With Liberty and Justice for All..... Unless You're Black!

“Well, he was caught stealing. He’s a criminal.”

Yes. He was stealing, but the wonderful thing about living in this country is that we are innocent until proven guilty by a jury of our peers. An officer of the law is NOT that jury. Michael Brown was accused of stealing a pack of cigars. FUCKING CIGARS! What do they cost? $3? This young man lost his life over $3 dollars. What a wonderful message to send our black youth, that their lives aren’t even worth $3. Good job, America.

Michael Brown may not have been the most upstanding citizen, but it should not have cost him his life. There are plenty of young, white people that have been caught shoplifting and their punishment landed them some community service, not a death sentence. Look at Winona Ryder, she stole thousands of dollars in merchandise from a high end department store in her 30s. Her punishment? Community service, probation, and restitution. It seems to be the common punishment for shoplifting….. unless you’re black.

“If he would have just stopped and submitted to the officers, he would still be alive.”

So, let me get this straight, we should all “stop, surrender, and submit” to the police. Would you tell a rape victim, or a domestic violence victim, or even the victim of a burglary to “just submit”? No. Many Americans are advocating for people to carry guns to deal with these situations because we don’t want to have to submit. I’ve chosen to homeschool my children because I don’t want them to have to submit to things that don’t feel right to them. I want them to have an opinion, to have a voice, and to be able to express these things. And as white children, they can express these things freely.

I know quite a few young, white males that have been in serious trouble with the law. My brother being one of them. My brother was resisting arrest and in doing so he injured 3 paramedics and a police officer. The officer needed surgery from his injuries. The punishment handed out, probation, and 9 months of house arrest (for other charges). Which again seems to be the common punishment…. unless you're black.

Eric Frein has been accused of killing a Pennsylvania State Trooper. He led authorities on a 7-week long manhunt, 48 days running through the back woods of Pennsylvania with an arsenal of weapons, including a sniper rifle and an assault rifle. Yet, this man, that murdered one of their own,  escaped death and has been given the right to a trial by the jury of his peers. This man murdered somebody, yet is still alive. Michael Brown stole cigars.

Before you say it, let me stop you. Yes. This is about race. This isn’t about black Americans “playing the race card,” this is their reality. This is something that as white Americans we don’t have to deal with, but this does not mean that black Americans are not. I may not living it, but that does not mean the struggle isn’t real.

Racism is alive and well in our society. You may not want to believe it, but it is. Take a look at some comments on the news articles regarding the decision to not indict Darren Wilson. It’s horrific.

My white, (almost) teenaged son can walk down the sidewalk, or even the middle of the street, sporting an oversized hoodie, hood up with his hands in his pockets, and barely elicit a response from passersby. When he and a group of his white, teenaged friends walk past your car, you are not going to hurry to lock the doors. When he runs over to your elderly parent to assist them with their bags, they are not going to flinch or scream in fear. When he runs over to your toddler to help them manage a task, you are not going to assume that he is going to harm them.Why not? He’s white. He is afforded more privileges than many in this country because he was born white. He didn’t get to make that choice, but he certainly gets to reap the benefits from being a white male in today’s society and he knows that. His black counterparts do not have this luxury and he knows that as well.

Take a look at your Facebook feed, how many people are outraged over the looting taking place but are not outraged at the lack of indictment?

Last year thousands of people took to the streets of Seattle, burning furniture, throwing bottles at police causing thousands of dollars in damage to a historic treasure in their city. Why you ask? Their football team won the Super Bowl. This was a celebration. They won. Their "team" didn't lose, they won and this was their reaction. But this was ok though, because it was a bunch of white men. The battle for racial equality taking place in Ferguson was lost last night, yet we expected peace when a bunch of drunk white men cannot even celebrate the insignificant win of their favorite team peacefully. Tell me again how race isn't a factor. Tell me again how racism is no longer an issue.

As I sit here in my tiny, cookie-cutter, portion of this suburban utopia my heart breaks for America. With each passing day, this country is thrust back 50 years or more. What happened to wanting better for our children, ALL of our children? Including our brown and black ones, because their lives matter too! 

Don't Blink!

‘Don’t blink’, they tell you. ‘Cherish these moments because before you know it they will be in college’, they tell you. ‘One day you will do anything to have these days back’, they tell you. After years of sleepless nights, chasing toddlers, taxiing children to and from activities, etc. you can’t help but think that those well meaning advisors are crazy.

As parents, I think we’ve all been in a situation, usually with our first borns because we didn’t know any better, in which we’ve wished for them to achieve their milestones in a more speedy fashion. I remember sitting back and wondering when my 13 month old first born, Brittany, was finally going to take her first steps. Eventually that time came and as the years have passed, nearly 20 of them almost, it still seems like just yesterday that I watched her toddle across the kitchen. Now, as I write this, she is traipsing through Central Park with her boyfriend.

This morning my middle child, Kyley, woke up as just that, a child. She was just a little girl sitting there wide-eyed and nervous in her boy band T-shirt and PJ pants asking me to quiz her with potential interview questions. Then I blinked. That’s it, I blinked and just like that she was a mature, responsible, young adult that had completed her first (successful) interview and was offered a job (which she accepted), opened her first checking account, and then we went off to pick up her very first car. I was left wondering where in the heck my little girl had gone. I swear she was just there with her dress falling over her head while she was upside down on the monkey-bars without a care in the world. 

I know that she was definitely feeling the transition as well. She honestly went from child to young adult in the matter of about 3-3.5 hours today. Thankfully she was able to maintain a sense of humor about it. After realizing the magnitude of the events today, she exclaimed ‘Gosh, I am old. I have to buy a purse now.’

She really put things into perspective when after I asked her if she was planning on going to a funeral after she opted to wear black on black today, something that is non-characteristic of her, she solemnly said “Yes. The funeral for my childhood. I am old now.”

That it is. Her childhood is gone and will only live on in our memories. As excited as I am to watch as she ventures out on this new adventure, I cannot help but mourn the childhood of yet another one of my babies.

So I sit here and tell you parents with young ones, Don’t blink. Cherish there moments because before you know it they will be college. One day you will do anything to have these days back. The time really does pass by at warp speed.

The Truth Hurts - It's Only Ruined Because You Ruined It

The Truth Hurts:

The sting of being called out in a public forum regarding one's hypocrisies is apparently too much for some people to handle. A topic that I actually had planned on doing an #insensitiveTuesday post about in 2 weeks came up on a person's wall and my response to the OP caused quite a stir. Of course it resulted in me being called rude and judgmental and then being subsequently blocked because frankly.... The Truth Hurts.

If you're going to claim that your holiday dinner is ruined due to the fact that you cannot pass up an incredible deal at Wal-Mart and how sick it makes, you can most certainly expect me to comment. Apparently my comments were viewed as "shitty" and "nasty" ... so... here they are:

"You do realize that you are just playing in to the retailers. If you continue to shop they will continue to do things like this. Not only are the consumers devaluing their own families by shopping on a holiday but they are forcing others from their families to work on days like this. And yet we all sit back and wonder what our country has come to. Is the "deal" THAT important?? You are basically stating that your family isn't worth the dollar value of the money you're saving."

"It still doesn't change the fact that you are ripping others away from their families."

"And.... if you are talking about your previous comment on this post, you said nothing about your family not being together, just your boys being with their father. Do you not consider your husband and his children "your family"?"

"I wasn't being nasty, I was being honest. You're upset because it's true and you don't want to see it because it makes you feel crappy."

"You claimed you felt sick over it... to me that's crappy. You can claim that I am being nasty all you want. I am just speaking the cold, hard truth. If you want something to change, you have to be willing to change it rather than playing in to things. This is where our country is going wrong.

I have no issues being "the bad guy" when it comes to speaking he truth, somebody has to do it.

If you are complacent about something, you may as well be the perpetrator. Take a stand against something if you feel strongly enough about it to make you sick. If you don't feel strongly about it, then sit by and participate. But know that you are taking part in the downfall of the American family. When American's are forced to forego family in the name of material happiness something is wrong."

Shitty? I didn't think so. Nasty? I didn't think so. Everything I said was TRUE. I cannot help that my comment made you feel like a piece of shit... because frankly... The Truth Hurts.

One cannot complain about something being ruined if you are making a conscious choice to take part in the exact thing you claim is ruining it.

Pinned and Tried

Ok, so I have been seriously slacking about posting what we have been doing with Pinterest. I have been cooking something that I have found on there almost daily, we have really been slacking with the crafting though. We haven't been home enough to do any crafting. But here are some things that we have tried...and our reviews.

Balsamic Glazed Pork (no photo of my own, sorry) : This was amazing! Kyley didn't eat it because she is not eating much meat and when she does she is only eating chicken or turkey. Those of us that ate it really liked it. I didn't tweak anything at all with this recipe. It was great as it stands.

Baked Gnocchi (again no photo...such the slacker) : This was an ok meal. It was very filling, as gnocchi typically is. I bought store bought gnocchis and cheated by used DelGrosso Three Cheese Sauce. Everybody (including Kyley's friends) enjoyed the meal, but I am sure my children would have enjoyed it more had I made my own sauce. This will be revisited I am sure.

Orange Push-Up Smoothie : The first time we made this it as WAY too sweet. I cut out ALL of the sugar and it was so much better, still sweet because I used the concentrate but better. I think the next time that we revisit this it will be with fresh OJ and/or oranges. The kids really like the concept, as do I, but next time we will stick with fresh.

Quinoa Burgers (Today's dinner..but again no photo) : I tweaked this a bit, I used Ricotta rather than Cottage cheese, skipped the Splenda and sugar, used all purpose GF flour. I also added minced garlic rather than green onions and garlic powder. These were LOVED by all and I am sure they will be revisited as we attempt to lessen our meat intake even more.

Healthy Mozzarella Sticks (Today's dinner as well...again no photo) : I used won ton wrappers and cut mozzarella cheese from a ball rather than using string cheese. They were good, but would have been better had the cheese stayed put. The kids still liked them, but I didn't have any.

No Bake Energy Bites : We made these today but we have yet to try them. The "batter" tasted pretty good though. :)





 
The next few things that I made were found on foodgawker. I actually use this site quite often for new recipes. I made these S'mores Granola Bars this morning for snacks for the week, however I am not sure how long they will last. The kids are gobbling these right up. I guess that means they are well liked. I tweaked this a bit, using GF oats and rice krispies and subbing honey and a bit of molasses for the corn syrup.

Pumpkin Spice Granola Bars : We made these as well today, however they have not been tasted either. I added more cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice but kept everything else the same. I also made them thinner so that they would be crunchy.

I know there are things that I am forgetting that we have tried out but....oh well. I will try to post more regularly.

I am struggling with  getting back into the swing of things, so thankfully I have Pinterest (and Kyley) to keep me on track. Today I made Honey Chicken and it was a hit, though this is one that I have pinned and tried before. The kids LOVE this meal. I put it over quinoa rather than white rice and that is the only thing that I tweak for this recipe. Today I tripled the recipe with chicken and quadrupled the sauce because we like to have extra sauce for over our quinoa.

The craft we tried was kind of a bust and the kids weren't big fans. I figured that because the kids love oobleck so much that Cloud Dough would be a hit. We couldn't seem to blend it well enough for it to be able to be formed and just mixing it wasn't nearly as cool as I thought it would be. No photos of this one today either. Sorry.

Keeping it PINTERESTing

Ok, it's day 2 for our month long challenge. Today because we were having leftovers I opted to make a snack, that we found on Pinterest. Our snack for the day was Apple Nachos. They were a HUGE hit with everybody. I tweaked the recipe a bit (I will with most I am sure) by skipping the chocolate chips and coconut (we have one who doesn't like choc. or coconut)  and substituted homemade caramel for the peanut butter. I also sprinkled cinnamon on the apples prior to adding the nuts and caramel. The kids were BEGGING for more. The caramel took a bit of time to make, but now we have some on hand and the kids like this better than any store bought brand, but the apple nachos the kids could have made on their own. Here is a picture of ours:

Dawson is already asking for more tomorrow with lunch. :) And from a mommy point of view I have to say that it is a simple snack that I don't mind them munching on. 

Our To-Do activity today was actually a repurposing project similar to the one seen HERE, but we haven't completed it so no photo. We are going to use the lot of tea tins that we found at the local Goodwill for Dawson to store some of his smaller Lego pieces. We are getting ready to do a room revamp for him so this worked perfectly. 

It's going to be a PINTERESTing Month

After seeing a friend doing a challenge for the 12 Days of Christmas, I thought that I would jump on the bandwagon and utilize Pinterest to spark some motivation and creativity. I am going to attempt to make one meal from something that I found on Pinterest, as well as do one activity, daily for this entire month. I am also hoping to take on one organizational task per week.

We actually waited until yesterday to start because we have a typical New Year's Day meal that we eat every year, so I didn't want to start by trying something new. Yesterday we made Lasagna Soup (meatless though) and it was loved by all. This is a soup that we will be revisiting often, as it was simple to make, yet tasted great.

We tried our hand at some Melted Crayon Art and this is something that we are going to have to redo as well. There are so many different opportunities to be creative with this.

My camera didn't make an appearance yesterday so I have no photos of our meal or activity, but I promise to remember for today.

Musical Monday

"Beautiful Boy" has been a long time favorite song of mine for quite some time and this evening it has such an emotional connection for me. Tonight I had a few people remind me of just how beautiful (inside and out) my boy is. 

SOOC Sunday

An overexposed faery in the woods

July 17-23 Week in Review

The week started out with a family function, my niece's baptism party, where my brother and mother were going to be in attendance. I was unsure of how things would play out but it ended up being ok, a little awkward but ok. The party was small as many people who were invited and said they would be attending did not show. It was nice to be able to cuddle the sweet baby for a bit though.

Monday we had our Freeminds Meet-Up and then Dawson had a karate class.

Tuesday Kyley had volunteer time at the library and Dawson had a karate class. We met up with some friends at McD's after karate for some playtime and then it was time to get Kyley. I finally got the affidavit notarized and dropped it, along with the objectives and medical exemptions off at the admin office of the school district. We spent a bit of time at the library with friends while Kyley was finishing up a poster that she had to make, then headed back home with friends. The weather was pretty hot so the kids were in and out most of the day. I had intended to prepare everything for the curriculum sale but fun with friends took precedence.

Wednesday we picked up a friend's daughter for her 4 year old photo shoot and drove to WV to meet up with another photographer friend of mind to shoot. We ventured to Bear Creek State Park in OH where the weather was insanely hot. I don't think we could have chosen a worse day to shoot. The kids were a little crazy and hot...and miserable as well, so we cut out shooting short, which was a little disappointing but it HAD to be done. We then took all 5 kids to lunch and then headed back home. It was a nice trip, despite the heat, but we won't be doing it again until after the heat breaks. Here are just a few photos from the trip:

Faery in the woods

My Sweet Girl Growing Up

I broke the latch handle on the van (damned plastic) when I was putting the camera back and of course I had a desk that I picked up from a fellow freecycler in the back when this happened. After we got home I took apart the back door and finally managed to get the hatch open and get the desk out. The handle is still broken, but I will fix it soon enough. I managed to get Dawson to karate on time despite messing with the van. 

Thursday was the curriculum sale. OMG it was so HOT. The church was without a/c and it was 94* We ended up cutting out a bit early because I couldn't take it anymore. It was a semi-successful day. We made $50 and I found some curriculum for $22.50 that I will be using this coming year. I still have a lot of stuff left that needs to find a new home...soon I hope. After the sale we went to lunch and then headed to Wal-Mart where the kids picked out some new folders and such. Then another evening of karate.

Friday the heat had gotten to us all so we made the decision to purchase passed to the local pool, which were half off regular pricing...BONUS! As we were getting ready I received a phone call from the fraud department of my bank only to find out that I was once again hacked. This makes the 2nd time in 6 weeks. I picked up passed and dropped the kids at the pool and went to the local bank branch to get things sorted out yet again. I honestly think this is coming from a breach in PayPal security because I updated my information on PayPal Wednesday evening after making a purchase from Etsy and by Friday I had fraudulent activity coming from the UK. I managed to get things sorted out but I am left yet again without a debit card for a week to 10 days. *sigh* I was able to relax at the pool after for a bit with the kids, so that was nice. Later in the evening Kyley and I went to pick up a sewing machine from my cousin and got caught in a severe thunderstorm so we waited it out over a dessert. :) We then ventured to the grocery store and managed to remain dry for the most part. 

Saturday morning we had a long day at karate, then back home while Matt fixed the central air (though it is still not working so tonight we will be spending the  night in the camper yet again) then headed off to drop Kyley off at Pappy's house for a sleepover while we went to the pool for a bit. 

All in all a busy week but we had fun. 

Books

We <3 Books

I have an infatuation with books. I can freely admit that I am a self proclaimed book hoarder. I have a really hard time parting with them, even the really horrible ones. Well yesterday I took a HUGE step and went off to a used curriculum sale to attempt to purge the books that we no longer use. I guess it was worth it considering I walked about with approximately $50 and some new curriculum (cost=$20) that we are going to attempt to use this year.

Tackle It Tuesday

I had a rather large "to-do" list that I wanted to get done today but I only got a portion of it done. I guess it's better than nothing though, right?

I was able to print out our home schooling affidavits, objectives and medical exemptions for both kids, take them to the notary to get notarized and then dropped off at Central Office.

I wanted to get all of the laundry done, 8 loads or so, but that didn't happen. I did get 3 loads done so far.

I wanted to get started on going through a lot of our home schooling materials to get it boxed up and ready for the curriculum sale on Thursday. I started with a few things and have a few boxes ready to go. I still have more to go. *sigh

Next Tues I promise to have a better project COMPLETED!

Musical Monday

Well today I am extremely tired for some reason. I didn't sleep very well last night, so I leave you with a song/video for the day. A very fitting song for the wonderful sunshine that we have been experiencing.

SOOC Sunday

*SOOC= Straight Out Of Camera

I am going to attempt to get back into blogging daily with daily "themes." Some about photography, some about homeschooling, some about life. Sunday will now be my SOOC day.

A sweet little boy that I photographed during his mama's maternity shoot, his eyes are quite amazing even without tweaking.

Such Big Eyes You Have

Wordless Wednesday

Missing the insanity....

It's a new dawn...

...it's a new day. I have finally made the decision to move my blog over to yet another name in order to keep all of my google interactions under one sign in name. Since I have switched account that also meant that I needed to come up with a new blog name. So...Just Us Freaks was born.

I am hoping to get back into blogging more often. I know it has been awhile, but I am going to keep this space to discuss everything that is going on in our lives here. This will be an all inclusive blog. Our educational adventures, our every day adventures, my photography adventures and eventually our travel adventures.

I am looking forward to finally writing again.

Wordless Wednesday

A Letter to my mother

I will start off by saying Happy “Mother’s” Day to you, but this will be the last time you get this acknowledgement from me. I no longer want anything to do with you nor do I want your lame attempts at being a grandmother to my children. They deserve better, as do I. I am tired of giving you the benefit of the doubt and waiting for your “teenage” years to pass. I realize that you lost a lot of that because you were busy supposedly being a “mother.” Well I have waited over 18 years for you to get out of this phase and I am done waiting for you to grow up and be the mother/grandmother that I was so hoping you could be. I gave up my “teenage” years to raise your sons. While you were out drinking and partying it up I was at home tending to 3 young boys instead of going out and enjoying my childhood. I should have been attending football games and school dances and having sleep overs with friends, but I couldn’t because I was too busy trying to keep our family together while you went out to have your fun because I knew that you had been tied down and not allowed to do anything after getting pregnant with me and then marrying dad. I thought it would last a year or two max, boy was I wrong. This is not to say that a mother should never go out and enjoy herself occasionally because I know that it is important to my sanity to get out every once in awhile with other adults to just have a good time. But, after that fun is all said and done, I come home to my children and back into my role as a mother to them. I was in the same situation that you were in at 16 years old but yet I have managed to be a responsible, loving, attentive mother to my children. I did go out and have fun after I left Ricky in a lame attempt to rebuild our relationship, little did I know that it wouldn’t work. I was so desperate to have a relationship with you, but I was not going to sacrifice my children for it. Our relationship just wasn’t, and isn’t, that important to me. I do not feel that you were EVER there for me. I mean you basically kicked me out after I got pregnant and then as I was giving birth as a newly 17 year old you were “out of town” with John, knowing full well that I was within days of my due date. You don’t think at a time like that having MY own mother there would have been nice? Thankfully Ricky’s mother stepped up to the plate with that. It’s pretty sad that she was more of a mother to me than my own mother and more of a grandmother to Kyley and Dawson than you ever were. For the 1st five years of Dawson’s life he didn’t think that I had a mother and he thought that you were “aunt.” What does that say about you? Not much that’s for sure.


I will not make this letter about all the horrific things that you have put me through because it’s just not healthy for me to relive it. I am finally at the point in my life where I am letting it all go. I know that our relationship failed because of you and your addictions and your lack of ability to love not because of anything that I did or didn’t do. I tried to make things work, I tried fostering a relationship between us and between you and my children, you were just unable and/or unwilling to allow it to happen. I am not sure why, nor do I care at this point because I am done. Completely. I do not want you to ever contact me or my children any longer. We do not want any of your lame attempts at saying that you care because we know differently. Yes even my children know. Do you realize that they place bets on how long you will stay when you drop something off because they know that it is a lame attempt on your part? They realize that your boyfriend who beats the shit out of you is more important than they are. They realize that you care more about grandchildren who you may never again get the chance to see (Hailey and Parker) than you do about them. So I leave you with these parting words from a very fitting song…”Perfect” by SimplePlan, as this sums up just about everything that I have been feeling over the past 25+ years.

“Nothing's gonna change the things that you said
Nothing's gonna make this right again
Please don't turn your back
I can't believe it's hard
Just to talk to you
but you don't understand

'Cuz we lost it all
Nothing lasts forever
I'm sorry
I can't be perfect
Now it's just too late and
We can't go back
I'm sorry
I can't be perfect”

Judgment

There is nothing more that I hate than being judged for living our life outside the norm. I am not one to make a rash decision. I research and try to find what works best for our family. I never go into anything blindly, at least not when it comes to my children or my family. I do not put my children at risk, whether that is physically, socially or emotionally. So it goes without saying that I am pissed off now that I am being called out yet again for my decisions. Decisions that I did not come into lightly.

The kids' grandfather has yet again bashed my choice to homeschool the children. He is concerned that they are not performing academically as well as their peers. Yet I find it odd that they never bring this up to me. They only bring it up to the kids' father who is not really present in their day to day activities so he has no clue about what they are doing. I wish they would say something to me about it. I have no concerns over the kids academics, I know that they know the same, if not more, than their age-related peers in terms of the core subjects, you know those ones that are only taught to achieve AYP (adequate yearly progress) in public schools. In terms of subjects that public school children are not tested on, they know much more. I am so tired of being called out in regards to what they are learning, especially from people who rarely interact with them. I know that their cousins are never quizzed about their knowledge of what society thinks they should know and I am almost certain that their parents are not questioned or judged about the education the children are receiving in public school. Even when these children are struggling with the academic aspect of public school the parents are never questioned. It seems as if only my choices are condemned because we refuse to "walk the line."





Apparently another concern is the fact that Dawson has never been in school, and probably will never be in school, so to them that means that my children are sheltered and do not have any friends. For those of you that know us know how laughable that is. Dawson is a very outspoken child who loves adventure and has never had a problem making friends. In fact often times we have quite the opposite problem with him. He makes friends where ever he goes. Often times on the playground Dawson has a following of children that look up to him and want to play with him. He will interact with people of all ages without concern. So I do not see how I am socially stunting my children by keeping them home. We belong to a wonderful, secular, home school co-op where the kids are able to interact with other children, and honestly they both have fallen right in with their friends, as if they have been a part of that group for years. We also have an amazing family that we get together with every week so that our children can play and explore together.

The kids also attend classes at the various museums, where they have had no trouble making friends. They each attend a karate school, again where neither of them had any issues blending into group. Kyley takes theater classes where she has made numerous friends as well. Making friends has never been a concern of mine, at least not since pulling Kyley from public school. I will admit that Kyley did have some shyness to overcome in her early years, but during those years she was not home schooling, she was attending the local public school. Since pulling her she has really come out of her shell, so yes let's blame home schooling for all of the social awkwardness in children. I am not doubting the fact that there are some home schooled children who are sheltered, mine however are not. We are rarely home because we are always out exploring everything that our city has to offer.




I really wish that these concerns would be brought up to me so that I could put all of their concerns to rest. I have researched everything that our family does, whether that is the food that goes into our bodies, the medications that we take, or the education that our children receive. We are doing what works best for us and right now not attending public school is what is working best for us.

I am THAT mom....

I am THAT mom, you know the one that slept with her baby (even in the hospital.)


I am THAT mom, you know the one that put cloth diapers on her baby's bottom and actually found it addictive to buy and/or sew cute little diapers for their bottoms.  


I am THAT mom, you know the one that breastfed all of her children until they were ready to wean, even though that was nearly 6 years old for one of them. 


I am THAT mom, you know the one that never had a hat on her tiny little baby, unless of course they wanted one. 


I am THAT mom, you know the one that never had socks or shoes on her tiny baby.


I am THAT mom, you know the one that wore her babies and barely ever put them down when they were under six months old. 


I am THAT mom, you know the one that never fed her baby jarred baby food. 


I am THAT mom, you know the one that allowed her baby to eat dirt. 


I am THAT mom, you know the one that did not hover and tell her children that they could not do something because they were "too little."


I am THAT mom, you know the one that allowed her three year old son to get a mohawk. 


I am THAT mom, you know the one that also allowed her four year old son to get his ears pierced and then gauged. 


I am THAT mom, you know the one that allowed her twelve year old daughter to get her belly button pierced. 


I am THAT mom, you know the one that took her seventeen year old daughter to get a tattoo. 


I am THAT mom, you know the one that does not censor anything in regards to what my children listen to or watch. 


I am THAT mom, you know the one that listens to her children's concerns and gives them advice without shaming or instilling fear into their minds. 


I am THAT mom, you know the one that allows her children to have a choice in  how they want to live their lives, exploring, experimenting and learning from their own mistakes. 


I am THAT mom, you know the one that supports her children's decisions even though they may not be in line with her own beliefs.


I am THAT mom, you know the one that refuses to hide behind embarrassment when we discuss uncomfortable topics. 


I am THAT mom, you know the one that strives to live a life where I am not controlling my children's actions but often falters due to societal pressures. 


I am THAT mom, you know the one that wants to live a peaceful life but often falters and ends up screaming in frustration. 


I know that there are many aspects of my parenting that make people roll their eyes, like when my son walks out with shorts on, no shoes and no coat when it is forty degrees outside or like when I allow my children to pierce their bodies at "tender, young ages." My style of parenting definitely does not work for everybody, but it works for us. I am often questioned about my motives or my goals for my children as they grow. My goals and aspirations for them are just for them to be happy, healthy and confident young people who stand up for what they believe and know that no matter what I will love them regardless of their decisions and/or mistakes that they make. I, also, want them to know that they can come to me to talk about anything without feeling shamed and judged. I do not think there is anything more than I can ask for. 


I have witnessed parents who push their children so hard, wanting them to succeed in something that they feel will better their children's lives in some way shape or form. A lot of parents push their children so hard that it in turn makes them despise their parents and/or the activity that they once loved. I want my children to want to succeed in life because they are passionate about it, not because I forced them into it. I have always given my children the option to try out anything that they feel they would enjoy. My only stipulation is that if I pay for a semester or season that they do their best and complete it. If after that they don't enjoy it they can opt to not continue. Thankfully my children have been given the freedom to explore and have found activities that they are passionate about and excel at.