All posts by Janna

“Breaking Point” Recovery

Parenting

So I wrote last week that I had reached the breaking point with the children.  It wasn’t pretty.  Thankfully, I have a most incredible husband who worked to bring me back.  I’m on day 5, and I think I’m pretty much back.

You know those meters they show in movies with green, yellow, and red?  And inevitably it goes into the red zone and no one is watching it to turn the machine off that it’s monitoring and then it starts smoking and blows up?  I do my best to function in the green so that when things happen with … Read the rest

The Breaking Point

Parenting

I reached this lovely point yesterday evening.  I had been approaching it little by little all week as my children had one fit after another, and I continued to calmly but firmly give out consequences.  But yesterday they gave me a shove into the red.  I won’t go into all of the long details, but they were riding bikes and decided they didn’t like the boundaries I had given them.  They were mean, disrespectful, disobedient, and throwing epic tantrums.  I calmly but firmly (are you seeing a theme here?) told them this was not how I expect them to behave … Read the rest

Wednesday Wit: October 5, 2011

Wednesday Wit

Dropping the kids off at school…
Me: Bye Ada!  I hope you have fun at your field trip!
Ada: OK!  I hope you look good at work…
You seriously need a healthy dose of self-confidence to be a mom.

Me: Eli, breakfast is ready.
Ada: Breakfast is deserved.
Me: You mean breakfast is served.
I think she meant what she said… 

Eli’s looking out the car window at some crazy clouds
Eli: It’s like the white clouds are the cops and dark clouds are the robbers.  And the cops always win.

Ada: My … Read the rest

My Darling

Marriage

I’ve spoken before about the book Love & Respect, and the fact that I think it is a great book to help spouses understand each other better and put words to their needs.  I’ve heard Chad tell others often that a key to marriage is striving to meet each other’s needs, and he does a tremendous job at this.  For this post, I want to go a little deeper into what those needs are, as outlined in this book.  The book says men and women have six different needs, right now I’m just going to focus on the six … Read the rest

Something’s a-brewing…

Kids

My kids have been pretty good lately.  They haven’t been fighting much, I’ve been able to just let them play unsupervised, the house is just calmer in general.   And then…

Tuesday night we were leaving the house for an appointment and we were teetering the on time/late line.  Ada had put on her ballerina dress, and I was irritated that I had to go upstairs to oversee her changing.  It was then that I realized they had sprayed her room with Febreeze.  A lot of Febreeze.  They emptied the Febreeze can (those of you who’ve tuned in for a while … Read the rest

Two Glimpses

Kids,

This afternoon I was helping in Ada’s classroom.  At the end of the day we went outside for recess.  She was being silly on the monkey bars, and looked up at me while she was hanging upside down.  She said, “Mom, I like the way I am.  I’m glad God made me like this.”  She was very matter-of-fact, just enjoying the afternoon sunshine and the ability to hang upside down and have fun.

Oh sweet Ada, I’m glad God made you like this too.  You make me smile every day.  You confuse me and stretch me as a mom, and … Read the rest

Wednesday Wit: September 21, 2011

Wednesday Wit

Grace: I wish I was a squirrel.  Then I wouldn’t have to go to school. (she said in her most forlorn voice)
Me: Well, squirrels get hit by cars.  So school seems not so bad.
Yes, I’m saying here that I’m the witty one.  I’m ok with that.  Some days I’ve had enough whining.

Allow me to set the scene.  Chad and I were in the kitchen, Eli and Ada were in the dining room finishing breakfast.  We heard a squeaky fart from the dining room…
Eli: Excuse me.
Ada: No, excuse ME.
Eli: Ada, … Read the rest

My Favorite…Pizza Sauce

Recipes

Backstory: Chad is uber picky about pizza sauce.  From the jar – forget it.  We’ve tried several homemade recipes, and none of them have cut it for him.  We found this one at allrecipes.com, and it was highly reviewed.  We make pizza almost weekly, and this is now our go-to sauce.

1 (6 ounce) Can Tomato Paste
3/4 c Warm Water (110 Degrees F/45 Degrees C)
3 Tbsp Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 tsp Minced Garlic
2 Tbsp Honey
¾ tsp Onion Powder
¼ tsp Dried Oregano
¼ tsp Dried Marjoram
¼ tsp Dried Basil
¼ tsp Ground Black Pepper
⅛ … Read the rest

My Favorite…Ribs

Recipes

Boil the ribs for 30 minutes (I cut the rack in half or thirds, depending on the size of the pot I use).

Brush them liberally with whatever BBQ sauce you want to use (for us it’s Sweet Baby Ray’s Honey BBQ), and wrap them in foil.  Bake at 250 for 2 1/2 hours.  At this point you can put them in the fridge to continue later if you want.

Throw them on the grill just to make them seem “grilled”, they’re already fully cooked.

That’s it!  I mean it.  They’re so easy.  And the bones come out perfectly clean.  … Read the rest

My Favorite…Rolls

Recipes

I got this recipe from my dear friend Ellen long ago, before either of us had any children.  Now I’ve made them so many times that I don’t need the recipe anymore.

Heavenly Rolls (yes that is the name, and yes it is an appropriate name)
1 c milk
1 stick butter – put these together in the microwave for 45 seconds, then in the bread maker

Add in this order:
2 beaten eggs
1/4 c sugar
3/4 t salt
4 c flour
2 1/2 t yeast

Run the bread maker on the dough cycle, then form into rolls (12ish?).  … Read the rest