The "Beach"

For years, our family has enjoyed this sunny spot on the living room floor. We call it The Beach. On lazy Saturday afternoons in the winter, we enjoy lying on the floor to take in the sun's warmth. If you close your eyes, you can escape from the harsh Midwest cold and imagine that you're lying on the beach. All we need is a crashing waves sound machine and we'll be all set!

I noticed that The Beach was here today and I allowed myself to enjoy it for but a moment. As if he knew, Hubby called and asked what I was doing. Back to reality. That's why cell phones do not belong at the beach.

Day of Rest

I'm so thankful for a day of rest!

Genesis 2:2 "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made."

Some people rest in different places:

At the beach,

At the playground,

In the backyard

With kids climbing all over,

And even while babysitting.

Wherever you may be today, enjoy your rest.

Black Friday - Crazy Friday!

Black Friday - do you do it? Each year, Black Friday seems to get more hype. So many of my friends stand in lines in the freezing cold to get those few special deals they talk about for months and months. I just can't make myself get out of my warm bed to partake in the chaos. I spend all day Thanksgiving on my feet, preparing a delicious meal. So I'm exhausted by the time they all get in line.

I'm a planner, so if I did decide to go out into the craziness, I would have to have a detailed plan. As I said before, I'm so busy all day Thanksgiving that I wouldn't have time to study the ads and make my list. Fortunately, there's a site out there that advertises the Black Friday deals early. I'm sure this is a great resource to some. Last year, I wondered about its accuracy. So I checked my newspaper ads with the site. They were identical. So if you indulge in Black Friday, be careful and have a great time!

Easy Peanut Butter Pie

I haven't posted a recipe in a while so I thought I would share this one. I was watching a movie last night with my kids when I saw someone eating peanut butter. The taste of this pie suddenly came to memory, even though it had been five years since I've had it. After checking the pantry, I realized I had enough ingredients for one pie. So my craving was soon fed!


Peanut Butter Pie

16 oz. Cool Whip
1 C peanut butter
1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
2 C powdered sugar
2 graham cracker crusts

Beat all ingredients together until fluffy. Pour into pie shells and refrigerate until set.

It doesn't get much simpler than that! I didn't have a store-bought pie crust so I made my own. This recipe is definitely enough for 2 pies, possibly with some to spare.

Graham Cracker Crust

14 full-sized graham crackers (2 1/2 C crushed)
1/2 C butter, melted
1/2 C sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Crush graham crackers well. Add butter and sugar; mix well. Press into pan. Bake 10 minutes.

Dry Hands, Fried Brain

Welcome to the dry season. My hands have already taken it very hard this year. I'm a frequent washer, due in part to the fact that I'm always cooking up something in the kitchen. That mixed with potty training has me washing quite frequently. I received a travel size sample of lotion with a package of bar soap I recently purchased. I decided to keep the lotion in the kitchen where I do a great deal of my hand washing. I was really happy with the way the lotion softened my hands. It just came out really fast from the bottle! After a few uses, I decided to take a closer look at the bottle to find out what it was called...I might be interested in purchasing a full-sized bottle. Upon closer inspection, I noticed it was hair conditioner! Duh! I can't believe I used it multiple times without noticing! My brain must really be fried!

Dove conditioner...may soften hair, definitely softens skin!

Adventures in Potty Training

I began my adventures in the dreaded journey of potty training this week. Baby Girl is 26 months old, the same age as my first son when he was trained. The middle two were a bit older. But Baby Girl has shown many signs that she's ready so I decided to give it a go.

The first step was to gather my supplies:

• Potty chair (no clue what happened to the one I used last time)


• Adorable panties (she chose Yo Gabba Gabba and Dora the Explorer themes, which she insisted on wearing on her head through TJ Maxx - thanks for that, Daddy! Excuse the crappy cell phone pic of this lovely display of undies)


• My copy of Toilet Training in Less than a Day by Nathan H. Azrin, Ph.D. and Richard M. Foxx, Ph.D (it's a little outdated, mentioning things like Captain Kangaroo, but the method is still highly effective)


• M&Ms and mini marshmallows (for reward purposes....I promise, I didn't eat even one!)


• Sippy cups full of various drinks (no fruit juice...I didn't want to diarrhea train at the same time)


• A slew of toys to keep the trainee occupied and confined to the kitchen (potty is much easier to clean up on the kitchen floor than on carpet!)


• Lysol wipes (wow....they didn't have these when I trained the other kids...they really came in handy!)

Yesterday morning was D-Day. I don't know why I was dreading this challenge. You'd think I'd be a pro by now...I've successfully trained three other kids. But I was kind of freaking out about this. Maybe it's because this event confirms that my final child is no longer a baby. I struggle with the fact that I'll never cradle a newborn of my own again.

To put it mildly, the beginning was pretty rough. The first half hour, Baby Girl was enthralled with the new potty, she wanted to sit, stand, sit, stand and open and shut the lid. I was paranoid she was going to spill the few tablespoons of liquid already in the potty...she was not thrilled with me emptying it after every little tinkle. Then, she got to the point where she refused to sit on the potty or wear panties. I became firm and demanded that it was one or the other. She finally resorted and did both, alternately. I longed for her nap time to arrive for a much needed sanity break! Of course, I put her back in a diaper for nap...we don't have Pull-Ups yet (I hate them anyway).

After nap, things went extremely well. She had very limited accidents and finally started to pick up on the fact that she was rewarded with a mini marshmallow every time she did itty-bitty tinkles on the potty. Then it was time to pick up her siblings from school. I debated about how to handle this task. If I put her in a diaper, I just might ruin all my work up to this point. So I decided to take a chance with panties. I did grab a baby lap pad to place between those tiny panties and her car seat. To my amazement, she made it there and back without an accident (twice...junior high gets out before elementary school)! But once the kids were home, things took a turn for the worse. She was too focused on playing with them and started having frequent accidents. I finally banned them from the first floor of the house and told them to leave us alone. That worked.

She had her last accident of the night around 5:30 PM; she even made it through dinner. But she was hesitant to go potty after dinner so probably let out a bladderful as soon as I diapered her for the night.

I was very proud of our success up to this point. The key is perseverance. You don't know how tired I was of sitting on that hard wood floor all day. There were so many things I knew I could be doing. She tried my patience on multiple occasions but I didn't throw in the towel. Hopefully today will go even better and we will be on the road to a DIAPER-FREE HOME soon!!! OK, those three words were enough to give me the necessary strength to make it through this!!!

Bells Will Be Ringing...

Alright, I gave it a shot but I failed. I was not able to stifle my Christmas spirit until December first. It's not my fault though. It's all those radio stations that are playing Christmas music, the decorated trees in stores, and the fact that it's all anyone is talking about!

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is a special song that Son #2 and I share: Please Come Home for Christmas. When he was a baby and I was still fighting off the postpartum depression, this song always seemed to come on the radio when things were tough. I remember holding and snuggling with him while swaying back and forth to this Christmas song. It was a special moment, a bond between mother and son. Then the song disappeared from my thoughts for 11 months. Next Christmas, he was almost 1 and a half - a very busy toddler. I heard the sweet rhythm of this song and took the opportunity to cradle him again to try and settle him down. Then somehow, the song became Our Dancing Song. The next year, he loved hearing Our Dancing Song. He would stand on a chair or the kitchen counter, with him arm properly extended, and would dance with Mama. His favorite parts of the dance were twirling and dipping. Then he got older. It wasn't fun any more to dance with Mama. If big brother caught him, he knew he was in for it. So there was quite a bit of resistance there. I knew I had to give up on Our Dancing Song, even though it would remain in my memory for the duration of my life.

Last evening, Son #2 came into my bedroom and said, "You need to come into the baby's room - quick!" Oh no, I thought. What in the world has she done now? I ran into her room to see my sweet son standing near the radio, smiling. The music that filled the room sang, Bells will be ringing this sad, sad news...Oh what a Christmas to have the blues. "It's Our Dancing Song, Mama." It may sound totally sappy but joy filled my heart at that moment! I hugged him and started swaying back and forth, although he is now almost up to my shoulder. The moment lasted for only that - a moment. Big brother walked by and questioned "What are you doing?" The dancing immediately stopped. Oh well. I'll take my moment; I probably don't have many like that left.

Undercover Boss

Hubby & I have recently become fans of Undercover Boss. He always says he would love for his company's CEO to see what one day in his shoes feels like!

On last night's episode, a worker named Devin talked about his Christian musician father. Nosy little me just had to know who the musician was. So I did a little investigating. Turns out, his father is Bryan Duncan, someone I have definitely heard of. Bryan and Devin Duncan even recorded a song together. If you watched the show, you will definitely recognize Devin's picture. I was proud of myself for my awesome detective skills!

Indian Summer

Dear Indians,

I just wanted to share how much I love Indian summer...the most wonderful time of fall! And thanks for Thanksgiving....a holiday where Americans can gorge themselves with food and not feel guilty. Oh, I'm very sorry that the white people stole your land.

Love,

~she~

Addiction

My boys have a smoothie addiction. Every time we go to the Target plaza, they ask if they can go to Smoothie King. And we go to Target A LOT. There is also a Chipotle in the plaza, which is what I have an addiction to. So we have this discussion often. At first, they thought that Hubby should treat them to a $4 smoothie twice a week. Then they got smart and started bringing their wallets. "Well, if you have the money, then I don't care if you get one," was my initial response. Then it got ridiculous. My kids were spending all their birthday money, Christmas money, and hard-earned lawn mowing money on smoothies! I had to put my foot down. "I thought you were going to save your lawn mowing money for a car? You'll be 16 before you know it!" Well, that logic didn't work on them. I got a glimpse into the future. I saw my boys at 35 years old, living in a shack with dirty children and lawn furniture in the living room. But there are plenty of Smoothie King cups in the trash can. If I don't teach my kids how to make good decisions now and how to resist the urge for unnecessary pleasures in life, how will they ever grow up to be responsible adults. Then it happened...Smoothie King left the plaza! Glory be! The fight is over now, right? Wrong.

It was a recent family trip to Target when the boys realized Smoothie King was gone. I tried to show my support and pretend like I was devastated. But I was smiling on the inside. This is the first step I need to teach my children how to be fiscally responsible. (And all the Dave Ramsey fans say "Amen.") So while I was paying for diapers at Target, I saw the worst possible thing: my son in line at STARBUCKS! No, not Starbucks! They are even more addictive than Smoothie King! People lose their homes over Starbucks! So I finished checking out and went to inquire what in the world he was doing in that line. "Dad said I could." Grrr....I hate that bit. Dad says yes to everything! My kids purposely wait until I'm as far away as possible so that the only option is asking Dad. "What did you order?" I asked. "Hot chocolate." With a dirty look I replied, "We have free hot chocolate at home." But that didn't matter. This was so important to him for some reason. Why? I don't know. Maybe he will go to school tomorrow and tell his friends how he went to Starbucks last night. Maybe he thinks he'll meet a hot girl there. (Yes, he's only 11.) Whatever the reason, it was over. They were making his drink. Then I heard a voice call out "White chocolate mocha." It's 8:00 at night. "You got a white chocolate mocha???" A drink made with espresso, full of caffeine (which we try to avoid totally). "I don't know, I just ordered white chocolate." My blood was boiling now. "How much did you pay for that?" But of course He claimed he didn't know. So now I've got this kid who is $3-and-something poorer, holding a coffee. Maybe Smoothie King leaving the plaza was not a blessing after all. I made him give the coffee to my mother and hoped he learned his lesson the hard way. Maybe we should just avoid Target altogether. Lots of addictions get fed in that plaza.