Well, it’s almost that time again. I desperately need to figure out what to get my mother. She always asks for the lamest gifts you can imagine; think garbage cans and toilet brushes (no joke-she’s actually asked for both).

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So, buying gifts for her is daunting. My sister is the best gift giver and I am not. I have some perfectionist tendencies that cause me to think and think for the perfect gift and then I never think of one and finally end up buying her those toilet brushes she wanted (Yep, she got them from me). What in the world am I going to do?! This lady is the hardest working woman I’ve ever known. She loves like crazy and is truly amazing in general. I am completely clueless as to what to get her. She would probably love a photo album or some sentimental gift.She would probably love something handmade or super thoughtful…but what exactly??

She’s most likely going to end up with something more along the lines of a paper towel holder.

I need help.

My sister was telling one of my daughters about a time when I did a particularly dumb thing. I was probably 7 years old and my best friend lived next door, his name was Lance. He was a year older than I was. If he suggested something, I was usually eager to go along with his idea. So, one night when our parents were playing cards and not paying us any attention, Lance said we should hide from them. I thought it was a grand idea. It would be so funny to see them looking for us whenever they finally realized we weren’t where they thought we were. We hid in the floor of his parent’s Jeep. When they did coming looking for us it was pretty late. They walked right by the Jeep and never looked in. We thought that was hilarious! After a few minutes though, it became apparent that they were frantic and terrified. We lived very close to the lake and I knew they were thinking about all the terrible possibilities. When we finally got out of that Jeep we were in the biggest trouble of our lives.

I wish I could say that was the last dumb thing we did; but we did dumb things ALL the time. We just had very little fear and obviously rarely thought about the consequences of our actions.

Fast forward to now and I am a very protective parent. I realize now that it was only by God’s grace that I ended up okay.  I always think through all the things that could have happened. But at the end of the day, we all do dumb things and we just have to pray and hope that God’s protection will overcome anything dumb we may do!

Am I the only mom out there who feels like all my kids like is complete junk? I try not to bring too much crappy food into the house; but also don’t want to give them a complex about food. I try to balance it all out with a little of both. I know parents who don’t let their kids have sugar except on special occasions and those kids always seem to be the ones who eat so many sweets on those special days that they make themselves sick. I want my kids to know that they can eat it in moderation and that there are healthier alternatives too. But many times we get busy and I let them eat too much fast food or just junk in general. I have made up my mind that I have to do more to help them make good choices. The biggest area that needs improvement is snack foods. They always want to reach for the unhealthiest options between meals. This weeks grocery list and menu for the week included a healthy snack for each day. Yesterday, I made banana muffins.  To be completely honest, my kids didn’t love the texture, but they were tasty and they are gluten free.

Banana muffins:

3-4 very ripe bananas

1 tablespoon of honey

1/3 cup of butter or coconut oil

5 packets of monk fruit sweetener

3 eggs

1 tsp. Baking powder

1 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1 tsp. Nutmeg

1 tsp. Ginger

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups hazelnut flour

Mash banana until smooth. Add wet ingredients. Add dry ingredients. Line muffin tin, put 1/4 cup of batter in each. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees  until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool. Enjoy!