Announcement

I just saw this in Vicki's Free Weekly Newsletter and I wanted to make sure you all knew about it! If you aren't getting the newsletter you really should sign up. They are free after all! It's helpful to have the Parenting on Track background or to have taken the class, but even if you haven't I believe it will be helpful to you and you family just to receive her encouragement and insight. So if you're wondering about Parenting on Track, what it's about and why I think it's so great be sure to tune it!

Vicki's on TV...MomTV to be exact!

WHO: Vicki Hoefle, Creator of Parenting On Track™

WHAT: Parenting Television Show

WHEN: Mondays - starting on June 29th

9:00 pm-10:00 pm

WHERE: www.momtv.com

WHY: Why Not?

Join us on June 29th. Vicki will introduce the founding principles of the Parenting On Track™ program and discuss Parenting Styles.

Questions you want us to answer on the show? Send them today!

Now go mark your calendars and be well!

Happy Birthday Webby!

Yesterday was Webby's birthday! We all made him cards. the girls both thought that we should buy him a present, but he really didn't want anything. We had a yummy birthday dinner of his choice: Veggie Omelet (more scrambled eggs), Simple Stir Fried Cabbage (first time for this but very yummy, everyone liked it! and Webby doesn't really like cabbage), and Roasted Spare a Kiss (that's how Sweet Girl pronounces Asparagus, so cute!) I should have taken a picture of dinner but I didn't think of it until we were already eating.

The meal ended with Two Layer Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Vanilla Ice Cream! Webby's not big into parties so we just had one close friend come over for dessert.

Happy Birthday Webby! I love you!

Best Ever Carrot Cake- The One I Use!

1 ¾ cups sugar
1 ½ cups oil
4 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
2 cups peeled and grated carrots (I like mine finely grated)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple

• Preheat oven to 350, grease and flour a 9x13 pan or 9 a 10-inch spring form pan or 2 round cake pans.

• Beat together oil, sugar, and eggs until well blended. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Add to egg-sugar mixture mixing well. Add carrots, walnuts and pineapple. Pour batter into pan.
  
• Bake for about 1 hour or until toothpick in center come out clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream together:
2 - 8 oz packages cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract.

I See That You're Upset

This is a Parenting on Track post. I've been wanting to share my experience with this program, but haven't gotten around to it. I had an experience tonight that I thought I would share.

So one of Vicki's skills that I haven't used very often is the phrase, "I see that you're upset...." to help a situation. When temper tantrums come I use the "put a bag over the weed" skill instead. It seldom works and ends up with everyone very upset. So tonight, I decided ignoring the tantrum Sweet Girl was having wasn't going to work. I want into her room and calmly said, "I see that you're upset. Is there anything that you can think of that will make it better." She shook her head no. I responded that it was okay and that I was going to leave, but when she thought of something to let me know. She quickly said that she did have a solution. She said she wanted to talk about it, that she wanted to read scriptures and wanted to have a family prayer. So that's what we did. We talked about how we got to the point of her tantrum and how different choices would have prevented it from happening in the first place. And then she went to bed calmly and happily. Now from experience I can tell you that my kids will go on forever, like hours, when they are having a temper tantrum and being ignored. This definitely worked better. There are thing that I do ignore and my kids do self correct, but tantrums are not one of them. So I learned form this experience that this is what I need to do instead.

I never would have thought it could be so easy. But then again, I have taken Vicki's class and when implemented it really does work! Often I look back on an incident and see how I could have done better. Maybe looking for how Vicki would have done it. But this is the first time I thought of it before things got out of control. Thanks again Vicki

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I haven't done this yet, but it sounds great. I have all but the washing soda. I have a friend who just made up a big batch of this laundry detergent and said it works great. I love this tutorial because it has pictures, helpful hints, and short cuts.

If you are trying to do things naturally you may want to look at this post before making the laundry detergent. She has an alternate detergent recipe and other suggestions for natural detergent. The question is is Borax safe to use. I don' have the answer. But if you're using conventional laundry detergent anyway, the first recipe is probably the cheapest and like what you are buying at the store. I have a friend who uses Charlies Soap and loves it! So there you are. Enjoy!

I totally forgot my cousin made laundry soap too. She blogged about it. You can read about it here!

Baby Update

I actually started this update on Friday when I had my check up. But it ended up out of control with past birth experiences and the like and I really didn't feel like it was worth posting. So I posted nothing. But my sister's been nagging me...not really, but I am doing it for her. So here it is.

Everything is great! I'm at 25 weeks. It's hard to believe I'm that far already. It seems like just this morning I was throwing up. Oh wait it was.... Don't ask me why. I drank a glass of water, that was it, and it came right back up. Luckily, I hadn't eaten yet. Funny how we say things like that when we're pregnant.

Anyway, I went to my check up. She measured me etc. She said everything looked good. she could now feel the baby's body part. Baby is bottom up, head down, feet to the left side of my body. That must be why I feel most of the action on that side of my body!

I'm feeling really good. Slowing down a bit. It's harder when you walk everywhere. I find that I am walking slower already. I probably haven't walked this much during either of my other pregnancies. I do it now because I don't really have a choice. One car family = walking. It's not bad, I actually enjoy being in the sun. the spring has been pretty mild. It's getting through the summer that might be tough. I figure I was in Kentucky for Sweetie Heart's pregnancy and birth (June) and it gets pretty hot and humid there early. I was in Ohio for Sweet Girl's pregnancy and birth (October!) and let's just say I used the A/C quite a bit. Because, man it was hot and humid! But my experience with New England summers is that they get hot for a couple of weeks, it rains and cools back down for a couple of weeks, rinse and repeat. So, yes it gets a bit hot but it's not for long. I think I can make it! One of my midwives is due at the end of September. She's planning to be at the births up to the point she delivers.

School's not out for another week and a half. We will have swim lessons for two weeks, Webby's parents will be here for a week and Sweetie Heart has Art Camp for a week. And since it's summer smack down time, it should be fun getting into our new routine. I'll blog about that later.

So to sum up, everything is great! Have a great summer!

Reminder!

This is just a friendly reminder that this is the last week for you to order your Parenting on Track Home Program for half off plus free shipping! If you forgot or put it off, do it now!! You'll never regret it. See my other post for more information or visit the Parenting on Track website!

Here is the information again!


So through the month of May (and while supplies last) we are offering you, your friends, and your family any of the three Parenting On Track™ Home Program packages at 50% off the regular retail price. After you've chosen the program package that's best for you, simply apply Code ONTRACK531 during our secure checkout. No additional charges will apply – this means Parenting On Track™ pays the shipping and sales tax for orders shipped within the US!


As an update. Vikki commented on my A Gift for You post and we are now BFFs! Isn't that great!! I'm so excited! I wonder when she'll come over for dinner?? I don't even know how she found my blog except she must use google.

Here are some pictures of the girls after family meeting. They have just gotten their allowance and are filling out their tithing slips for donations at church. I've been impressed and humbled at how generous sweetie Heart is! She gives more than she needs to and does it without prompting! I guess I must be doing something right!



Enough looking at these cheese balls. Go place your order!!

Piture Update!

Sisterly Love

Roller Blades!

Isn't this pretty!

Common Sight!

Tip Tuesday

Here it is Tuesday again. We had a wonderful day off to celebrate Memorial Day. We live on the parade route so we had a few friends over to watch the parade. It seems I've always lived on the parade route. When we were kids we did too! Maybe my life is a parade, the question is am I marching in it or sitting on the side lines watching it go by. Hum...deep. Moving on.

The tip for today. I am a scheduler. I have a big calendar that I write everything on. I won't even make plans unless I can look at my calendar first. I love the More Time for Moms Calendar and part of their proceeds are given to charity.

But I digress, my tip, yes that's what I was talking about. As a scheduler, I should say beginning scheduler, I schedule what we are having for dinner. So Monday is pasta night, Friday is pizza night, etc. Now if you are trying to be frugal having pasta once a week sounds pretty good, but have you seen the price of pasta sauce? Now granted I only buy the good stuff. The stuff that only has a handful of ingredients and no high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oil. If you look at most of the cheap and even some expensive jars of sauce at the store most have these two ingredients in them. And for me and my family those are big no nos! So instead I make my own sauce. Yes, that's right I make my own sauce and it is so good and so easy! And as an added bonus is is tons cheaper!!

So you ask, how do you do it. I know you want a recipe. So I'll give you one. But after a couple of times you'll wonder why you ever needed a recipe. Mostly, I put in the basics, simmer and serve. You can add anything you want.

Pasta Sauce

Olive Oil
I small onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 - 28 oz can of plum tomatoes, whole or diced
fresh basil
dash of oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in sauce pan and simmer the garlic and onion. Throw in tomatoes & raise heat until it starts to bubble. add basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Break up the tomatoes with a fork and stir the sauce occasionally. Cook for about 20 minutes.

That's what the recipe says. This is how I do it. I drizzle oil onto the bottom of my sauce pan to cover and heat. I skip the onion, because it gives us gas. I do sometimes substitute leeks for the onion. It gives a similar flavor but no gas! And saute the garlic (and leek) until the garlic begin to turn golden brown. Watch the garlic it burns fast! Throw in my tomatoes and raise the heat. sprinkle in some Italian Seasoning, salt and pepper. I usually turn down the heat and simmer. I then use my immersion blender to puree the sauce. Tada fresh pasta sauce done in minutes!! It takes about as long to make it as it does to boil the water.

In the summer when we had tons of fresh basil I used that and it was heavenly!! An even easier way to make sauce and the way I am doing it now is like this. But first I must give a little explanation. Last year we bought into a CSA. Since we have such a small back yard, it just made sense for us to do that. During the summer we'd go and pick up our fresh vegetables from our farmer. We'll along it come and with it comes basil. So what do you do with basil? Well, you cook with it, but we were getting a lot...every week! So I started making basic pesto. I can't make pesto like you would buy in the story due to Sweet Girl's allergies to dairy (at the time) and nuts. Plus pine nuts are expensive. So I made basic pesto (recipe to follow) and froze it in ice cube trays. Popped them out and have had them storing in the freezer since last summer. I probably have a gallon freezer bag full of pesto. I use it occasionally on pizza, but that seems to be the extent of it.

Since summer is coming on and we just bought into another CSA this year, I was looking in the freezer wondering how to use the pesto since I'm sure there will be more basil coming. I was pulling out frozen diced tomatoes (I get them in the #10 cans which holds about 6+ lbs and freeze them in 2 cup servings which is the serving size for 1 can of tomatoes) and noticed the pesto. Now when you think about it, it makes sense. What is in tomato sauce, what is in pesto. Put them together and you're done. I heat my pan, throw in 1-2 cubes pesto and thaw. Add my tomatoes and a little salt and pepper. Simmer. Blend. Done! It's so good. You'd think it was summer again! And it's totally fast.

Minimalist Pesto

2 loosely packed cups fresh basil leaves, big stems discarded
salt to taste
1/2 -1 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
warm water for thinning

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender.
Process, stopping to scrap down the sides and process more.
Add warm water as needed.

I use my hand held immersion blender for this too. Put the ingredients into a high sided bowl. Put on an apron and blend. Works great. Freeze and use as needed or wanted!

Enjoy your yummy, frugal pasta sauce!

Tip Tuesday

Here it is Tuesday again. As I was standing at my kitchen counter cutting vegetables for lunch, I was wondering what tip I was going to come up with today. Something that you would think was duh. I looked down and there was my tip.

I happen to be cutting up a cucumber at the time. Don't you just hate a bitter cucumber? I know I do. It always seemed like a bit of a chance whenever I would buy a cucumber. I've never really learned a test you can do to "pick a good one." You know the ones. The thumping of a watermelon. The smelling of the soft spot on a cantaloupe. Looking at the stems of grapes. The pulling of the leaves of a pineapple. Maybe if you stick a cucumber in your ear and you hear the ocean it's good. You should go try it before you read anymore!

Did it work? No? I wish I could have been there to see you do it!

Shortly after I was married we had some friends over. The husband, can yo believe it, gave me this tip.

Buy a cucumber. Whichever one looks good to you. Cut off the end of the cucumber and rub the cut off end in a circle over the other cut end. One of two things will happen. You will get a clear liquid come out, which means the cucumber is fine, peel, cut and eat. OR you will start to see a white foam come out. That is the bitter stuff I guess. Get as much foam out, you can rise and start again. You may get more foam or you may be done. That's it! So easy and you cut off the end anyway.


After you do that you may want to make some Tzatziki Sauce!

Tzatziki Sauce

1 cucumber, finely diced or grated (I remove the seeds)
2 garlic cloves, finely diced
2 cups thick Greek style yogurt
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
2 tbsp. olive oil
Parsley as desired
Salt & Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
Grate cucumber and sprinkle with a little salt. Let cucumber sit in a sieve for about 30 minutes, then squeeze dry. Mix with remaining ingredients and chill before serving.

**Make sure you use the thick Greek yogurt in this. If you have another type, give it time to drain through cheesecloth in a sieve to thicken up.

Serve with Pita bread triangles, cut up veggies or roasted or grilled meat.

Or you could just go to the Greek Corner Restaurant in Boston and get it there. Or Anna's Greek Restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. Or better yet, just go to Greece! I bet you get the best Tzatziki there!

Enjoy!!

A Gift for You

So I've talked a bit about it here in my blog. But if you've talked to me in person you'll know I'm all about the Parenting on Track program by Vicki Hoefle. If you don't know me or haven't heard my little story here it is in a nut shell...hopefully!

I had a baby! It was great! She was beautiful and lovely and everything to me. She still is, by the way, but she's not so little anymore. She turns 7 next month! My whole world revolved around her and her needs. Not all bad, but there comes a time when I need to be the parent and she needs to be an obedient child and that wasn't happening. Why not? Because I never taught her to be that way. There was whining, crying, temper tantrums, aggressive behavior whenever parental authority was put into play and at other times too. I tried timeouts, explaining, speaking sternly, and many other things to get thing under control. None of it worked. What to do?

Along comes number two. I've learned a few things but was still struggling with Sweetie Heart. We decided it was best to go to family counseling. That's helped a little bit but we still were having the same problems. I have to say there were times I became that mom I never wanted to be. Times where I wondered how I could possibly get through this time. If it was this bad now, how was it going to be when she became a teenager?? The thought was truly frightening!

We moved here to New England, still struggling but we were doing a little better...sometimes. They say consistency is the key, but even my family therapist said that being consistent is hard to do. Even she struggled with it. So we moved forward. Sweetie Heart started school and I heard about a parenting class that was offered, for free, by the school. I wanted to go but Webby was in school that night and I wanted to the kids to get to bed on time, so I didn't go. Did I mention there was free childcare?! What was I thinking?! Sweetie Hearts best friend's mom took the class and told me about it. She loved it and highly recommended it to me.

Kindergarten, for the most part went well. Sweetie Heart did great. But when she came home from school she would lash out at the family. Not just me and Webby but Sweet Girl, too. Many times it seemed to come out of no where. We'd be walking home and boom off she'd go. I didn't know what was going on or why it was happening. I talked to her teacher. If something was going on in the classroom I needed eyes there to tell me what was going on. She was shocked at the behavior I described. She said she was doing great in class and often helped her as a teacher and the other children in class. But she said she'd look into it and see what she could find out. Nothing really surfaced.

Fast forward one year. First grade starts. More of the same behavior. I talk to the school counselor about it and she agrees to work with Sweetie Heart. She suggest a sixth grade mentor. So she meets with her mentor once a week and they play games and has someone to look up to. It helps some but there is still stuff going on at home. More harsh words and tantrums. I was anxious for the class to be announced. I was going to take the class no matter what this time. and so I went. Webby was home most of the time, but some work things happened and he was out of town for 2 of the 4 weeks. I packed the kids up and took them to the free childcare. They cried and after a hug and kiss and reassuring words I walked out of the room. This class is exactly what I needed and nothing was going to keep me from the class!

I cannot explain to you how much I wish I had had this information before I had kids. Even if I had gotten it when my oldest was a couple of years old it would have saved me so much heartache and frustration. I love my kids and felt like a failure as a parent. But now I have the skills to be the best parent I can be, that I want to be! I cannot put into words how much I wish this for everyone. If I had the money I would buy each and every one of you a copy of the program.

One of the things that Vicki said that struck me the hardest is this. "Most of us go into parenthood knowing what we don't what to do. But few of us actually decide what kind of parent we want to be and decide how we are going to accomplish it." The other thing she said is , "kids grow into behavior, not out of it if it works. We train our kids to behave the way they do. Children always do what works, parents consistently do what does not!"

As a parent it is my responsibility to make sure my kids are ready for the world. I have to teach them everything they need to know to be able to walk out my house at 18 and confidently walk into their own lives. How do I do that? Am I doing it now? Well, the answer was no. But now things are getting better. It's not perfect. There will always be times when one or more of us choose to not do what we should or make mischief of one sort or another. But when put in a place of choice my children become empowered and isn't that what we all want?

So go to the Parenting on Track website and check it out. Sign up for the free weekly newsletter, it is very encouraging. And if you are struggling or think that this program might help you order it! You're saying to me, "Sarah, that's pretty expensive!" Yes, it is and worth every dime! but here's the gift that Vicki wants to give you.



So through the month of May (and while supplies last) we are offering you, your friends, and your family any of the three Parenting On Track™ Home Program packages at 50% off the regular retail price. After you've chosen the program package that's best for you, simply apply Code ONTRACK531 during our secure checkout. No additional charges will apply – this means Parenting On Track™ pays the shipping and sales tax for orders shipped within the US!


My friends this program is a gift in and of itself. The 50% off is just a bonus gift! Please consider this information my gift to you! And she's really funny! She's raised 3 kids by herself for a little while so she knows how it is and how you feel. She's really great! I want her as my BFF!

Be Well!