Heroes

My daughter came home the other day from school and had to write a paragraph about a hero in her life. It had to include certain details, an introductory sentence, and a conclusion. She chose my brother. I completely understand why she would because he's so much fun and he's in the Air Force. But at the same time, mama jealousy kicked in! ;) Why didn't she pick me?

Did she not think I was hero material? Do I yell too much? Am I too strict? Do I not do enough with her and her siblings? What? Why??

I've been milling this around in my head for days (since the assignment) and have seriously contemplated homeschooling my children. I have thought about this for a couple of years now, but my husband is not too keen on the idea. While I would love to get a job, I don't think that would solve the problem of relieving undo stress in our lives.

So the past few days I was thinking that if I embarked on this endeavor that I might have more of a chance of becoming a hero to my children. I want to be someone they admire. I don't want them to remember me for the yelling and drill sergeant attitude I sometimes feel I have. I thought that homeschooling may bring more peace to my home. Less rushing around. More interaction with my kids. It all sounds so good. I have a few friends that do it and they always speak so highly of it.

My husband doesn't. He not only isn't comfortable with the idea, he seems to be downright against it. I'm very uncomfortable going against him when he feels so strongly. After all, my kids are in Catholic school, which is the next best thing. So we came to a deal. He would take off work more so I could be involved more at their school. I thought that was a good compromise.

I want peace. I want to exhibit behaviors that my children will want to emulate. I want my family to be happy and I want to be a hero for them. I want them to look back on their childhood and remember the good times we had together as a family. I want them to look back and say, yup, mom (or dad would be OK too) is my hero. They may not feel that way now, but I want their memories to be good ones. I want to be the kind of mom that makes them want to be like me. I don't know the answer to this, and I think it's different for every family, but I hope, and I pray, that we're doing the right things.

Domesticated Mama!!

OK, so I guess I'm becoming more and more domesticated each day. I braved it out and blanched some green beans last night! I'm so excited. From one day's harvest, we will have enough green beans for about a month! Isn't that FABULOUS?! With the way costs are going up, I'm so grateful.

So here is what I did:

First, I took the ends off the beans of course, then washed them off. I then stuck them in rapidly boiling water for about 3 minutes. You really don't need to do any more than that:


Then I took them out and immediately put them in ice cold water for another 3 minutes:


I actually put them in a strainer after that to make sure most of the moisture was off before I stuck them in the freezer bags. I got out as much air as possible before sealing the bag completely. And that was it!!

Then this morning I realized I hadn't been out there for a couple of days and we probably had beans ready to be picked... AGAIN. And lo and behold, I was right (we also had weeds ready to be picked again!!). I picked about another gallon-bag full of green beans and blanched those this morning too.

I thought my blanching job was done when my husband told me we had some broccoli and cauliflower that needed to be picked and blanched too! So I started blanching the cauliflower, and I'm waiting for more ice. So I thought I would share my story with you all.

Doesn't it look yummy?!?

I'm actually having fun with this! I love that we are producing our own food, saving money, and eating things that don't have any harmful chemicals on them.

Now I'm going to have to go make some food for our trip to Disney next week!

Playing in the Dirt

Wow, I guess I haven't been on the computer much the past couple of days.... I have actually been out in my garden from about 7:30am-9am the past 2 mornings. And I have actually LIKED it! For those of you who know me, this is probably somewhat of a shocker. I haven't been much on the outdoors since I started having children. I have been most comfortable being inside, doing things inside. I don't know why, that's just the way it's been. It hasn't always been that way for me. I grew up around horses and a garden too. But I guess my comfort zone has been in the house. Now that the kids are getting bigger, and thanks to a little bit of prayer, I'm feeling more comfortable about going outside and being able to handle everything.

Here lately, I have felt this need, this urge to GET OUTSIDE! And it feels so good! I think all that Vitamin D from the sun might just be a good thing for me. It also gave me a chance to think about all that God has blessed me with. A wonderful husband, a good home, three happy and healthy children. And I stood in our garden and thanked Him. It was an awesome experience.

Anyway, my husband loves being outside (that's an understatement actually). And he has planted a garden for us the past few years. This year, it really looks wonderful. He built an electric fence to keep out the deer this year (it has also kept out the dogs!). We had one rabbit that I know of. There are so many beans, zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, and ripening tomatoes! It's so exciting! And we are going to get to EAT it all!

So Sunday night I took my two oldest children out to the garden with me to see what was out there. They were excited to see all the green beans, but their "help" didn't last long. And before I knew it, the little one was coming outside too. But look at all those green bean plants! They needed weeding bad, and that's what I've been doing, but It's so awesome to look outside and see our little harvest. This is the way they used to do it! Back in the day....

Last night, I cooked up some of those green beans and we had them with dinner. Can you say DELICIOUS?! And it's almost like they tasted even better, just because I knew they came from our own land. I think the kids thought I was kind of nuts when I started moaning and groaning about how good they were. But there was just something about growing it ourselves and being able to eat our own food that just made the whole experience even sweeter.

Next on the list... HORSES!