Intentional

I'm so excited about this post. I really am! I've been thinking about it for days now (did you know when you have 4 kids it's sometimes hard to find time to sit down and type something up-even if you find the mental capacity to think cohesive thoughts? Well, now you know.)

Intentional. That is my word for this year.

Instead of New Year's Resolutions (that are usually broken by January 2nd or so) I've decided to just live intentionally. I know, it doesn't sound all that impressive but here's what I mean:

You know how you will get to the end of the day and wonder what happened to the day? You did NOTHING productive and accomplished NOTHING? Maybe I'm the only one that is that way. The day got away from you, be it too much time on Facebook or whatever your timewaster is (mine is, pathetically, often going back and forth between Facebook and my email inbox!? Not even sure why or what I think I'll find.).

I have not been keeping my house as well as I feel I should, I have not been training and guiding my children as well as I feel I should (and could!), I have not been as attentive of a wife as I feel I should...friend, child of God, etc, etc, etc! And I just really have no excuse.

Often times my kids will hurt one another (feelings or physically) and when they are scolded will say "I didn't mean to". And my response? "Yes, but you have to mean NOT to." You can't just be a spaz and if you hurt people along the way (and yes, I'm sure I hurt people with a lack of attention when I'm distracted by NONSENSE) say "Well, I didn't mean to." Yeah, but it hurt them just the same.

Do you get the correlation? I thought about it and I can't just "not mean to" waste whole days and weeks (don't get me wrong, I don't sit on facebook all day every day or anything, just more than I should).

I allow myself to get overwhelmed and then I shut down and do NOTHING.

Lists. Lists are going to be my friend again. When I use them I feel so accomplished! And I will list time with my children (sad, but it will make me do it!), dates with my husband (with no internet in sight!), cleaning on a schedule, grading schoolwork (yeah, really far behind on that right now) and blogging and Bible reading. I often tell people all the things I don't have time for. And I realize it's just not true! I do have time. I just misappropriate it!!! And you know what? Time is the stuff life is made of!

My health. I will need to be intentional about my health. Not just weight loss and exercise but you don't accidentally eat healthy. You plan meals based on if they have nutrition. You plan time to exercise. It never just happens TO you! And while I'm at it...my personal habits. As in, I need to make sure I get dressed in a reasonable fashion every day. And wear make up! I know it will make me feel better and I won't hide from the camera during family times. You know, they (that elusive "they") say you should dress for the job you want....well, I think that I should dress for the "life" I want. If I want the life of a slobby housewife...I can stay in pajamas and not get dressed since I'm just at home that day. Or I can dress like I have a purpose. I'll bet my purpose will come to me!

My home. If any of you moms out there have not noticed it, our mood (as wife and mom) directly affects the mood and atmosphere of our family. I know, it's sometimes not fair (we should get to have a bad day occasionally and not have everyone else get all grumpy) but it's the way it is. So, if I'm overwhelmed, unorganized, chaotic, messy and just plain un-intentional...that's how my house/family will be. I *know* this...but I need to remember it. Daily. I want my home to reflect this way of life. More peaceful and intentional. I actually kind of picked this up from Jules at Pancakesandfrenchfries! Her William Morris Project inspires me! I have not really done much with that inspiration and my house will never look as put together as hers does but if I can just follow that one mantra of having nothing in my house (intentionally mind you!) that I do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. I will have intentionally created a much less chaotic home! I want a home that is less chaotic in every way-tangible and atmospherically.

So, occasionally you will see "Intentional" posts-relating to that topic and I'm excited! Excited to take back time-the stuff life is made of, and my home and my family's "atmosphere" because we have to not only "not mean to" but "mean not to" waste life! <3 br="br">

Advent

A couple of years ago I started seeing a real trend of Advent calendars and ideas. Maybe everyone has been doing them all along but I just started reading blogs and websites that are into all that family type stuff!? Either way I liked the idea. A lot.
But it stressed me out. Really stressed me out.
First of all, Nathan's birthday is December 2!? I am in the throes of planning a birthday party, not adventing! Second of all, if you're going to do Advent activities...they have to be things that everyone wants to do. Not something that half the family can't do (my littles) or half the family groans and starts dreaming up excuses why they can't participate (my bigs-they are not typically like this but you know what I mean! It needs to be pleasant, right?)...
And the calendar has to be cute and crafty. Pinterest worthy! Right?
Or not. Last year I made one with a cardboard drawer kit I bought at the hobby store. And it had 25 drawers. That's 25 ultra cool (or at least passably fun) activities and ideas. For a family of 6. Who have a bazillion other things going. And nights when we're tired...or cranky.
So, this year I changed it up a little!
I made these little envelopes out of Christmas scrapbooking paper.


And we started several days after Nathan's party. And we didn't have near 25 activities. And you know what? We didn't even do all the ones we had!
Some of the ones that we did complete:

• made snowmen out of cotton balls, glue, ball ornaments, buttons, etc
• stirred/drank hot chocolate with candy canes from the tree while reading about the candy cane
• made a chain to count down the days to Christmas eve (Haley and I had fun on this one-we used scrapbooking paper rather than the old red and green construction paper)
• made ornaments
• made and decorated cookies (first time ever!)
• read the Real Christmas story and the silly one (you know, 'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, yada yada yada!?)
• My older kids put on a kind of puppet show of the nativity (figures on popcicle sticks) for all of us-it was sweet!
• Watched Christmas movies. While Christmas shopping at Amazon.com I conveniently purchased two classics to start this tradition:

                       

 

and

 

Some that did not make the cut:

• driving around looking at lights. Because our van is in the shop for warranty work. And the loaner they gave me does not fit the whole family! But it's okay...this was a no stress advent so if we didn't "do it all" it's OK!
• singing Christmas Carols
• playing a family game (which really had nothing to do with Christmas anyways, just family time-or maybe that IS what Christmas should be!?

Overall I"m very happy with our Advent. :) I will surely be watching all year this year for new and different ideas. We got a gift from a family that are our dear friends of the story of King Wencaslas (you know, from the song?) and that will be added to our reading stories night. Looking forward to that one! 

Have Yourself....

a Merry Little Christmas!

Falling Short

Since I've been a believer all of my life I am no stranger to the idea of falling short. I can handle falling short of the Glory of God. I mean, He's God! Of course I won't be as good as Him...but I don't like always feeling like I'm failing people. Falling short. Not doing enough.

And it's never enough.

I'm not saying that the people in my life think I fall short. It's me. I think I do. If my husband goes to the fridge after dinner, in my mind it means I didn't feed him enough or what he liked. I had a party for my 3 year old a couple of weeks ago. We planned it pretty well I think. But I failed to have a sugar free cake for my diabetic/pre-diabetic in-laws (they asked if the cake was sugar free). Wellll, the actual main ingredient and the flavoring factor and creates the crisp texture of buttercream frosting. Sorry. So, epic fail. I didn't please all of my guests. I feel like I fail my kids every.single.day. I'm sure I don't measure up as a daughter...thankfully I can't think of every thing I've ever done or, more importantly, not done to give examples.

I think some of this comes from being a mom and being the jack of all trades kind of person. I have so many hats and jobs that I can't perfect any one of them. I mean, if all I had to do was cook...I could be a-may-zing! Or clean. If my only job was to clean...you could eat off of the bathroom floor. If all I had to do was teach my children their academics....they'd be Einsteins! ;)...and if all I had to do was study God's Word and teach them that...wow. Oh wait, and a wife. I'm one of those too.

I love my life. I really do. Right now I'm just feeling a little less than qualified. Anyone else ever feel this way? Am I alone?

Boyscouts!

We no longer have a cub scout in our house! We have a BOY scout!
This past week Jared graduated and crossed over the bridge. I don't think he was all that excited until it happened. He seemed to not realize the importance of it until after the ceremony when he told me "I can't believe I'm a boy scout now!" I guess until it happened and we had some pomp and circumstance within the little ceremony he didn't realize what a cool thing he had accomplished.

 Cakes! I helped the leader make the cakes that represented the 2 levels and if you notice there a bridge going from cub scouts to boy scouts.

 One of my favorite parts of boy scouts/cub scouts is that it pushes the kids to do things they might not otherwise do. Jared is not one to get up in front of anyone but he was asked to lead the beginning of the meeting/ceremony that night. And he didn't love doing it, but guess what? He pushed and did it!

 Here is one of the leaders giving Jared some of the final awards he needed to accomplish/receive before he could be officially a boyscout!

There were so many more pictures I took "in my head" but since my camera died after this last one that my mom took....alas, it didn't happen...One of the neatest things at the ceremony was the scout leaders found some "flash paper" and wrapped it around the shaft of an arrow (which the boys kept!) and we went outside and for just a moment in time they got to hold an "arrow of light"! If you know anything about boy children, you know this: fire is cool! :)

We have had some big happenings here in our household! My boys are growing up right before my very eyes (well, the girls are too but there has been recent evidence with the boys)...

Nathan turned 3 on Dec 2.

This picture would have been right about the moment he turned 3. He was born on Dec 2, 2009 at 10:50 am. When I went to his Sunday School class to get this picture he had just hit his head so it kind of changed the plans to take a perfect picture. ;)

 Yum! Cake! And Old fashioned root beer! :)

 My dad (aka Papa) had some horses come out with guys (okay, maybe he had some guys come out that have horses ;) ) and the kids all took turns riding the 2 ponies for an entire hour! They LOVED it!! *note: this is not a regular occurrence at my kids' parties. this is the first time EVER animals have been "rented"...

 This last picture is not as self-explanatory as some....we had an activity that, while it didn't work out exactly how I pictured, the kids LOVED! I baked like 4-5 cakes a few days before the party and crumbled them up to resemble "dirt" and then we put butterscotch (gold colored) candy in the "dirt" so the kids could dig for gold! And let me tell you, the mess was pretty...messy! But the kids loved it! They really got into it and loved getting their hands dirty. So much fun! (the problem: the cake stuck to the candy so it was harder to find and since they were little this was not the plan...if your birthday child is not allergic to milk (chocolate candy) you could do gold coins and it would work so much better! But since it was about Nathan...and he can't have milk chocolate candy, that was not an option.)

Such a bittersweet thing for this mama. For some reason 3 seems so big. He's no longer a "toddler" but a "preschooler" might be it. The crib is going right after Christmas...Time is flying!
We had the funnest birthday party. I think it went very well and he was happy-isn't that what matters?

My baby is 3 now....off to bigger and better things!

Next Post: Jared graduates from cub-scouts to boy scouts! It's official! We have a boyscout!

Gift Policy

For the longest time my husband and I have realized that Christmas is so overboard. Materialistically speaking! Our kids, while not having near what many of their peers have, are way too "blessed". And the more I think about it, if we celebrate Christmas as Christ's birthday (and we do in the sense that we remember that event during this season-I don't necessarily believe He was born on December 25th and I know there is some concern that some of our traditions are questionable in their origin but I feel no qualms about using this time of year to talk to my kids about the importance of the Baby that was born in a manger so many years ago and so far away....born for the purpose of dying for us!) Oops, I digress...

If we celebrate Christmas as a time to remember the birth of Christ, then should my kids get 123 gifts when Jesus only got 3? And it's supposed to be about Him (for us anyway)!?

I have been challenged in so many ways this year because I'm so used to just picking up this or that-sometimes things they "need" (clothing or pajamas) and sometimes things I just think are cute or really cool (for the boys-you should never buy your big boys stuff that is "cute". Just not okay! ;) ) This year with the self-imposed "rule" of 3 gifts per child (including Santa's gifts!) I have really had to think about each thing I buy and make it count!

disclaimers:
I do not think everyone needs to do this. This is something we felt led to do this year....

My kids have been warned regularly that this will happen! They will not go from 123 gifts to 3 without being warned.

I have "cheated" a little bit by making their stockings a little less junky trinkets and more neat stuff.