One night we had nothing for dinner, so the three year old and I headed down to Hannafords to pay the electric bill at Western Union and while there I decided to let him ride in the car type cart so that we could pick up school snacks and something for dinner. Having a car type cart made the trip so much more bearable with a three year old who often is found getting bored in grocery stores.

As we went down aisle after aisle, trying to determine what it was I wanted to purchase to make for dinner, we happened upon the breakfast aisle. I saw the word pancakes under the aisle recap that you find above any aisle in a grocery store and I knew that was the perfect dinner idea for us. I picked up a box of pancake mix that only requires water and thought maybe I would do waffles instead of pancakes, man I miss eating waffles, they are yummier to me than a pancake.

Once home, snack and play time came and went, it was nearing 5:00pm, which meant dinner time. I started to make the pancake batter with the three year old happily mixing the ingredients of pancake mix with water together. I let the three year old measure the water, I taught him where the 1 1/2 cups line was on the measuring cup and he happily let the faucet water go into the measuring cup and quickly poured the water into the mixing bowl container with a splash. Pancake mix ended up all over the dirty dishes in the sink beside the counter area we used to mix the pancake better.

We had mix all over our shirts, the counter, the sink and more. It was a fun experience but then I decided to pour pancake mix into the waffle iron and well, having never used a waffle iron before, I think I messed it up. That totally sucked, I had batter all over the iron, and it just hardened before my eyes. This was a total mom fail, no waffles, but I knew just how to make this situation get better ….. pan sized pancakes!

Oh yes indeed, making regular sized pancakes for four of us seemed like it would take forever, so I decided to make 10″ skillet sized pancakes for each child. The three year old had a 4-5 sized pancake, I had a huge 10″ pancake, the five and nine year old had a size between 5″ and 10″ for their pancake. NO one ate that full pancake but they were so insanely happy about these huge pancakes that I knew I made a wonderful dinner idea.

I think that I will make more big pancakes in the future, but this time maybe I will get all three kids to assist in making them rather than just the youngest kid. Batter everywhere made for great memories and the faces on my kids when they saw the huge pancakes made me realize I had made the best decision ever to short cut cooking time of pancakes for four by making one big pancake for each of us.

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Growing up we learn through those who surround us in our child years, such as adult caregivers, our parental units and so many others, eventually as we get into school we start to learn things from our teachers and peers. Here are some things that I learned to think while growing up that I eventually changed my mind about:

What I used to think….

Having kids with more than one man meant you are a loose woman

What I think based on life experiences…

Life is too short to get caught up in stereotypes, I have different dads for my kids and am not a loose woman.

What I used to think….

Being on welfare, also called TANF, meant you are a low life crack head, drug or alcohol addicted parent.

What I think based on life experiences…

Being on welfare is a blessing, if used for it’s true purpose – to assist you in getting back on your feet from financial downfall.

What I used to think….

Girls are all about pink, dresses, being clean and frilly fun.

What I think based on life experiences…

Girls can be just as boyish as your sons and get just as dirty while finger painting, playing outside or similar.

What I used to think….

Working from home is just another way to be lazy.

What I think based on life experiences…

Working from home is 10 times more difficult than working an out of home job with a “real” schedule.

Living the majority of my life without traveling, created a person who never had much interest in traveling nor experience new things. I was rather settled in my life in a small town, of course, I honestly didn’t want to live here my whole life, however, being that I was living within my own comfortable shell, packing up and moving was out of the question.

I remember my first and only trip to Florida around thirteen years of age, my step sister, my mom, my mom’s boyfriend, my sister and I drove down the 21 hour drive to stay a week near Disney Land. The fun times we had were certainly priceless staying at a cute condo or resort area and experiencing Disney Land. This trip was the only trip I had ever taken and again, we drove down instead of flying.

I always had this fear of flying, I firmly believe that only birds were meant to fly, not humans. After starting my Happily Blended Blog and it becoming a huge success, I had to make a decision to fly or not to fly in order to further my blogging career. I made the decision just last year, to fly and I haven’t looked back.

All ready to fly again and again the sky is the limit and hopefully I can spread some of my kids wings by allowing them to travel and experience other ways of life so that when they are grown adults, they are not like me, stuck in my small town ways and able to fly free to make a home of their own whenever their heart desires!

A new vehicle makes me think twice about where my children should sit. We pulled up and checked out a Ford Taurus Wagon, having never seen one up close I was curious just how many buckles there were in this vehicle. As some know, I went from having a van to no vehicle, but I do have three kids with one who is a total grumpy butt and needs his space on trips.

Looking at the Ford Taurus Wagon, I wasn’t sure if it would be a good fit but it seemed to be in great shape and it was able to seat my children comfortably. This car has a rear facing seat behind the normal back seat, which seats two people buckled in.

At first I thought the idea of my two older children sitting back there would be great, they even loved it, but then as 24 hours passed, I started to get concerned about being rear ended. I mean, I can assume a rear facing seat car would have some safety features in it to protect from such a bad accident, but then again I don’t know and my kids lives are not something to mess around with.

I made a decision to put the seat down and tell my five year old it doesn’t work right so as to avoid him having to sit back there and it went over fine. I haven’t had any issues and I honestly explained to my nine year old how I felt it wasn’t a safe idea to have her and her brother back there on a regular basis but on occasion they certainly can sit back there.

I don’t know what I will do about the rear facing seat, probably look up safety features in this vehicle and see what it lists as ideas of who and what age and weight/height should sit back there as well as any additional features that may have been done to the back windshield glass as a way to help avoid a fatal injury with a rear ended accident.

For now I am reaching out to all of you – do you know anything about those pop up rear facing seats that some vehicles have? What are your thoughts on it?

I am talking about children, this is a question oh so many people ask when I am with three kids running wild or rambling on and on with this look on my face stating “how can I answer three kids at once?”. It’s funny that no matter how many kids you have, this age old question of “when are you going to have more” is asked to us parents.

As if the fact that three kids rambling on and on with their bouncy high energy level isn’t enough for us parents, we are prone to having to answer silly questions like when we are going to have more. Come on people, why ask such a silly question?!

The only time I think to ask one that question is when they seem to be venting about having their hands full and the question is clearly meant as a form of sarcasm, rather than a realistic question at that time. To be honest with everyone, the day my first born came into this world, watching her grow and having a blast being mom to her, made me want to have like six more.

My first born was and still is relatively the “easy” child, helpful, smart and usually very well at behaving. Sure my oldest tests limits and does all the normal kid things, but it’s no where near the challenges I face with my two sons. My second born wasn’t planned and I wasn’t really ready nor into the whole idea of having another child at the time. It wasn’t the right time, I was single, etc etc. I have to be honest though, I love him dearly and wouldn’t change the unplanned pregnancy for the world.

I had my second son two years after the first son and he was a joy just like his sister. An easy baby and that was the case until about the age of two when he became a wild child. High energy and always on the run, but still relatively “easy”, just like his sister. My middle child has had a ton of surgeries such as those ear tubes when younger, surgery on his penis and even deals with mental health type issues that are currently being looked into by a psychiatrist.  Counseling every two weeks really helps us parent this child and work with his unique personality.

I can be honest, there will be no more children for this Mom. Having the troubles that have arisen with all three of my kids here & there, the constant scheduling for appointments for three kids. The juggling of having two in school and two in sports. It’s all enough for me, because soon enough my last born will be in school and possibly into sports, so there will be three different schedules to make work well together.

I am happy with my three children. Wouldn’t trade a thing that goes wrong with them for the world. I love my happy chaos and do not wish to add another child to it. So the answer to “when are you having more?” is a flat out “never” people. No way in heck do I want another. Sure there are days I am down the middle road and think a baby would be great to have, but in all honesty, my kids are at that fun age and I can’t imagine going back to taking care of a baby who I would breastfeed and have to carry around. I enjoy holding hands with my kids & walking with them, I enjoy watching them gain their own independence and no way could I share myself just one more time with another child.

The three I have are my world and the three I have will have my undivided attention for the rest of their lives, well that is until they grow into adults and start families of their own – well then, and only then, will I have another baby to hug and love, but in the grandma kind of way!