Need some calamine lotion for that?

I've been noticeably silent for a while.  While I'm sure some of you have been thankful for that, I've been feeling guilty about ignoring you for so long.  After spending a busy summer running around with my family and my new business, I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. 

Curiously, I find myself even busier.  But I'm more focused now, too.  I've re-dedicated myself to being there for my kids when they need me and to providing a safe and healthy home for them.  Part of what that means is that I'm making even more of an effort to cook things from scratch.  I realize that cooking from scratch means different things to different people.  I want to see how scratchy I can get in my cooking.  Today I rendered lard.  If you don't know what that is you'll find out soon enough (but only if you want to.)

I like this blog as it gives me a place to be random.  But I've also felt that with my new semi-organized self it made more sense to have a blog dedicated to the "from scratch" stuff that I do.  So, I will be posting homemade, from scratch stuff on another blog called "Scratch That".  (Check it out to see about the rendering lard thing-a-ma-hooey.)  I'll try to keep up over here too, but I really felt like I needed to have a different place to try to be "scratchy".  So I hope you join me over on the other side.

The daily anatomy lessons are paying off

I wrote this note two years ago and came across it this morning.  It was too cute not to share.  I'll be posting a few of these to my blog, just to have them over here where friends and family can read about the funny things my kids did when they were dirst learning how the world works.

June 2009...
The other day, over dinner, the word "bride" came up in conversation.  The four year old girl piped up with, "I know what a bride is!" My hubby asked her what it was so she explained...


4 yr old girl: A bride is the thing that moms put over their boobs to keep them from popping.
Dad: What?
4 yr old girl: A bride is the thing that moms put over their boobs to keep them from popping.
Dad: What happens if they don't have a bride on?
4 yr old girl: Their boobs pop!
Dad: How do they pop?
4 yr old girl: They just go *insert hand motions that show her breasts exploding*
Me: Well what about when moms are in the shower and they don't have anything on? Do they pop then?
4 yr old girl: Well no, well, I don't know. *laughing and slightly embarrassed* No, they don't!

We set her straight on the difference between a bra and a bride. :-)

But then today in church...

Our Pastor asked our three elders' wives to pray for a woman who is going in for surgery later this week. As we all sat with our heads bowed, The three year old (who was on my lap) nestled his head back onto my chest in an attempt to be quiet, yet comfortable. I think it was that very action that prompted him to whisper to me, mid-prayer, "Mom, you should be praying for that lady too, because you have boobs too."

I promise, we don't just talk about female anatomy all day. It does seem to fascinate the younger two children right now though.