Breaking Point

I think so many times when you have a bunch of kids people assume you are some sort of super mom. No such case here. Let me tell you, yesterday was a case of the "I feel like the worst parent ever" moments. Ellie, my gymnast, was walking out of Girl Scouts with her friend while we loaded up meeting stuff and her friend did a cartwheel and accidentally kicked Ellie in the hand. No big deal. Just thought she was being a little emotional and I basically told her she'd be alright and to suck it up. Oh geez. That was last Tuesday night. I put ice on it and wrapped it up. She felt bad Wednesday so I gave her some tylenol and wrapped it up again and then again on Thursday. She had a bit of a cough and a runny nose so I thought that was the main thing she was feeling bad about. Friday she said it felt sort of better so I didn't take her to the doctor. We thought we'd see how it felt over the weekend. It was bruising pretty bad so I thought she had just bruised it pretty good.

Monday (SIX days later). Went to the doctor. Her hand is broken. Broken!!! We go back to the surgeon next week to see if she will need surgery and screws. Whoops. Parent fail. I have to give her some credit though, because she really did suck it up. I felt so awful that I hadn't taken her right away and that I had told her to suck it up! She told me not to feel bad, that even she was surprised it was broken! What a doll. She was bummed she didn't get a pretty pink cast and that she is out of gymnastics for the next 6 weeks.

I hope that she can take away from this how strong she really is. I always knew she was, but this should have been her breaking point and it wasn't.

Apparently I wasn't holding it up correctly (the broken hand is her left and this makes it look like her right). Not bad for in the car with my phone!

Tough little cookie!

Oh you know I got her ice cream!!

How to Make Your Own Homemade Butter

Today is perhaps the best Monday in quite awhile.  This morning we woke up in our new house.  It is Regan's 4th birthday.  My Mom, who is continuing on her fight against cancer, doesn't have to have surgery today!  And it's my 300th post.  So I'm going to share with you just how easy it is to make your very own homemade butter because making homemade butter is one of the most satisfying things to make!

What you need:

• Heavy Whipping Cream (use as much or little as you like, I usually do about 2 cups and I don't usually measure it, I just pour in half of the carton)
• Kitchen-aid stand mixer with the whisk attachment.  You could do it with a hand held mixer but this way is a lot easier.
• Salt or seasonings to taste.  I like a garlic herb blend or even cinnamon.
• A strainer, bowl for the strainer to sit and a mason jar to hold your buttermilk.  A dish or container for your butter.
• A loaf of fresh bread.  Okay this one isn't required but you'll want it!  Try this recipe, its easy!

What you do:

Put your cream in the mixer and turn it on low so it doesn't splash out.

It will turn into whipped cream, resist the temptation to eat it!  It will still be really white in color and fluffy.

A short while after the butter will separate from the buttermilk and it will be yellow in color.  Turn your mixer off.

This is the buttermilk.  Strain it into a bowl and then transfer the milk to a jar.

Get the butter out of the whip and squeeze out any excess buttermilk.  Then wash your butter by running it under cold water and kneading it with your hands for a few minutes.

Now you can add seasoning and shape it to fit in the dish of your choice.  

The time it takes to go from cream to whipped cream to butter will vary depending on how much cream you use and how cold your mixer bowl, whip and cream are.  I'm usually done in 15 minutes, start to finish.  To make butter faster, put your mixing bowl and whip in the freezer for about 10 minutes prior to starting.  That was easy wasn't it?  And now your hands are soft and you have buttermilk for pancakes.  People are always amazed when I tell them I make it myself.  I suppose it's because they are picturing me milking a cow and churning butter on the porch, not this girl!

Happy Monday!  Thanks for sharing this journey with me for 300 posts...here's to 300 more!

Something had to give

Whoa!  Where did I go?  Sunday night I told Dale we were getting up and doing P90X together and that he needed to be up at 5am.  We saw, we did, we spent the morning together working out and having breakfast together before he went off to work and the kids got up.  It was great!  Since then Jack has caught on to us having fun together in the morning and has attempted to put a stop to it.  Tuesday he woke up early and watched us while eating some fruit, no big deal.  Wednesday night he decided to get up before we even went to bed and then got up later in the night to come to bed.  Dale didn't get his work out in, he didn't get home until 10pm from a work conference.  We were exhausted last night but determined to get up and do Yoga at 5am.  I woke up at 4am to Jack snuggling me and after putting him back in bed he got up 15 minutes later and went to Dale's side, who put him back down.  4:45 and it's not only Jack but Ellie up as well.  She was complaining of her toe itching so much she couldn't sleep.  Dale caved and put Jack in the middle of us.  I put cream on Ellie's toe and re-set my alarm to 5:30.  Let me tell you at 5:30 I said to hell with it, Yoga can happen during nap time. Right now I am balancing working out, really playing and engaging my kids and keeping the house clean but throwing the blog in throws me for a loop.  Something had to give and it was my blog.  I'm still figuring out the balance of working out, keeping my house clean and my kids engaged and blogging.  I will never be one of those blogs that you wonder how she does it all, because I will be the first to admit that I don't do it all.  I remember reading a few weeks ago a blog about unplugging and how your kids will remember you.  It hit home.  I don't want to spend my days glued to the computer and just plop them in front of the TV.  I refuse to be that mom. So if I seem absent just know that I'm either working out (for real P90X'ing it), playing with my kids or running around frantically to clean up after them :).

In the next two weeks I'll be posting about:  Upcycled rain boot planters, backyard bliss and a the tree house, P90X, our toy and bed room makeovers and our family vacation.  So while I'll still be here it may not be as hard core as I've been before.

The Super Diet- How to Lose 5lbs in 24 hours

It's all the rage among Mom's today and I bet if you're a Mom you've totally done it.  I'm talking about The Super Diet, where you can lose up to 5lbs in 24 hours by simply catching the stomach bug your kids have.  It's awesome!  I did it this week and I look fabulous even with the pale and sickly look, which I can totally cover up with makeup.  If your kid isn't sick just go to the park or a public bathroom or better yet the sick kid waiting room at any doctors office.  I bet you could catch it even if you didn't try.

How it works:

You catch a nasty stomach bug from one of your adorable children, or worse someone else's.
You writhe in agony as you attempt to get your children showered and in bed before you have to use the bathroom again for the tenth time.
You survive the night after adorable children #'s 3 and 4 join you in your bed in the middle of the night, #3 decides to sleep with her feet on your pillow and you wake up via foot to the face.
You don't eat breakfast for fear that you will defecate all over yourself while dropping them off at school.
You eat an oreo for snack time and send the little one's outside with 3 each so you can at least load the dishwasher.  Hey that oreo will just make it's way out soon anyways right?  All part of the diet.
You skip lunch for the same reason you skipped breakfast, wouldn't want to ruin all of this dieting by having to do more of your own laundry, it would also make for a really long car rider line at school.
Your husband calls and offers to bring home pizza for dinner.  You gladly accept and eat a slice out of shear starvation and well its pizza.  You skip the beer because that might be pushing it.
You wake up the next day and you've miraculously lost 5lbs.
Easy peasy, right?

Here is my Super Diet secret, I'll be happy to let her breath on you ;)

You might also enjoy:  Cart Karma

Spa Day!

The girls and I had a spa day and it was so much fun.  We did facials, hot oil hair treatments, body scrub, a bubble bath, manicures and pedicures.  I wanted the products we used to be all natural and I wanted to make them at home.  That was perhaps the most fun.

First we did a hot oil treatment on our hair. We simply heated up olive oil, brushed it through our hair and wrapped warm towels on our head.  Put your clean towels in the dryer on high for about 5 minutes and while you are waiting for them to heat up brush through your hair to get out any tangles.  Heat the oil in the microwave for 20-40 seconds at a time until warm and check to make sure that its not too hot before putting it on your hair.  It worked really well for me and made my hair a lot softer and smoother.  The girls probably could have done without it, it was a little harder to get it out of their hair, but they had fun doing it!

For facials we mixed organic Greek Brown Cow yogurt, we choose blueberry and added oatmeal to it.  I was skeptical but it worked and my face felt softer and firm.  For the girls it was just fun to put on!

We mixed up a fresh batch of my Brown Sugar Epsom Salt Body Scrub and piled in a big bubble bath.  We giggled, a lot.  Using the Epsom Salt in the bath was so relaxing, even with all of the giggling.  After we got out of the tub we lathered up with lots of lotion, got in our cuddliest pajamas and did our nails while we watched movies.  One of the hardest things with little ones is keeping nail polish from getting everywhere.  My solution is to lay out an old sheet.  The girls know they have to stay on the sheet or we stop.  It helps having a movie on to keep their attention.

I think it is so important to teach my children to pamper and take care of themselves.  Its one of those things as women and mothers that we tend to forget or neglect.  We spend so much time taking care of others that we often forget to take care of ourselves.  It's not only important to me to teach them but to model it as well.  I want them to reflect back and think that I not only took care of them but myself as well.

Just me and the girls, and our handsome camera man!

Silly face form Ellie!

So many giggles!

Mom to Mom: Sick Kid Tips

Jack is on the mend after a night on the couch with Mommy and the humidifier.  So today while I have a few minutes to myself I thought I'd share with you my two favorite tips for taking care of sick kids and babies.

The Barfer:  At some point you are going to have to deal with vomit.  Thankfully I'm not dealing with that kind of sick right now.  Most of the time parents give a bowl or a bucket to the kid when they are set up on the couch.  Not in this house.  I give them a plastic pitcher with a handle on it.  The size is just right for them to put their faces in it, there is less splatter (ewww but its part of the job) and the handle makes it less likely to be dropped.  Which is like not even having a bowl in the first place, totally done that.  It also makes it easier to dump in the toilet.

The Stuffed Up Nose:  This one is perfect for that little one that still wants the comfort of Mom or Dad but is too little to put Vicks directly on their skin.  Get an old, thin t-shirt and put the Vicks Vapor Rub on your shoulders and collar/chest.  Baby gets the benefit of the Vicks while you hold them without putting it on them.  It works wonders.  I did this with Jack last night!

Now I have to get back to my littles.  Jack is on my lap, "talking" on my phone and Regan is lost in Dora land and its time for snack.  Maybe the sneaky vegetable post tomorrow?

It really is the little things, or I've lost my mind

I got excited over getting a stain out of my husband's shirt.  After my initial "Yes!" and internal high five I gave myself an "oh my goodness what has happened to you" dirty look.  I got all excited about shining my sink and mopping my floor last night.  Who is this person?  I'm either finding happiness in the little things or I have truly lost mind.  I'm not sure which it is yet.

I'm also a potty training ninja and after several dry nights I can finally say that Regan is officially potty trained.  Three down and one to go.  I think I can have Jack done by the end of the year.  He already tells me when he poops and will go sit on the toilet and then put some toilet paper in and flush.  2012 is the year to be diaper free!

And because I think this may be the cutest pictures ever here are my filthy kids.  They got into the fire pit and covered themselves in dirt and ashes while I went to the bathroom, seriously they did this in 30 seconds.  We don't have a lot of fires out there, but my husband dumps the ashes from the fireplace into the pit.  On the plus side they did get an early bath and went to bed early that night.  I'm sure my former self would have freaked out, but they are only kids once.  Oh and because my washing machine was empty and my laundry caught up I just tossed everything in the wash, thanks FlyLady!  An empty washer, another little thing or pure insanity.  We did have a talk about not doing it again though because once was enough!

Lily the Frog for Mason's Cause

I had the opportunity to make something for Mason's Cause, which provides infant loss support. I feel so passionate about supporting this cause. Perhaps because I have repeatedly suffered the pain of miscarriage but I think more so because when I look at Mason's face I see my own children in his eyes. So please go and bid on their auction, which starts today August 5th, where you can find Lily the Frog and many other beautiful creations, gift certificates and jewelry. If you don't win it in the auction you can purchase her at my Etsy shop where I will donate 50% of the profit to Mason's Cause.




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Semi-Slacker

Did you know that sometimes I am a slacker?  Well I have been blog wise and I'm sorry.  So here is a rundown of the exciting things that have gone on in the past few weeks. 

The odds got poison ivy, and by the odds I mean people 1,3 and 5 in the house.  We do it by age, not importance otherwise I clearly would be number one.  Hands down.

I graduated from Northeastern State University.  Finally.  I really didn't think they were going to take my AP English but thankfully they did.  Yay for the English dept!  It was a whirlwind of excitement and I'm still a bit shocked that I am done with college.  I like to say that it only took me 8yrs and 4 kids to get a degree.  I wish I had started school before I had Ethan, but you can't change the past.  So I don't know what its like to be in college without kids.  I probably wouldn't have graduated if I didn't have them, I may have drowned in perpetual partying.  That's where I was at after high school. 

I started cloth diapering full time.  It really doesn't take up as much time as I thought and its saving me money.  Yay for money!!  I don't think I will ever be thrilled with dealing with poop, but its sort of an everyday thing here at this point in our lives and I've come to terms with that. 

Jack got tubes in his ears.  I was somewhat apprehensive but I'm so glad we did it.  Even at 11 months his "speech" has tripled!  It is amazing. 

We visited a sheep farm.  Okay I really thought it was going to be better than it actually was.  I think because there were so many people and because you couldn't touch them my expectations weren't met.  We did get to see one sheered and watch spinning and needle felting.  It was also super religious and we are not.  I knew it would be Jesus-y but it was over the top for my taste. 

The kids got a swing set from the Grandparent Easterbunnies.  It takes up most of the yard and on any given day there could be as many as 8 or even 9 kids in my backyard.  Yep we're that house.

Jack can climb onto the trampoline, up to "Regan's House" in the swing set and up to Ellie's top bunk...but he refuses to walk.  Regan can open doors with the "childproof" door knobs on them. 

We got Regan a Dora potty.  She is doing alright with it.  When I changed her ridiculously gross poop I told her she needs to sit on it and tell Dora to "Explore this" and that Dora liked it best when she pooped.  Vulgar?  Maybe.  Dale almost peed his pants when I said that.  Whatever works to get her pooping in the potty.  Besides you can't vamanos in diapers right?