HaddyGraceDesigns

There comes a time in motherhood where your world becomes pretty small. It revolves around these things: Naps Mealtimes School Sports/lessons/activities Bedtimes   And somewhere in there you need to make sure there is food in the house, clean clothes in the drawers/closets and that the home is fit for humans to live in.   And then at the end of the day you fall asleep on the couch out of exhaustion, you never get to watch your favorite shows to the end, so your always left wondering what's REALLY going on. After weeks and weeks of this I start missing my friendships, I start craving long UNINTERRUPTED conversations with kindred spirits that will lift me up and encourage me, Other moms who will tell me that my teens are normal and that theirs are acting the same way.   Other Moms that 'Get' Foster Care and the things I am struggling with in that area. Other Moms that will smile and let me go on and on about our foster son and how smart he is an...

The Monster Cookie,   The Favored of all cookies, and it's not just because of the miniature m&m's that these cookies are so loved by all. Their flavor is superior. End of story. Now these cookies aren't exactly fool proof. Maybe you have tried these cookies and they just haven't turned out right. The secret is in the Peanut butter.... Jiff Peanut butter, some other brands are too dry and your cookies will be dry lumps.       So here we go: 1.5 cups Jiff peanut butter 1/2 cup butter 1 cup white sugar 1 cup brown sugar 3 eggs Whip until light and creamy, add: 1tsp. vanilla extract 2tsp.baking soda 3.5 cups quick cooking oats (not rolled oats) 1 cup chocolate chips (milk or semi sweet) 1 cup mini m&m's   Dip 2 cookies and bake them, if they are too flat add 1/2 cup more oats and try again. You can never take oats out of a recipe that's why I always error on the side of 'not enough oats' When...

      Am I brave enough to decide to a screen free spring break week?? (this week is half days of school, next week is actual spring break for us)   That would mean no movies, no Netflix, no Ipad, no Ipod.   To be honest, I feel like my kiddos are getting way to much screen time lately.. the winter has been cruel, no friendly play outside snow days, it's been nasty blizzards with more snow than even I can walk in. That's my excuse for why my family has been getting so much screen time..     Last summer we enforced a no screen time rule and we loved it so much that when school started we modified it only a tad to no screen time on school nights... well that lasted until recently... recently even some school nights have been movie nights.   Here are the pros and cons for a screen free spring break: Pros: More 'together' time. More constructive play. More reading. They will sleep better.   Con...

    I don't know if there is a bigger ongoing Challenge that I have found in motherhood than the one of helping my family have healthy eating habits. It wasn't not so bad when the kiddos where all little and didn't know much about junk food. Enter School and classmate lunch envy (and they discover Dads junk food stash sooner or later any way) What I wasn't prepared for was their begging for Ramen Noodles, and Lunchables. I would've been able to understand their begging for delicious junk food like Doritos and Cheetos. I would've been able to relate to that!!  However as tempted as I am to buy those salty snacks that I crave and they beg for, when you consider the fact that one bag can cost close to 5$ and it takes my family of 6 less than 30 minutes to eat that 5$ bag of Doritos, That just isn't going to fit into our grocery budget at all... That's when I remembered the delicious seasoned pretzel snack my mom used ...

What does it mean to be a work at home mom?? Where is that fine balance between family and customers??   It means being able to carry on with Lego play while working online.   It means accidentally taking a sip of room temperature juice instead of a sip of twice warmed, lukewarm coffee. It means Majoring on the Majors, and minoring on the minors. Sometimes my fridge doesn't get cleaned for weeks (months).   It means knowing when to delegate. No one loves your children as much as you do. so no one is going to make the choices that you do in their lives. Your children will know when you 'aren't there'. your customers won't care if you didn't do it, as long as it gets done like they expect it.       It means knowing when to tell a customer "not now" (or "no"). Knowing that sometimes the timing for your family just isn't right for you to take that giant step forward for your business.   It means that...

Life gets pretty crazy around here at times.. I am sure you can relate.. And sometimes, sad to say, food is the last thing on Mom's mind. When you're trying your best just to get everyone where they are supposed to be at the right time, and hurry home in time for naps and switch the loads of laundry! Who has the time to plan and cook nutritious meals and mix up tasty, healthy snacks.. After a while a mom gets appalled at the amount of fast food garbage that has accumulated in the vehicle. I am ashamed to admit that my van even had a distinct smell of fast food.. That icky smell is what motivated me to make these nutritious cliff bars for my family again.. These bars are the bars that you give the children when you are running out the door and THEN when the 'I AM HUNGRY' whine comes just as you are driving past McDonalds... (trust me, if your children are too young to do this yet, it'll start as soon as they are old enough to look out the window and recognize ...