He Doesn't Babysit

Nope, my husband doesn't babysit!
And will NEVER babysit our children!

He is their father...gave them 1/2 of their DNA...why would anyone ever assume that he would merely 'babysit' his own children!?!?

We live in a era that women are put on a pedestal for all they do...glorifying women and all their choices...{don't get me wrong, I think some women are pretty darn amazing}...but for some reason to make everyone believe that women are amazing we had to be fed this plate of lies that men are idiots!  That the only way women can be amazing is if men are the opposite.

Sitcoms show us the bumbling, stupid father that can't make a trip to the store without making a mistake.

Commercials show us that the biggest challenge a diaper can be put to is to leave a diaper clad baby in the care of their father while a football game is on, because a father is to single minded to watch a sport and care for their child!

And society in general...they always assume if a man is with children he is 'babysitting' them, that he's 'stuck with the kids' for the day...that no man would actually choose to parent their own children, choose to hang out with their kids and be their dad!

Let's get real here, I believe in equality...some women are pretty darn amazing...and there are plenty of men that are bumbling idiots...
but their are plenty of women that share the title of bumbling idiots!  And there are some pretty darn amazing men!

I married one...and had his babies...

and he will never babysit our children...he is their father...he will parent our children!

When they were babies he changed diapers, he burped them, he fed them {when they weren't nursing}, he bathed them, dressed them, rocked them to sleep as infants, read to them, sang to them.

As they grow his role is changing, he still tucks them in each night and reads with them, helps them with their homework, makes them dinner, washes dishes or sits back and relaxes now that our children wash the dishes.

He has taught them that being yourself is way more important than being what others want you to be.

He takes them to old bookstores and thrift stores {helping them to respect the things from past generations}.

He teaches them about music; from Benny Goodman, to the Beatles, to Abba, to Journey, to Michael Jackson, to U2 {my kids can play the "who's this band/singer?" game WAY better than I will ever hope to}.

He helps them with their piano or just sits and plays with them.

He takes them on bike rides.

He dates our daughter, teaching her how and what to expect from the men in her future.

He plays games with them {board games, card games, video games, role playing games}.

Starting from a young age he taught them the history of the original Star Wars {and although he's morally opposed to the new movies has left it up to them to make their own choice}.

He is teaching them to mow the lawn.

He watches 1950's horror movies with them.

He takes them kayaking.

He has taught our son that hair style doesn't make you a man.

He loves & respects their mother.

He baptized both of our children!

He has taught them to pray, he has taught them to seek out God's truths in their lives, he has help them memorize God's word. He has put God first in his life and has modeled for them how to live a life that glorifies God.

He has never.once.babysat our children!  From day one he has been their father.

Happy Father's Day Beau, I love you, thanks for being my babies' daddy!

Summer Menu {1/2 camping addition}

a fast little menu post while I have a break in between errands...

School is out tomorrow...it is HOT here in Redding...headed towards 110 on Saturday!
{so sad that we'll be at the Oregon coast in the 60 degree weather and missing the 100's}

Making menu's around the weather is a must, no soup or hot baked dishes for summer in Redding,
I.just.can't.do.it!

Our Menu

tonight-breakfast {eggs, bacon, fruit}

tomorrow night =McD's for us...{our kids get McDonald's twice a year, 1st day of school and last day of school...}

Friday & Saturday- Camping food {chili dogs one night, hamburgers the next}
we have a few camping desserts planned camp fire cones, baked apples & of course S'Mores

source: Chef Jessica Bright

source: Cooking Outside the Box

Sunday -sandwiches and leftover camping buffet {we'll probably be driving, so we'll just snack, and stop and make a sandwich on the road somewhere}

Monday-Chicken Patty Sandwiches {girl child's request}

Tuesday-grilled chicken pasta salad {so many recipes for this}

Wednesday-Indian Taco's

source: the Pioneer Woman

Thursday-Tuscan Garlic Chicken

source: the Recipe Critic 

Friday-Easy Mandarin Chicken

source: Yummy. Healthy. Easy 

Saturday-Honey Mustard Pretzel Crusted Chicken with Salad

source: Half Baked Harvest

and that's all I have for now...
what's a favorite for your family in the summer...

Daddy Issues

This post has been in my heart for awhile now...and with Father's Day right around the corner I needed to get it out....

Don't we all have them...?
Daddy Issues

we have these images of superman type fathers...

Why is that?
I have a pretty decent, loving, good father...
but guess what, he's human!  My father was not, and is not, perfect!

I know women and men with daddy issues...
I know those that have never known their father
Those that wish they never knew their father
Those that had dads like mine
and those with amazing, Ward Cleaver fathers....

all of them...Have. Daddy. Issues...

why?  why is having daddy issues so universal?
maybe, just maybe, it's because we have this need ingrained into each and every one of us for a perfect heavenly Father.

Why do you think God tells us He is our father?  Maybe He knows...because He created us....that we all have this natural desire for a perfect father figure and yet no man on earth can ever 100% fulfill that roll!

Guess what else...?
we women,
we {and by 'we', I mean me} take these daddy issues and we bring them into our marriages...
however horrible or wonderful {or wherever they fall on the scale} our fathers were/are...we bring our daddy issues into our marriages and project them onto our husbands!  we either choose husbands that are the opposite of our fathers or husbands that are very similar to our fathers and then hold up these unrealistic expectations for them to be nothing like our fathers or everything like our fathers...

and when they fall short of either one of those marks we fight, kicking and screaming that they are failing us...
{pause...
I am in no way saying any husband is perfect...
just like no father is perfect, they are all human}
but as wives have we taken our daddy issues and rather than turn towards our Heavenly Father to fulfill our needs we turn towards our husband and try to mold him into something he can't possibly be.  trying to get him to fill shoes that he can never fill....

remember that stupid line from Jerry McGuire,
"you complete me!"...
UGH, I've hated that from the moment I heard it... but that's what we're all trying to find, we're trying to find the man that will fill all the holes that our earthly fathers left gaping open...God is the ONLY one that can complete us, and it's a lifelong journey!

we all have daddy issues...
because we all need a perfect dad
we try to mold our husbands using all the daddy issues we came into the relationship with...
we don't want our kids to have daddy issues
and we want our husbands to fill our need that our daddy issues left in us...
our fathers & our husbands also have daddy issues
and our kids... yep, they will have daddy issues also
we were created with a need that no earthly father can ever live into!

but guess what?
we have a perfect father...He can help heal our daddy issues, help our children with their daddy issues and help our marriages not suffer because of them....

See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are!

 ~ 1 John 3:1 

Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

 ~ Matthew 6:8

I will be a Father to you and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

 ~ 2 Corinthians 6:18 

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to the two women in my life that have help me become the mother that I am today.

Mom, 

Thanks for everything you've ever done for me.  

I treasure our friendship and appreciate the fact that you saved it for my adult years and were my mom first.  So many mothers try to be their children's friend when their children are still children.  You were always my mom first and then when I grew up and moved out you slowly transitioned into a friend!  Thanks for that special gift.

I also want to thank you for the legacy of Jesus Christ that you gave to me.  What an amazing gift you gave me, introducing me you Jesus as a child, always having us in church, praying for us constantly, listening to our questions and helping me have my own relationship with God.  I am forever grateful for that gift and even more grateful now that I am a mother, knowing that your introducing me to God as a child opened up that door for future generations, namely, my own children, to have that relationship, what an amazing gift you have given my children!  

Thank You!

Kathy {my mother-in-love},

How grateful I am for you.  So many women I know have a bitter, spiteful relationship with the women that raised their son!  I have known from the first time Beau introduced us that you were special!  You truly are a gift for me and my entire family.  I treasure you, your love, your guidance, your prayers!  You are a mother-in-law that women everywhere desire!

I also want to thank you for the legacy of Jesus Christ that you gave your son!  I am beyond grateful to have met, fallen in love and married your son!  He leads and guides our family towards God every day and that is because of the gift you, as his mother, gave him by introducing him to Jesus.  Thank you for the legacy of a relationship with Jesus Christ that you have given my children.

Thank You!

I also want to thank both my mom and mother-in-law for the legacy of marriage they have given my children!  Because of your love for God and your relationship with Jesus Christ, your love for your husbands and children you have committed loving marriages!  I have no idea the issues either of you have faced in your marriages {having only been married for just under 15 years I know it's hard work}, I can't begin to grasp the struggles that you two have overcome in your marriages, in a day and age when all the marriages around you were crumbling, I thank you for fighting it out, holding strong, loving your children enough to hold onto your marriage vows, the promise you made to your husbands and God!  Thank you for that gift, that legacy, that you passed onto Beau & I and to your grandchildren!  In a day in age when 50% of marriages end in divorce our children can look around their family and see two sets of grandparents and one set of parents {and an Uncle & Aunt}, no steps, that's 4 marriages that have broken away from the statistics and  have set their marriages in God's hands and not in the world!

Thanks, 

May your Mother's Day be blessed!

p.s. Thank you Kathy for the gift of a kid free weekend with my husband!  

Menu Monday {kids edition}

how do you make your menu?
same thing every week...think of it while your shopping?...poll the family before you go shopping?...do the kids and husband make the menu?..open the cupboard and fridge and throw stuff together?...

I seriously don't like making a menu
very much dislike grocery shopping
but HATE life in my house at 4:55 pm when I have NOT made a menu and grocery shopped off that menu!!!


so I did something slightly crazy for my menu this time...

I handed the ipad over to the kids,
pulled up the pintrest app, had them look thru my Yum- dinner & yum-crockpot boards
& they made the menu....this will get us thru the next 2 weeks...and depending on how well it works we may or may not have the kids make the menu again!

 Baked Panko Chicken Tenders {both kids}

Olive Garden Alfredo {girl child}

The Best Parmesan Chicken Bake {girl child}

Slow Cooker Honey Soy Chicken {girl child}

Italian Sloppy Joes with Ranch Style Beans {both kids}

Slow Cooker Taco Chicken Bowls {both kids}

Vegetarian Chili with cornbread {boy child}

Pretzel Dogs {boy child}

Homemade pizza {boy child}

Not Soggy Nachos {boy child}

Bread Bowls with Chicken Chowder {boy child}

what's your menu making style...?

it's just hair

whatever...

I don't have amazing hair
never have
it's thin, straight, limp,
with just your basic
     I-got-it-trimmed-approximately-4-months-ago-style
good thing I'm not a hair person...
or maybe I just don't care enough,
          maybe I have the potential for amazing hair but I'm too lazy
     {this is a very high likelihood!}

but I married AMAZING hair,
my husbands hair is full and wavy and amazing
he sadly had rocked a mullet in high school...and NO it was not the 80's!
{for the record I DID NOT know him during the mullet and was already hopelessly in love the first time I saw mullet pictures}
since we've been together {almost 17 years} he has had more hair styles than me!


and back on track...
our son has his father's amazing hair...





and has worn it pretty shaggy most of his life
{something about his weird mom not cutting off those precious curls until he was almost 3, but he was bald for so long!}

pretty sure the shaggy hair had something to do with a lazy busy mom that would forget to make an appointment for a hair cut and months and months would pass before she would realize that her son's hair was out of control!

there have been a few times that I attempted the 'trim' myself, and that always resulted in something the boy child likes to call a 'mushroom head'...so that doesn't happen any more.





anyways...
about a month ago I had made the guys a hair appointment
{this hair is too amazing for any ol' barber shop/walk-in-for-a-cut place!}
when Beau was getting ready to leave Wilson asked if he HAD to get his hair cut...
well, it's getting kinda long buddy...
Yeah, I want it long...
okay!

the guys after Beau's hair cut and Wilson's non-cut

it's only hair, we have 3 hair rules {that apply to both him and his sister}
1.  keep it brushed
2.  keep it clean
3.  keep it out of your eyes!

 this is the boy child, yesterday, rocking some sort of 1977 Shaw Cassidy look....

makes me chuckle when boys have hair touching their ears and I hear a parent say it's WAY past hair cut time!
it's just hair people!

Who Am I?

Why, Hello There!


You may {or may not} have notice my blog has been silent...
for over 4 months now I've blogged nothing!
zero.
zilch..
nada...

why?  why did I go silent?

it's been a lot of little reasons and a few not so little reason that have kept me quiet...

the first, maybe the biggest...
was the day after my last post
{I posted last on Thursday, Dec 13}
was Friday, December 14
Sandy Hook Elementary

that rocked me...
those little boys and girls
going to school
in a quiet small town
public school...
just like my kids...

I started to write a post the day after, Sat Dec 15, it has sat in my drafts folder all these months...
I had this overwhelming feeling of "Who Am I" to write about this loss, why do I get to chime in and have any sort of feeling for these families that are grieving!

Grief is personal...
it was their kids,
their school,
their town,
their state...

I also did NOT want to start {and still won't} a discussion on gun control....

....the more I thought about what happened at Sandy Hook...
the more I wanted to be present for my kids.
I also didn't want to write a trivial post about my collection of Nativities when something so devastating had happened... {not that Christmas and celebration the birth of Christ is trivial...but you know}

I was stuck between
     "who am I to write a blog about Sandy Hook"
          &
"I can't just ignore Sandy Hook and post a weekly menu"

so I decided to take a break, cherish my kids, and wait until it was time to come back...
and then Monday happened...
the Bombing of the Boston Marathon....
and it was just as horrific...
     {why does it have to be children, seriously!}

I'm in an 8 Week Get Healthy Challenge with some friends...and one of them shared this Bible verse on Monday....
 I have told you these things, 
     so that in me you may have peace. 
          In this world you will have trouble. 
               But take heart! 
                    I have overcome the world.
                            ~John 16:33

Guess What?  We live in a sinful fallen world...'in this world you will have trouble'
but that's not the end of the story....
HE has overcome the world...
AMEN....

lots of other things have happened over the past 4 months...
my life is busier...
but I DO want to still blog...
I will post about the changes in my life...
I will post about my journey of getting healthy...
I will post weekly menu's {when I remember}
I will post God Moments...
I will post the silly things my kids do...
I will post craft projects when I actually finish them...
but I will also blog around my family's schedule,

one thing I have learned from Sandy Hook, the Boston Bombing, and just all the tragedies of life is that cherishing moments with my kids and family is way more important than anything I can blog about!

see ya soon...