A Prophet Family Home Evening

President Monson is celebrating his birthday in August, so I thought it would be a great idea to learn a little more about our living prophet this month. I found this great lesson at Family Home Evening Planner and pretty much just followed their plan. The Bingo game was a hit (maybe because we used Smarties to cover our squares?!), but we also learned a lot about President Monson.

A favorite game at our house is "Where's the Prophet?" I printed off a picture of President Monson and glued it to a piece of cardboard from a cereal box to make it more sturdy. Hide the picture (we usually hide it someplace close and simple, like behind our backs or under a nearby couch cushion). Then sing these words to the tune of Are you sleeping?

Where's the prophet? Where's the prophet? (hiding the prophet)
Here he is. Here he is. (show the picture of the prophet)
His name is President Monson. His name is President Monson.
We love him. We love him.

This is a great simple game for the little one's to help them recognize our living prophet. I originally saw this idea on Sugardoodle.net here and here a few years when I was serving in the nursery. My nursery kids loved it, and now we play it regularly at home, usually after Family Home Evening.

On another note, I just had to share this funny mama moment. The Ant Bug has been singing "Are you sleeping?" quite a bit recently. She has changed the words a little bit in her version:

Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?
Brother John? Brother John?
Mommy bells are ringing. Mommy bells are ringing.
Ding, ding, dong. Ding, ding, dong.

I'm not sure what a mommy bell is, but it makes me smile every time she sings it.

Sunshine Days

"Find joy in your children. Don't over schedule them or yourself. You may not be able to take them on exotic vacations. It doesn't matter. When the day dawns bright and sunny, take an excursion to the canyon or the park. When it's cloudy and wet, read a book together or make something good to eat. Give them time to explore and learn about the feel of grass and wiggliness of worms." (p. 36)

Marjorie Pay Hinckley, Small and Simple Things (2003), 31.


Mondays are usually my days to stay home and work hard (laundry, recover from the weekend, etc). I had a pretty good list of things to do today. But this morning the "day dawn(ed) bright and sunny". I realized that my laundry would wait, but my little girls are growing up quickly before my eyes. So we packed a picnic lunch, slathered on the sun screen and headed out to enjoy the water and the sunshine together.

We had a lovely time, and it was time well spent!

(As a side note--I got my laundry done too.)

To Mothers

Sometime past my mother-in-law sent me this great card for Mother's Day. I loved it and held on to it to remind myself that being a mother requires an extraordinary set of skills.


I also loved this latest sweet Mormon Message.

To my own mother, thank you for being my mom! I love you!

To the many mothers I know, thank you for magnifying your role as a mother. You are truly magnificent and I learn so much from you.

"Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels." (First Presidency Statement in Conference Report, Oct 1942, 761.)

Walk Tall, You're a Daughter

I think (and worry!) a lot about being a mother: Why aren't my children sleeping through the night? Are we eating enough healthy foods? How can we have meaningful Family Home Evening, prayers and scripture study? How do I encourage my children to be nice to each other? Discipline? Time outs? My list of questions goes on...So four years after the birth of my first child I've given up on being a perfect mother--I'll happily settle for "good mother".

Last week I finished reading The Last Lecture. Since then I've been reflecting again on the legacy I am leaving for my children. When it comes down to it, am I really teaching them the most essential of life's lessons?

My ultimate wish for my children is that they will be happy, good people who treat others with kindness. I want them to know that they are children of a loving father in heaven.

Remember this song from the 80s?

Walk Tall, You're a Daughter of God
Right now I have a prayer deep within my heart.
A prayer for each of you there is a special part
That you remember who you are and Him who lives above
Please seek for Him and live His way;
You'll feel His love.
(Chorus)
Walk tall you're a daughter, a child of God.
Be strong, please remember who you are.
Try to understand, you're part of His great plan.
He's closer than you know, reach up,
He'll take your hand.

I often sing this song to my girls at bedtime. We listen to it on CD in the car, along with countless primary songs. Every so often as I drive, I am struck again by the message. As a lump rises in my throat and my eyes glisten, I am humbled by the responsibility I have as a mother, to be entrusted with these sweet spirits.

Long before the time you can remember,
Our father held you in His arms so tender.
Those loving arms released you as He sent you down to earth.
He said, "My child, I love you,
don't forget your great worth."
(chorus)

I love to hear the four-year-old Ant Bug singing along. At some point I hope she will understand the lesson behind the words she is singing.

This life on earth we knew would not be easy.
At times we lose our way, His path we may not see.
But please remember, always, please, that you are not alone.
He'll take your hand, He loves you.
He will guide you home.

Walk tall you're a daughter, a child of God.

Be strong, please remember who you are.
Try to understand, you're part of His great plan.
He's closer than you know, reach up,
He'll take your hand.

Now I know why my own mother loved to hear me sing this song as a teenager. The important lesson she was teaching me is now the lesson that I am teaching to my children.

My Crock Pot Saves the Day

I love my Crock Pot. I really do.

I am a woman who loves routine and order. I like to eat dinner with my family at the same time everyday (5:45 pm in case you're curious). Using my Crock Pot is the only way I can make that happen consistently. I use it once or twice a week (and then we usually eat leftovers once or twice a week).

The biggest benefit to me is being able to prepare dinner at a much more convenient time earlier in the day. In other words: when my children are not hungry or tired. I've learned that 5pm is not a good time to try to cook a meal and only partially pay attention to my children.

So my Crock Pot has saved the day on countless days.

I make quite a few different chicken recipes. This is one of our favorites that I modified from the family cookbook.

Chicken Stuffing in a Pot
2 chicken breasts, frozen
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
2 Tb. orange juice
1 cup dressing mix (like Stove Top-I stock up during the holidays when it's on sale)
1/4 cup butter
Mix cream of chicken soup with sour cream. Add orange juice. Pour over frozen chicken in Crock Pot. Sprinkle dressing mix on top. Melt and drizzle butter on top. Cook on high for 3 hours. Serve with rice.

Here's another good one.

Cranberry Chicken
8 oz. bottle of French salad dressing
1 can of cranberry sauce
1 packet onion soup mix
Mix the above, then pour over 2-4 chicken breasts, frozen. Cook on high for 3 hours or low for longer. Serve with rice.

This is a great recipe from my friend Janene.

Italian Chicken Bowties
1 pkg. Italian dressing seasoning
1 pkg. cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk
1 large chicken breast, frozen
Mix dressing, cream cheese, soup, and milk in mixer until well blended. Pour over chicken in Crock Pot. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Serve over one box of bow tie noodles.

The simplest recipe ever. We had it last night.

Barbecue Chicken
1-2 chicken breasts
1 (18 ounce) jar barbecue sauce
hamburger buns
Put the the chicken in the pot and pour the sauce over top. Cook until the chicken is tender, shred, then serve on hamburger buns.

I love being able to put frozen chicken straight into the Crock Pot!

Another favorite at our house is Crock Pot lasagna. It's not your typical lasagna so don't expect that, but it's a nice noodles and cheese and sauce combo.

And did you know you can cook baked potatoes in the Crock Pot? I didn't until a few months ago, but I tried it and they turned out great!

Looking for more CrockPot recipes? This lady used her Crock Pot every day for one year, so she has plenty of recipes to share.

What do you make in your Crock Pot?

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Off the subject, but I had to share a nice Mama Moment.

Yesterday at lunch the Ant Bug turned to me and said "When I grow up I will try to be a good mom like you". My heart melted--all my efforts are not in vain!

Mama in Training

Recently the Ant Bug and I had a conversation about mothers.

Ant Bug: "I want to be a mommy when I grow up."

Nurture Mama: "How do you learn how to be a mommy?"

Ant Bug: "You just grow up, and then you know how to be a mommy."

So until my little girls grow up, we are training to develop some of the most commonly used mommy skills.

Making lunch

Reading to children

Cleaning house

Baking

Occasionally getting dressed up

Doing the laundry

Multitasking: Holding a baby while blogging or checking email

Home repairs

And the most important skill of all: nurturing your babies.

Happy Birthday Ant Bug!

Not only are we celebrating Christmas today, we also get to celebrate the fourth birthday of our sweet Ant Bug.

"The important thing about Four is that you are bigger than you were before.

Now at Four,
you can open the door.

You’ve grown a lot,
you’ll grow some more.

You can blink and think
as quick as a wink.

You can open your eyes
to a world of surprise.

You can run and race
everywhere.

You can sing and fling
your arms in the air.

But the important thing about Four is that you are bigger than you were before."

Taken from Another Important Book, by Margaret Wise Brown.

How do you spend your time?

An article highlighted in the recent BYU Magazine gave me something to think about:

"A recent study by Joseph P. Price (BA ’03), a BYU economics assistant professor, is waking up parents with his finding that, by and large, firstborn children get about 3,000 more hours of parental time between the ages of 4 and 13 than second-borns. In an article published in the Journal of Human Resources, he says that while parents may spend equal time with each child on any given day, they tend to spend progressively less total time with their children as their parenting years advance. As the amount of parenting time gets smaller, the second child garners less total time.

"Price explains what typically happens in families: “As your firstborn gets older, reading to him starts to drop off. You say, ‘Oh, he knows how to read now; I don’t need to read to him.’ But at the same time you stop reading to your firstborn, you read less to your second-born, who is younger. Also, as the firstborn gets older, you start to watch more television with him, which means you’re watching more television with your second-born when he’s at a younger age.

"In other words, the second-born gets sucked into whatever the firstborn is doing. And so, unfortunately, he loses out on reading and gets more TV."

I have to admit, I'm guilty as charged. From day one, I was reading books to the Ant Bug. Reading 2-3 books before sleep has always been a key element of our bedtime routine. I'm sure this has been a factor in her prolific verbal abilities. In addition, she's always been on the short end of the scale when it comes to sleep duration, so we had plenty of hours in the day to fill up with enlightening activities like story time, music time, and school time.

And now we have our Sweet Bee, just over a year old. If we're lucky to have Dad home at bedtime, then he reads books with her while I get the Ant Bug ready for bed (but this has only been a recent development). And she is a really good napper! But unfortunately, that means that her awake time usually corresponds with meal times (preparation, eating, cleaning) and errand times (shopping, etc). Which doesn't leave much quality one-on-one time. Also, the Sweet Bee is much more easily entertained. For an extended period of time she will quite happily toddle all around the house, with something in hand and mouth, thrilled to be able to walk on her own two feet.

So is all hope lost, for any children after the first born? Hardly. Happy, successful people come from all walks of life, in any birth order.

But in the meantime, I'm rethinking my time spent with my most precious responsibility. And I'll be thinking of ways to discover more quality and quantity time with both of my sweet girls.

Take this informal time-use survey and judge if the time you spend with your children is both quantity and quality.

Birthday B

Happy First Birthday!

"The important thing
about being One
is that life
has just begun.

You can't quite talk.
You can't quite walk.
You've found your nose
and discovered your toes.
You've seen the moon and felt the sun.

But the most important thing about being One is that life has just begun."

Taken from Another Important Book, by Margaret Wise Brown.

Fleeting Moments

The B will be a year old in just a few days. She is sweet and soft and squishy. But I'm feeling a little nostalgic for the teeny baby days.

Quoting the wise words from The Fiddler on the Roof:

Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze

The other day the B and I sat on the floor trying on hand-me-down shoes from the Ant Bug. She isn't walking yet, so we haven't bothered with shoes before. As we finished our task and our attention was turned elsewhere for a few moments, I watched her crawl over to the shoes, pick one up, and hold it to her foot. I had to smile--she learns so quickly. The journey through childhood is amazing, and I am happy to catch the sweet moments.

Paper dolls

This was our art project for the other day.

My friend posted these cute paper dolls on her blog, so the Ant Bug and I gave it a try. She asked me to do the cutting, but she did the gluing and the decorating. I love the lopsided eyes and smiles. You can make your own using this pattern.

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The Ant Bug made the following comment while playing with dolls in her bedroom:

"Mom, it's great having you in our family."

Oh, how I love my family!

Hair, Hair, Hair

One of my favorite blogs to visit is She Does Hair. Blackeyedsue has wonderful ideas for styling girls hair. I've been having fun in the last few months experimenting with the Ant Bug's hair.

The first one we tried was the Puffy Braid.


One of our favorite styles is Smocking. Here is one variation that we tried.



Last Sunday we went with the Loop-de-loop. Sorry about the less than great pictures, but that's what we have.


This morning before Joy School we had a few extra minutes for hair, so the Ant Bug ended up with Lattice Ponytails. Unfortunately, she ran out the door before I took a picture, so I'll try to get one this afternoon and post it later.

Of course, the B always looks adorable with her Antennae Style bug ponytails.

Luckily, the Ant Bug is usually pretty patient with my styling endeavors. She does have her days of simple one or two ponytails on top, or just down with a clip. Next up I'm going to start experimenting with Knots.

I have to admit that I really love Mondays.

It's true.

In the last few months as we have adjusted to the sweet addition to our family, my life has fallen into a nice rhythm where Monday's usually turn out great. Here's why:

Monday is my "recover from the weekend and put the house back in order and clean the house as much as possible" day. I don't know about you, but after a Saturday and a Sunday where we break from our daily routine, my house is usually a disaster that needs some serious recovery. To ensure this recovery, I plan to stay home on Monday. Wherever possible I avoid scheduling appointments or play dates or any place I have to be.

Monday is my laundry day. I don't have a set day for washing whites or colors (I just wash them as needed), but I always know that on Mondays I am washing sheets and towels and dishrags--basically all of my linens. I get started right after breakfast. I wash the sheets first so I can get them back on the beds before the day is too late. I always just put the same set of sheets back on the beds, because I detest folding fitted sheets (mine always end up in an awkward, lumpy, somewhat resemblance of a square).

I'm not one of those women who clean house after the children are in bed, minimizing interruptions. Minimizing interruptions might would be nice, but kid sleep time equals my time, and I don't want to spend it cleaning. The one exception to this is mopping my tile floor--I don't try to do that with a crawling baby in the room, since the poor B slips and slides all over the wet floor. Consequently, I clean during the daytime and the Ant Bug cleans with me. Or, she dances and sings and runs circles around me while I clean. But that is fine with me. For some reason, Monday's are magical because her patience for cleaning on that day is much greater than any other day of the week. Maybe it's because she loves routine as much as I do and is happy to be at home and doing normal things after our sometimes irregular weekend?

The B usually does her part by napping extra long after a fatiguing Sunday at church with missed naps. Today she napped a total of over three and a half hours!

So what did we get done today? 2 loads of laundry, vacuumed downstairs and up, made two loaves of Friendship bread, put toys and clothes and papers in their place, and made a quick trip to the store. The Ant Bug and I even had time to do some building with Jenga blocks and made some paper farm tools for the "pretend Farmer Brown and Mrs. Farmer Brown". She was very diligent in feeding and watering the pretend cow and horse and pig and duck.

The girls and I usually do end up leaving the house at some point, usually just a quick trip to the store or a walk around the neighborhood, because who likes to be cooped up inside all day?

And then after dinner we spend time as a family in Family Home Evening. With young children, our lessons are pretty brief. Tonight we used this activity from The Friend, and were surprised at how many animals are mentioned in the Book of Mormon.

At the end of the day, I curl up in my comfy bed with clean smelling sheets. That's where I'm headed right now.

Happy Monday to you.

Best Ever

A slice of our dinner conversation at our home last night.


Ant Bug: "Dad, you're the best dad ever. And mom, you're the best mom ever."

It was a nice moment. Parenting does have its rewards!

Special Snuggly Blankets

One tradition I have wanted to adopt for my children is their own special snuggly blanket. The only problem is that I am not much of a sewer, so taking on a project like sewing a quilt is a little bit daunting. Thankfully, when the Ant Bug was about 6 months old, my talented sister-in-law walked me through the process of making a baby quilt. Here is the finished product:


The Ant Bug has loved it, and she still sleeps with it every night. In her words, this is how she feels about her special blanket: "gdnbvcnvhvlffgfkkfjfmfmjff,jfmj,,gh,h';jj;h;h'h;j"H'j;j'hljkjkhgkjhjgkjgjghjhghjghjkhjhgyth;hg;h.lhglhlhlhlhlhlghl./
dnmbdndnmfnmfghfgbfhfjghjgjhmfggmgjjgghhjhjkgnmm;kklolhkhghkj"


Now that we live in Florida, I knew I was on my own to make a quilt for the B. Using the previous quilt as my pattern, and thanks to my good friend who loaned me her sewing machine, I was able to make a quilt. Now, I am really not a seamstress, and I wouldn't want anyone to look too closely at my stitches, but it turned out decently well.

And she seems to like it!

Snakes

Ant Bug: "What if we had a real snake in our house?"

Nurture Mama: "Hmmm. I don't know. What would we do?"

Ant Bug: " We would have to get a new house. The snake could have this one."

Wouldn't it be nice if the answers to all of life's questions were so obvious!

Lullabies

Last week the Ant Bug and I were sorting through some music CDs when we discovered a special lullaby CD. Just prior to the birth of our first child, the Dad and I put together a CD of calming music to play for our little babies. Many of the songs are not technically lullabies, but they are songs that are soothing for us. Some of the songs we included were:

Ashokan Farewell, Fiddle Fever
Blackbird, The Beatles
Lullabye, Peter Breinholt
Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel), Billy Joel
The Voice, Octapella
When You're Alone, John Williams

But our very favorite lullabies come from Alison Krauss. Here are the words:

Slumber, My Darling
Slumber, my darling, thy mother is near,
Guarding thy dreams from all terror and fear,
Sunlight has pass'd and the twilight has gone,
Slumber, my darling, the night's coming on.

Sweet visions attend thy sleep,
Fondest, dearest to me,
While others their revels keep,
I will watch over thee.

Slumber, my darling, the birds are at rest,
The wandering dews by the flow'rs are caressed,
Slumber, my darling, I'll wrap thee up warm,
And pray that the angels will shield thee from harm.

Slumber, my darling, till morn's blushing ray
Brings to the world the glad tidings of day;
Fill the dark void with thy dreamy delight—
Slumber, thy mother will guard thee tonight,

Thy pillow shall sacred be
From all outward alarms;
Thou, thou are the world to me
In thine innocent charms.

Slumber, my darling, the birds are at rest,
The wandering dews by the flow'rs are caressed,
Slumber, my darling, I'll wrap thee up warm,
And pray that the angels will shield thee from harm.

Oddly enough, we didn't end up playing the CD very much for our little baby. But the Ant Bug is loving it now, and has fallen asleep listening to it every night for the past week. This morning she came in to our room laughing and talking about the "back back lie" song. Translation? "Blackbird fly". The Dad and I told her what the song was really saying, but she still insisted on her version. It's much more fun.

The Night of 1000 Wake-ups

Last night felt like a night of 1000 wake-ups. My sweet B was suffering from a number of irritations: teething and runny nose, numerous mosquito bites, and undoubtedly a headache from the bump she received from a toy carelessly dropped on her head by her sister. I'm sure all of this conspired to give her a very fitful sleep, with wakings every hour all night long. Not to mention two night-wakings from the Ant Bug tossed into the mix, and the result is one grumpy Mama.

But around 3 a.m., as my patience had nearly reached its limit, I thought again of Elder Holland's words and had to smile. I began debating the size of the shadows under my eyes: certainly bigger than Rhode Island, probably more like Michigan or Minnesota. And I was grateful once again for inspiring, uplifting words.


That is why I have started this blog. To nurture myself and you in all of our mama moments.

Becoming Mama

The Ant Bug has recently started calling me Mama. I used to be called Mommy or Mom. For awhile she repeatedly inquired "what does Daddy call you?" until she learned my real name. But now she calls me Mama. Is it because we live in the south? I'm not sure what prompted the shift. But I like it.

"Watch this, Mama!"
"Mama, will you help me with my shoes?"
"I love you, Mama."