Purpose

We're still here, and we're still teaching the cutie pants 2 year old to potty in the toilet. It's going quite well, despite the fact that we've had at least 1 accident a day. (I won't give you the gory details.) It's amazing how time consuming it can be to make sure DD1 doesn't mess her pants. Today has been great though; no accidents, and we even made a trip to the library with panties on!

Last Sunday in church we sang the song that is really the purpose behind this blog. I thought I'd share the words. :)

Home can be a Heaven on earth when we are filled with love,
bringing happiness and joy, rich blessings from above.
Warmth and kindness, charity. Safety and security.
Making home a part of Heaven, where we want to be.

Drawing family near each week we'll keep love burning bright.
Serving Him with cheerful hearts, we'll grow in truth and light.
Parents teach and lead the way, children honor and obey
Reaching for our home in heaven, where we want to stay.

Praying daily in our home, we'll feel his love divine.
Searching scriptures faithfully, we'll nourish heart and mind.
Singing hymns of thanks, we'll say, "Father, help us find the way.
Leading to our home in heaven, where we long to stay."

Another day

Potty Training is having its ups and downs. I am NOT ready to give up, though the toddler wanted to wear a diaper today. She's READY. I just need to be patient.

In the meantime, read THIS post from Untypically Jia. She has a great blog. I wish I had written this post!

No time to blog

We (meaning me) are teaching the 2 year old to use the potty. Nuf said.

Healthier Homemade Chicken Nugget

One thing I don't enjoy about a lot of quick meal plans is the use of frozen, processed foods. Not that those foods are tasty, but they are expensive (and I'm not a couponer) and exceedingly unhealthy! Unfortunately, the toddler LOVES chicken Nuggets. I bought some on sale once, and she ate them everyday for lunch for an entire week. Right then I decided that frozen processed foods are not going to be a regular occurence on my menu, so I came up with an alternative I'd love to share:

Homemade, extremely yummy, and much more healthy Chicken Nuggets. You need about 20 minutes, depending on how big a batch you want to make. You can make a ton and freeze, or keep in your fridge, or just make enough for lunch/dinner. The recipe would make enough for 4 people at least!

Ingredient:
4 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed into 1-2 inch pieces.
1 cup (ish) Italian bread crumbs (You can use regular, but I like the seasonings.)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese.
1/3 cup Olive oil (or canola, still pretty healthy.

Directions:

Mix bread crumbs and Parm cheese in a tupperware container (with lid. Sometimes I soak my chicken pieces in milk before adding it to the mixture, but you don't have to. Add the chicken and shake shake shake.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a skillet. You want it to be about 1/8 inch covering the bottom of the pan. Make sure the oil is hot before adding the chicken, or the chicken will soak up too much oil. I use a little lower than medium-high temperature. If it's too hot, the outsides of the chicken will burn and the inside will be raw.

Once the oil is hot, drop your chicken in one piece at a time. Cook 1-2, minutes, turn and cook 2 more minutes. Really, you want each side to be golden brown.

Remove chicken from pan and place on paper-towel lined plate (to absorb extra oil).

You may have to fry the chicken in separate batches, depending on how big your skillet is.

I think these taste great with no sauce, or even on a salad! YUM! DD dips hers in ranch!

GratiTUDES-Day

I know I know, it's a cheesy title. But THIS article from the March Ensign had me wanting to do something to improve my attitude for gratitude. So, I invite you to join me in Gratitude today. You can leave the link to you blog post, I'd love to see what you are grateful for in your life. (Feel free to copy my outline, or come up with your own!)

1. Today I am thankful that I have two arms to carry my little ones.
2. This week I noticed the Lord's hand in my life when despite my fatigue, I was able to joyfully care for my children without being grumpy with them!
3. Three specific blessings I am grateful for are The Atonement of Jesus Christ, my children, and the Temple.

Leave your blog address as a comment and I'll be sure to check you out! :)

My new favorite blog.

Ok, I'll admit it. I LOVE to cook. Making good food for the people I love, or even just for myself, is a delightful experience. So imagine my joy at finding THIS blog. I mean, how awesome is this? In fact, she is my hero. I had tried doing this before, categorizing meals, writing lists and prices and recipes. But I haven't. I'm almost glad I didn't because Let Me Plan Dinner is AMAZING! Check it out!

Family Night Monday

Here is the family night lesson for this week:
Family Home Evening Outline


Opening Song: Let us oft speak kind words
Opening Prayer:

Agenda:
1. Family Gratitude Journal (Every week we begin by writing something that each person is grateful for)
2. Lesson: “Let us oft speak kind words to each other”
Opening: What kind of words should we say to each other? (List words)
Talk about using kind words, giving compliments,
*While the little ones draw on the word list, Read “Tongue of Angels” by Elder Holland
*Each person make a goal of how we can speak more kindly
*Heart Chart. This is a chart that Says "Let us oft speak kind words to eachother and has heart all around it. Throughout the week, whenever anyone says a kind word or speaks in a kind tone, they get to fill in a heart. The goal is to have all the hearts filled in by next week. (Let me know if you want me to email the one I made to print out, I'd be glad to

3. *Family Cultural Activity: Classical music (Dad chooses), and play instruments or sing together.

Closing Song: Love is Spoken Here

Closing Prayer:
*Every week we try to have a cultural experiences: art, good music, poetry, literature, etc. It's a lot of fun!

D week Learning Activities

D week!

DD1 Has a hard time with D, she always calls it B. We're just working on capital letters right now, but I'm excited! I'm going to try this on a Daily Schedule:

Monday:
Introduce Letter D with big foam letter. (If you don't have foam letters, you can just print off a big Letter D). Have her use beans to put all around the outside of the letter D.
Scripture Verse: 2 Ne 4:15 My soul delighteth in the scriptures
Number 4: draw, sort beans used in above activity into groups of 4

Tuesday:
Use play dough to make letter D. (She loved this, so we're doing it again.) Also, we'll try and sculpt a dinosaur!
Practice scripture verse & 2nd Article of Faith
Play connect 4

Wednesday:
Story time at the Library

Thursday:
Dinosaur day. Read: How do Dinosaurs clean their rooms, and How do Dinosaurs play with their friends. Also read a non-fiction picture book about Dinosaurs.

Friday: Fun-filled Friday! Dance DAY! Stay tuned on Thursday for Details! It's going to be a blog hop!

An important message

As a mother of daughters, I am often concerned with how I will teach them to live virtuous lives.

I think THIS talk by President Monson will be a great guide to me

Childbirth

I think I've been avoiding this topic for a while. Like since I typed up DD2's birth story. (found HERE)

Recently I've wondered why I wanted to have a natural childbirth. What WAS I thinking? Why would anyone do that? It's insane! Then I read a birth story (this friend had an epidural and had a great birth, which is wonderful!) and I remembered a few things.

First, I was in charge of my birth. I got to decide to break my water (which sped things up ALOT! YAY!) I got to move, eat, drink, bathe, squat, and do whatever I wanted to help me cope with the intensity of my labor. It really wasn't horrible...until I started pushing. That was torture. But it's fuzzy now.

After DD2 was born, I IMMEDIATELY held her. Oddly enough, I find it so tragic to read stories of babies being born and then, for no medical reason, being whisked away for 10 minutes, receiving stinging eye drops, being wiped down and wrapped up, and then handed to their mothers. That's what happened with DD1. I Just. Wanted. To. Hold. Her. With DD2, our immediate contact is what made everything worth it. I LOVE that memory of holding her, nursing her for 30 minutes, and then being willing to let her go with the nurse and her dad to get cleaned up. But even still, she was gone for 2 hours after that. I wanted her back.

So, I guess my reasons for natural childbirth have evolved. I don't think the actual exerience of giving birth was any more fulfilling by doing it naturally, but I relished the feeling of control, and I treasure the memories of holding my sweet, brand new baby right up to me.

I have 3 sisters...

….Well, actually I have 6, 3 from my mom and 3 from other moms. But this post is just about 3 of them.

My oldest sister is a gem. She is beautiful and kind. Her quest for perfection leaves her a bit disappointed at times, but not because she isn’t wonderful. It’s more that she is very hard on herself. This dear one longs to have one of the greatest blessings; that of eternal marriage. Yet, despite how wonderful a wife she would be, for some reason this blessing has not yet been realized.

The next sister, who I also love dearly, received some devastating news 2 years ago. She found out that she would not bear children in this life. When she told me the news I cried for her. I had just had my own dear daughter and I partly worried she would hate me, but mostly worried that this trial was too much to ask. Fortunately I was wrong to worry about either of those.

I have already written about my 3rd sister, whose sweet Scotlin went to Heaven 3 months ago today. I think about him every day, I think about her every day. I hold my Sweet C and wonder why God chose to take her baby when I get to keep mine. I don’t really understand it. It doesn’t make sense.

None of it really makes any sense to me. WHY do my dear sisters have to go through these trials? Why are their arms & hearts aching for what Heavenly Father has withheld? How can I begin to understand what they are going through?

Elder Maxwell once said that “why” is really an expression of resentment. I don’t resent Heavenly Father. In fact, I feel that the fact that my sisters are facing these trials shows that Heavenly Father trusts them. Nor am I worried that He doesn’t trust me, as my life is fairly easy right now. I know that my trials will come. And when they do, I know that my sisters will wrap their arms around me and cry with me.

It has been amazing though. Even though she is unmarried, Staci serves and loves and lives a full life. She isn’t putting things off, but seems determined to prove to herself that she is worthy of all the blessings Heavenly Father has in store for her. Julie has transformed into this powerful, faithful woman. She still has bad days, but she knows that through the blessing of adoption, her family will be created, and that she will not miss out on any experience that is important to her. Whitney is also a wonder. I know she hates it when people tell her how strong she is. I know she has days when she falls apart and her arms ache to hold her dear Son. I know she doesn’t know WHY this happened. But she knows that it will be alright.

I love my 3 sisters, (and the other 3 too). And I know that God has a plan for each of us. He also has a gift: Eternal life. And if we can love each other and endure, we will receive all that he has in store for us!

The Gift of Giving life

A friend's story was featured on this blog. I liked it, so I wanted to share. It is true that God gives us charge of these little ones, and He will help us. "I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."