#31. Give up fast food for a Month

We are not a family who eats fast food a lot, but I love Chick-fil-A. In addition, when we travel, we will often grab something as we go. Also, when I have to go into the office for work, we will grab something for lunch then as well. In these instances, I just took my own healthy salad and ate that with the people that I would normally eat with. This is not near as difficult as I thought it might be, But I definitely miss the french fries :-) My plan is to continue without fast food, although I may have to make an exception periodically. When they are, I hope I will have the strength to make healthier selections! I'm also assuming that the farther away from it I get, the less I will crave it !

Proud

When I met my husband 8 years ago, he only ate 5 foods.  Of these, none of them were really good for you.  Over the past 8 years, he has really broadened the horizons of his taste buds.  He had always hated berries and over the last 9 months, I can't keep strawberries away from him.  I never did understand how anyone could hate berries to begin with, but alas, this too seems to have gone by the wayside.  Tonight, we had spaghetti squash instead of regular spaghetti and he enjoyed it.  He now eats a salad almost every day (and he never ate anything green before we met).  I'm not only thrilled with how his taste buds are changing, but I am really proud of the fact that he is no longer afraid to try new things.  It definitely makes cooking so much easier. 

Month of sickness

So far this month, LPS and HAS both had two days of fever. Both spent a day throwing up. LPS had a bad case of croup, and HAS had a cold for 3 days. Now, to top it off HAS has a case of pink eye. Needless to say, I am ready for January to be over.

Parenting at its Finest

My favorite part of being a mom is wondering if you made the right choice.  The best part is that this "wondering" takes place on all of the decisions, and not just some of them (NOTE:  Sarcastic tone).  As a mom, I feel like I am constantly second guessing myself.  This is not in that "I should have done a more Pinterest-like Birthday party" or I should have bought them this or that.  This is in the "Am I doing the right thing to raise respectable adults?" way.  When my two youngest were babies, we used a modified vaccination schedule.  My mother-in-law works at our pediatrician, so you can imagine how well that went over, but it was something I felt very strongly about.  There are so many other decisions that I do not feel strongly about one way or the other from the beginning and I am always wondering if I am doing what is right for them.

I find middle school children to be extremely difficult in a not very pleasant way.  Don't get me wrong, I love my own middle school child, but generally speaking, I think middle schoolers would do better if they were shipped to a different planet and allowed to return to planet Earth when they begin behaving like normal people again.  Having said that, my husband and I decided to put my 12 year old in the online school where I work, so that he would miss out on some of that torturous middle school experience, and he would have amazing amounts of flexibility.  However, through the past two months, it has put an amazing amount of stress on my relationship with my normally sweet 12 year old son.  My husband and I have gone back and forth about leaving him there or putting him in a traditional middle school.  There are definite benefits to both, but I love the flexibility that this schedule allows him.  However, we decided to put him back in a traditional middle school, effective later this week (once I complete all of the paper work) and now my mind wonders. 

Like I said, the best part of being a parent is always wondering if you should have done it differently. 

Consignment Sale Fun

I. LOVE. CONSIGNMENT. SALE. SEASON.  There, I said it and I am not embarrassed by it at all.  We have a huge consignment sale down here where I volunteer a ridiculous number of hours and work my butt off, but I love it.  I have made so many great mommy friends there and laughed until we cried.  We scream when we find that bargain that we have been searching for.  We laugh at some things that people bring to sell, and even harder when people purchase them.  We help each other find that great bargain.  I will never forget searching through the book section (and for those of you not familiar with this sale, there are literally two hundred boxes of books sorted by type or author) with other moms and I told them what book I was searching for (The Kissing Hand) and they told me what they were searching for.  One of them found my book and we all screamed and laughed together.  I love finding sets of PJ's that look brand new for $1, then I don't even feel bad when I purchase 8 sets.  I love finding new clothes with tags still on them priced for $2-3 each.  I love the thrill of the hunt, but mostly I love the other moms.  When it is all said and done, we do clean up shifts that last for 10 hours (while we still search for bargains) and even when we can't lift another thing, we laugh. 

I said all of this because the consignment sale is in 2 weeks.  I. SIMPLY. CAN'T. WAIT. 

Snow Angels

While we came up here for a celebration of life, we also managed to have some fun in the snow with the boys.

Snow Bibs on...  So thrilled I was able to find both of their sizes at the Consignment Sale.  $8 for both :)

LPS was not sure of it at first

HAS fell down and immediately loved it.

JMS didn't get to come out yet because he hadn't finished his school work.

Mommy with the two little ones

We traipsed through the woods with HAS leading the way

Love the look on his face in this picture!!!

Snow Angel

He eventually liked the snow and would sit and lay in it. 

Tiny Snow Angel

We walked over to Grammy's Burial Site because it was right across the road. 

JMS working on his school work and enjoying some snow cream that I made

Enjoying the snow cream while we thaw out. 

Snow

I love snow. I love how peaceful and serene it looks when no one has walked in it and no one has driven over it. Granted, I'm sure my opinion would be different if I lived in the part of the country that got snow frequently. We are at David's dad's house in Pennsylvania for the funeral and we have gotten between three and 4 inches of snow today. The kids didn't have a chance to get out of playing it because of funeral obligations, but tomorrow, they will have a big chance to play in the snow. I can't waste to post pictures about our adventures tomorrow.