Now, on to today’s blog post. Natural consequences.

Mickey and I have been working on teaching the girls about natural consequences. We believe that this is a good method of teaching valuable life lessons – when taught within reason, of course. For instance, we are teaching them that if they don’t eat what they have for meals, they will probably be pretty hungry when the next meal rolls around again. This teaches a few things, actually. One, Mama is not a short-order cook and this is not Waffle House. If you don’t eat what I’m serving, well, you’re going to have to wait until the next meal to see if you like that one better. We’re also teaching the girls how blessed they are to have three good meals (not to mention snacks) per day. This seems to be working well because although neither of our daughters are what I would label as “adventurous eaters”, they will definitely try what we are having at mealtimes. To be honest, I don’t cook much of anything that is extravagant anyway. So, when I prepare a meal, I expect them at try it and I always make things that I truly believe our whole family will like. If they choose not to eat much of it, then they know that they won’t get anything until it’s time to eat again. To me, that’s a good natural consequence. They certainly won’t starve, right? It’s all about keeping things within reason. We wouldn’t turn them loose into a crowded parking lot in some ridiculous effort to teach them the natural consequence of THAT, but we will certainly use natural consequences when appropriate.

As simplistic as this seems, as I was thinking recently about natural consequences, it occurred to me that God lets us operate on natural consequences as well. The choices we make that are of this world warrant us the rewards or consequences of the world. If we choose to do that which is right and faithful, the reward is our’s. If we choose to deviate from the path of faithfulness, we suffer the consequences. Pretty simple, right? I think that on the surface, it seems simple, but, like anything with faith, it goes far deeper. Because God allows us free will, we have these choices to make and we aren’t always going to make the right ones. Try as we might, we are all bound to fail in our humanness. It just happens. Just like we do with our children, God allows us to experience natural consequences in life so that we might learn and grow. However, while we are training our children to eventually be independent of us, God is always calling us to drawer nearer to Him and depend more fully on Him. Even when we fail Him, God is always faithful to us. It’s out of love for us that He allows us to make choices and give us opportunities to learn and grow from the choices we make.

Using natural consequences as a parenting tool is a model that we feel will benefit our girls in many ways. We want to instill an anchor of faith for them so that as they grow and make choices in their lives, they are equipped to make faithful decisions for themselves. This won’t always be the case, but as long as we have taught them well, they will have a faith basis on which to grow and learn. So, while it starts with something as simple as choosing to eat a meal and be thankful for it, hopefully this will bloom into life lessons that carry them through with faith.

Blessings,
Kelly

Direct your children onto the right path,
and when they are older, they will not leave it.

Proverbs 22:6

Chicken Pot Pie
From Paula Deen’s My First Cookbook 

What you’ll need:

• Medium pot
• Tongs
• Cutting Board
• Medium Sharp Knife
• Liquid measuring cup
• Measuring spoons
• Small pot
• Dry measuring cup (1/4 cup)
• Whisk
• 9-inch glass pie plate
• Oven mitts or hot pad
• Scoop for serving
• 2 chicken breasts with skin and bone (we used thin sliced boneless breasts – about four of them.  We also used 1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth.)
• 2-3 cups of water
• 4 Tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup whole milk  (we used 2% organic milk)
• 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• Two 9-inch refrigerated foldable pie crusts
• 2 15-oz cans mixed vegetables (We used one small can mixed vegetables, one regular can diced new potatoes and half a can of diced asparagus)

What You’ll Do:

1. Turn the oven on to 375 degrees.
2. Make sure your adult helper is nearby. Put the chicken and enough water just to cover it in the medium post. Put the pot on the stove-top and turn on the heat to medium-high. When the water comes to a boil, cook for 25 minutes. Turn off the heat and let chicken cool for one hour. (NOTE: We used boneless, skinless, thin-sliced chicken breasts and boiled until done. We used a reduced sodium chicken broth in place of the broth that the original recipe called for.)
3. Using tongs, take chicken out of the pot and put it on the cutting board. Pull the meat from the bones and chop it into medium-size pieces. Throw away the skin, bones and fat. Save one cup of the broth to make your sauce. (See note above)
4. Put the butter in the small pot over medium heat. When the butter is melted, add the flour and whisk it with the whisk until it is smooth. Slowly pour in the chicken stock and whisk until the sauce is thick. Add the milk and whisk until the sauce is bubbling. Whisk in salt and pepper. Turn off the heat.
5. To assemble the pie: Unfold one of the pie crusts and press it into the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Spread the chicken over the bottom of the crust. Drain the vegetables (you can pour the water through your fingers into the sink). Spread the vegetables on top of the chicken. Pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetables.
6. Place the top crust over the chicken. Trim the edge if it is too long. Pinch the edges of the crust together. Take a knife and make three slits in the crust.
7. Bake the pie for 40 minutes, until the crust is brown and the filling is bubbling. Use oven mitts or hot pads to take it out of the oven. (You might have to ask your adult helper to do that for you.) Let the pie cool for 10 minutes before you take a big scoop.

Serves 6 to 8

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This recipe is not only easy and tasty, but also lends itself to creativity. You can use a variety of vegetables for the filling. You could also substitute turkey instead of chicken. The varieties are plentiful with this one.

I have to give this recipe high marks because not only was it easy for Macey and me to make together, but it was also delicious!! Mickey is a big fan of chicken pot pie and he absolutely raved over it too. Okay, part of it was because Macey cooked it, but it really was THAT good. Macey and I served this pot pie with a very simple side salad (lettuce, tomato and almond slivers) and it was a fantastic meal for our family. I took this picture of the finished pie with my phone, so that photo quality isn’t the greatest – sorry.

As you can see, it turned out great and tasted even better. I love getting in the kitchen with my girls. This is a great way for them to learn and for us to build great memories. Sometimes I’ve been guilty of saying “oh, just let me do it…”, but, really, it’s so awesome to help them learn and watch their pride when it all comes together. That’s worth taking a little extra time for, if you ask me.

Kelly

The girls have this week out of school and we haven’t yet had much of a chance to have any family adventures during this break. So, on Sunday Mickey and I cooked up a plan to change all that. We decided to take a day trip up to Chattanooga, TN and visit their kids’ museum and aquarium. I am SO thankful that we came up with that plan because we all had such a GREAT time!

Chattanooga is a really fun place to visit. We went a couple of summers ago and have been wanting to go back for awhile now. We really didn’t want to be gone long, so a day trip was the perfect family get-away. We left on Monday morning and arrived in Chattanooga in time to have lunch at Big River Grille &  Brewing Works. It’s been awhile since we’ve been to Big River (the last time we went, Macey was less than two) and it was just as good as we remembered. After lunch, we made our way to Creative Discovery Museum. This is one awesome children’s museum, y’all! We were there for about two hours and never once did the girls get bored. We didn’t even get to everything, to be honest, but the girls had a blast with the things we did. (We didn’t miss much – I think just the outdoor play area and it was COLD, so that was okay.) I would highly recommend this museum to families. I have heard great things and it lived up to every bit of the hype. Well worth the trip just for the museum.  After we played at the museum, we hit up Chili’s for some quick desserts and then checked into our hotel. I had booked online through Hotwire and gotten us a room at the beautiful Sheraton Reed House. We stayed there the last time we went and really enjoyed it, so it was nice to go back. The only bummer for the girls was that I didn’t pack swimsuits, so they missed out on the great indoor/heated pool there. The hotel is right downtown and is convenient to great attractions, so it’s a fantastic place to stay in Chattanooga. Once we checked in and freshened up, we were ready to set off on another adventure. Chattanooga has a free electric shuttle bus system called CARTA that runs downtown and we took the shuttle bus down to the Tennessee Aquarium. The Tennessee Aquarium is always a lot of fun. We all enjoyed it. I can safely say that the girls’ favorite exhibits were the butterfly garden, the penguins and the octopus. We also loved seeing the sharks! The whole aquarium experience was a lot of fun! We had dinner at Mellow Mushroom after the aquarium and then headed back to our hotel where we watched Rio and had some good chill time together. It was a great little day trip full of adventures for our family!

If you’re looking for a great family vacation spot, consider Chattanooga. There is so much there for families to see and do together. We only hit two of the highlights, but there are MANY more nearby attractions such as Coolidge Park, Lookout Mountain/The Incline Railroad, Ruby Falls, Rock City and more! If you stay downtown, think about catching the CARTA shuttle buses when possible because they are free and energy efficient. It’s an easy way to get around downtown Chattanooga. There are great places to eat in Chattanooga too. It’s really a fun place to hang out and have fun as a family.

I hope everyone’s week and year (wink) are off to a great start!
Kelly

(This photo was taken at our church’s Home For the Holidays celebration in December.)

Over the summer our oldest daughter, Macey, learned the truth about Santa Claus. The way this came about was that little miss detective figured out the Tooth Fairy deal and then that lead to a conversation that involved everyone’s favorite jolly ole elf.  You see, in our house, the Tooth Fairy leaves glitter quarters. I got this idea from a friend several years ago and loved it. You simply paint quarters with glitter nail polish and leave them from the Tooth Fairy. Easy and cute, right? This worked like a charm for the first several teeth Macey lost. She got her glitter quarters and some cash. Win/win and fun. Last summer, Macey had to have a tooth pulled at the dentist. So, out came the glitter quarters that evening. Only, I left the glitter nail polish out on my vanity. Didn’t occur to me that Nancy Drew was in the house. The next day, Macey saw the glitter nail polish out and noticed that it was the same color as her glitter quarters from the TF. When she asked me about it, I will admit, I tried to dodge the question at first, but when it was clear that she wanted a real answer, I told the truth. Instead of redirecting her with questions such as “Well, what do YOU think?” I was up front and honest with her. I told her that the Tooth Fairy isn’t real, but it’s something fun for parents to do for their kids to celebrate losing teeth. She was perfectly fine with that. No tears, no drama – just an understanding. I couldn’t have asked for a better revealing.

Once that conversation started, my wheels started turning and I really wanted to address Santa. I have long wrestled with the Santa dilemma. (See my post from November 2008.) I conferred with Mickey and we decided that the time was right to talk to Macey about SC. So, once we talked about the TF and she was obviously more than fine with that, I segued into the Santa conversation. I asked her if she had any other questions about real vs fun/fantasy and, sure enough, HoHo came into question. So, again, I was just honest. I told her that Santa Claus aka Saint Nicholas was a wonderful legend that had been told and enacted for many years. I told her it’s about giving and how the legend showed that Saint Nicholas was always happier to give than to receive. I emphasized how much fun it is for kids AND for their families. And, once again, she was perfectly fine with it. No drama whatsoever. What a relief!! In fact, she was happy to know the truth. She and I talked about what is real (God) vs fantasy (Santa) and she had a very clear understanding about all of  it. She was also happy to keep the magic alive for her sister and be in on “the secret” with us.

I know some people think that innocence is somehow lost when children no longer believe in Santa, but I’m here to say that isn’t the case. Macey enjoyed a wonderfully “magical” Christmas this year. Not one ounce of joy was diminished for her. In our home, we emphasize the birth of Jesus as the main celebration of Christmas, but we also include secular traditions like Santa, of course, and Elf on the Shelf. This year, Macey helped Mariana (our youngest) write her Santa letter. Once the letter was done, Macey took it to the mailbox to mail and sneaked it back into the house so we’d know what was on the list. When our elf  ”arrived”, Macey was there cheering about it and getting her sister all excited about it too. Macey then went to a laptop and printed out a letter from the elf and got excited when it magically appeared on the printer. She never once let on anything to her sister. She loved being in on it  all. So, there was no loss of innocence or fun. It’s simply a new phase in her life and one that she fully embraces with happiness.

We aren’t yet sure when we’ll tell Mariana about SC, but I’m sure the truth will reveal itself in the right time, just like it did with Macey. I always had a fear in the back of my mind that finding out the truth about Santa would cause Macey to have doubts about God, somehow, but that has not been the case. I can’t take any credit for that, but I’m hopeful that our keeping Christ at the center of Christmas was what helped her when she found out about SC. I worry less about Mariana finding out now since her sister has done so well with it all. After all, we are teaching our girls the truth of the Lord and that’s the main thing. We always said that when they came to us for the truth, we’d tell it and that’s what we did. I don’t mind redirecting their questions back to them at a young age, but when they are old enough to know, then it’s time to cease the redirects and come out with the truth. We always want our girls to know that we’ll tell them the truth, even if it’s not always what they want to hear.

I just had to share this story because I know that other people out there have children that are “of age” to find out about Santa too. And, you might have the same or similar worries as I did. My advice would simply be to tell the truth. The legend of Santa Claus is a fun one, so we enjoy including that in our Christmas. But, Jesus’ birth is first and foremost what we believe and celebrate. I’m so thankful that our big girl took the SC news as awesomely as she did and also thankful to know that she realizes and believes that Jesus really IS the reason we celebrate Christmas.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I look forward to blogging more in the new year.

Kelly

Mariana is a giggle girl. She loves to laugh and play. She has an imagination as big as the sky. She loves to pretend to teach a class which mainly consists of stuffed animals. She’s a fantastic little mommy to her dolls. She makes up songs and stories all day long. She got a doll house for her birthday and just about every mini LaLa Loopsy doll ever created, so she has already spent hours playing with those. She loves to sing and dance, but doesn’t so much like for us to think it’s cute when she does that. She reminds us to say the blessing before most of our meals — just in case we forget. She mostly says the “Now I lay me down to sleep” prayer at night, but sometimes she says her own prayer and she is always sweet and thankful when she prays. Mariana has a spark of mischief and a whole lot of curiosity. Ever since she’s been able to walk, we’ve said she’s an adventure waiting for a place to happen. She’s sweet, spunky, smart, sassy and such a delight. We are so thankful that five years ago, God entrusted a second beautiful baby girl to our care.

This is Mariana when she was one day wearing her going home outfit, but all swaddled up because it was chilly that day:

And, here she is before her “almost” sleepover birthday party on Friday evening:

It’s pretty hard to believe that that baby girl is already five, but…she sure is. She’s five and loving it!!

Thank you, God, for Mariana. Here’s to MANY more happy birthdays!

Blessings,

Kelly

Today has been a great Mother’s Day for me. I “slept in” and got up at around 7:45am. Mickey and the girls gave me a great new flat-iron which I have really been wanting and was HAPPY to receive! I was taken out to breakfast at one of our favorite places. We went to church and, as usual, the message from our amazing pastor was just wonderful. I chose to spend time cleaning out our nasty vehicles this afternoon after lunch, so I am happy to report that my Explorer is quite the clean machine right now. Mickey took our girls to the pool this afternoon while I lazed around and watched last week’s Grey’s via DVR. Then we had a delicious dinner followed later by homemade brownies for dessert. Now, obviously, this is the abridged version of the day, but it highlights the best points and that’s the main thing. It was a really good day. At the end of a day like today, I am tired and happy all at the same time. These are the good times.

I feel so blessed to be a mom. It’s a dream come true. I know I’m not always the best mom in the world, but I always love my girls more than life itself and I am always and forever grateful that God chose me to be their mom. I’m also thankful for my awesome husband because without him, I wouldn’t be a mom at all, let alone a stay-at-home mom. I am grateful for the blessings and opportunities of motherhood. My prayer is that our girls will grow up knowing they are loved most of all by the God that created them and entrusted them to our care. I also pray that they will be secure in their faith and in themselves as a result. As one of our pastors at church likes to say, I hope that learning about faith now places an “anchor in their hearts” to keep their paths steady on Christ their whole lives long. When I am sometimes asked what I do, I don’t ever say I am “just” a mom because it’s more than a “just” statement. I’m a mom and it’s a dream come true. I could not be more thankful.

I know that today is a hard day for some people and my heart goes out to those of you that are hurting today. There are those that have lost their moms, those who have strained relationships with their moms or those who really never knew a mom. There are also those who want more than anything just to be a mom and haven’t gotten that chance as of yet. For those, I hope that today wasn’t a hard day and that some joy found its way to you on this day.

Blessings,
Kelly

I went to the grocery store yesterday to pick up the various ingredients. When I got home, Macey and I got to work in the kitchen. These marshmallows are really easy to make. I’m glad I had the recipe notes from The Smitten Kitchen because that prepared me for the mess.  Macey couldn’t do everything, but the recipe had plenty for her to assist with in the kitchen. She helped grease and sugar the pan, she measured and poured, etc. We had a great time creating these marshmallows together.  I really couldn’t get over the simplicity of making them. By my own admission, I am not the most talented cook in the kitchen when it comes to candy. I can create all sorts of wonderful dishes and I enjoy baking too. It’s just that I have never found my niche with confections. Fortunately, making marshmallows is significantly more simple than making, say, divinity candy at which I abysmally failed at my first attempt. (oops) Making marshmallows was definitely easy and definitely messy. Macey and I would both agree, however, that the mess was worth it. The clean-up was actually a good bit easier than I anticipated. Just be ready to use HOT water to get the remaining marshmallow “goo” out of the stand mixer bowl. (And, a shout-out of THANKS to Mickey for helping us clean up after the preparation.)

We made the marshmallows last evening and let them set overnight. I cut them this morning and, of course, we had to taste them. Well, to be perfectly honest, we tasted the “goo” last night once the marshmallows were poured into the pan to cool and set. So, we already knew it was good. However, I must say that they got better once they cooled and set. Oh my good gracious, they are fantastic!! My friend Jamie said the following to me in a blog post: “And be prepared to never want to buy another store marshmallow again. Homemade ones taste exactly like store bought ones, only fresh. I can’t explain it, but you’ll understand when you eat one!” Jamie…you were RIGHT! I may never buy store-bought marshmallows again. These were incredibly easy to make and they taste amazing! YUM!!

Macey has decided that her marshmallows will be called MaceMallows. How cute is that?! We now have to come up with cute packaging and a label for them. She will take them in next week and I think I am more excited than she is! I am hoping to get by Michael’s today to find some fun options for her MaceMallows. This school project is definitely one that we have all gotten to enjoy!

I will take a picture of her MaceMallows soon to share. I tried taking photos with my iPhone this morning, but they didn’t do it justice. So, I’ll get out the “big” camera later and see what I can do.

Happy Thursday,
Kelly

PS: The recipe can be found by clicking through to the springy, fluffy marshmallows blog entry for The Smitten Kitchen. I am so glad I found this blog. I have bookmarked and will be checking back frequently!

Last week was book fair time at Mariana’s preschool. She didn’t actually go to the book fair, but Mickey and I went and did some fun shopping for her. She got some really fun books like Clifford the Champion, Katie Loves the Kittens and Dinner with Olivia. Mariana loves books and loves to “read.” She rarely lets us read to her these days. Instead, she prefers to take the books and “read” them herself which means that she makes up the stories as she turns each page. The cutest part is when she turns the page around to show her “kids” just the way her preschool teachers do. Love it!! It’s really cool to see her have such an interest in books and to see her creativity and imagination in bloom.

Macey’s book fair is this week. Today we get to go have lunch with Macey and then visit the book fair as a family. This is something we do twice a year at her school and we all look forward to it each time. Last week her class got to go to a preview of the book fair and the children got to create their wish lists at that time. Macey’s list includes the following – Library Mouse – A Friend’s Tale, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick and Pinkalicious. This time, there aren’t any chapter books on her list, but that could be because she has a ton of them already. She loves reading all sorts of books. Macey loves reading and enjoys reading to us too. She especially loves when she checks out AR (Accelerated Reader) books from the library each week because she likes to see which grade level she read each time.  It’s really amazing to me to see both of our girls blooming in their love of reading!

I’m just as excited as the girls about the book fair. Yes, we already have a library full of books at home. We have plans to donate some of them. Our friend Annie is serving as a missionary over in Kenya and she has requested books for the orphanage where she is serving. So, we are going to go through our books shortly and find a way to get them over to the orphanage in Kenya. It’ll be a great opportunity for me to go through the books with the girls and determine which ones to send.

We also donate at least one book to the classroom each time. The teachers fill out wish lists and we choose at least one book from the list for the classrooms. The teachers are always appreciative and it feels good to give back. So, book fair really IS a fun time for the whole family. I can’t wait to go again today!

Here they are putting the finishing touches on the snowman:

Love this one – can you see Macey? She discovered that I had come out with the camera:

Posing with their TALL snowman:

Mickey shows just how tall their snowman really IS:

Snowman huggers:

An adorable Miss Macey having fun in the snow:

You might wonder where Mariana was during all the snow fun. She was inside. Somewhat surprisingly, she wasn’t interested in going out to play in the snow today. She’s a little like her mama that way. We already played in it once this season, after all.

Macey and Mickey had a ball building this big snow guy. When Macey came inside as I was uploading photos, I asked her the snowman’s name. She didn’t hesitate before she said “Ed.” So, he’s Ed…the tall snow guy. Hopefully he’ll still be standing tall in our front yard in the morning. I’ll keep y’all posted.