MamaGrizzly

I just came across this video on YouTube - it’s a MUST see for parents.  It is a reminder that you can tell your children all you want what they should do and how they should act - but what they will TRULY choose to do is copy your actions.  Our actions always speak much louder than our words. 

I had the honor and privilege of attending the funeral for the wife of one of my co-workers. I’m sad to say I didn’t know her - but she sounds like someone I would have admired greatly! About 10 years ago, she had (I believe) a perforated colon. This problem led to 10 years of hospital stays - 17 surgeries in all - 2 of which were amputating one of her legs. She couldn’t seem to rid herself of infection and in the end, she suffered a stroke at the young age of 56 - she left behind an adoring and faithful husband and a beautiful young college aged daughter. I cried through out much of the service. My husband and I have always felt that the only REAL problems in life are related to health - everything else is just a hiccup. Without your health, or the health of your loved ones, life can be very difficult.

What was the most touching part of this woman’s life was her superior attitude through out every thing that she endured - and her faith in God. She made jokes about losing her leg and made sure that nothing slowed her down. For her (and I feel the same way) - not ONLY was her glass half FULL, it was full of the most wonderful drink you could possibly have in a glass! But most importantly, she knew, and was prepared to spend eternity with her Saviour.

But, my heart ACHES for her daughter - for she will spend her entire adult life missing her Mom - wishing that she was there to share in all of the little joys of her life. I know all too well the pain associated with not being able to share your life’s up and downs with your Mom or your Dad. I wish I could tell her that one day her pain will go away - but, that simply isn’t the case. The only thing that does happen is that with time, the periods of grief grow farther and farther apart. You never know exactly when that moment of grief will strike though and my dear husband (who lost his Father in 1989) still to this day has moments where he breaks down and cries - the grief never goes away.

Funerals are always a reminder to me of exactly what matters in life - it’s our faith in God, our family, and the health of those we love. Everything ELSE in life is just fluff - it’s the icing on the cake.

This song has a lot of special meaning to me - meaning to me as a daughter and as the mother of a sweet little 2 year old girl. The Daddy daughter dynamic is something that simply can not be explained - it’s something to experience and witness. I’m so thankful that I can be a witness to the strong love and bond between my daughter and her Daddy - it’s precious and sweet - and can make me cry at any moment. I love the song below by Steven Curtis Chapman - and I can only wonder how much he must miss his sweet precious daughter Maria.

She spins and she sways
To whatever song plays
Without a care in the world
And I’m sitting here wearing
The weight of the world on my shoulders

It’s been a long day
And there’s still work to do
She’s pulling at me
Saying “Dad, I need you

There’s a ball at the castle
And I’ve been invited
And I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?”

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
‘Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don’t want to miss even one song
‘Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she’ll be gone…

She says he’s a nice guy and I’d be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of the dress
She says, “Dad, the prom is just one week away
And I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?”

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
‘Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don’t want to miss even one song
‘Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she’ll be gone

She will be gone

Well, she came home today with a ring on her hand
Just glowing and telling us all they had planned
She says, “Dad, the wedding’s still six months away
But I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?”

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
‘Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don’t want to miss even one song
‘Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she’ll be gone

My daughter has had some problems with eczema in the past - she’s only 2.5 but we’ve seen problems with eczema off and on since she was about 9 months.  Eczema can be a really difficult thing to troubleshoot with a child because often times, it’s caused by something the child eats.  I’ve talked to a Lot of parents who have children with eczema and the process of discovering the “trigger” was really difficult.  When she was about a year old, we took her to the doctor because we couldn’t stop the eczema symptoms any more with just a good moisturizer.  He prescribed a concoction mixed at the pharmacy of cetaphill and hydrocortisone.  It worked - the only problem was that if the rash got too bad, the “lotion potion” (my nickname for it) BURNED when it went on.  It was dreadful and so I was really searching for answers and praying that it wasn’t being caused by something she was eating.

Fortunately, the nurse at my doctor’s office has eczema and I had a long chat with her when my daughter was about 18 months.  The eczema flare ups were happening more often and the “PO PO” (my daughters nickname for the concoction) was really burning when we put it on.  She would cry and run from us as soon as she saw the bottle.  It broke our hearts and so I called the doctor’s office.  The nurse I spoke with has had eczema her entire life and she confirmed that the “PO PO” really can burn if the eczema flare up is too bad.  She recommended that I try using only Dove moisturizing soap in the bath tub.  As difficult as it was, we put away all of the VERY fun bubble baths and started mixing the Dove moisturizing liquid soap into the bath water every night.  Guess what?  She hasn’t had a flare up since and that’s been over 9 months!!!!

I’m here to tell you now that one of my best buys as a parent was the popsicle makers! About 2 years ago, when my son was 2, I was in search of a “healthy” and “affordable” popsicle at the grocery store. In my quest to find both, I got frustrated and decided to go online and see if I could find some popsicle makers.

Well, I had great success and bought popsicle makers like the picture shown. Let me tell you that my children LOVE them. And you know? I don’t mind how many of them they eat! I make them out of unsweetened apple juice, orange juice, Crystal Light Lemonade, and Cranberry juice. We ALL love them - my absolute favorite is the apple juice.

The coolest part though is that my children think they are REALLY getting a treat when they get them. And I make a big fuss too “Now, if I get you ANOTHER popsicle, you have to make SURE you eat your dinner.” (Dear husband looks at me with a funny look and I have to WINK at him so he understands what I mean.)

Anyway, it was a great purchase and I highly recommend it. Just make sure you buy enough popsicle makers so that your children can have 2 or 3 at a time and you don’t run out!

My family LOVES mashed potatos - and they love REAL mashed potatos - you know - peel the potatos, boil them, mash them with butter and milk?  Well, when I make them, I try to make a lot but when I have LEFTOVER mashed potatos, this recipe is an awesome use of the leftovers! 

INGREDIENTS

• ground beef, cooked and drained
• can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
• frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
• egg
• shredded Cheddar cheese
• hot homemade mashed potatoes

In a bowl, mix up the beef, soup, broccoli, and egg.  Stir in some cheese. Place in a greased pyrex dish.  In a bowl, combine potatoes with about a cup of cheese and mix well. Spread over the meat mixture. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for about 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

• Pasta (preferably WHEAT rotini)
• Chicken (2-3 breastfs)
• Frozen vegetables (I use peas and corn) you want very SMALL veggies - thawed
• Campbells Cream of mushroom soup (family size)
• Parmesan cheese
• milk

Still running on some Tulipgirl’s inspiration to write down recipes on my blog - YUMMY Enchiladas

Ingredients:

• chicken (2-3 chicken breasts)
• 1 can corn
• 1 can black beans
• 1 jar (LARGE) pimentos - diced
• yogurt (I use the fat free plain yogurt)
• LARGE tortillas - I use the wheat tortillas if I can get them
• Monterrey Jack cheese - i like the “spicey” with jalapenos

Cut up the chicken into small bite size pieces.  Cook in frying pan and season with chili powder or your favorite “SPICEY” seasoning.  In a colander, pour in the corn, black beans, and pimentos and drain.  Place in a bowl with the cooked chicken.  Combine the yogurt into the mixture to the desired “mix”. You can put some cheese into the mixture as well.  Put the mixture into the tortillas - I use the LaRGE tortillas and fill them to the max and then place them in a glass baking dish.  Cover and bake at 400 for 30 minutes.  Remove the cover and sprinkle grated cheese on top for another 5-8 minutes and then serve!

I like to serve it with chopped scallions and quartered cherry tomatos on top.  ENJOY!

NOTE:  This is an AWESOME make-ahead recipe.  I made this recipe this weekend and did all but bake in the oven.  I prepped everything on Sunday and then cooked it on a Tuesday.!

• Pasta - preferably whole wheat (any type of small pasta - rotini, bow tie
• cucumbers - chopped (I leave the skin on) sliced and quartered
• carrots - chopped
• cherry tomatoes - cut in half
• scallions - chopped
• Your favorite Greek or Balsamic Vinagrette dressing (Kraft makes an AWESOME Greek dressing)

• brocoli - chopped
• black olives- cut in half

I think we are the only family in the entire world that went to see WALL-E and left 25 minutes into it. We decided to go to our very first FAMILY movie outing a few weeks ago. We picked WALL-E because we have a 2 year old and a 4 year old and needed a movie that was rated G - WALL-E fit that. Fortunately, we went to our local theatre which is cheap - $2.75 for a matinee! It’s not stadium seating but I’m not paying $6.00 per person just for stadium seating - it’s not THAT much better.

But, going to the movies with 2 small children can be difficult the way the theatre’s are set up. We got our tickets and our popcorn and headed for our seats 5 minutes before the movie was scheduled to start. The BIGGEST problem is that we had to sit there and watch 30 minutes of commercials before WALL-E even started. My children aren’t used to commercials since we don’t have cable-tv and so they were frustrated with the commercials. But, FINALLY after 30 minutes of being bombarded with things we don’t want or need, WALL-E started. Now, by this time, the children were still eating their popcorn. But after 15 minutes, my 2 year old was up and ready to go for a walk. Five minutes after that, my 4 year old waas ready to go - and then 5 minutes later, my husband and I looked at each other because we too were bored with the movie. So, the 4 of us left and went window shopping.

Now, WALL-E might be a great movie - but when I see a movie rated “G”, I assume that it will be entertaining for any age. And, I guess I really expected a “grab-ya in the beginning” type movie since WALL-E is a Pixar movie.

But, we learned our lesson. I’m not sure when we’ll attempt our next big family movie - it will definitely be a long time from now. In the meantime, we’re enjoying our new “movie box” which I’ll tell you about in a future post!