Food-for-Thought round-up: July 21

Some good thoughts (that I could use to read daily, or maybe hourly) on self-control:

• The Freedom of Self Mastery - "But I still struggle.  Four active young children, a nursing baby, and a full household to manage often makes it difficult to convince my body to do the will of my spirit."  Yup, that is one of my hugest struggles lately too, the discipline to get. out. of. bed. in the morning.  I used to be such a morning person, and lately I have so many excuses.  Accountability here...6:30 every morning this week.  Ask me how I'm doing.
  
• What to Do When You May or May Not be a Control Freak - " Every impulse to seize control — is the Holy Spirit’s invitation to practice self-control.  Every nerve jolt to freak out, melt down, start yelling, fly into rage or panic is a divine cue to slow down, breathe deep, start praying, and lean into God.  Every instinct to control something is God’s nudge to control myself."
  
• And sort of along that vein, Don't Squash My Emotions.  If you don't read the whole thing, at least read the first paragraph.

Moving on...

Emotion begets emotion. When our friends are happy or sad, we feel happy or sad. Maybe we feel twinges of tears during tissue commercials, or serious anxiety while watching contentious political debates. Being in the room with an angry individual, especially a loud angry person with big aggressive movements, can (and should) cause anxiety or mirrored anger. And parenting is no different. We come face to face with our children’s mostly raw, unhinged, loud and pure emotion once, twice or a hundred times a day. - See more at: http://coreparentingpdx.com/2013/dont-squash-my-emotions/#sthash.Q1y9w2Us.dpu

Emotion begets emotion. When our friends are happy or sad, we feel happy or sad. Maybe we feel twinges of tears during tissue commercials, or serious anxiety while watching contentious political debates. Being in the room with an angry individual, especially a loud angry person with big aggressive movements, can (and should) cause anxiety or mirrored anger. And parenting is no different. We come face to face with our children’s mostly raw, unhinged, loud and pure emotion once, twice or a hundred times a day. - See more at: http://coreparentingpdx.com/2013/dont-squash-my-emotions/#sthash.Q1y9w2Us.dpuf

Emotion begets emotion. When our friends are happy or sad, we feel happy or sad. Maybe we feel twinges of tears during tissue commercials, or serious anxiety while watching contentious political debates. Being in the room with an angry individual, especially a loud angry person with big aggressive movements, can (and should) cause anxiety or mirrored anger. And parenting is no different. We come face to face with our children’s mostly raw, unhinged, loud and pure emotion once, twice or a hundred times a day. - See more at: http://coreparentingpdx.com/2013/dont-squash-my-emotions/#sthash.Q1y9w2Us.dpuf

Emotion begets emotion. When our friends are happy or sad, we feel happy or sad. Maybe we feel twinges of tears during tissue commercials, or serious anxiety while watching contentious political debates. Being in the room with an angry individual, especially a loud angry person with big aggressive movements, can (and should) cause anxiety or mirrored anger. And parenting is no different. We come face to face with our children’s mostly raw, unhinged, loud and pure emotion once, twice or a hundred times a day. - See more at: http://coreparentingpdx.com/2013/dont-squash-my-emotions/#sthash.Q1y9w2Us.dpuf

Emotion begets emotion. When our friends are happy or sad, we feel happy or sad. Maybe we feel twinges of tears during tissue commercials, or serious anxiety while watching contentious political debates. Being in the room with an angry individual, especially a loud angry person with big aggressive movements, can (and should) cause anxiety or mirrored anger. And parenting is no different. We come face to face with our children’s mostly raw, unhinged, loud and pure emotion once, twice or a hundred times a day. - See more at: http://coreparentingpdx.com/2013/dont-squash-my-emotions/#sthash.Q1y9w2Us.dp

Today we celebrate our seventh anniversary, and this made me appreciate this Marriage Crucifix post all the more.  What a beautiful way to begin and foundation on which to build a marriage. 

From the "interesting" files:

• Concerns Rising Over Slow Appointment of Bishops.  We are currently without a Bishop, and after reading this I'm wondering if it will be awhile...
  
• And one from Huff Post that caught my eye after the pony debacle last week.  The Disturbing Evolution of My Little Pony.

In the recipe department, my hubby made ceviche today.  It was pretty good, he'd been wanting to try it for a long time.  That wasn't the exact recipe he used, but it was a good place to start.  He used silver corvina for the fish.   

And related to food, another one from Huff Post, From Oreos to Apple Slices was inspiring. IMHO... Cookies and snacks and such weren't quite such a bad thing 20-30 years ago when many snacks were homemade, and the processed foods weren't quite as full of the junk (dyes, preservatives, partially hydrogenated oils, fat and sugar replacements, etc.) as they are today.  What this mom did was really great.  Yes, serving healthy snacks takes more work, more prep time, more creativity and effort.  But who's to say it isn't worth it??

Check in with SimpleMama for more Food for Thought.

Food-for-Thought round-up (3rd edition)

Pizza and Big Emotions - I liked this.  I have a three-year-old who has tantrums just like that, over the same type of things.  Like, seriously, I had to go back and make sure I didn't write the article, it was that eerily familiar.  And he's not being a bad boy.  He's just being three.  It is always encouraging for me to read something like this.  Keep the faith, Monica, the threes don't last forever.  And seriously, whoever invented the "terrible-twos" clearly did not have a three year old.  Two is hands-down wayyyyy easier than three (IMHO).

Study Finds Benefits of Delayed Cord Clamping - We've delayed clamping/cutting the cord with all three of our children, and will with future ones as well.  Not too much more to say about that, but I saw this and felt compelled to share.  I had no idea about this until my doc delayed it with our first and hubby explained why after the fact.  Since then we have been sure to specify in our Birth Plan.  

Anglican Prayer Beads - I had no idea any other denominations had "rosaries".  These look neat, and I really like the prayers that go along with them. 

Screen Rules - We're still several years away from this being an issue.  Currently we have a set time of day (after lunch) that the kids get to watch a few shows from OnDemand or the DVR, plus sometimes an episode of Little Bear before bed.  Any other TV watched is initiated/monitored by mom or dad, and the kids don't use the computer or any other electronic devices yet.  So much to think about...

Some info on Shingles Transmission -  I found this particularly interesting, especially since several people had expressed concern that my children with Chicken Pox could give them shingles.  This kind of puts that myth to rest.

What Happens When You Deprive Children of Scary Stories - A friend of mine shared these quotes with me when I put something on Facebook about being a little weirded-out after reading Hansel and Gretel to Gemma last week.  Sound off, I'm curious as to others' thoughts (and experiences) on this topic.  I think it comes down to perspective...those stories seem much stranger to an adult who lacks any sort of imagination (me) than they do to children whose entire days are often comprised of pretend-play and the like.

Unfinished Work - My sister shared this one, and it sums up my feelings about the Fourth of July and America in general fairly well.  I used to be so patriotic, and lately I just feel jaded and cynical about the whole political process.  I don't have the mental energy to hash all my thoughts out here now, but Simcha made some really good points.

Top Ten Feeding Mistakes Parents Make - This was interesting, although I definitely didn't agree with it all.  I thought the first two were pretty good.  I was pretty "traditional" with the way we fed Gemma and mealtime was miserable with her.  I was much more relaxed/open-minded with Kolbe, and haven't done really any purees with Clem and they both were/are great eaters as babies (we start limited solids around 7-8 months and Clem is just now getting to the point at 1 year where we'll give him about anything).  I go back and forth about milk, the two older kids drink quite a bit of it and I don't really limit it.  It doesn't seem to be a huge problem so thus far I've let it go.  And I definitely agree with the picky thing (that it is very normal with the toddler/preschooler crowd) and I think you just have to pick your battles on a day-by-day basis.  We have a "no thank you bite(s)" rule at our house for foods served at mealtime that kids would rather not eat.  And while I don't necessarily bribe with desserts, on the flip side of the coin if you are not "hungry" enough to eat a good dinner, you're not hungry enough for a treat either is my motto.  The "no banned foods" thing got me thinking too, because there are some foods and drinks that I will absolutely not allow in my house.  Kool-Aid.  Soda pop.  Processed snack junk like Twinkies and [most] crackers and potato chips.  That said I understand that there are birthday parties and school functions and such where my kids will have those things but as far as I'm concerned those foods are not welcome in our home.  Not even in moderation  ;-)  And the boundaries in the kitchen thing...at least at this point if my kids are hungry I will let them eat.  They know, though, that if it's bedtime or right before a meal their options are pretty much limited to "apples or carrots".  And I really don't have a problem with that, I mean, it's healthy, who cares if it's mealtime or if they fill up on it?!  I'm sure my tune may change through the years but that's where we are now.  At any rate, the article gave me some "food" for thought, haha.  Regarding kids and diet, I think Eat Healthy, Feel Great is a really good book that explains healthy food choices in a very kid-friendly way.  My kids (especially Gemma) really got a lot out of it. 

What are some of your thoughts on kids and diet? 

Journal: Lent

TODAY

Out my window:  Sunny.  Warmish.  As I type this (Sunday) the deck door is open and a nice, fresh breeze is blowing in.  Still February though.

Clothing myself in:  Well, I'm in sweats and a t-shirt now, but EARLIER I was wearing a grey sweater with a turquoise tank underneath, some pinstripe black dress-pants, my black flats and a necklace!!  I also ordered some clothes from GAP and Kohl's so we'll see what I think, and got a new pair of brown flats that I really like from Maurices (they're just a leeeeetle too small but they're so cute I'll take the hit).  I'm even toying with the idea of skinny jeans...  Baby steps.  

Around the house: Made some baby food for the baby (see below).  Need to dust blinds and clean windows (I've started...).  Lent is in full-swing.   I've been noticing our electric bill has been creeping up each month.  My best guess is laundry (namely dryer), as the laundry seems to have increased exponentially between adding a fifth member and the kids getting bigger so I've started to use my drying rack for more than just diapers.  I am wondering if I can rig up some sort of clothesline on the deck this summer...  Oh, and I finally packed our Nativity away (it sits on our fireplace mantle from late November thru February) and spent a whole day rearranging some of our decorative items around the house only to put them ALL -- yes, every last one -- back in their original spots.

 

The baby: Has been dabbling in a bit of solid food, he doesn't seem too impressed though.  Seriously, who makes such a face over bananas and sweet potatoes?!  None of my kids have been quite so, um, expressive of their dislike.  He'll get the hang of it I'm sure.  We got the high chair out this past week, and it has been a nice place to put him while we eat dinner as he is getting too squirmy and grabby for my lap, so we'll just try a few bites each night since he's in there anyways.  I like his new bibs.  They do great with the dribbly goo that goes along with first feedings.

The kiddos:  The fasting we decided to do with the kids is going SO much better than I thought it would.  Gemma is actually really diligent about it.  I should have more faith in them I suppose. The day before Lent I sat down with them and they chose some things they like (food items, toys, etc.) and we assigned one to each day of the week from which to fast, and then I put it on our fridge charts.  Kolbe is doing fine with it, as he seems to take his cues from Gemma on most things.  I never would have attempted this with Gemma when she was three.

Crafting: I made our Alms jar and am pleased with how it turned out. 

In the kitchen: Chicken, garlic and ranch pizza; Tacos with fixings; Minute Steaks with mashed cauliflower and potatoes and steamed veggies as sides; Salmon Pasta Casserole 

Learning: Made Lenten pretzels with the kids (and their cousin) one day last week.  Finished up on birthday thank you notes and the kids made their Valentines.  Enjoying our Forty Clues for Forty Days Lent book and trying to find a small extension activity to do that goes along with each day's clue.  I also picked up We Have a Pope after this week's announcement and the kids (and I) enjoyed it immensely.  Gemma is very curious about all this and has talked about it quite a bit (especially at bedtime, when she traditionally has her deepest thoughts).  She should remember this when she is an adult, so it's neat to experience this time in Church History with her.   Starting to think about what things I'd like to do with Kolbe next year when Gemma is in school.  

Reading: Still finishing up on Unconditional Parenting, I kind of set it aside.  I've actually gotten ahead in my Catechism reading for the Year of Faith, as it dawned on me I can read out of the actual Catechism book instead of just my inbox.  I am so clever.  I requested my first title from The Catholic Company's blogger review program, a children's book of saints, and am looking forward to taking a look at it.  All our saint books still seem a bit above my kids.  From what I've heard I have high hopes for this one.  I'll report back. 

Bringing me joy: A family Valentines date to the zoo.  Surviving Ash Wednesday Mass with all three kids and no daddy along.  Watching Gold Rush with Aaron, bummed this season is almost over.  Gemma telling me, "you tell great stories, mom," after one of my bedtime stories.  Trust me, my stories are not very good.  She was so genuine about her compliment, I really think it's one of the nicest, most heartfelt compliments she's ever given me.  Watching the kids with their "fishing poles" (sticks with ribbon tied to them and a bobber tied to the end).  They practiced casting on the deck for quite some time, and then did some "real" fishing with them in the pond later in the day.

Thinking about: Pope Benedict XVI's resignation and who our new Pope will be.  Chuckling at the media and their skewed fascination with all things Catholic. 

Pictures to share:  

I interspersed them in my post this week.  Nothin' else.

Kolbe's mealtime mohawk

Kolbe has always had a fascination with hair.  Maybe because for his first year + of life he didn't have any??  At any rate, when he was little tiny and I spent hours a day wearing him, he loved to play with my hair.  Now that he is a little older and he tries to do this when I rock him to sleep, I will admit, it gets a bit annoying (alright, it downright drives me up the wall, he's not as gentle as he used to be) so I have been discouraging the habit.  This has led to him messing with his own hair (now that he HAS hair), especially when he falls asleep.  And at dinnertime.  I'm not sure if this comes from the need to clean his hands, or if he just likes messing with his hair that much, but it has made for some quite interesting do's (or maybe "don't's" would be a better description) as you can see.

A tasty summer dinner

The other night for dinner we had crispy chicken salads with spring mix lettuce, roma tomatoes, romano cheese and caesar dressing.  We had an easy (canned) 3 bean salad and some focaccia bread on the side.  What a tasty summer dinner!!

Fork

Kolbe has recently discovered the fork...and he's pretty good at using it himself!  And I can say with almost absolute certainty that we have a righty.  I don't remember it being so obvious at such a young age with Gemma, but Kolbe definitely appears to be right-hand dominant (unlike Gemma, who I am pretty sure is right-handed, but will still eat with her left hand occasionally).  I snapped a couple pictures the other day and thought I'd share.

VERY PROUD!!!

Picnic

I let the children have a picnic in the basement for lunch the other day.  Gemma thought it was a pretty sweet deal, I crossed my fingers that she wouldn't then want to do it every day (so far so good).  It was fun!!  Here they are sitting at their little table.  Yes, Kolbe is wearing a green bead necklace.  Gemma has been very insistent lately that everyone wear necklaces that match their clothes.  Even Koble and daddy.  They are good sports.  ;-D

Further proof of the necklaces!!

Then Gemma had an "ondea" as she called it, that they eat at the trampoline instead of the table.  That worked, um, marginally well.  We all had fun though, and there really wasn't much of a mess so no complaints from any party.  I like days when lunch goes well. :-)

New dishes

Gemma and Kolbe got dishes sets for Valentines this year!  Kolbe doesn't really need or use dishes yet, but Gemma was thrilled with hers, and requests it for every meal now.  I like the compartments, it makes it nice and easy to dish small portions out for her, and she seems to like it too.  She's been doing better with eating lately (eating more food and more variety with less struggle, even asking for seconds and saying things are good!, all things she has struggled with since forever) and this definitely seems to be helping matters.  Just something fun and new, I'm sure the novelty will wear off, but I am glad she likes it.

Sweet siblings VI

Mealtimes are always an adventure with young children. At least at our house they are. ;-D Lately, Gemma and Kolbe have become very good buddies at mealtime. Gemma loves to feed Kolbe bites, and I honestly think Kolbe is helping encourage Gemma to be a better eater. He eats more than she does at most meals!! Anyways, Gemma loves to pull Kolbe's highchair right up next to her and they just have a great time together. This was pizza night (which is a weekly occurrence at our house more times than not). I got a breadmaker for Christmas, so I used a new crust recipe that I will definitely have to share. We love our homemade pizzas, and I love it when the whole family can eat the same thing for dinner!!

Shapes and beads and cats, OH MY!

A very random post, but that's how my brain is feeling right now, so you get what you get folks!!

We talked about shapes last week. Seems Gemma is becoming more capable of understanding and comprehending as each week goes by. It's fun to see her learn.

Here she is sorting her shapes with one of the books we got from the library.
And here with her shape pancakes she had for lunch! "Circles and squares" was her request.
I think some dress-up items are in our future! I got these beads out after she kept trying to put the shoe-strings from her lacing cards around her neck. She thinks they're pretty cool.
The cat ears were from my MIL for Halloween. So cute.
And there goes Kolbe!!! Typical sight anymore. ;-D
Crawling anywhere and everywhere is definitely his favorite pass-time of late. Why do cords and night lights and door stops have to be so stinkin' interesting?! GAH!!! It's fun seeing him discover the world around him though...he just keeps me on my toes for sure!

Happy Monday, everyone!

Apples

We're still working on going through all the apples we picked several weeks ago. The box has just been sitting on the kitchen counter, and I've been a-peelin' and choppin' my way through it as I'm able. Mainly making applesauce for the babe, but we (Aaron) did make an apple crisp this weekend as well. Yummy!

Anyways, I was working in the kitchen the other day and moved the box of apples to the floor so I could have more counter space. I went to another part of the house to get something, and came back to find this.
He was determined to get a bite. I took them away (mean 'ole mommy) before he was actually able to get a chunk off, but it was so cute seeing his little teeth marks in the apples. He managed to "try" about three of them before I redirected him to another activity. So cute.

Night out

We go out to dinner as a family maybe 4-5 times a year. There is a local Mexican restaurant that we absolutely love. It is family friendly, reasonably priced, and they always get you seated and served super-quick. We went there this past weekend and it was Kolbe's first time to sit in a big-boy high chair at a restaurant (I think the last time we went he was less than six months). He had SO. MUCH. FUN. He couldn't stop squealing and laughing and looking all around. It was super sweet and we all had a wonderful time.
No, Kolbe, you may not share daddy's margarita.
Gemma's favorite part is the chips and salsa! But then, who's isn't?!
We were right under a vent, so her sweet daddy went to the car and got her a blanket.
Our evenings out to eat are few and far between, but we so enjoy them when we go.

Apple week

Last week was apple week at our house. We had some fun activities and started the week off by making applesauce on Monday morning with some apples from my sister's tree. First we read Applesauce Season together. It was a fun, educational story and worked well after modifying it a bit for Gemma's level of understanding/attention.
It turned out SUPER tasty. We just cooked the apples down in the crock pot and added some butter, cinnamon and brown sugar. Typical Gemma fashion, I think she tried about one bite. Silly girl. Bubby, on the other hand, LOVED it (sans sugar/cinnamon/butter) and I even made another batch later in the week to freeze specifically for him. WHEW! I've peeled a lot of apples lately. 'Tis the season. ;-D
Wednesday was the hilight of the week, when we took a trip to an apple orchard with my sister and her children. The day dawned just perfectly...sunny with a crisp chill in the air. The perfect fall kind of day for picking apples. We had a great time and my sis went all out with some really neat activities for the kids when we got back from the orchard.

Picking apples
Having fun together! Gemma and I ended up in matching hoodies...didn't even plan that!!
Cousins!!
I love this picture.
She dutifully toted her box all over.
Where's Gemma?
Tossing apples in the box is fun, just don't toss too hard!
God's beautiful creation.
Kolbe decided to grab a little snooze.
Our "catch" for the day, around 20 lbs (yea, more peeling for me!)
Time for apple crafts! Gemma got to use paints for the first time!!
Getting their feet painted for the footprint tree trunk.
Blowing the paint around to make the tree-top.
Sometimes fingers work better! ;-D
Adding some sparkly red apples to her tree.
Finished work of art.
Bobbing for apples (slices). "You want us to what?!!"
Taking turns and enjoying some tasty, fresh-picked apple slices!
Who knew bobbing for apples was a full-contact sport!
Sweet Gemma chewed up a bite of apple and crawled over and put it in her bubby-brother's mouth for him. I suppose she's seen me bite large pieces of food into smaller bits for him. It was really sweet.
We also enjoyed reading Apple Harvest a couple times throughout the week. I really like the series from which this book came. The books are geared toward young preschoolers with short concise sentences and wonderful photographs. As we were talking about this book, I was mentioning to Gemma all the tasty things we could do with apples: applesauce, apple pie, apple crisp. I said, "you like apple crisp, don't you Gemma?" To which she looked at me and very seriously replied, "No, I just like grandpa Chris" (who is my dad). Apparently she didn't hear the "p" on the end of "crisp". She cracks me up!!

The week was a success for sure, and we still have lots of apples with which to make yummy treats! Happy autumn, everyone!!