Yes, you heard me right!  Santa will not be coming to the Lehman’s this year.  Actually, he never has had the privilege of shimmying down our fireplace.  In fact we don’t even have a fireplace.  So I guess it’s good that Santa has never landed on our rooftop!

No, we haven’t been that bad this year.  Or any other year for that matter.  We just don’t believe in Santa Claus at our house.  GASP, I know, right?!  My husband and I never really believed in Santa when we were kids so it’s never been a big deal to us.  And my husband’s philosophy is, “I worked stinkin’ hard for the money to buy those gifts, I’m taking the credit for it, not giving it to some fat guy!”  I can’t really argue with that, especially since I only work one or two days a week only making enough money to pay for what I spent that day while at the store.  And we can focus on the true meaning of Christmas, presents and cookies the birth of Jesus.

Then we had our first son.  He was all innocent and full of trust and wonder.  How dare we not take advantage of this and lie bold face to him about a jolly fat man bringing him gifts on a sleigh with flying reindeer in the middle of the night creeping around our house?  I mean, who do we think we are, anyway?  So I tried, much to my husband’s dismay.  But it didn’t really work.  Little did I know that I gave birth to the world’s smartest two year old.

Even at such a young age, I could not pull one over on that kid.  He was in kindergarten when he told me, “Mom, how could Santa possibly be real? There is no way that one man can bring gifts to every singe child in the world in one night.  And reindeer don’t even fly!  And how could they carry that big fat man on a metal sleigh?  It would be too heavy!”  (Don’t even get him started on the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.)

Then in first grade his teacher informed me that he announced to the entire class that Santa was, in fact, fake.  “Your parents are the ones who give you gifts, DUH!”  So then we had to have the “please don’t ruin the fun for everyone else” talk and he was all, “But MOM, we are right!!!”

Even when his friends and cousins tried very hard to convince him that Santa was real, he would end up making them doubt everything they’ve ever been told about Santa!  No, “Yes, peers, of course you must be right and I must agree with everything you say!”  Just, “Wake up people!  Quit living a lie!”  (I’m not lying, he actually said that…at seven years old.  God help me.)

But I have accepted my genius child and feel proud that he sticks up for what he believes in.  Even if that means getting a note from the teacher every year around this time.  So you can imagine my delight when my second born who is now in Kindergarten informed me last week, “Mom, I told the kids at school that Santa is not real and the elf that is sitting on the shelf watching to see who’s good and who’s bad is not real either and the teacher just told us that to make us listen.”  Oh goody, because the only thing better than one note from one unhappy teacher is TWO notes from TWO unhappy teachers.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Tasha

So Halloween has come and gone but there in the kitchen is a large bowl of candy…staring at you.  What in the world are we going to do with it all?  We had fun collecting it, but there is no way I’m letting them ingest all of that sugar!  So I had a bright idea.  We got home early from the Trunk or Treat downtown and there were kids trick or treating everywhere in our neighborhood.  I ran out of candy SO fast!  So we grabbed our bags and emptied them out, picked a few of our favorites and re-gifted the rest of the candy!  It’s recycling at it’s best!  My boys had no problem sharing their candy with their neighborhood friends!

If you have way too much candy for your little sweeties, Christina at The Fairly Odd Mother gives a fantastic idea on being generous with your loot!  She suggests sending it on to the troops who are serving overseas.  Great idea, right?!  So visit her site and follow her links for the details.

If you are a candy hog, we don’t judge.  Enjoy every bite and save a Reese’s for me!

Tasha

I have three boys.  Thankfully, God also gave me three-fold patience!  I love my boys, but BOY are they a handful!  A little example…

I Knew I Had Boys When:

There is pee…everywhere…forget toilet seats, it’s everywhere people!

There are numerous daily conversations about underwear, snot and butts…in a completely serious manner.

There are numerous daily conversations about underwear, snot and butts…in a completely ridiculous and silly manner.

There are underwear strewn about the house in very strange places for no particular reason whatsoever.

We use the word underwear a lot.

I am ALWAYS out of food.  They are like little garbage disposals.

There is no pink to be found, except for the clothes on my back.  And I barely get away with that.  (”Mom, that’s a girl color!”  HELLO!  I’M A GIRL!!)

I have more hot wheels in my purse than I do cosmetics.

I break up at least 2-3 wrestling matches a day.  Some with tears, most with screaming.

I can quote Star Wars…this is not something I am proud of, it’s just a fact.

I can make shooting noises, differing between pistols and bombs and such…again, not a super proud moment.

It only takes two dressers completely emptied to cover a small bedroom floor with clothes.  This fact has been proven numerous times and you will come to find out all kinds of things that can cover the floor when you have boys.

Body parts…don’t get me started on that one.

Lego pieces can not be easily found in vacuum bags…or dog poop.  Just sayin’.

Bath time is about the same as  the “Will It Float” segments on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Photo shoots look like this:

I can’t complain though.  I really DO love being a mom of boys.  Dirty underwear and all.

So tell me, how did you know when you had boys?

School is about to start and the craziness of summer is coming to an end!  I am ready for school and schedules and routines.  Summer fun can be…well…fun, but it can get exhausting too!  I know my tens of faithful readers (hi, Mom!) are wondering what we’ve been up to, so here ya go!

While Crista was settling into her dream home and having a Springfree Staycation, we did a LOT of traveling.

Somewhere around 3,200 miles worth in a few weeks time.  That’s more are we there yets than I care to reminisce about.  Much fun was had in spite of the bazillion hours we spent in the van.  But with my own travel tips in hand, things went very smoothly!

Once we escaped hell on wheels the van, we visited many family and friends, including my BFF, a.k.a. the beach,

Got more dirty and grumpy than we like to admit…

And had a lovely family photo shoot with our favorite photographer, Grandma.

At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about… me and my four boys.  Mother of 3 boys… well, usually I’m only mothering the younger three.  There are those days where the above family portrait ends up looking more like this though…

Look for more insightful posts on being a Mom of Boys really soon!  But first, back to school!!!

Tasha

We travel…alot.  Our longest trip has been 15 hours long.  Our usual is 13 hours and a 5 hour car ride is like cake to us.  We have to drive frequently to visit family, so it has been something our kids have been doing since they were newborns.  So I thought I might have some advice to share on the matter…because I AM so full of wisdom and all…

I have read many other Mommy ideas on how to travel with kids…and the whole, “Oh you can totally drive on long car rides with your kids and NOT need a DVD player” idea?  NOT buying it!  I highly, highly suggest having as many electronic-mind-numbing devices as possible.  DVD players and TVs (multiple screens suggested), video game systems, handheld game systems, plug-n-play games…you catch my drift.  Plug them and shut them up…that’s my car driving philosophy! 

Ok, ok, I’m not a total electronic freak, they do get tired of that stuff after, oh, 8 or so hours.  So I always be sure to check out a few new books at the library, as well as read along cds.  The boys love listening to the stories and I love how it makes them fall asleep!  (Which reminds me, we always pack special travel pillows and blankets!)  I also always buy each of them a new coloring book with a new box of crayons…and they love that!

Speaking of NEW things…you can also buy a couple of small new toys, dvds or travel games and hide them under your seat.  So when they do start going all ape crazy on you…pull out something new and they will be distracted for awhile!

FOOD…don’t leave home without it!  I like to pack lots of snacks for my always-starving-boys.  And I don’t bring the regular old stuff, either.  I make “special” traveling trail mix which is basically cheerios, raisins, nuts and m&ms…add candy to anything and they think it’s a real treat!  I’ll also buy some pre-packaged snack bags which they get a real kick out of because I never buy that kind of snacks for every day.  Are you seeing the trend…make everything special and turn the car ride into part of the vacation!

OK, last bit of advice.  Here’s what we do for meals while traveling…  We don’t eat much fast food on a regular basis, and when we do, we don’t get kid’s meals every time.   My kids get SO excited about stopping for kid’s meals.  (Yes, they are very deprived easily pleased children.)  We’ll make sure to stop at a fast food joint with a play land.  While one of us orders the food, the other takes the kids to the bathroom and then to the play land to run off their energy.  We give them a good 15 minutes and keep them moving the whole time!  Then we get back in the van and eat our meals as we drive.  This gives the kids nothing better to do than eat their food and then they play with their new toy that came in the kids meal…this kills like an hour!!  If there is no play place, find a grassy area and just let them run wild, race each other, stretch.  In fact, at bathroom breaks, everyone has to do 15 jumping-jacks before they are allowed back in our van!  And if your kids are used to getting kids meals often and it’s not thrilling to them…take a break from them for a couple of months before your trip, by the time you go they’ll be excited about them again!

One last thing you must not forget to pack for your travels…a sense of humor.  Oh, and benadryl.

Tasha

Ring, Ring

Me: “Hello?  Oh HI!  Yes, he’s right here, just a moment!  Sweetie, someone is on the phone for YOU!”

The Most Stubborn Child in the World: “No, I don’t want to talk on the phone!”

Me: “But it’s someone who wants to give you a million dollars and every toy you have ever wanted!  Here…talk!”

TMSCITW: “I said, NO!!  I don’t want to talk on the phone!”

Me:  “Seriously?  This one phone call could give you everything your greedy little four-year-old mind has ever wanted and you don’t want to talk?!”

TMSCITW:  “NO!!!!!  Do you hear me saying NOOOO!?!?!?”  (Did I mention he is also The Most Sarcastic Child in the World?  I have no idea where he got that from…I mean, no part of this post is sarcastic or exaggerated in any way!  Sheesh)

Me:  “Fine, don’t talk to the one person in the whole world who can fulfill your every wish and dream…whatever…”

The Most Stubborn and Sarcastic Child in the World:  “Fine!  I WON’T!  Now stop talking to me!”

Me:  “Hey!  You can’t talk to me that way!  Now go sit in the naughty chair for four minutes!”

TMSASCITW:  “OK, I wanted to sit down for a little while anyway.”

Me:  Grumbling under breath something about wait-until-your-father-hears-about-this-one-you-miserable-little-poop…or something like that.

Sigh...post full of wisdom about how to tame the most stubborn and sarcastic child in the world coming soon…until then…please pass the sedatives…

It’s like nails on a chalk board.  No, it’s worse.  It’s the most annoying sound ever.  EVER!  It’s the incessant whining that is inevitable if you have a child.  I’m hearing it even now as I type this.  I can barely keep my fingers from jumping off the keypad, across the room and over the Whiner’s mouth.  Is that harsh?  If you said yes, you have never had a true whiner and I don’t want to talk to you anymore, so there.

“Mooooommmmm!!  He toooooouched me!”

“But I’m starrrrrrrrving!”

“Do I haaaaaave tooooo?”

These are the ones I hear most often.  But I have found a way to combat it.  Oh yes, I have.  (Applause is completely appropriate at this point.)  It’s not the end-all/cure-all to whining, but it helps.  And so I will tell you what I do when the whining is just too much to handle and how to keep that little whiner at bay.

First off…I love to ignore my kids.  No, I’m not that mean.  Don’t read out of context!  When the whining starts, my listening ears are turned OFF!  And I tell my boys that straight away.  “Sorry, I can’t hear you through all the whining so I’m not going to listen until you change your tone.”  And then I happily go about my business.  This will usually bring about some sort of “Listen to me!” screaming tantrum, but again, I reiterate, “I caaaaan’t hearrrr youuuuu!”  They will get the point.  And when they do decide to change their tone, I immediately drop everything, look them straight in the eye and listen very closely.  I also thank them for changing their tone.  Ignore the bad behavior, reward the good…they’ll get it.  Kids are smart that way.

Tactic #2…Big Boy Voices = Big Boy Privileges…I am a believer in privileges for children.  My kids have to earn their keep around here!  Do my kids play video and computer games?  Yup.  Do I make it easy for them?  Nope.  My boys have to do chores to earn video game time.  One chore = 15 minutes of play.  I get a lot of house work done this way.  (Did you know that five-year-olds are great at washing down baseboards?  They totally are!)  This is considered Big Boy status.  Doing chores, playing video games, getting on the computer, playing with legos…all things only big boys are allowed to do.  If the whining starts, the Big Boy privileges go OUT the window!  So in the instance above where I try to ignore the whining and wait for them to decide to change their tone and then it totally back fires and they go completely tamper tantrum on me…I pull the Big Boy card.  “You have one more chance to change your tone or your Big Boy Privileges will be taken away for the day…and I’ll start with computer time.”  It usually stops there…usually.  If it doesn’t, “OK, no more computer time for you since you are still whining.  Now you have one more chance to change your tone or I’ll take away video game time for the day.”  If they haven’t stopped by now, it’s probably full fledged tantrum time…and I have to deal with that another way.  (Post on tantrums coming soon to a over-stressed Mommy blog near you.)  I’ll give them three chances to change their whiney tone.  I have stubborn children, so I give them time.  I know I don’t instantly come out of my whining fits so I don’t readily expect them to either.

I hope this has helped you….may the only thing you have with your cheese be the WINE that pours smoothly into a glass.

This post is for Amy and Anita who very quickly replied to my Let’s Talk! post that they wanted to hear about potty training!  I trained three boys, so my advice will be leaning towards the little guys, but moms of girls might benefit here too!

All of my boys trained at different times and in different ways.  And I think that’s true with every child, they are all different!  My oldest, Chandler, was completely trained by 2 years old.  I showed him the potty, he went and he never had an accident!  I thought I must be the pro of potty training…boy was I wrong!  Along came our middle son, Chase, who was happy to sit in poo all day long.  Really!  He was!  He was finally trained just before his fourth birthday…yeah, yikes.  Then there was our littlest little guy, Charlie, who learned along with Chase (since he took soooo long).  He was trained by three years old.

NOW…since I basically potty trained for about two years of my life, I kinda figured out what works and what doesn’t.  So here’s what I found…

What WORKS:

Praise – Nothing motivates a child like a little praise!  I found that a little praise and encouragement would keep them, well, going!  Whereas pointing out their failures would just hinder them.  So if there was an accident, we would just clean it up and say in a cheery voice, “You’ll get there faster next time!”  And when there was success, we would act like crazy people, plain and simple!  And they loved that!

Rewards – This was the biggest part of potty training for us!  The rewards are what got us to the end result with Chase.  What we did is filled a glass jar with jelly beans and set them on the bathroom counter.  Every time they would go pee, they would get one jelly bean.  Every time they went poop, they would get two.  This worked perfect for Chandler who trained quite easily.  The candy was a HUGE motivator because I hardly ever give my kids candy.  One tip, just don’t think about the amount of sugar they have eaten by the time the jar is empty, just don’t do it!  If you are not keen on candy, maybe pennies or stickers would work (we tried those too).  As for my more difficult little guy, the candy was not cutting it.  He simply told me one day, “I don’t want to go pee, I don’t want any candy anyway.”  Uhhhh…yeaaahhh.  So we came up with another plan.  We let Chase search the internet at our favorite toy site and pick any toy (within reason!) that he wanted.  We then printed the picture and attached to a chart that we hung on the wall.  Every day that he stayed dry, he got a sticker.  At the end of seven days, he got the toy!  It took him some time, mind you, but he was almost four by that time so he understood what it all meant.  That idea would probably not work with a two year old.

Nakedness – What?!  Is that not a perfectly good potty training technique?  Well, it was in our house!  For about one week straight, I blockaded myself in the play room with the boys completely stark naked.  OK, let me clarify, THEY were the naked ones…ahem.  We played and read books and they became increasingly aware of themselves “down there”.  I kept a potty chair in there with me and when the pee started to dribble, we were ready!  We would then reward with a piece of candy.  After that week, we put on underwear and roamed the house more freely.  By the third week, we were wearing full on clothing and staying dry most of the time!  (That’s where the toy reward chart came in!)

What DOES NOT Work:

Pull Ups – I did not have good luck with using pull ups.  I would put them on the boys when we had to venture out for Church or to the store, and at bed time at first, but that was it.  I felt like it was too close to using diapers.

Trying too soon – I think this is what I did with Chase.  I figured since Chandler trained at two, that Chase would too.  Wrong!  I should have waited several months longer and it may not have been such a loooong fight.  You know your child is ready to train when they are staying dry through naps and bedtime and they are telling you that they are wet or dirty and not liking it!  At that point, I started using very cheap diapers.  The good ones keep them dry and comfy, the cheap ones kept them uncomfortable and wanting to be changed.  Then I knew they were ready, because they cared!

Inconsistency – Once you decide to train, don’t back down!  You HAVE to be consistent, you HAVE to!!!  If you find that there are more accidents than successes and your carpets can’t take it any longer and the empty bottles of wine are stacking up in your recycling bin, then take a break and try again in a month.  But while you are trying, give it your all!

OK, so I think that’s it.  Got it?  Good!  Good luck, by the way, you’re gonna need it!  Feel free to ask me more questions about this or other parenting questions ( I happen to be good at the mom of boys ones).  Email me at tasha@bellazizasfavorites.com or twitter me @BellazizaTasha!

  Tasha

The first question some of you wanted to know from THIS POST is the infamous, “How do you get your kids to eat their veggies?!” question.  Well, I promised you advice and sarcasm, so here ya go!

My kids love their veggies and they eat them without blinking an eye…did I promise honesty?  While my kids do enjoy quite a variety of veggies and the like, they would happily take a donut over a carrot any day.  Heck, so would I!  But I started them young, and that’s key!  But it’s never too late to get those veggies in those mouths…I promise!  First off, I talk to my boys daily about the importance of healthy eating habits.  “Why do I need to eat my peas?!”  While “Because I said so” is the easiest answer, I really try to explain that I want them to be big and strong and healthy, blah, blah, blah.  Also, I always put the veggies on their plate, even if I know they don’t like them!  One of these days they will realize that I am not giving up!  They might be 25, but dog-gone-it they will!!  Bottom line, I MAKE my kids eat their veggies…yes, that’s right…I MAKE THEM!!  Not in the hold you down and shove the spinach down your throat kind of way either…read on…

Have I ever told you that I am very deceptive?  I love Jessica Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious Cookbook.  I get so many great ideas on steaming and pureeing foods then sneaking them into my kids’ meals.  What they don’t know won’t hurt them!  And then when I found the Beaba BabyCook, it was that much easier to get the job done!  Do my kids ever notice the hidden veggies?  Nah…most of the time they eat their macaroni and cheese laced with squash with happy little yellow smiles on their faces!
This brings me to my next point, if they do taste something “off” about their dinner or I put a veggie in front of them that they are not excited about…we have a rule about their response, or tantrum, whatever you want to call it.  You know how it goes, one child says, “Ewww!!  What’s this green stuff?!” And before you know it, all the little copycats are pushing away their plates!  No, no, no…that is unacceptable!  (channeling my Super Nanny voice)  We have a rule that while at the dinner table, we do not use words like gross, yucky, disgusting, Mommy where did you learn how to cook, etc, etc.  They know the rules, and they know the rewards of polite behavior at the table…

Which bring me to my final bit of advice…and this is the kicker, people!  It’s very simple…no veggies = no dessert!!  That’s it!  Sounds too simple, right?  Trust me, the first few times we did the whole, “Eat your veggies or noooo dessert!” rule, there was mutiny aboard the S.S. Lehman!  It takes persistence!  It takes strength!  It takes a very large glass of wine!  Seriously, they will only miss out on dessert a few times while everyone else happily licks their ice cream cone before they realize how serious you are!  If the going gets rough, we don’t sit at the table all night arguing with them, either.  A couple of warnings, then the timer is set, if they don’t take their bites before the timer goes off, that’s IT!!  (We do as many bites and minutes on the timer for how old they are, so our four year old has to take four bites of said revolting veggie and then has four minutes to do so if a tantrum erupts!)

And before you get all “I can’t believe you give your kids a sugery dessert every single night” on me, let me clarify one thing.  Dessert in our house can be anything from a fruit and yogurt smoothie to making faces out of apples, peanut butter and raisins.  Keep it simple and fun and your kids will love it!  One last tip: sprinkles make everything look like dessert, even if it’s just applesauce!!

Hellooooo!  So I was thinking today about what to write next for my TGB post and I got an idea!  Here’s the thing, I have three boys and I have been through it ALL!  Really, I have!  Breast feeding, bottle feeding, getting a baby to sleep through the night…oh yes!  Food allergies?  Yep!  The most-strong willed child on the planet? Have one!  Getting kids to eat their veggies?  Why, yes I have!  Broken bones?  Unfortunately…done it!

I have a vast array of “wisdom” (we’ll call it that) to share.  So…how about you tell me what you want to know about?!  Go ahead, ask away!  Any problem, bring it!  I will offer my advice and sarcasm…both of which I am pretty good at!  Just comment on this post, or feel free to email me directly at tasha{at}bellazizasfavorites.com.

Tasha

In the spirit of MckMama’s Not Me! Monday (which I knew we all love and enjoy!).  I thought I’d do my own Not Me! Mother’s Day rendition.  We celebrated Mother’s Day early at our house since my husband will be out of town this weekend.  It was…quaint…

I did not get waken up from my one morning of “sleeping in” bestowed upon me by my husband.  He did not then explain that while he wanted me to sleep in…there was something terribly wrong with the pancakes.

I did not then have to correct his mistake and add three or four cups of milk and God knows how many eggs to the EIGHT cups of flour that he used to make pancakes.  I also did not kiss him on the cheek for trying to make them from scratch…just the way I would.

I did not gag down the “omelet” my darling husband made just for me while he enjoyed his thoroughly cooked one that I made for him (I just could NOT watch him do it twice!!)  I did not then give the rest to the dog when he wasn’t looking…who would do that, anyway?!

I did not then spend half of my precious “quite time” while the boys were all outside updating my Twitter account and chatting online with fellow Mommies.  That would be a complete waste of time and I certainly would not waste time.

I did not then promptly fall asleep while reading a book all comfy cozy in bed.  I did, after all, “sleep in” that morning.

I did not give the dog a trim and a bath either.  I mean, who would do actual work during their pretend Mother’s Day quiet time?  Not me!  I did not actually enjoy the dog grooming event of the day without six little hands “helping me”.

I did not eat a cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate milkshake from the local burger joint because I didn’t feel like getting dressed and going out to dinner somewhere proper.  That would be lazy and borderline disgusting and I am neither of those things!

I did not insist that my husband (bless his heart) do the baths, the stories, the teeth brushing and put all of the kids to bed by himself.  That is pure torture and I would never inflict such cruelty on a man I love so dearly!

And lastly, I did not have one of the very best Mother’s Days ever.  That would mean I am way too easy to please…and it would not be good for my reputation if that got out around here!!

So I promised you that if I can make a green effort, that you can too!  So here are some of the small things  my family and I have done to make a difference…a small but important difference!!

The Earth’s future lays in the hands of our children and if we do not teach them about being Earth Friendly, who will?  Here are some facts about kid’s lunches:  The USA alone is using 100 billion plastic bags each year!!  If 1 out of 5 people in the USA used a reusable bag we would eliminate 1,330,560,000,000 plastic bags in a lifetime!  That is a lot of plastic bags and a lot of oil (not to mention a lot of zeros)!! The average American child generates 67 pounds of lunchtime trash, children’s lunches create 3.5 billion pounds of garbage, and 18,760 pounds of trash are generated each year from the average elementary school.  Those are some crazy stats!!

Plastic Baggies – You have read the statistics about the amount of trash we throw away!  We have been making an effort around our house to use reusable containers instead of plastic baggies.  My boys adpated to this idea very quickly.  It’s amazing how much of the things we do are just habit!  Put the baggies away and you will be surprised how easily you forget they were ever there!

Water Bottle Madness – With our Klean Kanteens in hand, it’s easy to give the water bottle the boot!  Using a sport bottle of some kind rather than grabbing a water bottle is quite easy and convenient!  And if you can’t stand to give up your water bottle habit, or if that’s all that’s available to you (like at the Little League concession stand after you have forgotten the reusable sport bottle you left in the fridge at home!  ahem…experience talking here…) at least, at least, recycle them!!

Clean and Green – I have found a little trick for saving on plastic use and a more natural approach to washing up!  Instead of buying the plastic bottles of body wash and hand soap, we have switched to bar soap.  The packaging is far more Earth Friendly and you can find bar soaps with a much smaller amount of ingredients added to them!  I heard somewhere (don’t ask me where – I can’t remember the water for baseball night, so do you think I can remember where I heard this random fact?!)  that gel soap is chemically altered to be in a gel form whereas bar soap is more likely to have less “stuff” added to it.  Now I’m sure it all depends on what kind of soap you buy, gel or not.  (That’s my little “I may be wrong, I’m not an expert” disclaimer.)  But I do feel better knowing that I am using less plastic packaging and giving our washing up more thought!!

Recycle – DUH!!!  Recycling is probably the single biggest thing you can do to make a difference that will count!  Even my youngest has learned what the three little circular arrows on the bottom of plastic containers mean!  No matter what the size of your town, most have some kind of recycling program or at least somewhere you can bring your recyclables.  And if you have to go to the next town over, do it…for the love of Earth!!!

Everyone needs me to do something for them.

“Mommy, I need this…”

“Honey, I need that…”

“Make this boo-boo better!”

“Come quick!!”

The thought of adding another needy person to my list is definitely NOT one of my Favorite Things!  But there is “someone” who has been quietly tugging on my pants leg, needing me to notice them, if just for a moment in my hectic day.  Her name is Mother Earth.  Now I will admit that I am not exactly a “tree hugger”, but when it comes to taking care of the planet that my boys will someday inherit, I’ll hug every tree on the block!!

I don’t like the phrase “Save Mother Earth” though.  I mean, SAVE?  Doesn’t that sound incredibly dire and, well, impossible?!  So how about we take it down a notch for our sleep deprived, get off my pant leg, if there is one more thing added to my “I feel guilty about this” list I am going to lose it, ever-loving minds!!!  Whew…I feel better already!

It’s not about acting out of guilt, so let the guilt go and take some small steps to make a difference for our precious planet…out of love!  This is the Earth that we will leave our children and the generations after them.  Don’t you think it’s worth it?  Take one small step this week, then another small step the next week and before you know it, you’ll be free of green guilt and full of green love!

Watch for my Tasha Goes Blue-Green post next week where I will share some tips on small things that we have done to make a difference.  Because, seriously, If I can do it…

Don’t you wish you could enjoy eating as much as kids do?  Watch your son or daughter eat their next meal.  They lick their fingers, smear it all around on their plate and make the most delicious little noises.  They truly relish their food!  Now, my boys have been known to scarf down a meal like nobody’s business.  I’m talking, “did you chew that” kind of consumption.  But at the end of the day, my kids enjoy their food far more than I.

And what about what they eat.  I make sure my boys eat a healthy balance of foods, you know, the good ol’ food pyramid.  Yet I am perfectly happy to throw a few pieces of scraps in my mouth here and there and call it a meal.  So it’s got me thinking….what if I ate like my kids ate?

I would certainly eat a more healthy and balanced diet and dessert would be something I would eat all of my veggies for and anticipate with cheers of delight.  So maybe at my next meal I will use my hands a little more and hurry a little less.  Maybe I can learn something from my kids…how to eat, drink and be messy…I mean…merry.  Same thing as far as my boys are concerned!!

I thought I’d never say it.  My mother said it, my grandmother said it, even my Dad was caught saying it.  Four words never got under my skin more when I was a little girl.

Because I Said So.

To a kid it means do what I say, when I say it and don’t ask questions…because I said so.  But, of course, now that I am a Mom, I find these four words leaving my mouth more times than I care to admit.  To a Mom, it is a way to escape the never ending question, “But why?”

Calm Mommy: “Go brush your teeth before bed.”

Adorable Curious Child: “Why?”

Calm Mommy: “Because you will get cavities if you don’t, so get brushing.”

Curious Child: “Why?”

Slightly Irritated Mommy:  “Because when we eat, food gets stuck to our teeth and we need to clean it off, especially sugar.”

Obnoxious Curious Child:  “I didn’t have anything with sugar so do I still have to brush my teeth?”

Slightly Irritated Mommy:  “Yes, of course you do.   Just like every other night.”

Kid:  “But WHY?”

About To Lose It Mommy:  “BECAUSE I SAID SO!!”

I mean, I could have gone into a discussion about the decay of teeth and gum disease and other gruesome teeth related mumbo jumbo.  But my mumbo and my jumbo are not always readily available.  Especially after answering a bazillion “why” questions all day long!!

So yes, if you ask me over and over again why the dog can’t try jumping off the top bunk to see if he flies like Wonder Dog, I will say it.  And if you tell me that you don’t need to eat your vegetables because you are as strong as you need to be for a 5 year old, then I will say it.  And so help me God, if you ask me one more time why you have to brush your teeth…I WILL SAY IT!!  Seriously, sometimes it just has to be said!  And don’t ask me why…