Positive Discipline, let us all convert!

Here's my plug for something I'm sharing with you for 2 reasons:

1.) I would love to share with all of you the most awesome thing that has changed/is changing the way Tony & I parent so you can feel even more hopeful, happy, and encouraged about your lil' darlings too! Just go to my blog HERE & check it out (feel free to leave comments to tell me what you think or if you've ever heard of it before, etc, I'm curious how main-stream it is out west compared to here). Here is my Positive Discipline testimonial (& I've read a bazillion parenting books & loved them all for some reason or another but this seems to encompass it all!),

---I feel so much better (less guilty, less naggy, more positive, more happy!) and I feel like the boys really are learning long-term, positive behaviors. Some moments are better, some are worse. They're not cured of all misbehavior--that's not the point, they're still kids after all, but I feel like a new person in the way I handle them! Spread the glorious word for all those frustrated parents out there who are open to new ways of handling the same old problems :)---

2.) If you have any websites you'd think are awesome that I could add to my list on the side that have to do with parenting, relationships, fun activities for families, etc. I would really appreciate it, I'm hoping to start teaching here in our little community in the next couple of months (we'll see if they're receptive to this sort of thing, I haven't seen any parenting classes advertised previously...)

11 months

--This picture sums up where she's at right now!

--Walks along furniture, stands for longer & longer, took a step while in Idaho to her cousins!

--Does the "Bonsai!!" trick: when I am lying down she stands right by/above me w/ her arms above her head, eyebrows raised until she's good & ready & then...belly flop on my stomach! BAmmo!

--Anyone who feeds her pretty much has to trick her or hold her arms to get her to eat more than 2 bites! Even with food she loves, honestly I think she just gets bored (like her daddy she is)

--Totally developed the 'social butterfly' within her while on vacation (the first time she waved was to a total stranger on the plane), also a defintite affinity for her daddy..."Daddy's Girl" awww, cute...especially when it's poopy diaper time

--Has developed the copy-cat skill & now does her own version of blowing kisses, clucking her tongue, 'all gone', & closing/blinking her eyes

--Has a total of 3 teeth (they're growing at last!). I guess she will graduate to non-pureed food sometime his millenia after all!

--Favorite book: Colors (a bold difference on every page)

On Tippy Toes

Garden Phases

Phase 1: Determined as I was to have a garden, it was a darn good thing. To till the grass under was a 'no, no' I was told, the grass would soon consume the area. The proper way is to dig up the grass. So I did. My vision of producing vegetables to feed us through the year dwindled with each load of sod-substance I hefted to the back of our yard. I rationalized the 'it's a rental, who knows how much longer we'll be here' & settled for a plot 1/3 the size: re-visit the vision #1. Next came the tilling. A member of our bishopric came & promptly declared it was the hardest-dirt-he'd-ever-worked-in-his-whole-life. Better stick with plants that grow above ground, unless you're happy with microscopic carrots and the like. Thus came re-visit the vision #2: plant only green beans (they freeze/can easily & they produce much in little space), spinach (my must-have for fresh salads, lots of vitamins), zucchini, yellow squash & cucumbers (grow easily, will freeze for casseroles & breads & loaded w/ nutrients).

Phase 2: Plant & wait (not pictured :)

Phase 3: Ta Da (minus the 3 spinach rows you can't see...they've been eaten)!

Beans, beans, beans!

Squash, cucumbers & zucchini

Victory! The first of our spoils!

...& this strawberry jam (courtesy of Aldi's the super-discount store where you bring your own bags & pay a quarter for the cart) is my first try (well, 2nd if you count the burnt 1st batch--but I don't) to produce an extremely low-sugar (or no sugar) jam. I found a pectin here that is all-natural, made from citrus peels & doesn't need sugar to activate it so you can use whatever amount of sweetener (agave, stevia, honey, etc.) you want! There's even a recipe that uses no sugar, just a cup of 100% juice concentrate (I didn't have the juice on-hand or I would have done that one).

Freedom Day!

We love our country...it's terrific we have a day to pause & reflect about it. Tony & I celebrated mainly with food this year (tin-foil dinners, watermelon, & turtle-sundae ice-cream, yum!), but we did hear some awesome, freedom-related testimonies at church, were able to web-cam with our boys & we enjoyed watching a few fireworks set off in the newly-mown field behind our house (um, fire hazard?).

Happy Birthday America!

Just me and my gal

I'm so used to teaching summer school or being busy with family summer stuff, I'm just not sure what to do with myself (I did clean under the fridge/stove, that was thrilling)...we go on walks when it's only hot & not HUMIDLY STINKIN' HOT, I teach piano/voice to my 6 students, look at my 'list' of all the things that aren't pressing, but should be done in the next millennia or so & have been doing quite a few of those... Wow, I feel weird. Ari's not quite ready to do "101 crafts out of an egg carton," but at least I have her to give me something to do. We're certainly getting in our female bonding time!

The last of the summer days for us...

These munchkins are gone for the summer...we had about 2 1/2 wks to fit in all the fun we could. Some of our activities included swimming, zoo trips (multiple, see above), enriching academics (the boys' favorite! :), lots of library activities/trips, poetry reading at home ("Where the Sidewalk Ends," total classic), park, seeing "How to Tame Your Dragon" (it's a winner!) at the cheap theater, & our favorite: Hoagland Days!! complete with Dachshund races (you just have to see it to believe it), the dunking booth (the boys just watched & laughed for 15 straight minutes!), a steel drum show, cloggers, 'Mark's Ark' touch-a-ton animal show (Jyson took the Chinchilla around for everyone to pet & Jaydon had a tree frog hanging from his glasses) & my personal favorite: chocolate raspberry cheesecake roll--mmmmmm!!! We're missing them tons already!