While I was missing

The kids and I took a trip to Utah this week.  We still own a home in Utah and our renter moved out so the place had to be cleaned and prepped for the new renters to take over.

It was mostly a week of cleaning, jumping on grandma's trampoline and watching this video over and over and over with my siblings.


 

In defense of the Iphone Mom

This article was making its way around facebook and I saw lots of moms passionately commenting on just how true it was (If you are a thoughtful mom who is trying to do her best DO NOT READ IT unless you want a huge parenting guilt trip).

In my head I've been composing a response for the last couple of weeks.  However, this person eloquently and concisely puts into words exactly what I was thinking (and we've been battling a fever this week so sleep is in short supply at our house so please don't ask me to be too thoughtful).

If you're not going to click over, here is a highlight (and actually a large portion of the whole article).

here’s what I don’t get: why are there always so many negative posts and chastisements toward mothers when it comes to parenting, but very little positive reinforcements and encouragement? Why are there so many articles, blog posts, open letters gone viral, etc. that fuel mom guilt? Other mothers out there know what I mean when I say “mom guilt.” It seems to be something we naturally, instinctively have and wrestle with the minute our first child is born. We don’t really need condemning articles and opinions on discipline, being a working mother, daycare, domesticity, creative parenting, and technology use to get our guilty conscience to kick into gear. Even if they are written in the name of godly conviction.

A guilty reminder that we might miss a moment with our child is honestly not what we need. It is not going to be the grace-fueled motivation we need to pursue godly parenting.

Let’s say this hypothetical iPhone mom is a SAHM (stay at home mom). Let me tell you something about her, that I know from experience:

Know what she has a lot of? Sweet moments watching her children do things like spinning around in their dresses or watching them show off or watching as they bring you something they just discovered. Moments to play with her baby on the floor, read a book over and over again with excited inflections, moments of teaching them the sounds that animals make and about the clouds that our Creator designed. Moments of laughter and tickle fights and hugs and kisses. And for this reason, she is thankful that she has the opportunity to stay at home full time with her child(ren).

But do you know what she doesn’t have a lot of? Time to herself. Time to respond to an email. Time to read the News or thought provoking articles on culturally relevant and important topics.

So let’s just say that after a long day (or string of days) of playing “hide-and-go-seek” and dress up and Legos, and fort building and teaching shapes and sounds and singing, “The Itsy Bitsy Spider,” she takes her kids to the park so that they can play by themselves, exercising their imaginations, twirling in their dresses, climbing the monkey bars, and swing while she breathes in some fresh air, sits down by herself, and browses some articles and catches up on some emails. I say good for her. Because you know what? She needs a break. For the love, just give her one! Stop judging her parenting for one mili-second.

Hot Fudge

Recently we've had a guest who comes over regularly who is gluten intolerant   Preparing dessert for her I was dabbling with things like Creme Brulle and gluten-free black bean brownies (total failure).  Finally I decided that I would just make things easy on myself and we'd have ice cream sundaes -they're delicious, gluten-free and easy.

This is my go-to hot fudge (which is really my mom's go-to hot fudge and I'm recording it here so I don't have to call her for the recipe anymore). My mom normally makes twice this much but I can't be trusted to keep it around the house because I've been known to eat it straight out of the container.

6 oz. Chocolate chips (1/2 bag)
1/2 c. Butter
2 c. Powdered sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 1/3 c. Evaporated Milk

Melt the butter and chocolate chips together over low heat. Add the powdered sugar and stir--it will be very thick and hard to stir.  Add the evaporated milk and bring to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly.  Boil for 2 min and continue to stir.  Add vanilla and stir until incorporated.

Store any leftovers in the fridge.

Thank you

This week a miracle happened.  Just like always we went to the library and Claire picked out her Dora books (she only gets to pick three because left to her own she'd empty out the Dora book cubby) and I picked out other books for her.

Normally we read her 3 Dora books over and over all week long.  Sometimes I can't even get her to take her other books out of the bag.  This week, thanks to these 2 books, the tables turned.  We read these two books every day.  Claire loved them so much that she slept with them.

(Sorry I can't figure out how to get this pic right-side up)

A one week reprieve from "who do we ask for help when we don't know what way to go?"

I'll take it.

The Luckiest

Yesterday a totally unexpected package arrived.

It's a box of things to do indoors from our friends in San Diego.  It was accompanied by some notes and this amazing poem.

When I showed it to the hubbs after dinner he said (he may have been a little misty eyed), "You had real friends in San Diego."  And then I had to walk away because it was making me cry.

Thank you dear women.  Thank you for your strong hands and strong hearts.

A little problem

About once every other week I call my mom and ask her for a recipe.  She looks it up and I jot it down on a post-it or old envelope while we chat.  I take terrible notes.  Then, about 2 months later I call her again for the same recipe.  

She has not caught on to this pattern yet and she cheerfully looks up the recipe and we chat and talk about how good the food is.  

I'm a little tired of that.  And more importantly I'm worried that my mom will get tired of that.

The good news is that there is a simple solution.  You know what I use to organize things?  The internet.  None of us have encyclopedias anymore.  I have no idea how to look for things at my local library because I just search the internet, put in a request and my local librarian calls me when it's ready.  The internet people.   

So I cleaned out the kitchen junk drawer and gathered as many post-its and scraps as I could and I'm going to post them here so that I can always find them.  I don't claim to be a great cook but luckily most recipes that come from my mom contain butter and cream so we should be fine.

And Mom, 

From now on I promise that I'll only ask for each recipe once.

Loves

S

In Cahoots

Do these look like the faces of people who are secretly plotting to ensure that their mother doesn't sleep more than 2 hours straight?

Don't let them fool you.