Stop: In the Name Of Love.

Sometimes it is really hard to stop being busy and spend some actual time playing with your kids or reading together or doing anything where your attention is totally on them.

However, It means the world to them and it is vastly more important than our to-do list.

Moms, I urge you to not just leave it for their Daddies to come home and play with them while you take care of cooking or chores. Carve out some time of your own to play.

Also, if your child has been misbehaving alot lately, you may see a correlation between the bad behaviour and your lack of attention. When put off for too long, they simply act out in desperation. I used to see it in my son. I would find that all it took was some time out from my day to do things with him where we could talk and play and create and laugh together.

With homeschooling you never have to worry about not spending time one on one with them. It is a neccessary part of your day. Even so, I try to take time for more fun things also.

Do you find yourself saying no alot? I don't mean 'No' as in ... 'No' you can't put the cat in the mailbox... or 'No' you can't put your sister in the dishwasher. (those are recommended)

I mean when your child asks... 'Mommy, can you play this game with me?' Or 'Mommy, can we play hide and seek together?' or 'Mama, can you read me this book?'

How many times a day do you say no to special time with your child?

I remember my grandmother being one who took time to just be with me. She raised me. She was fond of reading to me when i was little. She rocked me in her rocking chair. When I was older, we read peacefully to ourselves together on the front porch swing.

I believe it is vitally important in the raising of children, not to be always in a hurry. If your life is simply too full to make this happen, then some things must go.

Simplify, I beg you. This is important.

Here is a pic of my 5 year old at his 'lego station' I often sit and build with him. We got a box of assorted legos from ebay at Christmas and they are awesome to play with. Here is one of my creations...

That being said. I will also say that you must not think that your children require attention 24 hours a day. Children must have time during the day when they guide their own play. I spent more of my childhood coming up with things to do than most children. I had no neighbors, and no siblings and I lived in the woods, far away from anything by way of entertainment. I created my own. I read. ALOT. I taught myself to draw. (Pretty Well, if I do say so myself) I used my imagination. I had time to think.

I think kids today are scheduled to death. I think one of the greatest gifts we can give them is to let them alone a little each day (supervised of course). I may be alone in this conviction, but I think this may be one of the things that has made me how I am.

I meet women who can't be alone. I meet women who can't be satisfied being at home. I meet women who can't be still.
I am not saying there is anything wrong with them, but that maybe they may be lacking something rather helpful in their spirits.

Here's to a little less rushing... a little less running... a little playtime... a little quiet time. A little attention to the blessings that run around our feet... and a little time for them to just be kids.

Diet and Excercise are here to stay!

I'm back ya'll! (and those are not my feet by the way!)

I hope you all have had a wonderful beginning to 2011! I have had an awesome month and a half myself. Has it really only been that long? Crazy!

Well, as you may know I had set out to do many things this year. Heck, I have set out every year to do many new things, but I am here to testify that change can happen! This time I have kept many resolutions and even added more.

There are a several areas of my life that I have begun to alter for the better already this year. I will only talk of one of them today:

Diet and Excercise:

I have never been one for Diet. I have never really been on a diet to lose weight in my life. I have gradually become overweight and while good intentions have abounded, three pregnancies in 5 years have enabled me to let time and lbs get the best of me. The worst thing about it is that I didn't gain very much with my last pregnancy (a year ago) but that after my youngest was born, I proceeded to eat (and drink chocolate milk) like there was no tommorrow. Claiming that nursing was making me more hungry and thirsty, I sort of gave myself permission to be a glutton. I lost all self-control. I gained 20 more lbs than I had weighed before my pregnancy.

Now is the time to take control. Last month something in my brain finally clicked. Before that point, I was not able to say no to food. After that click... I have been able to totally embrace the concept of MODERATION!!! Woohoo!

I think I had been preparing myself during the holidays, that it would be my last time of eating freely. Then last month when I suddenly fell victim to an evil stomach bug that is going around, I actually decided to make the bad into a good by using those three days of fasting as a jumping off point for my new way of eating. (after all, my stomach had shrunk!)

In the past month, I have lost 6 lbs. I know what you are thinking. "Big Whoop, 6 lbs" But really, this is just the begining, because instead of doing something temporary, I have begun a long lasting new habit. I chose a sustainable method of losing weight. This is no crash diet. I have decided certain things in my mind and I am willing to follow through. There just comes a time in your life when you want to make your dreams come true. I dream often of being thin and healthy. I want to be able to look at photos of my and my kids without cringing.

Yes, that is my dream. Family photos where I look good!

What is my method of losing weight?

Just in case you were wondering. I am simply counting calories. Each day my goal is to eat only enough calories to properly sustain the ideal weight for a woman my height. I make sure to eat small snacks and meals throughout the day so that my body doesn't think I am starving (the body will hold on to that stored fat if you seem to be in a starvation mode). I gave up cokes. (a big deal for me) and occasionally substitute tea made with honey instead of sugar.

I am suplimenting my weight loss with an exercise program. I am using a video game on my Xbox Kinect to do daily workouts and now have begun to ride my bike again as I used to do... I ride about 4 miles a few times a week. I have also begun to take vitamins also, to help my body run properly.

I have lost some weight, but I have gained something too!

With these new habits I feel better. I feel great! I have more energy (not less) and I have more stamina and strength. I already play more actively with my kids. I don't need caffiene to stay awake. I sleep like a baby when it is finally time to hit the sack. I get more done (even though I take time to excercise I am able to exert more energy when chores are being done)

You may scoff. You may say that this is a temporary spell. I hope not. I feel confident that I have turned an important corner in my life that will ever be for the benefit of me and my family. If you too are trying to get started on a new way of eating and living, I encourage you... You can do it!!! We can do it! Don't worry if it takes a year or two years, or 5 or 10. The important thing is that we are taking steps in the right direction and no longer in the wrong direction. Keep it up! We will get there!

Fresh Start!

Happy New Year Everyone!

I get super pumped this time of year because I love fresh starts!

As a bonafide scatterbrained disorganized last-minute throw it together type of person in need of a more consistant quiet time and fewer pounds on the scale and less clutter in my house, I can't wait to try to do it all better in 2011!

Yes, if you read my blog from last year at this time you will probably find the same types of goals (except I gave myself a later starting date so I could have a baby!). But here I am again, starting over.

"Why Bother?" you may ask yourself. Perhaps you are one of the many people who go ahead and quit before they begin. You may think of some things that would be good to improve on but you know how these things go, you... like myself ... have had 30 or so years to learn that you are a mess and unlike me, you have decided to just accept it.

With each passing year instead of becoming more jaded, I become more hopeful for the future! When I look at my past I see failures, but I also see improvements. (very gradual ones in some cases) but still, any tiny step in the right direction is better than none.

So lets 'Press On' people!

This year my goals pretty much cover everything:

Daily and Weekly must haves:

Consistant Quiet Times

Consistant Family Devotions

Consistant Excercising

Maintain a Healthier Diet

Consistantly keeping a cleaning schedule

Making a point to encourage others

Some one-time goals:

Finish painting Micah's room

Potty Train Allie

Completely declutter and organize entire house (more on this later)

Teach Micah to read

Others to be named later...

Do you have a list? Do you have an action plan to make it happen? My main problem is daily stuff. Basically, the second I decide to do something every day, I avoid it like the plague. Am I the only one like that? The Rebel in me comes out in full force and starts tearing up those schedule sheets about a week into the year. I need to come up with a plan to psych her out and get those dailies done.

More on this later.

PS With my fresh start you may have noticed I have a fresh Blog title, Hopefully some more meaningful and heartfelt blog posts will come along soon to go with it.

Remember the Answered Prayers

Today I realized that God had answered my prayers in a specific area.

Sometimes we get so busy with day to say that we don't stop to remember. What was on my heart a year ago?

A year ago I was 8 months pregnant and the news was full of stories of the Swine Flu. I ws worried about it. Someone even emailed me an article that said that the fatality rate for pregnant women hospitalized with swine flu was 1 in 4. The news article went on to say that doctors were recommending pregnant women be vaccinated. The vaccine was only a few weeks old and untested. I was more afraid of what it might do to my unborn baby than getting the flu. But both were worrisome.

I prayed, I stayed home alot and I carried antibacterial soap to slather on grocery store buggies.

We made it till Noah was born, and then he ended up getting a rough start due to a mistake the hospital made. After a week in the NICU he was released with dire warnings. 'Flu season is about to begin', they said. Just beginning in January? Yikes.

So we prayed. (and stayed home a little longer)

It's been a year now. Noah will be eleven months old tommorrow! And our home has been a healthy one all this time. Sure we have had a few issues... an ear infection here and there, a case of the sniffles and some impetigo... but overall, until about a week ago we have had none of the stuff I had worried about.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to praise God for that answered prayer. Sure, we have spent this week with coughing and sneezing and sniffling... There's been fever and crying...I have been stayed up late with one child and gotten up early with another for several days now. But I won't complain. Our family has been truly blessed this year and with God's blessing maybe it will be another healthy year before our turn comes around again.

Hope you and yours are well!

Misty

Poem: Stay at Home Mom... what did you do today?

This Poem speaks my heart....

I heard it this week and it was just perfect so I wanted to share:


Stay at Home Mom... what did you do today?

Today I left some dishes dirty,

The bed got made around 3:30.

The diapers soaked a little longer,

The odor grew a little stronger.

The crumbs I spilled the day before,

Are staring at me from the floor.

The fingerprints there on the wall,

Will likely be there still next fall.

The dirty streaks on those window panes,

Will still be there next time it rains.

Shame on you, you sit and say,

Just what did you do today?

I nursed a baby till he slept,

I held a toddler while he wept,

I played a game of hide and seek,

I squeezed a toy so it would squeak.

I pulled a wagon, sang a song,

Taught a child right from wrong.

What did I do this whole day through?

Not much that shows, I guess it’s true.

Unless you think that what I’ve done,

Might be important to someone,

With bright brown eyes and soft blond hair,

If that is true … I’ve done my share.

Author Unknown

The Pre-Christmas Movie List

Happy Holidays Everyone!

This is the time of year I love most. It's about this time that I hit the most euphoric holiday mood and just go crazy baking and planning and dreaming of holiday memories. This may actually end up being the height of my yuletide spirit since I am sometimes over it just a bit by the time Christmas actually gets here. Once Christmas is upon me I am too busy to feel the fun anymore.

Anyway, while I don't put my tree up until the day after Thanksgiving and don't listen to Christmas music until then either, I do however enjoy some festive holiday movies while I am in the kitchen cooking for my family. I don't want to watch my favorite Christmas movies just yet, I like to save those, so I have collected up a very few movies that I feel are perfect for this pre-thanksgiving time. Some of these actually contain a Thanksgiving scene and most have just a hint of Christmas, maybe in the last few minutes.

Here they are and I hope you will watch a few of them and enjoy! Oh, and you can click to read about them on IMDB

1. Holiday Inn - Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire are funny and entertaining in this 1942 classic. Bing plays a showman who wants to quit and be a farmer but ends up turning his big farmhouse into a club/hotel that is only open on holidays. The musical numbers are great and Fred's tap dancing is terrific as usual. The Fourth of July scene is great and the 'Father Abraham' song has been edited from the televised version because of the blackface routine. This movie features the debut of Bing's classic song 'White Christmas' and there is even a Thanksgiving scene.

2. The Shop Around The Corner - A wonderful black and white movie with young Jimmy Stewart. This movie was the inspiration for 'You've Got Mail' but I like this one better. It's a cute and funny tale with a slight holiday flavor toward the end.

3. By the Light of The Silvery Moon - This Doris Day film is set in the 40's and is charming and fun. It's few musical selections are nice and the side stories are funny. It's like a Norman Rockwell painting come to life and is set around Thanksgiving.

4. Meet Me In St. Louis - Ok, I am just considering adding this one to my list. I have seen it a couple times in recent years and I like the little girl in it. I also love the song 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' which debuted in this movie. If it's not your bag, then go watch 'The Wizard of Oz'. Judy Garland is in both. (and for some reason the major networks want us to watch 'Oz' on Thanksgiving.

5. Stars in My Crown - Just one of the most ignored wonderful movies ever made. Not available on DVD (last time I checked) and a rare glimpse of a movie with major screen stars which glorifies God! It has a really great story and a sweet ending too. If you ever get a chance, watch it! If it were available on DVD I would own it in a minute!

6. It's A Wonderful Life - And finaly, my all time favorite movie! I just can't wait until Christmas to watch this. I usually watch it about once a week during this time. (Not actually sit down and watch it, but you know, have it on in the background while cooking) Only the ending involves Christmas and then only slightly. I know it is a classic Christmas movie, but really it fits into the spirit of the season even as early as Thanksgiving.

Whether you watch these or your own favorites, Have yourself some Happy Holidays!

Busy

What have I been busy doing?

Sorry I haven't been sharing much. I have been busy doing home-school, homeschool co-op on Wednesdays, MOPS every other Monday, Heart to Home once a month, children's choir Wednesday nights, a major cleaning out of my storage building, a garage sale (that flopped) and have begun doing pencil portraits from photos (See Here).

What am I going to be doing?

I will be spending the next two weeks trying to finally get the house back in shape after the garage sale fiasco in time for the big birthday party for my son who is turning 5! Also I will be doing more portraits and preparing for the holidays.
I will get back into the habit of posting very soon, really I will!