Raising kids gets easier..there is light at the end of the tunnel

Couple days ago, I took my girls to the PreSchool Story time at the library, where they have to be there without a parent/caregiver. I was so excited that I was going to get 30 minutes to look through the books I needed without having to make sure the girls are not randomly picking up books or too loud..it was 30 minutes of free time for mommy. The girls were apprehensive at first and I assured them I would be just outside the door. But, as soon as the librarian opened the door to the story time, my girls walked hand in hand without a fear; excited and anxious to have a great time. I realized at that moment, my girls are growing up and learning to be independent. I never felt this because I homeschool and we spend all or most of our time together.

As I was going through book shelves looking for books, I was remembering how excited, nervous, beyond happy i was when I got pregnant with my oldest. I was so excited to meet her and then soon after I got pregnant with my littlest. I was so scared and nervous, how was I going to look after 2 little ones when I was barely sleeping with just one child. But as always, Allah always has plans for all of us which is in our best interest. Although it was tough and thank Allah for moms, because my mom helped a ton as well as my dad because he let her come visit me often. All of those struggles and sleep less night was so worth it, because when I look back, I can't even remember them. In the blink of an eye, I now have a 4 and half and 3 and half year old.

I am getting at least 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night (unless sick or nightmares), I can actually go to the rest room alone, I can eat my meal in somewhat peace, I can take calls without being pulled apart, which 3 or 4 years ago all seemed unattainable. I know I went through all of those struggles but I do not remember them as cons but I miss them because I know I will not get those moments back. So to all the new moms, all the struggles will be over before you know it but treasure each moment because they really go way too quick.

When I was getting my nails done few weeks back, the older lady was talking on and on about her grand children. I asked so do you love your grand children more than your own? She said,  "no but I can make time now for my grand children and I could not with my own." "I had to cook, clean, shop, work and when my kids wanted to play or color, I never had time." " Now when my grand children come, I am able to put aside time and be with them and then they go back to their house and I get my stuff done.". She was saying it is easier to be a good grand parent but hard to be a parent because our responsibilities get in the way. So it is true, it is better to have a messy house with lots of memories then to have a perfectly clean house with not a lot of memories. I struggle with this everyday as I have OCD hubby who thinks house should be clean all the time and no one should be able to tell we have kids by visiting; keep downstairs clutter free. :). I have been coming up with few ideas to achieve this, which I will discuss in another post. 

Homemade elderberry syrup to beat or fight cold and flu - Kid approved

My hubby and oldest daughter  gets sick very often, I think genetically they have weak immune system. My hubby was seriously addicted to Emergen-C and he was drinking it with every water intake. I was worried it was not healthy for him because I am sure there is some "junk" in it. Beginning of this year, I tried to treat the girls, myself and hubby in more natural methods by using essential oils, herbs etc. When I found out about Elderberry syrup from a friend I was stoked and had her make the first batch so I know how it should taste.

Long and behold, elderberry syrup has become an everyday staple for the girls and hubby. They take a spoonful everyday and haven't gotten sick this flu season (knock on wood). Hubby stayed healthy while his entire office was flu stricken. The girls bypassed few flu and stomach viruses other children.

Elderberries contain high level of Vitamin A, B and C, antioxidants and stimulate the immune system. You can purchase natural elderberry syrup in health-food stores and online but are pricey (around $15) but it cost about $8 to make it at home and is very easy.

Ingredients:

2/3 Cup Organic Elderberries (Can be found at Farmer's Market, Frontier, Vitacost, Amazon & more)

2 Tsp Chopped Ginger

1 Tsp Ceylon Cinnamon 

1//2 Tsp Cloves

1 Cup Raw Honey

3.5 Cup Water

Directions:

1. Add the water into a medium saucepan and add elderberries, ginger, cinnamon and cloves (do not add honey!)
2. Bring to a boil and then cover and reduce to a simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour until the liquid has reduced by almost half. At that point, remove from heat and let cool. Pour through a strainer into a glass jar or bowl.
3. Add 1 cup of honey and stir well.
4. When honey is well mixed into the elderberry mixture, pour the syrup into a pint sized mason jar or 16 ounce glass bottle of some kind.
5. And...You just made homemade elderberry syrup! Store in the fridge and take daily for its immune boosting properties. Some sources recommend taking only during the week and not on the weekends to boost immunity.

Dosage:

Standard dose is ½ tsp to 1 tsp for kids and ½ Tbsp to 1 Tbsp for adults daily as a preventive measure and keep your immune system well. If you already have the flu, take the normal dose every 2-3 hours instead of once a day until symptoms disappear.

Greek Quinoa Salad

I make lunch for the hubby almost everyday. He likes salad and not much into sandwiches or other hot meals. I have to get really creative so he does not get bored with the home made salads. Our household loves quinoa and anything Mediterranean so this salad is a hit with the hubby.

Ingredients:

Salad Dressing:

3 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 Teaspoon dried oregano
1 clove garlic smashed and finely chopped to a paste
Salt & black pepper as per taste
1/4 Cup EVOO

Salad:

1 Cup Cooked Quinoa per package instructions
1 Cup Grape tomatoes
1/2 Cup Bell peppers
1/2 Cup Kalamata olives
1/2 Cup English cucumbers chopped
1/4 Cup Red onion chopped
Feta Cheese
Pumpkin/Sunflower Seeds

Directions:

Whisk together "salad dressing" ingredients in a separate bowl.

Cook quinoa as per package instructions. Rinse 1/2 Cup quinoa until water runs clear and combine with 1 Cup broth preferably or water, bring to a boil then let it simmer until done. It takes me about 15 minutes. Note: I usually make about 2 cups on a Sunday and use it up during the week.

While the quinoa is cooking, cut up all the ingredients for the salad.

Once quinoa is done, fluff with fork and mix in with the salad and then drizzle the salad dressing. The longer the dressings sits the better the salad tastes.

Sprinkle with feta cheese and sunflower/pumkin seeds and enjoy!!!

Fit Family In The Making

Yesterday, the girls and I were playing outside and we decided to have a "mock" race. We were counting down and running on our drive way. And...guess what...my oldest was kicking my butt, literally. She just has a athletic gene in her that I am sure she inherits from the hubby and it helps that she has really long legs. But in all seriousness, a 4 year old cannot be making me huff and puff while we pretend we are in a race...but that is how it happened.

So once back at home, I decided enough...I am going to run...learn to run. I jumped on my treadmill, there were lot of interruptions from the kiddos but I ran 4 miles. I was very excited and looked up different programs that will help me with speed, agility and endurance. I have been doing various Beachbody programs (21 Day Fix, T25, bit of PiYo) and I decided to take a break from T25 and really focus on running and incorporate PiYo for strength and fun times with my girls.

My hubby loves to run, it is a stress reliever from his hectic and stressful job. He says, "I run to keep my sanity" when sometimes I express my thoughts not whine :) that he should spend time with the girls as opposed to run once he gets home from work. This will be a great bonding time for us as well, the weather is nice here to run outside now. So here I start on my adventure of running, I hear it can be addicting. I will also follow a healthy diet and I will share my recipes here with you all. So wish me luck everyone!!!!

About Us

About Me

I am a simple and an average mom trying my best to raise unique and above-average kids while trying to maintain a household, business and homeschooling. The best years of my life have been since I became a mother. I would like to share my insights, lessons learned, life experiences with others if it would provide value to them.

About My Girls

I have an almost 3 year old and an almost 4 year old girls. Unlike their parents, the girls are extroverts, very outgoing and friendly. They love to be outdoors and meeting friends often. They are girly girls interested in music, dance/acrobats and Disney but also loves to help dad fix up stuff. They are the joys of my life and gives my life a meaning.

About the hubby

The hubby likes to keep his private life private. I guess, I gotta tell him about the blog. :) He is a wonderful father and provider, which allows me to stay at home with the girls. His work is very demanding so I am with the girls always. He tries to keep at least Sunday's free for some much needed family time.

More the merrier

I am finally able to homeschool my almost 3 and 4 year old together. My almost 3 year old maintaining concentration for the most part. We started focusing school around alphabets. This is a refresher for my 4 year old but it is great to see my 4 year old try to teach and explain to my 3 year old.

Yesterday our focus was on the "Letter B". We incorporated reading, writing, science and art around it.

1) Circle Time
We did calendar time and I introduced the letter "B" in both upper and lower case and then we sangs that started with "B".

2) Numbers:
We sang the 5 little monkey song with "Bear" in place of monkey. We counted our stuffed toys.

3) Science/Arts:
We talked about primary and secondary colors and mixed different colors to make the color "Brown" and then we painted and looked at the color "Brown" on paper. As we did all this I kept sounding out "B" and ask them what we are learning.

We mixed color in milk and dish washing soap and looked at how the color dissolves

We mixed water, sugar and baking powder to see if bubbles form. We realized we really did need yeast for this.

We made a butterfly with our footprint and painted it.

We read 10 books relating to letters and I asked them to point out letter B and color brown.

True meaning of love & marriage

Media, marketing, people, etc tell you how to fall in love and/or what love is or feels like. No one really emphasizes on how much work and effort is needed to maintain the relationship that was founded or based upon love. In all reality, I did not know i had to work or put extra work on a marriage until I had kids. Being a mom has made me more mature, more humble and more aware. It took me time but I realized I had to put more effort into my marriage and had to try to be a good wife as well as a good mother. If you know my hubby, he is not a easy person to understand because his meaning and feelings are hidden. As I embarked and changed my life to be a stay at home mom, my relationship with my hubby also changed and it actually got better.

My hubby is very into being or wanting to be fit. I have always struggled with weight loss. I love food so if I do not workout, my weight creeps on and if I don't watch I start gaining loads. Yesterday after we had a nice family day, my hubby decided to run. I did not really feel like it but I worked out as well and then I decided to run. He gave me one of his hoodies and then guided me on to how I can burn more calories and even let me borrow his headset. To many it is nothing, to me, I know it means love. This year I have decided to get more fit and I think he has a new level of respect for me. I have heard him tell people that I did not devote to my workout until I started doing it for myself. Talking about fitness, planning our meals and raising our girls have brought us so much closer in many different levels then when we thought we were "in love" we thought.

I had promised myself I will be in my ideal weight and BMI range by the end of the year so I gotta kick it up a notch and really follow healthy eating and working out.

Ready, set & go...

Blogging is a new journey for me so please bear with me as I finish How to Blog for Dummies . I am very excited to share my life experiences with you. My main focus will be a work from home homeschooling mom but I will share my other interests (cooking, health & fitness, beauty tips, holistic & natural living). I want religion (Islam) to be a big part of my girls' life so I will share some of my experiences with it. Please do not let this dissuade you from visiting my blog as I respect everyone's value, culture and religious preference. I hope this journey you will take with me will be mutually beneficial. I do not want to talk to a 'wall' so I would love responses, advice and suggestions (please keep it respectable). Bismillah.