Popsicle Making Extravaganza

It's been  pretty crazy around here the last couple of days.

K has been sick, and although we had a very scary night when her temperature climbed to 105, she is doing much better now.

She's jumping off furniture.  Running around singing Frozen songs.  She's back to her old self.  Whew, thank you, Lord.

I wanted to share an activity we did together a couple of days ago.  In an effort to get more vegetables in K's diet, we decided to make popsicles from real fruit and veggie juice.

I bought this juicer off an infomercial back in August.  My husband and I had recently finished watching the documentary, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  Anytime I watch one of those food documentaries, I get in beast mode and attempt to throw out all the garbage in our pantry.

We juiced for a few months (not exclusively), but since I was pregnant at the time, I decided to put it off until I wasn't craving french fries and chocolate all of the time.  I mean, really.

So, back to our popsicle making extravaganza.

I tried to build this up so K would be excited about eating them later.  In my big, cheesy mom voice, I announced we were going to make delicious popsicles.  She immediately came running into the kitchen.

Before we even began the process, I had a super mom fail.  I couldn't find the popsicle molds.
K was roaring to go, so I had to improvise.  We used an old baby food storage container.  

We started out simple. I cut up an apple and the ends off four carrots.

 
K doesn't like loud noises so she asked to leave the room once it was time to stick them into the juicer. That's my favorite part of the whole juicing experience.

I asked if she wanted to drink some and she politely shook her head no.  I let her pour the liquid into the 'popsicle mold'.  She loved this part.

I put the lid on and we stuck them in the freezer.  My plan was to put in popsicle sticks once they started to freeze.  Another mom fail...I forgot.

K didn't seem to mind.  She was so excited to go check on the popsicles the next day.  We popped one out and made it into a snow cone.

 
I would love for her to eventually start drinking the juice, but for now, I am happy to make all the popsicles in the world if it means she is getting some good nutrients into her body.

Creating Art With My Girl

Today was a great day.

The kind of day where you feel so overwhelmed with love and joy, you just want to freeze time.

I felt motivated, caffeinated, and ready to take on the day by 7:30 am.  That's a little early for me.  I usually fall back asleep after little man's first morning feeding.  That is, if my sweet three year old doesn't come climbing into my bed before then.

So, back to the fact that I started my day feeling motivated instead of tired.  That might have something to do with the fact that I forced myself to go to sleep after my last pumping session last night.  Usually, I stay up and watch a few episodes of, Parenthood, before attempting to fall asleep.  By the way, great show.

Or, it might have a lot to do with the magical beauty of a certain baby sleeping through the night.

So about today.  I made it my goal to do an art project with my daughter.  We had so much fun.

She loves to paint.  I'm not sure why.  Okay, that was a joke.

I'm actually surprised by this because when she was a baby, she hated anything that came close to touching her sweet little precious hands.


We decided to gain inspiration from this Pinterest project.  I pinned it a long time ago and recently decided to start saving lids so I could actually do something like it.

Click Here to see how it was created.


I dug out a small canvas, paint, paint brushes, old circulars, scissors, glue, and of course, the lids.

  

K started by painting the canvas blue.  She took her time like she always does when paint is involved.



Then, she cut up green strips of paper and circles out of the old circular I gave her.  She loves using scissors. Some days I will give her pieces of paper and a bowl and she will sit for what seems like hours just cutting up paper. It's a fun and cheap activity for preschoolers.



After cutting came the gluing.  She hasn't quite learned the phrase, a little goes a long way.  I helped her glue everything down, including the tiny silk flowers she found in my art bag that she insisted on including on the canvas.



I love creating art with her.  She soaks up every second of it.  I watch her making decisions about where she wants things to go and it reminds me of why exploring art is so important for young children.

But that's another post for another day.

These spring flowers will look perfect up on our mantel.  Every time I look at them I will remember the day that my sweet girl sat at the kitchen table, still in her pajamas, and created art with me.    







  





        

  

    

Let's Be Real

I'm just going to go ahead and put this out there.  I'm exhausted.

When I quit my job almost four months ago, I had a plan.  I may have changed my major four times in college, but I always knew I wanted to be a mother.  So I had this plan and idea in my head of what a perfect stay at home mom would look like.

Fast forward to now and I can assure you, there is no way that "perfect" mom will ever be me.

I love my kids.  I adore them and want them to have a fun, enriched, and adventurous childhood.  I want them to be thinkers, explorers, and appreciate the arts.  I want them to value education and choose reading over video games.  I want them to grow up loving people.  All kinds of people.  I want them to be well mannered and respectful.  To actually revere their elders.  I want them to discover things for themselves, and to know the answers don't always come from a multiple choice test.

But I have to constantly remind myself  that all of these hopes and dreams I have for them don't have to magically happen RIGHT NOW.  I have to slow down and relax a bit.  Take a chill pill.  

My daughter is three and my son is three month old.  I don't worry so much about my youngest because he pretty much just wants to eat, sleep, and make the cutest darn faces at anyone who will look at him.  It's my daughter who I worry about constantly.

She is extremely audacious.  Independent and strong willed.  She is the first born, so naturally she wants to be the leader.

Like all moms, I want her to have everything life has to offer.  Not like material things, but real and tangible experiences.  So when I decided to stay at home more, I had this picture in my head of how I was going to accomplish all these tasks like cooking, cleaning, and laundry, along with making sure my daughter was busy with projects and activities all day.

But it hasn't been as easy as I thought it was going to be.  Some days I feel like I'm failing.  

Like on days when I just want to stay in my pajamas and let her watch one too many episodes of Umizoomie.  Hey, at least she is learning about math. Or days when we should be outside playing, but because all I've done that morning are chores and laundry, feedings and pumping, I let her ride her bike around the living room while I sit and enjoy the comfort of my couch.

I worry that she is missing out on something. Something great because I'm too tired.

Then, there are days when I wake up and it seems as if the coffee I had the day before is still pumping through my veins.  Like I want to take on the world, screaming, I am superwoman hear me roar. Okay, I don't really scream that, but I am feeling it inside.


Those days are great because I feel accomplished.  I feel like I'm doing things right.

But, if I have learned anything over the past three years, it's this-- there isn't a right or wrong way.  Some moms were born with high amounts of energy and are able to plan activity after activity.  Some moms are great at playing dress up.  Some moms were gifted with the ability to sit for hours and play with trains or dinosaurs or any other toy that requires you to sit on the floor for long periods of time.

There are times when I want to pull my hair out.  Times when I wish there was another adult in the house just so I could have five minutes of conversation that didn't involve Elsa and Anna.  But at the end of the day, despite all the diaper changes, spilled food, destruction zone of toys, and never ending use of the words, "mommy I want", I love being a mom.  I don't always love every single moment of motherhood, but I'm learning that it is, like most things in life, a process.

It's a give and take process that takes time, effort, love, honesty, encouragement, and patience.  Oh the patience.
   
Some days I get it right.  Other days, I have to spend more time in prayer asking for guidance and patience. The Lord knew what He was doing when he opened this door for me.  I may not know what I'm doing half of the time, but I am confident that I am not alone.

Let's be real, I'm tired.  I'm exhausted most days.  I'm warn out from the day in and day out challenges of parenting.  No one said it would be easy, though.  I'm thankful for the tears, back aches, and messy living room.  It means I'm alive and living my dream of being a mom.


         

 

Beautiful Beginnings--Take Three

Well, I'm back.

It's been so long since I last logged on, I forgot my password.  What can I say, I'm a horrible blogger.  This time, I'm not setting any rules.  I may be on here every day, or once a month.  Who knows.

What I do know is, I have missed writing.  Let me be clear, this is really for me.  I need an outlet.  There isn't enough melatonin to calm the kind of chaos that goes on inside my head.

I'm a mom of two now, so I'm sure I will want to write about the joys of mommy{hood}.  I may even throw in the mishaps of mommy{hood}.  Let's be real, it's not always glamorous being a mom.  Actually, most of the time it's extremely challenging.  In a good, sanctifying, ever growing kind of way.

I'm sure I will want to write about my new adventure in life that is my baby.  My business.  I spent eight years in college and another three years after graduation trying to figure out my career path.  I knew I wanted to spend most days at home with my kids.  I knew I wanted to work with children.  I knew I LOVED teaching art.  Put that all together and you get a huge answer to prayer.  The Lord opened some big 'ol doors.

I'm positive that I will want to write about my faith.  I love Jesus.  I love and serve a mighty God.  I want to share what He has done and will continue to do in my life.

And then, I will probably write about anything and everything in between.  Like cooking.  I actually enjoy cooking now.  Since I have more time to plan and prep, I like to try new recipes.  I can make a mean meatloaf.  

And maybe future attempts at gardening.  I'm not a gardener, but would like to be someday.  When my recipes call for fresh basil I kick myself because I always have to use the dry stuff in my pantry.  I'm pretty sure the fresh is much better.

And probably DIY projects and updates around my house.  I just painted over wallpaper in our guest bathroom.  I'm a pro now. 

And if I don't write about all the above, I might just post pictures of my sweet babies.  I am a closet wannabe photographer.  There, I said it.  I don't own a Canon or anything, I just enjoy taking photos with my super awesome smart phone app.

I'm excited about giving this blogging thing another try.  If anything it's free therapy for me.  My Beautiful Beginnings, take three.