It's OK.

Sitting here in the library at William's homeschool program.  There's a boy about his age, maybe a couple years older, who is hard at work on the computer next to mine.  He's been working steadily for over 30 minutes when his Mother comes by to check his progress.

"Holy Mother of *&%#*& all the *#%$&* Jesus *&#*%*....."  And on and on her tirade goes.  Words come flying out of her mouth that are clearly not meant for little ears.  Her movements are jerky, her breathing is harsh.

I can't help but listen in- I try not to, really I do.  But when you are sitting right next to someone, it's impossible not to overhear.  And what I hear is a Mother who is struggling.  She's frustrated.  She's grumpy and upset and this poor Mother, is clearly on the brink of losing it.

She excuses herself and tells her son that she's going to the bathroom and she will be right back.  I have a feeling she's walking away to go have a good cry.  We've all been there and I can recognize the signs.

A few minutes later she comes back and is more composed.  Perhaps that moment away helped her.

But as she helps her son with his work, I hear "sometimes I wish we never homeschooled.  Sending you to public school would be so much easier.  Why do things have to be so difficult?"  She's trying.  But this poor Mother is on the precipice of meltdown.  I can hear it in her voice- she's desperately struggling to maintain control.

And here I sit, right next to them and there's nothing I can really do for her.  I can understand her and I can empathize with her but I can't make it any easier.  We've all had those moments of challenge and I know we've all felt like giving up.

Her son finishes up his work and runs off to class.  And this Mother simply sits here.  Deep breath in.  Deep breath out.

She finally turns to me and apologizes.  I reach over, touch her arm and say- "It's ok.  We've all been there"  We smile, that knowing smile that all homeschooling Moms understand.  Yes, we've all been there.

It's Ok.

Tomorrow is a new day.  Homeschooling is filled with doubt and with struggle.  Some days are simply more challenging then others.  But we push forward because it's also filled with amazing moments.  We are truly blessed to watch our children learn and grow, to be by their side day in and day out.  It's struggle and joy, happiness and frustration, amazement and anger- it simply is- And unless you are in it, you will never understand.

It's Ok.

Struggling Mother- everything will be Ok.

Parenting with Common Sense, Love & Respect

 Something funny happened to me awhile ago.  I was called a Bad Mom.  Gasp! Can you believe it?!?  Now, ordinarily this wouldn't be funny, right?  Who wants to be called a Bad Mom?  However it was funny because of the person who was doing the name calling.  When someone you wouldn't trust with your goldfish, let alone your child, calls you a Bad Mom- well, we all know that opinion doesn't mean shit.

However, it did give me cause to stop and wonder if there's anything I could do differently.  A little self reflection never hurt anyone, right?

And here's what I found- I personally feel that I'm a fabulous Mom.  Seriously.  That's not my ego talking.  I'm simply just a great Mom.  I was born to be a Wife and Mother and being the perfectionist that I am- I strive to be the very best of both.  Nothing wrong with that, right?  Since when did it become fashionable to lack confidence in yourself and your abilities?  If there's one thing I  know in life- it's that I am a great Mom and a great Wife.  Oh- and I bake a mean Pumpkin Bread.

Am I perfect?  Oh Hell no!  And let me just say, that I do not for one minute think I'm any better then anyone else.  This is not about me being a "better" Mom then someone else.  It's simply about me being the best Mom that I can be- I don't have all the answers.  Parenting is a process and there is always room for improvement.

However, I do know that the choices my husband and I are making and the way in which we are parenting our child are the right ones for our family.  I'm simply doing the very best I can for my child and I feel that it's working.  If someone else feels threatened by that- then that's their problem!  And you know what they say about people in glass houses....

The way my husband and I parent is based mainly on common sense, love and respect.  Pretty much every decision we've ever made for our child has come from these three common values.  I'll say it again- common sense, love and respect.  Seems to be pretty simple, no?  So how does this break down into the everyday life?  How exactly do you parent this way?  Here's a few things we do:

1.  Always speak the truth.  We don't give half truths, we don't sugarcoat and we sure as shit don't lie to our son.  We have always strived to provide our son with a truthful and age appropriate answer.  Key phrase here is "age appropriate".  As a result, I personally feel that my 9 year old has a very firm grasp on the world around him.

A good example of this is when we drive by the homeless man who likes to play his guitar and panhandle by the local grocery store.  He stands here every day, all day long and has for the last 5+ years.  Upon our first sighting, my then 3 year old son asked- "Mommy, why is that man standing there everyday? How come he's so dirty? Why does he jump around and yell at the cars?"  My answer to my then 3 year old- "He doesn't have a home to go to like we do.  We are very lucky to have a warm and safe place to live.  He is dirty because he doesn't have a bathtub to wash in.  He jumps around & acts silly because he probably has something wrong in his brain that makes him act this way.   Simple, honest and age appropriate.  Boom.

This one guideline is perhaps the one that I have taken the most "heat" for.  It seems to make people uncomfortable when you speak the truth.  Especially to a child.  I wonder why that is?

2.  Give them the freedom to make their own choices.  By simply asking my son- do you want chocolate or vanilla, I have given him the freedom to express his own desires.  If he chooses something & then decides he doesn't really want that one- he has no one to blame but himself.  Thus he learns to take responsibility for his choices.

He's given the freedom to learn, to explore, to have a voice and consequently- he's learned that with that freedom comes boundaries, responsibilities and a little bit of reality.

This does NOT mean he's given free reign.  Giving a child the freedom to make some choices in their life does not mean you give them total control of everything.  They still need you to guide them and steer them in the right direction.  But there's nothing wrong with giving them a little responsibility to make some simple choices.  Best they learn how to do this now while they are still young and the consequences are relatively simple.

3.  Boundaries.  Oohh- this is a hard one.  We are a fairly strict household.  Bedtime is roughly at the same time each night.  My child is not allowed to wander aimlessly in our neighborhood. He must behave himself when in public or he doesn't get to go.  Candy & junk food is not a free for all.  He's not allowed to watch too much tv or play hours upon hours of endless video games.  However- the flip side to this is that we are also very flexible.  William has no chores.  He's allowed to do pretty much anything he wants to throughout the course of the day.  If he wants to go outside & play at 8am- fine.  Swim in his kiddie pool after lunch- ok. Spend all day reading- yippee!  Lay in bed & watch Saved by the Bell reruns- go for it!  Do a messy science experiment with the neighbor- sure.  Drag out all his Legos & cover my living room floor- have at it!

The point is that William knows what he is allowed to do and he knows what he's not allowed to do.  He also knows what will happen to him if he makes poor choices or disobeys.  The boundaries are very clear.  He's not perfect & sometimes he does do things he knows he shouldn't do- don't all kids!

4.  Don't baby them.  I love my son.  I show my son daily how much I love him.  We are big on hugs, every once in awhile I can sneak a kiss and his nickname around my house (he's gonna hate me for telling you all this!) is Love Bug.  He is my Love.  He is my Heart.  However, he is NOT my tiny little helpless baby.  Not anymore at least. So when he falls down, we say- "you're ok, brush yourself off and get up."  When he comes to me with a scrap on his knee- I say, "no blood no band aid."  BTW- you can thank my Mom for that one.  Saves a fortune in band aids! Thanks Mom!

Yes, of course there is a time for comfort, a Mother's healing touch, a listening heart & kind words.  But in the everyday life, we encourage him to brush himself off and try again.  We believe this also teaches him about perseverance and gives him a real CAN DO attitude.  Which is exactly the kind of attitude we want him to have when he's an adult.

5.  Respect.  This is a big one.  How do you earn respect as a parent? How do you teach your kids to show respect to others?  Our answer- by simply modeling the behavior we want him to learn.  We speak kindly to one another.  We as parents allow our son to see us argue.  We also allow him to see us resolve the issue and move forward. I personally believe this sets a much more realistic expectation of family & relationships instead of pretending everything is always perfect.  We treat him respectfully and we expect him to treat us the same.  Whenever he behaves in a less then respectful way- we always point this out to him.  Most times, if he is exhibiting disrespectful behavior (very rare!) I simply give him the "Mom Look" and say, "Excuse Me".  To which he immediately knows that he's overstepped and corrects the behavior. Give him the tools to navigate how to treat others and model the behavior you want them to exhibit.

So there you have it- the basic principals we parent by.  Is there room for improvement- yes!  Am I happy with the way I'm parenting now- yes! Would I change anything- probably not.

I'm not a bad Mom.  I'm a good Mom doing the very best that I can.  And I'm pretty confident that I'm doing a great job!  Don't let the opinions of those who don't matter, change the way in which you parent and live your life.  You got this.

Happy Birthday Baby.

Today is William's birthday.  He is 9 years old.  Amazing how fast time moves once you have a child, isn't it?

Each year we celebrate the birth of a child with a grand birthday party.  Perhaps a family gathering or a small group of friends.  And as that child gets older, we forget what that Mother went through to bring this child into the world.  It's no small feat.  Pretty damn amazing if you ask me.  So today, on the day of my child's birth- I want to share with you my birth story.

Pregnancy was not easy for me.

I was horribly sick throughout most of those 10 months.  Oh yeah- have you heard?  Women are actually pregnant for 40 weeks, that equals 10 months, NOT the 9 months we've all been fooled into believing!  But I digress.....So my pregnancy sucked.  I was hospitalized due to dehydration, prescribed meds to help me keep food and water down and put on moderate bed rest towards the end.  I lost close to 50 pounds because I was unable to eat and I worked hard to gain back about 30 of those pounds.  The smallest I have ever weighed was when I was in my second trimester of pregnancy- yeah, that's not good.

I also have a heart condition and my doctor's were concerned that my child would be born with the same congenital heart defect that I was born with.  Nothing like the stress of worrying about your unborn baby's health to make pregnancy a breeze.  So in addition to my regular doctor appointments with my OBGYN, I also visited Cardiologists and endured several months of additional testing.  Not fun but necessary.

Delivery wasn't any better.

I had a doctor's appointment the day prior.  The kiddo was always a mover and a shaker and suddenly, he had stopped all movement.  After a few tests at the doctor's office, they sent me to the hospital to check for amniotic fluid.  Things came back fine and I was sent home with instructions to continue resting as much as possible.  Difficult to do when you are still working full time- but we made do.

That night, about midnight- contractions started.  Since I had never experienced childbirth before, I truly had no clue that this was it.  I was still a couple weeks from my due date and I figured it was just gas or braxton hicks.  I went back to bed, tried to sleep and not wake my husband.  At about 5AM, I did wake him up to get ready for work and let him know that I had been having "pains" since early morning.  I sent him off to work which was over an hour away from our house.  Yeah- clearly I didn't realize exactly what was happening.

By 8AM- I finally got it.  Oh- yeah, I'm having a baby now.  So I called my doctor's office and they instructed me to take a shower and head in to the hospital.  No need to rush since this was my first baby.  As we've all been told- the first one can take awhile.  Now since I had sent my husband in to work, I called my parents to drive me to the hospital and had my husband begin his long commute back towards me and the hospital.

I arrived having eaten nothing.  Figuring I could have someone grab me something later.  Ha!  What NO ONE tells you is that once you are admitted, you are not allowed to eat.  Boo.  By the time I arrived, my contractions were still pretty slow.  I was instructed to walk the halls while attached to an IV in an effort to speed things up.  Otherwise, I would be sent home.  Thank goodness the husband arrived shortly thereafter and he and I started our trek around the hospital.  Contractions did indeed increase and I was admitted.

From there, I experienced high fever, soaring blood pressure, nausea and chills.  My water was manually broken, I had an internal baby monitor applied, petocin was started, I bounced on a ball, I squatted, I got down on my hands and knees, I pushed and finally- after 23 hours of labor, it was decided that I needed an emergency c-section.  My baby's heartbeat was dropping.  Something was wrong.

On February 22nd at 1:01AM- William was born.

I was in no pain.  I did not feel any discomfort during the surgery and as they pulled this child from my body- I saw all his gorgeous brown hair and heard his little screams.  He was perfect and it was love at first sight.  He was healthy and he was all mine.

Moments after I was stitched up and moved to another gurney, the IV was pulled from my body.  Folks- I could literally feel it sliding its way up my back.  The moment it was out, I was in instant pain.  INSTANT PAIN.  I blacked out and when I woke up, I had been moved to recovery room.  My first memory from that moment is of my poor husband standing at the foot of my bed.  The look on his face said it all.  His child had just been born and then his wife had passed out.  He had witnessed the entire surgery, refusing to sit down behind the curtain and instead watch as his child was pulled from his wife's body.  I'm pretty sure he was equally ecstatic at the birth of his son and traumatized at the birth of his son.  It was an unforgettable moment.

From there, it was a difficult few hours.  The pain meds were not helping.  I watched through tears of pain as my husband washed our son, giving him his very first bath, and family members came in to meet him.  Finally, I was given a heavy dose of morphine and passed out.  Thank God for morphine.

Several hours later, I woke up back in my regular room.  The morphine seemed to help and the day passed with lots of baby cuddles and happy visitors.  By nightfall, I was again in excruciating pain.  Only this time, it was my shoulders.  Your what?  Yeah....didn't make any sense to me either.  What I later found out was that when you are literally cut open, air can become trapped inside your body.  This causes EXTREME pain.  I swear to you, in that moment- I would have had the c-section all over again instead of experiencing this pain in my shoulders.  NO ONE ever tells you this.

And while I am discussing things that no one tells you- here goes.  Before they will let you leave the hospital you must first be able to poop and pee all on your own.  Sounds easy enough, right?  WRONG.  You've just been sliced open.  You have NO abdominal muscles.  Without those, no amount of laxatives is going to make pooping any easier.  So I lied.  I had been trapped in the hospital for 4 days and I desperately wanted to go home.  So you bet your ass I told all those nurses that I had pooped in the potty like a good little girl.

Ok gross- let's move on.

My son was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his body.  His heart rate plummeted during labor and we later found out, that this was the reason why.  The cord was so tightly wound around one of his legs that to this day, there are still marks from it.  He was also jaundiced and just a little tongue tied.  But to me- he was perfect.

My birth story is not unique.  There are many Mother's who struggle to bring a child into this world.  And every year that my baby celebrates another birthday- I celebrate too.  I did something truly amazing.  This moment, the birth of my son, will forever be my greatest accomplishment in life.

Today William turns 9.  Happy Birthday Baby Boy.

William with his Skylanders Birthday Cake
 on his 9th Birthday.

Pumpkin Bread

This is a favorite in my house.

During the Fall and Winter seasons, I make this recipe several times per month.  I can't seem to make it fast enough- because as soon as it comes out of the oven, one loaf is already gone!

Since I've received a few requests for my recipe, I decided it was time for me to post it here!  Full disclosure, this is not MY recipe.  I got it from Better Homes and Gardens and I have not made one single change.  It's perfect just the way it is!

Pumpkin Bread


1 cup oil
3 cups white sugar
4 eggs
3 1/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2/3 cups water
1 15oz can pumpkin

Combine oil and sugar in mixer.  Slowly add in eggs.  Mix dry ingredients together in another bowl and slowly add to mixer.  Alternate adding the dry ingredients with the water.  A little dry, a little water, a little dry...you get the idea.  Finally, add in your canned pumpkin.  My boys like raisins in their pumpkin bread, so I always throw in a handful or two.  I also use all organic ingredients but the choice is totally up to you!

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 65 minutes.  Use 2 regular 9x5x3 loaf pans.  If you don't mind your loaves just a little smaller, you can stretch this batter out to 2 of the regular sized loaf pans and one smaller loaf pan.  If you choose to go this route, you will only need to bake the smaller pan for about 30 minutes.  Just keep checking on it- you don't want burned pumpkin bread!

Let your loaves cool before removing from the pan.  Slice and stick one loaf in the freezer for later in the week.  Perfection!

Who is the Homeschooled Housewife?

Are you new to my Facebook page?  Or perhaps you've just come across my blog?  Either way, I figured it was time for a refresher on who exactly is the Homeschooled Housewife.

My name is Chrissie.  I am 32 years old and the Mom to one 8 year old boy, William.  I am lucky enough to stay home with my son- however I do work part time out of my home.  I am a Traditional Wife and strongly feel that my place is at home, raising my son and being a helpmate to my husband.

William is homeschooled and attends a great program through the local school district.  In addition to this, we also spend time learning at home.  We are currently eclectic homeschoolers who lean towards unschooling.  Which basically means that we pull his curriculum from many different sources and prefer to let learning happen naturally.  We are raising a whole child and focus on a whole education.

William is my everything and I spoil him dearly.  He enjoys reading, playing Lego's and spending time with his Dad.  William plays soccer, loves to swim and is scary good at climbing trees.  He is funny and frustrating and asks some really great questions.  Much of this blog and my Facebook page is dedicated to him and to my journey in Motherhood.

I have been married for 10 years this November to my awesome husband, Chris.  Yep- Chris & Chrissie, pretty adorable eh?  Chris and I met online way back in the days of AOL and dial up.  I was 19 and he was 21 and we've officially been a couple for 13 1/2 years.  I'm pretty proud of that!  I will be posting about our traditional marriage and why it works for us.  My goal is to encourage wives to love unconditionally and without expectations.

We have 2 rat terriers, Lucky Dog and Buddy Boy.  Lucky is 13 and Buddy is 2 and I love them like my babies!  In fact, you will often see me refer to my son, husband & dogs as "my boys".  In our house, Lucky Dog and Buddy Boy are a part of our family.  They are William's brothers and we treat them as such.  

My interests are simple.  I am passionate about our food system.  We eat a mainly organic, vegetarian diet free from GMO's and other chemicals.  I love to cook and bake, so I will be including lots of recipes, meal plans, grocery tips etc and of course, will be discussing the benefits to eating a clean diet.

I am also a bit of a Disney freak.  If I could go anywhere in the world, I would always return to my happy place, Disneyland.  From time to time, my Disney obsession may leak its way onto my blog.  And of course, I'm a big reader and love nothing more then a strong cup of coffee, a good book and silence.  Ah- silence.

There are a few key principals that Homeschooled Housewife follows. Honesty, respect and common sense.  Pretty easy, no?  We also laugh a lot at my house.  We are silly and free to be ourselves.  We yell sometimes and get really frustrated with one another.  We are not perfect.  However, we believe in being true to ourselves.

Homeschooled Housewife is not the place for religious dronings.  While I am a Christian and do believe in God, I simply don't feel the need to announce it to everyone.  God knows what's in my heart and that's good enough for me.  However, sometimes you will see a prayer, bible passage etc.  I respect everyone's religious ideals and expect the same in return.

Homeschooled Housewife is about me, my family and our life.  It is my place to vent, to share, to encourage and to hopefully meet some like-minded folks.  It is not my intention to offend or upset anyone.  I am a fairly open book and I welcome any respectful questions- even if you don't agree with my statements.

So there you have it.  Homeschooled Housewife is about much more then being a housewife or homeschooling.  Everything I post or publish, comes from my own passions, interests and beliefs.  I hope you all enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

Chrissie

Are Homeschooled Kids Weird?

Well of course they are!

But not to worry, they are weird in a "good" way.

Listen, all kids are a little weird.  They wouldn't be kids if they weren't, right?  So what makes homeschooled kids different?  Are they somehow MORE weird?

I like to think of it as "out of the box" thinking.  They march to their own drummer and usually don't seem to notice or even care that they do things differently.  And you know what- most of their homeschooled peers don't notice your kid is weird because they too are equally weird.

Huh?

Ok, let me give you an example.

One day, way back in the 1st grade- my son William decided to wear this crazy outfit to his homeschool program.  Crazy consisted of shorts in the middle of winter, a puffy vest, tank top, winter boots and a circus hat.  Yes, a circus hat.

Oh My Word.

Now, ordinarily such an outfit would cause quit the commotion at a normal public school.  Open mouthed stares, snickers, and possible ridicule would be sure to follow.

Want to know what happened when William walked the halls of his homeschool program?

"Cool hat William"

"Hey, where'd you get that awesome hat William?"

"I have one of those too!"

Not a single homeschooler made fun of my William.  He walked those halls and he strutted his stuff- circus hat and all.

It.  Was.  Awesome.

The point here is- all homeschoolers are weird.  Really weird.  But no one really notices because we are all a little weird.  It's the most amazing sense of freedom.  Homeschoolers are free to live their lives- every aspect of them.  Weirdness and all.

So the answer to the question- YES, of course homeschoolers are weird.  And it's great.

Honey, Lemon and Ginger Tea

Besides coffee- this drink is my favorite.  It's super healthy for you, easy to make and tastes amazing!  It's SO good, even the kid likes it!  We drink this most often during the Fall and Winter months but it's good all year round!

I like to mix up all the ingredients ahead of time and store in a canning jar in the fridge.  Then when I want to make up a cup of tea- all I have to do it add the pre made ingredients to my hot water.  Easy peasy!  

Three Simple Ingredients

Here's how you make it:

1 cup raw local honey- organic

1 organic lemon, thinly sliced

1 "thumb" sized piece fresh ginger, peeled & diced

Simply combine- no need to squeeze the lemons and store in the fridge.  Make a few jars of this and give the ingredients plenty of time to combine and blend in the fridge.

To make the tea, simply add 2-4 tablespoons of your honey, lemon and ginger to 8 ounces hot water.  My son doesn't like it as strong, so he gets 2 tablespoons.  I, on the other hand, LOVE this stuff- so I prefer it nice and strong!

Why do we drink this?  Besides the fact that it tastes great- these three ingredients are powerhouses of health and well being.

HONEY

Helps to soothe a sore throat and acts as a natural cough suppressant.  It also boosts your body's immune system.  Always buy local raw honey if you can as this has the added benefit of pollen specific to your area which helps protect you against local seasonal allergies.  It also relieves aches and pains, stabilizes blood sugar and blood pressure and helps to calm your nerves.

LEMON

A natural antioxidant that helps boost your immune system and provide much needed Vitamin C.  Helps to get rid of the toxins in your body.  Reduces inflammation and swelling.  Helps to prevent against cancer, stroke and heart disease.  Acts as a digestive aid and helps to cleanse your liver.

GINGER

Great for calming an upset stomach and digestive issues, including nausea, morning sickness and diarrhea.  Aids in detoxification of the body and acts as an anti inflammatory and antioxidant.  Also great for relief from arthritis, menstrual cramps and muscle pain.

Grocery Shopping 101

So I recently stumbled upon this website that gave very unorganized and poor, misspelled directions on how to grocery shop and menu plan.  And of course the whole time I reading this, I'm cringing and silently screaming- the word is spelled DOES, not dose.  I made it about halfway through the post before giving up and saying- I can do better.  I can help the average housewife excel at grocery shopping.

So here goes-

Find the weekly sale fliers in the
store or your mailbox.

1. Determine your Budget.  If you don't have a budget yet- now is the time to figure one out!  I try to stick to $200 per week for all food (eating out is included!), toiletries AND gas in my car.  Some weeks I will have less to spend at the store then others.  Starting with a pre determined dollar amount will help you stay in your budget.
2. Look at the sale fliers for the stores you usually shop or download a store app- if they have one, for your smart phone.  I like to get a red Sharpie and circle the items I know I will buy.  Do this step BEFORE you plan your weekly menu- this way you will be buying items that are on sale for your meals that week.
3. Plan your Menu.  Not too worry, I'll probably write another post dedicated to menu planning.  But for now, I'm going to assume you know how to do this.  Don't forget to include breakfast, lunch & snacks in your meal planning.  So many folks just plan dinner- but that will leave you spending over your budget if you don't factor in all meals and snacks.
4. Make your List.  One list for each store.  Since I'm a little OCD, I like to write the items down in order of location in the store.  Sometimes, if my budget is super tight, I will also write the price down next to the item on my list.  This way, I can easily make substitutions to my menu plan if needed while I'm still at home and not at the store.  And for goodness sake- try your best to stick to your list!  Resist the impulse buys that will take you over budget.
5. Add your items from your running list.  Your what?  Here's a tip ladies- you should always keep a running grocery list on your fridge.  When you run out or are getting low, simply add it to the running grocery list.  When you add it to your actual grocery list, make sure you cross it off the running list.
6. Gather your Coupons.  I keep all my coupons in a little plastic file folder in my purse.  When I'm prepping for my grocery shopping, I will pull out the items that I know I'm buying and set those

   

   Keep your coupons organized!

   coupons to the front of my coupon organizer.  Then as I walk the store- if I buy something that was not on my list, I can simply search the category and pull out my coupon to add to the others.  Here's another tip- while in the store- pull your coupons as soon as you put the item into your cart.  Otherwise, you'll be standing at the checkout counter forever!

Now- I have several stores that I shop at but I don't shop at all 4 stores every time I need to do some grocery shopping.  I'm guessing you probably don't either- whew! Talk about exhausting!  You should have one main store that you do the majority of your grocery shopping at either weekly or bi-weekly.  For me, this is my local Safeway.  

The other stores should be on a monthly rotation or even every other month rotation.  What this means is that once per month I shop at Costco.  This is where I stock up on organic eggs, organic bread, organic milk and organic butter.  When I take my monthly trip here, I know that I'm only going here once each month so I buy enough to last throughout the month.  I also shop at Trader Joe's every other month.  I buy a specific salad dressing that my husband loves and I can't get it anywhere else and my son loves of few of their snack items.  I occasionally buy bacon here too.  So clearly this is not a store I need to visit often.  Grocery Outlet is one that I visit either once per month or every other month- it just depends.  I buy all my organic canned beans here and organic frozen fruit and veggies.  So if they didn't have my items in stock, I may have to take a trip back here sooner then anticipated.  If you shop at a Grocery Outlet- you know what I'm talking about!  

One last tip, not exactly related to grocery shopping but it does fall within this category.

Every six months or so, my family does a "No Grocery Shopping Challenge".  What exactly is this?  Well- we basically skip the regular visit to the grocery store and instead try to use up what we have in our fridge, freezer and pantry for that week.  The benefit is that you can add that week's grocery budget to your savings and have fun doing it!

Hopefully this list will help get  you started on the path to saving money at the grocery store.  If you haven't figured it out by now- a little prep work and planning is the key here.  Good luck!

Words

Eat your carrots.  You need to go take a shower now please.  It's too cold to wear shorts.  Yes, that's correct-that is the capital of Montana.  That is not an appropriate word.  

Don't forget to put your helmet on.  

I really like how you used these words to describe your character.  Watch out for 

                cars please.  You may not speak to me that way.  Cake is not an 

appropriate breakfast meal.  

Those are some great patterns and colors you chose.  It's important 

            to speak to others with kindness.  Sure, I'll play Uno 

               with you again.  Have fun at class.  

         Thank you for taking your laundry upstairs.  Yes, you need to

                include everyone.  Here's your gloves, please wear them.  

                      Wow, your handwriting is really improving.  

                    Sometimes life is hard.  

                  Mommy loves you.

They are just words.  But words have such power.

I'm a big believer that parenting, real parenting, happens in the everyday.  It happens in the quiet moments and the examples and behaviors we model to our children.  It happens in our actions and in our words.  It's here in the quiet, in the mundane that true parenting occurs.  Is is pretty?  No.  Is it perfect?  No.  But it has great power to shape your child- for good or bad.

The way we speak to our children becomes their inner voice- be careful with the words you choose.