We are seriously working on this garden of ours every weekend. There’s really no rest. We’ve got a ton of (mostly house) projects going on at the same time and it seems there hasn’t been much time for play. Technically though, we love gardening, so though it’s work, it’s also play for us. It’s totally Ben’s hobby (We actually like doing it together, but he’s the one that invests all the time and research into it, I just do as I’m told) and thankfully when we’re outside working in the yard, the girls love joining us. It’s been especially fun for them lately since we’ve made the backyard much more relaxing for them.
It’s that time of year again when we start shopping for tomato plants. Typically, Ben grows over 20 varieties, but he’s telling me this year, he will probably only go with about 15. Though, if it’s anything like the orchard we’ve been working on, the tomato number will jump right back up to 20 soon enough. Normally, he orders his grafted tomatoes online, but this year he’s mostly getting them from local nurseries. This past weekend we went to our favorite one, Roger’s Gardens, and he came home with a few tomato plants and I got some edible lavender plants and caladium.
The girls are such troopers (we were there for 2 hours!) and they like looking at all the plants. Plus, this particular nursery is a bit fancy and there are a lot of little spots for them to ooh and ahh over. I’m thankful Ben is totally into gardening because of it we get lots of fresh fruits and veggies and a pretty yard!
I took a picture of Soulie as she was playing outside, and after she said, “I wanna see!” Then, she wanted me to take another, which was followed with another, “I wanna see!” And then it kept going and going, and going…
I’ve been noticing lately that her usually, “No!” along with a grunt, have slowly been turning into, “Okay, mommy.” And she’s been going to bed without a diaper now (she’s been doing undies during the day for awhile). Three girls out of diapers and one more to go…
Thank you for your little tips on the f-bombing post. Reading your suggestions and encouragements are really helpful. We do give the kids jobs and they get paid to do them, but we aren’t always consistent about it, so maybe consistency will motivate them to clean their rooms more often. Also, though they do clean it (on occasion), it just isn’t clean clean, if you know what I mean. It’s kid clean, but not mommy clean! Still working on relaxing the control freak in me. Our rule here is, “Everything has a place, and if it isn’t in its place that probably means you don’t care about it and it will go in the trash.” I’m pretty ruthless about throwing stuff away. They cry about it, I feel bad a little bit, but it helps eliminate the junk, though we still have tons. What other tips do you have in your house to help manage the mess? I love hearing about what you do to keep sane.
We’ve got giant chard growing in our yard. Soon though, all the winter stuff is going to be uprooted and tomatoes will be going in. I love having tomatoes in our garden, so I’m pretty excited!
This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…
Glow loves copying her sisters!
Soul is the best at saying, “Thank you.”
We were at the Fall/Winter ’13 Misha Lulu shoot yesterday and I loved all the new designs. I typically always do, but Karen just gets better every season and all her fabrics could easily be turned into wallpaper, pillows, and curtains. That lady needs to branch out with those things!
I love this color scheme. I’m thinking of it for our backyard cozy space.
I miss this friend who moved up north, but am thankful for blogs (and emails and texts) that still keep us connected.
The BFF is selling these Doc Martens, if interested, send her an email or me an email to get in touch with her. The very first paycheck I ever got I splurged and bought myself some maryjane docs. I loved those forever!
Thank you for the sweet words of encouragement back from my last post. I was nervous to write it because it was just kind of nasty behavior, but God is graciousness and forgiving and I want this space to accurately portray who I am as much as I’m able. Never look here and think it’s all rainbows and sunshine because it honestly can be dark and gloomy for me too.
Happy weekend friends! Ben’s working on projects outside and I’m working on some inside. Plus, our downstairs bathroom flooded while I was gone yesterday afternoon (thankfully Ben came home early), and it did warp some of the wood floors near it. Ugh. Thus, we’ve got that to deal with today too. Please tell me I’m not the only this has happened too and they’re just wood floors, right?!
Let’s me start off by saying, I love my children. I really do. And I know I’m not the first stay-home-mom of four in the whole entire world, but sometimes, this job is hard and I don’t want to do it anymore. I’m pretty sure that’s what most people feel about their job at times, even jobs they love! I know Ben loves his job, but he has some complaints from time to time, so I’m guessing it’s normal. But when you feel that way about your kids, it just feels extra wrong. Doesn’t it?
There was one day last week, it was a couple days before Aunt Flo (my period) was arriving and I was just itching because everything was a mess, especially their room. I left Ben and the girls downstairs to go upstairs and clean it, for the millionth time that week, and I was no joke dropping f-bombs as I was doing so. Oh the rage I was feeling in my sinful heart! I totally could feel me fighting it internally, but the anger was winning. I let it because it felt good. At the same time, I hated it. I knew something was seriously wrong with my heart.
This is a job I have chosen. Wanted to do for, like, ever, and here I was complaining about it, and throwing things about the room and swearing like crazy. If you had seen me, you would have run away as fast as you could. I was plain crazy.
I’m no perfect mama. On the contrary, I’m one terrible sinner saved by God’s grace and I so don’t deserve it. That moment clearly reminded me how much I couldn’t do things on my own. Since I couldn’t, there’s only one place I knew I was going to get the guidance I needed, so I turned to reminding myself truths from God’s word. Now, that didn’t mean I am now by some magical power a perfect mama and have this job down pat, but it’s important to equip myself to battle the crazy feelings when they come up. Also, it involves sharing my struggles with another sister from our church family and asking her to pray for me. I’m honestly embarrassed to admit my behavior, but I’m the weird person who likes to talk about the not so pretty things of life too. Blogs are deceptive and can make people feel inadequate based on all the pretty pictures being shared (I feel this way reading some blogs sometimes), but really, they might be dropping f-bombs while cleaning their kids rooms too.
I’m sure my feelings are understandable, but not excusable. I try reminding myself of the sermon we heard last Sunday… that God has given everything I need to fight this frustration and find joy in Him. Sometimes, I am just too lazy to do so. I don’t want to be a f-bomb dropping mama. I want to serve my children with gladness and clean their room with love. I get these great moments of “I love my job! I love this moment!” and sometimes, “Ugh. I wanna go back to teaching someone else’s kids.” I really need to spend more time praying, reading God’s word, and filling my heart with things to help me win when these battles come up. My pastor sent us this article to read, Joanna shared this one on facebook, and I listened to this sermon this week to really help rebuke my heart.
I needed the reminder that I’m here to serve my children for God. I think I’ve forgotten that and have just been really selfish about it. Being self-centered is not going to rear my children to how I want them to grow and it will just make me more frustrated. Actually, if I’m being selfish, I will raise more selfish adults and well, that just wouldn’t be good for anyone. I want to love my children and serve them well unto the Lord and that means fighting through my selfishness to be selfless. Selflessness and being a happy hearted servant are definitely things I need to work on. God has entrusted these kids to me and I need to take care of them, their messes, and especially their hearts. Oh and I need a chill pill. A few actually. I must have ran out of my supply. Anyone know where I can get a refill?
p.s. these pictures were not taken on f-bomb dropping day, but probably a day or so later, after they had made another mess after i cleaned it. oh and they taped little mermaid coloring pages all over their room because they said they wanted a little mermaid room. oye!
Tuna Poke. Yum. The latest reader’s recipe and you can read more about it here.
Spring Minestrone with Turkey Meatballs. Our babysitter Steph shared this recipe with me. I’ve learned a few good recipes from her actually. Like avocado pasta…. oooh, so yummy!!! Anyways, she told me about this one and she was right, we love it! All of us, baby included. I did some slight changes based on what we had, like using ground turkey instead of chicken, using chard instead of spinach because we have tons growing in our garden, and green onions instead of chives. And of course, I quadrupled the recipe because my little family of 6 with four little girls, eat a whole bunch. You’d be surprised. This was so good and I highly recommend giving it a shot.
We never eat out as a family for dinners during the week. Actually, we rarely do it on the weekend. I’ll grab lunch with the girls and some friends here and there, but we’re just not eating out type people. Ben and I enjoy it, but with kids (and their bedtimes), it’s just easier to have family meals at home. We like to cook and we like to have meals at home. I think we eat out as a family about once every other month. It’s rare for us and isn’t done that often. Plus, it also saves us money eating at home. Though we do get pizza once a week, so that gives us a bit of a reprieve from the duties of cooking. Do you eat out often as a family?
Ingredients:
1. 4 green onions, minced
2. 1/2 tsp sugar
3. 1/4 cup macadamia nuts, finely chopped (optional)
4. 1 avocado cubed
5. 1/4 cup dried seaweed
6. 1/2 lb. sashimi-grade tuna (maguro or ahi) cubed (about 1/2″ – 3/4″)
7. 1 tsp sesame oil (I used 1 tbsp)
8. The best salt in the house
9. 2 tsp soy sauce (I used 2 tbsp)
10. 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds (I used 2 tbsp)
I added more sauce than the recipe she gave me because I wanted to make sure everything was completely coated, but if you just want a light coating of sauce, I’d stick to the original amounts. Directions:
Toss everything together except the salt. Sprinkle the salt over the poke and serve over rice. For some extra added spice, sprinkle in some red pepper flakes. Actually, Ben and I did a downpour of red pepper flakes rather than a sprinkle because we like it spicy.
This recipe comes from Jozen of Lola’s Girl. Jozen is such a sweetie and we have been blog friends forever. I’m hoping she’ll make her way down south (or maybe we’ll go up north), so that one day we can actually meet. She totally knows how much I love sushi, so when she shared this recipe with me, I knew I wanted to try it out and share it with you. Ben and I aren’t typically a fan of raw tuna because the flavor is a little too mild for us, but in this dish, it was fantastic. The different flavors blended so well together and I especially loved the crunch you get from the macadamia nuts. We made this for our little date/movie night we had in our room on Friday night. I’m pretty sure this will be made for another date/movie night soon. I do still have some macadamia nuts leftover, so those need to be put to good use.
Want some other past reader’s recipes? Try Shrimp Fra Diavolo, Vietnamese Chicken Pho, and Paella Valenciana. Do you have a recipe you would like to share? If so, leave me a comment or just send me an email. I’ve had good luck with the ones I’ve tried so far, so I’d love to try more out and share it with everyone else! Thanks Jozen! This one was definitely a hit!
I have a large growing pile of fabric scraps. I refuse to throw them away because I am sure they can be used for something. I have been seeing different types of interesting necklaces made of buttons, beads, and fabric. Then, I figured why not make one out of my scraps...
I think it made my white shirt a little less boring. This was so quick and easy to make.
How to make a recycled scraps necklace (which is very similar to the straps on my braided tablecloth bag):
1. Take your scrap fabric, I cut a .5''-1'' snip and tear the rest of the fabric down for a nice frayed edge. Used 3 different fabrics for each strand.
2. Take 3 of the torn pieces and tie the ends together with a rubber band.
3. Braid the 3 pieces together and tie ends together with rubber band when done.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 for more strands. Remember you can make the strands any length you want, if run out of fabric, just weave more into the braid.
5. Once all the strands you want are braided, gather one end of each strand together and straight stitch together with sewing machine. Repeat for the other ends of the strands. Snip off any excess.
6. Gather ends of the necklace and sew together (snip excess) or a ribbon can be sewn at the ends to be able to tie the necklace closed, but I just sewed both ends together.
7. Voila! A nice way to make use of all your lovely scraps.
Sorry if the directions get you a little lost, but it really is easy. I promise. Maybe I should put some in the shop. Please share any other good ideas you may have of things that can be made with scraps. I would love to hear (read) them!
We are seriously working on this garden of ours every weekend. There’s really no rest. We’ve got a ton of (mostly house) projects going on at the same time and it seems there hasn’t been much time for play. Technically though, we love gardening, so though it’s work, it’s also play for us. It’s totally Ben’s hobby (We actually like doing it together, but he’s the one that invests all the time and research into it, I just do as I’m told) and thankfully when we’re outside working in the yard, the girls love joining us. It’s been especially fun for them lately since we’ve made the backyard much more relaxing for them.
