Just Keep it Coming

My last post was a tutorial on how to get your kids to say you are the best mom ever...

I have another way.  I just learned this the other night.

Squire and Scribe sent me to town with $10.00.  "Can you go buy us some Wii points?  If you can't find them, make sure you ask someone where they are.  1000 Wii points cost $10.00, okay?"  Not knowing my way around an electronics department, I had to ask.  The helpful employee took me right to the cards and said they were now on clearance:  2000 Wii points were $15.00.

I called home to see if the boys wanted to spend an extra $5.00.  They were more than happy to, but were disappointed they hadn't sent me with enough  money.  They asked if I would pay the difference for them and they would repay me when I got home.  I told them that wasn't a problem, as long as they remembered to pay me back.

Scribe responded, "Oh, Thank you mom.  You are the best mom ever.   When you get home, I'm going to give you a big hug and big kiss."  I rushed home to cash in on my big hug and big kiss before he forgot...or changed his mind.

Twice in one week I've been told I'm the best mom, ever.  I think that makes me definite mother of the year material, don't you?

How to...

get your kids to say , "Mom, you are the best mom ever.":

1.  One day when you are out shopping, stop and look at all the fun colors of nail polish.

2.  Choose the one that you, as a mom, would never choose...or wear.

3.  Buy it.

4.  Bring it home and surprise your little girls.

5.  After you finish polishing the girls' nails, one will probably ask to polish yours.

6.  Smile and say, "I'd love to have you do my nails."  (Even if it is blue and you really don't want to have it done.)

7.  Ooh and Ahh over how good a nail polisher your little girl has become.

8.  Tell her you think she will probably be able to start polishing her own nails by the time she turns eight.

9.  She will then start talking very grown up and asking about all the other things she will be allowed to do as she gets older.  Tell her.  

10.  Thank her for doing such a good job.  Give her a kiss, but not a hug, because you might wreck your newly polished blue nails, and send her off to bed.

This is when she will pause and say, "Thank you for buying that cool polish.  Mom, you are the best mom, ever."  

They are Learning Things I Don't Teach Them

The other day Duchess asked me, "Mom, can you touch your uvula?"

I asked, "Do you even know what you are talking about?"

She replied, "Yeah.  (opening her mouth very wide)  I can almost touch mine with my tongue.  Can you?"

Tip of the Day

When you do not have a sleeping mask readily available, try using Valentine stickers.  They will do in a pinch.

Sorry for the poor quality mobile photo.  The King took this on the way home from visiting Grandpa and Grandma this past weekend.  He took the four middle kids for a special weekend away.  Maiden is actually sleeping under those stickers and did so for about an hour.  When she got home she told me, "Mom, I put stickers on my eyes and then I fell asleep.  It hurt really bad when I took them off."

Pondering

Why is it...

that I can expect a major spill at dinner time the day the dining room floor has been mopped?

that my favorite pair of pants (that are very flattering, by the way) get ruined in the wash?

that my non dry able clothing items get placed in the dryer...on high heat?

that when I have all the gumption in the world to get a lot of work done, I end up with a migraine?

that after years of turning the light on in the middle of the night to make sure the toilet seat is down (and it usually is), the one time I don't check...it's up?

that the day I wash my child's bedding, that same night he or she has an accident?

that I don't notice the dishwasher crud in the bottom of my cup before I pour myself a cup of coffee rather than when I'm taking my last sip?

that when I nearly break my neck to get to the phone, waiting for an 'important' call...it's a salesperson?

that major catastrophes (kitchen fires, broken pipes, vehicle problems, naughty teens, runaway sheep and leaking furnaces) happen when my husband is on a business trip and I am home alone with all seven children?

that I can trust my best friend to notice and tell me when I have food between my teeth, but not my husband?

that my little boy who used to adore me, is now a teen and looks at me like I am his enemy?

that hind sight is 20/20?

that I didn't realize how much I needed my mom, until she was gone? 

Homeschool Valentine's Party

Friday we had our homeschool Valentine's party.  My boys thought it would be fun if we could have a contest for the best Valentine's boxes.  We decided to have two categories:  Funniest and Most Creative.  We gave two prizes for each category.  One for those who needed help from parents and one for those who did not have help.

We made some ballots so all the kids at the party could vote for their favorites.

Here is Maiden standing beside her flower pot Valentine's box.  She was distributing all her valentines to the 33 different bags/boxes.  When it came time vote, she didn't vote for any of her sibling's boxes.  She wanted her friends to win.

Duchess (in the black shirt and red skirt) lobbied for her box as the kids were casting their votes. She was very persuasive.  "You like that one?  It's not very creative...how about this one?" (Pointing to her box.) 

Here we are after coming home.  It's a good thing we hosted the contest, so we could bring home three out of the four prizes.  Squire made a sheep box and won "funniest-no help from parents".  Maiden's flower pot won "funniest--with help from parents".  Duchess' purple castle won "most creative-with help from parents".  Poor Scribe won nothing for his Mario tube.  That's okay.  I was feeling guilty enough the way it was. 

I'm Back!

I made it home safe and sound.  I had a wonderful trip to California.  I loved it.  Loved the ocean.  Loved San Francisco.  Loved Half Moon Bay.  Loved Niles.   Loved the time with my sweet friend.  Loved getting reacquainted with their kids.  Loved their dog.  Loved the food.  Loved the food.  Loved the food.  Did I mention the food was really good?  It was so good, I am now afraid to step on the scale!

I'll have to tell you more about my trip later.   I need to get caught up with my children, my hubby, my house, my blogging friends, and my sleep.

Blessings,

Cartouche

We are studying ancient Egypt.  The other day we made cartouches.  A cartouche is  an oblong enclosure with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the hieroglyphic text enclosed is a royal name.  Since we live in Fairy Tale Land, it only seemed fitting to make cartouches with our royal names in them.

This was fun for everyone.  We learned that in 1798, Napoleon found the Rosetta Stone during some construction work.  It had three different types of writing on it, Hieroglyphics,  Demotic, and Greek.

 
It took many years of studying the hieroglyphics along with the two other languages to try to decipher the hieroglyphic code.

Scholars finally realized they had found the name of a Pharaoh in a cartouche. This was the break through they needed to break the code.

We then made book marks for everyone  in the family with their names on them.  If I would have known they would have had so much fun with this project, I would have purchased some shrink plastic or clay to make their names into bracelets.  But we've got to move on.  We can't stay in Egypt forever.  There is much more of this ancient world to discover...and five minds waiting to soak up every little detail.   (Maybe I'll make some for them as an end of the semester gift.  I'll let you know if I do.) 

Like Money in the Bank

The other day I took eight pounds of ground beef and made:

2 pans of Heavenly Beef Casserole
2 pans of Meatloaf
1 batch of Sloppy Joe's
1 batch of CB Casserole

Then I put them all in the freezer. I love having meals ready and waiting for me, especially when my husband is traveling. When The King saw what I had done, he said, "Having meals in the freezer is like money in the bank for you, isn't it?" He's absolutely right. I'm feeling like the richest woman in the world right now.  My wealth will be a blessing to him this week while I'm out of town, so I am sure I'll be needing to make some new deposits as soon as I get home.

Anyone have a great freezer recipe you'd like to share?  I love trying new things.  

I'm Flying Away

Today I am leaving for California.  I am excited for a little mommy only time away.  It's bittersweet too.  I don't know if I am going to be able to handle six days away from the ones I love more than life itself:

The King and Jester working on Jester's physics project.

Duchess and Maiden the day Maiden got her ears pierced.

Squire reading the paper and enjoying a snack.

Jouster and Prince Charming worn out after an evening of guitar hero.

Prince Charming and Scribe in a self portrait.

Our blog will still have activity while I'm gone.  I have scheduled posts to be published almost every day.  I will be checking in from CA, so don't be afraid to leave a comment.

I'm a Little Fruity

I was so glad when our fruit order came in last week.  I feel healthier just knowing all that vitamin C is here, waiting to be consumed.  

Last month we ordered two full cases, one of oranges and one of grapefruit.  We ran out of grapefruit way too early in the month, so this time we added an additional ½ box.  This is $64.00 worth of fruit--about 2½ bushel.  This time of year we also eat about 25# of bananas, one or two pineapple, a couple of kiwis, and 5-10# of apples per month.  We only have grapes if they are really cheap.  

Way back in the old days, when I only had four children,  I used to think fruit snacks were a healthy snack for my kids because they said "fruit" on them.   Fruit juice, canned peaches (in delicious syrup), and bananas were the main sources of fruit in our diet.  I had done daycare and according to the National Lunch Standards, canned fruit (in syrup) counted as a fruit serving.  If the government says it's good for us, then it has to be, right?  

Seven years ago, when we started our adoption process, a pediatrician told me that once we got our child home, she would go through a huge growth spurt.  The doctor explained that in foreign countries, people are not exposed to hormones in foods like we are here in the U.S.  She said I'd be amazed at how fast our little girl would grow once we started feeding her our American diet.  For some reason, this did not sit well with me.  I dove in and did endless reading and research on food and health related topics.  One thing that really troubled me was that girls were starting puberty at younger ages.  Especially foreign adoptees.  Some experts attributed this to our poor diet.

I decided we would make some changes.  It made sense to me that if we would eat foods as close to the way God gave them to us, the better off we'd be.  I started to replace our processed and canned fruits with fresh.  That wasn't easy.  We had grown accustomed to ultra sweet syrup laden fruits.  The kids loved to drink the 'juice' from the can when the fruit was gone.  Eating fresh wasn't desirable.  I threw out lots of over ripe and rotting fruit that no one touched.  Over time, our taste buds adjusted and we were able to enjoy fresh fruit the way God had intended.

Then I started adding fresh, leafy greens into our diet.  We usually have a salad with our meals about 3 (or more) times per week.   People are amazed when the see my two year old shoveling lettuce greens into his mouth...and then asking for more 'num nums'.   If we don't have a fresh salad, we have some sort of cooked vegetable on the side with our meals. 

I tried to cut out a lot of processed foods and started cooking from scratch.  Years ago,  when we only had two children, we had a visit from a friend from Norway.  His main comment about our food was that our bread lacked substance.  He said, "Americans make such good sandwiches.  They'd be much better on good bread."  I had no idea what he was talking about.  I loved my sub sandwiches on soft white bread.   It wasn't until after I started baking whole wheat bread and purchasing whole grain breads that I understood what he had been talking about.

We also made changes in our meat to decrease some of the hormones in our diet.   We started to raise our own chickens and lamb.  We purchased organic, grass fed beef from a local farmer.  I can't afford organic milk, but I do buy hormone free.  I haven't been able to switch our cheeses and butter.  It's just not cost effective.  However, I do feel better about the changes we have made.  I do what I can do within the budget I've been given.

Don't get me wrong.  We are not total health food fanatics.  I still buy hot dogs, processed meats, boxed macaroni and cheese, chips, candy, and occasionally, pop.  I still buy white buns, and French bread.  It's just that these things are no longer the main staple in our lives.

Driving through McDonald's and Burger King for meals used to be a frequent event for our family.  It was convenient.  Once we started eating healthier, and increasing the variety of foods in our diet, those places no longer tasted as good as they had before.  Now, driving through fast food restaurants for a quick meal is a very rare occurrence, and barely tolerable.

What have I accomplished through all of this?  For one, we've seen a considerable decrease in doctor visits.  I can't even remember the last time we had to give one of the younger children an antibiotic.  In fact, some of our kids aren't even in our pharmacy's data base!  It's too bad eating healthier doesn't prevent stitches and broken bones. 

Secondly, I have kids who eat almost anything.  There are very few things they don't like.  One thing they can't stomach is white bread.  Our grocery store was giving away free loaves with a $25.00 purchase.  Always trying to be a good steward, I made sandwiches with it for lunch.  All seven children complained about how the bread turned pasty and stuck to the roofs of their mouths.  It made me smile.  We've definitely come a long way.