Umm...well, because I wanted to draw a picture on my face.

Menu for November 5th

One of the biggest chores I have is menu writing. I'm a bit lazy at it, and then resent the fact that we eat out so much. I'm trying to get better at it. I love looking for recipes online, but can never find a menu/shopping list that covers three meals a day (I have found a few that have 7 dinners, but that leaves me with 14 more meals to plan!) So... I thought I would share what I have planned for next week along with the shopping list that goes with it.




Here are the guidelines I try to use:

• Every breakfast has two servings of fruits/vegetables and at least 1 protein

• I include a healthy snack for every weekday

• Lunches are "packable" for the kidos in school

• I have a "Harvest of the Week" produce item that I try to serve once a day (in the hopes that eventually my kids will break down and try it. Also, by "in season" I literally mean something that Safeway has on sale for less than $1.00 per pound - my Harvest of the Week item is highlighted in green on the menu!)

• The first page is the menu, the second page is the shopping list (It looks scary, but you probably have a lot of the ingredients already) If the recipe calls for a specific amount I list is first. Some items are going to vary by how many people you are shopping for (for instance I have a family of 6 - mostly little kids, if I need to buy grapes to serve in two lunches I only need 1 large bag of grapes - you might need less or you might have three teenage boys who are also linebackers, in which case you might need a whole case of grapes!!!) I list the amount I'm buying for my family after the item on my list - so you know to adjust for your family!


Here's my menu for this week (My Harvest of the Week item is: Sweet Potatoes)

November 5 Sweet Potatoes

Weekly Theme: Trees & Leaves!

I've been thinking about trying something new on this blog! I've had a lot of people (when they found out I was expecting my fifth little one) ask "How on earth do you do it all?" The short answer is, of course, "I don't." In fact, I still consider myself quite the amateur at this motherhood thing (hense the name of the blog!) But, I did think it would be fun to share some of the tips and tricks and fun things that I have found along the way. And hopefully other people will jump in on the comments section and share what things work for them!

One of the things I really enjoy doing with my kids is having a weekly "theme." It started when my oldest child was about eighteen-months-old. Being the responsible mom that I was, I read an article somewhere on the internet that said that eighteen-month-olds should have a 300 word vocabulary. I of course panicked that my poor child only knew ooohhh about 200 words, and therefore I must take action to help her!!! (I have sinse learned that none of my children are ever at a shortage for words.....I have never since worried that they do not speak enough!) But, I had so much fun with the weekly theme idea, that I tried to keep it up!

So, I thought I would start by posting the weekly theme ideas every week that I use at my house. Right now I only do the theme ideas with my three-year-old. My older kids are all in school now, and I'm a big beliver that kids need some unstructured time to just be kids. And with our crazy schedule, the older kids don't get a lot of unstructured time. I do put together themes for my other kids when they're not in school (so I'll have some for the older kids at the end of November, when they're out of school for Thanksgiving Break).

The weekly theme for next week (I start them on Mondays) is Trees & Leaves. If you'd like to join in, I've posted a link to all the activities I'll be using here:

Trees & Leaves 

It also includes a list of all the materials you'll need for the week (I try really hard to use stuff that's just around the house - and you can always substitute something you have as opposed to buying "stuff") There is also a snack for every day of the week and a list of all the ingredients for those as well!

If it sounds like fun, you're invited to join us! You can use all or just part of the weekly plan - my confession: I don't always do all of the activities listed either!

I'll post throughout the week, how we've been doing the activities, and I'd love to hear from you, if you try any of them as well!!

Silly Little Poem

I am not taking a bath today.
So you can pack up your soap and take it away.

You can shut off the water and take out the plug
Get rid of the bath towels, washcloth and rug.

I’m stinky and sticky and yicky and green
And I like me this way, I feel just like a queen.

So don’t talk to me about bubbles and such
I’m perfectly happy to be wearing my lunch.

I’m terribly busy doing all kinds of big things,
Like digging in tunnels and painting the swings.

I’m looking for treasures in this pile of trash,
I’m finding bubble gum for my secret stash.

I cannot stop to be bothered with soap.
I’m too busy climbing this tree with my rope.

I cannot come down from this tree for a shower
I do not like lotion or perfume or powder

I like to be messy, and it’s easier too.
There are lots of messy things to do.

What is that? What did you just say?
I have to go to bed today?

Well what a silly thing to say,
I cannot go to bed this way.

My bed is not the place for me.
I’m taking my bath now, can’t you see?

The Science Fair

For the last three months Anarosa has been working on her science project. They assigned everyone in her class a specific project (they didn't choose their own topic) Anarosa got "The Different Freezing Points of Different Liquids." She was really proud of her project until the night before it was due, and then she was really nervous about it. She got a perfect score!! And she was selected as one of the students from her school to bring her project to the high school for the district Science Day. Of course all of us went to see her project (and our fabulous friends the McMullens came as well!!) We got to see all of the exhibits, see  a presentation from the Lawrence Livermore Science Program and of course we got the see Anarosa's poster board on display!

Mentos and Diet Coke

Conversations:

My two-year-old is taking a bath, and I explain that it's time to wash his hair. He is convinced that he is not washing his hair:

Me: Well....at the park today a little boy who looked a lot like you kept pouring tan bark on his head. And little boys who pour tan bark on their heads have to wash their hair.

Jay-Jay: umm no...wasn't me.

Me: Wasn't you huh?

Jay-Jay: Nope........It was the lady.

Me: The lady?

Jay-Jay: Yes the lady on the bus!

Me: Really, the lady on the bus put tan bark in her hair?

Jay-Jay: Yep! I not wash my hair!!


Then when my seven-year-old was practicinig her cursive writing, she wanted some help.

Alana: Mom, how do you write a cursive "v".
Me: Here I'll show you
Alana: oh, okay. Here's my name in cursive!
Me: Yep, that looks great!
Alana: How do you write your name in cursive?
Me: Like this...... but my signature looks different it looks like this.....
Alana: (with a very sly sideways look) ohhhh.........Can you teach me to write that in cursive?
Me: (immediately thinking of my credit cards) ummmm NO!

Why I Love Two-Year-Olds

Overhead while I was doing dishes:

Jay-Jay (to himself, while he was pushing a child-size chair to the counter)
"Hello, Jay-Jay, would you like a cookie? ......Yes, thank you."

An Ode to Laundry

Hello, laundry sitting there,
On my couch and on my chair
Waiting unwearyingly to be put away,
Waiting all throughout the day.
And then another day comes you see
Full of work and fun and chores for me.
But still you sit upon that chair
Waiting for me to catch up there.
Children come and rummage through
Looking for pants and undies too.
Until your pile is no more
You’re just a heap upon the floor
And now we’re back were we began
A pile of clothes to wash again.

Inside Out

On the way home from a very long day last week my husband turned to me and asked: “do I really have to go to ….(social engagement we were both waaaay too tired to attend).
I of course answered: ”Nope, I’m exhausted. Let’s skip it and go home!”
Husband: “I wasn’t really asking, I know I have to go…If you were a good wife, you’d tell me to go.”
Me: “If I was a good wife, I’d have homemade dinners every night, a beautiful garden, a really clean house and children with impeccable manners…and a lot of other stuff too.”
Husband: with a huge roll of his eyes “Oh my gosh … in what decade?”
Me: emphatically, “Right now, there are people who do it, I swear!”
Husband: “Like who? Name one!”
Me: “Well, this lady on the internet"
Husband: “Yeah, it happens so rarely for people that when it does, they post it on the internet. When it happens for you, you post it too”
Me: “No, some people just make it work all the time!!”
Husband: “You know you really are crazy.”

Yes, well I probably am. But this conversation got me thinking. I had seen a video on the internet that morning that had got me thinking along these lines. It was a beautiful twenty-something mom of four kids who had a video all about capturing “everyday moments.” She was beautifully dressed, had a great manicure, and a beautifully decorated home. The video showed her wiping down her immaculately clean kitchen counters and then photographing her well-dressed children who were playing in the middle of their completely clean bedroom. Just watching it, made me cringe when I thought about my messy, somewhat dressed children who were playing in their very messy rooms, while I was cleaning our very messy house (with my far inferior manicure!) And then it hit me. This “video” was on this woman’s website on which she was selling her particular scrapbooking system. Of course it looked perfect. It was a promotional video! I knew this in my rational mind all along, but my emotional mind was still quick to judge my real life not only by someone else’s standard, but by someone else’s staged standard.

I kept thinking about this throughout the day; wondering why I was so convinced that everyone else was doing a better job at what I perceive as my shortcomings. As I was walking up to our house just after dark, I realized that from the street with the lights in the living room on; I could see into our front windows. From the street perspective, all you can see is the top of the bookcases, a few of the pictures, and the lights. The impression was pretty nice. You can’t see the spots on the carpet, or the toys all over the floor, or the dirty dinner dishes still on the table. If you only see it from the outside looking in; you can imagine that the rest is really, really great. My rational mind knows that this is true of everyone. From a distance you can’t always see the tiny wrinkles or the small imperfections. I know that every life has its challenges and that no one makes it to the end without going through something that brings them to their knees. And yet…..I still sometimes fall into the trap of believing that everyone else is doing better than I am.

The next thing that came to mind was a quote that one of our former Relief Society presidents had shared with us at church. (I don’t have the exact source or quote – but I’ll give you the gist) She said that we should be thankful for our messy homes because they are a tangible reminder that our houses are full of life. And it’s true. If there were some horrible accident tomorrow, and I had no husband or little ones to mess up my house, I would have a beautifully clean home……and I would be utterly miserable.

My house is full of life. Wonderful, messy, real life. The kind of life that is two year olds and raspberries on tummies. The kind of life that is hectic mornings and lost homework and crying third graders trying to find their binder reminders on the way out the door. There are moments that I’m really good at being the mom. (really, really rare I know) And there are moments that I will never be proud of. There are hilarious moments and messy moments and moments full of vomit or poop. There are the moments that are completely mundane and full of laundry and more laundry and more laundry; and there are the moments I don’t like to remember when I’m sitting in an emergency room unable to get the smell of my child’s singed flesh out of my mind. There are moments of prayer and moments of peace and moments of sibling warfare. But they are my moments. And they make up my life. All of them.

Of course they are going to look different from the outside. I try very hard to make it look as nice as I can. But, it helps a lot when you can’t see the messy parts on the floor. Every real life has messy parts. Parts we don’t want to be judged on. And mine are probably different from yours. My triumphs and struggles are uniquely mine. But I guess I’m coming to understand that we all have them. That is the great common denominator. Everyone’s house looks different when you’re on the street outside looking in.