Night Time Poetry

If only they would go to sleep but awake they stay and I must weep.  They fight and fight, heavy eyelids every night and when will they see the light?  Just close your eyelids my darling kids before your loving parents blow their lids!

Summer Blessings.

Summer is flying by.  If only we could freeze time on our best days.  If we could bottle the laughter of a child on a lazy summer day and give its essence to a sick friend it could give new life.  I hope you take a moment to catch a few lighting bug and thank God for each precious moment of summer. 

School will soon be out and what does that means for me is trying to keep my children stimulated.  It is easy for families to go into the lazily days of summer with just that in mind.  But it is important to make sure your childrens body and mind are not as lazy as those days of summer.  So stimulate those bodies with walks and bike rides and stimulate those minds with historical sites and science experience.  Don’t forget that math by playing math game.  All you can find online so get surfing and don’t forget to move.

A Generation of Farmers.

   Spring for this family means planting.  For me it means planting flowers and for my husband and our boys it means getting the crops in on the family farm.  Like so many others who have been raised on a farms it becomes a family tradition passed on proudly from generation to generation to keep the family farm going. 
    Some family farms more successful then other family farm but all make up the fabric of our nations, rich farming history.  I am happy that my boys get to experience this type of life from both sides of their family.  With my father it is the raising and bailing of hay, that he feeds to his many race horse and beef cattle.  With my father-in-law it is the raising of soy beans and corn to help feed the nation.  Both I feel privileged to have my children be a part of as farmer's sons, farmer's grandsons and farmer's great- grandsons.

May I Have a Glass of Water?

I am not a fan of some fast food restaurants with kids play land.  It is not that I don’t like to see my kids having fun.  I love that part.  The problem for me is seeing the wide range of parenting skills or lack of parenting skills.  When a mother denies her children of a simple glass of water and in turn gets herself and her boyfriend a shake each it bothers me.  When do you say something?  I don't want to undermine the parents but what did her children do to warrant not getting a simple glass of water? 

Loving those clouds.

This is me enjoying my downtime! 

Learn To Enjoy Your Down Time,

   How do you slow down long enough to enjoy the day?  In this fast pace world it is easy to get swept up in doing more with less time.  If we can find ways to accomplish more tasks in a 24 hour day we will do it.   I multi task and I have a hard time delegating responsibility to others.  It is sometimes easier and quicker for me to do the task then for me to explain what needs to be done and how.
    I found myself working on several projects this weekend.  In my head I told myself that I needed to do these thing to feel successful.  Sacrifice free time to accomplish the task at hand.  Then the weekend is gone and my kids are a little bit older I ask myself  what do I have to show for it?  So this weekend I vowed to slow down a little more.  It drove me crazy?  What is so wrong with me that I cannot slow down and enjoy a weekend with my family?  How can I enjoy my down time on the weekends?  Here are some helpful hints to assure that I have a relaxing weekend.

1.  The big one for me is to set a time limit for house work.  Do the sock need to be paired up right away or can they wait for Monday.  Make a list of the most important housework chores and stick to that list. 
2. Stop running errands.  If I can't get it done during the week it can wait for the next week. 
3. Pick activities that are relaxing.  
4. Appreciate the down time.  Painting the hallway is not relaxing.  It is work.  So try painting a picture of palm trees and leave the hallway for later.
5. Be still.  I love laying in my yard and watching the clouds go by.  That should be easy to do as long as I can stay still long enough.  Plugging into my Mp3 player helps.      

.      We as moms try to do it all and when we can't we become our biggest critic.  It is OK to slow down and take it easy.  So love yourself and enjoy your down time, you deserve it.

   

Don’t talk to me before my 1st cup of java!

Mornings are so hectic here for my family.  My 5 year old talks from the time he gets up to the time he lays his handsome little head down.  So needless to say there is no such thing as ,don’t talk to me until my first cup of java, at this home.  Then they want to eat, get dressed and they want it now!  How do you make life less hectic in the morning?
A few quick ideas come soon...

The Best Laid Plans?

    I am a planer and I love to make lists.  When I was single it worked well but with a marriage came a loving husband, three wonderful kids and  five schedules to keep on track it makes being organized hard at times.  My family of males have little respect for the simple pleasures of sticking to a plan.  I can't count the times I have heard “I have not thought that far ahead.”.
    So how do your keep your family on track without being pushy?  First I like being pushy.  It is in my nature.  But I get to feeling badly about being so bossy and I want to be easier going.  So how does one keep their family on track?
    Be diplomatic!  Being diplomatic is a great start.  It is a great way to give your family the much needed choices that may be lacking when you are too pushy.  I like to ask the questions, what are your goals for the week  or weekend?  Do you want to do something special?  If you ask this question to kids be prepared to hear a lot of options that may be out of your price range or time limit.  You obviously can not go to Disney Land in a weekend if you live in Michigan and your budget is only a hundred dollars.  But you may be able to go for a walk or to the park. 
    The other factor is my husband who is an owner operator and sometime his choices are made for him.  If he has something brake on his truck he needs to fix it or he will be out of a job.  This happens far more then I would like. If things are working well we have the problem of not wanting to do the same things.  So this is where diplomacy comes in handy.  A little bit of what I want to do and little bit of what they want to do.  It may be hard at times but we work it out.
    After we make the plans how do we keep them? Well I like to rule with and iron fist.  Ha ha, I am just joking.  There doses have to be a curtain amount of leeway in a plan in this house but for the most part we stick to the plan when everyone is willing to do their part.  We try not to make too many plans because that is always a recipe for disaster.  You just end up being tired and disappointed.  Where did the day go, is such a disappointing thing to hear at the end of a week or weekend full of promise.  So if we can be in agreement our plans are rock solid and we feel accomplished and happy in the end.

The Simple Life!

This is a blog about the simple thing in life that make me laugh, cry and tick me off.  I am a mother and I will try not to fill my blogs with my kids. However my kids are toddlers and they do funny things and sometimes I can't help myself.  I live with all males (my husband and 3 boys) and so that may come up in a blog from time to time.  Hopefully this will be a blog about events and how I feel about those events.  If you don't agree with me then great.  I love to meet people with their own opinions.  Props to you.  I am a country girl with an overactive imagination.  I have ADD so bare with me.  So if you would like to hear more from me then fallow me into my crazy little world.  Sounds like fun...now lets begin.