Inspiration struck when I listened to Super Why! say, for the upteenth time, "when you have a problem...Look...in a book!"
During our impromptu Family Home Evening the inspiration continued to flow. I started by reminding them of this theme and then said "There is ONE book that can give us ALL our answers to our problems." I asked each of the kids if they could guess, and then hinted by pulling out the scriptures so I could search out a particular passage.
Once they guess "book of scripture" I continued the lesson with, "When we have a problem, who should we talk to? God. How? We say a prayer. When we need to hear his answer what do we do? Listen with our heart and mind, and LOOK...In a book of...SCRIPTURE!"
I am grateful for inspiration God gives us to teach our children about Him.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
I'm a huge fan of homebirth
I had a successful homebirth/waterbirth. I recently had a friend mention how they are postponing children because they need insurance first. Consider a homebirth! Especially if you live fairly close to a hospital (I didn't at the time). Of course you are entilled to know what is best for you, so pray about it, God will tell you.
Consider the cost breakdown:
Paying cash for a birth (aka no insurance), in a hospital, with an OB, and perhaps an epidural: $10,000-15,000.
Paying with insurance: this varies. I've known some folks who have to contribute $5,000-8,000. Some just have co-pays with a deductible, and some have just co-pays. Others don't have to contribute anything outside of their paycheck contribution. For me, it actually cost more to do it at home than in the hospital.
Cost for a midwife: $1500-4000, depending on her experience and the going rate in your area. Here, it's typically around the $2000 mark.
Consider the cost breakdown:
Paying cash for a birth (aka no insurance), in a hospital, with an OB, and perhaps an epidural: $10,000-15,000.
Paying with insurance: this varies. I've known some folks who have to contribute $5,000-8,000. Some just have co-pays with a deductible, and some have just co-pays. Others don't have to contribute anything outside of their paycheck contribution. For me, it actually cost more to do it at home than in the hospital.
Cost for a midwife: $1500-4000, depending on her experience and the going rate in your area. Here, it's typically around the $2000 mark.
Monday, September 20, 2010
A great parenting book
I've considered myself fairly successful in the parenting arena. I figure if I can go into a restaurant by myself with my kids, eat, and leave, only bothering surrounding tables with the stares and smiles of my little ones, I'm doing well.
I am, like everybody, imperfect and have my days. At the suggestion of a friend I bought Parenting with Love and Logic. She's used the school version in her classroom. I love it! It's all about giving children choices, the younger they are, the earlier they learn consequences and the prices are small.
Case in point: My son sucks his finger. I'm trying to break him of the habit, unsuccessfully. In the name of using love and logic, he received two choices. One, continue to suck or two, break the habit for one day so he could join us for soy ice cream at a restaurant after dinner. Not two minues later he was in his room doing his favorite thing. Later that night as we started on dessert he was gently reminded. Our heartstrings were pulled as we watched him bury his head in a chair and silently lament his decision. He knew. He knew the outsome was all his making. No crying, no screaming, no tantrum. We finished our ice cream in peace. He was even happy to leave and bounced his way to the car, probably relieved to be free of the situation.
I've learned my lesson. Finger sucking is his problem, not mine. I'll still work to help him!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
More parenting
I watched Real Families Real Answers on BYUtv (while I still have it!) on Thursday night. It gave me good ideas of what I'm doing right and what I need to improve on. If only parenting wasn't "trial and error." I was a perfectionist once upon a time, but in this life, nobody is perfect, so I cut myself some slack and gave myself permission to try, try again. As is sung my Angela Lansbury "It's a step in the right direction!"
Friday, September 17, 2010
Helping kids understand money
I bought a great product to help my kids understand money better. I wasn't sure if they would understand it, as young as they are, but it's a good system that keeps me organized and simple enough for them to understand it. A couple days ago I realized how much my oldest, 5, caught onto.
I was headed out for a date and the house was in a terrible state. I couldn't motivate the kids to help me so my husband came up with a brilliant thought and told them, "If you don't clean up we'll have to pay the baby sitter to clean up for you. But we're paying them with YOUR money, since it is YOUR job to clean YOUR toys."
Fifteen minutes later - toy free house.
Check out the product blog for more fabulous parenting ideas. http://www.sticktoitcharts.blogspot.com/
I was headed out for a date and the house was in a terrible state. I couldn't motivate the kids to help me so my husband came up with a brilliant thought and told them, "If you don't clean up we'll have to pay the baby sitter to clean up for you. But we're paying them with YOUR money, since it is YOUR job to clean YOUR toys."
Fifteen minutes later - toy free house.
Check out the product blog for more fabulous parenting ideas. http://www.sticktoitcharts.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
The Why's by Brad Wilcox
We don't normally have cable. The only reason we do now is BYU Football. Sadly, because I'm out-of-state we can't get season tickets, so we subscribe to cable for a few months. Two of my loves during this season - DVR and BYUTV.
I'm watching a rebroadcast of Brad Wilcox speaking at Women's Conference. One thing stands out that I have to remember. Explaining "the why's" to teenagers. Explaining "the why's" turns the "rules" into understanding and perspective for them.
Distilled down:
Pornography = bad
Why?
Conversation between father and teenage son about not viewing pornography, the why.
"Do you want a good sex life in your marriage one day?"
"Of course, yes!" What else is a teenage boy going to say?
"Sexual satisfaction depends on emotional closeness as well as physical closeness. If you view pornography you set yourself up for failure by training yourself to think selfishly of the physical. That will do nothing to improve your relationship with your future wife."
It made sense.
Hubby and I occasionally think of topics (frequently sexual purity) and how we'll explain it to them. We already want to explain why's and have a mental list of how. I'm adding this to the list and recording it for future use.
I'm watching a rebroadcast of Brad Wilcox speaking at Women's Conference. One thing stands out that I have to remember. Explaining "the why's" to teenagers. Explaining "the why's" turns the "rules" into understanding and perspective for them.
Distilled down:
Pornography = bad
Why?
Conversation between father and teenage son about not viewing pornography, the why.
"Do you want a good sex life in your marriage one day?"
"Of course, yes!" What else is a teenage boy going to say?
"Sexual satisfaction depends on emotional closeness as well as physical closeness. If you view pornography you set yourself up for failure by training yourself to think selfishly of the physical. That will do nothing to improve your relationship with your future wife."
It made sense.
Hubby and I occasionally think of topics (frequently sexual purity) and how we'll explain it to them. We already want to explain why's and have a mental list of how. I'm adding this to the list and recording it for future use.
Monday, September 6, 2010
What do you eat?
We (vegans) all get this question. Well let me tell you. Tonights dinner took exactly 10 minutes to prep and stick in the oven.
Neat loaf and potatos. No, no side dish of vegetable, it was all in the meal.
And it was a hit. No bribes, spoon feeding, or demands necessary. The kids asked for seconds and thirds!
Neat loaf was quickly prepared by throwing the vegetables and walnuts in the food processor, then slowly adding the rest of the ingredients (tofu - yeah for Morni-nu in the cupboard!), rice (it was white, not brown tonight), breadcrumbs, seasonings. It was awesome to get it thrown together so fast!
My mashed potatos were a frozen leftover from a month ago when I boiled potatoes with garlic cloves (2 cloves for every potato) and put cauliflower in a steam basket in the same pot. Mash it all together and it was awesome! No one could detect the cauliflower...
...or the rest of the vegetables for that matter. No complaints about "green things" in my meal! AND my hubby didn't doctor it beyond a sprinkling of garlic salt. What a score!
Neat loaf and potatos. No, no side dish of vegetable, it was all in the meal.
And it was a hit. No bribes, spoon feeding, or demands necessary. The kids asked for seconds and thirds!
Neat loaf was quickly prepared by throwing the vegetables and walnuts in the food processor, then slowly adding the rest of the ingredients (tofu - yeah for Morni-nu in the cupboard!), rice (it was white, not brown tonight), breadcrumbs, seasonings. It was awesome to get it thrown together so fast!
My mashed potatos were a frozen leftover from a month ago when I boiled potatoes with garlic cloves (2 cloves for every potato) and put cauliflower in a steam basket in the same pot. Mash it all together and it was awesome! No one could detect the cauliflower...
...or the rest of the vegetables for that matter. No complaints about "green things" in my meal! AND my hubby didn't doctor it beyond a sprinkling of garlic salt. What a score!
Friday, September 3, 2010
In the Kitchen
To introduce, I'm the baker, my husband is the cook. We make a good team.
After 20 months of vegan I finally went through my cupboards and purged the cookbooks that no longer support my diet. It was amazing how many recipes I have that will cause me to grow a hip! Butter, cream, sweetened condensed milk, it's no wonder I've lost so much weight. It is absolutely amazing that once upon a time I would have defended myself fiercely against any suggestions that I ate a lot of cholesterol and now I'm utterly amazed at how much I ate!
Now I'm going through the books I couldn't get rid of and trying recipes. You know, the books made by groups, like the Relief Society at church, of all our favorite recipes. One recipe my hubby loves is chicken enchilada casserole. It's hard to veganize or replace because it is cream of chicken soup, pepper jack cheese, sour cream and of course, chicken. I never thought we'd find a replacement, until we did.
I got an eggplant in my bountiful basket and needed a recipe so I googled "Eggplant enchilada" and got a fairly simple recipe with normal pantry ingredients. It called for cheese and my husband insisted we needed to replace it, so he mashed up a can of white beans. Then he had to add cilantro, green pepper and green chile, (no measurements of course!) and suddenly it was not at all the original recipe. The result? He loved it and called it his new favorite. My parents were around and try the concoction too. Mom, not the biggest fan of my diet, requested the recipe!
Now moving on. For the baker in me, I've almost got my favorite brownie recipe perfected (the one that used to be on the Hershey container), and Erleen Tilton's Carob Cashew pie is my all time favorite dessert, especially for summer heat. In between naptimes I'm also falling in love with Babycakes recipe book.
Here's to not growing a hip!
After 20 months of vegan I finally went through my cupboards and purged the cookbooks that no longer support my diet. It was amazing how many recipes I have that will cause me to grow a hip! Butter, cream, sweetened condensed milk, it's no wonder I've lost so much weight. It is absolutely amazing that once upon a time I would have defended myself fiercely against any suggestions that I ate a lot of cholesterol and now I'm utterly amazed at how much I ate!
Now I'm going through the books I couldn't get rid of and trying recipes. You know, the books made by groups, like the Relief Society at church, of all our favorite recipes. One recipe my hubby loves is chicken enchilada casserole. It's hard to veganize or replace because it is cream of chicken soup, pepper jack cheese, sour cream and of course, chicken. I never thought we'd find a replacement, until we did.
I got an eggplant in my bountiful basket and needed a recipe so I googled "Eggplant enchilada" and got a fairly simple recipe with normal pantry ingredients. It called for cheese and my husband insisted we needed to replace it, so he mashed up a can of white beans. Then he had to add cilantro, green pepper and green chile, (no measurements of course!) and suddenly it was not at all the original recipe. The result? He loved it and called it his new favorite. My parents were around and try the concoction too. Mom, not the biggest fan of my diet, requested the recipe!
Now moving on. For the baker in me, I've almost got my favorite brownie recipe perfected (the one that used to be on the Hershey container), and Erleen Tilton's Carob Cashew pie is my all time favorite dessert, especially for summer heat. In between naptimes I'm also falling in love with Babycakes recipe book.
Here's to not growing a hip!
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