Summer colds

This fall I started a new adventure. I am an aid at one of the preschools.  I am loving it so far!  I get to work with great teachers and the students are really fun. Always keep you on your toes!  :)

Now you all know I have four kiddos, right?  Two of which have been in school for a combination of 5 plus years, right?  I thought that I would be able to "handle" the germs since I had already been exposed to many of them. Well, guess who was wrong. Me!  Lol!  With a whopping 3 days of school under my belt I started feeling it. And with the fourth day behind me it is official. I have my first cold of the year. I fear it will not be the only. Time to start dosing up on vitamin c and d and getting some good ol' OJ in me. 

I can only hope that I keep this cold to myself. I certainly don't need to share this with anyone else. I am very thankful today that I don't need to go back in to school until Thursday.  

So with that said, when you have a cold what so you do to combat it?  When you are entering cold/flu season, what do you do to prevent it?

Revisiting Old Loves

When I was 5, I began taking piano lessons.  I loved it.  I am now, at the age of 29, sorry I quit taking piano.  I played and took lessons for 10 years.  I was never the best in my class but I loved every minute of it.  I made it to contest twice and was an alternate to a state competition as well.  I cannot believe how much I have missed playing.  

Today we had the opportunity to move a piano into our home.  What I love the most is that the piano we received is not just any piano, it is a family piano.  This piano came from my husbands family.  His grandparents purchased this piano for his aunt to play.  She has been gracious enough to let us use the piano.  I am so excited!  As soon as I could, I sat down and played.  I don't even think the guys had shut the door to the house before I sat down and played.  

The reason for the piano being moved in is even more exciting.  Our almost 8 year old daughter is starting lessons next week.  I cannot WAIT for her to start tinkering on the piano.  I hope that our other kiddos (6, 4, and 2) will take an interest in the piano as well.  I would love to have them all play, or at least try it out.  I certainly hope that my love for the piano and music in general will be passed down to them. 

To my Daughter/To my Son...

This blog post has been going around today.  And I tried to sum up how I felt in a status update, and frankly, it wasn't going to happen.

I do not personally know the woman who wrote this.  I do not know what prompted her to write her post.  But what I do know is that she did not have bad intentions in mind. As a mother, we all want the best for our kids and she is just doing the best for her kids that she knows how, just as I am doing now.

My kids are in the 8 and under crowd.  But yet this is something that I think about often.  I wonder how we are going to deal with things like this.  How we are going to deal with the photos that are posted, taken, texted, etc.  I wonder how we are going to deal with how my daughters and son dress.  How they are going to behave when we as parents aren't around?  Are they going to be acting appropriately?  Are they going to be going with the crowd?  Are they the leader?  Are they the follower?

Then I remember that we as parents need to do somethings before they get to the point of the kids going out on their own.  Before they have access to Facebook and Instagram (and the like).  We need to do things right now.  My kids are in the pre-FB crazed stage.  My kids know Facebook exists to Mom and Dad but right now, they see it as a fun way to get messages from Grandma and Grandpa and other family.  They do not know the dangers of the internet.  My children, for the most part, are still innocent.

To my daughters:  My hope and prayer is that your Dad and I would raise you with self respect.  I pray that we will have instilled in you self worth.  I pray that I will have taught you how to present yourself in a Godly way.  No, I do not wish you to dress fully covered from head to toe but I do pray that you would learn a modest way to dress while still feeling good about yourself.  Just for the record girls, you do not need to show skin in excess.  You CAN be cute without all the flesh.  I pray that you remember that even though others may not have that level of self respect that it is ok for you to.  It is ok to not follow the crowd.  It is ok for you to be your own person.  I pray that you will protect your heart and your eyes for your husband someday.

To my son:  My hope and prayer is that your Dad and I would have raised you to have self respect.  I pray that you will not only value yourself but value others and see what they are worth.  To see that they are worth more than they think.  I pray that you would be able to stand up against what the world sees as "normal" for a guy.  I pray that you would be the difference.  I pray that you would protect your eyes and your heart for your wife someday.

As a parent, I need to remember this very important lesson.  My kids do NOT know how to act.  Just like I had to teach my kids to crawl, walk, talk, and use the bathroom, I need to teach them to act, dress, and post appropriately.  I need to TEACH them to be responsible and to have self respect.  If I do not teach them the world will and if I let the world teach them, I will not like the result.  I feel that far too often we give our kids too much "wiggle room" without the lessons to prepare them for what they are about to face.

I do realize that no matter how much I teach my children that they will run into situations and photos and whatever that do not line up with what we have taught.  So in that, we need to also teach our children how to filter.  We need to teach them how to filter out the bad and filter in the good.  In my mind, communication is key.  I pray that my children will feel comfortable coming to me and discussing the tough topics.  That they would feel that they can ask questions and get real answers.  The world is out there.  We are living in it.  What we need to remember is that we are not of it.  We are to be beacons of light for Christ.  I pray that my children would see that in myself and their Dad and I pray that someday that they would be that way as well.

Mayo...Homemade!

Who knew?!  I was very skeptical when I read the blog about making your own mayo.  I wasn't sure it would work or how it would taste.

My first attempt was a learning attempt (not a failure, because I learned something).  I poured my oil in TOO slowly as opposed too fast.

My second attempt was PERFECT!  The taste is amazing and the consistency is perfect.

I found the recipe/tutorial on Pinterest and thought, I could do that!  :)

Here is the recipe...

Homemade Mayo

1 egg, room temp
2 T lemon juice, jarred works best for consistent acidity, room temp
1/2 t dry ground mustard
1/2 t salt
1/4 plus 1 cup light tasting olive oil, NOT extra virgin olive oil


1. Put egg and lemon juice in blender and let them come to room temp together (30-60 minutes).
2. Add lemon juice, dry mustard, salt and 1/4 c olive oil.  Blend on LOW for about 30 seconds.
3. GRADUALLY add 1 cup olive oil.  A THIN, continuous stream of oil.  This should take about 2-3 minutes (Mine worked great at 2 minutes 10 seconds, I had my timer going...lol).  DO NOT DUMP in the 1 c of oil.  It will not work.

It is VERY important to have your ingredients all at room temp.  It will give you the best consistency and results.  :)

Here are the links to the original recipe and tutorial that I followed.  I will post my own version later.  :)

Recipe

Tutorial

Organization

For as long as I can remember I have been disorganized.  Since purchasing my iPhone my schedule has become more and more organized as I continue to find out the things that the phone can remind me to do and such.  I continue to try and get my home organized.  Today as I was perusing Pinterest I stumbled upon this blog and post on daily/weekly chores to be done.  I have printed off the list for me, the blank list for me to use with the kids, and the blank chores page so that I can add the bigger items that I would like to get done (perhaps on the weekend?).  I will be "laminating" them with clear contact paper and hanging them on my bulletin board in our office/living room area.

How do you keep organized?  Any helpful tips?  What do you have your children do?

Homemade Laundry Soap

When my regular detergent was no longer available for a period of time I ran into a serious problem at home.  I had laundry to do and no detergent to do it in.  So, after some research, I took matters into my own hands.

I went directly to those who I knew would be able to help me, my friends on Facebook.  :)  With their guidance, I was able to locate a recipe that I was comfortable making and thought might work well with in my situation.  I went to the store, quickly located what I needed, as the items were all sitting on a shelf right next to each other and came home to make some laundry detergent.

The recipe I used can be found here.  I followed the directions and ingredients to a "T" and so far so good.  I have done 8 loads of laundry in this soap and have loved the results so far.  The clothes smell fresh and I can see some of the colors a bit brighter.

I think my favorite part was that I was able to make one batch for about $2.  It works out to be $0.06 a load!  What a savings!

Menu for this week

I am trying out some new meals this week and thought I would write about it as well.  :)  So here it goes.

The Plan:

Sunday:  Lasagna (regular and eggplant lasagna) with garlic bread, salad and mixed veggies.
THIS WAS FANTASTIC!  My lasagna didn't fall apart, it wasn't too sloppy and was VERY delicious.  The eggplant one was (from what I heard) the best.  It reflected so as there is less of that left of that than the regular one.  :) WOOT WOOT!

Monday: Tacos/Taco Salad

Tuesday: Burgers with Butternut Squash fries

Wednesday: Lettuce Wraps with quinoa, black beans, and avocado

Thursday: Chili

Friday: Pizza (either zucchini or mushroom pizza for me)

Saturday: Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Sunday: Slow cooker ham and white bean soup

Monday: Crock Pot chicken with mixed vegetables

I am SO excited to try some of the new recipes.  Look for reviews on the Butternut squash fries, the lettuce wraps, the stuffed cabbage rolls and the slow cooker ham and bean soup.

Hopefully there will be pictures too!  :)

Summer time fun!

We have been having so much fun this summer!  We have been spending time with family, going on road trips and hanging out as a family.  We are loving it!

We got back from our vacation about a week ago and I hit the ground running.  Butterfly had swimming lessons and Hubby and I scheduled a date weekend.  We threw some a quick trip to visit some extended family in there and had ourselves a GREAT weekend.

That brings us to this week.  We are in the second (and final) week of swimming lessons for Butterfly and Bee and Bubby are heading to Mimi's on Wednesday.  Butterfly and I will be taking Dragonfly to visit Nana (my grandma!) then as well.  We planned an afternoon full of Skip-Bo.  Then on Thursday we are heading to visit my Cousin in Law (that is a term right?  LOL!) for the afternoon.

We are hoping that the sweet corn my father in law planted will hold out until we are done with the busyness that is ahead of us this week.  When the sweet corn is ready we will pack everyone up and head over there so we can pick it and get it in the freezer so we can prepare ourselves for winter.

Our garden has done pretty well.  We have increased the garden from 4 raised beds to 6 raised beds.  We think the deer got the best of our "salad" garden, which was planted with peas, green beans, two kinds of lettuce, and carrots.  However, our potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, asparagus and kohlrabi have all done really well.  We didn't get to harvest the asparagus this year but we can see it will be bringing us lots of yumminess next year.

Hope you all are having a fantastic summer.  I will be doing a post of just some of our summer pictures in the coming days.

<3 Alison

Car trips

We are anticipating a car trip with our four kiddos.  We will be driving roughly 16-18 hours one way to visit friends in Ohio.  With that said I am thinking we need to come up with some ideas of what to have our kiddos do while we are on the road.

Here are some of my thoughts.

~ Alphabet Game (finding each letter of the alphabet on signs along the road)
~ License Plate Game (finding license plates from across the US and writing them down to see how many we can find)
~ box with paper, crayons and pencils (using a pizza box works really well because you have storage and a hard surface to write on.  You can even tether the pencil/crayons with a string so that they don't get dropped.)
~ Travel Scavenger Hunt (find different objects, locations, buildings along the way)


What other games can you think of that will help pass the time on a long car ride?

<3 Alison

Summer Science Experiments

Today the kids and I did a couple of science experiments.  The first one was for the big kids and it will take a day or two to complete.  We place a raw egg in a jar with vinegar in it.  The idea here is to let the egg sit in the vinegar and the shell will dissolve leaving you with a "rubber" egg.  This site has some ideas to take the "rubber" egg a step further.  We will be trying those steps this week as well.  :)

With my little kids I poured some baking soda on a sheet pan.  I then gave them medicine droppers and a cup of vinegar.  I let them drip and drop the vinegar all over the baking soda and let them watch the reaction.  They LOVED it and it was an easy (and CHEAP!) experiment.  :)  When they were tired of the droppers I said, "What do you think would happen if we dumped the rest of the vinegar on the baking soda?"  And of course they wanted to try it.  So they did and they had the best reaction (as did the baking soda and vinegar) of all.  :)

For the big kids, as they are doing experiments I am having them write down what experiment we are doing, what they see and what they think will happen.  It is very interesting to see what they think.  They will get to compare and contrast what they think will happen and what actually happens.

Here are some pictures of the littles and their experiment.  :)

Here is the first picture of the egg experiment as well. 

Hope you are all having a great start to summer!  

<3 Alison

It is time!

It is time that I pick this blog up again and dust it off.  In November I just kind of ran out of time and since then life has continued to be busy.  However, life is not slowing down but I am needing an outlet...and this blog has been that for me in the past.  So, here I am again, ready to tell you all about the things we are doing.

We are getting ready for the summer by planting our gardens, to which we are adding two beds.  I have already planted 2 beds of tomatoes, one of which I need to replant because I purchased poor plants.  :(  As soon as the 5th and 6th beds are done I will be planting peppers, squash, peas, beans, lettuce and carrots.  We also started some aspargus and rhubarb plants this year.  We hope that they will become fruitful in the coming years.

This year we are also planting 7 trees in our yard.  4 dwarf junipers, 1 weeping willow and 2 apple trees.  We have all but the apple trees which we will be getting here in the next couple of weeks.  We are also doing a patio in our backyard complete with a firepit.  :D

I will take pictures as we do all of these updates to show you our progress.

I hope to see you all soon!

Thankful for Health

Many of you may not know this, and that is the way we wanted it until we knew what was going on.  We told a core group of people so we could be praying together about what was going on.  Let me rewind and tell you a bit about what happened.

Over MEA break (fall break to those who don't live in MN), I had taken the kiddos to Sioux Falls with Grandma and Uncle B.  We were having a great time.  We stayed in a hotel, swam and did some shopping.  We were finishing up shopping and decided to let the kids play in the play area at the mall for a bit.  Shortly after getting there Butterfly came up to me crying.  She said she fell on her stomach and it hurt.  With that I did what every mom in the world would do, I took her in my arms and comforted her.  A few seconds later I noticed that she stopped crying.  I laid her in my arms and looked at her.  She was pale, her lips were blue and her eyes were rolling in the back of her head.  She was trembling.  *insert freaked out mom here!*  I kept calling her name and rubbing her chest to get her to wake up.  Eventually she came to but was VERY lethargic.  As we thought about it, we realized that this was the third time in six months that we had an episode like this.  It was time to bring her in to the doctor.

The following week we saw our doctor.  She was concerned and recommended that we see a neurologist.  But before he would see us he would require some further testing.  The week after that I took Butterfly to get and MRI and some blood work done.  And then the following day I took her in for an EEG.  After that we had to wait a week to see the neurologist.

During that wait we had made another trip to the doctor's office for an unrelated appointment (not even for Butterfly).  Our doctor told us that they did in deed find something abnormal on her EEG scan.  *insert panicked mom moment*  That is all they could tell me.  Great.   I had a week to really worry about things.  Not something I was looking forward to.

That weekend was the Hearts at Home conference in Rochester, MN that I was attending.  What a blessing that weekend was.  I got to experience the fellowship of other moms who worry and struggle and have similar lives as I do.  It was a fabulous weekend.  During one of the sessions there was a picture of the cross up on the big screen.   I kept envisioning Jesus taking my little girl's hand and holding her close.  That was the best thing I could have experienced.  I knew that He was taking care of her no matter what.  It was then I had a sense of peace.

Fast forward to this week.  We finally had our neurologist appointment yesterday (Thursday).  He looked at her tests and did an exam to evaluate her status quo.  When he was finished he discussed what was going on.  During Butterfly's sleep cycle and during the period where they had her hyperventilate there were abnormal waves.   After discussing the events and after the exam we concluded that we are going to wait on doing anything further.

So for my thankful post for today I am thankful for health.  My kids and hubby, for the most part, are healthy.

What are you thankful for today?
<3 Alison

Thankful Thursday

Today, let's see, what am I thankful for.  Today, I am thankful for my children.  As challenging as they can be at times, I am so thankful that God gave them to me for a time.  God has given me the greatest gift with each of my kiddos.  Butterfly is a whiz at anything you put in front of her, Bee has a fantastic energy, Bubby is our comedian and Dragonfly is just sweet and developing her personality.  God truly has blessed me with these kids.

Who are you thankful for today?
<3 Alison

Wednesday's Thankfulness Post

Today I am thankful for opportunity.  Recently a friend of mine, Amy, told me to open up a crochet shop.  I really enjoy crocheting so I thought, why not.  After some discussion, we came up with a name and I have been crocheting ever since.  So, not only am I thankful for opportunity, I am also thankful for Amy, for giving me the kick in the rear.  :)

If you would like to you can check out my FB page and Etsy site.  :)  The shop is called Sweet Knottings.
<3 Alison

Thankful Tuesday!

On this day, exactly one year ago, my hubby started his new job.  So, today I am thankful for his job.  It at times can be hard for me to handle (aka when he travels) but I know that he has a wonderful job and we have a wonderful community of people around us.  I am so thankful that God brought us here to this town so Hubby could have this job so that we could have the community that we have always dreamed of.

Hubby has returned to the states on Friday and we are enjoying every moment with him.  There is a period of adjustment to having him back, I am learning, again, that I don't have to do it all myself.  That he is capable and willing to help me with getting the kids up and fed and dressed.  It is really nice not to have to do it all myself.  :)

What are YOU thankful for today?
<3 Alison

I am really going to catch up with being thankful.  It isn't that I wasn't thankful during that time, I was just  away from my computer.  And MAN!  Am I glad that I was.  I got to experience the Hearts at Home conference.  IT WAS AMAZING!!!  
I took three classes.  The first one was Ten Stress Strategies Every Mom Needs.  FABULOUS class.  I can't wait to put some of those things in effect in my life.  :)
The second class I took was Strong Willed Children.  I am SO glad I took that.  It was so helpful and made me feel normal about my kids!  I now have more tools to use to help work with my children to teach and instruct them in the ways they should go and how to do that with FIRST TIME COMPLIANCE!  I can't wait!  :D
The third class was about Multiple Intelligences.  FABULOUS class.  This was taught by the same lady that taught the strong willed children class.  I learned what kinds of smart I am and am starting to understand what kind of smart my kids are.  I will go more into that after I read the book that I bought.  :)

I am so thankful that I got to go to this event.  It was so worth every penny.  :)

So the things I am thankful for for Saturday, Sunday and Monday are as follows...

I am thankful that I was able to attend such a wonderful conference with a host of supportive moms who all knew where each other were coming from.

I am thankful that my husband came home safely from his travels for work.

I am thankful that a new week has begun.

Here are a couple of quick pics of the ladies I went to the conference with and the new things that my hubby brought home for my kiddos.  :)

Today is the DAY!

The day that my hubby comes home!  He has been gone for exactly one day in the last month.  He has been traveling for work.  I AM SO GLAD THAT HE IS COMING HOME!  So, today, I am thankful for the airlines for getting my hubby home today and for the cars that we have to get him from the airport to here.  I am thankful that we survived the month without him!  I am thankful for the family and friends that helped me get through the month.

Today I am heading out to a women's conference and I am super excited that I am getting a much deserved break from everything.  Then I will come home to see my hubby on Saturday and pick up the kiddos from the grandparents' house on Sunday.  This is going to be a fabulous weekend.  :)

What do you all have planned for the weekend?
<3 Alison

Poodle Skirt and Pinterest

I am sooo excited.  I pulled out the good ol' sewing machine tonight and whipped up a poodle skirt for Butterfly for kindy.  You see, tomorrow is the 50th day of school.  So, they are having a 50's style party.  I thought to myself, "What 50's party is complete without a poodle skirt?!".  Thus ensuing Project Make a Poodle Skirt.

I knew I was short on time and energy so I had to think quick.  There was only one place I could think of that would have the answer for me and www.pinterest.com is the place.  So, I searched around and found this FABULOUS circle skirt, and let's be honest...a poodle skirt is nothing more than a big circle with a hole in the middle for you.  :)  I was sooo relieved to find that it was really that simple!  Since I was heading to the "City" this last week I knew I could get what I needed no problem.  I picked up some pink felt, some 2" wide elastic (in white), and an iron-on poodle.  Yep, that is it.

Here is the link to the pattern so you too can make your very own poodle skirt (or any circle style skirt really!).

And here is a pic of the skirt.  I will add a pic of the girl in the skirt tomorrow.

Today I am thankful for doctors

I know that we call get frustrated with them at times.  But today I am thankful for them.  I am thankful that we have a doctor that is comfortable letting us adjust our vax schedule as we need to and also comfortable with helping us figure out why my children react they way they do to different foods.  I am thankful that they are helping us figure everything out from insurance to which kid needs what.  They will take a call from me and help me get the info that I need.  Our doctor is also very good about getting us in as soon as they can when we need to.

I am so thankful that we have healthcare readily available to us.

What are you thankful for?
<3 Alison

Today I am thankful...

...for time alone with my oldest daughter.  In the last month, things have been crazy in our house.  Two of our kiddos have needed to be seen by specialists in neighboring towns (and one not so neighboring town).  So I feel very blessed that today, during one of those trips, I got to spend some serious quality time with Butterfly.  She is growing up so fast, and today, I felt like I had missed some of it.  She is 6 now.  After her appointment, we went to the mall.  She has ALWAYS loved the mall.  She loves the new things, she loves people, so the mall is just the place for her...and me, but that is another story.  :)  Today I brought her to Claire's and bought her new earrings.  She has had the same ones for two years, the studs that she got when she first had her ears pierced.  But since she has had to do so much in the last couple of days I thought it would be nice to get her something special.  It was amazing to see how much she had changed and to see how her personality is emerging.

I am VERY thankful for my friends and family.  I know I said that yesterday but I cannot emphasize it enough.  Since Hubby has been out of the country my friends and family have rallied around me to help make things a bit easier on me.  If I needed something or needed someone to watch a kiddo or two someone was always there to help me out.  I hope that as things return to normal around here that I will be able to repay my friends and family some how.  I hope that you all know how much it has meant to me that you have been there through this difficult time for me.

I am thankful for my church.  Tonight is AWANA and my girls are so excited to go.  They get to sing songs, play games, listen to Bible stories and recite Bible verses.  They have a great time and I have a great time teaching!  I LOVE MY SPARKIES!  They all ROCK!

What are you thankful for today?
<3Alison