Cleaning Day....YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If used, things turn into chaos and disorder.
Everything requires some maintenance......and the more you have, the more work you have to do. Some compare this to the 2nd law of Thermodynamics. Some disagree, but it should be a "law" of nature anyhow.

The first "law" of homemaking:

Every homemaker wants things that make her life easier, add beauty, and will entertain herself, her kids, and her husband.

The second "law" of homemaking:

All of these things will cause more chaos and will require more work.



Today is a good cleaning day.


The children were a great help in creating my chaos, so they will also be a help in maintaining it.

My rules for cleaning:

1. Everything should have a place to go. If we can't find one, it goes in the trash bag!

2. Toys that get left out go in mom's box. If they want it bad enough, they have to pay me $1.

3. Do what you are told the first time.

4. Do your best job!

Things they can do: organize art supplies, pick up toys, dust, vacuum, match socks, put away laundry, make beds...................

What makes this easier for us:

Set a timer for 10-20 minutes, depending on their age and what the job is.

Work hard for that amount of time.

Give very specific instructions

They do better when I am helping them.

After the time is up, allow at least the same amount of time for play!!!!!!!

Then do it again, if needed.

We came up with a perseverance cheer. Savannah has pom poms so they stood in a line, clapped, and shook pom poms and said:

I will not quit;
I will persevere.
I will do my best;
EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!

On the other hand......

The nativity story can be easily overlooked as we go through the traditions of Christmas. We may read it, we may see the statues, or we may even see a live nativity. It is so simple we can miss the awesomeness of this scene.

I think the most awesome part of this story is the people. God uses people in everyday life doing their everyday thing to do the most extraordinary.

A shepard was dirty and probably not educated, maybe not even "good". They were the ones the angels told about Jesus on the night he was born. It was probably pretty amazing to see angels and to go to a stable to see that what the angels said was true! But I wonder if the shepards ever thought..."why did they come talk to us?' That may have been even more amazing.

And that is how Jesus lived his life, showing the unlovable how he loved them and valued them.

Oh holy night! The stars are brightly shining;

This is the night of our dear Savior's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining;

'Til he appeared and the soul felt it's worth.

...the soul felt it's worth. That's what is so awesome to me.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that in my humanness could not find an ounce of worth. I am full of sin and errors. So many people use others as punching bags to feel better about themselves. People can rob worth. Christ came for the soul to feel it's worth.

This is something I want my children to grasp, that they are worth something. With humility, confidence through the power of what God can do in each of their lives, and with love for others, I believe they can accomplish amazing things.

"In know that I am all too aggressive toward the child. I am angry with him, because I am angry at my own failures. I want this child to be the perfect human being that I somehow failed to become. It is shockingly easy to take my frustrations out on those who are under me." -Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, For the Children's Sake

Parents are imperfect, Christ is perfect. God chose imperfect parents for his son, Jesus. He also chose imperfect parents for my children, but he knows that even though I have sin and errors, I do have worth. If I recognize this, I am less likely to criticize my own children for not being perfect as well. This is one way I can show God's love for them.

Oh Holy Night!

This is why I love Jesus.

Wendi's Grocery Shopping Guide (Revised)

There are a few "rules" I keep when grocery shopping in order to not over buy and to make this chore a pleasant one. Tonight I added to this list.

1. Make a detailed list. Write it down when you are out, and have a detailed menu ready to make sure you get what you need. Don't have your 6 year old write a few things down while you are changing diapers, tying shoes, and making sure everyone went potty.

2. Don't go to the store on a whim just because grilled cheese and tomato soup with goldfish crackers sounds good. Look in the refrigerator, cause there might be some leftover chicken wings there, and you sure would not want to find that out after dragging your kids to the store in the freezing rain.

3. Never, never go to the store when you are hungry. If you do, you might pass by the Twinkies section and think about how good they sound. Then you might buy them.

4. Apparently, 5:30pm on a Sunday night is not a good time to go, since that is when everyone else wants to go. Monday afternoons aren't really good either.

5.Just stick to your list and allow 3 "extra" items you might have missed. This will help you avoid walking down the isle and pulling things off the shelf that you might need, which results in a much larger total and many more bags to carry in the freezing rain.

6 (This is the revised part)Never, never, never ever take 4 children to the store on a Sunday night in the freezing rain! Call for delivery, eat your leftovers, eat oatmeal cookies for goodness sakes! But don't go! They will ask to buy all kinds of extra stuff, and you will probably give in just to keep them quiet, you will apologize at least 20 times on their behalf, and when it is all said and done, the tomato soup and grilled cheese are just not worth the effort. Neither are the Twinkies. (But I will enjoy one later.)

On a more serious note: I do like to take ONE child with me when I go to the grocery store. Depending on their stage in life, they can help pick out a few items, cross off your list, learn about prices, foods, and it results in some great bonding time.

I would love to hear any other tips to add to the list!

Christmas Lists

"Are you getting me something for Christmas?" I asked my husband last year. He looked at me, a bit confused, and said, "What do you want?" My answer came with a sigh, "I wish you wouldn't have to ask. Get me something you know I'd like."

He got me some nice smelling stuff from Bath and Body Works and a massage. Ok, but not terrific. When am I gonna take a bubble bath?

In the course of this year, something changed in me. I realized that I was more miserable when I set my husband up with my unrealistic expectations.

One time I asked him, "If you had plenty of money and could get me anything at all, what do you think I would like?" I was surprised with his answer. "Probably a bunch of plants and flowers, and I would hire someone to come and landscape our yard." That was really, really close. What I really would like is for him to landscape the yard with me. Our project. So he knows what I want. He knows me, he gets me....and he has no interest of landscaping our yard.

I started watching him, the way he smiled at me and at the kids. The way he trusted me with daily things, but didn't get mad if I messed up. He never tried to change me.

The thing most important to HIM is a clean house. I would like that too, but hate to clean. I really try, but the odds are stacked against me. So we both enjoy things that the other won't provide, and we don't hold it over each other's head. We still love each other. We are comfortable with each other.

Since our children do not go to school with other kids, they have little outside influence when it comes to Christmas wishes. Today I asked them to make a list. On the top of each of the three lists was a goldfish. Ok, that's do-able. I told them that was the only pet they could have.

Savannah's second item on the list: a "clean howse".....

....and third, "lovelie flowers".

Truth or Pretend?

"What's Santa bringing you this Christmas?"....the dreaded question is asked while my 3 girls respond with a blank stare, piled in the shopping cart. In previous years I have not made a big deal about Santa and they were blissfully ignorant. Now more and more questions are asked.

I am not one to be enchanted with the thought of telling my kids that there is an elf far away that will bring toys to all the good girls and boys. I know some parents are, and I don't think that makes them bad parents. I just don't want to, for several reasons.

I don't want to take away from the story of Christ's birth, and don't want it to get confusing...so, which is real and which is pretend?

I don't want the entire Christmas season to be filled with the gimmes. I haven't even shopped yet. I have not asked them what they want. I'm a natural procrastinator.

There are too many things in this game that don't make sense to me and it drives me crazy. I over analyze and it makes it very hard to be excited about a story that makes no sense. If Santa is the one bringing the toys, why does every one go Christmas shopping? Kids are smart, and if they were to ask me a question like that I would just have to say, "I KNOW! It just does not make sense!"

I want my kids to trust me, and I want to be honest with them. And, well, I'm a bad liar.


But this year, my kids just think I'm crazy! There has to be a Santa Clause! Everyone says so, and he is at the mall!!! Sigh.
Yesterday after gymnastics, my daughter comes up to me "Mommy, there really IS a Santa Clause! My teacher believes in him! She said that he will only come if you believe!"

Ok, I understand that probably what happened was that my daughter was the Scrooge that announced to the whole class that Santa was not real, and so the teacher had to cover up so no one else's dreams would be crushed. But it really confused my 6 year old.

I looked at her and said:"Do you really think that there is a guy that has flying reindeer that comes delivers toys to all the kids in one night by fitting down the chimney?" She burst out laughing and said "NO!"

But I still had a problem. Now, my kids think their teacher lied to them, and lying is bad. They also think Santa is bad. Oh, and we don't want angry parents because my kids are going around telling them that their parents are lying to them.

Thankfully, I have been to several Mom's groups that have discussed this and got a few ideas.

One of my goals for my kids is to be able to distinguish truth from the rest- in many different areas. Really, with so many theories out there, how do we know? I don't want them believing whatever they hear, no matter who said it. If it does not make sense, we should investigate.

So, what do we know about the truth regarding Santa Clause? I found a kid-friendly story about St. Nicholas, and read it to the girls.

Then I asked them to tell me which statements were true or pretend?

Santa Clause's real name is Nicholas.

Santa is from the North Pole.

Nicholas wore a red robe.

Santa won't give you a present if you are naughty.

St. Nicholas loved children.

St. Nicholas loved God.

You should be good so you get a lot of presents for Christmas.

We should remember St. Nicholas because he was giving and should follow his example in our lives.

Some adults like to pretend and tell children that Santa is real.

Santa comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve and delivers all of the presents.

Santa Clause has elves and reindeer.

St. Nicholas put a present in stockings hung by the fire.

They got most of them right, but still had one question. "Why do children still believe that there is a Santa?" ....I don't remember what I said, but it was not convincing. Some things take time to soak in.

We agreed that we could still pretend that there was a Santa by writing letters and hanging stockings, but we know the real Christmas story, and we know that is the truth. I think.:)

Food Posters

Old magazines.....sometimes I want to keep them just in case........then I never get around looking at them, so I just thow them away.

Today we made posters of different types of foods. We made 6. One for fruits, veggies, dairy, meat and beans, grains, and junk food. The we got my old Better Homes and Gardens magazines, cut out pictures, and attached them the the correct poster.

Now I can throw those away.>

The "posters" were just oversized pieces of paper that we cut from a paper roll.

The girls wrote the titles on them. Savannah said she accidentally wrote vegie tales instead of vegetables.

Even Brookie worked on her cutting skills.

That's all we got done for now, but I would like to re-visit them and talk about the uniqueness of each group.

This can be used as an introduction to the concept of nutrition with your kids. It is also good practice for categorizing.

Other discussions:

After food groupings are identified, it can be reinforced during your meal conversations.

"What group does this food belong in?"

"Where did it come from?"

See if you have a food from each of the fruit, vegetable, dairy, grains, and meat categories.

Is there anything from the junk food category?

You can also label foods as "anytime", "sometimes", and "once and a while" categories, or if you prefer, "green light", "yellow light", and "red light".

To make it simple, "green light" foods would be fruits and vegetables (low in calories, high in the healthy stuff), "yellow light" foods fall in the meat and beans, dairy, and grains (good for you in small amounts), and "red light" or junk foods should only be eaten once and a while because they taste good but are not good for your bodies.

For more information, check out http://www.mypyramid.gov/

BTW: Is tomatoes a fruit or a vegetable? Depends on how you look at it. From a horticulture perspective it is a fruit because it has seeds and is a flowering plant. Nutritionally, it is considered a vegetable because of the nutritional make up and it's not sweet. Right now, I'm focusing on the nutrition definition just because I'm a dietitian and that's what I'm familiar with. If you have questions about food categories, you can go to my food-a-pedia.

Good Food Day!

Everyone has to eat, so we have to cook. I think cooking is the perfect way to learn! Kids can learn at any age with cooking and eating!

Our "chef" this week is Brooke. She's 3. Even though she is the "head chef", the others ask to be the "sous chefs" (well, they say shoe chef cause they think it's funny) and Brooke graciously welcomes the help.

This morning we made pancakes. Brooke measured the 2 cups flour. She worked on her motor skills to spoon the flour in the measuring cup and then level it off. She also stirred quite a bit.

Summer helped with the teaspoon and tablespoon measurements. She found the correct spoons to use and correctly leveled them off. She also broke the eggs and mixed them. We have been doing this long enough that Summer (age 5) needs little supervision as long as it does not involve knives or heat.

We watched the liquid of the pancake batter heat and turn to a solid.

Then we got to eat them. Yay!

We had a really easy lunch...frozen burritos. This was great for Brookie. She simply counted 6 burritos and put them on the pan, 3 on each side. We had talked about even and odd numbers recently, so I asked the girls if 6 was an even or odd number and showed how there were 2 equal sides.

Then we got to eat our work again.

Today was a special day because it was the first time Max ate cereal!! We all sat around and watched how he reacted to the new eating method. Funny faces, spitting out food, but he liked it and grunted when I wasn't fast enough.

For supper, we had quesadillas. Brookie chose this even though we had burritos for lunch. I like making quesadillas because it is kid friendly. This is how we make them:

1. First, everyone needs to wash their hands. When they scrub, we sing the ABC song to make sure we've scrubbed long enough.



2. Then we melt about 2T butter in the microwave. Brooke can work on her number recognition by punching in the numbers I tell her.

3. Their favorite part: "painting" the butter on the tortillas. I use multi grain tortillas to add some fiber.

4. Then we flip over the tortilla and spread some cheese on...we don't measure it but it was about 1/2 cup of cheese on each tortilla. One bag of cheese made 4 quesadillas.

5. Place the second tortilla on and paint it as well.

6. Place quesadilla in a heated skillet, turned to medium heat and sprayed with cooking spray. Heat until browned, flip, brown, and remove.

7. I use a pizza cutter to cut into pieces. Here is Savannah cutting her quesadilla in half. We talked about how we could get 6 equal pieces.

8. Finally, we got to eat! Tuesday night at supper I try to have a Mexican-ish type dish and we talk some Spanish. Things like por favor, gracias, counting, different types of food, etc.



They like to eat their corn frozen, so it makes it a really easy meal.