Kids' room workflow

I think we’ve been over this before but I HATE cleaning.  Since we have 3 kids, we use them a lot to help with the cleaning.  It’s really a win-win.  They learn life skills and I don’t have to clean. The other day on our fourth snow day home in almost as many days, I […]

Mom tip of the day: Food in the car

I don’t know about you, but I get cranky when I’m hungry.  For me it’s a sodium thing, but for most it’s a blood sugar thing.  Kids, with their faster metabolisms, also get cranky when they’re hungry.  Cranky kids usually means a downward slide of bad behavior which results in a cranky mom. If you’re […]

Love B-I-N-G-O

Valentine’s Day approaches.  Normally, I try to make a concerted effort to ignore this over-commercialized, Hallmarked holiday.  However, this year, I stumbled across an activity I couldn’t pass up and it just so happens to fit February’s love theme. The idea grew from an activity that Focus’ Thriving Family website promoted–LOVE BINGO.  They recommended reading […]

Things I {heart}: child of mine

My mom is a healthnut.  For better or worse, I “inherited” her healthnut-mom attitude.  In our house that means a lot of whole grains, balanced meals, treats in moderation, occasional uses of super-healthy alternatives like flax meal and wheat germ for eggs and bread crumbs respectively, and frequenty hiding of veggies in meals to boost […]

Twisted Christmas Chain

We put a little twist on the Christmas chain this year. While there are still names of friends and family on the links, we added names of orphans from around the world on the reverse sides. You can see children waiting for forever families at www.adoptuskids.org and www.rainbowkids.com. Here’s the post on our annual Christmas […]

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far

Me:  Did you have fun with S? Mia:  Not really.  She was mean.  She kept telling me what to do. Me:  Well you’re both really opinionated. Mia:  No I’m not.  She was just wrong.

Intentionality

Some wise woman at MOPS once mentioned that she always wanted her kids to know that they were her top priority.  She wanted to be available.  She decided that once her kids were home from school, she would be 100% available to them.  She didn’t check email, answer her phone, or work.  She just enjoyed […]

Balancing

If I had to pick one word to describe the current season, it would be BALANCING. We have one kid officially back to school as of this morning. And so the fall chaos begins. Balancing school with fun. Balancing soccer with dance. Balancing ministry with rest. Balancing work with chores. Balancing 5 schedules. To aid […]