Quick, before I get Sidetrack'd

As a mother of little ones, I hear it a lot.
“Enjoy this time.”
“They don’t stay little forever.”
“One day you’ll miss this.”

It’s all basically the same statement: Seize the Day

But most days, I really don’t want to seize the day. I don’t want to capture forever the memories of me yelling at the children, of the children bickering, the tattling, and back talking, and bad attitudes. And then there’s the kids!

Take today for instance.

Our day started with the children wanting me to entertain them during school time instead of participating like they should.

Then there was the whining about having to do so much school.

Then the children yelling at each other.

And the potty training toddler who refuses to tell you when she needs to potty. And the poopy panties.

Then the baby who is apparently going through a growth spurt and needs to eat every 2 hours. Which means she, too, poops a lot.

And to top it off, the toilet overflowed poopy water onto my feet.

Yeah, not so much things I want to remember forever. And do you notice a theme there at the end? Such is life as mom.

So, I don’t really want to seize the day, so much.

However, there are moments in each day, little glimpses of what beautiful community is, small insights into the love and glory of God. And those are the things I want to seize; the things I want to hold close to my heart and remember forever.

The sound of my children laughing together.

The 2+ hours the older kids played outside peacefully enjoying each others’ company.

The eyes lighting up moments of learning and discovery when the boy recognizes numbers and does his counting correctly.

The pride of the oldest girl in a job well done as she masters a spelling word or math concept.

The babies snuggled up in my lap.

Most days around here are a mix of the good, the bad, and the ugly. I prefer to move on from the bad and ugly and cling to the good.

And by the grace of my loving God I can. I can move into the tomorrows with hope. I can look at the melt downs as part of my ongoing sanctification.

I can press on hoping and praying I don’t mess these people up too bad.

Seize the day? Maybe when my children are older.

~linking up with just write

Since we cut out refined sugar and most processed foods on January 1, life in the kitchen has been a lot of trial and error. Fortunately, most of the time things turn out well, but there are the occasional flops. Like my birthday cake, but that’s another story for another time.

This is a story of success. Success so sweet I could eat it with a spoon. Literally.

Yesterday we were tasked with preparing salad for our small group dinner. Since most salad dressings contain refined sugar and lots of ingredients I can’t pronounce, I needed to come up with a good, homemade recipe.

Thanks to Google and a little recipe tweaking, I stumbled upon a winner.

Homemade Honey Mustard Dressing
(adapted from this recipe)

1 and 1/2 cup plain organic yogurt
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1/2 cup local honey

Whisk together until well mixed. Refrigerate in mason jar or other air tight container.

This makes a full (to the top) pint mason jar. Not sure exactly how long it will last, but I’m thinking about a week.

I also made the Ranch dressing recipe from $5 Dinners substituting plain yogurt for the mayonnaise. It is good, as well, but the yogurt flavor is much more prevalent. I think it’s just something I’ll need to get used to.

Either way, the honey mustard is delicious! Enjoy!

Still not posted on the fourth, but I’m getting closer. That counts for something, right?

It is incredibly difficult to get four children under 6 to look in the same direction. It is even more difficult to get them to stay still for 2 seconds so they aren’t just big blurs.

It is not, however, difficult to get them to act silly.

Happy March!