Mormon teens act normal

We are a mormon family. Sometimes because of this, I forget that my teens are still just that, teens. I want to hold them to a higher standard because of their up bringing but I find myself expecting the worst and settling for sometimes mediocre effort on my teens part. I hear myself at least weekly saying, it must be their age. These kids were born with a personality all their own. They live in a very different world then even I did. They have agency.
Ultimately, they are going to decide what path they want to walk down no matter what I think about it.
The things I am sure of are these:
I am a good mother
I have taught all six of my kids right from wrong
I have taken them to church most Sundays since before they can remember
Their dad and I have taught by example. Not perfectly of course but if I expect it from myself, I expect it from my teens
They have been taught kindness, respect and compassion
There are many more but my point is, they have been taught and we continue to teach and yet we run into the same issues as any other family.
Recently we saw a big change or what we thought was a big change in one of our teens. These were good changes and we thought, this is good. This is the break through we were hoping for.
Some months went by and we slowly started seeing glimpses of some old and not so savory behaviors. Mom's sneaky teen radar started coming on more frequently. Then, the not so comfortable call from the Bishop of our ward and all the good changes we had seen started to crumble. I wanted to pick up the crumbs and piece them back together for this person that I love so much and daily pray for and root for.
Mormon teens are normal teens. Mormon parents of mormon teens are normal parents. As much as I want it to be different, it's reality and I hang on the best I can. My advice, hang on for dear life and don't give up because somewhere in there is the amazing person you know and love and they will find their way out

Hang on Mom and dad, just hang on

My stress relief

Baking. It's my thing. It's the thing that makes me feel calm when chaos tries to take over. By chaos  I mean life, kids, and everything else that is my day. 

It's not interesting but it's the thing that speaks to me. 

Joe and I were at the store the other night. Our cart was full of Halloween paraphernalia and baking ingredients. Joe innocently asked why I needed all the ingredients to which I snippily replied " I need them just let me!" I was being a bit dramatic and my husband didn't say another word. I have also used every single ingredient I bought and enjoyed every second of using them.

This is half of my Halloween baking. I forgot to take a picture once everything was done and the cupcakes were frosted.

I made several dozen dark chocolate chip cookies, chocolate mint cookies, flourless cupcakes and gluten free chocolate mint cookies.

I often bake gluten free goodies since I have a daughter with celiac disease and alot of the store bought stuff is terrible. 

What is your thing? What calms you down?

Quick beauty routine

The babies and I were sitting on the couch today watching Big Hero 6 when my homeschooled daughter snapped some pictures.

As you can see in this picture I've got some crazy under eye dark circles going on. I get dark circles from being tired, allergies and genetics so I get triple smacked by these annoying things.

Because of them I have spent who knows how many dollars on under eye cream and concealers. So far, under eye cream has been useless, a big waste of money. But, I have found a concealer that I really like.

Anyway after seeing this picture I had to fix the issue. Here is my daily makeup. It takes less than 10 minutes. It can't take alot of time due to the babies

Mineral concealer duo in cool

HoneyBee Gardens pressed mineral powder in Supernatural

Bare Minerals cheek tint in Charm

Bare Minerals flawless definition volumizing mascara in black

HoneyBee Gardens pencil eyeliner in jet set

I tried putting my makeup on while babies were sitting on my lap. This is water they shook out of sippy cup onto my leg.

This was as far as I got with babies

I finished! Okay, so I didn't get to the hair, I usually sport a pony tail for daycare and by 3pm it's not a perky pony and I don't bother fixing it until the babies leave

Tuesday morning lessons

What I've learned this morning:

Chickens and ducks are escape artists and love to escape as much as possible

It is perfectly acceptable to herd chickens in pjs and rain boots

Chasing chickens is completely worth it and gathering eggs never gets old

Babies are better than chickens 

Babies try to escape too

Babies and tiredness

Friday started off cold and quiet. With sleepy, cuddly babies and lazy chihuahuas. I want to be a morning person. I like the peaceful feeling the early morning brings. A new day for new beginnings and new experiences.
My plans included baking regular and gluten free bread, cutting up extra veggies in the fridge and freezing them. Taking a math placement test that I have been studying for and putting up a baby swing outside.
I did do the test, not well but I did it and I will redo it in month because I am that bad at math. The rest of the day was filled with squealing, giggly babies who love dancing and running. A baby pile with all three babies hugging each other. The rest of my to do list went by the wayside because these moments with these babies that I care for are worth store bought bread and a few rotten veggies.
The babies went home to their families and the race was back on to get kids to work and appointments.
By the end of the day, I was pretty tired. I even went to lengths to convince my daughter who stayed the night with a friend that my foot was broken so I couldn't bring her extra food, a pillow and extra blanket. The bruising on my foot is makeup. It took me way more time to do it then to take her the requested items but it was worth the laugh I got from her

I ended the night with a delicious mug of hot cocoa and dreams of sleeping in

Changes

This year has brought many new changes. My oldest son moved away for college and my oldest daughter got married, had a beautiful DIY wedding and moved away. We found out one of our daughters has celiac disease and the same daughter is also now being home schooled and started teaching an art class once a week in our home. My husband has been putting in a french drain in our basement for the past three months so the house has been cramped from everything that we had to bring upstairs. Even my home daycare has had some changes. To top this off, I have decided that it is time for me to go back to school. To say we are busy is putting it mild.
 It is definitely a new season in our lives and because of all of these changes my blog has received a new name. Named by my daughters with an appropriate name that more fully describes our life than the previous "Just a homemade girl" name.
I like to see pictures on a blog so here are some pictures from the wedding. Photography by
www.kensiem.com

Don't just dream of gardening, start preparing

This is my garden, does your garden look like this too? 

It's hard to imagine that in just a few short months this snow covered barren garden will be full of life, but it's true! So, instead of scowling at your empty garden every time you look out the window, start planning!

What are you going to plant this year? Have you mapped out your garden or your plant placement? Are you using compost, manure, mulch or all of them?

These are things you should be asking yourself.

Now, what you can't see in the picture of my garden is under all that snow is I have covered my garden with chicken and duck manure, compost and straw. So my garden will be ready to plant in the spring and I should get an even better yield than last year because of the added nutrients. If you haven't taken this step, now is a great time!

 I keep my seeds organized so it is easy for me to decide what I want to plant. Fall time is a great time to buy discounted seeds to use for the following spring. I also order from online seed companies such as Baker creek heirloom seed company and Heirloom seeds. If you need to purchase seeds, now is the time as it may take a few or more weeks to receive them.

 I like to plan my garden in a notebook. There are many other methods and printables online but this is my method of choice. This one is from last year. I write what I plant, where I plant it and the date that I plant it so I can keep track of how my plants are growing. I am working on this years but I tend to change my mind when I am actually planting so I try not to write anything in the book until it is planted.We are also putting in another garden so I will have more space to plant 

Last but most important, if you haven't put in a garden space, now is the time. Or, if you are container gardening, now is the time to decide on what you are using and prepare them. 

Here are a few extra pictures just for fun.

 These girls are taking a little break from the freezing cold

Betty White is one of my favorite girls

If you look real close, you will count 8 chickens and 4 ducks