Ya, I Am

We have become a nation that is overly concerned with our children's self esteem. It has become a hot topic in parenting magazines. Schools attempt to make everything "even", "fair", "valued". Our society is busy putting stars on all papers with no grades and making sure everyone gets a participant ribbon. We tell children they are "Great! Fantastic! Beautiful!" But empty praise is recognized by children and this push to reward everyone is making children feel less. It removes need for effort, pride, the amazing feeling that comes with true success. That is not what I want for my children. I believe in respecting differences and fostering creativity. I believe in hard work, a farm girl has no other idea how work happens, and I think anything you want to do is possible if you believe in yourself. But we don't continue society's everyone is even and you did great attitude. In our house you will hear the word "No!" Princess, my five year old, says I say that too often. I ask about low grades and what Sport, the middle school teen, could have done better or different. Was real effort put forth or is there confusion for the subject? We talk about things and call a spade a spade, ugly or not. Don't get me wrong, I tell my children daily I love them. I compliment them on their activities and projects and effort. They know they are special and I am proud of them, EVEN WHEN THEY MAKE MISTAKES! They know they will fail. They know they will mess up. They know others will be better than them sometimes. They know they will lose.

 SO, is this impacting their fragile self esteem? Princess dresses in her own get ups each day. I bite my tongue often, it does not hurt anyone, but when the clashing is overwhelming and the outfit would be picked up from outer space I make a suggestion. There have been times when I have flat out said, "No, you are not going out in that!" She continues to dress in her own configurations and often emerges from her room with, "Mommy, aren't I beautiful today?"

Monkey, the two-year-old, has a new phrase. "Ya, I am!" I heard it for the first time a week or so ago. We were playing together and I just had one of those my heart is overflowing from the love I feel as your mom moments. I looked at him with this love and said, "Monkey, you are so cute!" "Ya, I am so cute!" he spouted right back. I laughed, shared the story with the grandma, and went about our life. I began to notice that throughout the week I heard this from him often though. "Ya, I am so funny! Ya, I am so cute! Ya, I am!"

Parenting is hard. The most important things we can do for our kids is teach them to question, think, and give them a solid bases of who they are. I think in our participant ribbon star scored world I am off setting this at home to teach my children to self esteem. I think I am raising kids to know they are loved, who trust themselves, who know their worth, and who understand failure is a fact. Ya, I am a good mom! Self esteem in check here.

Pizza Time

We love pizza, that is actually an understatement. Pizza is a memory for me of Friday might with the family, watching TV (Dukes of Hazard to be exact) and soda pop. We got to have pizza , pop, and TV. Those were sweet rewards at the end of the week. I also remember riding our bikes into town to eat Pizza Hut buffet on the summer. So with my kids the memory we are creating is pizza. Tuesday my parents, sister, brother, uncle, cousins, anyone no is available and remembers comes over for pizza. Sometimes we have a houseful sometimes it is just the grandparents. Both ways we are making memories...and pizza. I fund a good recipe tonight that was easy and clean. Ingredients: 1 package dry active yeast 1 teaspoon honey 1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F.) 3 cup wheat flour 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing toppings of your choice Mix 1/4 cup water with yeast and honey. Stir until dissolved. Put flour and salt in bowl. Stir n 3/4 cup water and the yeast mixture. Mix well. Cover and let rise 30 minutes. Divide into 4 balls and knead. Roll into ball. Cover with damp cloth and let rise about 20 minutes. Heat baking stone n the oven at 500 degrees. Roll t dough and brush edge with olive oil. Top with sauce, veggies, meat, cheese. Cook on stone for about 10 minutes. I did decrease the heat for cooking. We will definitely be using this recipe again. You can make the dough up and keep it in the frige for up to two days.

Summer Dinner

I love it when I find an easy and healthy recipe that can be modified for my picky eaters. With each one of them having a differing opinion on vegetables, getting our plates to reflect a healthy look can be a challenge. Today I modified a recipe to create a dinner that was very tasty and you get the added bonus of stress relief while cooking. Summer Chicken Fry 2 strips of bacon per person, do not over-crisp. Take and pound one chicken breast per person to 1/8 inch...stress relief part. It works best with your favorite music blasting in the background. Spread a dollop of Greek yogurt on one side of the breast. Add your choice of veggies cut into strips (julienne might be the cooking term, but mine are definitely not pretty enough to use this term). We used red and green pepper, purple onion, asparagus spears, and mushrooms. Any fresh veggies would be wonderful though! Place bacon under each breast and fold chicken breast up like a taco and wrap with bacon. Use toothpick to hold in place. They will ooze a bit, just pack it all in and get gooey! Who says cooking should be clean? Bake at 350 in a baking dish until done. Ours took about 40 minutes. Dale thought they were dry, the kids and I thought they were delicious. Those of you who are seasoned cooks may have an opinion on how to create a more moist breast. I also think there is potential for grilling this wonderful creation. Serve with pasta and corn on the cob...yum! We are looking forward to summer!

Getting Ready for Another Monday

Christmas season and the end of the semester always cause me stress. I have lists about my lists and since becoming a mother of three almost a year ago my organizational skills have suffered greatly. Changing the game plan from man on man with a 10 year old and 3 year old to zone has not been easy Oh, I have great intentions. I start my Christmas shopping early and set up routines to make our family run smoother. The kids have a list of chores to do over the weekend and the laundry is washed, dried, and piles into the laundry baskets at exponential growth. But then Monday comes with a vengeance and we are off and running in 5 different directions and all plans go out the window. My New Years resolution is to find simple things that work for our busy family of 5, eat clean(er), and exercise more than picking up toys.

With Christmas comes the inevitable Christmas goodies. At work everyone bring snacks to share twice a week which means calories and fat watch out. The first week this year I had the stomach flu, so avoiding temptation was easy. Tomorrow I am taking a clean alternative so I can enjoy that with my naughty snacks I am sure to find.

Sunday is usually a day I can find time to squeeze into the kitchen for some cooking with the kids. Making myself do this to be organized for the week is the kicker. Today I found an interesting idea for salsa chicken black bean soup we are going to try. I love starting Monday with a crock pot meal. It helps to come home Monday night and have that checked off the list as homework and how was your day starts.

I Can Fly

Kylee dressed up as a fairy today.  She ran around the house and said she was going to fly.  After a few more runs up and down the hall she came up to me and said, "I don't know how to fly yet, Mama."  Guess we need to find some fairy dust to help her out.

Can you scan gas?

A student went to the doctor for stomach pains recently. When he got back to school I got this report.

So, do you know what the doctor said about my stomach?

No, what?

Well, they did a scan and said in 4 months I am going to have an appendicitis. I might have to have it out.

Wow!

Yeah, so in 4 months I might have to have it out.

OK.

Well, or he said it could just be gas!

That's Not Enough Ice Cream

Friday night we went to Cold Stone to have a little ice cream refreshment. We walked in and Kylee wanted "blue" ice cream. The helpful collage girl behind the counter smiled and handed her a very small spoon with a taste size bite. Kylee looked down her nose at the spoon and refused to eat it. Being a loving mother, I held her to the glass counter and talked about the chocolate, vanilla, what did she want, and we looked at the yummy ice cream. Kylee pointed and said "pink, cup". I asked if she wanted strawberry ice cream and the girl quickly scooped up a very small taste of strawberry and handed it to Kylee. Kylee looked down her nose again with disgust and said, "No, cup!" Guess the girl knows what she wants, so we ordered vanilla and she gave a big smile when it was handed to her and said, "CUP!" What was I thinking? How would a very small taste of ice cream be enough for anyone?