasonable, I want to pass these sweet dresses on to you.

So if your in the market for 4 winter dresses (Old Navy black velvet Jumper with red flowers, Old Navy corduroy button down with yellow and light blue flowers, Gap light purple with pastel flower print, Little Moments velvety dark purple with pink flowers ) for your little size 2/3 princess sign in here.



I will randomly pick a winner on Saturday Nov. 3rd. Please leave a comment and tell me about your favorite dress that you wore as a little girl. If you don't have a blog please sign up anyway. I'll contact you via email. This giveaway is open to US only.

My favorite dress was a floor length pink number with pleats all the way to the ground. My grandpa (quiet farmer type) bought it for my first piano recital at a children's specialty store. It came in a big box wrapped in a ribbon and tissue paper. I never felt so confident and pretty. I hadn't seen it for years until my parents gave it to me for Mother's Day a few years ago.

The Good Shepherd

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed this morning. Granted it is 6:20 on a Monday morning. But I've been a bit under the weather recently and since Friday night have been feeling low on energy, motivation, inspiration... I know that part of it is merely physical- my body fighting off this virus. I'd say I'm moving at about 60% which is really a bad scenerio in my mind because this place moves a lot faster than that. But more than that, I'm fighting back those feelings of being unbalanced. I've been headed this way for a few weeks now and the train is about to come into the station.

For all the physical work that I do or needs to be done around here, it is so quickly undone right before my eyes. I know its just part of this season of our family's life,I accept that. But when I look at the big mess I wonder if it is worth the effort.

I do many things for my children, but am I giving them what they need? Am I giving them time just to talk and be with me, not just be around me and talked at? Do they know that they are loved unconditionally and forever? Am I intentionally instilling in them the Truth?

Homeschooling has been going well this year thus far. For this I am thankful. But the momentum is starting to slow down for me and the kids. How can I inspire them if I am unmotivated myself?

I don't feel sorry for myself, but realize that this is what happens when I begin to rely on myself more than on the Lord. It really is so subtle at first and I don't even notice, but before I know it the Old Me is attempting to control the reins. And crash. Talk about a mess.

This has been a lifelong struggle for me. I am a master a justifying and deceiving myself. I love control and God lovingly (though not without pain) continually reminds me otherwise.

I'd like to avoid this crash which takes often the form of a very bad attitude, hurting other's feelings, being selfish, pitying myself, blaming others, loosing my patience, raising my voice...

So on my to be list this week:

In Christ, instead of being overwhelmed by my own circumstance and feelings I choose to be tended, gathered, carried and led by The Good Shepherd. That's where I want to be.

Isaiah 40:11-14

11 He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?

13 Who has understood the mind of the LORD,
or instructed him as his counselor?

Whatcha Got Cookin'

Friday night there was some fun happening at this house! Myself and seven other homeschool moms joined together for the first Whatcha Got Cookin' party. We made 64+ meals total in about 3 hours to be stored in the freezer for a later time.

This is what we made:

Chicken Devan
Beef Stew
Wet Burritos
Stuffed Shells
Egg Rolls and Teriyaki sauce
Chicken Calzones
Macaroni Cassarole
Chili

This is how it worked:

About three weeks ago each lady submitted a 2 recipes of her choice. Each recipe serves a family of 8. From this list we narrowed it down to make a good balance and variety.

Each person was responsible to provide all the meat her own family would be eating. This way they could pull from what they already had or buy on sale and hopefully save some money.

After being assigned a recipe each lady multiplied that recipe times 8 and then purchased and prepared all the non-meat ingredients for the entire group. Any prep work like dicing, boiling or chopping was done at home. This allowed us to buy in bulk and save some time and money.

That night we all brought our meat and all of our prep work together and began to assemble each recipe one by one for our individual family. It was nice to be able to control the spiciness or leave out an ingredient that our family wouldn't care for. There was nothing to actually cook, so it went fairly quickly. Each recipe cost between$4-8 depending on if it was divided into one or two meals due to family size.

More than anything it was an opportunity visit and share and we did something productive at the same time! We may see each other at homeschool group each week, but for some of us it was the first time ever that we have had a uninterrupted conversation.

The night ended in the early hours of the morning with chocolate, caffeine and great conversation.

Wanna see?

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them! You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

Ugh. I wanted to be Prairie Dawn.

I categorically reject the neat freak- I'm a wanna be on that one.

I try not to be too serious. But seriously, I can't help it.

If you lived on Sesame Street who would you be?

Caring for Curls

I inherited my curls from my dad. Guys have the option of just cutting their curls as short as possible so that other people are fooled into thinking it is "thick". Girls, however, are faced with the daunting task of creating a style from what can easily become a haystack. When people see our family one of the first things they comment is, "Wow, look at all that hair!" Our drains are saying the same thing for a completely different reason!

Curly hair can not be changed, but it will behave differently depending on how it is treated. So for you moms out there with curly headed kids here's the low down.

1. Never (I repeat, "Never!") brush, pick or tease curly hair when it is dry. If you do each individual hair will leave its friends to have a party of its own. There's no going back when that happens. Your only options are to put it up or wash it. Only wet, well conditioned hair should be brushed.

2. Curly hair is by nature dry. I myself was a church camp phenomenon when I could go under the water at the pool and come up with completely dry hair. You must allow the hair to be saturated before applying shampoo. Then let the conditioner have a little extra time. You must teach your daughter (and yourself) to be patient.

3. Use a good gel product applied to the ends first, but don't over "scrunch". (Creating volume is not likely a problem). To read about my all time favorite products look here. A good rule of thumb is that the gel should be watery, not sticky in your hand.

4. Curly hair is also more porous so it sucks in whatever it comes in contact with. This means that it needs some protection before getting into chlorine. Wetting hair and applying conditioner before swimming goes a long way to keep curly hair healthy.

5. Never, never, never blow dry or apply heat to curls. It is disastrous.

6. Run quickly from any hair stylist that says, "I can thin your hair" or "Let's texturize it here". This is done with special thinning scissors that remind me of pinking shears. Or they may use regular scissors and run the blade across the hair to "shave" back certain areas. This is a tragedy that is not easily undone. (I'm speaking from experience here). When curly hair is cut in this manner the individual hairs have varying lengths. This only serves to thicken the hair from underneath and create terrible rats. Also, the next time the same technique is used there is no way to tell how the hair was thinned the last time to repeat the same layers. It's very bad and can take years to undo.

7. Find a good stylist and stick with her. Preferably she would be a curly head, too. Thankfully, curly hair can go longer without being cut, but a consistent hair stylist will be able to tell what is and is not possible with one's hair. She will learn the patterns and quirks of your child's curls and be able to teach you both how to care for it.

8. Consider it a blessing. Once your curly haired girl learns to care for it herself she will be a low maintenance gal.

Little Steps

Tonight at water aerobics (my favorite form of exercise these days) the Billy Joel song It's Still Rock and Roll To Me was playing as I was jumping like a frog and then pretending to shoot an imaginary basketball. Anyway, in a way only songs can, I was right back to a muggy dorm room in August of 1990 unpacking my bags. My roommate and lifelong best friend, Carrie, and I pulled our first all-nighter unpacking and arranging and rearranging our 12 X 10 room that night. Part of it was probably adrenaline related but the other part (at least for me) was trying to work off that feeling of impending doom. The next morning my Dad would be driving back home 8 hours away and leaving me to live my new life.

Thinking about all of this made me a little teary eyed. I don't think anyone could tell because of the water splattered all over my glasses. My oldest daughter, Hannah, left yesterday for a week with her best friend to Chicago. I'm completely comfortable with her going, but I can't believe that she did. She and her friend have planned this trip for months. I am so excited that she will experience a wonderful city and share those memories with one of her favorite people. I went on vacations with Carrie's family for as many years as I can remember. These trips expanded my world. They became a part of who I grew up to be.

I know that this is just a little step with many more to come.