Mother's Day

For me Mother's day is a love/hate relationship. I love that my sweet hubby works hard to make me breakfast in bed, my kids make cards and pick dandelions and other wildflowers and smother me in "I love you"s and kisses and hugs. Hubby is also a master at picking just the right card to make me cry and manages to find the perfect gift for me. Some years it's jewelry, some times it's a carpet cleaner or miter saw (hint, hint), but whatever he gets it's always just perfect. I know without a doubt I am loved. Who wouldn't want to celebrate that?
I guess the hate part comes in when I reflect on my idea of the kind of mother I wanted to become. The Norman Rockwell picture of warm chocolate chip cookies in a tidy house. The listening, sympathetic ear and hugging arms readily available at all times. Fun educational crafts and projects always waiting in the wings, ready at a moments notice. Infinite patience and good advice for every heart break. Knowing just what to do in any given situation. Enabling them to participate and experience every sport, every instrument, educational opportunity while still managing to find balance to play and have a carefree childhood. To have an unending source of energy, and never be "too tired". Somewhere deep inside, past all logic, my guilt says I am less of a mother than I could be, not the mother I should be, not the mother my kids need to help them reach their full potential. As Hubby and I discussed this, he told me to think of it this way... I am the perfect grandma in training. I think being a grandparent would be great! Have them when you want them and when your patience or energy runs out, or they have a dirty diaper, send them home.

I think the most amazing thing about motherhood is when you realize why the Savior asked us to be like little children. By design, they are forgiving and offer unconditional love. A child looks for reasons to smile and laugh. They choose to be happy. When I ask my girls if they are happy they always say yes. When asked why the answers are always, in my mind, small and simple things like "It's sunshiney outside" or "I'm drawing a picture" or "Cause I'm with my mom". It is only as we reach adulthood that we put on the blinders of drudgery, focusing on the "have to"s and losing sight of the "get to"s. Inately, children don't feel guilt but as a mother, sometimes I let it consume my life.

Oh, to be more childlike. To want to dance even when there isn't any music. To laugh because I can't hold it in any longer. To blow dandelion seeds without the guilt of unfinished chores. To find shapes in the clouds. To not only forgive but forget so completely. To love without judgement or expectations. And to play, to really play.

Family Favorite Recipes

I thought I would post a couple of our family's favorite dinner recipes. The first recipe, I adapted from one I found on a blog that I have since lost track of. If anyone knows which it came from I would love to find it again. It is quick, it's simple, it's healthy, and (drum roll.....) we ALL like it! It is rare that dinner gets a cheer from every member of the family. Usually there is at least one family member rolling their eyes, moaning, gagging or some combination thereof.

Veggie Sausage Skillet

1lb pasta (we like penne or bowtie)
1 package sausage (we used Hillshire Farms smoked, the oval one)
1 pint grape tomatoes (cut in half)
minced garlic
olive oil
grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
any add ins, we enjoy broccoli, cauliflower, squash, zucchini, mushrooms etc.
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pasta and veggies

1. Start by cooking pasta according to the directions. I am lazy so I add my veggies about half way through so I only use one pot.

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sausage, garlic, tomatoes

2. Meanwhile, slice sausage into discs and brown in a large skillet


3. Slice grape tomatoes in half and add them to the skillet with minced garlic.

 

4. When pasta is finished cooking, drain and then add to skillet. Pour in some extra virgin olive oil and stir well.

5. Serve with grated cheese on top. This recipe is different everytime I make it depending on the ingredients I have on hand. The only thing that has to be constant is the sausage and some kind of pasta for it to be a hit.  Hubby likes to season his with Tony's seasoning to add a little kick.

The second recipe comes from my good friend Alaina. She is an amazing cook that just makes things up as she goes along. As a result she doesn't deal with many exact measurements, so my stuff never turns out quite as good as hers. I think, just maybe, she likes it that way. ;) I want to be like her when I grow up! (Even though I happen to be older than she is).

Chicken Penne Pasta

Penne pasta

Rotelli's Alfredo sauce

1-2 c Italian cheese blend

enough chicken to feed your family

I add veggies as well. Some of our favorites are chopped asparagus, mushrooms, and spinach.

1. Marinate chicken over night or all day (don't cut short, the marinating time really makes it tender and flavorful) in:

virgin olive oil, teriyaki sauce, Italian dressing, black pepper, Cajun seasoning (we use Tony's) and a little meat tenderizer.

2. Cook pasta according to the directions. I add veggies to the pasta for the last half of cooking time.

3. Grill chicken and cube.

4. Drain pasta and veggies. Add chicken and stir in Alfredo sauce and cheese. Warm and serve. You can also add a little chopped cilantro too.

This recipe is also met with "Yummm, we're having that chicken pasta stuff again." As I mentioned before, I much prefer this response to "Ewwww, how much do I HAVE to eat?"

Here's hoping your dinner menu receives rave reviews from your family. I know mine are my most difficult critics.

It's Been HOW MANY Years?!

Well, come June it will have been 20 years since Hubby and I graduated from High School. If you can't read that number you must be as old as we are. In an effort to.... um.... uh.... honestly, I'm sitting here and can't think of a reason why, Hubby and I have looked up our Alma maters and determined when our reunions are. I was relieved to know I have until August to shed 20 lbs. and 20 years, minus the big hair. No seriously, they posted our graduation pictures on the website and I almost reverted to the fetal position. Wowza! The only consolation I have is that there are plenty of photos on there of people with bigger hair than mine.
Anyway, I didn't go to my 5th because I was in Guatemala on a mission. I didn't go to my 10th because I had a 5 month old baby, the baby fat to go with it, and a husband and that was MIA because he was in Puerto Rico. Yeah, that wasn't happening. So, this is it. Time to overcome those high school insecurities that still I carry somewhere deep inside the grown-up I've become. Tee hee hee (Sorry, can't help it, I don't think I'll ever be truly grown up!)
I wouldn't describe my self as being shy, I just didn't think anyone knew who I was. This was confirmed in college when I went to a Halloween dance and, forgive the arrogance, I looked good. It was an Elvira type costume without quite so much cleavage. Anyway, a guy I knew from junior high and high school who incidentally, I had a crush on at one point, came up and started hitting on me. He gave me a fake name and when I called him on it and told him a little of what I knew about him, I could see in his eyes that he still didn't quite remember me. I really felt forgetable then! His friend remembered me though, he even knew my name. Nice guy.
Since returning to my old stomping grounds, after 12 years or so, I have run into many people from high school, some of whom I didn't remember or recognize. This has caused me to realize that all those people who seemed so "all that" and confident were just trying to get through the best they could. Just like the rest of us.
I've often thought that I would like to go back to high school with the knowledge I have now. Just for a little while, I certainly wouldn't want to go through it ALL over again. Ugggh! For a little while though, I could have a lot of fun!
For what it's worth, in August I will be facing my misconceptions and biases. I think it will be interesting and enlightening. Eliptical, don't fail me now! Six and a half months and counting!

Super not-so-secret identities

Hubby reminded me today of the super identities he gave the boys a few months ago. We still haven't determined whether these identities make them super heroes or super villians. Usually it depends on the state of our sense of humor.  #1 is Captain Obvious and Freckles is his sidekick as Literal Boy!

Santa's cookies, HO, HO, HO!

Tonight, we tested the snickerdoodles we made for Santa. Then we set out Santa's cookies on the special Santa platter and milk in his special Christmas glass on the coffee table, lovingly placed the Christmas Quilt on the couch for him to snuggle in and set off to brush teeth and jump quickly into bed. I was in the boys' room reading Polar Express and Hubby was brushing Little one's teeth. Suddenly, Hubby came in and informed me that Sunshine had been dunking Santa's cookies in Santa's milk and frantically eating them. When he asked, "What are you doing?" she answered with a grin, "I eating Santa's cookies, ho ho ho!"

Somedays I'm Mommy tired!

Ever have one of those days when you'd like to stop being a parent, just for a little while? (If you've never felt that way, don't tell me, I have enough guilt thank you!) Don't get me wrong, I'd never in a million years give up my kids or the joy of being a mommy, but sometimes I'd like to step outside of myself, just for a little while. I'd like to take that nap I promised myself last night as I stayed up late again tying a quilt, unloading and loading the dishwasher, and putting breakfast in the crockpot to prepare for another crazy Thursday. (Some people hate Mondays, I hate Thursdays. Everything hits at once.) As I looked forward to that nap, I realized I only have 3½ hours to finish what will amount to 5 loads of laundry which I haven't sorted yet, the breakfast AND lunch dishes have yet to even be rinsed let alone loaded into the dishwasher, I have costumes to sort for the children's nativity I have planned for the extended family Christmas party of which I am in charge, and there is an inexplicable noise growing in volume coming from the basement where Little One and a friend are playing. Boy does that bed look soft....(sigh).

And the whole self control thing, wow, is it tiring. When I want to yell at the visiting neighbor kid, "stop rolling your yogurt covered fruit snacks off the table for me to retrieve" I have to stop and say "oh no, your snacks are escaping, don't let them get away!" When a visiting friend whose mother is gone for a couple hours continually whines "I just want to go hooooommme", I can't tell them "well you can't, so get over it". And when I want to scream into the night "You rotten kids, stop doorbell ditching! I just got my kids to bed only 30 seconds before I completely lost my sanity and so help me if even one of them gets out of bed, curious to see who's at the door, I...WILL...HUNT...YOU...DOWN!!!". Instead I just have to let it go. I can't ruin my kids' chances of having any semblance of a normal social life by being known as the crazy witch mother of the neighborhood!

As I mentioned before, I have guilt. I think this is imbedded in the female DNA but becomes magnified a google (Freckles' favorite number) times as soon as a woman becomes pregnant. Logically, I know every mother has strengths and weaknesses and there is no such thing as a perfect one but there are so many who are just so close. Why can't I have yummy, healthy snacks ready and waiting for my kids and all their friends who love to be at my house because it is such a welcoming place? And why can't I want the whole neighborhood camped at my house all the time? I should. Why is it hard for me to let it go when a neighbor kid walks into my house at 5:30 pm opens my pantry and helps himself and my kids to half a package of oreos effectively spoiling their dinner? And why do I ever so slightly (okay, not so slightly) resent the neighbor who looks like she has a professionally decorated house that is always uncluttered and clean? I bet my socks wouldn't even stick to her kitchen floor! Then of course there's the mother who makes all meals from scratch and they're so good her kids don't even know they're organically healthy! And don't even get me started on the family of five children who all look like they've been dressed by the most fashionable designers and have their hair professionally done EVERY day! Their children would never TRY to be the record holder of the least pairs of underwear in the weekly laundry. Oh yes, true story. We're lucky to even locate a comb most days, and navy socks are close enough to black aren't they? They'll be black by the end of the day anyway. Then there's the kids who never forget to say please, thank you, no thank you and call me Mrs. Mombrud.  They would never say "ewwww, that looks so gross, it looks like...." at a large family dinner. And the guilt goes on and on and on and on.......

Somedays, I am mommy tired and would love to be all by myself somewhere that doesn't have to be cleaned, with people who don't have various body parts needing to be wiped, whining voices, or complaints about trivial things. A place where clothes and dishes don't need to be washed and dried, food to be planned and prepared (Isn't figuring out what to fix the worst part?), floors that need to be vaccumed or mopped, toys and clutter to move from one surface to another......It never ends. I guess what I need is a nice quiet, white room with lots and lots of chocolate. Anyone know where I can check in?

I argue with myself all the time, pointing out to myself that I have so many things to be grateful for, healthly kids, a beautiful, warm home, a dishwasher to wash those dishes and a washer and dryer to wash those clothes.... but then I have to tell that part of my brain, "Shut up, you're interferring with my pity party!" (Shhh, don't tell my kids I said that, we don't say shut up in our house. Just my attempt at that well mannered ideal.) Well, I'm off to climb Mt. Laundry, wade through the dirty dishes swamp, be nice to the neighbor kids, change a poopy diaper, turn off every light in the house AGAIN, serve leftovers nobody wants to eat, and sort though costumes my supermom sister sewed from scratch.

If you'd like to come to my pity party join right in. If you have positive, uplifting comments save them until tomorrow when I take the duct tape off the mouth of that other side of me, you know, the party pooper.

Christmas Quilt Tradition

We have a favorite Christmas tradition. We call it our Christmas quilt. My wonderful and creative sister-in-law, Sallie gave us everything to start this tradition a few years ago. She gave us a small lap quilt, a storybook, and a beautiful poem with all the kids' names in it telling us how to use our "Christmas quilt" each night of December. Over the last few years it has evolved into quite the production. On December 1st, after pjs are on, we bring out the quilt and lay it down in front of the Christmas tree. Then we read our poem about the "Christmas Quilt Magic" Each night family members take turns choosing a Christmas carol to sing, and a story to read.

We have family prayer on the quilt and then rush to watch the chosen person open the advent for the day and hang the mini ornament on our felt tree.Then, in procession, we all help to carry the Christmas quilt to lay on the foot of their bed ensuring sweet Christmas dreams that night. Each person really looks forward to their turn and we are true believers in the magic!

This tradition has led to another. As one of our family Christmas gifts, we must get at least one new Christmas book each year. As you can imagine, we have quite a collection by now!

We made two of these quilts to give to some friends this year complete with a poem describing the tradition. It was a bit of a race to get them finished, but I think they were appreciated. It is sure a fun DIY gift. Though not a usual crafty gift, it is the gift of a tradition.

Thanksgiving Traditions

One of the blogs I follow asked for ideas for Thanksgiving traditions. As I responded I realized I haven't recorded here the things have become part of our month of November. We have two traditions that my kids absolutely love! A few years ago we made tukey hats. We put on some music with a good beat and danced. That particular song will forever be the "Turkey Dance Song" at our house and we do the turkey dance every Monday night during November. I had no idea it would become a cherished family tradition, as silly as it is!

The other tradition is to make a thankful tree. I just got some brown and white craft paper at the craft store, drew and cut our a brown tree and glued it onto the white. Our is about 3'x4'. Then I went and had it laminated. This way I don't have to make a new tree every year. I have also seen a branch stuck in plaster paris used as well. I like to paper one for storage purposes. Then we take leaves (I save time by buying big packs at Oriental Trading because we go through about 150 every year) and throughout the month write things we are grateful for and hang them on the tree. On thanksgiving afternoon or evening, after we are finished with extended family activities, we read all the things we wrote outloud as we take the tree down to get ready for decorating for Christmas.

Stop for a Good Blower

Today, we went on a bike ride around the track behind our house. Even Little One was game with her little training wheeled bike. I pulled Sunshine in the wagon.

At one point, as I approached Little One on the track, I saw that she was off her bike hunched down on the ground. My first thought was that she must have crashed and gotten hurt. I called to her, asking if she was hurt. She looked up with a grin and it was then I saw that she was hunched over a perfect specimen of a dandelion gone to seed. It was begging to be blown. With a smile of pure pleasure she took a deep breath and blew. She watched the fluff float away with delight, then mounted her bike and took off shouting a challenge for a race.

I looked around and realized that I hadn't even notice the great blowing opportunities around us. I picked one and handed it to Sunshine. I was equally fascinated to watch her tentatively reach out one chubby finger to slowly touch the soft fluff. The look on her face was one of wonder and delight. Her persistence in trying to blow hard enough to make the seeds fly was a lesson in itself.

As we continued around the track I found myself wondering how many "good blowers" I was missing in my daily life. How many times do I stop amidst my daily race around in circles to notice the good things? The things that lighten my heart and make me smile. Taking time to enjoy tickling one of my kids, playing hide and go seek, really listening to made-up songs or looking at "special" rocks. I forget to notice how blue the sky is, or how the breeze carries the smells of fallen leaves and the approach of winter. God has given us so much beauty, laughter, love, and daily miracles. Unfortunately, I spend much of the time staring down at the track as I daily circle around again and again, cleaning, laundry, meal preparations, etc. Only to find myself coming around to the starting point again, ready for a new day to begin, lost in the monotony. Not realizing the beauty, laughter, excitement, and connections I could have enjoyed but have missed.

Yep! We're old fogies

In our ward Sunday bulletin, they post a family history challenge each month. This month we have had a lot of fun waxing nostalgic and discussing the topic. The assignment is to list things that you remember that your children would not know anything about. We came up with an extensive list!vinyl records (I owned Thriller, Grease, and Sleeping Beauty) I used to dance and get in trouble for making the records skip and scratch.

• cassette tapes for that matter
• Easy Bake oven (I always wanted one)
• Snoopy Snow Cone machine
• Weeble Wobbles
• Big Wheels
• The dolls that grow hair and then it sucks back into their heads
• Barbie heads for make-up and hair styling
• Manually changing channels and volume on the TV
• TV shows as: Brady Bunch, Fantasy Island, Romper Room, Love Boat, Buck Rogers, Dukes of Hazard, Welcome Back Kotter, Mash, Hart to Hart, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Murder She Wrote, Muppet Show, Family Ties, Scooby Doo, Charlie's Angels
• Movies: Star Wars, Better Off Dead, War Games, Dark Crystal, Sixteen Candles, TeenWolf, Back to the Future, Footloose, Rocky, Superman, Somewhere in Time, Fame
• drive-in movie theaters
• typewriters and why they ding
• carbon paper
• rotary dial telephones with coiled cord
• Atari
• having to go to an arcade to play video games like Pac Man
• Roller skating at the roller rink
• Station wagons with rear facing seats and no seat belts or car seats, no power anything or ac, rolling down windows manually
• clogs
• thongs (the shoes)
• long white socks with stripes on the top worn with shorts
• stirrup pants
• peg legging your jeans
• bleach spotting jeans
• rockers and wavers
• mullets (yes Hubby had one)
• feathered bangs
• hair to heaven bangs
• Having free rein of the neighborhood until dark
• Not having a computer, Internet, cellphones, microwaves, etc.
• Carrying dimes for the pay phone
• glass pop bottles

Even though many toys and shows are being recreated as "retro" they're just not the same.

We just realized that most of the people who read this blog wont know half of the things we are talking about. If you do, give us a shout out so we don't feel so alone in our old age.