Mom vs. the Dot: Making it COUNT!

In Western Pennsylvania, when a snow storm is predicted, everyone knows it's time to stock up on...     Bread and Milk The instant I hear the prediction from the weather forecaster, my mom speed dials me: "Do you have bread and milk?  A storm's coming!!" One trip to Walmart will confirm this survival tactic - the milk section will be empty (quite a feat at a Super Walmart) and the bread section will be decimated.  If you arrive too late to stock up on your basic snowstorm survival staples, you may have to settle for goat's milk and crackers instead. Or tough it out with whatever you have in your pantry.  Canned beans, anyone? Incidentally, what can you make with just bread and milk?  For bread pudding, you'd need sugar and a couple other ingredients.  If you have only bread and milk in the house you could have...bread with milk, toast with milk, bread without milk, or milk without bread.  Why can't we just say oh - a snowstorm...

My 7-year-old daughter reported in sick today. My first thought (besides making her comfortable) was woohoo!  No school!  Yep - I think I'm happier than the kids.  Is that possible? I can do this and that and the other thing I've been putting off for months! One thing I wanted to try was making homemade potato soup.  My Betty Crocker cookbook has it marked as a "Fast" recipe. Let me tell you what. Between my sick child's needs, which she bellows through a megaphone so I can hear her from the living room and tend to her every need, my three-year-old's shenanigans, the phone ringing (no, I don't have time to talk to the dentist's office), and my four-year-old's desire to make a separate recipe at the same time, things went crazy!!  I just wanted some homemade potato soup.  I will not pretend that I was making the soup for my sick child, because I knew before I made it that she would never eat it.  I live in a house full of picky eaters. ...

It is Saturday afternoon and the house is quiet.  Ah...domestic tranquility!  You are reading a book (you've been meaning to read to for 2 months), and everyone else is glued to technology.  Hubby is scanning Facebook on his phone, the 7-year-old is blasting away at something on Lego Star Wars, the 4-year-old is watching Pla Doh videos on YouTube, and the 3-year-old is playing Batman on his Leapster Explorer or watching what his sisters are up to. The peace and quiet is so nice, but your mind is abuzz with nagging questions: "Shouldn't my children be playing?  They have been glued to that video game system for 2 hours!" If I were to don my Screen Time Nazi badge, I would stop the game, but then I know I would hear,   "But moooooom, I have nothing to doooooo!  This is so booooooring!"  (Aryn took this picture of herself.  I think it's hilarious.  She said that is how she'd react if I told her no more video games.  Love...

It's 31 degrees out, the snow is falling, and I'm gearing up for a whole day of snow activities with the kids.  We're going to have some fun!  I think the secret have having fun when the kids unexpectedly have the day off (or are stuck indoors) is to have some ideas on hand that are quick, easy, and you already have the supplies on hand. Last time it snowed, we used bottle caps to embellish our snowmen. We have tried in years past, but our snowman eyes and noses usually fall off.  These caps become inset in the snow, almost screwed in and sealed - they last until the snow melts.  And they add a splash of color. And we drink so much milk and juice, that we always have a supply of caps at the ready. And, of course, no matter what the texture of snow, we usually bring some snow indoors .  It's sensory play, and my kids just love scooping and pouring.  I have read that's a pre-math skill, but I'm not going to tell them they're learning.  ...

  1a.  Leave the kids at home with your spouse. If you can't leave the kids at home, 1b.  Feed Them!  Give your kids a snack and allow potty breaks before you leave the house.  I know it's a pain to stop and make a snack before you leave home, but it's worth it.  Fuller tummies means less whiny shoppers. 2.  Make a List!  Have the children make a list before they leave home.  Scribbles and pictures are fine.  Good spelling practice for older children.  Gives them something specific to look for during the trip. 3.  Make a List!  Before you leave your house, make a detailed list of what you need.  You are less likely to browse and buy items you don't need when you have a list, and you are more likely to find what you need as you pass through each aisle, instead of backtracking through aisles.  I keep my list simple: Breakfast            ...

I always feel more at peace with my home when everything is in its place and I can see my floors.  And when my children have clean clothes neatly put away in their drawers.  And when my kitchen table and floors are clean.  And when I have a shiny sink, emptied of dirty dishes.  And when the mirrors and windows are smudge-free. But I just don't have the time to do it all.  I cannot have a perfect house.  I don't have perfect children.  My kids are not rocket scientists.  I can't even get all the dishes clean.  And don't even ask about dusting. But I'm trying!!! And, believe it or not, I don't feel like a failure. Do you recall Dory from Finding Nemo singing, "Just keep swim-ming, just keep swim-ming, swim-ming, swim-ming?"  This is one of my mottos.     Attitude makes a big difference in one's perspective on life, and work, and everything else. We can be lost in work, buried in housework, or up to our eyeball...

My heart is singing with joy for all that was accomplished today.  And that is worth writing about. Joy in the mundane. The Ordinary Day. Our son, Bram, comes in every morning and says, "Mommy, I wike you." then "You have to give me chocolate milk.  And a show." Today was extra special because he snuggled into bed with me, with his "fwashwight" (flashlight).  This is my life.  And little boy love. My dear husband got up with the boy, so I fell back to sleep.  I woke up late (9:05 - yipes!) and rushed downstairs to find my children totally absorbed in the Netflix pick of the morning. At 9:30, I declared breakfast time was about to begin.  Everyone put in their breakfast order (banilla bars, rice krispies, and enny bars - two of which were actually granola bars) and made various messes on the table, on the floor, and on their pajamas. Then my Kylie (4) brought her special jewelry box to the table - it was a craft project she received for Chr...

Just yesterday, my 3 and 4 year old children were playing on the stairs - they are open on one side, so the children like to climb up the support post like little monkeys up a tree. "Don't worry.  I'm watching you.  I won't let you fall," my daughter reassured her little brother. And I thought - hmmm...that sounds familiar. "Now to him that is able to keep you from falling..." Jude 1:24. I like to know that God is able to keep me from falling.  That he's got my back. But sometimes I feel like I'm falling and falling and falling, with no end in sight.  Have you ever been there?  Have you ever wondered, "Oh yeah?  Where are you now?"  I feel a little edgy even writing that.  You can't talk to God like that, can you? Well...actually, you can!  How do I know?  King David, the most prolific writer of psalms, wrote many laments.  He just poured out his heart to God.  No reservations.  No holding back.  Here's ...

Too cold to send the kids out to play?  What to do....  Thankfully, Christmas was just a short time ago, so they have plenty of new toys to play with.   That doesn't stop mine from saying, "I'm Booooored."  So here are a few things I keep in my back pocket to help the kids beat the winter blahs. THE HOPPING SKIPPING SONG By Have Fun Teaching THE WALKING SONG By Have Fun Teaching THE GUMMI BEAR SONG A Just Dance Kids Wii game song I recommend buying a Just Dance Kids game if you have a Wii - well worth the investment.  If you don't have a Wii, somebody copied the dance songs so you can view some of them on YouTube. Getting the kids up and active helps beat the winter blues right outta the house.  In fact, it helps moms and dads, too.  I admit to doing the Gummi Bear Dance with the kids.  They get a real kick out of mommy dancing with them.  And sometimes it leads to "Mom, you're t...

INDOOR SNOW PLAY!!! Yes, you read correctly.  Bring some snow inside!! Last year, I saw some Pinterest pics of people bringing it in and filling up their bathtubs for their kids to play with.  Fun idea, but I prefer a smaller scale version for my kids.  A fraction of the work and all of the fun.   We use a giant, disposable aluminum pan - when temperatures are too cold for them to play outside, I shove my boots, hat and coat on, then sprint out to the back yard, fill up the pan, and bring it back into the warm, cozy house.  You could use an under-bed storage bin or your a cake pan - whatever works!  We did this for the first time last year and the kids played with it for 2 HOURS!  What in the world did they do with it that engaged them for 2 hours? Here are a few things we did to prolong the fun: 1.  Digging - Provide cups, spoons, snack-sized applesauce or yogurt containers, and other digging tools.  I alwa...

Ah, the first snow day of the new year!  The kids are so excited - they can't wait to don their snow gear and plunge out into the snowy world for fun fun fun! I personally look forward to putting layer upon layer of shirts, hats, socks, mittens, and snow-proof outerwear on my children - 30 minutes of effort for an hour of fun. Yes, I have finally reached the point where the 30 minutes of snow-garbing is less than the time they spend outside.  Except for my 3-year-old.  It's his first year where snow is actually fun, but I don't see him lasting out there more than 10 minutes. When they were two or under, my children would reappear in the house within 5 minutes of their release into the winter wonderland to announce that they're cold and they're finished and can I please help them take all their soggy things off. So, if your children aren't quite old enough yet, or your children become cold easily and can't hack playing outside in the frigid temper...

When I was in second grade, my family moved from the city to the country, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.  Could 5 whole acres of land really be ours?  No fences, no sidewalks, no neighbors within spittin' distance...just peace and quiet living away out in the country.  ( Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of our house with me.  This is representative.   Found it here .) The previous owners had a small amount of livestock, so the property was equipped with some farm buildings.  There was a fenced-in pasture of 2-3 acres, a large storage barn, and a chicken coop attached to the back of the garage. My mom had heard that a long-time friend was raising sheep and seemed to be having a good time at it.  Naturally, my mom's curiosity was piqued, so she began to read up on sheep farming.  We had the land for it, and the barn with a watering trough.  A few weeks of research led to dropping that idea - too much work.  No go....

I just finished reading A Light in the Wilderness by Jane Kirkpatrick.  I was inspired by the fortitude of the main character, a woman who had been freed from slavery.  She fell in love with a "white man" and they secretly married.  On the Oregon trail, she had to pretend to be her husband's slave.  They both thought it best to do it that way, for her safety.  During the exhausting journey, she gave birth to their first child.  A few hours after labor, she was walking behind the wagon. I can't imagine doing that, but that's just the way it was.  A 5-hour trip with my kids in the car is currently my limit, and I can't imagine giving birth without an epidural, in the comfort of a clean hospital bed, surrounded by medical personnel.  This woman has inspired me! Not to travel across the country in a Conestoga wagon, nor to give birth then walk several miles. When they arrived in Oregon, they staked a claim and started a nice little home...

Does it look like Toys R Us has exploded in your living room? Ours does. We had our family Christmas, then Christmas with my husband's parents, and the great-grandparents, followed by Christmas with my parents and sister - presents, presents, presents! It's a happy sort of mess, with memories of our kids exclaiming, "This is soooo awesome!!" or "No way!" and "This is just what I wanted!!"  After the effort of trying to obtain the best items on their Christmas lists, when the anticipation of Christmas morning has come and gone, there it is:  The big mess. Today I face the challenge of tackling a mountain of toys, wrapping paper, luggage and laundry from travel.  We don't stay home and enjoy the holidays - we travel and stay with family.  A few days at my in-laws' house to celebrate Christmas, then home for a day to do laundry and repack suitcases.  After several more days at my parents' house...the entire Christmas break ha...