Treasure the Moments!

I've said it before - our children are only small once. Don't rush through this time - enjoy it, savor it, memorize it. Clean houses are over rated!

"The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. … I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.” Anna Quindlen

My Interior Decorator

Last night I hear this scratching sound and when I look I see this face smiling at me:

Holding this crayon:

And my walls look like this:

My instant response was to grab the crayon and ask why? After his crying outburst he told me that the walls just looked so plain - he wanted to decorate them for me.

He is the sweetest child! So I gave him lots of hugs, reassurances that he didn't do anything that awful (crayon does come off), the artwork was beautiful (but should be on paper) and most importantly, I love him no matter what! Then I gave him the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and put him to work:

Brownies

Isabel went to a Brownie meeting on Tuesday and hasn't stopped talking about it yet. She got picked to be the Flag Bearer at the meeting - a treat. Then all of the girls said the Pledge of Allegience followed by the Girl Scout Promise:

On my honor, I will try:
To serve God and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.

I will do my best to be
honest and fair,
friendly and helpful,
considerate and caring,
courageous and strong,
and responsible for what I say and do,
and to respect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place,
and be a sister to every Girl Scout.

The girls then worked together to complete the 'Wave The Flag' Try It. Afterwards, they made brownies, played some games and just talked. A good time for all.

So, it looks like she will officially join the troop! Of course, having one good friend in the troop and another best friend come to the meeting helped make her decision all the easier. The troop has four nice girls plus 2 if Isabel and Casey both join and we are looking forward to our first outing with them on Sunday to Monarch Madness at Bear Branch.

At Monarch Maddess:

Bendaroos

Thanks to Grandmom we have Bendaroos. Isabel & Nick made designs for Daddy last night.

Nick's snowman & snowball...

Isabel's message to dad...

The ME Collage

Isabel's first school project of the year - a ME collage.

Parenting

I was sorting photos and came across a quote that a friend gave me when I had Nicholas. It's a reminder that our children need our love, our time and our attention more than anything else we can give. It's written by Diane Loomans and also posted on her website (http://www.dianaloomans.com/child.htm).

If I had my child to raise over again,
I'd finger paint more, and point the finger less.
I'd do less correcting, and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
I would care to know less, and know to care more.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I'd run through more fields, and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging, and less tugging.
I would be firm less often, and affirm much more.
I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I'd teach less about the love of power,
And more about the power of love.

So, to all my mommy friends, go hug your kids, tell them you love them and ask what they want to do today!

Try this - turn your photo into a kaleidoscope!

I found this very cool link off of the Magical Childhood blog (http://magical-mama.livejournal.com/53165.html) to http://www.krazydad.com/kaleido/.

The website allows you to take any photo and turn it into a kaleidoscope.

Here's the original photo:

And here are the kaleidoscope pics Isabel made...

By the way, Magical Childhood is a wonderful blog to read if you get a chance check it out! http://magical-mama.livejournal.com

First Day of School

My beautiful angel started 2nd grade today. She was up before 7 - dressed and ready to go impatiently asking how much longer. She doesn't catch the bus until about 8:45 so the wait was killing her!

It seems like just yesterday she was starting kindergarten!

Here she is with her teacher Miss Ridgely (her second year of teaching!)

Friends

Wonder what this is...I'll tell you soon!

Isabel and Nick had their very best friends Casey and Emma spend the night. What an adventure. We started the evening by making their names out of clay which was then baked:

Here they are all baked - now they need to cool so it's time to build a tent:

Well, then they wanted to play Twister, so down came the tent and out came the game. Lots of laughs and giggles ensued:

Then pillow fights and more laughs:

Nick crashed around 10 pm but the girls were going strong. At 1 AM I made the executive decision to declare it bed time! Even with the lights out chatter continued for another 20-30 minutes.

We started the next morning bright and early at about 7AM. Apparently Emma had a bloody nose, so she woke Casey. Well, Casey felt that she needed to wake Isabel and then of course, I needed to be awaken. They tried to wake Nick but he was having none of it and continued to sleep until about 9.

They played til Nick got up and then Santi made pancakes. Then it was outside to paint the clay letters they made the night before.

The finished names:

Some swimming fun:

So then I made the mistake of leaving the kids alone with Daddy. I ran to pick up pizza and returned home to find this:

Seems they asked Daddy if they could paint the swingset and he answered, "Sure." So they did!

Chores

Chores...ugh! Growing up I had chores to do around the house, most of them on Saturday morning and I couldn't go out and play until they were done.

First, let me say I'm not big on the word 'chores' as I believe helping out around the house is part of being a member of the family. We are all responsible for the house - we all mess it up (some more than others) and we all need to help clean it up (again, some more than others). We do reward Isabel & Nick for going over and above what they are responsible for but there are certain jobs they have as members of the family.

Second, let me remind those who have forgotten or just don't know - I am not Martha Stewart. My house will never ever be featured in House Beautiful. I have too many other more important things to do - like playing Uno 10, bouncing in the trampoline, making cookies - than cleaning. So my children don't ever see me spend an entire Saturday cleaning the house. They might see me spend 20 minutes cleaning the bathroom and then head outside for some fun (we call that a fun break).

That being said, we do try to keep a pathway clear so you can walk and we try to keep the crumbs off the floor.

Isabel's responsiblities include emptying the dishwasher, emptying the trashcans on Sunday nights and helping take the bins down the driveway, putting her clean laundry away and keeping her room, hmmm, what's the word - neat, tidy, picked up?? Well, she does a great job with the dishwasher and trash. But the room and laundry...well, that's another story. I have tried everything I know to get her to clean her room. The only things that works are threatening to go in with the trashbag or helping her clean it.

BEFORE:


I find if we work together, we can get it picked up in about 10-15 minutes. Amazing what a little kindness will do!
AFTER - a happy child:

Now, here's a mom of 7 (expecting #8) who writes on the topic of chores and she basically says the same thing about working together. She also disses on rewards and punishments for chore completion - I get her explanation but in my opinion, especially for young children a reward is in order. The reward doesn't have to be tangible - it could just be kind words or an extra hug reminding your child how great they are and how lucky you are to have them!

http://www.se7en.org.za/2009/08/20/7-motivations-to-get-kids-to-do-their-chores-what-works-and-what-doesnt