on mothering girls

Girls.

I picked up my girl from school yesterday. She seemed a little melancholy. Which is not totally abnormal...she is mine, after all...and we are genetically predisposed to bouts of melodrama and melancholy.

I asked how her day went.

Good.

Really? You look a little down.

Nah. I'm fine.

Were your friends all nice today? (This is a question I ask often, since she is a girl and girls are genetically predisposed to bouts of melodrama and melancholy.)

Yeah. Everything was fine.

I let it drop, but made a mental note to pick things up again at bedtime. (A very opportune time for honest reflection on the day.)

Bedtime rolled around, and I told a story about a little girl named me. How once my friends got mad at me for some silly reason....the wrong side pony tail, a skirt on the wrong day, what have you....and that to "make up" we needed to do "the friendship handshake." This was a new thing, and I did the handshake with a few of them, but not all of them, so all the handshakes were null and void. And we were not friends. It was after I was made aware of this, and followed proper protocol that things were mended and we were all friends again.

Friends.

Ah, the joys of girlhood.

It was after my story that my girl remembered the finer points of her day. Mckenzi and Macensy decided they only wanted to play with each other because they had known each other the longest, and my girl couldn't find the other girls and kept bumping her knee. She was no longer friends with Kenci because of something that happened last week, and etc. et al. ltd. inc. Esq.

So, we prayed about it. She felt better.

I kissed her on the forehead and went to her door. As I shut off her light I told her I knew it would be okay again soon. And how did I know? Because it got okay again soon for me.

Sometimes soon is relative. This time soon only took a day.

Thank you, Lord

There are a few experienes I wish we could skip over. Girl drama is definitely one of them.

new bedding

I've been on the look out for new bedding for one hundred years. My taste and my budget never seem to match. Thank goodness for Mill End Textiles and sewing machines. I found this awesome hydrangea fabric around Christmas time. I knew it needed to be mine, but didn't know where to put it. Until Saturday. I added a bit of light greenish linen as a border. We're in love. This fabric and I.

baking bread

4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

4 1/2 tsp yeast

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch salt

....

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup milk

3/4 cup water

combine dry ingredients in a large bowl

melt butter, and add cold milk and water

(this should make the hot butter lukewarm)

add wet to dry

knead for 10-15 minutes

rise, doubled

divide into two loaves. to both: roll out, spray with oil, dust with cinnamon and sugar, roll, sprinkle raw sugar on top of loaves

rise, doubled

bake: 350, 25 minutes

good therapy

two things

1. I'm glad he doesn't filter the things he says, just yet. "Mom, can I have a permanent marker? I'm going to do some serious writing."

2. If the only thing I accomplish today is a successful nasal aspiration, I'm okay with that.

happiness on a plate

Turkish Kisir. It makes me lonely for friends that moved away.

in the air

Yesterday was lovely.

The air was warm. The sun was shining. My baby, my boy and I decided to walk/bike to collect my girl from school. I completely over estimated the amount of time it would take us to get there. My boy enjoyed a good 30 minutes of playground time.

The walk home proved a perfect opportunity for the daily reflections of a first grader.

It was a wonderful, wonderful day.

painting a dress

My mother made a dress for my sister. The one that's getting married. She asked me to paint on it. It was so. much. fun. SO MUCH FUN!!!

There is something so wonderful about paint under my fingernails. I tell you what.

using what I've got

What's a girl to do when she can't find the right gaudy pink necklace to wear to her sister's wedding this weekend?

When a girl has gone to every store in town, looking for something pink and jazzy and fantastic, and comes home empty handed?

I'll tell you what she does. She asks her girl if she can borrow a few of her wooden necklaces from Great Auntie Betty. And because you tell her that you want to paint them pink, she is happy to oblige. Especially since they will come back into her possession after said wedding.



She even helps restring them together.

dragging

My tiny baby woke up five hundred times last night.

My big boy woke up 4 times last night.

My girl woke up once.

I don't think I was able to string together a solid hour of sleep.

I'm tired.

My union is thinking about going on strike.

on branching and being fancy

I tried to branch out tonight for supper. With a lovely teriyaki salmon on a bed of rice and broccoli. It tasted fine. Delicious even. But it wasn't walleye. And walleye is the only fish I can eat without getting queasy.

I tried to tell myself that the salmon was sort of fancy. I like to be fancy. Fancy salmon did not do the trick.

Now my house smells like fish, and it's all I can do to focus on happy thoughts. Thoughts of springtime. Thoughts of daffodils. Thoughts of ice cream. Which is what it's gonna take to get my mind off of that fancy piece of salmon I had for supper.

heavenly

Last night he had them pick out their clothes before they went to bed. So that straight away upon waking, they could dress themselves. When they came into our bedroom all dressed and ready for the day, he brought them out for doughnuts. An hour or so later (not quite sure on the time, as I was STILL SLEEPING!!!), he stopped back home to collect a baby, and drop off a latte.

Another hour again, and I am sitting down in silence. Enjoying my coffee. And revelling in the fact that I am, in this moment, the luckiest woman on the planet.

Surprisingly Not Horribles

So way back in January, I made a resolution to pack my family full of fiber. I'd like to introduce you to some bars we invented. They're definitely fiber filled....but taste pretty good.
They're certainly not zero calorie, but somehow, all that fiberocity offers redemption...caloric redemption.


My kids eat them up...and I must say, they are pretty tasty with my afternoon cup of joe.

And they're in bar form, because they're less time consuming that way.

I give you:

Surprisingly Not Horrible Bars

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup flax seed meal

1/2 cup old fashioned oatmeal

1 tsp baking soda

pinch salt
~

2 sticks of butter - melted

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

dash vanilla extract

2 eggs

~

1 cup chocolate chips

~

Whisk together first five ingredients, set aside. In a separate bowl, blend butter, sugars, egg and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients. Stir until combined, and add chocolate chips.
Press into a greased 9 x 13" pan and bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes.

the ride

Man.

I'm trying to remember when my hormones leveled out after the first two babies. I don't think I'm depressed. I don't feel sad. I feel a crazed blur of 250 emotions in the span of 20 minutes.

This past weekend we made a whirlwind tour to visit family. It was SO much fun. SO MUCH FUN! But the coming home bit really threw me for a loop this time. I spent yesterday morning running amok. Starting one project and abruptly jumping to another, until I was juggling all the burners.

I felt blessed to have such wonderful children. Then resentful that there was so much laundry. I felt happy that my husband is such a hard worker, and then angry that his towel was still on the bathroom floor. Glad for my vacuum. Mad that I had to use it. Loving my dishes. Hating that they needed washing.

Happy. Sad. Glad. Mad. High. Low. Up. Down.

Wugh.

And the whole time my mind knows how foolish I'm being. The Lord is whispering truths to my soul. I am not alone. I am blessed. Let's just keep this in perspective. PERSPECTIVE. It's laundry. And vacuuming.

We're healthy. We're fed. We're warm.

The days are long. The years are short. I'm trying my hardest to focus my energy on the things that matter. And looking forward to stepping off the roller coaster. I am not enjoying the ride.