From Field to Family

Have you heard of Jamie Oliver and Food Revolution? In a trailer for the show he asks a class of first graders to identify fruits and vegetables and they can't. Even a potato is foreign to them. His vision is to get America eating healthy and we can't eat healthy unless we are eating our fruits and veggies and know where the come from.

 Enter the importance of pumpkin patch visits! Never mind that it is a fall tradition and it is just super fun, it is also essential to our kids healthy eating habits. How about that?!

Anyway, waaaaayyyy back in September William's Joy School group took a trip to Black Island Farms. William and Marie both got to pick out a sugar pumpkin to bring home. After the pumpkins did their duty of decorating our porch for the month of October I decided that Halloween night was their time to really shine.

Using this recipe (minus the mushrooms) from Taste of Home, we had a fantastic dinner-in-a-pumpkin. Brandon and I loved it. William tolerated it. Marie was a fan, but didn't want to be because she thinks she needs to be just like her big brother.

And when all was said and done, I was feeling good that I made something savory and healthy out of that pumpkin, instead of succumbing to my pumpkin pie craving.

Marie-esque

6:03 pm
Marie: Mommy, I'm tired.
Mommy: I know, Honey. Just finish your dinner and we can get ready for bed.

6:05 pm

This was a couple of Sundays ago. The kids don't get naps on Sundays because church is 1-4. Apparently, not even her favorite dinner could keep her eyes open, or so we thought. After failed attempts to rouse her I decided just to take her up to bed. The instant I laid her down her eyes popped open and she said, "Mommy! I need to finish my sandwich!" Silly girl.

Halloween Festivities

 Go!

 Fight!

 Win!

 

 Go Team!

Words

Sometimes the right words come at just the right time. Tender mercy? For sure. Thanks to an amazing friend for this status update on facebook. (This was totally worth breaking my no-computer-before-noon rule.) It's nice to be reminded, when I feel that my life is completely out of my control, my attitude isn't.

The next time you're feeling defeated, take heart in the fact that defeat is in your control and only temporary. You giving up is the only way for it to become permanent.

 

Another Trip to the Potrait Studio

The best $$ ever spent

 

 

Who needs Fisher Price or Little Tykes? All it takes is some latex and helium and my girls are happy.

(Let it be known that William has had his fair share of punching matches with this bouquet of balloons, as well.)

What I’ll Miss

Right now I am in the trenches of motherhood. There are days of stress and frustration. I’ve cried. I’ve yelled. I’ve vented. And I’ve received my fair share of advice from seasoned mothers (most of which I am eternally grateful for!). Every once in a while,however, I am hit with cliché words of wisdom. My favorite?

Cherish each moment. You are going to miss this one day.

Sometimes when I hear this I can’t help but roll my eyes. Seriously? Puddles of pee, screaming baby at 2am, crumb covered floors, pencil on the piano, three year old tantrums, four year old sass, sleepless nights, non-stop days … That’s not what I’m going to miss. Not one bit.

It’s the moments that fill in the cracks between the chaos that I will miss; the quiet moments when my kids can just be. They are comfortable in their home, knowing they are safe and loved. They are content to be together and enjoy the world they have been brought into. They are all under my wing, safe from the rush of the world outside.

When I sit and think about these moments I realize that  their frequency is so much more up to me than it is them. As their mother, it is my attitude that dictates the day we have. It is my spirit that will in turn affect theirs.
I love these moments and yet sometimes it is so hard to be the catalyst for them. It takes work and planning. It takes thought and prayer. It requires me to “…be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long suffering; being temperate in all things…”   If I allow myself, I can easily become discouraged; so, so very easily.

Yet if I take a deep breathe and step outside of the mess I realize that a few minutes of prayer, an hour of scripture study, or the right song can lift my mood and bless me with the strength I need. If I want the Holy Ghost to be in my home, I must invite him into my life daily.

A simple concept. I wonder at times why it is so hard for me to remember. I want to remember, I need to remember, I vow to remember.

Because in the years to come I want to miss these precious moments, not because they didn’t happen, but because they did.