It's pretty clean...right?

If you walk in my kitchen right you'd think it was clean. It's not spotless by any stretch of the imagination...but it's mostly clean. Cluttered...but clean. (Did I drive that home yet?)

Yeah...so not my kitchen.

I was in the middle of patting myself on the back for being able to wake up to a clean kitchen...and then I got into the freezer.

The freezer handle (it's the drawer kind) is sticky. It's probably jelly (the boys love jelly). If you look under the stove there's a small toy/dirt collection. I don't want to talk about under the fridge!

So I got to thinking...isn't life like that sometimes?

We think things are fine as long as we don't dig deeper and don't really evaluate ourselves. If we stay on the surface and just "get by" we're convinced that everything is just fine. It isn't until we take a good, hard look at ourselves that we realize we still have dirt in the corners and messy areas that need to be cleaned.

Today I'll be cleaning hidden areas...both literally and figuratively. What areas will you be cleaning?

Funny Friday: Week Recap

Having a verbal toddler can be REALLY trying sometimes. (I swear if I get told "No, I can't!!" one more time....) But occasionally he's really hilarious. Here are highlights from my Facebook this week! (By the way, click that and be my friend!)

Franklin found a fly that can't fly...this leads to things like this:
"He just walking, Mommy. Look."
and
"The fly's walking on me! Look look! He's walking on me"


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Franklin just put on a pair of fleece pj pants and is now walking around saying "Whew. It's hot in here. Whew."

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I might have made a mistake when I asked Franklin yesterday if the fly was his friend...
Why? Because it's sort of creepy to hear your toddler say, "I gotta kill my friend." 

In other fly news: "He fly up the sky and he come back down and he can die."


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It's wayy too early for me to be decoding Franklin speak...
*points at TV* "Mommy, that's sexy crock!"

WHAT? We're watching Veggie Tales.

"Mommy, that's 6 o'clock!!!"

Ohhhhh Where's my coffee??

Just Take The Compliment

Does this sound familiar?

"Your hair looks great today!"
"Thanks. I only had 10mins to fix it."

"I love that shirt!"
"Thank you. I found it in the back of the closet."

"You did great."
"Yeah, but I could have..."

?

It's called Deflecting. I'm awful about it. I just cannot take a compliment! A friend of mine said she feels like a snob if she doesn't deflect. I can relate. I also feel like I have to immediately compliment the person back or I'm being rude.

So I'm giving myself a Challenge and I want YOU to join me! It's the Just Take The Compliment Challenge! We'll begin Sunday (ooh...church is full of nice people!) and "end" on Saturday, but I'm hoping you don't stop doing it.

How do you do it? When someone compliments you you're going to follow these steps:
- Smile
- Say "Thank you" or an equivalent
- Stop Talking

It sounds easy right? So why not join us? Click HERE to join the event on Facebook!

Does This Mean War?

Sigh. By now everyone has heard about the TIME cover with the mom breastfeeding her 3 year old.

I'm not here to talk about that directly...I've said enough on Facebook.

I'm here to talk about Mommy Wars.

Moms know what I'm talking about here. At least, you should. Have you ever felt judged for your parenting choice? Then you've been part of a Mommy War. It's a stupid thing that pits mothers against each other. Stay at home moms against working moms. Home schooling moms against public schooling moms. Breastfeeders against formula feeders (shouldn't we be glad baby was FED?).

There are even factions within each of these. Fellow breastfeeding moms will turn on each other when asked "How old is too old?" Some home schooling parents feel like a certain STYLE of home schooling is superior. Are you a mom that WORKS at HOME? Chances are you've felt slighted by working and non working moms alike.

Why do we do this?

Being a mother is HARD. Making decisions for your child is HARD. I remember not wanting to admit to anyone that I'd weaned my first son at *gasp* 15 months instead of letting HIM decide. I struggle with giving advice about home schooling because my son actually enjoys structured activities and some parents are against that.

We should support each other. We should hold each other up as awesome because we're all in the same Mommy Tribe. But we don't. We judge. We gossip. We turn up our noses at those that parent differently from us when we should embrace differences as a learning experience (even if it's how you DON'T want to do something). We should base our friendships on whether personalities click and not on whether mom pulls out a breast or bottle to feed her child.

TIME, I take offense to the idea that only those that are "Mom Enough" choose attachment parenting. There is no check-list that makes you the perfect attachment parent. I'm not even crazy about the TERM attachment parent. It pushes parents that don't practice out as "not as attached" to their children when, frankly, that isn't the case.

So stop the Mommy Wars. Find something else to disagree about. Parenting is hard enough.

Chores On Their Own!

I've written before on chores and listed the chores my son did at the time.

A lot of that went out the window when the new baby was born. (Honestly, a lot of housework did!)

The boys surprised me the other day!


I heard Franklin (3yo) messing around in the dishwasher and I asked what he was doing. His response was "I just cleaning." I came around the corner to find him unloading the dishwasher! I helped him with the high/sharp things but that was it.

The next day he did it again. This time he enlisted the help of his younger brother. He handed Jonathan plastic things to put in the cabinet and showed him how to put the silverware in the drawer. I was BLOWN AWAY.

But he wasn't done!

I'd told him earlier in the day that we needed to clean up the living room if he wanted his dog to come inside to play.

After unloading the dishes he walked into the living room and started putting big things (toys, blankets, etc) on the couch. He called to me, "Help me clean a little bit, Mommy!" So I brought a small trashcan in to help him pick up trash and then I vacuumed. Of course the dog got to come inside to play!


Ack. When did my baby get so big?? Sigh.


And now for cute pictures!

3 years old

16 months

I'm linking up with the MOB Society

"Making Time For God" is SILLY!

I love Blimey Cow. If you haven't been introduced to this group you're missing out.

They did a video recently on "Making Time For God"... can a humorous video step on your toes?





I love this line: "If you're a Christian and your spiritual life is confined to 15 minutes in the morning...you're doing it wrong."


It's true though. How many of us make a resolution to "make more time for God" each year? When did spending time with our Creator become something we had to schedule? We should be spending so much time with Him that we have to pencil everything else in!

Linking Up!

Twas 2 Days Till Easter...

...and I have nothing planned!!

Seriously, we usually spend Easter visiting somewhere. We've never "done Easter" just as our own family unit.

Is it weird that I'm a bit freaked out?

This is how I feel inside

We have NO family traditions for this holiday. I'm building them totally from scratch...and it's sort of too late to buy stuff like eggs to hide or baskets right? (Not that they need the candy anyway...I could hide empty eggs and they'd be thrilled)


What are your Easter Traditions? Maybe you'll inspire me!

Pro-Ana (websites)

I truly don't remember what I searched in Yahoo! to bring up these pages. I just know that I searched *something* related to eating disorders and it brought up a pro-ana site. I felt like Alice falling down the rabbit hole into an entirely new world...

Read more at my Fitness Blog! If you're a parent YOU NEED THIS POST!!!

Do You Believe In Magic?

Quote from "Hat Trick" episode. Once Upon A Time

I heard that quote on Once Upon A Time (TV Show) and something about it resonated with me.

Yes, the quote talks about MAGIC. However, you could easily make this about God...

"You know what the issue with this world is? Everybody wants a Godly solution to their problems, but no one wants to believe in Him."

So many times we want God to step in and just FIX our lives but we don't actually believe He can do it. We don't believe that He can find us a job or heal what doctors have said is hopeless. We don't want to just give him our problems because we have to try to help God.

Today I'm going to spend time in prayer giving God my problems. I'll be honest, I'll probably have to start by asking Him to HELP ME let go. Will you join me?

Give Her Something To Eat

Luke 8:40-56 (I cut the middle out...that's for a different post!)


Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him.  
Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.  
While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”  
Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”
When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother.  
Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.”  
They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.  But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!”  Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.  Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.

I have so many thoughts on this passage...

- The quote from Jesus "Don't be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed" is SO powerful. Just believe. Just. Believe. I can't say it enough. That is ALL we need for healing. Believe that Jesus WILL.

- I think it's interesting that He didn't let everyone go in...he took a few disciples and the girl's parents.

- Jesus told them to give her something to eat. This verse has SO much impact on me. When I was still recovering from my eating disorder my husband and I came across this verse during a Bible study. Why was it emphasized to give her food? It MUST be important or it wouldn't be recorded.

This is an open ended post. I want YOUR thoughts below!