A new venture!

I have recently started a new venture, making little toys for babies and selling them online. I don't expect to become rich from it but I hope to be able to make a bit of money at least. The site I have chosen to sell my items is called All about boys. The online store is powered by ecwid and I have paypal set up also. Not bad for my first day! I have also made a few items already as a test run for my new machine and pattern. I'm hoping to be able to use the money to help in publishing my books. A lot of hoping and hard work involved but I'm not afraid of hard work. I also decided to try something new in that I have entered the mothers day walk for breast cancer, www.mothersdaywalk.ca. I am hoping to raise $200 before May 5th. I am already a third of the way there thanks to my amazing family and I know I can make it the rest of the way. I am walking with a good friend of mine. She helped me to deliver 3 of my boys and is a mom herself so this is an important cause to us. If you would like to help you can click the link above and donate to team Jodie Velthuizen! Here's to new ventures! A new year and new experiences!

I'm not ready to have a teenager...

But I guess I'm too late as he has been a teenager for a few months already..when did this happen? Wasn't it just yesterday that I gave birth to this little baby? Who is taller than me now by the way...when did that happen? When I saw him last he was shorter then me and he comes back for a visit and now he looks down on me..As teenagers go he is a pretty good one, gets good grades and does what he can to help out and listens to his parents..I couldn't have asked for a better kid..but did he have to grow up? I am not ready yo be a parent to a teenager I am still trying to parent myself! He has been my greatest gift and my biggest fear. All my kids are a great gift and each have brought me something special in their own ways. I know they are each on the way to greatness and I could not be a happier mom, I just hope to be able to continue with lessons they have each brought to me. I love you Jorian and I miss you..slow down ok..

Time away..

I realized this morning that I had not blogged in awhile. The reason I started this blog is to become a better writer and to share my experiences as a mom and recipes that I love. I guess I haven't had much to say...I did make some great recipes lately, most of them come from the web I will try and include the links to them in a future blog. I had my oldest boy home for a bit for spring break and that went pretty good, I miss him so much, I have always shared custody with his dad but had primary residence and now he has been at his dads  for a couple of years, he decided he wanted to go spend some time at his dads when he was 10 and I have always let him make choices for  himself so that he learns what it means to live with the consequences of your actions. He has been doing amazing there and I am so proud of him. His grades have come up and he is excelling at his studies, even joined an improv group! As a mother it is difficult to let your babies go off without you and seeing him excel without me is even tougher as I have always considered myself a good mom. Maybe even a great mom. Not perfect by any means but I have great kids and in order to have great kids they have to have a great mom right? Seeing him take off and enjoy his life at his dads is awesome and even though I have a bit of a tough time when I say goodbye to him I know he is going where he is loved and  respected as a person. I guess I can choose to look at it from the angle that he is excelling because of the love and encouragement that I gave him growing up, which I did give him lots of, but I also struggled through a crack addiction when he was younger and chose to send him to his dads for a year while I went through recovery. As a parent we hope that we make the best choices for our kids and help them to become independent and have the skills to succeed and when you see that child grow and make good choices for themselves it is an amazing feeling. I hope to see him sooner this time and be able to hug him a little bit longer as he is still my baby even if he is 13 years old.