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JDaniel4s Mom

growing & learning with him

Deirdre Smith writes/owns JDaniel4’s Mom. After twenty years as a elementary school and technology resource teacher in Northern Virginia, she became a stay at home mom in upstate South Carolina. Her blog features ways she and her 5 year old are exploring learning, crafting, creating healthy meals and living life to its fullest. Deirdre can also be found on twitter as @jdaniel4smom and on her blog's FB page. You can also check her out on Google+.

Changing How You Look At Your Mother In-Law

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I attend a moms group on Tuesdays called Mentor Moms. We are reading a book and discussing it at table groups this semester. The chapter last week was on mother in-laws. Before the table discussion a few mother in-laws stood up in front of the group and shared from their life experiences.
Each mom mentioned how their relationship with their children had shifted when they got married.  Some had really wonderful relationships with their daughter in-laws. Some have had  a difficult time.

Here are some of the tips they shared with us that I thought you might want to read before you head to Thanksgiving gathering that might include your in-laws: 

  • They won’t live forever so, try to make some  pleasant memories with them
  • Decide if battling over their serving your child two servings of ice cream is worth it.
  • A thank you note for even something small may begin to melt the coolest heart.
  • If their needs to be talk about an issue, have their child be the one to do the talking.
  • Try to include her in a holiday even if you can’t go to her house by calling, sending a card or flowers, or making before or after holiday plans.
  • If you are going to their house, ask ahead of time if there are things they would like for you to help with while you are there.
  • If you are going to their house, let them know ahead of time of allergies or limitations your kids might have they may have forgotten. They are older and older people can forget things.

 

Remember these things one mom said:

She once changed your spouse diapers.
 
She was once up late at night nursing him as a sick child.
 
She helped him learn how to treat you.
 
She taught him how to ride a bike, brush his teeth, and eat with a fork.
 
She introduced him to interests and hobbies he later excelled at.
 
She held him in her arms when terrible things like scrapped knees and bullies came into his life.

I know not all mothers did the things listed above. Some of you may have mother in-laws that were not great mothers and they may have done many things wrong.

For some reason unknown to anyone God did decide that your special guy would be given to your mother in-law to raise. 

She may not always be in the right. She may rarely be right in your eyes.I just ask you to think for a moment about how well or not well things have worked between the two of you. 

If any of the above tips can help to make things a little better this year, I am thrilled. 

Remember there is a little someone in your life that is watching how your treat your mother in-law and they  may apply it to a relationship with a mother in-law of their own down the line.

Disclaimer: I truly have been blessed by a wonderful mother in-law. We do have a couple of things we have worked on. 1. She eats a small breakfast, huge lunch and sometimes remembers dinner. I have learned to bring food with us for dinner or to offer to pick dinner up. She loves getting things brought in and I am not longer starving at night. 2. She leaves out all her breakables with the understanding that I will move the things Jdaniel could accidentally destroy. 

This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday and Pour Your Heart Out on Things I Can’t Say!

Pause Life for a Moment-Adventures in Mommyland

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I love to visit Adventure in Mommyland. It is filled with wonderful family oriented activities and insights. Charlene loves being a mom and you can read it in her words! What blessed children she has! As long time reader I have loved getting to see them grow and learn.Pause Life for a Moment


As a mother of six, I was very flattered that JDaniel4’s Mom asked me to post about pausing for family on Thanksgiving.  I love my family and I really enjoy spending time with them….my heart is at home with them and I love and appreciate each and every one of them.  Thank you JDaniel4’s Mom for thinking of me.  I wish everyone a Very Happy Thanksgiving!

Every Thanksgiving as I sit at my kitchen table and look at those sitting around it with me…I can’t help but feel grateful for the joy and beauty of having such a large family.  Yes, it’s loud and there are fights over who gets a turkey leg and who gets to break the wishbone.  

But it’s also a time of appreciation.  A time to truly be thankful for the life that we live and the family we have to share it with.  I take the time and sit and stare at each one of their happy little faces and I’m glad God chose me to be their wife and mother.  

I sit and listen to them as we take turns saying what we are thankful for and I laugh when they say silly things…and I appreciate when they say simple things….how many things we take for granted that others don’t have…..

I think family dinners are something that people don’t appreciate in these days.  When I sit with my family and we are telling jokes and laughing and supporting each other – it makes me happy.  Why can’t more families sit and take time – to pause their busy lives and enjoy their families.  Truly listen to them.  So many families ‘eat and run’ or sit in front of the tv and don’t get the chance to appreciate the rare gift of family.  

Family is everything to me…my blog motto is “Family—Its not where you go or what you do, it’s who is beside you that counts.”  Now whether that person is a true family member or one that has just become like a family member….appreciate them.  Tell them how much you love them.  Because we truly don’t know how much time we have with each other and we should never take that time for granted.

Teach your children to appreciate and honor the adults in their life.  Take time for each other – who else in life is there to grow old with you, love you unconditionally and be there for you even when they are angry…but your family.  So, don’t just sit together at Thanksgiving dinner and acknowledge the gifts that God has blessed you with…Sit with each other every day or as often as possible.  Enjoy the time, the beauty and love that surrounds you (literally).  I promise the peace and love you will feel while eat, will feed you more than the food ever will.,  Take the time to look around that table and be grateful for the gifts that you are blessed with, not only on Thanksgiving day, but every day as well.



Please take a moment to visit her blog!


Muffin Tin Monday- Thanksgiving with Sweet Potato Casserole and More

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jd4smom_Thanksgivingyum

We had a Thanksgiving feast a little early at my house and loved it. We actually love Thanksgiving foods year round.
What did we have?
Sweet potato casserole, mixed steamed veggies, turkey divan with a crescent roll lid,  cornbread stuffing stuffed into a turkey cookie cutter, and red grapes with cranberries.
Here is the recipe for the sweet potatoes:

We love sweet potatoes for dinner. When my friend Kathleen posted her version of Boston Market’s Sweet Potatoes, I knew we would be trying it.
My guys loved it. Both wanted seconds.

List of Ingredients

 
6 cups of mashed sweet potatoes
3/4 cups of dark brown sugar
1/2 cup of plain yogurt
1/4 melted butter
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon of pumpin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon of allspice
Topping Ingredients:
2 cups of minimarshmallows
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

2 tablespoon cold butter

Instructions:

  1. Rub a little olive  oil on the skin of each sweet potato and bake them in a preheated 400 degree oven for 60 to 70 minutes or until they are tender. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, scrape out the insides and use an electric mixer on high speed to beat the potatoes until they are mashed.
  2. Add 3/4 cup brown sugar, heavy cream, melted butter, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, allspice and cloves into the sweet potatoes and mix well with the beater until all the ingredients are incorporated. Pour this mixture into an 8×8-inch baking dish.
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  4. Make the oatmeal streusel by grinding the rolled oats to a fine flour using a food processor. Using a blender will also work.
  5. Combine the oat flour with 2 tablespoons brown sugar, all-purpose flour, and 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut the cold butter or butter replacement into the dry mixture using a pastry knife or a fork. You should have a crumbly mixture with pea-size bits. Sprinkle this oatmeal streusel over the sweet potato mixture and pop it into the oven for 70 to 80 minutes or until the top begins to brown slightly.
  6. When you remove the casserole from the oven immediately spread the marshmallows over the top. Let this sit for about 10 minutes. The heat from the casserole will melt the marshmallows, and then it’s ready to serve.

 
 
Reminder: The Thanksgiving Traditions link up will open on Thursday. I would love for you to share you recipes, crafts, and traditions on the link up.
 
This post is linked to Muffin Tin Monday!
What are your must have Thanksgiving foods?
 

Ultimate Cheese Ball Recipe

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When Mom in Management asked  her readers what our favorite Thanksgiving Recipe was, I immediately thought of the Ultimate Cheese Ball. I am so excited about being able to share it not only with you today, but with her readers as well.

Ultimate Cheese Ball Recipe
My sister Michelle found this recipe in a church cookbook years ago and she shared it with me. I really love how easy it is to put together and how wonderful it tastes.

Cheese Ball Recipe

Ingredients

  • 2 8oz. pkgs cream cheese (softened)
  • 1 Tablespoon Seasoned Salt
  • 4 Tablespoons finely chopped green pepper
  • 1/2 of 8 oz can crushed pineapple (drained)
  • 4 Tablespoons finely chopped onion
  • 1 cupped chopped nuts (I use pecans.)

Directions:

Beat soften cheese with fork or mixer. You will want it to have a cream texture.
Next stir in ingredients (except the nuts). Again you can do the mixing by hand or with a mixer. If you like bigger chunks in our dip, you will find stirring by and will give you a chunky cheese ball.  If you want the flavors mixed more thoroughly and  in smaller pieces, the blender would be your best choice.
Then you will form the mixture into a ball.  I like to set the mixture on a piece of plastic wrap. I can then use the wrap to help me form the ball.
Finally, you will need to roll in chopped nuts. If you want to press the nuts into the ball, you can rolls the nut covered ball in plastic wrap. Put on plate and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate one day. Serve with crackers.
You will put the cheese ball on plate and cover with plastic wrap. (Yes, more plastic wrap.) I like to refrigerate it overnight before serving it with crackers. It seems to let the various flavors blend together. That give the cheese ball a deeper flavor.

 

 

Read.Explore.Learn.- Veterans Day

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Welcome to Read.Explore.Learn.! This meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie-in to children’s books. I look forward to seeing the ways you have learned with and explored books.

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

It has been really hard to find books on Veteran’s Day to share with you this week. I have already shared the two books that are in my library system and on Amazon.com. I made the decision to teach JDaniel about the American flag instead of focusing on Veteran’s Day.

We found The American Flag by Elaine Landau at the library. It is chockfull of facts about the flag and its history. What held JDaniel’s attention in the book was the pictures. We picture walked our way through the book.

When JDaniel asked questions about the flag, we searched for answers in the book. He has just started to say the Pledge of Allegiance in preschool and had a lot of questions about it. It was fun to hunt for the answers.

 

What did we do?

 

Visited a Memorial

Our local veterans’ memorial is across the street from JDaniel’s school. I decide to take him for a picnic after school to the memorial. We had a great lunch and talked about the flags that are flying there.

 

Flag Lunch

 

JDaniel had a Veteran’s Day muffin tin over the weekend. He loved building his own sandwich with the stripes.

 
Create a Frame
 
 
 
JDaniel and I went to our first Home Depot workshop on Saturday and put together this Veteran’s Day picture frame. He had the best time hammering and painting. I think we will go back next month.

 

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Behold The Joy Of Leaves

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jd4smom_loadingleaves

JDaniel and the boys next door have been waiting and waiting for the leaves from the birch trees in our backyard to fall.

When there was finally enough on the ground, they had a wonderful time playing in them and with them. I loved getting to take pictures of the boys enjoying the leaves at the end of last week.

My maternal grandmother loved to quote the poem Trees by Joyce Kilmer when I was little. She would recite it word by word. When tried to decide how to share pictures of their joyous leaf play, I decided to use part of that poem.

The first stanza and last stanza of this poem are Joyce Kilmer’s. The rest of the stanzas are my words.

jd4smom_wheelbarrowandleaves

I think that I shall never see
Boys more happy playing beside a tree.

JDaniel and Leaves

 

The leaves it shed
won’t be left for dead.
They will be raked into a pile
And jumped into preschool style.
The leaves will be thrown into the air
to descend inside clothes and onto hair.jd4smom_leavesinjacket They will be loaded in a boy’s car
and driven, but not very far. jd4smom_loadingleaves-copy Those leaves will become a brand new heap
They will be jumped into again and again by boys who leap.jd4smom_moreleaves Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

This post is linked to Mama Kat’s Writing Workshop and Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday.

 

P.S. JDaniel is wearing his yellow Thankfulness Tree leaf that says “Dad”. He said he wanted his dad close to him.

 

Thanksgiving for Kids- Being Thankful Tree

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This special time of year is filled with thankfulness and falling leaves. I decided to create a Being Thankful Tree for my son to use to display people and things he is thankful for.
The Being Thankful tree is so easy to make.
Materials:

  • Two pieces of cardboard
  • Colored paper
  • Ribbon

Here is how to create a tree: 
Cut two tree cutouts twelve inches tall out of cardboard. Hint: The tree looks best with all the branches pointing out.
One of the tree cutouts will need a slit that descends from the top of the tree down its center leaving three and a half inches at the bottom uncut.

The other tree cutout received a cut from the bottom of the tree in the center. I left four and half inches at the top.
Slide the tree cutout with the slit rising from the bottom unto the other tree cut out. 
Voila! You have a tree. Now it is onto the leaves.
 
Cut oversized leaves out of fall-colored paper.
Put a small slit in the leaf for the ribbon to pass through.
Put a piece of ribbon in each leaf and tie it off to make a loop.
Place the names of people and things that you love the leaves. This can be done once a day leading up to Thanksgiving or at one sitting.
JDaniel loved the idea of a thankfulness tree so much that he asked if we could make one for the next-door neighbors!

He has also loved rearranging the leaves and making them fall!
Update: He has taken to wearing the leaves of the people he likes that day like a ring on his finger.

This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday, Mommy Club Wednesday, and several other places.

Pause Life for a Moment- Mama Wants This

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Alison of Mama Wants This the amazing gift of looking for and sharing answers to motherhood questions we all want to know. She is the mom of a cute little boy and a will be a mom for the second time in the late Spring. I love to read the lessons she is learning and the joys she has in being a mom.

Mama Wants ThisPause Life for a Moment
 

Opening my eyes, I was momentarily blinded by the bright sunlight. I blinked, trying to remember what day it was and where I was. I looked at the clock – 8 0’clock.

I stretched as I remembered, Sunday, it is Sunday. It was a strange sensation, feeling the warming sun on my legs. I haven’t woken up after the sun rose in nearly two years.
I got up slowly and padded to the bathroom.
As the hot water streamed down my back, pounding lightly on my tired shoulders, I felt myself relax for the first time in weeks.
I allowed myself a few extra minutes in the shower and looked at my growing belly for what seemed like the first time.
“Sorry, baby, Mama hasn’t paid you to mind for a few weeks, ” I whispered to my growing second child.
I finally drag myself out of the comforting lull of the hot water, dried myself and pulled on my clothes.
I walked through the quiet of our new home, unused to the lack of the toddler running around, counting 1 to 10, and hanging onto my legs.
I said a quiet thank you to my wonderful in-laws for braving their first overnighter with their grandson, granting me this unusual leisurely Sunday morning.
I turned on the coffee machine, letting it warm up in readiness for my husband’s must-start-day-with-coffee first cuppa.
I got myself a glass of juice and settled down in front of my laptop.
Without guilt, I checked my email, chatted on Twitter with friends I missed, busied myself on Facebook and did a little writing.
As I went about my online life, my husband finally got up and I hear the sizzle of the pan, as butter heats up.
“French toast?” I called out.
“The BEST French toast,” he replied.
We ate slowly. We talked. We wondered how the toddler and his grandparents were and resisted calling to check on them. We washed up.
I retreated back to the living room and curled up in my corner of the sofa.
I soaked in the moment – the only sound in the room, the quiet whirring of the ceiling fan.
I reflected back on the past month, when life was a whirlwind of activity, as we finally received the keys to our new house. Things had to be purchased, the house had to be painted, lights and fixtures had to be sorted, packing had to be done, cleaning of both houses had to happen – and life went mad.
Life with a toddler is hectic.
Life with a toddler, and being pregnant, even more hectic.
Life with a toddler, pregnant AND moving house, just insane.
And so, curled up on that sofa, I closed my eyes to savor a few more minutes of just doing nothing, but listen to my breath and give in to my thoughts.
I opened my eyes, pushed myself off my little comfortable spot and went out the door to pick my son up.
And life resumed.
Sometimes in the whirlwind of life pausing for a moment can help you be ready to take on the flurry of commitments, activities and special people in our lives. Alison beautifully illustrates that in this post.

Please stop by Mama Wants This and let Alison know how much you enjoyed her post.

 

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Muffin Tin Monday on Sunday- Veterans Day

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Veterans Day Lunch

Veteran’s Day isn’t until Friday, but I thought we would celebrate it early.
JDaniel loved the mandarin oranges in the star-shaped ice cube tray. They were hard to pull out, but I think he thought it looked like more oranges than he usually gets. I reloaded the ice cube tray when he discovered they weren’t enough.
The stripes on the flag-themed lunch are made of sun-dried tomato bread, ham, and cheddar cheese. I guess it is like having very skinny sandwich fixings.
This lunch was a hit. He could barely wait for the picture of the meal to be taken. He was also very hungry. We had a very busy morning.
Veterans Day Lunch
 If you look closely at the picture, you will see a hospital bracelet on one of his wrists. JDaniel fell and landed with his head against a coffee table on Halloween Day while we were at playgroup. I will be sharing more about what happened on Mommy of a Monster and Twins tomorrow.
 This post is linked to Muffin Tin Monday!
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Read.Explore.Learn.- Call Me Gorgeous!

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Welcome to Read.Explore.Learn.! This meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie in to children’s books. I look forward to seeing ways you have learned with and explored books.
Steps:

    • Link your activity below.
    • Please place the Read.Explore.Learn. badge on your post or create a link back to this meme.
                                                             

      Read.Explore.Learn badge

    • Please try to visit at least three of the other people that have placed links below and leave a comment. I will visit each of you and leave a kind comment.
    • If you are not linking up an activity and are just visiting, please try to stop by a few of the links below.
My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:


Call Me Gorgeous by Giles and Alexandra Milton was shared during storytime by the amazing Miss Amber.  The story is really a description of a very unique animal. Each page spread shares a beautiful illustration and new attribute of the mystery animal.
 
This animal has antlers, pig’s ears, spines on the outside, teeth a beak, and frog’s eyes to name a few. As you read about its unique makeup, it is hard to imagine what it will finally look like. The final illustration is priceless.


What did we do?


Online Creature Creation

 



We went to Switcheroo Zoo and created an amazing new animal. I love this online free program that allows you to morph animals by body section. We didn’t write a story on the site, but you can create a story right on the site.


Craft

 

JDaniel created this monster with many eyes and a brain on top.







 

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