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!"

Merry Christmas Eve!

Look what my husband got me for Christmas!

I desperately needed a new bag. My old purse was one I bought at Target several years ago and was in bad repair.

We were on a tight budget this year so he used his frequent flyer miles to get this Burberry bag. Isn't it pretty? I love it.

Yesterday the kids and I had a fun afternoon in the kitchen. We made Chex Mix and Peanut Butter Blossoms (those recipes to come):

Nathan loved helping me measure ingredients and mix the cookie dough:

The best part was unwrapping the Kisses to put on top:

Although there is a teeny tiny possibility that more chocolate ended up in their mouths than in the bowl for the cookies:

The best part is sampling the end result:

While they stuffed their faces, I packaged some goodies for the neighbors. You don't think I could keep all these carbs here at my house and still be hungry for Christmas dinner, do you?