For women only

O.K. I've been thinking about this post for some time.  I know this is weird blog material, but I'm pretty sure all my readers are women, so what the heck.  I've discovered something that has made my life easier as a woman.  I was hesitant to try it at first, but when I started running it seemed so much better than what I was using.  It also lined up with my new resolve to get and stay green.


Curious?  Click here


I didn't really want to get too descriptive on this blog.  Most reviews were very positive about this product.  I was a little nervous about it at first and knew there was going to be a learning curve.  The first few days of use were a little challenging, but I read other users suggestions on a few websites, and now I can say it's pretty easy and oh so nice.  Much less of a hassle than what I was using.  So in effort to help some other woman out there that doesn't like dealing with that time of the month, maybe you'll find this as helpful as I did.  I only wish I knew about this sooner.

Prayer for a daughter

While I was on the subject of that book Bringing up Girls.  I also wanted to share a prayer that was in the book.  So touching. 

"Heavenly Father, thank You for a daughter like Sherrie.  Thank You for blessing her and putting her in this family.  Thank You for helping her find You at an early. age.  Protect her tonight as she sleeps and tomorrow as she goes through her day.  Keep her from the enemy and from harm.  Help her to find a godly husband in Your time.  In Jesus' name, amen."

A girl that Dr. James Dobson interviewed said that her father prayed this same prayer over her every night.  How sweet is that?  Years later as a young adult, she never forgot it.

Bringing up Girls

My new read Bringing up Girls by Dr. James Dobson came highly recommended to me.  I had to wait 3 months on a waiting list just to check it out from the library.  It surprised me that 3 chapters are devoted to the roll of a father in a daughter's life and only one chapter is devoted to a mother.  One chapter in particular takes some quotes from another book called Father to Daughter: Life lessons on Raising a Girl.  Some of the quotes were just too good not to share.  I had a lump in my throat by the end of this chapter. I wanted to share a few of them with you if you don't mind. For those of you with girls I'm sure you'll find this as amusing as I did.

*Her mom will show her how to bake chocolate chip  cookies.  You show her how to dunk them in milk.
*Be prepared to watch Walt Disney movies with her some 200 times.  Each.
*Relish the moments when she toddles up and for no reason at all throws her arms around your neck  Resist the urge to buy her the world.
*Keep her secrets.  This way she will begin to trust men.
*Take her to the golf course with you.   Give her a sawed-off club she can use to whack balls around.
*Don't miss a recital, concert, play, or any other performance of hers.  Not now.  Not until she graduates.
*Accept the fact that the loving, tender angel you've spent the last decade with may disappear sometimes.  She will return.
*Remember, teenage girls spend hours in their room doing something.  No man has ever really figured out what that something is.
*Remember, when you're dealing with a 13-year-old girl, for all intents and purposes, you're dealing with a fruitcake.
*Accept the fact that girls squeal when they're happy or confused or excited or scared or because they just saw a certain boy in line.
*Volunteer to drive her and her friends to the movies.  Then just listen while they talk.

*You will have to teach her how to drive...without making her cry.
*Make it very clear that you expect her to wear a seat belt.  Even over her prom dress.
*Odd-looking boys will start showing up at yoru house.  This is to be expected because adolescent boys are odd-looking.
*Teach her how to look a boy in the eye and say "No."
*Understand that if she suddenly becomes a football fanatic even though she hates the game, you can be sure a boy is involved.
*Teach her that if she acts stupid to attract boys, she'll attract stupid boys.
*If a boy pulls up and honks for her, go out and have words with him.  Explain that your daughter answers to a doorbell.
*Remember, every girl's heart gets broken.  There's nothing you can do to fix it.  Hunting down the boy won't help.  On the other hand, she will also break a few hearts herself.
*You have no power over how much makeup, shampoo, suntan lotion, skin creams, hair color treatment, mascara, eyeliner, perfume, cologne, body wash, and bath lotion she will buy.  Accept this and move on.
*Teach her to respect herself.
*Prepare for the day when you're not the most important man in her life.
*Have a look around her room.  Take a moment to look at her pictures, her photos, her keepsakes.  These are her memories.  This was the childhood you gave her.
*Tell her she is the daughter you always dreamed about.
*In the end, let her go.


Crying yet?  The list had many more points, but I didn't want to write a 4 page blog post.  Like them?  If you have a little girl, check it out.  It's a good read. Your girl(s) are worth it.

Yellow Squash Cookies

Sometimes I find a recipe that blows me away.  Monday afternoon it was just me and the girls.  My freezer is LOADED with pureed veggies.  I felt like making veggie cookies of some kind.  Just searched for some recipes online and came up with this one.  I made a few changes to accomodate what I had on hand and it tasted like homemade cinnamon rolls to me.  Yummy!  I plan on making them for breakfast turkey morning.

Here's a link to the site with the recipe:
http://www.noordinarymomentsblog.com/2009/07/yellow-squash-cookies.html

My changes:
.5 C brown sugar instead of honey
1 Cup pureed sweet potatoes instead of 2 C shredded squash
I made a frosting out of milk and powdered sugar to give it that cinnamon roll effect

Other than that, followed it to a T.  Awesome!

Mad quacking skills

First time I have used vimeo.  Hope this works.  It seems to be very skippy on my computer, but maybe that's my interenet service.  Anyhoo....thought this was cute and very representative of Bren's speech development.  Please excuse Kadyn's nose picking.  We're working on it. Anyhow the first one shows her barking skills and the second one shows her quacking skills.


Bren sings from Darci Bilberry on Vimeo.

Bren sings 2 from Darci Bilberry on Vimeo.

I remember...

....doing this exact thing as a child.  Something amazing about watching cookies cook.  The girls are anxiously awaiting their sweet potatoe cookies.  Aw childhood.  So full of wonder.

Drive in theater

Last week I stole an idea from my Family Fun magazine.  It suggested making a car out of a box and then letting the kids sit in it while watching a movie.  A drive in movie theater, if you will.  I gave them a bag of skittles and a cup of juice to sip on and they watched a movie.  Seemed like the perfect craft to go along with our letter 'c' week.  The kids enjoyed it.  I waited on them hand and foot because I was the theater attendant.  They got a real hoot out of that.  At one point they were requesting supper.  I had to inform them that supper was not served at a drive in theater.  They got so enthralled by me being their attendant that they started to loose focus on the movie, so I had to inform them that I was going on break.  Silly kids.  Fun times!