The Secret of Motherhood

The great secret to motherhood is....that we are all just making it up as we go along.


We want to know exactly what to do in every situation. We especially want our children and spouse to think we know what we are doing. But the truth is, all of us are just doing the best we can moment to moment.

Some of us pull it off better than others. My first three children were born within about a three-and-a-half-year time span. I soon realized that while some people could make this look easy, even after several children I was still an Amateur Mom. Things that should go smoothly never did. Mistakes I should have seen coming, still snuck up on me - and messes that were impossible to clean up were a daily occurrence.

One of my only saving graces as a mother is that no matter how insanely frustrating, or obviously overwhelming my day-to-day mother moments are; deep down in the nether-reaches of my soul, I have never lost my keen sense of the ridiculous. And, no matter how badly, I want to scream, or sell my children to pirates for magic beans; I also know that eventually, whatever the situation is, it will make a great phone call to my own mother. And we will laugh (eventually).

Much has been written about how important motherhood is, and how profound and soul-rendering it is. Much has also been written about how much is at stake when we take on the responsibility of caring for and raising precious little human beings. My point is that in addition to these very valid aspects of motherhood; motherhood can also be...fun (well, funny at least).

My journey started the moment I realized that I had been a much better mother, before I actually had children. I had a lot of parenting know-how. It was simple really. If you were kind, firm, and consistent one could solve any parenting dilemma. If only that lady at the grocery store with the screaming two-year-old had been kind, firm and consistent, her child would be sitting contentedly in the cart! If only that poor mother in the back of the congregation at church had been a little more prepared, her children would be sitting with rapt attention instead of crawling all over the floor. (Are you sensing a little self-righteousness - don't worry, God has a sense of humor!!) That's right, now I'm that lady!!! And while it's not always fun in the moment, these things pass. And mothering is a lot more complicated than just being kind, firm and consistent.

But, it can be fun. There are the moments that my children say the most hilarious things! There are those looks between my husband and me, when we hear them using phrases our parents used (not that they learned them from us, or anything!) And not to forget the rare moments when they think we're not looking and actually do something kind for each other.

And there are a lot of situations that are just so ridiculous they're funny! And chronicling them here, helps me to remember to find the humor, and the joy in the day to dayness that is motherhood.

Here are some links to some of my previous experiences (in case you'd like a good laugh at my expense).

The Long and Short of It

The Emergency Room

Flying Kites

Life in the Express Lane
A Slip of the Elbow

I also look forward to sharing the hilarity that will most certainly continue to happen (we're expecting our fifth child in February - and I am looking forward to the blessing of being able to start all over again with a new little human being, who I am sure, will bring even more to the mix!)

And I would love to hear from you, the fabulous stories that come with having children. I'm hoping that I'm not the only Amateur Mom out there!

Next Week: Snowmen!

Next week our preschool theme is going to be Snowmen!

If you'd like to join along, here is a link to a pdf document that has all of the activities, materials and detailed instructions and links for all of our theme projects next week. There's also more information on my weekly theme projects on the "Weekly Themes" tab at the top of the page!

Snowmen

Popcorn and Manicotti

First of all, my three-year-old just walked up to me and informed me that:
"cleaning my ears with popcorn would be a bad idea"
Which, by the way, I completely agree with; it would.
Thankfully there is no popcorn in the house, that I know of, so I'm hopeful this is just a hypothetical statement......

But, on to other things.

One of the things I love about having a menu planned ahead of time, is that it gives me a starting point, when plans change. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but to me a menu is just a plan, and you can always switch meals around to fit what is going on in real life. At least you have the ingredients already on hand to make the switch!

When I found out a few days ago, that we were able to vist some friends who live about an hour and a half away from us, I was really excited! We love to visit them and miss being able to spend a lot of time together. Our kids and our parenting styles are complementary, so its always fun to visit!
The great thing is that we are both expecting our fifth child, and our due dates are only a day apart.
The not-so-great news is that she has been on bed-rest for many weeks now, and we haven't been able to vist very much.

So, when I checked the menu to see what I would need to switch around, (since we won't be eating lunch or dinner at home today). I realized that the menu I had planned for Saturday lent itself really well to being doubled, and frozen. This way, I have an extra dinner on hand when I need it, and I can take one down to my friends to stock in thier freezer while mom is on bed-rest!

I made baked manicotti.

I just doubled the recipe for the filling and used the big mixing bowl.
Once everything was mixed together I put the filling in a gallon ziplock bag and cut one of the corners off. I used it as a piping bag to fill the shells.

Our grocery store was sold out of manicotti shells, so I just used the jumbo shells instead. The original recipe called for 8oz of manicotti shells, but the 12oz box of jumbo shells filled both 9x13 pans with 20 shells each, and there were a few left over.

The other cool thing about this recipe (besides being a great way to get spinach into my kids), is that you don't have to boil the shells before you fill them. You just put the filling in the uncooked shells, and add some water to the spaghetti sauce. As a result you do add quite a lot of sauce (you want to cover the shells) They will absorb the extra moisture as they cook.

I just added a pre-packaged salad and frozen garlic bread. I popped theirs in the freezer, and they can bake it up anytime. We can save ours for anytime we need a meal, and I'm too busy to cook!

If you'd like a pdf with all of the recipes and a grocery list here's the link:

Dec 24 Menu

Some of our favorites

It turns out that we're having a wet and rainy Christmas week. It was nice to have several activities that even the older kids were interested in doing (when they were bored of their new Christmas toys!).

One of our favorites was the "Snowglobe" science activity. We put our own little twist on it. The instructions only have one sample (the one using Karo Syrup), but we did three so that we could compare how the different liquids behaved. We did one using Karo, one using mineral oil (any oil would work, but mineral oil is cheap and clear) and the final one with water. In the picture our water one is a bit cloudy, but we couldn't wait until the glue in the cap was dry to try it out!

We used beads, glitter, and confetti pieces. As you can see each one was distinct. The kids loved playing with these. Even after the initial excitement wore off, I put them out on the toy shelf and they kept coming back to them throughout the week. Of course, please be sure to glue the lids on!!!

You could also do a combination of oil, water, food coloring and glitter (these make great "waves" to observe).

The other one that was a big hit with everybody was the "silver bells alphabet game." Our silver bells were Hershey Kisses. The idea is that once you find a match you get the keep the chocolate. As you can see everyone was interested in learning their letters again!!!

My one hint on this one, is to cut out the letters the night before (you know after the kids are in bed, while you're watching TV!!) Otherwise, half of the silver bells will disappear before you get to play the game. I used a 12oz package of chocolate kisses, and there were plenty (with a few left over).

Christmas Projects

Omlet Success!

Our Monday morning breakfast was omlets with fresh spinach. (Actually we didn't have them on Monday, since we had a special Christmas Eve breakfast that day.....) And, I'm very excited that they actually turned out like omlets instead of really big pieces of scrambled eggs, which is how my omlets usually turn out.

The trick for me is to treat the omlet like a really big pancake when I try to flip it over (it's a bit like trying to cook a crepe - if that helps at all :)

I'm counting this one as a success as two of my four children liked them, and three of my four children tried them with the spinach filling!!

 First, I sauteed a little bit of onion and shredded carrot in a teaspoon or two of vegetable oil and added some salt and pepper. Then I added some fresh baby spinach and let it wilt down a bit.

 For each omlet I scrambled three eggs and cooked them in the non-stick skillet. Once they were set on the bottom, I flipped them over like a pancake or crepe to cook the other side (I know some people just cook the one side - but I have a pathalogical fear of eating uncooked eggs, so I cook mine on both sides!)

I added shredded cheddar cheese to the filling and foldeded the omlet over on itself to let everything melt together for a minute or two.

Since my kidlets are still little (and everyone was trying it for the first time) I cut each omlet in half and served with pears and mandarin oranges - fruits I know everyone likes.

Sorry, I didn't get the chocolate milk in the picture, but you get the idea!!

Here's another link to this week's menu if you'd like the recipes:

Dec 24 Greens

Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful, happy Christmas with friends and family!!!

This week's projects theme has been Christams. Here are a few examples of the printable projects/games.

Feel free to jump in with us:

Christmas

Christmases Past

Christmas is always a special time of year for me. And while, I love spending time with my little family, it’s also a time that I miss the family I grew up in (they all grew up and moved away!). So in memory of Christmases past, I thought I would share my favorite Christmas story from when I was growing up.


Every year, our family tradition, was to go to a Christmas tree farm and cut down our own Christmas tree. I loved being out in the hills, and the smell of the fresh trees all around. Each year we would pretend to be “lost in the forest” (although it is harder to get lost when all of the trees are planted in nice straight rows!) Each year we would pick the perfect tree, watch my father cut it down, and bungee cord it to the top of our minivan. And each year, one of my sisters, Kelly, would hate the tree we picked. That’s right every year……no matter what. It was never the tree that she wanted and it was always the saddest thing in the world to her.

One Christmas, my parents decided that this was one tradition that needed to change. Looking back, I’m sure they were tired of the inevitable crying and complaining on the way home. This year was going to be different, this year, whatever tree Kelly picked we were going to like…..no matter what. This was Kelly’s year, and if she picked a three that was two-and-a-half feet tall and brown, we were going to like it.

Off we went to our regular Christmas tree farm. All seven kids tumbled out of the minivan and off we went to find the perfect tree. Kelly took her time finding one that was just right. When she did, true to instructions, the rest of us agreed that it was the perfect tree.

We should have known when it took longer than normal to cut it down. We also should have known when we trimmed it again at home (in preparation of putting it in the tree holder) and found that about two inches above the original cut, the tree separated into two trunks – not the best configuration for fitting it into the holder. We finally got it all situated, sprayed it with the hose to remove any bugs and left it overnight. The next evening when we brought it in the house to decorate, someone noticed a ladybug.

Then, we noticed another and another. Turns out the entire trunk was covered with a living mass of ladybugs! We spent the next two weeks removing lady bugs from the tree, and the furniture, and the drapes, various guests and the house in general. Don’t get me wrong, ladybugs are cute, just not in the quantities were finding. It was months before we stopped finding little ladybugs in tiny nooks and crannies.

This year was, of course, known forever after as The Ladybug Christmas. It has now become enshrined in Parry Family Folklore and is one of the favorite stories told every Christmas. Even Kelly think s it’s funny now!

Christmas Week

Hi Everyone,
Sorry about the lack of posts this week. Between cub scout meetings, and principal meetings, teacher meetings, my last week of work before our holiday shut-down, and a few other things, I just haven't had time to post anything! (Also, haven't had much time for laundry - but I digress.)

Anyway, here is the preschool theme for next week:

Christmas

And here is the menu for next week as well:

Dec 24 Greens

Leafy greens are super healthy for you, and it should be noted that I'm very liberal in my interpretation of greens. While I do have one recipe for traditional cooked greens, most of my greens recipes include spinach or leafy lettuce. (Hey, it counts in my book if my kids eat leafy lettuce on their turkey sandwiches!!)

Today is my day to get caught up with housework, cooking, and laundry. The good news is I have ELEVEN DAYS until I go back to work (for THREE more days) and then I am off on maternity leave until July!!!!!!!

So, other than having a baby, I will have much more time to keep the blog updated!

The Christmas Story

I know I posted this week's theme on Saturday. But, I really wanted to do my Christmas Story theme this week instead (the pdf wasn't quite ready to post last Saturday, so I posted the Christmas theme instead).
The week leading up to Christmas, I like to focus on my family's religious beliefs about Christmas. I use this week to reinforce the values that are important to me. Faith, service to others, kindness etc. The weekly plan is a little different. I've added a Bible verse for each day, as well as a "Giving Project" for each day.
If you'd like to join us here is the link:

The Christmas Story

Of course if you have different religious beliefs or traditions, you can always substitute your own, or use the more generic "Christmas" theme that I posted earlier!

Today's projects focused on the Star of Bethlehem. Our favorite was, of course, making star cookies:

It's hard to see in the picture, but we decided to make our stars green! It was the only food coloring we had left!!

And of course the other kids wanted to help as well!

One plate was for us to enjoy, and the other plate went to Elder and Sister Chaimberlain (two missionaries who are serving in our congregation, and who we absolutely love!!!!) It was a bit difficult at first for my three-year-old to give away any of the cookies, but it was easier to give them to people he likes so much! And for me, that's just fine. Learning to give and being generous is important to me, but it's also important to me, that we do it in a way that is fun, and that gives lots of postive feedback at this age.

Next Week's Theme

So next week's theme is......Christmas!

Here's the link if you'd like to join in!! I'll post more details later.

Christmas

Kid Reviews

So here is a picture of dinner tonight. "Leek and Chicken Pasta," fruit salad and green beans. I promised that any one who tried each thing on their plate, could give me a star rating and I would post their review on the blog. (Turned out to be a terrific motivator!!) So, here we go!

From my eleven-year-old:
4.5 Stars (out of 5)
"The noodles tasted like lemon, the chicken tasted like chicken and there was green crunchy stuff in it!"

From my eight-year-old:
5 Stars
"I liked that it was a little spicey, and I liked the strawberries, and I liked the green thingies"

From my three-year-old:
5 Stars (and lots more!)

Here's the link to the menu:

Menu Leeks

Persimmons

I have to be honest with you, persimmons have always been a little intimidating to me! I guess I just never grew up eating them with the standard fruits in my house (apples, oranges & bananas). Persimmons always looked pretty, but I've just never been sure exactly how to eat them!

But, they are in season this month, and I am really trying to get my kids to try new fruits and veggies, so I'm up for trying something new next week! (And, also, we had a great persimmon salad at work a few days ago, and they tasted great!)

So, there are two kinds of persimmons, Fuya (round and firm - great for eating as is) and Haychiya (acorn shaped and really soft when ripe these are best for baking). They are both super healthy for you. They have lots of fiber, Vitamin C and Vitamin A and are really low in calories.

Next week's menu has persimmons as an ingredient in at least one dish per day, I tried to mix it up a bit. Whenever I'm trying something really new, I usually end up trying it in a bread or muffin recipe (these are easiest to get past my kidos) so I have several persimmon recipes that involve baking. Since many of them involve making persimon pulp, I thought I would add a link to a website with instructions on how to make persimmon pulp:

http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/clean-eating-persimmon-pulp/

And for those of you who want to follow along with next week's menu, here is a link to a pdf. The first page is the men (click on any item with a square around it and it will open up the recipe) The second page is the shopping list (it's long, but you probably already have a lot of the ingredients!)

Dec 17 Persimmons

Too Cool for Reindeer Hats

Today we worked on the science project that involved making igloos out of sugar cubes and frosting. As you can see all of my kidos wanted to get in on the science!

Our tallest igloo!



This project went really well, until Mom stepped away for a minute and World War III broke out over who was using the most sugar cubes and why.

(Some days I can look at this philisophically and see that what my children are really exploring, are aspects of social justice, the fair distribution of natural resources within a society and different methods of conflict resolution - today however, I chose to demonstrate the paticular form of government called a "dictatorship" and "instant incarceration" ie. go to your room; since in my kingdom it's never okay to dump sugar cubes on your sister's head!!)

And last, but not least, is the antler hat, that my three-year-old was waaaaay too cool to model for me. When I showed him the picture, his only comment was: "They just look funny when the antlers are flopping over like that"



Tueday's Meals

Breakfast, I just used refrigerated croissant dough and added chocolate chips to the croissants before I rolled them up. You can also sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar before baking!  The yogurt is just plain vanilla with cinnamon sprinkled on top.

 Lunch was easy to pack, we were out of cottage cheese, so I just substituted montery jack cheese cut into bite-size chunks.

 Carrots & Ranch

By the time dinner came around, the weather had turned cold. Warm soup was just the thing!

If you'd like to try any of the recipes they are on my "Menus" page!!



Flying Santa

Just playing around getting our Flying Santa to Fly!

Jay-Jay's been asking all day when it was time to "glue the puff-balls!"

If you'd like to try any of our actvities with us here's the link:

Santa & Reindeer

Christmas Through The Eyes of A Child

One of the most precious things about being a parent is the chance to re-live the wonder of childhood through my children. I distinctly remember my oldest daughter’s second Christmas. She was almost two years old and was finally aware enough of what was going on to have some definite opinions about our family traditions.

The first thing the adults did was to buy a tree. That’s right, they went out and bought a tree. Now, keep in mind that she was not allowed to bring sticks, leaves, dirt or pinecones into the house on the pretence that they would make the house dirty, but all of a sudden an entire tree gets brought into the house and placed in the middle of the living room. When my husband brought it in, she kept looking at me clearly waiting for me to reiterate the rules and make him “take that outside.” Not only did the tree stay inside our house, those adults actually looked pleased about it. Then we promptly got out a box of decorations, and hung shiny things all over that tree! Next came little lights that blink on and off. After setting up such an unexpected display, our next move was to invoke a “no touching” rule.

Within the next few days, pretty packages wrapped in bright paper and tied with sparkly bows started appearing under the tree. With strict warnings not to touch the presents!! This amazing phenomenon lasted a few weeks, and then one morning both parents got up plopped her down in front of the tree and handed her a package. She just stared at it, having been reminded several hundred times by now about that “no touching” rule. Then with smiling faces we encouraged her to rip open the paper! She was not about to be tricked into breaking that rule, what was the matter with everyone? Had everyone gone insane? The pictures from that Christmas morning are precious, and well, if you look at it from her point of view she’s right, we didn’t make much sense at all did we?

And let’s not even mention two months later, when we lit her dessert on fire, stood around singing and then expected her to put out the fire! Birthdays’ didn’t make much sense either.

Santa, Reindeer & Leeks

Hi Everyone! My appologies, but one of my fabulous kidos misplaced my data drive, so I wasn't able to post my menu and preschool theme earlier (I just found it this morning behind the chest freezer!!)

So, for anyone who's interested:

The preschool theme is Santa & Reindeer:

Santa and Reindeer

And the menu for next week:

Dec 10 Menu Leeks

As always, let me know if you try any of the ideas/recipes and how they work for you!!

Recipes

Hi Everyone!
I just realized that this week's menu is missing two of the dinner recipes (amateur mom!). The ingredients made it on the menu, just not the recipes.

So.... Here are the missing recipes!!

Mark's Favorite Chicken:
     1 Cup Bread Crumbs
     1 Envelope Ranch Dressing Mix
    6 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast

Combine crumbs and dressing mix.
Coat chicken pieces.
Bake in greased baking dish at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

Barbeque Beef Patties
     1 Egg
     1/2 Cup BBQ Sauce
     3/4 Cup Bread Crumbs
     1 tsp. Salt
     1 lb. Ground Beef

Combine egg, 1/4 C. BBQ sauce, bread crumbs and salt.
Add ground beef and mix well.
Shape into four 3/4" patties.
Top with remaining BBQ sauce.
Place in greased pan and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until internal temperature is 160 degrees.

Gingerbread!

Hi Everyone,
Next week's theme for my three-year-old is gingerbread!
If you'd like to join along, here is the link:

Gingerbread

It will open up a pdf document with all the activities and a list of the materials you'll need.
If you click on an activity the instructions or a website will open up!