A Mother's Prayer

Lord,

Today help me to be the mother you want me to be.
Please watch over all the things I say and do as I go through my day.

Help me to guard the words a say.
There is a little one who will hear them.
He will think that they are fitting, because I say them.
He will repeat them, because I have voiced them to him.
He will listen to the tone of my voice as I say them.

Help me to show him what it looks like to be a follower of you.
Those little eyes take in everything I do. He will try to imitate my actions.
I will need patience with him and others even when I feel rushed.
I will need persistence to not give up when challenges arise.
I will need to show him how to ask for help when it is needed.

Help me to take the time listen to what he is telling me and showing me today. This little one has so much to share.
He will share with me when he needs me. Help me to put things aside when he says, “Come play with me” or calls for “Help!”
He will ask me questions and seek understanding from me when I am near. Place me where I need to be to hear him.
He will show me what he is learning. Help me to see them through his eyes.

Once the day gets started I will need gentle reminders of these requests.

Please Lord gently whisper them in my ear.

By JDaniel4's Mom

This post is linked to Time Traveler Tuesday.

Plethora of Painting and Mother Day Books

JDaniel and I went to Creating Artists for Tomorrow ( an art center for children) with the Mom Later Than Sooner Group we belong too. He had the best time painting with and on all kinds of mediums. Yes, he even painted on a tree.

I was hoping to send some of his work to my mom and my mother in-law for Mother's Day. We had read several book about creating Mother's Day presents. Right now the pictures are on the fridge where JDaniel hung them to admire. I may have to sneak two down while he is sleeping and slip them into envelopes.

Here are some pictures from our painting adventure. I have also placed a list of the books we read below.

Here is some of his work:

He painted this by rolling golf balls through paint.

Two of these were made by dropping water on paper and spraying the paper with colored water. The dots on the upper right were made using paint stamps and salt.

Here are the books we read:

This a great book called My Mom by Anthony Browne is about how mom can do anything. This mom can sing, make anything grow, and make her child happy when she is sad. The floral design in the mom's shirt appears in every illustration.

This sweet book called Mother's Day Suprise by Stephen Krensky is about a snake who has to find something a snake can make for Mother's Day. Since he doesn't have hands or teeth he can't make the things his friends are making. He ends up making a heart shape with his body.

In Mother May I? by Lynn Plourde the little girl tries to help mom for Mother's Day and ends up making a mess. All her mom really wants is a hug.

Wordless Wednesday- Mom Loves a Boy Who Does Housework

Please check out the three giveaways I have ending tomorrow. They all have low numbers. They are all for wonderful prizes.

Cascadian Farm "Living Green Together" Review and Gift Pack

JDaniel and I have had the best time trying some of the Cascadian Farms cereals and granola bars. Every morning JDaniel eats a bowl of oatmeal. I try to let it cool down before I give it to him, but it is usually still a little warm. We started the tradition of putting “sprinkles” on his oatmeal for him to eat while the oatmeal is cooling. Although we call them “sprinkles”, they are really a handful of whatever cereal we have in the house. I usually eat a bowl of the same cereal as the “sprinkles”. JDaniel always wants what I am eating. I try to eat the same thing to eliminate the fussing for Mommy’s food.

This week I have put one of the Cascadian Farm cereals on as his “sprinkles” each morning. We started with the Cascadian Farms Organic Kids Cinnamon Crunch. He really enjoyed them and called them little crackers. The next day we tried the Cascadian Farms Fruitful O’s. We both really liked these. I even had my husband try a handful. Then we tried the Cascadian Farms Granola. I really loved them. JDaniel didn’t seem to really love them and requested the Cinnamon Crunch be added to his oatmeal. The final cereal we tried was Cascadian Farms Dark Chocolate Granola. Well it tasted a lot like a crunchy dessert. I really enjoyed this and JDaniel was ambivalent about it. It was okay for him and that means more for me. He would have rather had the Cinnamon Crunch or Fruitful O’s.

An afternoon snack is very popular with JDaniel. He wakes up from his nap looking for a snack. I tried giving him the granola bars and he wasn’t interested in trying more than a bite. That was fine with me. I really like the Cascadian Farms Chocolate Chip and Dark Chocolate Almond Chewy Granola bars. I tend to look for a snack about eight o’clock at night and these were wonderful to munch on.

All of the products we tried are certified organic. I love that they don’t have artificial flavors or preservatives. They are made without synthetic pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Each of the cereals lists whole grain wheat or oats as its first ingredient. All the products have 95% of the ingredients are words I can pronounce. That is a wonderful thing.

What I love best about these products is the taste. The flavors carry a lot of punch. They taste good and go over well with a two year old palate and a forty-five year old one.

Are you now dying to try it?

I have a “Living Green Together: gift box to giveaway that is filled with all the products we tested and a reusable bag.

How to win it?

*Go to the Cascadian Farms website and tell me something that you learn. (1 entry)

For extra entries do any or all of the following leaving a separate comment for each entry.

*Take the Cascadian Farms Earth Day Pledge on Facebook. ( 1 entry)

*Tell me your favorite recipe from the Cascadian Farms site. ( 1 entry)

*Write about this giveaway with a link back to it on Facebook or another social network site. (1 entry)

*Enter another giveaway that I am hosting. (1 entry for each giveaway you enter)

*Leave comment on non-giveaway blog post. (1 entry)

*Follow my blog. Leave me a comment saying that you now follow or that you already do. (1 entry)

*Twitter about this giveaway with a link back, you must also be following me on Twitter. Copy and paste: CascadianFarmsGiveaway@JDaniel4’sMom(1 entry per day)

* Subscribe to my blog. Leave me a comment saying that you have subscribed or that you already do. (1 entry)

*Add me to your blog roll. Please leave a link to your site.(2 entries)

*Add my button to your blog. Please leave a link to your site.(2 entries)

*Leave a comment on Mom Loop. Mom Loop is my BlogFrog community.(1 entry per comment)

*Start a discussion on Mom Loop. (3 entries)

That is 14 ways to win. The winner will be chosen by using the random number generator at http://www.random.org/. )

This giveaway begins May 5th and ends May 21st,

Full Disclosure: I received a gift pack that was provided to me by Cascadian Farms through My Blog Spark. They will provide the winner of this giveaway a package. The views of this product were my own

Mom Sneaks Fruit, Honey, and Yogurt into Popsicles

I found the recipe below on the Whole Foods Market website and decided to try and make it for JDaniel. He loves fruit and yogurt. This recipe calls for honey. I thought JDaniel's allergies might benefit from my making something with local honey.

Fruit and Yogurt Popsicles

Ingredients

1 cup plain yogurt

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, strawberries or pitted cherries ( I used raspberries.

1 to 2 tablespoons honey

4 (5-ounce) paper cups Aluminum foil

4 popsicle sticks or plastic spoons

Method

1. Put yogurt, fruit (slightly thawed if using frozen) and honey into a blender and blend to desired consistency. I put the blender on the floor so JDaniel could reach it.
   




2. Pour fruit mixture into paper cups, filling each about three-quarters full.
   


3. Cover each cup with foil, then make a small slit in the middle of each foil cover. Insert popsicle sticks into foil, then freeze cups until solid, about 5 hours.

When ready to eat, peel off paper cups and eat.

Muffin Tin Monday- MOM Lunch

JDaniel's tin was filled with foods that spell Mom twice. He had mushroom filled ravioli, orange carrots, and mushroom filled ravioli in the first row. The second row contained mixed vegetables, onion salad dressing for dipping, and mashed apricots.

He loved it! Everything was dipped and eaten quickly. Dipping is working so well for us. Mom is very happy he is eating so many vegetables.

A Lovely and Awarding Thing About Blogging

I received this lovely award from Finding What I Am Looking For. She has an amazing blog filled with wonderful things like a Max and Ruby Cake based on the the book Bunny Cake. We just read this book at my house. If JDaniel could, he would crawl through the internet to Finding's House.


I am passing this award on to ten wonderful blogs I have come across:

Spilled Milk

Little BGCG

My Monkey Tales

Life with Boo-Boo and Bug

The Southern Belle Baby

Charming Chandler

Life with Rylie

A Few of My Favorite Things

Loving Mom 2 Boys

A Look into the Life of a Fire Fighter's Wife

Please take a moment to visit them and see why I am passing this award on to them.

Great Posts I Came Across This Week- May 1st

Each week I travel around the internet visiting blogs. Here are a few posts that I loved, learned from, or gave me great ideas:

Child Related Posts:

Quirky Momma has post on a great learning tool called a Learning to Read with a Cootie Catcher. I am dying to make one.

Mama Jenn has post of Colored Rice. I see colored rice in sensory container posts all the time. She has the recipe to make colored rice in this post.

Pink and Green Mama has a wonderful learning activity called Preschool (First Grade) At Home: Paint Chip Word Family Game. I love activities that use free tools. This looks like so much fun.

Life and Helping

A Work in Progress has a great post on Things I have learned not to do. Number six on her list has happened to me too. I hope number three never does. I am not a huge squirrel fan.

Bring in the Rain has a wonderful post on a lady named Inga. She is raising money to go to Haiti and teach 5 women how to start a business sewing dresses.

Penelope's Oasis has a great post on How To Plant Your Garden Of Life . I like her peas of mind and squash indifference.

Fifth Sister has an amazing poem filled with "O" words called Ordeal. It is awesome.

Great Recipes

Confessions of a Homeschooler has a wonderful recipe for Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Tortilla Chips.

The Young'ns have a great recipe for Homemade Corn Dog Mini Muffins. It looks and sounds great.

Opportunities for Bloggers

Domestic Dork is participating in a walk for MS. She will make a blog signature for a $10 donation to her walk.

Our Mommyhood has great list of memes for moms.