Summer lovin

Summer vacation has been in full swing for several weeks now. I have conflicted feelings about summertime. I love having my kids around and the slower pace, but it is also hard to get my stuff done and I also want to help my kids be productive and content. In the past I have stressed about that. 

The past couple of weeks though I have decided to relax about it a bit. Yes we have days that have a lot of this going on:

But we also have lots of things like this: 

And this: 

Once or twice a week we have a Mommy adventure where we get out and explore and go to museums or hikes or swimming or the water park. I enjoy these days and love spending time with my kids. My oldest is 15 and in THREE short years he will be off to college or on a mission. I'm lucky he still likes to go on these adventures with us. The other days are spent at home or closer to home so I can get things done. My kids can find friends or do other things. I don't think it is my job to entertain them. 

I remember as a kid that most days I was riding my purple banana seat bike in my swim suit with a towel around my neck, to the local swim club (pictured above). I was meeting friends there and spending the day. My Mom didn't entertain me or plan grand adventures. My Mom certainly spent time with me and a couple of times during the summer we would do something big like an amusement park. Life is so different now, we feel like we have to have grand plans for our kids in the summer or we feel like a bad parent. I have seen online where people are saying their kids said the "B" word...bored. I don't think it's bad for kids to be bored. They need to learn to find things to do and be creative.

We aren't going on a big summer vacation. We are going up to a family cabin in August for a few days, and maybe a camping trip, but mostly we will be at home. 

Here are our summer job charts, we have a rule of no screens until after lunch. They have a few jobs that include practicing piano, for the younger kids they do some reading and math practice, their daily kitchen job, a couple of jobs that take about 10-15 minutes, their bedroom, working on scouting etc. My two older boys are doing their own laundry and helping plan and prepare a meal once a week. 

My older kids have had several opportunities to work for other people and earn some money which has been so great. I love that they are learning the value of work and money and learning to work for another boss besides me and my husband. 

Our family project this summer is this garden. The garden deserves a post of it's own, but suffice it to say it is a way to teach work and unity. It's not always pretty when we go and the kids are weeding and irrigating, almost always there is heavy complaining. However, that doesn't mean it isn't still teaching them and it's still worth it. 

So if my kids have a day here and there when they play screens for a few hours at a time I'm not going to stress. We are having a lot of fun together. They are learning to work hard and accomplishing good things daily. They are learning life skills that will serve them well in the future. 

Still to do this  summer:

Lemonade stand

Liberty park

Hiking and fishing

Bowling

Fourth of July!! (My favorite holiday next to Christmas)

Lagoon

Natural history museum

Fitted sheets and lullabies

Last night was filled with multiple awakenings by a sad, sick 4 year old child and empty of any quality sleep. Every 15 minutes I was desperately needed by this boy who was scared to death at  the intensity of his illness.

 

The morning after a night like that always tests me and pushes my body to its limits. Of course there were multiple loads of sheets and towels and pajamas to launder. As I yawned and folded yet another fitted sheet I realized that my skills at folding fitted sheets are subpar.

 

My Mother certainly tried to teach me how to fold them neatly; hospital corners were expected in the making of a bed in my growing up home. My Mother is an amazing organizer and has neatness woven into her character. I missed out on that gene somehow. . The skill of somehow managing to control those rounded corners into a tidy pile of linen to be properly placed on a closet shelf was not something that transferred from my mother’s skill set into my own.

 

Last night when my sweet boy was wracked with illness and I held him and kissed his sweaty brow and rocked him and rubbed his back,  I sang to him and gently put him back to sleep. Neat sheets were low on the priority list last night.

 

In addition to her skills with hospital corners and fitted sheets, my Mother also taught me about nurturing a sick child in the night. I remember being very young and getting horrible ear infections and sore throats. One of my earliest memories (probably the same age as my son), is of her, rocking me in the wee hours of the morning in the creaky old rocker, while singing “Bye-O" to me (our family lullaby). My Mom sings off key and always has, but I remember as a child thinking her voice was like an angel’s. I can almost picture this night in my mind’s eye, it is one of my very earliest memories.

 

I'm quite certain the skill of folding a fitted sheet pales in comparison to the most important lessons she taught me that night almost 40 years ago. Thank you Mom for all the life skills you taught me, but most of all thank you for teaching me through example that my children are worth sacrificing for, staying up for, and staying home for. I know through watching you that Motherhood is a noble and worthy calling and the best choice for my life. Happy Mother's Day!

Survive or thrive?

(Image found here http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/1200x/62/60/c6/6260c6ee2511fac22e73fc06e8c6fcd4.jpg)

I remember going to my first power of moms retreat and April Perry talking  about not just surviving but thriving in this journey of motherhood. That really resonated with me because I had already years before decided that I do not want to spend a good chunk of my life in survival mode. I've been doing this parenting thing for 15 years and have at least that long until my youngest leaves home. That's 30 years that I don't want to white knuckle it through life, but I want to thrive and become who I am supposed to become. I want my kids to know that I loved life and adored being their Mom, that I was always trying to learn and grow and be better. My Mom is such a great example of always learning, growing and bettering herself.  Of course there are days that I white knuckle it and barely get through but I don't want that to be my life.  It's about making a conscious choice to love this life I've chosen and that has been given to me. It's about waking up every morning and to start out with the question, "What is this day going to bring and what am I going to get out of it? What am I going to learn and what adventure are we going to have? I am going to be an amazing Mom and person today!" 

This wasn't always the case. I remember some days waking up and sort of dreading getting out of bed, I remember even occasionally vocalizing that I hated my life. I had sort of let life happen to me and hadn't made the choice to choose happiness and deliberately make my life happy. It's not about circumstance, it's about mindset. I for sure still have days where I have a hard time getting out of bed and where I feel down, but those are much fewer and farther between than they used to be because I have made the choice to intentionally be happy no matter what. 

So what is your choice? 

Giveaway winner

Sorry I haven't gotten to this until now but the Motherhood Realized books I ordered just barely came today! Sorry they aren't signed by the authors like I said they would be, that just didn't happen at the book launch like I thought it would. 

So the winner is Amy Hughes! I had Drew choose either 1,2 or 3, so this was highly scientific. Amy email me your address and I will send you the book in the next week, you will love it! 

Because of Him

This painting is by Carl Bloch and is depicting the angel who comforted the Savior in Gethsemane. It is one of my very favorites. I know we have angels who comfort is in our darkest hours as well.

I absolutely love this new video my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) has put out for Easter. It is touching and beautiful no matter your religious beliefs. 

Because I am blogging from my phone I can't embed the video, but here's the link. I promise it is worth your time. #becauseofHim

http://easter.mormon.org

Easter week

I love the week of Easter. This year we are using this book for our Easter week celebrations. It gives great ideas that you can make as simple or as complex as you like. We are doing a daily devotional where we read scriptures about what happened that particular day leading up to the crucifixion and we have chosen an Atonement hymn (I Stand All Amazed) and a Resurrection hymn (Did Jesus Really Live Again from  the Children's songbook) that we are learning in our devotionals. We are doing some week long activities about loving and serving each other (because we desperately need that). 

We will do a regular egg hunt on Saturday with our family and the Easter bunny will bring baskets on Sunday with a few simple fun things. 

We will also do our spiritual egg hunt on Sunday (link found here http://www.howdoesshe.com/simple-easter-countdown/). 

We will make resurrection rolls for breakfast. (Link here:

http://beautyandbedlam.com/resurrection-rolls-easter-recipe/)

Our Easter dinner will consist of some symbolic foods such as fish (fishers of men, Jesus ate fish after his resurrection), bread (bread of life), grape juice (water to wine, sacrament). I will probably come up with some other ideas as I read more about the Savior this week. 

This is the first year we have done this much to celebrate. My kids are ready for this and can handle it,  we have always done a few things to learn about the real meaning of Easter, but now we are adding in more. If your kids are little, one or two simple things are perfect to teach the kids. Using pictures to tell them about the Savior is perfect, talking about spring and the new growth and rebirth is also a way to teach them. The bible videos from lds.org are fantastic as well.  

I know that My Savior came to earth to live among men and that he willingly suffered in Gethsemane for our sins, weaknesses and struggles. I know that he willingly gave up His life for each one of us and because of His glorious Resurrection we will live again.

What do you do to celebrate Easter?

*my computer is on the fritz and I am blogging on my phone, so my blog posts may be shorter and less frequent until it's fixed.

GIVEAWAY...and my favorite parenting book ideas

You could say one of my hobbies is reading Parenting books.  I like reading different philosophies and ideas and then incorporating some of the ideas into our family.  I don't totally subscribe to one philosophy, I take bits and pieces and use what feels best to me to use in our family.

There are thousands of parenting books and it is easy to get totally overwhelmed with information and ideas.  Honestly sometimes reading these books can be detrimental because you think they are the "experts" and start listening to them instead of your own intuition.  You are the real expert on your child and you should look at parenting books as a supplement to your own information and ideas about your child.  Don't totally take their word for it, but you can get new ideas and strategies from books about parenting.

One of my new favorites is  the new book "Motherhood Realized: An inspiring anthology for the hardest job you'll ever love."  It is a beautiful, real look at the role of Motherhood and the ups and downs but ultimately the joys of it.  I am on the "book launch team" (sorry if you are sick of hearing about it from me). This has been very exciting because this book is #65 on ALL of amazon.com and has a real shot of making it to the NY times bestseller list.  We are making a big push for this week to try and get it on that list so that media opportunities will be more available.  This isn't to pad any one person's pocket, this is to promote the importance of motherhood and to join women together to help each other.  It would make wonderful Mother's Day gifts, baby shower gifts, birthday gifts for friends etc.... Consider buying one or two or ten.  You can buy it here  If you buy this week, there are some additional gifts from Power of Moms, read about those here

I have read an advance copy and it is beautiful.  It made me laugh out loud and made me cry. The best part for me was that these are short essays that I can read in 5 minutes and I can read in the carpool lane or while my kids are playing.  It's an easy way to get a bit of an uplift in a short time.   I will give a signed copy away if you comment on this post.  I will give it out (or mail it out) next week after I attend the book launch and get a few of the authors to sign it.   Who wants to attend the book launch with me??

Comment below with your favorite parenting book. 

So here are a few parenting book ideas:

Here are a few of my favorites:

How to talk so kids will listen, and listen so kids will talk by Adele Faber

I didn't plan to be a Witch and a Joyful Mother of Children by Linda Eyre

Raising a Spirited Child by Mary Kurcinka (has fantastic ideas for raising any child)

Mitten Strings for God and The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison

Parenting with Love and Logic  by Jim and Charles Fay (don't love everything in it, but lots of great ideas in this one 

Deliberate Motherhood

If I Have to tell you one more time by Amy McCready (reading this right now...so good)

The 5 Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman

Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Books I have not read, but have come highly recommended

Celebrate Calm (this is actually CD's and a website to subscribe to celebratecalm.com)

The Game of Work by Charles Coonradt

Healing the Shame that Binds You by John Bradshaw

Hold on to your Kids: why parents need to matter more than peers

The Secrets of Happy Families by Bruce Feiler

Parenting books for the LDS Community:

Not every one who reads my blog is LDS, so I put this in a different category because of that.  Here are some of my favorites with an LDS perspective:

The Book of Mormon (seriously the best book to learn about parenting, it is all about families, it is all about imperfect families.)

The Power of Positive Parenting by Glenn Latham

Christlike Parenting by Glenn Latham (one of my very favorites)

Raising up a family to the Lord by Gene R Cook

Mothering with Spiritual Power: Book of Mormon inspirations for raising a righteous family by Debra Woods

I am a Mother by Jane Clayson Johnson