Thankful

I was shopping in the health food store this afternoon with my two youngest children. Little Man was sitting on the floor in his carseat, being an angel. My daughter was being well behaved as well. I was very thankful. I went in with the intentions ONLY to get vitamins... came out with a little more... My daughter is SO good at reminding me to give her vitamins! Now if I could only be as good as remembering to take mine!

I'm so glad I can get my kids vitamins from the health food store! For us, that's the best choice. As I look at the ingredients in the grocery store vitamins, I see a lot of fillers. The ones at the health food store are usually organic and always all natural! With ingredients I can read and know what they are! Don't worry...you're kids only eat the gummy kind? They have THOSE kind there too! I was pleasantly surprised to see!

 I'm thankful that my mom raised me to know what's good for my body...yes, I've been in denial at times, but now trying to get back to the basics. And thankful that my mom shopped at a little store just like this for me and my sister and brother when we were growing up. Was I thankful then? Not so much! I still remember the corn puff cereal that I was forced to eat... I saw it the other day when I was shopping with a friend at Wegmans! However, now I try to have my children eating similar healthy things. We don't know how good we have it until we're all grown up! Thank you Mommy, for feeding me healthy things when I was little. I will always try to feed my kids that way too!

Organic. To be or not to be....

What is our world coming to??? Why do we have all these chemicals in our foods that are said to be causing cancer, early puberty and obesity?? I don't understand it! It's seriously disgusting! And super frustrating for this momma! I'm trying to feed my kids as healthy as I can, but it's so hard! They charge SO much for "organic" food! Way too much on an almost non-exsistant income family!

 I planted my own garden this year. It was very VERY late to get in the ground, but I was determined. It was a very busy time for me, as I had just given birth to my little boy. But I was determined. So I planted. Planted zuchinni, tomatoes, and peppers. Way too much of all of them! They were coming out of my ears! I need to remember this for next year and not plant as much. However, my girls and I enjoyed picking what came in before the first frost. There's something completely fulfilling about picking what you've planted and cooking it for dinner.

Then I dabbled in canning this year. Somethign else I want to take up more of in the future. And I still to make and freeze my applesauce with my mom. A yearly tradition. Fun times in the kitchen with kids and apples!

I try and buy organic when I can. And definately picking choices of "farm over factory." If it comes in a box, I try to steer clear. Praying earnestly that my girls have a normal CHILDHOOD, where they can be CHILDREN!

Small Town Girl

I'm just a small town girl. I'm so grateful to my parents for moving me out of a very populated area and into the country at a young age. I remember visiting our old town when I was 16 and driving with a childhood friend. WOW! I was scared in the car! Not that she was a bad driver, but that everyone else on the road was seriously CRAZY! And there were several times I thought I might lose my life! YIKES! I love being back in the area where I spent my school age years... I'm so thankful that I'm able to raise my children in the country. Sure, we live in town, and our yard's not HUGE, but it's such a small town feel, that I wouldn't trade it! (Except maybe for a farm someday!) I know that God has us right where He wants us to be. I was driving to MOPS this morning, and saw a new traffic light. We were a "one light town" for the longest time. Then Wal-Mart came when I was in Jr. High. Wal-Mart got it's very own traffic light. I then called it a "one and a half traffic light town." I refused to call it a light. Now Lowe's is about to open. A HUGE boost to our local economy! IT HAS IT'S OWN LIGHT!!! I guess Penn Dot is thinking we're going to have MASSIVE traffic in and out of that parking lot. I guess we'll have to see. For now, I will enjoy being this small town girl, in this somewhat small town that's growing.

So I hate it when...

So I hate it when I get those emails titled (along the lines of) "Cozy Comforting Meals" and I open them and the first three recipes are beautiful, larger then life pictures of some gooey brownie or cake or cookies! Sure it's warm and cozy, as in adding more padding and cushion to my post baby body, but come on!??! Really?!?!? That is SO FRUSTRATING!!!! I'm on this recent health kick...I'm hoping to lose some weight... no not lose it. RELEASE it!! I heard Mandisa at a recent Women of Faith conference talking about Releasing weight...if you "lose" something, you're usually trying to find it. I DO NOT want to find this weight again! So I'm releasing it, praying never to get it back! Unless of course, the Good Lord decides to bless me with another baby, but then again, I'm still praying to be able to BE HEALTHY! That's really what it's all about. It comes back to the old saying "Everything in moderation." Now if I can just adapt that to my eating habits, I'll be golden.

So I wanted to start a blog....

So I've wanted to start a blog for a while...but never really knew how to do it. Finally, I realized if you just follow this link and that, I would find my way. If nothing else, it's a place for me to write, lots of things that are on my mind. Maybe it will help myself, if no one else. Or maybe some other mommy will stumble across my rantings and be able to to feel at home. We're not alone in this. Not only do we have other mom's that have gone before us, but we have those around us going through it. Whatever it is... and we can think we can do it all on our own, but we can't. We need other's and we need God. That's the way He created us to be. At least that's the way He created me. I need my husband, my family, my friends, to help me on the journey...the journey of Motherhood.