The MAN!

This happened a while ago, but I forgot to post it and I don't want to forget the wonders of puberty, so even though its a bit inappropriate I'm sharing it with the world. Ethan is so lucky!

Ethan is growing up. Yikes! One day he discovered a chest hair. One lone little chest hair. He was thrilled. Evidently the ability to grow chest hair is the thing that determines whether you are a boy or a man, and Ethan was officially a man. Not only that, he was THE man. The man of our house. And apparently that meant that he was now in charge. The chest hair had given him the power, and unfortunately it was going to his head a bit. He was bossy, and sassy, and one step away from dragging a club around and grunting, "Woman, get me some food!" It was getting old fast, and was certainly NOT the kind of attitude I want to encourage in our home. (Don't get me wrong, I believe that men need respect, and honor, and that they fill a very important role in the home, I just don't think women are the servant and less than just because we don't have any chest hair.) One day, Ethan had just gotten out of the shower, and was dancing around in his towel pointing out the lonely chest hair once again. I had been trying to think of a tactful way to honor the changes he is experiencing while still not raising a male chauvinist, but Adia had reached her limit and decided to take matters into her own hands. She marched up to him, ripped the hair right out of his chest and said, "In this house, girls rule!" I died.  Then I pulled it together, and we had a talk about gender equality, and the fact that our home is one of mutual power and respect... and that if we had any more questions over who is really in charge, in this house, for now anyway,  MOM RULES! :)

Love where you're at.

A few weeks ago Adia was super sick. Like, sick enough that she didn’t want to watch TV or eat, she just slept for days- that kind of sick. I’m way lucky that I have the kind of job that allows me to stay home with sick kids, so we were home together for two week days plus the weekend, and then Monday was a snow day, so it was five stay at home days in a row. I loved it, we cuddled on the couch watching movies, and we read together for hours, and I got to just love on her and serve her and nurse her back to health, and Ethan and I sledded and made snow ice cream, and built a snowman, and shoveled the snow out of our drive, and all the neighbors’ drives, and it was a blast! It reminded me of something that I had forgotten, or maybe that I never really realized to be true before. I kick butt at being a stay at home mom! I do. I’m a crafting, cooking, cleaning, volunteering, homework doing, DIYer. I loved that job. LOVED it! I wasn’t one of those moms who complained about being a mom. I didn’t want to have a part time job like some moms do, that was my very favorite job, and I loved everything about it. I didn’t get down or overwhelmed, or burned out. I just liked it. I did fun things with my kids, I made up sentimental traditions, I celebrated everything, I met my kids at the door with milk and homemade cookies. Being home from work for those few days, being able to get so much done, trying new projects, having some order to our life, those kinds of things were really exciting, and reminded me of how much I loved that job and how much I wish I could do that job again… and I started to get sad about it. But then Tuesday came, and I went back to work, and I loved it. I realized that I LOVE what I do. Is it hard? YES! Is it emotional? YES! Does it drive me crazy sometimes? Yes!!! But I get to make a difference in people’s lives. Every. Single. Day. I get to help people, and make their lives better, and help them function, and change lives AND GET PAID FOR IT! I literally save babies- I’m a freakin’ superhero! (Yes, I realize that this is a bit of an exaggeration, I in no way see myself as a super hero AND that is not how everyone in the world views my job, AND truthfully, not everyone thinks that sounds like the best job ever, but I do. I honestly, with my whole heart, love my job) My job makes me feel fulfilled and whole, and like I can change the world, or at least my little corner of it. So that made me think about my life a little. Yes, I love being a stay and home mom, and if I could choose any job, that’s the one I would choose. But, that’s not the life I was handed. And I can be happy right where I’m at. I love life, just how it is. I’m not sad about not being a stay at home mom, I’m happy that I was able to experience that, but I’m happy I get to experience this life too. I’ve had some great successes personally as well as employment based that never would have achieved in my old life. I have witnessed miracles and seen people at their worst, and also at their best. I fully understand what it is to be human, and also humane. This life and it’s opportunities are a gift. As I’ve been thinking about that I have thought about my whole life, and times when I wasn’t happy where I was. And I wonder if a little change in perspective, or some inner reflection would have made me get more out of the experience. I wonder if there is some beauty in those experiences that I missed out on; that I refused to let in simply because I didn’t love where I was. I wonder how many more relationships I could have built, how many experiences I could have had, how many interests and talents and gifts I passed up because I wasn’t present. Because I didn’t engage with the life I was living at the moment. Because I was too busy waiting and hoping for something better to come along. So after coming to this realization I’m committing to be in the moment, and be happy where I’m at. I’m loving this life. This one. Right now. 

Happy Pi(e) Day!

It's Pi(e) day! You know, 3.14... March 14th. We aren't math people, but we are pie people, so this is one concept we can really get behind. We love this "holiday" and every year we celebrate happily. This year we chose to celebrate with a peanut butter variety, and since it's one of my favorites I thought I would share the recipe. And since it is quite seriously one of the easiest pies I have ever made, all the better!

You start out with a chocolate graham cracker crust. I usually make my own - crushed chocolate grahams and a little butter - perfection. But we've had one of those store bought ones rolling around the pantry for months now, so I decided to use it up. That makes this pie even easier!

So now, for the filling:

1- 8oz package of cream cheese, softened.
1 Cup cream peanut butter. (I'm normally a fan of the chunky, but for this recipe creamy gets you much                   better results.
1/2 C sugar
1teaspoon vanilla
8 oz whipped cream

In a mixer combine the first four ingredients and mix well. It will seem grainy, and not so good, but that's okay, the magic comes next. Once those are mixed, add the whipped cream and gently fold it in with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. As you fold, the peanut butter mixture gradually becomes more like a yummy mousse. Once you're done with that scoop it into the crust, spread it out, and top with garnish. We have tried whipped cream and chocolate shavings before, but this time we used some hot fudge ice cream topping drizzled over the top - just do what you feel.

It's best when cold, but it's good at any temp. It's really rich, so you might want to pair it with some cold milk. One thing we've also done is make individual servings in muffin tins. This takes a little more work, but if you pipe the filling in with a pretty icing tip it looks super nice and it is the perfect portion size.

Stash of Cash.

A lot of people have been asking me about how I have been able to afford brain integration for my family. It’s expensive, I get it. I used a lot of different methods to make it work, but because it’s close (ish) to the beginning of the year I wanted to share this fun Idea that helped.

Last January I found this chart. You put one dollar in the jar the first week of January, two dollars the second week, etc. for the whole year. I did this, but sometimes I didn’t have exact change, so instead of putting in, say, $3, I would just put in a $5. I was careful to always round up, not down in those situations. So by the end of the year, when we had seen so much improvement in Ethan and I knew Adia needed it, I checked the jar. There was plenty for the entire integration, the motel stays, gas, food, PLUS a mani/pedi for us both. I liked that it never took too much. It wasn’t going to break the bank, even during the most expensive week.  It takes some time, but if you are hoping  to save some money for whatever reason, this might be a fun answer.