Don't Make Me Count To Three....

Sound familiar? With two young children, I find myself at times becoming a desperate discipliner...what does that mean?

Enter Example:

In the thrift store.... 1 year old is hanging on the metal bars in front of the automatic door letting it open and close continuously while also "un-hanging" from the bars and walking in a circle in front of people trying to leave.

I am at the checkout in which the checkout woman tells me that I physically have to take the clothes off the hangars, she can't do it....(enter increased blood pressure). All the while, I'm saying, "Claire, come over here...Claire, come over here", frantically trying to get the pants off the hangars so we can get out of there before we all lose it.

Next thing you know, I'm telling my 1 year old that she will be in "BIG TROUBLE" if she doesn't get over to me....Big Trouble? What am I saying, honestly, what does that mean...then I get mad at myself that I just said it.

Meanwhile, I can't do anything if she doesn't listen and come over to me because I'm too busy taking the pants off the hangars that seem to be stuck in the belt loops...

That's what I mean by desperate disciplining. I find myself saying things to my children that have no REAL consequence, make matters worse, and probably actually make them want to disobey me even more....smart huh?

Then a friend recommended this book,
Don't Make Me Count to Three by Ginger Plowman.

I Love It. Now, not every story or example is exactly how I would handle things,
but the main theme of the book is what gets me....
are you ready?

Pay attention, this is good...

"Discipline your child fully so they have a heart change,
meaning to be more like Christ...
in addition to just eliminating the behavior. "

Wow, I gotta tell you...reading that book was the first time I had ever thought about disciplining to create a heart change in my child.

I guess I just thought that letting them know they did something wrong would make them better people because they would know not to do it again...I was missing the whole point.

Wouldn't you know that as soon as I read the first 4 chapters,

we had an incident that would let me test my heart shaping skills:

Lily,3, received a big pink chair for her birthday. Claire,1, did not. Claire loves to sit in said pink chair. Lily does not like that....enter conflict.

Screaming, crying and tattling.

"Mommy, Claire's sitting in MY chair...I want to sit in MY chair."

"Think Fast"
I say to myself...what would Ginger Plowman do....
oh wait, I mean what would Jesus do...

"Lily, wouldn't it be nice to just wait until Claire is finished sitting on the pink chair? She is having so much fun. You could sit on her Dora chair if you want?"

Lily explains, " No mommy I want the pink chair...(enter jumping up and down and pointing to Claire who is as cool as a cucumber knowing full well how she is causing her sister to act.) "

"Lily, do you think it would make you happy to force Claire out of the chair so you can get what you want? Don't you want to share the pink chair with Claire?"

" No mommy, I WANT to sit in that chair."

(ok, Ginger's example didn't quite go like this...now what?)

"Lily, have you ever thought about going to Claire and asking her nicely if she would get up from the pink chair before you come and cry to me?"

Lily walks over to Claire, "Claire...would you please get up from the chair?"

Wouldn't you know, Claire gets up and sits in her own chair?

... this felt a little like grace to me.

In the book, Ginger would have disciplined for the temper tantrum and for the tattling, but I was just happy to have tried the technique of getting at the heart of my child
and not just putting a bandaid on the situation which I am very likely to do at 4 o'clock
in the afternoon trying to get dinner ready.
Maybe next time, there will be even more success.

Being a mother and the main disciplinarian can be tough and there really are no written rules...but realizing that I am primarily a "heart-shaper" really made me change my tune
and want to mediate rather than quickly solve the problem.

I truly suggest you read this book...I am almost through,
and it really has changed my perspective tremendously.

Thanks!


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Our Produce...How Was It? & Thursday Thoughts

Well, since I have been writing about how I will one day take a picture of our produce right when we get it, I thought I should actually get around to it. I took some photos of our produce and fruit share, just to give you an idea of the quality and amount that we get. This is all for $59 every two weeks. What do you think? Worth it? I thought our produce was the best its ever been this week. Everything looked amazing! I also thought I would share a little bit about procrastinating...

My oldest who is 2 1/2, goes on the little girl potty about 8-10 times a day... Sometimes, I "procrastinate" (ok, I just don't want to do it), to empty out the little girl potty into the big potty. I feel like I would be in there all day..

This is what happens when you procrastinate:




Mini swimming pool?
A day at the spa?
A foot soak?




No, just disgusting...
My one year old seemed to enjoy it!







Did I learn my lesson? Ask me when she does it again:)
There's my Thursday Thoughts, or just sharing what goes on in our home...








{Peace}

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How Was It? Wednesday- Family Meal Table

This week starts off the first two chapters of The Family Meal Table study by Nancy Campbell. I am truly enjoying this study, and am learning a lot already. I would encourage you to purchase this study from the Above Rubies website and do the study as well. I am only going to touch upon a few key points every week, and there is so much more to get out of this study from the manual.

Chapter 1- Where Do Tables Originate?
The first chapter is called Where Do Tables Originate? Many verses in the bible tell stories about families or people conversing or having a meal around a table. God sees that table as a place for happiness, community, conversation, fellowship and yes, even worship.


Psalm 128:1-4 explains how blessed is a man who has children like olive plants all around his table.


As I said in the previous post about this study, Jesus often times would make a meal for someone, sit with them and talk to them about important truths. Jesus thought the table was important and so should we!!



Enjoy Your Meals
Often times, especially in the morning or at lunch, I find myself rushing to feed the children, then I end up shuffling my meal down while standing at the counter.

Firstly, this does not show my children that I care about them and want to spend quality time with them.
Secondly, it does not show my children the importance of fellowship in the morning or while we are together at lunch.

Nancy stresses the importance of enjoying our meals. One way to do this is to sit all together around the table as much as possible.


What does Your Meal Table Look Like?
In the study questions, Nancy asks, "If someone looked through the window of your home at mealtime, what kind of picture would they paint?"

This question really hit me because my mealtime is not a time that I am proud of. In fact, it is one of my most stressful times of the day and I am truly dedicated to changing that. Last week I said that I am going to try to have the family sit down at the table after I have the food out. I am also going to try to set the table before-hand too.

After a week, I have been about 50% successful. One reason for my lack of total success is that Brian has been working late every night. So I am having a meal with the two girls by myself. This has been a difficult transition and hopefully it is only temporary. Once we are back on schedule with all of us eating together as a family, things should be better.... right?

Chapter 2- The Table- A Place to Feed the Body

In this chapter, Nancy discusses how God wants us to renew our vision for the Family Meal Table. It is a feeding place where we nurture the physical bodies of our family as well as their souls and spirits.

I feel that this chapter is truly at the heart for me. I love cooking and making dinner for my family.

Nancy stresses the importance of making every meal count, which means feeding your family well balanced, healthy homemade meals.

We as mothers should be responsible with our husband's earnings and our family's income by using every penny for the nourishment of our bodies, not just feeding our families empty food that is super processed, not nutritional and actually toxic.

Nourish Your Family
As mothers, we are ultimately responsible for what goes into our family members' bodies. Try not to let your children be picky and dictate what you will serve them- ie- only eating Mac N Cheese every day for lunch is not a healthy choice.

Try to have your children sit at the table for every meal. Once in a while, you can mix things up a bit and have a picnic inside, or out on the porch or outdoors at a special location.

Finally, here are her 6 tips to remember when cooking your meals:

1. Make it simple.
2. Make it nutritious.
3. Make it tasty.
4. Make if full of aroma.
5. Make it attractive.
6. Make plenty.

She goes into a lot more detail for each one of these, but just those simple sentences are food for thought. Let's continue on this journey together to try to bring back the Family Meal Table in our country.

Thanks!


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How Was It? Wednesday

This weekend, while my husband was working, I decided to take on making a dress for the girls. I used this pattern which you can purchase from the designer on Etsy.
I had leftover fabric that my sister used to wrap our Christmas presents from a few years ago...thanks Meghan!!
Here is how it turned out. It actually fits both girls, but I am going to make one a little larger for Lily.
In total, this dress probably took me about an hour to do.... mind you it was my first article of clothing I have ever attempted, so it is definitely doable! The pattern that I purchased is very clear and easy to understand. Over all, I'd say the experience went well!

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How was It? Wednesday

Last night, I made a Indian Dahl with Spinach and it was great! We would have like it with a little more kick and flavor, so next time I will add about 3/4 teaspoon of everything instead of what they called for which was only a 1/4 t. I served it with brown rice and Naan. I ended up putting a little too much water in it, but over-all it was a great Vegetarian dish... I forgot to take a picture, so this is one from the all recipes website. I would definitely recommend that you follow the link and try this if you are looking for great meal at a low cost. Don't be afraid of the Garam Masala either. I would definitely recommend putting this in your spice collection. It adds tremendous flavor without having to add all the separate spices. I'm going to post about this on Friday.


Also, I made a BEET chocolate cake....yup, a BEET chocolate cake. I had some leftover beets from the veggie co-op, so I boiled them, pureed them, and added them to my cake. That too was amazing. It tasted very earthy, but I like that flavor with chocolate. There was not a lot of chocolate in the cake either (so little, in fact, that I was convinced that the cake would come out tan instead of dark brown...I was wrong) Would definitely recommend that you make this cake if you want a healthier alternative to pure chocolate. I also used Sucanat instead of brown sugar and the recipe came out fine. To make it a little more moist, I added about 3/4 T. of maple sugar too.
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How Was It? Wednesday

Last night I made Baked Kale Chips, and they were pretty good. I over salted them, and that was the only part about it that wasn't so good. I also would have liked to have them overall be a little more crispy, and I think I could have accomplished that by lowering the temp, and keeping them in a little longer. I used garlic salt as well.

Here is the recipe: Baked Kale Chips -
Note: These are not like potato chips, they are still veggies :)
1 bunch of Kale
1 T Oil
1 t. Garlic Salt

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Wash and Dry Kale in Salad Spinner. Remove stems and cut leaves into small pieces. Place on baking sheet with parchment paper and drizzle with olive oil and garlic salt. Put in oven. Bake for about 4 minutes and move them around or turn them over. Bake for approx another 2-4 minutes or until you have reached the desired crispiness. Don't over bake, they burn fast! Tip: I thought this would be great to use some sort of infused oil like rosemary or thyme, or garlic.
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How Was It? Wednesday

Last Tuesday, I tried Kefir... In fact, I liked it so much, I tried it again for breakfast the next morning! I made Kefir pancakes! Another website that I read said that Kefir can replace buttermilk without much difference, so I thought I would try it! On Tuesday afternoon, we made Kefir Smoothies. Lily really liked them! All I did was add a banana, a bunch of strawberries that were about to go bad, some Maple Syrup, some ice cubes, and some Kefir....about 3/4 of a cup.








I would definitely recommend using Kefir in place of Buttermilk for pancakes. I also made these in the blender which made them a little more fluffy I think.

Here is the recipe I used:

2 c. White Flour
2 c. Whole Wheat Flour
4 T. Vegetable Oil
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 c. Milk
1 c. Kefir
1/2 T. Salt
2 Eggs beaten
2 T. Sugar

I combined the ingredients, blended and used made the pancakes right away. You wouldn't want to let this mix sit in the fridge overnight because the Kefir can get a real bitter taste to it. Use the entire batter right away, and then you can freeze or refrigerate the actual pancakes for later use. That's how Kefir was for us!

Do you have something new that you tried this week? Let me know in a comment, or provide a link to that post from your blog!!



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