Of Kid-Meltdowns and Singing Epiphanies

I had an a-ha moment this week with Lucy:

My "down-time" during the day occurs usually from 1:30-2:30...my "lunch hour", if you will. Simon & Lucy are napping and Maya & Mason are still at school. I usually make my lunch, then eat it in front of the computer while I read Facebook or blogs, or whatever. It's my little re-charge before the craziness of after-school and homework and driving to activities and cooking/eating and the whole bedtime routine begins.

One day this week I was sitting at the computer when I heard Lucy start to cry. When she does that during her nap, it is usually disastrous. She's in sort of a half-sleep and it takes a long time to calm her down. She'll never go back to sleep after one of those episodes, and is cranky until bedtime. I hurried in to hold her before she got too worked up. I sat down in the chair with her and tried rocking her, patting her, snuggling her, but she resisted and continued crying uncontrollably.

Then I started singing to her. I used Simon's "playlist" of songs he likes me to sing to him before his nap...all of his Mormon-kid favorites. I Am A Child of God. Teach Me to Walk in the Light. She started to calm down. She relaxed. She stopped crying. And then I sang I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus. I wasn't really paying attention to what I was singing as I sat cuddling my baby, rubbing her back and singing softly into the top of her head, until I got to the words "Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought, for these are the things Jesus taught".

All of a sudden, it hit me. I'm doing it! I'm being gentle and loving. I'm not frustrated that my me-time was interrupted. I'm not annoyed. I'm not fussing at her to just go.to.sleep. I'm being gentle and loving. I'm actually following Jesus! So I started the song over and paid attention. I love the words of the chorus: "Love one another as Jesus loves you. Try to show kindness in all that you do. Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought, for these are the things Jesus taught.".

What would Jesus do? Love one another. Be kind. Be gentle. Be loving. I SO want to remember that...I so want to be like that. Not just because I know (duh!) that those are good ways to be, but also because I want to be like Jesus. I'm a follower of Christ (far from perfect as I am), but sometimes I don't know exactly what to do, day in, day out, to show that to the world. But this mini-epiphany is a great place to start!

{Miss Lucy post-meltdown on another occasion. A little 5 minute snoozer after an hour of mania. Good times. I do enjoy the snuggles when I can get them!}

Easy Green

I have been singing the praises of my green morning smoothie all over town this week. Best way to start my day and my kids love it, too!

And why wouldn't they? Look at all that deliciousness!

(Actually, my big kids are skeptical, since it's green and they know it has spinach in it. They know it's yummy, but they think it shouldn't be. The littles LOVE it.)

So here's my lineup:

A good handful of baby spinach

A whole orange, peeled and sectioned

A whole small apple, cored and chunked

A handful of blueberries

A few strawberries

A couple scoops of strawberry yogurt (I get the light version)

A splash or 2 or orange juice

Lots o' ice

I don't have an awesome, $500 blender, so I wasn't sure I could make this type of smoothie. But I totally can! I have to babysit it a bit...blend, then stir, blend, then stir...a couple of times, but then it gets rolling and chop chop, I have a day's worth of fruit and some veggies in a cup. SUPER yummy, as that's my top priority, and gives me tons more energy than I would otherwise have in the morning.

Try it! Any mix of fruits will work...pick your favorites!

(Thank you, Jen, for teaching me your smoothie method! Yum and YUM!)