November evaporated before my eyes, I hardly knew it was there before December breezed in and the push toward Christmas began. I resolve every year to be finished with Christmas prep so that I can enjoy as much of the month of December as I can. Yet every year finds me frantically trying to complete everything before the 25th. This year my husband has been away for work but will be home for two weeks during Christmas and the through the new year. I desperately want everything to be ready before he comes home so that I can relax and really enjoy him being here. Yesterday I realized I only have 10 days to finish everything before he gets home, I suddenly turned the switch to high gear and got more done yesterday than I have in the 10 days of December preceding. Why are some of us procrastinators and some of us are so organized. I want to belong to that club of ladies who had their trees up Thanksgiving weekend, their Christmas cards in my mailbox December 1st, who have all their Christmas shopping done and their presents wrapped before they started shopping for Halloween costumes. I envy the ease in which they are able to wonder slowly through the light filled town admiring and enjoying all that the holidays have to offer. I want to sip hot chocolate while my children enjoy the gingerbread houses and talk to Santa. I long to be apart of the holidays rather than constantly running to complete the ever growing list of “to dos.”  I feel this way every year and promise myself to do better, I may even start out with great plans (last year I bought my son’s this year Christmas present in February) but my enthusiasm wains in the heat of summer, Christmas gets away from me as we shop for back to school clothes and Halloween candy then before I know it the insanity of December has arrived again and I am in the same place I was the year before.

Can we procrastinators never become organized? Is it programmed into our genes to work best under the pressure of a deadline? Do we simply feed off  the adrenaline that stress and confusion bring into our lives. “Stop this train Santa I want to get off.” Alas I can not, another whirl wind day of cookie baking and outdoor decor await my attention. There are now only 9 days until my husband returns home; the pressure of a storybook Christmas for him and my children mounts. If you see me dizzying through my December life and I forget to say Happy Holidays, I am sending you those wishes now. Have a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, a Happy Kwanza,  a Merry Yule or whatever other winter holiday is sending you in to a whirlwind of excitement and craziness this year. Best wishes to all!

Currently I am feeling like a discipline failure. My sweet loving son has turned into a 5 year old with serious attitude.  He is currently giving any 15 year old girl a run for her money with his sassy mouth and rude gestures. I am not sure where he picked this stuff up, but I do know he is behaving the same way I did, right down to the dramatic eye rolls, when I was a preteen. (Yes, I am aware my mother is laughing hysterically at this point and feeling extremely vindicated!) I just have no idea how to stop it! I am sure there will be a number of things that I try as I navigate this age, but my current strategy is very simple.

I sat my son down and told him I did not like the way he was behaving I explained that sometimes we use not nice words but other time we say words in a way that sounds not nice. Neither of these things are acceptable. I gave him several examples I have heard from him lately and then we discussed better words to use and better ways to say those words. I also discussed some house hold rules that he has been breaking consistently and went over consequences for breaking these rules. Then the genius child that I have gave me some light, he told me he can’t remember the rules all the time especially when he is playing. Eureka! Now I have the rules posted on the wall at his eye level and I refer back to them often. I also listed the consequence for breaking the rule so he isn’t surprised when the punishments come.

I will not say that this has curbed all discipline problems in my house, but I have noticed some changes for the positive.  My son agrees that having the rules and consequences posted allows him to know exactly what is expected and what will happen if he chooses not to follow the rules.

**My son is just learning to read and I used very simple language but you could also draw pictures or use clip art to supplement the words for younger children. **

Something  my mommy friends and I spend time a lot of time talking about is the heath of our children especially this time of the year. As seasons change, in most places you hope that summer temperatures gradually lower into winter snows but in Las Vegas and many other places these days temperatures jump all over the thermometer as fall changes into winter. This year we celebrated the first day of fall with 100 degree temps but the following weekend we were all shivering as the highs reached only into the 50′s.  One of the things that we never do is research the answers, so I have spent time scouring several different website some of which I have included at the bottom of this post if you would like to read more and combined their suggestions into a useable list.

1. Make sure you child gets enough sleep every night. Children should average between 10 and 12 hours a night. Younger children should also nap. Doctors believe that sleep allows children to fight off any germs they may be exposed to because their bodies are stronger.

2. Eat good food. Children should be given healthy foods and parents should really pay attention to what they give their kids for breakfast. Including fruits and a high protein food at breakfast helps children fend of illness they may come in contact with during their day. Staying hydrated is also very  important, even in cold temperatures children are loosing water which needs to be replaced.

3. Exercise, yes believe or not no matter how cold it is, you should get your kids outside for at least 30 minutes a day.  Being outside, allows your children’s bodies to build up immunity. If the weather outside is horrible, then you should seek out ways for your children to exercise inside. Doctors advise parents to not let colder temperatures scare them into keeping kids indoors.

4.  Bundle your children up, when temperatures dip especially below what is “normal” for your community’s time of the year. Bundling up your children includes remembering, hats and gloves. A great thing to do, is to set a good example by wearing these items yourself.

5. Insist on healthy habits everyday, but even more so in cold weather. Instruct children in the proper way to wash their hands, use tissues, and to cough or sneeze into their elbow rather than their hands. Don’t assume that they know how to do these things properly. Doctors also advise that parents disinfect commonly used household items like telephones and remotes as well as toys. Parents should also change toothbrushes every time a family member is sick.

While nothing will guarantee a winter free of illness, following these suggestions may help children prevent illness or overcome what they do catch more quickly.  Doctors advise; children do not catch colds from being exposed to cold weather, but they do become more susceptible to illness if they don’t have enough sleep, are not eating and drinking well and are exposed to other sick children. On a final note, if your little one is sick do all the mommy friends around you a favor, keep them HOME.  As promised here are a few websites I referenced to create this list.

http://galtime.com/article/health/27/2526/keeping-kids-healthy-winter

http://www.wikihow.com/Keep-Your-Child-Healthy

http://www.homeeverafter.com/family-doctors-9-tips-keep-kids-healthy-in-winter

As the author of this blog, I am continuously asking myself what should I write about? What things really matter to mommies? I have compiled a list and I hope as more readers gravitate to the site they will add their own thoughts and things they are concerned about.

1 children’s health, this topic covers not only childhood diseases, and doctor visits but also ideas on how to keep our children healthy in particular their diet.

2 discipline, I think this is one of my biggest challenges as a parent because it is so fickle. Each infraction as well as each child has to be dealt with individually.

3 education, as a former teacher this is a very big concern in my house. Not only do I want my children to love learning I also want foster their continuous curiosity. This is not so easy with subjects like handwriting.

4 relationships, discussions on connections with  spouses and friends, both adult and those our children have with them.

5. self, ah yes the single being in your life who never receives the time required, she who is placed on the back burner and very often ignored.

6 household, thoughts on running a house in a very hectic world.

I am starting to try a more holistic approach to eating with my family,  my first choice to change was breads. Last week, I made a loaf of bread that we ate this week to very few complaints. The goal we have as a family now is to get used to the denseness of whole wheat bread. Here is some important information about grains if you are interested in finding out about why you need to switch.

On to pizza,  tonight I decided to make homemade pizza crust to push forward in my quest to rid our diet of processed foods beginning with our bread. Here are my adventures.  I used my bread maker and followed a recipe in my bread maker cook book for the dough. The dough cycle takes about an hour and a half  so make sure that you allow enough time if you are planning pizza for tonight’s dinner.   I use a  stone to cook pizza, but you can definitely use a pan. I added a little corn meal to the stone to protect it and keep the pizza from sticking.  The recipe I used made a large ball of dough, I learned tonight after eating this pizza that a whole wheat crust is really dense. I broke the ball into two sections and used one to make a medium sized pizza and I froze the other.  To freeze the dough wrap in cling wrap and put into zip lock bag. The truth is I could have broken this into three sections  and made more like personal size pizzas which would be better for my family right now. After the dough comes out of the machine and you have separated it into sections for your pizza, roll it out and put it on your pan or pizza stone. Cover the dough with a clean dish cloth and allow it to rise for twenty to thirty minutes. Here is the truth about this step, I did not notice the dough rising at all. I  let the dough rest for about 20 minutes. NOTE we are now up to two hours prep time for this pizza.  After the rising step it is time to add any toppings that you want.

Since I was sharing my pizza with the kids I made a half kid and half adult pizza. Here is a secret the only thing whole food about the kid side of the pizza was the crust. Their side consisted of mozzarella cheese which was shredded which from now on will be a no- no because they add preservatives to keep the cheese from sticking together. This type of cheese will be removed from my grocery list. Also the children, had peperoni which I have two opened packages of in my fridge. I mistakenly thought that I was doing my kids a great favor by buying them turkey peperoni, and while I may have cut down on their fat I certainly didn’t take any preservatives away from them.  The adult side of the pizza was a little better I used fresh spinach, basil and tomatoes.  I still had the cheese and the packaged pizza sauce that was over the entire pie.  As you can tell, I am just beginning the road toward whole food. I will not be throwing away all the processed food in my kitchen but I am determined not to replace it.

Once you have topped your pizza with your favorite toppings you will place your creation into a cold oven then turn it on to 500 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes until the pizza crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted.  Total prep and cook time is 2 1/2 hours so start early or make the dough ahead of time. Here is an interesting note, during the time the pizza was cooking, my oven never reached the 500 degree mark. When the pizza came out of the oven it looked awesome and I was very proud of myself! Then came the real test feeding it to the boys. Jack (4 years) said he really did like it and ate a large piece. Max (1 year) who is just starting to get into eating pizza ate about half a piece. I thought the pizza was really tasty and the crust had great texture.  It is much denser than my old store bought crust and I made a note to myself to roll it thinner next time. I feel like I can give my family better food if I commit to baby steps and I work on slowly replacing things they are used to eating with real foods. Try making homemade crust, it may take a little longer but it is well worth it for your family.

Our pizza with homemade crust

A few weeks ago while grocery shopping I asked myself “how hard would it be to feed my kids no processed foods for a week?” The punch line here is that I went home and gave them hot dogs for dinner. I, who consider myself a healthy eater especially in comparison to our country as a whole, have been troubled by the amount of unknown ingredients my kids and I put into our mouths every day. I have been thinking more and more about shedding some of the processed foods from our diet. I found an awesome website www.100daysofrealfood.com that I have been reading thoroughly. The author is very inspiring and while I am not financially able to trash everything in my freezer, fridge and cupboards and start over I think I can make a few changes each time I go to the grocery store and hopefully over time change my families eating habits for the better.

The first thing I changed which was very easy and cost me nothing to get started was to make our own bread. Last week, I had just been to the grocery store without bread on my list since I knew I had 3/4 of a loaf in the fridge. When I went to make my son a sandwich I found the bread hold mold on it.  That very afternoon I set out to make a loaf of bread. I already own a bread maker which I rarely use and thankfully for some unknown reason had yeast, so I found a recipe for ingredients I had on hand and made the bread. The results were mixed, my son loved the fresh hot bread out of the maker and gobbled up a slice with butter and honey. Later in the week he was not thrilled with his PB&J on the bread saying it was thick, I think he meant dense since the slice of bread wasn’t too fat. He ate his sandwich but when he had the choice of lunch meat (yuck that is the next thing to go off my list) on bread or off he choose it off the bread.  The bread which is now a week old, is getting dry even though I have kept it in the fridge. No preservatives means shorter shelf life! I plan to use the last few slices for french toast on Sunday morning. I could also use it to make bread crumbs or croutons.Over the weekend I will be making another loaf of bread for our week of sandwiches, I just have to find other things besides lunch meat to put on them but that will be another blog post!.

Fred Rogers also known as Mr. Rogers has said that when he was a child, if  he ever came across a car accident or some other terrifying scene his mother would tell him, “Look for the helpers.” I was moved by this quote that I found in beautiful book by Jean Gralley “The Moon Came Down on Milk Street” which I read to my boys tonight. In the book, the moon has fallen from the sky and broken into pieces which have landed on Milk Street. Still sleepy children dressed as first responders are rushing to repair the moon and to place it back into the sky.

As the wife of an unsung hero, I am moved by the beauty in this book yet saddened at the same time. So often we only join together as a village when a tragedy has occurred.  It was my hope that out of the catastrophe of  9-11 would come a different United States, one reminiscent of the past. In my dream  we would all become less selfish and more in touch with the needs of our neighbors and our own country. Even though we have promised never to forget, and many of my friends husbands stand beside mine on the front lines, we have forgotten. We no longer stand together as a united nation, we have a government many of us are ashamed of, and we spend more time pushing friends down then helping a stranger up.

Yet we as parents have one hope!  Teach your children the values of your grandparents, give them wisdom and compassion enough to unite our nation once again just like the helpers who were able to repair the moon and place it back in the sky.

If you are at all like me, toys seem to take over your home. I try very hard to get my kids to pick up every day but quite often I get busy and tired at bedtime and it just doesn’t happen. Then I think no I will not pick up these toys the children need to take responsibility, I will have them pick them up tomorrow. Tomorrow comes and I still don’t help the children to pick up the toys. More and more spread throughout the house until they are taking over. This seems to happen regularly in my home.  My house has become a toy jungle!

Today in a desperate attempt to get Jack (4 year old) to help me clean up toys that were taking over the house I thought of a fun game. I challenged him to take an empty bin and go around the house finding any and all toys that were not in the playroom. As a reward for this effort, he would receive 1 m&m for every toy found. However,  I added a catch, for every toy I found after he said he was finished would mean he would have to give up one of the ones he found.  He worked really hard even looking under furniture where matchbox cars seem to meet a dusty death.  In the end Jack only lost 4 toys and he gained 27 m&m’s.

As an end note, I want to say that I am not a bigger believer in candy, but this pick up game could be played with the kids for any special reward; extra TV time, a fancy desert, little extra cuddle time, whatever you think will work for your kiddos. Have 2 kids make it a challenge or a race winner gets to pick what you are having for dinner (within your parameters of course.) Jack really enjoyed this game today and suddenly my house was a whole lot cleaner, my kid did it and there was no wining. I feel like we all won something today! Good Luck

I HATE green peas also known as English peas.  I was forced to eat a lot of them as a child and while they were not my least favorite vegetable, that honor is given to lima beans, I really dislike them.  I avoid them as much as possible even discreetly picking them out of my fried rice. My eldest son, however, does like them. He is often recipient of  my picked out peas. Jack thinks I am sharing with him and has no idea that I am happily handing over something I detest.

Today, as I was in the grocery store standing in the frozen vegetable isle looking for small bags of something my kids would eat so I can continue giving them rounded healthy meals even though their Dad is not home.  I spied single servings of frozen corn mixed with green peas that had a basil butter sauce over it.  I paused but decided to try it.

I served the mixed veggies tonight for dinner to “yums” of enjoyment from both boys.  However, as I was putting food on everyone’s plates, I had a moment of mommy decision, could I skip the peas on my own plate and still expect the boys to eat their own? Hypocrisy is something I detest so I heaped the vegetables onto my own plate and served dinner.  As I said, the boys really seemed to like the peas and corn but as I put the first fork full into my mouth I tasted the green peas and the flavor was like rushing back to my childhood. I kept eating and finished all that was on my plate but it wasn’t pleasant.  We have more of the pea corn combo in the freezer and since veggies are difficult to get the boys to eat this is something that will become a keeper, but I am really making a huge sacrifice for my kids.

I firmly believe that parents influence their children in many different ways. I want my children to be healthy eaters so as difficult as the green peas my be for me to stomach, I will continue to serve them at my table.

After my first son was born, I had the fortune of writing an article which was later published on line about parents slowing down.  I recently came across the article on my computer and reread it through tears. I discovered to my horror that I have become the very parent my own article warned against.  I have not taken my time with my children to follow them as they trail a bug or taken them for nature walks just to explore.  I have not given them the minutes they desire to share with me a pretend lunch or a chance to see their latest bubble creation before it pops.  Oh, I still consider myself a “good parent” I teach them their alphabet and how to hold a pencil. We practice reading and writing everyday.  My kids are smart they have been taught many things.  Subjects I can’t teach them I sign them up for classes. They attend swimming and taekwondo they have play dates with friends, we go to the park.  My problem is we are always going somewhere and when we aren’t I have so many things to do at home I don’t settle myself with them, I forget to let them lead the play. The boys play together and I referee, I don’t play too anymore. I used to I’m just not sure what happened.

I got a vivid reminder of just how much I enjoy “playing” with my boys today. Max was napping and Jack was playing alone outside while I was busy cleaning up. Jack snuck into the house, he said nothing just grabbed my hand and led me outside. A young bird was in our yard hopping around looking for food. It was joined by another older bird who was chirping loudly at it, Jack whispered to me I think that’s it’s Mommy and the little bird is being naughty.  I smiled, maybe I sound like that too when I am chirping at my young ones. Then we sat down together outside and watched the birds. We observed a hummingbird, a dove and more of chickadees that had first caught Jack’s attention. We just sat their quietly for awhile and watched making whispered comments to one another from time to time. After a while Jack stood up and said in a loud enough voice to scare our bird friends. “I want to play in the water!” Our time had come to an end but what I realized is how much I enjoyed it and how much I have missed that time with my children.

Slowing down is so important, our children are young for such and short time. As we rush through our lives we push them along too, encouraging them to grow up way too soon.  I plan to take my own advice and slow down long enough to enjoy these fleeting years, to watch the birds and my sons as they grow and change before my eyes.