Pleasing and Parenting

Something I struggle with now that I have a three year old, a strong-willed, stubborn, mini-me three year old!
Loving to please people and knowing when to be parent...

I think I get this face at least four times a day lately, tonight I even got the terrible 'I hate you' which when I asked her to repeat what she said, she said 'nothing'...

I love my daughter to pieces but my goodness she gives me a run for my money these days...you know the count to 10 before you say something type of conversation...yep she pushes me there.

She is ridiculously strong willed and VERY indpendent...some might even say she's me!

Sigh

I hate fighting, I really do, especially with my daughter who's 3...have I mentioned that...she's 3

Latest complaint is I never let her do anything, she tells me this at least 10 times a day while stomping off...'Mum you never let me do anything'

She's THREE!

I fear an insane asylum when she's a teenager, either that or jail for throttling her (only kidding).

Sigh

She is a good kid, really she is...compared to some 3 year olds I'd say she's pretty fantastic most of the time. When she's not telling me I'm the worst mummy in the world she gets awful cute and will say Mum I love you, to which I always say love you too...to which she then says love you three! Melts my heart <3

So when she asks for a ballon at Publix its hard to say no and watch the big crocodile tears fall from her face and hear but Mum I behave now...yes Kait but you didn't behave for the last 25mins...but I behave now Mum...makes me want to cry...makes me want to please...but I have to remember it's time to parent.

This stuff ain't easy...pleasing and parenting...

Wordless Wednesday...

Friday the hubby came home for a quick visit between contracts and we ran errands, had lunch and visited the pumpkin patch...when we got home we sat in the driveway and chatted watching the sun slowly sink in the sky and the kids play, well the big kid and dog play and the little kid sit, giggle and take in this crazy world...we caught a few moments on camera <3



Monday Menu

Monday:
Lunch- Baked Mac N Cheese
Dinner-Homemade Pizza with spinach and tomato

Tuesday:
Lunch- Brunch at MOPS
Dinner- Reverse Stuffed Pepper Casserole

Wednesday:
Lunch- Grilled Turkey and Cheese, side of applesauce
Dinner- Baked Eggplant Parmesan

Thursday:
Lunch- Chicken Ceasar Salad
Dinner- Scrambled eggs, beef bacon and toast

Friday:
Lunch- Turkey and Cheese roll-ups, orange slices
Dinner- Chicken Enchilladas

Saturday:
Lunch- Chick Fil A
Dinner-Meat Loaf Pie

Sunday:
Lunch- Leftovers
Dinner- We'll be at church for Orange Fest!

Procrastination

I loathe this word, mostly because it describes me very well. It's Saturday night, 9:21pm and I am sitting in my pj's...today I have procrastinated showering. I have a few half sewn projects on my sewing table. A Fall wreath a quarter done. Laundry drying on the rack in the living room, my camera sitting next to me plugged in and uploading over 100 pictures. Oh and I haven't blogged in a couple of days.
But mostly I have a final paper due tomorrow night at midnight mountain time.

Procrastination

Procrastination is a big fault of perfectionists, and those of us who suffer from OCD and ADHD. Everything must be done perfect and right and often it becomes too overwheleming and thus is just not done until the anxiety of it all takes over and sleep loses out.

Procrastination

Here I sit on a Saturday night, with plans to finish Blake's overalls before tomorrow, shower and dry/straighten my curly hair for church in the morning, upload and edit pictures from yesterday, write this blog, participate in my class discussion and start my paper...and when I look at what I really did today it hasn't been much. I played with my kids of course that's always a wonderful thing. I did some laundry. I made lunch and dinner. I did some sewing.

Procrastination

I wish I had a solution for it, I have a lot of excuses that surround it but nothing that's really concrete.

Mum always said I learn the hard way...this may just be another one of those times, especially when I know I want to watch Amazing Race tomorrow night.

Sigh

Procrastination...

yum!

I never liked pumpkin growing up, Mum would often serve it as a side item and I always passed or took a little and gagged on it...who am I kidding I still don't like it unless it's in pie form! But I make the BEST pumpkin pie from scratch none of this canned business, oven roasted pumpkin pureed and added to ice cream and a few spices makes for one delicious pie.

I will post the recipe soon, I can make it from memory but I just guesstimate the amounts of each and I'm sure you'd much rather prefer I post the specifics!

Tuesday this week we ventured to the 'local' ha nothings really local for me...but none the less it was a noted awesome pumpkin patch and we went to meet up with some great ladies from my M.O.P.S group! I wasn't overly impressed, the hay ride was short and kind of scary for the 3 and under group, the scavenger hunt wasn't really planned or structed BUT the pumpkins were abundant and beautiful!

We arrived early morning and soaked in the sun while enjoying the various shapes, sizes and colors of pumpkins! Kaitlyn had a ball running around the maze of pumpkins picking up every one she could get her little arms around and Blake looked on with awe neatly tucked in the Ergo.

We finally left with a nice sized pie pumpkin that was beautifully painted today by the artist herself and will be proudly displayed until it gets to gross and has to meet its fate of the trash can.

This Friday we're going to the pumpkin patch at church to pick out our family pumpkins, they have the whole back play ground covered in pumpkins of all sizes!! I'm excited about the photo potential and since they pumpkins are on the ground Blake can be apart of it this time!

 

I need to stock up on newspaper, new pumpkin cutting tools and spices for pumpkin seeds! With four pumpkins to carve this year we're going to be in pumpkin seed overload and I cannot wait...so while I don't enjoy pumpkin, the seeds I enjoy in abundance!

 After our adventure at the pumpkin patch we continued the fun at a park, this place was enourmous and of course a one-way system...I got to enjoy the beauty and vast size of the park twice while trying to find a place for the kids to play and for Kaitlyn to run!

This last picture is my favorite, because it caught the moment...he could not have been having more fun! He even tasted the sand to make sure he got the full enjoyment of being in the sand for the first time.

 I aboslutely love each stage of watching my kids grow, but I think the 5 month age has to be one of the greatest. Grabbing for everything, tasting everything and figuring out life and enjoying LIFE!




















You know it's been a wonderful, successful and day full of joy when the only sounds in the car are two sleeping kids....
  

Yum

Menu Monday

Monday:
Lunch: Turkey and colby cheese wraps with a side of carrots
Dinner: Cabbage Pancakes

Tuesday:
Lunch: Out for lunch - we're off to the pumpkin patch then a craft event stopping by my Sunday School teachers house for lunch.
Dinner: Crock Pot Herbed Chicken and Mushrooms

Wednesday:
Lunch: Egg Salad Sandwiches side of cantelope
Dinner: Jessica Seinfeld's Decepitvely Delicious Spaghetti Pie

Thursday:
Lunch: Frozen waffles with cream cheese, side of grapes
Dinner: Tilapia, cornbread, and peas

Friday:
Lunch: Tuna Melts on English Muffins, side of peaches
Dinner: Baked Chicken Nuggets, mushroom/green pepper/onion saute

Saturday:
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: Hot & Spicy Crock Pot Chili and cornbread

Sunday:
Lunch/Dinner at the grandparents

Saturdays!

I love Saturday! Have since I was a kid, usually Saturdays in our my parents house meant listening to:
The Stones at top volume...this is one of my Dad's favorite songs and yes he will dance around the living room just like that! Saturdays also meant pancakes or french toast and pjs till noon...until I started swimming with the USS team on Saturday mornings in which case I came home to all of this enjoyment instead of waking up to it.

These days it means ESPN sports is on the TV, scrambled eggs and bacon are sizzling away in the kitchen and the coffee is brewing! Kids have been up since 8:30 and laundry is running.

We also practice our grins with a little tummy time..

And since we're getting so big and all, it's time to figure out sitting while playing with the favorite giraffe.

We sometimes run errands on Saturday, but really I hate it so try my best to get all that stuff done during the week and be a homebody...well backyard body works too and since we live in the South these days were winter is a mere 2 months long we can enjoy the outdoors for quite a bit longer than possible in Denver. Mid-October and still in the 80s...mind-boggling to someone who's been in the cold for 9 years.

 My husband LOVES to take care of the cars, inside and out he will spend time cleaning them and taking care of them. He changes his own oil and makes sure any work needing done is done by the best.

I'd say this little helper is one of the very best around...

And when we're done helping Daddy wash cars there is plenty of room to run and explore, pick flowers and play with the dog...even give Mummy a bit of a heart attack by getting very close to the edge of the dock and peering into the water for fish! (I could not take a picture of that for fear she'd take a splash right as I clicked...then there'd be the internal do I put down the camera and jump in or just jump in...just kidding of course I'd put down the camera first :P)

And when it starts to get late in the day or too cool for all that outside fun, we'll kick up our feet, put on our red and cheer for the Nebraksa Huskers! Go Big Red! (unless your name is Kaitlyn in which case Go Red Big!)

College football is a big deal in this house, actually football in general and while I'm no expert on the game and have a million questions to drive my husband crazy with, I love to watch and cheer, mentally deciding who I want to win and then getting excited when I'm right!

My hubby is a Huskers fan, has been most of his life and our family has joined in the cheering and the red mentality...I have two orders in at the moment to deck the kids out in Huskers gear...though maybe I can cancel one since Daddy's old hat seems to be more fun...(just kidding Shelby!)

Saturdays are full of happiness and relaxation...today I'm enjoying the smells of my new recipe in the crock pot (if it tastes as good as it smells I'll share :P), the sounds of the game on TV and my kids giggling on the floor, the cool breeze coming through the back door, the taste of my coffee and leftover dessert from last night and the comfort of my pjs!

Ahhh Saturday you are the best!