Daily Snippets

Me: "Lemmings are chubby little animals belonging to the rodent family. Do you know what chubby means?"
Eaden: "It helps you stay warm."
Me: "Yes! It means you have some fat."
Eaden: "You are chubby mom."
Me: "Oh good, you can use it in a sentence."

Me: "Did you know that most sharks are ovoviviparous, with eggs hatching in their wombs, so that young are born alive?"
Eaden: "Duh mom! I already knew that! I saw it on Wild Kratts!" (see t.v. can be educational).

Naia and Taven were playing in the car seats when Naia managed to buckle herself in and then tip over.

Eaden listens to me read about dinosaurs for almost an hour. Then the book moves on to how most extinction happens today (human activity). When I tell her that lemurs in Madagascar are dying because people are cutting down trees she gets mad and throws the book down.
Eaden: "But trees grow!"
Me: "I know but people are not planting new ones for all the trees they cut down and they are cutting too many too fast." 
Eaden: "But I plant acorns!"
Me: "Yes that's good."
(a few minutes later after Eaden uses the bathroom)
Eaden: "Mom, I saved the toilet paper."

Eaden: "What are you eating?"
Me: "It's medicine."
Eaden: "Hmmm. It looks like ice cream. Why does it look like ice cream?"
Me: "I don't know. That's weird."

The girls climbed up on the kitchen counter last night in order to steal candy from the cabinet. However, they weren't smart enough to clean up all their wrappers. They did decide they needed to brush their teeth, but then left out the toothpaste that had been squeezed all over the fireplace. On top of that, they found glue and glued magnets to the fridge! 

Note: We put Eaden in a preschool for about a month while I wasn't blogging (I was feeling sick from the pregnancy). Here are some of her famous quotes.

Eaden: (talking about a girl from school) "Mom at her house they have hash brownies."

Eaden: "A boy from my class is named Luke."
Me: "Oh yeah, is he your friend?"
Eaden: "Yeah, I massaged him"
Me: (lol) "You gave him a massage?"
Eaden: "It was his birthday. He sat by me."

Eaden said she wants a "glitter tooth" like a girl at school. In other words, a gold tooth. Ummm no!

My Thrift Store Addiction

A Homestead Heritage

On Saturday I took Eaden and Taven (Naia didn't want to come because of the loud guns) out to Homestead Heritage Day. Homestead Heritage Day is basically 19th century Texas history come to life.

 

On Sunday, we went over to my parents to try out some of the Texas homestead recipes in a little history/recipe book I bought for $3.

We made butter first and then tried some Johnny cakes.

Let's just say they weren't a huge hit with the girls (I tried to pass them off as pancakes with maple syrup).

Next we made dolls out of corn cobs.

After a fun day with Grandma we headed home so that I could prepare a good ole' pioneer dinner.

Unlike the Johnny Cakes, dinner was a huge success!

The River

This Moment

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. Thanks Soulemama.

Tired of everything being so damn pretty. Loving what I have.

Please don't get offended if you have a pretty blog, pretty house, pretty things, etc. I don't mean to sound rude, I really don't. And I am happy you have those things,....lol.

Don't get me wrong, I love pretty blogs. You know, the ones that only take pictures of the good and beautiful. Sometimes I just get tired. Tired of everything being so damn pretty. Tired of all the pretty toys, the pretty handmade or antique furniture, the pretty landscapes, the pretty handmade clothes, pretty food, pretty supplies, pretty houses, pretty pictures...I guess I get tired of it because I don't have it. But I don't need it. I'm happy with what I have. I'm beyond happy just to be able to stay at home...even if we don't have our dream house.

Wow! It would be nice to have windows, walls, and floors like these!

We get to look at this gorgeous wallpaper and window covering everyday!

And how about these lovely peacocks!

And what is this on our carpet?

 I think its great to support handmade and to buy used. However, I can hardly afford handmade (such as seen on etsy) and I buy used a lot, but never antiques. I just don't have the money for that sort of lifestyle. As long as my kids are happy, I am happy. I think it would be nice to surround my kids with beautiful things all of the time, but I can't. I bought them 50 My Little Ponies for 10$ from Goodwill for Christmas. Now talk about ugly, but they think they're the most beautiful things in the world and they play with them nonstop. Watching them play, I feel these glittery rainbow colored ponies spark just as much imagination as a plain wooden one...and they cost me a lot less. I know you're thinking well why in the hell do they need 50 ponies, wouldn't 4 be enough? Or yeah, but they're poor quality and won't last as long. I didn't buy them new! I don't plan on them being family heirlooms. Besides, with 50 they can create entire villages, even worlds...ok I'm not going to defend my pony purchase here. As long as the house isn't covered in toys, they have a few things they really love (the ponies are one - or 50), it's all good with me.

Would LOVE to have these

But this is what we have

Would LOVE this doll

But we have this one

I make my kids' clothes but it would be an everyday battle to get them to wear what I make. Sometimes I get lucky and they wear something I made, but usually they just want to wear the clothes they've gotten from Goodwill, birthday parties, or as hand me downs. And really I don't care. Wear what you want little ones, wear what you want. 

Another thing I can't afford are the high quality art supplies. I understand the argument for buying things of high quality and , believe me, I would if I could. However, I still feel they are getting the same experience as kids who have such things. 

Would love to have these

But we have this

My husband makes $37,000 a year before taxes (I hope he's not reading this, I don't think he does) and he was making $27,000 just a few months ago. We don't have credit card debt or car notes, but we do have a mortgage. After that and other bills, we don't have much. I choose to spend most of our money on food. We try to buy local and organic, but that's hard sometimes too. I don't know. In an ideal world we would produce our own food, make our own toys, live in a beautifully renovated farmhouse, etc. However, we also need to learn to love what we have. I know I am very very fortunate to have what I do and so I just do the best I can and make the best decisions for my family based on our abilities. Almost everyone wants more than want they have. Many people want what I have and yet I look at other blogs and think wow it would be nice to live there or have that. Well too fn bad Megan! And really, you don't need it. Maybe I support Goodwill more than the local artisans, but at least I'm not supporting Toys R Us or Wal Mart...right? Whatever. This is my life and I'm happy with it. Although I'd rather live in a shitty ass trailer on a huge piece of land (my husband would not). Okay. The End.