One of our chickens is quite the trooper. She lays a double yolk egg nearly every single day. Look at that thing. HUGE. That’s gotta hurt…

(Sorry for the bad picture quality. It seems every single photo/video device I have is out of batteries.)

We spend a lot of money on toys around here. In fact, just this weekend we spent a whopping 95 cents on a big box from Lowe’s because our kids wanted something new to play with. That 95 cents will provide hours and hours and hours of entertainment for them this week. And when the box is colored on and beaten up and battered? They will cry and beg me not to throw it away. Because a 95 cent box is their favorite thing in the world to play with.

They’ll turn that box into a tea party table, a space ship, pirate ship, baby doll orphanage, cave, car, and a Barbie jail. I won’t spend a better 95 cents this week.

What are your kids favorite low-cost/high-creativity toys?

(I had the best of intentions of posting this first thing this morning and then…life happened. But, hey, better late than never, right?)

I love Valentine’s Day. What’s not to love  about pink hearts, sparkle glitter, and chocolate candy?

And every year we go the route of the DIY crafty Valentine’s cards mostly because I just really love making them. My only problem? Picking just one style of card. Here are a few of my favorites. Click the link in the name for the how-to!

1.Plant One On Me from Disney’s Family Fun: This is the card we’re doing this year for all of the girls in Kai’s Girl Scout troop. I think it is totally adorable and I love that it comes with wildflower seeds. Instead of buying 30 individual seed packets I ended up buying bulk seeds and some coin envelopes to put them in. We’re stamping them with a pretty flower stamp to use in the Valentine. I can’t wait to see how they turn out!

2. Hearts & Blocks Valentines from Martha Stewart: I love these because they are simple and easy enough for even my 3-year-old to have fun with. Once you cut out the shapes, kids of any age can have fun stamping out the cards. You could have fun with so many different variations so each Valentine is as different as the person who is getting it.

3. Hearts & Lollipop Flowers from Martha Stewart: These are super simple to make and I know my kids always love getting lollipops so it’s a hit with them!

4. Get to the Point from Disney’s Family Fun: These easy Valentine’s are perfect for kids in classrooms where there are food allergies concerns. Not to mention, I’ve never heard of pencils causing sugar highs and hyperactivity so that’s a big plus. I think you could make these really cute and inexpensive with Valentine pencils from the Dollar Tree.

5. I Dig You Valentines from A Very Country Christmas: I saw these featured over on The Crafty Crow and I just love them! And they’re perfect for boys or girls. Not to mention, with Spring just around the corner everyone can use an extra sandbox shovel, right?

6. Play-doh Valentine: I made these a couple of years ago when Ivy was in preschool and the kids loved them. Of course they were only about 18 months old so they probably loved eating them, but still they were fun to make and inexpensive and easy and while not the most original idea still one that I think makes for a fun Valentine. Just drop them into plastic treat bags, attach a tag, and you’re good to go!

7. Paint Sample Bookmark Valentine from  The Quilted Turtle: This one cracked me up! When you think about it there are actually lots of cool Valentine ideas you come up with using old paint samples you have lying around. This bookmark is a fun (and frugal!) idea for older kids look for a green solution for Valentine’s day!

8. Origami Valentine Heart: I love origami and there are so many ways to incorporate it into a Valentine’s Day card. Origami paper is so pretty and charming and gives a fun eclectic feel to a Valentine.

9. Recycled Crayon Valentine from Disney’s Family Fun: We did these when Ivy was just a baby and I loved the way they turned out. If your house is anything like mine you’ll have tons of broken crayons under the sofa cushions tucked neatly away for just this sort of project.

10. Homemade Conversation Heart Candy: This isn’t technically a valentine but it is an awesome tutorial for making your own conversation heart candy. I am totally planning to do this as soon as my kids move away for college. Because that is probably the only time I’ll ever have enough peace & quiet to even think about attempting this one. Still I do love the idea of it…

For more Top Ten Tuesday fun head over to Oh Amanda’s!

1. Keepers at Home: Thanks to Dawn I’ve been introduced to this cool program that combines Girl Scouts, 4-H & life skills for girls. I’m starting a group with the girls and we’re going to be learning cool new skills. I’m totally excited!

2. Food, Inc. This documentary is amazing. Thomas and I watched it last week and it has completely changed the way I’m looking at food. I picked up Michael Pollan’s Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, too, and although we haven’t totally given up processed food (it’s only been a week!) we’re definitely reading labels more carefully and buying organic whenever possible. It’s going to be a long process but I’m excited about feeding my family better foods.

3. Girl Scout Cookies: Okay, this probably seems ridiculous after what I said above but if I cut out bad food everywhere else then I can eat Girl Scout cookies without too much guilt, right? Kai has been selling cookies this year and set a goal for herself of 500 boxes. That’s a lot of boxes for a 5-year-old. And that means selling Girl Scout Cookies has become my new job.

4. Savoring my offline time with the kids: I haven’t been blogging and Twittering as much lately because I’m just enjoying spending time with my kids in real time. If there was one thing I heard over and over from my girls lately it was, “Please don’t get on your computer.” or “You’re always on your computer!” The tipping point was when we were discussing a trip to Disney and Kai said, “But when we go there are no computers allowed.” I decided to finally start listening to what they were saying. And I’m trying to get online primarily when they’re asleep. It’s a change we’re all enjoying.

5. This cupcake icing smile. Really, what’s not to love?

I’ve tackled my vaccine debate. I’ve admitted to feeding my 5 month-old quinoa baby food that apparently led to a vomit attack. I’ve confessed to going to a respectable social function looking like a no-shoe-wearing hippie because I forgot my shoes at home. (Wait. I haven’t? Remind me to blog that one later.)

And now? This is where I tell you that we’re drinking raw milk. **GASP!!**

Oh yes we are. And not only are we drinking raw milk, we’re drinking illegal raw milk. **DOUBLE GASP!!**

Well, actually, I guess the milk itself isn’t illegal. It’s just how we’re using it. Technically this milk is sold for pets. Because I love my cats enough to spend $7 a gallon on their milk. Yeah right.

I’ve been hearing about the health benefits of raw milk and have been contemplating making the switch for a while now. Because I wasn’t sure if the $7/gallon price tag was worth it. Until Thomas and I saw Food, Inc. the other night. And I read Michael Pollan’s Food Rules. And now? I’m out to find the least processed/most farm fresh food I can find. And raw milk was part of that change.

Now, I don’t drink milk. Ever. I thank blame my mother for that. When I was a kid I hated milk. So my mom wrote a note saying I was terribly allergic and was therefore the only elementary school kid allowed to drink the sweet tea from the teacher’s lounge at lunch. Which, shockingly, did not guarantee my popularity among the other kids. Go figure.

But I make my kids drink milk whenever I get the chance because I think it’s probably better than Diet Coke. And though I’m a southern girl born & raised I stop short of putting Coca-Cola in their baby bottles.

All that is just to say that you’re not going to get a taste review from me on the raw milk. But my husband and kids insist it is so much better than the regular organic milk we’ve been buying. It is, according to them, sweeter, creamier, thicker, and all around more delicious than any other milk they’ve tasted. And apparently raw milk is actually so nutritious you could live on it and it alone for your whole life. Which is pretty stinking cool.

As for the illegal stuff, well, I guess buying “pet” milk and feeding it to my kids is no more illegal than if I went and bought Fancy Feast to serve to my family for dinner. And, really, who hasn’t been there before, right?

Remember this?

I knew it was just a matter of time before I was forced into a horribly awkward situation. And it finally happened.

Because my daughter’s bestest friend in the whole wide world a.k.a. the daughter of my mortal enemy  (pardon the over-dramatization) invited Kai to her birthday party. And so the gauntlet was thrown down. As I saw it I had exactly two options:

a.) Go and fake being an emotionally healthy person so my daughter can go to her BFF’s party.

b.) Be a terribly petty person and not let my daughter go because I can’t deal with confrontation.

I’ll be honest. I wasn’t loving my options.

But in a quest to become a healthier, better person I RSVP’d yes to the party and planned to take Kai with a big (fake) smile on my face. At least until the night before the party. At which point, I began to beg Thomas to stay home from work so he could take Kai (it was a weekday party).  He agreed to do it but I’d have practically had to sell my soul to him for it to happen. He was asking for some big compensation. And I considered it. Boy, did I consider it.

But, in the end, I went to the party. Which was either because I’m becoming a spiritual giant or because I didn’t want to “give up the goods” to my husband every single day as many times a day as he requests for 30 days. (Hint: It wasn’t that I was becoming a spiritual giant.) I told you he was asking for a lot. I guess he knew what it would take to get me to be a big girl and take our daughter to the party.

And a crazy thing happened at the party.

I was nice. She was nice. And suddenly the whole situation got much less terrifying.

Don’t get me wrong. I doubt we’ll be spending Girl’s Night Out together painting each other’s toe nails and curling each other’s hair, but we were civil. Actually, we were even better than that. We were tentatively friendly to each other. And that’s a pretty huge step for me.

So, even though we won’t likely be best friends any time soon at least we can be big enough to let our girls be best friends and not let our past get in the way of their future.

I’ve been so unplugged lately from the whole online world. It hasn’t been intentional. I’ve just been a bit…preoccupied. Kai started back to school. Traveler is on the move. And Ivy has been keeping me busy with all her crazy shenanigans.

Since I’ve been away I’ve been super productive, though. And here’s the proof.

Things I’ve done since being unplugged from my computer:

1. Talked to my kids in person. With words.

2. Laundry. Sort of. (I know I did at least one load about a week ago. That counts, right?)

3. Slept.

4. Chased a very mobile 9-month-old throughout the house and realized just how many choking hazards we seem to have around here. This place is in need of some serious baby proofing.

5. Watched the new season of Celebrity Rehab.

6. Broken up 65,254 bickering fights between Kai and Ivy.

7. Developed quite the obsession with Teavana teas thanks to a very cool Christmas present from my husband. It’s my new favorite thing!

8. Started going to a new women’s Bible study where they provide childcare so I can talk to grown-up mommies during the day.

9. Rejoined our gym. (Though we still haven’t gone yet.)

10. Learned to play the flute. (Just kidding. Thought I’d see if you were still paying attention.)

Okay, so I’ve actually only been “productive” if you define that as sleeping, talking, and watching TV. Baby steps, y’all. Baby steps.

Kai has been having a hard time lately with what she calls “bad thoughts.” Bad thoughts include things like mommy is mean, mommy’s hair looks “hideous,” mommy’s rules are stupid.

Ivy, on the other hand, is the Eddie Haskell of the family.  When Kai says, “My bad thoughts are making me think you look fat in that sweater.” Ivy inevitably says, “Well, I love that sweater, mommy.”

What’s weird about Kai’s “thoughts” is that she knows these things are wrong to say and so she always tells on herself. I feel pretty confident that it is an effort to get more attention. It wasn’t long before she had a theory for why she was thinking these things. It was, of course, the devil that was putting bad thoughts in her mind. Which is just…great.

Can I tell you how much I do not want to hear my 5-year-old tell me that the devil is controlling her thoughts? So much. I think, though, that she thinks if she says the devil put those thoughts in her head that she gets off the hook. But, it doesn’t quite work that way around here.

Ivy, being in all ways contrary to her sister, has her own way of handling this situation.

Ivy: Mommy, I think you are the most beautiful mommy ever.

Me: Thank you, Ivy. That is so sweet.

Ivy (smiling proudly): You welcome. The nice devil put that thought in my mind.

Great. It’s like The Omen meets Sesame Street around here. Maybe I should get out the anointing oil…

It’s been quiet around this place for the last week. I keep meaning to blog about Kai’s assertion that the devil is controlling her thoughts (which is NOT as scary or disturbing as it sounds) or how Traveler is on a sleeping strike and refuses to sleep more than 45 minutes at a time unless he is cradled in someone’s (read: my) arms but every time I sit down to write I just…don’t.

I have drafts. Lots and lots and lots of dry, boring, mediocre drafts. But I’m stuck. I’ve got a pretty bad case of writer’s block and I’ve been struggling with it since Thanksgiving. For me, the more I blog the more I have to blog about. However, taking a break for the holidays? It totally messed with my blogging mojo.

So, I’m trying to get back in the swing of things both here and on Twitter. You might have to bear with me as I struggle through a few posts until I get my writing feet back under me.

In the meantime, care to tell me your favorite remedy for writer’s block? I could use all the help I can get!

There is an important lesson here. Never let a blogger bake your Yoda cake. At least not this blogger.

My husband loved it because he is contractually obligated to. The kids, on the other hand, were less kind. Still, what it lacked in looks it made up for in taste. So at least that’s something.