Getting all my Ducks in a Row: 2010-08-29

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Learning Something About Myself at Baby Tap

Miss Maddy is taking a baby tap class this year - it's so fun to watch her through the 1 way glass...she's such a ham. I thought that this would be just an excuse for dressing her up cute and playing princess - but the gals actually learning some stuff!

I caught her tonight before class saying to herself Heel together. Heel together. All the while she was flipping her heel out then putting her feet back together.

She's loving every minute of this class - so involved and eager to do all the moves, steps and exercises.

The sad thing?

I don't know the first thing about dance - or tights - or getting on with other Mother's at the class.

Hubby got her ready while I was finishing homework with the boys - and she walked in with her tights on backwards...so I flipped them around - but they still looked wrong. They were on right but they were open toed...so half her feet weren't covered.

I had to ask the dance instructor what's I was doing wrong - turns out you can wear them 2 ways - like she had them - or just pull the tight down around the foot for closed toe. DUH.

As for the Mother's - I just feel lost - it's like being the new kid at school. They all have kids that have already been through this or are friends with someone who is. They seem so relaxed and comfortable with everything that is happening.

Like when they took my 3 year old and put her behind a 1 way mirror. This is normal I have since figured out (and she is doing great without me) but I had imagined it very different - like I would be in the room with her - able to take pictures.

But nope...I am stuck jockeying for a view through a 4 foot window with 10 other Mothers, Grandma's and Aunts all the while feeling so left out.

For the last few years - I have never really had time to chat with other women let alone be alone with them. I was always pregnant or toting around 2 or 3 kids. This left little time to interact in any way other than HI, How are you? or Yes, I really do have my hands full.

So here I am at the stage in my life where my kids are moving on from hanging on - and I got nothing.

If I were one of my kids I would say - Introduce yourself. Make friends. Make conversation - why is it so easy to give advice and so hard to swallow your own medicine?

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Monday, September 6, 2010

Show Me Your #giveaway or #contest

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Saucy Mama Recipe Contest and Giveaway

As the mother of 4 kids I am constantly striving to serve yummy, healthy and colorful foods to my family. My kids visit the grocery store with me and are allowed to help pick out the fruits and veggies that we buy for the week. I explain each time that the brighter more colorful fruits and veggies pack a bigger punch nutrition wise.

For the first time we bought purple cabbage and I knew that I wanted to try and work it into my dish for the Saucy Mama Recipe Contest. I hope that you enjoy my recipe and the next time that you are in the produce section - grab something colorful!

Tasting the Rainbow Turkey Burgers:

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey

1/2 cup Saucy Mama Lime Chipolte marinade

1/4 head of purple cabbage chopped

1/2 yellow bell pepper, finely diced

1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced

1/4 red onion, finely diced

3 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained.

1 egg, slightly beaten

1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1 mango, diced

Saute the bell peppers, cabbage, onion and garlic until tender. In a large bowl combine sauteed vegetables with black beans, marinade, turkey, egg and bread crumbs. Mix thoroughly. Flatten in bowl and score into 4 parts with spoon. For each 1/4 of turkey mixture form 2 patties and saute in olive oil until cooked through.

Once placed on bed of spinach top with diced mango.

Bed of Spinach Salad:

2 handfuls spinach leaves

1 limes

salt and pepper to taste

1 Tablespoon Olive oil

Once Turkey burgers are completely cooked place one handful of spinach in plate. Squeeze half a lime into small bowl. Salt and pepper to taste. Whisk in 1 Tablespoon of olive oil. Lightly dress spinach.

Spicy Baked Corn on the Cob:

2 ears corn

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons Saucy Mama Lime Chipolte Marinade

salt and pepper to taste

Carefully strip back leaves from corn. While removing silks leave stalks attached. Coat ear of corn in butter then marinade. Lightly salt and pepper. Wrap in stalk and bake for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Thanks to Saucy Mama I have a whole set of marinades to giveaway to one lucky reader. To enter please visit their site and let me know which product you would like to try most.

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This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. I will use random.org to draw a winner and they will be notified by e-mail with 48 hours to get back to me with their shipping info. Giveaway ends Sept 14 at 12:00 midnight Central Standard time zone.

Thanks to Saucy Mama I received samples to review. No other compensation was given for this post but my recipe is being entered to win a cash prize. All opinion expressed is mine and mine alone. :)

Spending a Saturday Afternoon with Each Other

I have been giving a lot of thinking to the way that we spend our weekends - usually doing a whole lot of nothing - or things that don't involve the whole family. I want to make the weekend more about family time so I have decided to put a plan into action. The next few weekends we are going to be walking our bikes down to the park for bike riding and picnics.

This was our first chance to put my plan into action. It was a lot of work but I have got to hand it to this sweet little family of mine - we really rose to the occasion...

I wanted to teach the 2 oldest to ride a bike this weekend. Jakob surprised us all though when we got to the park - he jumped on his bike and rode off. I'm not sure if the kids learned in his sleep or if he was just old enough that he understood the mechanics of it. But we barely saw much more than just the blur of him riding by. He was gracious enough to grace us with his presence when we took a break for lunch though.

Miss Maddy was fabulously outfitted in her finest Hello Kitty attire...this girl stole my heart yet again with her bright smile and happy laugh. She was very reluctant to ride her tiny like bike...that is until I asked her brother to stand about 5 feet in front of it and dared her to get him. Then she was pedaling like a woman scorned...which I guess she kinda is...the boys are constantly taking her things.

Ethan still has training wheels on his bike - but I am vowing to get rid of them as soon as I have taught Av to ride a bike. He was pretty proficient at riding but seemed a little lost when his brothers were otherwise occupied. Being the youngest of 3 boys I fear this is a feeling that he will have to get used to.

This one...oh this one gave me a run for my money. Avery has never been a quiet child and he's a little overly dramatic. He was able to ride his bike for quite a ways but the fear of what he was actually doing took root and wouldn't allow him to go any further. He was jumping off his bike mid pedal, turning the handlebars to sharply and crying I'm scared to death of breaking a bone for all the park to hear.

I really felt for him...but I know that once he understands balance - he will never forget it. I don't want to let him give up so I kept showing him how far he went each time. Showing him the tracks that he was making in the grass since riding on the concrete paths seemed to scary for him (although we did a bit of it later in the day).

As I was walking his bike back up the slope for him to take another pass at it - I was thinking about all the hard things that he is going to have to experience in life. There are so many things that will break his heart from grades to girls to friends. I want him to know that even if he is scared to death - he can't let fear take hold. He has to look the things that he finds scary in the eye and do them anyway.

Each time that I had to wait for him to make the choice to pick himself up off the ground (where he threw himself not where he fell) I would smile and say I'm proud that you are trying again.

We are headed out again this week for some more practice...I wish that I was able to capture a picture of my family on our way to the park. Try to imagine Hubby in the lead walking his bike, carrying our lunch tote and walking Miss Maddy's pink bike along. Followed by 3 boys walking their bikes and Miss Maddy and I bringing up the rear walking my bike and carrying another lunch tote.

We have to walk down a sharp hill - which is hard enough for the 2 older boys but poor Ethan learned a tough lesson. His parents aren't going to bail him out when the going gets tough. Walking home was the roughest on him since he is only 5 (almost 6) - he cried, screamed, let him self go limp and pitched the biggest fit of his young life. But he finally bucked up and pushed his bike up the hill.

I was so proud of each of us walking our bikes into the garage. It was hard - no doubt but it sure beats what we usually do on a Saturday afternoon.

Tips I learned from our afternoon:

Check out your bikes if they are assembled at the store. The handle bars on mine weren't screwed in tightly and were slipping all over the place.

Make sure to wear your sunscreen. It was the first day of fall like weather and it really let us forget about the sun. We all have sun burns - even Miss Maddy - this is the saddest thing I have ever let happen. If you knew me - I am a sun screen queen with my kids. All summer long I have made sure that they wore it. Feel like such a chump that I forgot it.

Explain what the brakes are for and how to use them. Walk the bike along while the child gets accustomed to them and how they work.

Don't give up - but do take a break. We stopped after a few tries for a picnic lunch. This gave Avery a chance to get some much needed rest and reflection. He was able to talk out his fear enough to give it another go.

Multi task if possible. We were eating our left over oranges so that we wouldn't have to carry them back up the hill home and thought it would be a good idea to empty our water bottles too. Miss Maddy thought this was a great time for a cooling shower.

After all the effort that our family put in - I wanted to reward them with something that we don't do very often...having a mother who doesn't really like ice cream (I know it's crazy) they were fist pumping over a trip to the ice cream shop:

I want to make sure that when my kids look back on their childhood they remember more than their Mother on the computer - so I am taking steps to ensure that they have great memories of family times.

What is your favorite activity to do with your kids?

Friday, September 3, 2010

Putting Family First

I have had this idea milling around in my head for a while - this picture that I can't seem to shake...so I have decided to try and put it into action. I want to start a Family Meet Up group here in my home town. A place and time to gather with families that are striving for the same values that I am.

Mission Statement:

Families First Meet-up is a group of families that are striving to give their children an old fashioned childhood. We believe that it's important to make time for family at home and out in the world. We grew in a time where bikes were a precious possessions, meals were eaten together and the family was a unit. Childhood is a precious commodity that should be cherished but in today's society it is being wasted on video games, tv and cell phones. Let's make time to turn back time. FamilyIS the new black.

Once a month members would get together for group activities such as:

Bike rides
Visiting local parks
Hikes
Game/Movie Nights
Tennis games
Picnics

Every month the Mom's and Dad's would take turns with a night out. All Mom's would meet up a local restaurant for a night out - the next month the Dad's could do the same.

4 times a year - we could participate in service projects as a group - like forming a team for Relay for Life, March of Dimes or community clean up.

Every group activity would have a "fee" - I was thinking of asking for $2.00 donation for each family member that attends - saving this money up for December and using it to purchase toys for Toys for Tots.

But am also giving thought to asking for other things in order to participate such as:

2 cans of food for each member that participates to be donated a local pantry.
Personal Care items, bag of clothes or toys for local women's shelter.
1 bag of trash picked up from around our home town per family.

September Family Meet Up

For the first activity I am going to try a bike ride. We have a park that has a 1/2 mile track that I think would be perfect. We could let our kids ride with parents stationed around the park for encouragement and making sure that everyone is following the rules. Making sure that the kids know that it's the ride that's important not who is in the lead or has done the most laps.

I have asked Hubby to contact a few police officers to come out and teach us about the reason for bike helmets, bike safety and encouragement.

I need to get together a first aid kit.

In preparation

I think the most important thing I can do is teach my kids to ride a bike. I have done this in past summers with our oldest...but since we live on a very sharp hill - it's never been something that we did on a daily basis.

After Av's piano lesson in the morning we are going to walk our bikes down the hill to the park and put in some practice time. I am really looking forward to seeing my kids flying by on their bikes.

What I am not looking forward to is the complaining - I hope the learning process is better now that they kids are all a little older and seem to have what it takes physically to be able to ride a bike.

I am going to try to remain positive through all the I can't's and It's too hard's - and know that once they finally get it - that they will never forget it.

At least that is what I am hoping as Hubby and I bought bikes too!

What do you think? Am I forgetting somethings? An activity that you can suggest?

Me as My Own Maid

I have a few ideas on how being my own maid can help me to live like I have one...

Make my bed every morning as soon as I get up...this simple act will make it easier to keep my room cleaner...a made bed says - hey don't just drop your shoes there - put them away.

When doing my make-up and hair - instead of leaving all of my cosmetics, straightener and blow dryer out everywhere I can put them all away as I go. I have put a canister of disinfectant wipes under the bathroom cabinet for the sink along with Windex for the mirror. If I just take an extra couple of minutes to wipe out the sink (think make-up debris) this area of my house would be much cleaner on an every day basis.

Basket Sweep - this is one of my fastest cleaning techinques...take a large basket into the room in your house that has been offending you most and clear out everything that doesn't belong...then put it away. If there is anything left in the basket that you don't have a place for or need - get rid of it.

Get rid of my clutter - the more stuff that I have the more it can pile up - I need to get rid of at least 7 things a week

All of this though takes time - time that some of us either don't have or want to waste. So I use the 15 minute method. You would be surprised what you can accomplish in just 15 minutes.

I often set a timer and rush to see what I can get done before the timer goes off. If the task that I am trying to complete isn't finished when the timer goes off - I set it for another 15 minutes and so on until I am finished.

What steps do you take so that you can live like you have a maid?

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Why are 3 and 4 year old ruling the world?

While waiting (I am a waitress) on a sweet little family the other day I was amazed at how their little girl seemed to be ruling the roost.

Her mother wanted to order a tortilla with chicken and cheese for her 3 year old al a carte...because she wouldn't eat the rice...nor would she eat any of the other vegetables that we have available.

Then she had to drink sprite because she won't drink anything else...

and finally when I saw that she was getting salsa all over her beautiful dress I offered a bib - but you guessed it - she wouldn't wear that either - or rather her Mother refused because she knew her daughter wouldn't.

I was left wondering...

Why is everyone giving in and up on their little ones...aren't somethings worth fighting for? Shouldn't you make your little one do and eat they what they should? Isn't it worth the tantrum?

My kids are all good veggies eaters not because they are abnormal - but because by today's standards I am. I don't give in or give up.

Veggies are offered every. single. night at my house.

If you don't eat them - you don't get any more of anything else that we are eating. I don't serve dessert every night (even though I am asked to quite often) but if you don't make a happy plate...you aren't getting any of that either.

We eat dinner as a family with everyone having the exact same thing on their plates - so that we are the examples that my kids need. They see us eating broccoli, salad and spinach. They see that we are standing by the rules of our house.

That is not to say that we don't have our fair share of tantrums over:

Refusal to eat what they should.

Refusal to drink milk or water.

Refusal to walk with us in stores as in walking ahead, behind or running away.

Refusal to sit in their seats at the table.

Refusal to be calm in public as in throwing a fit in the middle of a store because I am explaining for the millionth time why I am buying regular yogurt instead of the one that has their favorite cartoon character. *

We deal with each and every one of these refusals almost on a daily basis. With four kids someone is almost always unhappy with something.

But parents have tools at their disposal:

Consistent parenting - everyone has to be on the same page about what's important.

Rules and expectations.

Immediate action. No more turning the blind eye because it's easier. I have offered to remove my child's chair from the table and allow them to stand if they feel it's so Uncomfortable to sit in.

Conviction - if you know that you are in the right - it's much easier to stand your ground.

Conversation - this is one of my favorites as I get to hear about their day but they are involved at the table. It's much easier to act up with they are being ignored.

They can try to give me a run for the money with veggies, attitude and rules...but I am not about to give in at such a young age. I truly believe that I am a supposed to be the mean Mother that I am so that they can grow up strong, healthy and in the know about what's what nutrition wise.

I also want the satisfaction of knowing that when they have families of their own they might want some of the same rules we had in our family. They might want their kids to eat right, act right and have family dinner.

*and you better believe that I am already teaching all of them about marketing - while in the grocery store I am pointing out the things that companies do to try and sway your purchase.