Compassion Kits: Teaching Your Children Generosity

Our compassion kits

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

--Dalai Lama

Today we went to a meetup with our local AP mom's group (I have to say that I love that group and I really feel like we've found a group that feels like "home" for us). Today's event was the 2nd Annual Compassion Kit Playdate.  Each family brought 20-30 of an item (or two) for everyone to put in their bags. We contributed bar soap and Q-tips. Then, everything is lined up assembly line style and each family makes three bags. We actually had enough to stretch it out into five gallon size Ziploc bags. We are going to keep the bags in our car and when we see someone in need we can give them the bag.

Each bag is comprised of some (or all) of the following:

• Scarves
• Gloves
• Hat
• Socks
• Bar Soap
• Shampoo
• Toothbrush & toothpaste
• Dental Floss
• Crackers
• Single serve fruit
• Hand warmers
• Deoderant
• Safety pins
• Chapstick
• Q-tips
• Kleenex

I'm sure there's more I'm not thinking of. We also had some Hershey's chocolate bars at home so we popped those in the bags, too.

I'm so thankful that we had the opportunity to do this. It opened up a dialogue with Beanie about those who are less fortunate and how we can be compassionate & help. We talked about how some people don't have a home to live in or food to eat. It's been quite cool and rainy here the last couple days and Beanie said she wanted to give people her blanket and pillow. Isn't that awesome? I was so proud of her for coming up with that on her own. It confirms to me that we discussed the topic in an age-appropriate fashion and that she "gets it." Or at least "gets it" as much as a three-and-a-half year old can.

Things have been tight here financially lately. I had committed to doing this awhile back and really didn't want to back out. The truth is, for about eight bucks we got a pack of bar soap at Costco and we had the Q-tips at home already. It was so awesome making the bags after everyone pooled their donations together. We may be tackling our own financial issues, but we do have a roof over our heads, food to eat and the ability to pay our bills. We have so much to be thankful for. Our difficulties seem small when looking at the bigger picture. It's good to keep that in perspective.

I'm excited to put our kits in to action. While we've been talking about it the last two days I am quite interested to see Beanie's reaction (and the subsequent dialogue) when we do get to pass them out.

***I cannot take credit for this idea at all as it was the brain child of another mom in our mom's group, but I am so glad we were able to participate this year.***

Click here to read an update about how Beanie reacted to giving out the compassion kits.

Menu Plan Monday 11/29

One of the things we have really started to take a good look at is menu planning. We go through spurts where we do really great & then there's the not-so-great spurts, the times where we just feel like something else or feel like we deserve to go out to eat. Both Glenn and I are making a renewed effort to menu plan and stick to our plan. I'm really excited about this because Glenn is even helping come up with the dinner ideas!

As always, we sit down and plan Saturday - Friday. That's just how we roll.

***All recipes are gluten-free, dairy-free, and soy-free or easily adapted to be.***

Saturday: Turkey Tostadas (our Thanksgiving leftover favorite)
Sunday: La Bamba Casserole with blue corn chips (sans cheese for dairy free)
Monday: Stuffed Peppers with green salad (I will post this recipe -- and link -- when I make it. We adapted a family recipe and these are so yummy!)
Tuesday: Meatloaf Muffins with mashed potatoes and green salad (I'm really excited to try this recipe from Cook it Allergy Free for the first time this week.)
Wednesday: Sweet 'n Sour Chicken with rice
Thursday: Arroz con Pollo
Friday: Italian Sausage Soup

For the gluten-free Menu Plan Monday hosted by Gluten-free Goodness, the ingredient of the week is sweet potatoes. I LOVE mashed sweet potatoes and, I dare say, our dairy-free version this year was better than some "regular" sweet potato casseroles I've had. Everyone thought they were quite delicious.


I don't remember where I got the original recipe, but this is a dish we've made for Thanksgivings in the past and I'm glad my dairy-free soy-free version turned out well.

Marshmallow Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 1/4c sweet potatoes
2c rice milk
3 Tbsp Earth Balance soy free buttery spread
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
dash pepper
dash cinnamon
marshmallows

Directions:

1. Steam potatoes (peeled and cut) until tender.
2. Mash potatoes with mixer.
3. Add rice milk gradually.
4. Mix in remaining ingredients.
5. Put in casserole dish.
6. Heat at 250 degrees for 20-30 minutes.
7. Cover top with marshmallows.
8. Cook until marshmallows soften or are lightly browned.

I'm linked up over at I'm an Organizing Junkie and Gluten-free Goodness so click on over for more menu ideas.

Hopeful.

I am hopeful that this is going to be a good week.

Last week was rough and that would be putting it lightly. I was in a very poor mood and Thanksgiving sort of crept up and made it even more of an anxious week. Add on a few other personal things and wa-la! it was a recipe for disaster.

I have my first appointment with the counselor on Wednesday. I'm glad. And nervous. I hope I like her. I hope I feel at ease enough to talk through everything. I've had a lot on my mind lately and the PPD just seems to be compounding things.

Glenn sat down and balanced the pile of receipts we had for the checkbook today. I usually handle all the financial issues -- the checkbook, paying the bills, etc. He brings home the bacon and I distribute it. I think having him write everything down really gave him a better perspective on things. We have been talking a lot about financial stuff lately -- changing our expenditures, our mindset and so on -- and I really feel like we're on the same page. We have a plan for the future. Now just to implement it.

I also feel better about getting a plan into place for keeping up with chores around the house. I don't want it to be immaculate all the time, but I'd like some semblance of order. And, now that Bubby seems very ready to crawl I really want to make sure things are more tidy, kept out of his reach, etc. I have this master plan where I could clean one room a day and do one (or two) loads of laundry a day and then each week things would be taken care of. I seem to get into an all-or-nothing mindset and I don't think that's helpful at all. Little by little is how it's going to have to be.

I also think we're going to start doing some holiday things this week. I'm hoping to get out to one of the local evening events if the weather is nice. We'll have to go on Glenn's night off because my anxiety and crowds don't really mix right now (or ever). We'll probably put the tree up on Wednesday. I'm really excited about that, but, at the same time, it'll probably be an adventure with a eight-and-a-half month old who's learning to crawl.

So, we'll see how the week goes. For now, I'm hopeful that it will be a good one.

Pumpkin Pie

Thanksgiving was an adventure in baking for sure! I was scared excited to see how everything turned out. I was very pleased with the pumpkin pie. I adapted this recipe. For the crust I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Biscuit and Baking Mix (the recipe for the crust is on the back of the bag). I used Earth Balance dairy-free soy-free butter when preparing the crust.

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1-15oz can pumpkin
• 1- 14oz can light coconut milk

Directions:

1. Prepare crust according to directions.
2. Place 2 eggs in medium-sized bowl; beat lightly.
3. Beat in remaining ingredients.
4. Pour into shell and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.
5. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for about an hour longer, or until knife comes out clean when inserted into pie.
6. Cool completely.

Enjoy!

'Tis the Season

photo credit: James Jordan Photography/ Flickr

For Hanukkah?

Christmas?

The Solstice?

I'm pretty excited because this morning Glenn and I placed holds on a bunch of books at the library. We want to expose Beanie (and Bubby, of course, when he's old enough) to stories and information about all the Winter festivities. We got two books on St. Nicholas, two on Christmas, two on Hanukkah, one on Kwanzaa and one on the Winter solstice. I think it will be interesting for all of us to learn more about traditions and holidays that we aren't accustomed to.

Thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the United States. We had a great, albeit busy, day here.

Today I am thankful for the support of my friends and family. I'm thankful that we have a roof over our heads and food (delicious food!) to eat. I'm thankful that we are happy, healthy and loved.

I'm also thankful that my gluten-, dairy- and soy-free stuffing and pumpkin pie both turned out wonderfully.

I'll post up the recipes tomorrow, even if it is a tad too late for Thanksgiving. Maybe Christmas? I didn't want to post the recipes until I was sure they turned out.

There's so much to be thankful for. What are you thankful for today?

Winter coats not safe in car seats.

According to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) research study seven out of ten children are improperly restrained in their child safety seats. Proper installation is of the utmost importance as child safety seats can reduce fatal injury by 71% for infants and 54% for toddlers according to the NHTSA. Have your car seat inspected to make sure it is properly installed.

In the cold Winter months, there is another risk to children in car seats that many parents are not aware of. It is not safe for your child to wear their winter coat in the car seat. When you think about your toddler waddling around in their puffy snow clothes you can easily see why. The coat adds a lot of bulk and, if worn in the car seat, your child cannot be properly & safely restrained.

I shared the following link on Facebook a while back and a mom posted it on my mom's group discussion board last week. Please check it out.

How to safely wear a Winter coat in a car seat

Wordless Wednesday: First Snow

Earlier this week we got our first snow of 2010 and Bubby's first snow ever.

I'm linked up over at Hobo Mama and Dagmar's Momsense so click on over for more Wordless Wednesday posts.

Struggling to Be a Gentle Parent

It's been a rough day today with Beanie. I feel like there was a lot of yelling (mostly on her part although some on mine too). I just feel like whatever we are doing discipline-wise with her is not working for her or, really, for any of us.

Beanie has done amazingly well transitioning into her role as big sister. There have been struggles, but, for the most part, I was pretty excited with how well she took on her new role. Within the last month or so things have become more difficult.

I know a lot of her problems right now come from wanting attention. Glenn and I try to make sure that we each have one-on-one time with her. Lately it's been harder for me because Bubby is in that stage where mommy can not be out of sight. We try to make the most of mother-daughter time during Bubby's naps. The change in our relationship has been hard on me and, obviously, on her as well.

She is also learning how to interact appropriately with her brother now that he is becoming more talkative and mobile (he's an expert army crawler). I know she is wanting to show love to her brother, but her attempts are often too rough and I feel like we're always saying, "don't grab your brother's hands so hard," "don't grab his neck," "be gentle," and so on and so forth. We need to help her and give her the opportunity to show that love (appropriately) more often.

Our bedtime routine tonight was especially rough. Things just aren't working. I find myself not being the parent I want to be. It's hard because my own PPD and anxiety cause me to be a little on edge even before the normal three-and-a-half year old stuff hits.

I've had some books that I've wanted to read for some time now. I know my mom bought me Playful Parenting for Christmas and I've been wanting to get Unconditional Parenting for quite some time.

Any other books you'd recommend?

Snow Day.

I'm pretty sure that when you're three-and-a-half there isn't anything more fun that watching it snow ALL.DAY.LONG.

I'm also pretty sure the same holds true when you're 31.