Home Cooking

I have been doing really well in the kitchen. I don't mean making Martha Stewart like meals, but simply cooking/preparing everything we eat in an unhurried manner. It is not as hard as I expected and the best part about it is that the kids are eating it! That's all that matters right?

I used to compare myself to other bloggers and I would see how they fed their families whole foods, had large vegetable gardens, nice wooden toys, etc. I don't do that anymore. I think that I am still a pretty new mom and an even newer stay at home mom. 

I am 32 years old, my oldest child is 7, and I left work to stay home about 4 years ago. 

I am doing great. I am living and trying new things and learning. I have made a lot of changes and I have slowly come to understand how to make things work. Our simple schedule is great. When you have to bake bread and make butter only on Thursday, it becomes easier. When you only do laundry on Mondays, somehow more gets done over the course of the week. If you deep clean on Fridays only and that is all there is on the "to do" list, it gets done!

Although I am in the kitchen a lot, it doesn't seem like much. We are not rushing to get anywhere and I do not have a million things on my mind.

I have come a long way and I feel as if I am almost starting to perfect motherhood (in my own way of course). I am doing better and it is getting easier.

The best things we have done are simplify, simplify, simplify. Simplifying our schedule is number one.

No TV or screens (during the day) has also helped them learn how to play more peacefully together. I almost never hear a request for a cartoon anymore and even after Daddy gets home and they are allowed to watch TV, they usually do not.

So what do they do to occupy themselves?

 All of my kids LOVE building toys and, when inside, it is often what they are playing with.

After Mirek was pretty quiet for some time, I decided to check on him. He had come up with an ingenious little game.

In the morning, before breakfast, they are getting pretty good at finding something to do on their own while they "starve," as they like to say.

Finally, food.

 Like every other morning, the kids went outside to play after eating. However, this morning (Thursday) the temps were in the 20's and my little Texans didn't last long. After riding their bikes for about 10 minutes they complained that their hands were cold (and we do not own any gloves.)

Here is Mirek cock-a-doodle-doing along with the neighbors rooster.

 Both Taven and Naia took the training wheels off their bikes Wednesday afternoon and both started riding immediately like it was nothing.

 Naia got this bike from a friend last Christmas (I think) and it is obviously too small. She is going to have to borrow Eaden's until we can find her a bigger one.

 For lunch we had some leftover barbacoa beef from Tuesday night's tacos with cornbread and okra.

 I made butter for the week and added a little dill to mine for the cornbread.

One day my food will look like Julia Child's. 

Practice and patience.

After lunch the temp had warmed up about 10 degrees and that made it just right for some more bike riding.

But the kids still wanted to wear their baseball gloves to keep one hand warm.

 Mirek says no pictures!

Later in the day.

Naia was very excited to lose her tooth until her siblings told her she looked funny. I comforted her and she is fine now. The Tooth Fairy money helped a bit too. However, she does not want to lose her other front tooth (which is quite loose) because then she "will look really weird (her words)."

 We had our first fire of the year in the fireplace which of course was very exciting for the kids. Someone want to tell me how to take pictures in the dark with no flash? Maybe the kids have to be real still which is not going to happen.

Now for another two slow days at home.

A Merry Christmas

Although we have a simple life in comparison with the majority of Americans, we have not yet quite simplified our Christmas. 

I think it runs in my blood.

Since we were little, my dad has always gone over the top with Christmas lights.

And maybe I go a little overboard at our home.

My excuse is that my husband and I do not buy the kids anything throughout the year. Instead, I listen to what they repeatedly ask for and keep it in mind. Also, I do try to buy higher quality items that will last a long time. I know my excuses are not that great for someone who tries to keep things simple, but...

 Taven got a fishing pole and immediately wanted to use it. He was pretending in the living room and I heard him say "ugggghhh, I think I got some seaweed."

 Naia asks to paint on pretty much a daily basis so she got some nice watercolors and a little desk.

 All of the kids have wanted a bird feeder for the window that they can see from inside the house. They also received an insect hotel.

 Taven and Mirek got a football, and after getting hit in the nose, Taven decided it would be smart to wear his ninja turtle mask while playing catch.

Both Eaden and Taven have been asking for softball/baseball gloves and each received one.

Taven finally got a skateboard helmet.

We now have a legitimate game cabinet and a few new building toys.

Everyone wanted a kite and Santa delivered. We are now just waiting for that perfect windy day.

The kids got a nature study kit and binoculars to take on our nature walks. There were also ant farms and ladybug farms.

 Eaden received a lap loom and a monster tail loom.

Both girls received some items for their doll collection and a new outfit to wear.

On the day after Christmas, the oldest three decided to use some of the money they received from their grandparents and great grandma to go see Annie at the "big" movie theater. We only ever go to the dollar theater so it was a nice experience.

The best thing about Christmas? Spending time with family of course.

We get to see my niece Hannah who does not live nearby.

My sister and I were trying to get her to smile the whole time because it's just so darn cute.

 We also like to mess with the babies and teach them "tricks."

 Merry Christmas!

Mostly Outside

We have done a lot since the last time I posted. We got a Christmas tree!

 In our part of Texas, the leaves really start to fall throughout December. Every day is spent outside. My neighbors probably want me to rake, but then the kids would complain that they are "bored."

 I always dream of a homestead, but I am thankful that my kids at least have our little space while most are confined within the four walls of a classroom.

Anything that we do at night is not recorded by my camera. I suppose I just have not mastered the art of night photography. 

See.

Whatever.

We went to Christmas in the Park at Sheldon Lake State Park during the LIGHT of day.

We started off with some Christmas crafts.

 Then off on our nature walk.

We saw a small alligator!

 Mirek decided, either because it looked a little bit like a corn dog or because the other kids persuaded him, that he would eat a cattail.

 Then he washed it down with water.

 And then, since he was wet, I had to carry him. If I did not wish to carry him, his legs failed to work.

 We climbed the observation tower...to break dance.

 It was windy.

 We had a picnic and I realized that everything takes on a new dimension of funny when up high in the sky.

 Back down to earth.

 Taven refuses to smile for pictures.

 The kids found a natural seesaw.