My First Giveaway!

To celebrate hitting 200 Facebook followers over the weekend, I am having my first giveaway! You've been hearing me talk about essential oils for awhile now, this is your chance to have three of my favorites for free!

This Introduction to Essential Oils kit contains 5 ml bottles of Lemon, Lavender, and Peppermint oils, as well as instructions on suggested uses. Check out at all the different uses for just these three oils:

*relieve insomnia
*soothe headaches
*bring down fevers
*soothe an upset stomach
*help relax
*uplift mood
*use on burns, cuts and scrapes to soothe and speed healing
*clear congestion
*clean and disinfect your home
*natural anti-oxidant
*and many more...

If you are the type of person who likes to look for natural cures for ailments before reaching for OTC meds or heading to the doctor for a prescription, you will love this kit.

To enter the giveaway:

Mandatory Entry: Just leave a comment telling my what your favorite scent is. Grandma's apple pie? Fresh laundry? Whatever you like, just make sure when you place your comment that you leave your email address so I can let you know if you win, whether that is by linking to your google account (make sure it has your email address on your profile!) or leaving your email in the comment.

Optional additional entries: If you would like to enter additional times, you can do this by one or more of these ways. Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry:

*Facebook followers, leave a comment here saying you are a Facebook follower. If you aren't a Facebook follower yet, you can do that by clicking Like on the Facebook box to the left. But make sure to leave a separate comment here saying you did it, because I am not allowed to enter people via Facebook directly!

*Google followers, leave a comment here saying you are a Google follower. If you aren't a Google follower yet, you can do that by clicking Join this Site to the left. Again, make sure to leave a separate comment here saying you did it!

*Share this giveaway on your Facebook page (personal or business) for an extra entry. Just be sure to leave a comment saying you did this as well.

*Tweet this giveaway and leave a comment saying you did so.

Additional Rules and Conditions: $26.67 retail value. No purchase necessary. VOID where prohibited. This sweepstakes is only open to people 18 or older. Not valid outside of the U.S. I am the sole sponsor of this giveaway, doTERRA is in no way involved, and neither is Facebook. I will choose the winner on Tuesday, September 4 using random.org). All prizes will be awarded. If the prize is not claimed within 3 days of being awarded (by sending me a mailing address that I can send the prize to), I will draw another name. The claims made about the oils above are suggested uses, have not been evaluated by the FDA, and should not be substituted for the advice of your doctor.

Good luck everyone! Thank you for reading my blog!

My doTERRA story

Let's take a break from recipes and talk essential oils. 

I was first introduced to essential oils, in particular doTERRA essential oils, last summer. One of my friends invited me to a class that her sister Jenn was teaching about making homemade cleaners and spa products using common household ingredients (ie vinegar, baking soda, etc) and essential oils. Jenn is very knowledgeable and passionate about essential oils. It was a great class.

By the end of the class I was totally convinced that I needed to have some Lemon oil to try making some of my own cleaners. What do you know, it worked! Not only that, but it was actually kind of fun to clean with a fresh essential oil scent instead of harsh chemicals.

Next, I wanted to try some Lavender and On Guard, doTERRA's protective blend - good for strengthening the immune system. I used Lavender to make bath salts, fabric softener, and applied it topically when someone in my family needed help relaxing.


I started applying the On Guard on my children's feet every night before bed, and I soon noticed that they were not catching nearly as many colds, and when they did get a sniffle it stayed just that - a sniffle. This was amazing considering Nathan usually has one cold after another during cold and flu season.

By now, I was hooked, and my husband was a believer too! He and I had both taken On Guard internally when we had felt like we were getting sick and within hours felt better. (Not all essential oils can be taken internally - click here for more info on safely using essential oils).

So in December of 2012, I did what I should have done months earlier, I paid the $35 enrollment fee that allows you to receive wholesale pricing (a 25% discount). My Christmas present was ordering a beautiful diffuser and several other oils that I had been wanting. They arrived in plenty of time to be used during my labor with my third baby, and were invaluable in helping me to relax and lessening my discomfort during natural childbirth. But that is a story for another day.

Since then, I have been using the oils on a daily basis and have grown to love them even more. From the PastTense blend for headaches and tension, to Wild Orange for flavoring my water and putting me in a better mood, essential oils have enriched my family's life in so many ways. I have decided to be more active in sharing these oils with others because I have seen how they can help with so many things.

If there is a health concern that you have, please drop me a line at themenumama@gmail.com. I would be happy to send a sample out for you to try.

What are your greatest health concerns?
Do you enjoy learning about natural health alternatives? 

It's a Hard Knock Life...

This morning I ripped up a couple of old towels, dressed my kids in their swim suits, put on some kids music and had them scrub the floors with me.

We used doTerra's On Guard Cleaner Concentrate to make the mop water, so it was non-toxic. I loved not having to worry about their skin, their eyes, or their clothes!

I know, kind of reminds you of Little Orphan Annie a little, doesn't it? They were having fun though! In fact, I couldn't even get Hannah to smile at the camera, she was having too much fun scrubbing!

My floors look great! This may become a weekly routine.

What chores do your kids help you with?

***New recipe coming tomorrow!!!

Becoming a Better Mom

I originally started this blog as a way to share recipes and meal plans with my friends, as well as catalog them for myself for future reference. As my interests grow and change, this blog is morphing with them. Don't be surprised if you find me writing about topics other than cooking. I am looking forward to having discussions on parenting, fitness, natural healthcare (I am especially passionate about essential oils), homeschooling my preschoolers, and my faith.

Lately the topic that has been on my mind a lot is becoming a better mom. I am trying to challenge myself with new ways to have fun with my kids, educate them, and most importantly nurture them and help them grow into independent happy adults.

As I said in my blog post yesterday, I am constantly struggling with finding a balance between paying attention to all three of my young children and keeping up with my responsibilities around the house like cooking and cleaning. This fellow mommy blogger has come up with a great solution, check out her series of posts titled Why I Cook with My Children.

I need to be better about getting the older two in the kitchen with me!

I have also been struggling with discipline strategies. I tend to be too harsh with my kids, especially my oldest. I realize this is all relative and everyone has different parenting styles. The bottom line for me though is that my current parenting style is not how I want my parenting to be. It is not creating the kind of relationship that I want long-term with my kids.

I am a firm believer that I create my own destiny, so I know that I can change this. And frankly, the sooner the better before our bad habits are too ingrained. Some things I would like to stop doing are yelling and being impatient, typical mom things! I find that most days I am too focused on immediately stopping my kids' behaviors that I don't like, instead of trying to figure out what is causing those behaviors (like whining) in the first place.

I like to read good books to help me come up with solutions to problems I am having, so based on the recommendations found on ahaparenting.com I ordered these two books on Amazon:

I will be sure to let you know how I like the books after I read them!

Another slightly different way that I am working to improve my parenting is by learning more about natural forms of healthcare, specifically essential oils. Essential oils are for so much more than aromatherapy! They can be used to treat so many problems including ear infections, insomnia, depression, fevers, asthma, and so much more.

In fact, this morning I am especially excited as my youngest, Ray slept through the night last night for the first time ever - 11 hours! The longest he has ever slept before was 5 hours and it is usually more like 3-4 hours at a time. The only thing I did differently was apply a couple of drops of Serenity essential oil blend (has lavender, ylang ylang, chamomile and some others) on his spine and behind his ears, which was the first time trying this blend on him. You had better believe he won't be going to bed without this oil from now on!

I will be blogging more about this in the future, as it is really empowering to me. However, if anyone is curious to learn more in the meantime, my friend Julie Driggs is teaching a free webinar called Dr Mom, all about using essential oils on our children. She has such great information to share. It is open to the public, so if anyone would like to listen in, simply click on this link: http://www.anymeeting.com/azdoterra1 at 7 PM MST on Thursday, August 2.

In what ways are you striving to be a better mom, or a better person in general?
Have you read any good books lately? 

***Check back tomorrow for a new recipe! I served it to dinner guests that we had Sunday evening and the wife said, "I could eat this all day!"

Hello There!

I haven't been blogging very much lately, not really any excuse except for this little guy:

That's right, in January we will be welcoming a new baby boy into our family! We couldn't be more thrilled.

We had a great summer and our kids enjoyed every minute of it. I found myself spending a lot less time in the kitchen, first because of the morning sickness all-day nausea, then because I found it easier to stick with some of my old favorites instead of trying new recipes while we enjoyed the beautiful Colorado weather.

In July, Hannah turned two. Cake and a balloon, all a 2 year old needs, right?







Isn't she turning into such a pretty little girl? She has such a fun personality too, a little more feisty than Nathan, but we figure with an older brother already and a younger brother on the way, it's a good thing that she is able to stick up for herself.

While I haven't been experimenting too much with new recipes, I have been starting to bake my favorite pumpkin recipes. Yummy!

 

I've picked up crocheting again. Check out this cute hat I am making for our new baby boy! I purchased the pattern from this seller on etsy.





I also have started making my own cleaning and personal care products incorporating essential oils, thanks to a class I attended by Jenn Oldham. This is a video of her demonstrating how she makes her own laundry detergent, lip balm, and deodorant.

The secret is in the Certified Pure Therapeutic-grade Essential Oils sold by doTerra. I'm sure I will blog more on this in the future, because I am falling in love with all the uses I have found for these awesome oils, including relieving stress, nipping colds in the bud, and cleaning my house.

I hope to be back to the blog a little more consistently in the future, so see you soon!