Feeling Adequately Inadequate

Every now and then I will be driving down the road and think of something so ridiculously witty and on point that I cannot wait to get home to write it out. Then I get home and life. Suffice it to say, today was one of those days. I have absolutely no idea what it was that I wanted to share with the world, but imagine it was terribly insightful and hilarious and then thank me for having a profound impact on your life.

Now that we have that out of the way, I feel the need to actually share something with my adoring audience. (Hi, hubby!)

But, I’ve got nothing. Absolutely, nothing. Which strangely sums up my life as of late. There is so much going on all the time, almost too much, yet I have the feeling that I am only spinning my wheels. Maybe this is what it feels like to be a stay-at-home-mom and homeschool teacher. I’m still learning, so I could be wrong. I don’t recall reading any labels about being a SAHM that said Caution: May Invoke Feelings of Inability to Accomplish Anything. Were they there and I was ignoring them?

I cannot be the only one that feels this way, can I? Am I?

The realization is ever present of how blessed I am to be able to stay home with our children, to not only take care of their everyday needs, but to also learn them a thing or two… or everything they need to know to be productive and responsible adults. Wow. I am blessed. But I am also a wreck.

My mind has been scrambled, like the image of the eggs, “This is your brain. This is your brain with 3 kids.” Down is up and up is to the left and I think I forgot to put the load of clothes in the dryer. 3 days ago.

My body is in shambles. Yeah, I don’t really want to go there. Big sigh. You know what 3 kids has brought me? 25 to 30 extra pounds. Thanks, kids. And the ability to carry 100 pounds worth of babies and bags in a single leap. Plus a sore back.

My house. Hm.

My clothes. Stained and bigger than I’d like them to be.

My car. Old, noisy, and filthy.

My entertainment. Cartoons, cartoons, and cartoons. Seriously. Even when they are all asleep and the man is not around, I find myself watching cartoons. The Jungle Book is currently playing. I chose it.

My personal time. Limited.

My life. Wonderful.

My heart. Full.

My worth. Endless.

My family. Priceless.

Growing and educating a family is not about meeting deadlines. This is something I need to be reminded of at times, because before children, I worked in a world where every single project had a deadline. And people counted on me to meet those deadlines. Now I work for little monsters who only understand “right now” and I’ve been commissioned to train and prepare them for Eternity. The thing about that is, I do not know when this deadline will be. So, I’ll spin my wheels. I’ll leave those clothes in the washing machine one more day (don’t judge). I’ll focus on my family’s emotional and spiritual needs and feel as if I’m accomplishing nothing, all the while knowing that every single thing I say and do adds to or takes from their well-being. Even the things I don’t say or do.

I’ll continue to feel inadequate, because how could I possibly be fit to do this kind of job? Yet, it is precisely this kind of job that I was created for, so I am the exact person to do it. Mistakes will happen, forgiveness will be sought, love will increase, wisdom will be obtained, and I still will not be able to remember what I originally wanted to write about.

~Lisa

How To Interact With A Pregnant Lady and Come Away Unharmed

1. Do not ask: Are you pregnant?
                       Just don't. Do not ever ask any woman if she is pregnant. Because if you do, it will go one of two ways. Either, she is pregnant and feeling very self-conscious about her weight gain and you've just validated that she is GETTING HUGE. Or, the other obvious scenario, she is NOT pregnant and you've just told her she looks pregnant. Not nice.
                       So, what are your options if you think someone is pregnant? Only one will suffice, sit it out and wait for either a pregnancy reveal, an undeniable pregnant belly (this occurs literally seconds before the baby is born, do not assume anything until then), or, you know, an actual newborn baby in her arms.

2. Do not have this conversation: Asks... How far along are you? (Hears answer) Replies... Oh.
                       The question is just fine. It shows you are interested in her and her baby's life. The reply is not appropriate. Oh. Oh what? Ohhhh, there is no way you are only X number of weeks along, because you look like you are about to bust? Ohhhh, if that is how big you are half way through your pregnancy, you are going to need a bigger vehicle to get around 15 weeks from now? Ohhhh, you look too small to be almost done with your pregnancy?
                       Okay, this is what you are doing. You are telling her she is going to have a 15 pound baby and will have nightmares about it for the rest of her life. You are calling her fat. You are telling her that her baby is too small and will have all sorts of developmental issues because she isn't eating "enough". You really should just say, "Oh, that's wonderful. You look great."

3. Do not ask: Are you sure you aren't having twins?
                       Come on now. Use some common sense here. Because if you are tempted to ask that to the wrong pregnant lady, you just might regret not listening to me.

4. Do not touch the belly.
                       If you don't have the right to touch her belly when she isn't pregnant, you for sure do not have the right to touch it now that she is pregnant. Personal space, please. I could go on and on about this, and I have multiple times, but I will leave this here.

5. Do not say: You look tired!
                       I'm sure I have been guilty of this, and if I have said this to any of you, I apologize. Honestly, though, no one wants to be told they look tired. Even if they haven't slept in 3 days.

6. Do not say: You think you are tired now, just wait until the baby comes.
                       She is tired now. Let her be. If you cannot fix the situation, then don't make her feel worse. There is a good chance she already knows she will be even more tired once the baby comes.

7. Do not ask: You know what causes that, right?
                       Um, yes. Yes, most people know what causes it. Even if they hadn't planned to get pregnant, they know what caused the pregnancy. They especially know what causes it if they already have, let's say, 7 other children.

8. Do say: You look wonderful.
                       Okay, don't lie. If they don't look wonderful, just say hi.

9. Do ask: How are you feeling?
                       It shows you are concerned about her well-being and is a nice gesture. An even better gesture would be paying for all her children's future college educations, but that may not be possible for you at this time.

10. Do ask: Do you know if the baby is a boy or girl?
                       And express your excitement for whatever their answer is. Even if they plan on waiting to find out when the baby is born, most all women want to talk about the baby's gender.

11. Do: Let the pregnant lady have your seat.
                       If she refuses, then she just may need to stand for a bit. But, boy, I tell ya, people are not as considerate as they used to be. Younger people used to give older people their seats, men used to give women their seats, and those who were capable of standing on their own used to give pregnant ladies their seats. Not any more.

12. Do: Tell her you are praying for her and the baby.
                       And really do pray for them. Pray for their health, their safety, and their future.

13. Do: Help whenever you can.
                       We all need help from time to time. Be ready and willing to give a hand. You'll feel good about helping out and she'll feel your love and concern.

14. Do not: Ask her to remember anything.
                       Seriously, anything. Pregnancy brain is a real thing. If it is important for her to remember, send a text, an email, a Facebook message, a letter, a telegram, a carrier pigeon. Something in written form, preferably with a continual alarm or alert until she no longer needs to store that information in her brain.

15. Do: Love her.
                       She is doing something amazing. She is growing and nurturing a child and will soon introduce him or her to this world. While it is definitely not miraculous and definitely not unique to her, it is still wonderful. And it still takes its toll on her body and her mind.

16. Do: Give her chocolate.
                       Lots of chocolate.

17. If you are her husband, Do: Everything for her.
                       Everything. Let her just stay in bed sleeping and reading all day.

Okay, maybe those last 2 are not so subliminal messages from me to my husband. ;) It was worth a shot.

~Lisa

What's New...

I had no idea, but it has apparently been over 4 months since I last wrote a blog article. I have missed having time to sit down and put my thoughts on "paper". And, honestly, I have a million things I should be doing right now other than writing, yet here I am.

Things have changed so much since my last blog. My sweet husband and I decided at the end of December that it was time for us to move on to a new ministry. We loved those we were working with before and loved the congregation we worked and worshiped with, but we felt a need to get back into full-time ministry as opposed to part-time. For anyone who is a part of a preacher's family will know, job searches can take months and months and sometimes up to a year. So our tentative plan was to move in the summer. God's plan was a much faster move.

It was a bit of a whirlwind move.

We tried out at a congregation on January 12th, were offered the position that night, and started working with them the first week in February. We would be moving 2 1/2 hours away and had less than 3 weeks to find a rent house, pack up our house, and get moved. Somehow we did it. Well, it was with a lot of help from family and friends that we did it.

Many times in my life I have wondered if the choices I had made, or the choices my husband and I had made together, really were in accordance with God's will. Sometimes it truly is difficult to know and so we do the best that we can. And then there are those times where it is very obvious that we most likely made the wrong decision and suffer accordingly. Yeah, don't want to repeat those mistakes. But this, this feels so right. We are loving it here and loving getting to know those around us. While we do miss our family and friends that we left behind, we are very happy with the move and the house and the new work.

So that is the big change we made in the past 4 months. Lots and lots of other things have happened, and I wish I would have made time to write. I'll have to catch you up on our little sweeties and give details of what a failure I am at homeschooling the eldest, but that will wait for another day.

Hope the past 4 months have been full of great things for you as well.

~Lisa

Hey! Your 3 Year Old Just Schooled You.

I am spoiled. A lot of us are. I kind of already knew this, but a recent shopping trip with my three year old daughter really hit it home for me.

We were out shopping with my mom, you see I needed some long sleeve shirts that actually fit thanks to 2 babies and no will-power. I am pretty sure I can make a valid argument for the shirts and for some reason I feel like I need to convince you of that as well, probably because of what my sweet girl said to me while we were shopping.

It started with my browsing of the boot section when we first walked in the store. On the way out I was headed back that way so I could look one more time. Then this happened:

Big Little Girl A: Where are we going?

Me: To look at boots again.

Girl A: Why?

Me: Because I want a new pair of boots.

Girl A: Why do you want a new pair of boots? Mom, you have boots.

Me: I just do.

Girl A: But you have boots, 2 of them. You have 2 boots.

Me: Yeah, I know.

Girl A: And they are good boots. You like your boots.

Me: I know, but I just want a new pair.

Girl A: Why do you want new boots when you have a good boots at home?

Me: Nevermind… I give up.

Schooled by a 3 year old.

I mean, really? She might as well have said "Why are you being so materialistic, mom? You have perfectly good boots at home, that you are lucky enough to actually like, and now you want to spend some more of our family's hard-earned money on more boots. You know, the money that dad works to earn 6 to 7 days a week while you haul us littles around and go shopping for something you don't even need." 

I tell ya, I was feeling pretty sheepish as I turned the corner and walked away from the pretty boots. 

Ever heard that saying "Kids are meant to be seen and not heard"? This is one of those times where I wish it was true, I mean, I am really thankful to be able to hear my little girl's wise words that put me in my place. 

It has also occurred to me that I need a filming crew to follow us around and catch these exchanges on video because I can never really do them justice when I try to retell them.

This is my life and I love it.

~Lisa

Things I Have Learned from the Great Giraffe Game

If you are on Facebook you may have run across the currently trending Great Giraffe Game. To break it down, it is a riddle, if you get the riddle wrong you change your profile picture to a giraffe. Simple.

Well, smart little me saw the riddle and thought "I so got this!" and sent the riddler my answer. I had no intentions of changing my picture because I am too smart to be tricked by some silly riddle. I hit send on my answer and immediately realized I was WRONG. That is hard for me to say, but I got got. So I joined in and changed my picture.

As I was scrolling through my newsfeed last night I was amused by how many people are getting sucked in to this game. At least it is something fun and positive instead of the usual sports and politics that everyone wants to argue about. Well, except, see number 9 below.

If you are one of the few who has not seen the riddle making its rounds, here it is for you:

I got it wrong . . . I agreed to change my profile pic to a giraffe because I got a riddle wrong. Silly riddle! I'm playing along.

          The Great Giraffe Game!...The deal is I give you a riddle.

You get it right you get to keep your profile pic.

You get it wrong and you change your profile pic to a Giraffe for the next 3 days.

MESSAGE ME ONLY SO YOU DON'T GIVE OUT THE ANSWER. Here is the riddle: 3:00 am, the doorbell rings and you wake up. Unexpected visitors, It's your parents and they are there for breakfast. You have strawberry jam, honey, bread, and cheese. What is the first thing you open?

Remember... message me only. If you get it right I'll post your name here. If you get it wrong change your profile pic. GO!

Now I know you are the curious type and just need to know what I have learned from this silly game. So here goes. :)

Ten Things I Have Learned From the Great Giraffe Game

1. A lot, and I mean a whole bunch, of us are not as smart as we like to think we are.
2. Some people will never play along and feel the need to let you know that they will not play along. Spoil sports.

3. There are some creative pictures of giraffes and cute, adorable ones.

4. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of people can seemingly keep a secret.

5. Then there are those who purposely give away the answer. Again, spoil sports.

6. There is always that person who did not read through all the instructions and will immediately put the answer in a comment. That habit probably started in grade school, just saying.

7. Three days does not necessarily mean three entire days. Says the woman who did not wait an entire 72 hours to change my profile picture to something other than the giraffe of shame.

8. When most of your newsfeed is covered in giraffe profile pictures it is easy to get confused. You may actually have to read profile names. I was surprised that someone I didn't know would mention my name in a comment on a friend's status then I realized it was me, I was that particular giraffe.

9. People will even argue over the answer to a riddle. These may be the same people who seem to live to argue with strangers on the internet.

10. Finally, the answer to the riddle is . . .

Have a wonderfully giraffey day!
~Lisa

Weighing Us Down

You know how when you are not doing so well with a task or goal that you do not really want to talk about it? Yeah, so, I'm sure you can imagine why we've been pretty quiet about our weight loss lately. But I do believe we are back on track. (fingers crossed)

Our latest weigh in has mixed reviews. Sweet man is up by about 12 pounds from his start weight back in August and I am down by about 5 pounds. So good and bad. We still struggle with doing well during the week and then going off plan on the weekends. Just have to get a handle on that and I am sure it will help tremendously is getting us to our goals.

Good news! We started Weight Watchers last week. We both like it so far. There is definitely a learning process that goes along with Weight Watchers and we are slowly getting it. I love how it forces us to keep track of what we are eating each day and how there is a place to keep track of our daily physical activity. Even if we go off plan and have a bad day, we still record it and hope to make up for it with extra activity points throughout the week. I'm praying this is the program that will work for us so we can get ourselves healthy!

Oh, the no soda thing, well I haven't been doing so well on that. I have managed to not start drinking it on a regular basis like I was before, but I still drink some ever now and again.

So to recap our weight goals, the man now wants to lose 174 and I have lost 5 of the 25 I want to lose. I read The Little Engine That Could to sweet girl the other day, and, well, all I have to say is "We can do it!". We can and we will.

~Lisa

Naming Our School

I have been thinking for the past couple of hours about what we could name our homeschool. You know, for when we want to incorporate a mascot and for our letterhead. Well, maybe it is really because I didn't feel like teaching today and this was a good way to waste some time. Yep.

Anyway, while searching the web for some inspiration I came across this website that has a school name generator. Try it out, it was fun and entertaining.

Some of my favorite names from that generator:
The Useful Prep School of Weird Children - This one probably describes most schools, public and private, because aren't all children just a bit weird. It gave me a chuckle. Then I saw The Freaky Boarding School of Beautiful Education. I don't have anything to add to that, it is a pretty great name, haha. Another name I enjoyed because it is basically exactly what a homeschool is, that is The Complete Boarding School. But my absolute favorite was The Over-Whelmed School, this encompasses everything about our school right now. I doubt that will ever change.

So other than something simple like School, I cannot think of anything real catchy to name our school. What are your ideas? If you homeschool and named your school, what is your name? 

The more I think about it, I might just name it The Experiment.

~Lisa

September Menu and Diet

I realize that I have not posted our September menu plan, nor have I said much about our diet in about a month. To be honest, the diet has not been going well. But I have managed to only have 1, maybe 2, sodas since the end of July. Not too shabby.

I weighed in this morning and am just holding steady, which obviously means I need to be working out. Boo. I am not sure when the man last weighed in, so his update will have to wait until next time.

Speaking of working out, our family met up with friends from church (visit Smithfield church of Christ) at the park last night and walked a mile. The girls loved being outside and we had a great time visiting while walking. Mr. Man enjoyed it so much that he is already looking forward to doing it again next week and we are going to walk again tonight with just our family. Did I tell you that he signed up for a 5K that is coming up soon? More motivation to get out and walk so he can condition himself prior to the 5K.

I did make a menu plan for September and have kinda, sorta stuck to it. I even planned out breakfast and lunch for the first week. Hoping that next month I will be able to add more planned meals to the calendar.

It looks pretty similar to last month, but that is okay since I am still new to this. My goal each month is to find economical meals to make that are also healthy, or at least healthier than delivery pizza. Mmmm pizza.

Well now that I am hungry for pizza, I should probably get the big girl and I some lunch.

How are your getting healthy goals coming along? Hopefully better than ours!

~Lisa

Our Very First Day of Co-Op

This past Friday was our first day to participate in our homeschool co-op. My big little girl A was so excited to be going to co-op, just like she has been excited about all things related to school. I think we got us an academic on her hands; time will tell.

We got her all set up with a princess backpack and a Hello Kitty lunchbox and then the obligatory 'first day of school' pictures. Here's one:

It feels like there should be some catchy title to it about being smart, or filling her brain full of new facts, or something more witty than I am this morning. What it really is was her sassing us with "The sun is in my eyes!" Wonder if we can get her to reenact this picture for the rest of her school years?

We tried a few more times and got some normal looking ones, with the sun still in her eyes. You will be relieved to know that she survived the first day of school pictures and I think she will only be slightly scarred, not enough to warrant any concern. Here's another:

Of course we could have turned her the other direction, but then the sun would have been in our eyes, and that just cannot be. 

There is a daycare behind our house and a chain link fence where the kids will occasionally line up and watch us and our shenanigans. This day was no exception. By the time we were done taking pictures there were a few little kids staring and wondering what in the world those crazy parents are doing. Big girl waved at them and off we went to jump in the car and head to co-op.

The first day of co-op went quite well, to me. She really enjoyed getting to be in a room of 20 pre-schoolers. I think the teachers made it through too. That is a lot of 3 to 5 year old kids in one room. Each class lasted 55 minutes and she had Pre-School Language Arts, Discovery Science, Little Artists, and Sing & Play. Oh and little baby girl had her own nursery class she spent the day in with 4 other littles. 

I was assigned to help in each of the girls' classes throughout the day, starting with the nursery and going back and forth. I enjoyed getting to help with all those sweet kids and their wonderful teachers, and getting to watch big little girl in action. Those pre-school kids are fun and chaotic and more fun. Some of them had been in this same co-op last year and knew what to expect, but it looked like quite a few of them were new to this like we are. They all did so well considering it was new to them. My favorite moment of the day was when one little boy proclaimed to me "I drink my bath water!" How I did not bust up laughing, I do not know! Terribly cute. In the classes that I helped with there was a good mixture of learning and playing time. Of course by the 4th period, most of the kids were done for the day so it was a little more difficult to keep their attention. And there were a lot of awesome toys in the room to get their attention. 

On the way home I was asking her all about her day. "Did you like having mommy help in your class?" "No. You need to teach your own class and not come in mine." "Why?" "Because when all the girls were quiet, YOU talked." Gasp! I'm so terrible! Oh, my little girl is growing up. 

We are already looking forward to next Friday. The ladies that organize this co-op are doing a fantastic job of setting up all the classes and keeping things rolling along quite well. I think there were over 100 kids plus most of their mommies, and one daddy. My husband graciously offered to teach a class our first semester, so it is nice to get to see him there too. He is a natural when it comes to teaching. He is teaching the older kids and I know he'll do a fantastic job.

Hope you are having a wonderful day so far!

~Lisa

The Basics of our Homeschool

I think I may finally be getting my head wrapped around this huge undertaking. I need to find some time this weekend to finish setting up our homeschool room, again, and then I do believe we will be hitting the books beginning this Monday.

For now I wanted to share with you my goals for our first year of preschool and our general schedule that we will be attempting to follow. All so that this girl can get her learning on.

I had a moment of clarification a couple of weeks ago and it took so much stress off of me in just a matter of seconds. I was knee deep in opened tabs on my browser, trying to jam entirely too much information into my brain when it hit me, I have a goal. A real true goal. A goal that we can so meet. We do not need to build the house this first year, we only need to set the foundation. With that said, our main goal this year is to get the girl used to homeschool, oh and this mom too. Do-a-ble! The other goals will be to teach her to recognize and write her letters and numbers, memorize some Scriptures, learn some sight words, and learn to enjoy learning. Our goals will most likely change and be added to as we progress, which is okay.

Once I figured out what my big goal was, I was able to decide on some curriculum I found online from three different sources and I will be piecing those together to make it into what I believe the girl will respond to. It will take a little extra planning and time each week than what I had hoped, but I think this will work best for us at this time.

With a curriculum in mind, I was able to write out a daily schedule. Currently, it is the plan to homeschool Monday through Thursday and then go to co-op on Friday. If we are not feeling it any specific day, then we just won't do school, no biggie. Flexibility is key. Also, this is absolutely not going to be an all day thing, we'll work on it when we can through out the day and keep the activities short and simple.

The schedule, so far, will begin with a prayer and we will move on from there. I hope to make a cute little schedule I can post on the wall with graphics that she will be able to follow. When I get that done, I will be sure to share it with you. But here is what I have so far:

• Prayer
• Pledge
• Calendar work
• Bible class
• Alphabet work
• Reading
• Sight word work
• Snack break
• Number work
• Shapes and colors work
• Games or Art
• Clean up

I guess we will see if all of this planning works out or if it just goes by the wayside in a couple of days. Either way, it has been a learning process for me and I feel just a little bit better about what we are about to do. Now I still have my moments where I don't think we will be able to do this, but I am trying to push through those.

Hope everyone's school year has started out as you hoped, whether you are homeschooling or not. I would love to hear how you prepare things from year to year!

~Lisa

Weighing In

Agh! Today is our first public weigh in. Scary stuff here. But first...

If you are confused about why I would post about our weight, read this. Caught up? Great!

For the most part, I believe I have done alright with keeping with our menu plan for August. As always, we have been quite busy and a few meals had to be moved around or just plain didn't happen because we were traveling that day. But I am actually quite pleased with myself that I have managed to sort of keep with a schedule for a week. Yep. Success in my book! In case you haven't figured this out about me yet, I am a mess. Quite literally. So for me to even remotely stick with a planned out schedule is something. Let's not even discuss my propensity for laziness or my skills at procrastination.

In the midst of trying to plan meals ahead of time, we are also trying to put Mr. Man on a gluten-free diet. He has many of the symptoms for gluten sensitivity, so we thought why not give it a go? If it helps him to feel better, then great! For anyone who might care to ask, no we have not had him allergy tested, nor have we talked to his doctor about this. We are totally self-diagnosing here. I have my CPA license and he holds a Masters in the Art of Teaching, surely those are enough to qualify us to make medical diagnoses, right? Seriously, though, those tests are expensive and we do not have the money for them. And if it is something we can figure out on our own just by changing the way we eat and not having to pay for tests, then we are going to give it a go. It also works out great with the whole eating healthier thing we are trying to do anyways. So we figure we would give it a month or two and see how he is doing and then take it from there.

Speaking of how he is doing. He somehow gave himself food poisoning or a stomach bug, not sure which it is yet. The boy will do anything to have a better weigh-in number than me! Yesterday he came home from work and was sick the rest of the night, poor guy. All I could think to do to help him was to remind him to drink plenty of water and to make a joke about how much weight he'll lose while sick. I am the best wife. Ever.

We are definitely eating healthier than we were a few weeks ago, so this is good. I miss sodas, a lot. But I have stayed strong and it has been 2 weeks since I had a Coke, or Dr. Pepper, or Pepsi, or.... Let me tell you, it hasn't been easy. Just typing this is making me want one. I cannot imagine what people with addictions go through! We have cut the snacking way down and have cut the fast food down quite a bit. Unfortunately because we travel so much, fast food is very convenient while on the road, so we still get it on those occasions. Ultimately I would like to get to the point where we pack our road trip meals, that way it would be healthier and cheaper. But for now, baby steps.

Husband started working out yesterday morning. Starting a workout routine that we will stick to is our next big "get healthy" goal. I am sure I could find a way to work it into our homeschool curriculum. This would probably be a good time to remind you that I am lazy.

Okay, so on to the numbers! In the past 2 weeks the Man has lost 11.8 pounds and I have lost 1.6 pounds. Not much for me, but I'll take it. We will probably give updates every 2 weeks and hopefully next time I'll be able to say that we have stuck with eating healthy and that we have been working out.

Are you trying to be more active and eating healthier too? How is it going for you?

~Lisa

Say It Ain't So

She woke up. She woke up and needed a little love to go back to sleep. There is nothing unusual about that and nothing that my hand laying gently on her chest and a pacifier in her mouth couldn't cure tonight. But I had a flash forward, a memory of her big sister when she was a tad older than Little Bit is now. It struck me how different things are this time around.

With the first child we could not wait to watch her grow up. Every milestone was met with fanfare and we immediately looked forward to the next milestone. Neither of us really knew what to expect and it was all just too exciting. Would she ever get her first teeth? Why is she taking so long to crawl? Did you hear her first words? Hurry up and walk, already. :)

I know now what milestones are ahead. I know now that not every child reaches those milestones at the same time. I know now that I want time to slow down. I am no longer in a hurry to see what they will learn next. I am no longer in a hurry for them to grow up. I want to enjoy this just a bit longer.

Yes, there are those days when I want to pull my hair out and I wish these years were past me. But those moments pass and the realization sets in that in a blink of an eye they will be out on their own, building their own families, and awaiting precious milestones of their own little ones. So while temper tantrums and diapers have currently overtaken my life, it is temporary and I am beyond grateful to have this chance to watch them grow and mature into beautiful little beings.

Tonight I look forward to all the bumps and bruises we will encounter along the way. I eagerly await all the tickles and giggles we will enjoy. I simply cannot wait to see everything they will learn along the way, to be there with them while they learn, and to learn along with them.

She woke up tonight and needed me. She will wake up one night and need someone else.

I cherish tonight.

~Lisa

Sunkist, You Demon

There is an almost full bottle of Sunkist just sitting in the door of our refrigerator staring a whole through me every time I open the door. It is on that shelf that just last week I forgot even existed, the one on the very bottom that I usually only use when I've run out of room every where else in the fridge. It is on the shelf that suddenly has become the most important shelf in our refrigerator. Oh, the temptation! Today is my 6th day with no soda and other than that terrible bottle of Sunkist and every single time I get in the car, I haven't been craving it all that much. Blugh.

It may be time to dump the bottle of Sunkist.

One thing I have learned since beginning this transformation process a few days ago is that talking about transforming is exhausting. I just do not know how I will be able to manage when I actually start this life overhaul. One day at a time I suppose.

We already fell off the menu plan bandwagon, but I am not completely giving up, just being flexible. We had a very, read extremely, busy few days with the 4th Annual BTSOP Alumni Lectureship that wrapped up yesterday afternoon, so I just wasn't able to find time to make what I had planned for yesterday and today. That is okay though, cause if there is one thing that every parent knows, it is how to be flexible.

I briefly stepped on the scales this morning and I haven't gained any, so that is a good thing. I need to figure out how often we will update on our weight loss goals and start doing that. Even if we are having a bad week it will probably help to write it down so that we will be holding each other accountable. We will do this! We may kill each other in the process, but we will definitely get healthy!

May I just say how much it means to me to have so many tell me that they are not only reading my silly writings, but also enjoy them! I really do appreciate it. It makes my day every time someone says something encouraging to me, you are all so very sweet! I am sure that I do not express my appreciation in person as well as I could, I communicate much better in printed form than verbal form. I also really enjoy the tips and ideas I have been given. During the lectureship I got to talk for a very quick minute about menu planning with an elder from a congregation nearby (thank you for supporting the lectures!!!), he said he is the chief cook and bottle washer in their home. That warms my heart.

So I know I am a little bit all over the place today. I guess that is a glimpse inside the workings of my warped mind.

Hope you are having a wonderful Sunday and that you will be sure to take time today to worship our Lord and Creator as He desires!

Off I go to rid this house of that terrible demon. I almost promise I won't drink it.

~Lisa

Menu Planning: What did I Get Myself Into?

Don't I already have enough on my plate? Figuratively speaking, of course. Well...

Please take a moment and join me in my food world, pre August 1st.

Breakfast: .....what's that?
Lunch: a frozen pizza
Dinner: Cheez-its
Random snacks: chocolate
Drinks: got sugar?

That pretty much sums it all up. See why I need to make a change? So I decided to immerse myself into menu planning almost a month ago. This is what I learned.

- It takes a lot of time. I am guessing the first month is probably the hardest and most time consuming.
- It takes planning. Duh. Right? It takes a lot more planning than I initially thought.
- It takes looking at a calendar. Especially when your family does a whole lot of traveling! What days will we actually be home this month?
- It takes a budget. This I have not decided on yet, should I buy everything I can at the beginning of the month or just grocery shop week to week. I am sure in time I will figure out what works best for our family.

For now I am just going to start with planning dinners, lunch and breakfast will have to come later on as I get a better hold on this. Here is the menu I came up with for August. Lots of repetition for now, but most of these are quite simple and that makes me happy.

How do you like that calendar? I found it here on No Ordinary Moments and here on Homeschool Creations. I have also bookmarked Homeschool Creations as it looks like a website that I will be visiting a lot in the future.

Now that I have a menu penned down it is time to start writing up that shopping list. That'll take another month.

Speaking of, where is your favorite place to shop for groceries? And by favorite I mean quality groceries that are fairly inexpensive.

~Lisa

Summer: Too Busy

Our summer has been busy busy, so far. Thankfully, it looks like the busiest part of it is behind us just in time for our life overhaul. When I thought we would make major changes in our home beginning August 1st I actually thought that meant I would have time to research, plan, and make smaller changes prior to August 1st. Instead we are 1 day away and the only thing I think we have done is... Okay, I can't think of anything.

Wait, I cleaned out his closet. That's something, right?

So here we are, 1 day away from starting homeschooling and we are not ready. Which is absolutely not a big deal, the girl is only 3 and at this age we do not need much. But I did want to be ready. What I have figured out is a make-shift plan and that I really could just have her watch Leap Frog videos on Netflix and call it a day. I am teasing. Sort of.

I have been working off and on, well thinking about working on a menu plan for weeks now. Yesterday I finally sat down and noted some easy-ish dinners and I am hoping that today I will be able to plan out the month and then plan a grocery shopping trip. Those are always fun. Side note: We bought a Boba carrier a little while back, and that thing is awesome! I get the most use out of it when grocery shopping. That way I can carry little one and the big 3 year old can sit in the shopping cart and I actually have a place to put groceries. I love it! End of side note.

The budget stuff that I planned to have ready will just have to wait until I am done with the menu planning. We do okay with a mental budget, but I really need it down in written form.

This past month has been trip after trip after trip for our family. The husband was gone a lot taking various out of town trips for work, Bible camp, and a dear friend's wedding. Then right after he was finished with his big trips, the girls and I left for a week visiting family with my parents. We saw family in Tennessee and Ohio. I got to meet my dad's biological mother for the very first time, which was pretty neat. Then we had an 18 hour drive home in one day. Can I just say how lucky I am to have 2 little girls that travel really well? Imagine 18 hours sitting in a car, now imagine being 6 months old and 3 years old and sitting in a car for 18 hours. They were rock stars! There was a little whimpering about 14 hours into it, but for the most part they were great. Come to think of it, the whimpering was probably from me.

So with 1 day left before I start forcing myself to make big changes, today I will just do little things and enjoy time with my girls. Starting with going back to bed. ;)

Hope you will enjoy your day too.

~Lisa

Weight For It

Oh the never ending battle with weight that most Americans are fighting. Too much yummy processed foods thrown in our faces and not near enough "time" to be physically active. As a part of our getting healthier plan, Sweet man and I have started the infamous 3 Day Diet this morning. After 3 days we will then, hopefully, start eating an overall healthier diet. We have all heard it a million times: It is not about dieting, it is about a life change. Change the foods we eat, change the level of our activity, and probably most important is to change our outlook on those two things. 

I mentioned to my husband that I was thinking about blogging on our weight loss goals and he was all for it. Let me just say though, that we are putting this out there for positive encouragement. We do not want that negative kind, you know what I am talking about. But if you are close to us and can offer an uplifting word every now and again, it would be much appreciated.

So the nitty gritty of it. The man's overall goal is to lose 162 pounds! This blows my mind because I have never seen him at his goal weight, but I am excited to help him reach that goal. My overall goal is to lose 25 pounds, this will put me below my 'pre-you babies made me gain weight' weight. My first goal will be the 15 pounds I need to lose to get to pre-baby #2. 

I am quite confident that just eating healthier will go a long ways in this struggle for both of us! When you really stop and think about all the junk we put in our bodies it should disgust us, but they make most of it taste so good that we don't think about the gross effect. Hmmm, so similar to the sin problem, isn't it?!? If sinful activity wasn't initially 'fun', most of us would not even come close to it. Just one little snippet about sin from the Bible:

Hebrews 11:24-26 (ESV) By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

If you care to follow along with us as we bumble along, I will try to occasionally update on our progress.

Have a fabulous day. If we cross paths soon and I seem grumpy, it is because I have not had any soda since July 29th. You've been warned.

~Lisa

New Beginnings

Come August 1st we will be attempting to make drastic changes around here. So much so that I have the feeling of a new beginning in the air for our family. As I have written about before, I am a mess. I honestly believe the only reason I can keep our children alive is because they cry when hungry. I have absolutely no idea how Fishy Baby the Red manages to stay alive, probably just pure stubbornness. And please, please don't ever buy me a plant, unless you enjoy the thought of a poor plant dying of starvation.

So August 1st will mean eating healthier, menu planning, budget keeping, ummm budget making, better housekeeping, and the official start of homeschooling (agh!). Feel free to join me in my journey of going from chaotic chaos to harmonious harmony. See what I did there? heehee Oh I should probably throw in there a more active lifestyle, you think?

Why August 1st? You ask. Because this month is just beyond crazy busy and I needed a deadline for my procrastination. Mainly the procrastination thing.

In the meantime I intend to start on the smaller aspects of the big picture and, if I think about it, I will attempt to entertain you with all the flops that are certain to happen. Maybe even the occasional success story.

Tomorrow I think I will work on a menu for August. Do you have any *easy* and healthy go-to meals you would like to share with me?

~Lisa

Lost in Oklahoma

“Hey honey, I’m thinking that the girls and I will go with you to Camp Lu-Jo next week, it isn’t very far is it?” says me. “No it isn’t far, maybe two and a half hours (2 ½). That would be great!” says he.

Now we travel a lot, and I do mean a lot. Our girls are car trip pros. So 2 ½ hours is like a drive around the block for us. We did not want to spend another day away from him after he was gone the whole week before at another camp, there was supposed to be fireworks at the end of the day, and air conditioned buildings. We were in!

We were in for a very (read: how in the world did a 2 ½ hour drive turn into that?!?) long day. Keep reading, this could be fun.

First, a brief recap of the morning as we got ready to leave: Chaos. As every single day is when we try to get all 4 of us out of the house at the same time. It is supposed to get easier as my three, I mean two, kids get older, but it seems to just get more difficult. Our almost 3 year old decides she can no longer dress herself, does not know where her shoes are, and just wants to be held. Our sweet almost 6 month old is, well, a baby, so she thinks she needs to nurse, have her diaper changed, and the girl still cannot dress herself. Then we have our almost 31 year old who cannot find his clothes and wants to insist that I must have done something with them. Finally we have everyone dressed, a bag packed for the girls, and the boy goes to start up the car and get the GPS rolling.

Oh, the GPS. The GPS that apparently had Camp Lu-Jo saved as a favorite at one point. The GPS that someone took and deleted that favorite location (hint: it was me). The GPS. 

He was not too happy when he could not find the camp saved as a favorite. So I am rushing to get the girls ready and out the door and he has to come back in to find an address. Camp Lu-Jo does not have a tangible, let’s plug this into the GPS, address. “Why did you delete the address?” says he. “I don’t know what you are talking about” says me. “Well, it isn’t in here anymore” says he. “Oh, ummm” says me. “Guess we’ll have to do this the old fashioned way” says he. Exit me. And the girls.

My Man and Our Oldest

Now we are all in the car, J.J. found some coordinates and plugs those in the GPS while stating, “this should get us close, at least.” Off we go. That is how our 2 ½ hour drive began. Of course behind schedule and with just a tad bit of tension in the air. That was just about 10:15 in the morning.

The drive was nice and smooth, we get into Oklahoma and onto the I-44 turnpike, we scrounge up $1.50 at the end of it, stop to get more cash at a gas station, and go to a McDonalds that I never want to go to again. Life is good and we are almost there.

Ha.

His Road Trip Snack

Off we go again. Our handy dandy GPS does what it was made to do and bosses us right along and at some point we end up in Lawton, OK. “Hey, don’t we know someone who lives or used to live in Lawton?” says me. “Yes, I wonder if that is the church he worked with,” says he. And we keep going. “Um, honey,does any of this look familiar to you?” says me. “Did you go through a Wildlife Refuge when you came up here last year?” says me.

It did not. He did not.

Yes, well, I guess this is pretty and a bonus. I was not expecting to drive through a wildlife refuge on our way to camp. Everything was still good at this point, now we were a bit confused, but it was still good. Then we see a bunch of cars stopped ahead of us and a huge black rock on the side of the road. Then that rock turned into a huge buffalo on the side of the road. Okay, so it was most likely already a buffalo. Anywho, the thing was huge. Monkey see, monkey do, so we also stop to take pictures. While he is trying to snap a shot this huge monstrosity starts kicking and nudging in the dirt and we are straight in its path. Now I am talking a small 2 lane road and he is on the shoulder of the other lane looking right at us. I am almost positive I even heard him think “Oh, look at that beautiful blue Highlander. I bet I can flip that. You all got your cameras ready?” I did not wait around to find out.

See? Right at us.

Off Road

Full of adrenaline, we keep plugging along. The next turn our nice GPS tells us to take is down a dirt road. He says he remembers dirt roads from last year, so we are not too concerned. Then we see this on our GPS: In 1.7 miles turn right onto Off Road. I am not feeling too good about this. 1.7 miles come and there is no road at Off Road, but there is a fence. Now it was at this point that our Australian accented direction giver starts talking to her British counterpart and I am certain the conversation went something akin to A: I just do not know where to take them next. B: That is hilarious! What are you going to do? A: Probably nothing. These poor American chumps. B & A: Haaahahahaha. 

Then the GPS quits even trying.

Well, we are just a little lost, we think. Surely, we are close by. How about we try to call someone at camp to see if they can help us out? No one answers. Okay, how about we reset the GPS? Now it says we are 4 hours away from our destination. What?!? Where are we?

He gives me some street names that should be near the camp. While I am plugging those into the GPS, he is messing with his phone trying to find some sort of directions. Hey look, this road ahead of us is paved and looks like a main road. “Go right” he says. 

I go left.

“Where are the directions you printed off?” says me. “I didn’t print any off” says he. “I thought you said we were going to do this the old fashioned way” says me. “Yeah, the directions are on my phone” says he. “That isn’t old fashioned, honey” says me. “Well, if you hadn’t deleted the saved address” says he. “But you should have planned ahead and known where we were going” says me. “I didn’t need to because I had it saved as a favorite from last year” says he. “Well, you should have printed off directions” says me. “Why would I when it was supposed to be saved? You were the one that deleted it” says he. “How could you not remember any of this?” says me. “You deleted it” says he. 

Notice he only had one point in his argument arsenal. :)

So off we go, left, on this road and we see a sign that says Lawton is ahead of us. “Yeah, this must be the right direction because the camp is south of Lawton. “ says he. I say nothing. Nothing. And he stays quiet on that point too. We are finally on the right path and get to the camp at about 4:00 p.m. Our 2 ½ hour drive only took almost 6 hours, not bad, right?

Me & My Girls

We had a great time at camp. Addie made some new friends, we got to visit with old friends, we heard a good lesson, and were able to see some neat fireworks. We left there at 10:30 p.m. and made it down the road about 20 minutes and got onto the I-44 Turnpike. We were only about 20 minutes away when we paid our toll on the way up! We made it home at 1:30 a.m., with a few stops for gas and food. That was 3 hours. ;)

On our way home, I feel it has been long enough since our discussion earlier that I could now ask him a question. “Hey, remember when we were talking while we were lost that you mentioned the camp was south of Lawton?” says me. “Yes. As soon as it came out of my mouth I realized what I had said” says he. 

What are your fun and funny "lost" stories?

~ Lisa

Bacon Flavored...

Formula.

Yes, that is right, bacon flavored baby formula courtesy of J&D's. What could one possibly say against something so delicious being made available for the toothless population of our society? Why would we be so selfish as to keep the yummy flavor of bacon all to ourselves? I am sure that is what was really going on in the minds of the inventors and creators of 'Bacon Baby'. You know that someone who loves bacon enough to make a business out of it would be kind-hearted enough to want to share that goodness with the most precious beings in our care.

Here is an excerpt from J&D's website explaining how they made the formula and the benefits that your baby may gain from their bacon formula:

So we consulted with pediatricians and began to experiment with drying and grinding bacon into a fine powder, then applying a patent-pending process to concentrate this powder into the most essential nutrients and ingredients for brain development. This potential infant superfood was then added to a test subject’s infant formula. 

The results were absolutely impressive.  By the age of 4 months, our test subject started to exhibit some amazing abilities including walking and talking. By 6 months of age, she could read and memorize her early stage children's books and showed an extreme level of coordination and balance – so much so that she was enrolled in gymnastics and ballet with children 5 years older than she was! At two years old, she read her first 300 page book, memorized the Declaration of Independence and (this is absolutely true) began composing her first symphony. And at three years old, on a secret test track in Beaverton, OR, she ran faster than a baby cheetah. Nike immediately signed her to a (very) long-term endorsement deal.

Before I blogged about this I really wanted to try it out on our newest addition. While she is already older than 4 months, I thought with such results if I started her on it now there is no telling what she might accomplish before her 2nd birthday. She could find the cure for all the cancers in the world, if I can just get my hands on this formula! But it looks like we are going to have to wait as they are currently sold out.

The more I think about all the benefits of this deliciousness, I do believe I am going to order a 1,000 cans of this powder formula and put my whole family on it. What better diet plan could there be than a controlled amount of bacon in a drink that indirectly promises to increase your IQ with the very first drink? J.J. would love it! I wouldn't have to cook anymore. Fewer dishes to clean. Life will be great. And think of all the crafts I could do with all the empty formula cans. I am getting giddy over here just thinking about it.

Are you on board as well? Go to their website and sign up for the waiting list. There is also a contest you can enter to win a free lifetime supply of Bacon Baby Formula.

(In the interest of full disclosure, you may want to also go to this link. Parenting.com writes what they discovered about Bacon Baby Formula. Okay, okay, spoiler alert, it is all a joke. A big, fat, bacon-y joke.)

May your day be bacon-licious!

~Lisa

How To Get Vapor Rub Out Of Hair (in 50 easy steps)

If you are wondering why I would post about how to get vapor rub out of hair, you need to read this.

Caught up? Great!

I thought for sure that vapor rub had won this battle against mommy. I was doomed to letting it slowly wash out on its own or we were just going to have to shave off her hair. Not really. Though I honestly wasn't sure if I could win this one, I was going to give it another go.

This is what her hair looked like this morning, after already being washed 3 different times. Still greasy!

So we grabbed the olive oil.

And we soaked her hair in it.

After soaking her hair in olive oil and squeezing out the excess, we got the dish soap again.

Lathered her hair up and let it sit for a few minutes before rinsing with warm water. We repeated this step one more time while she screamed and cried and threw a perfect little fit about getting water in her face. 

And? It worked, mommy won!!!

This is the face of a girl who does not want to have to wash her hair 6 times in 2 days again. Ever.

Look how great her hair looks now! It seriously looks so soft and shiny (not greasy) that I plan on doing the same with my hair. Now where is that vapor rub?

In the middle of one of the dish soap cycles, I asked Sweet Girl if she thought it would work. She said no. Hurt. my. heart. she did. Shouldn't this girl have every confidence in me? She was acting like the other three attempts we made did not work.

If you want to try this at home, start by giving your toddler a jar of vapor rub. If they cannot open jars on their own, open it for them. Now tell them you will have all sorts of fun if they will empty that jar full of vapor rub all over themselves being sure not to miss their head full of hair.

Special thanks to Whitney! Your suggestion rocked!

~Lisa