My babies turned 6 a couple days ago. My oldest baby turned 11 a couple weeks ago. How did this happen?
While I had 5 preschoolers, I had lots of seasoned moms tell me that "the days can seem really long but the years really fly by." They were right. I knew I was supposed to be enjoying motherhood - and I certainly did - sometimes - but everything just kept coming at me so quickly and those days of diapers and messes and being needed by several little people with mutually exclusive needs at all times did seem very very long. But quite suddenly, years full of those days are over.
Now I have five kids in elementary school. Now I have 3 hours of kid-less time each day while the twins are in Kindergarten. I have 5 kids who can get themselves dressed and put on their own socks and shoes. I have 5 kids who can read. I have 5 fun people around to talk to about all sorts of interesting things and to accompany me to the library and to museums and to instigate bike rides and art projects and family read-a-thons. I've got 5 people who know how to do the dishes and clean up their rooms (but of course knowing how to do something and actually doing it are two different things).
I'm loving motherhood these days. While I loved my kids' babyhood and toddlerhood and often wish I could go back in time to cuddle their squishy little bodies, hear their babbling and first words, and see their adorable first smiles, first steps and first laughs again, I think I've really hit my stride as a mother with all my kids in this middle childhood stage. I think most moms have a stage of motherhood that really clicks for them. My sister Shawni is all about newborns. Others can't get enough of toddlers. Some adore the teenage years (and I hope that'll be me). So far, the stage I'm in right now is absolutely delightful (most of the time) for me. And I wish I could keep these fun kids right where they are for a while - quite a while.
I heard a quote a while back by a mom who'd had a big career outside her home while also mothering several children. In an interview one time, she was asked whether she thought she was able to give her children the attention they needed while giving her career what was required. Her answer was something like this: "My kids turned out great. They're fabulous people. I think they got everything they needed from me. But looking back, I feel like I'm the one who missed out. I don't think I got everything I needed out of motherhood."
I don't want to look back and feel that way. I want to cherish this precious time when my children are at such delightful stages and when they still want to show me things and tell me things and do things with me. I need this time with my kids just as much as they need this time with me. Last week Isaac brought home a book about ancient Greece and we all read it together. Everyone was fascinated - including me. On the twins' birthday, we all worked together on shoveling the driveway and building a snowman and it was just so fun. Today we all sat around the table after church and talked about the theme from Stake Conference - being a modern day pioneer and getting to know our ancestors - and everyone had such great ideas and thoughts to share. I love this stuff. And I want a lot more of it.
So while there are 1000's of hours of Power of Moms work that needs to be done and countless other timely projects that are important to me and to others, I'm protecting my precious time with my precious kids. I can get work done while they're at school and sometimes in the evenings. I can reply to a few emails while they're happily doing something on their own. But I'm protecting Sunday afternoons and bedtimes and homework time and daily reading time. I'm going to make sure I get individual time with these precious individuals who call me mom plus we're planning some great activities we can all do together each month plus some big stuff for this year.
While I've sometimes been so stressed (especially lately with the move and the holidays and lots of Power of Moms deadlines) that I want to throw up my hands and quit most everything other than being a mother and a wife, I know that for me, I truly need some "extracurricular" activities. Plus the opportunities I have to learn and give through Power of Moms and the chance I have to reflect on my life and actions through this blog helps me be a better mom and person in so many ways while setting an example of community-mindedness and caring and journal-keeping for my children. But I'm seeing the time slip away and I'm determined to get all I need out of motherhood while giving my kids the mom they need. So I'm going to push back deadlines and grab more of the now-or-never moments that have seemed to float on by too much.
You know the saying, "Never put off 'til tomorrow that which you can do today"? My parents flipped that saying in a book they wrote and I want to embrace this new version a lot more: "Always put off a put-off-able in favor of a now-or-never."
NOW is the time to be with my kids. It's also the time to embrace and support the great things that are happening with The Power of Moms (we've got over 40,000 moms who are enjoying the website and new opportunities pop up daily). I'm realizing I CAN do both. But only with carefully drawn boundaries, tons of patience, plenty of help from many outside forces plus a large dose of letting go and letting God.
So to any of you who've been waiting on me to do things (like finish judging the scores of beautiful entries we received for our Power of Moms writing contest or update a bunch of stuff on the website), thanks for your patience and understanding and please know I'm working hard every day. But I only have so many hours a day. The important things will get done. I just can't promise exactly when.
I'll end with this poem I memorized when I was a teenager - it was cross stitched in a frame in the home of a woman I used to babysit for all the time. As I played with her cute kids, I remember thinking of the day when I would have children of my own and I would always prioritize time with them.
Cleaning and scrubbing can wait 'til tomorrow
For children grow up, we've learned to our sorrow
So quiet down cobwebs
Dust, go to sleep
I'm rocking my baby
And babies don't keep
Here's a new version of the poem that rings even more true to me today:
Websites and emails can wait 'til tomorrow
For children grow up, we've learned to our sorrow
So quiet down projects,
Phone, go to sleep,
I'm enjoying my children
And children don't keep.
Oh, and if you want to join me in making the most of your current stage of motherhood, please play the Bloom Game (click on the flower on the right) with me. You can sign up for free and it'll take you to a self-assessment where you can figure out what you want to work on then decide on how you're going to be the deliberate mother you want to be while pursuing your own interests and talents in a balanced way. You'll get to set bite-sized goals each week and the program will prompt you to set new goals each Sunday. Plus the program encourages you to look for and create more opportunities for "serendipity" in your life. I've slacked off on the program myself for a little while and doing it again this week has made such a difference in my life! When I'm doing Bloom regularly, I find I FEEL so much better about my life - plus I AM better.
And if you do the program, please please please take a minute to share a little about how your goals went that week when prompted by the Sunday reminder email you'll get. It's so motivating to share and hear about experiences with this program.
Even if you only do the program for a couple weeks for free, it'll totally help you to do the self-evaluation and learn a simple new way to set and achieve goals in a manageable, balanced way so you can move towards becoming the mom and person you really want to be. DO IT!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Deliberate Mothering - in Thailand
I got an email yesterday that brought tears to my eyes and made me realize the serious life-changing POWER that happens when moms mother deliberately and share their ideas and experiences.
The email was from Allyson, a mom who attended our New Hampshire Retreat and who decided to jump in and do something she's always thought would be so good for her family. I'm SO excited for her (and jealous, I'll admit). Our day will come - we're saving up and waiting for the kids to get a little older then we're headed to Bulgaria to spend time with the orphans we raise money for each Christmas - and hopefully to many other exciting and eye-opening places as well both here in this country and abroad. And we've already found a couple ways to help others and learn from those we reach out to in this community
You certainly don't have to go to Thailand (like Allyson) to create the experiences you want for your family - you can create amazingly memorable experiences full of life-lessons for your kids on any budget in any location - the key is deciding what you want for your family and then making those things a priority and pushing through any obstacles to make what you believe is best for your family actually happen.
Anyway, here's what I got from Allyson - totally worth the read:
Dear Power of Mom Retreat friends! This is an email I wrote about the new adventure we are on. I wanted to make sure you all got it as YOU are a big part of the reasons we are doing this! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the words of wisdom and advice I received from all of you. It changed my life!
XOXO, Ally
PS My blog is now working- see link at the bottom - all you pro bloggers out there just ignore my kindergarten attempt:)
Dear friends,
We made it! It was a long trip, but I am happy to report that Charlotte and Ashton only cried once the entire trip to Thailand - a miracle since they basically missed an entire night's sleep, were severely jet lagged, and had to wear the same clothes for 3 days.
I'll give a little background info for those who are just hearing about what we are doing. In Nov. I attended a Power of Moms Retreat (highly recommend it-it was fabulous). One of the main things that I pulled away from the conference was that we need to be deliberate in the things that we want to teach our children. I have thought a great deal about what I want to be "deliberate" in as a mother. There are things that I have always wanted to incorporate into our family, but I never do anything about. Part of the reason is simply because I have been down in the trenches with babies, nursing, sleep deprivation, and moves. The other reason is because I have failed to sit down and take a moment to figure out how to implement it. If we are distracted in the day to day things, we let the long term goals go by the wayside.
I was reading an article called "How Will You Measure Your Life" by Clayton Christensen in the Harvard Business Review magazine. These particular lines stood out to me. "If you want your kids to have strong self-esteem and confidence that they can solve hard problems, those qualities won’t magically materialize in high school. You have to design them into your family’s culture—and you have to think about this very early on. Like employees, children build self-esteem by doing things that are hard and learning what works"
A little panic set in after I read that because while I still have a lot of little kids, my Samuel will be in High School next year. Half of his life I have been in bed sick with pregnancies:) He was amazing through it all, but I realized high school is just around the corner for him. That is when I took being deliberate seriously and Matt and I came up with our "bucket list" of parenting. On the top of our list was to have the children see a different side of the world-one that is a polar opposite of their itouch, xbox, homework-filled, sports-crazed, fast food on every corner life. Don't get me wrong, we love America, we are so grateful for all the blessings we enjoy, but we just wanted them to see what most of the children in this world live like.
After going through finances, it was a stretch, but we prayed about it and spent a lot of time thinking-weighing the positives and negatives and we decided to book it. Eight tickets to Thailand for almost a month. I don't know if I would have had the courage to do it except for a dear friend I met at the Power of Moms conference who shared how her family sold their house and moved to South America for 8 months. She said it changed their life. She gave me courage.
The children went door to door selling a hand sanitizer that my brother-in-law's company sells and they were able to raise money for the orphans (ownership of the helping the orphans). We gathered the many donations of items people brought over (thank you!) as well as the money, packed our bags, and we were off.
Korea was beautiful (and freezing)- our bags continued to Phuket, so all we had were what we had on. It was snowing, but the kids loved the Palace and many outdoor markets. New food, new culture, and definitely new smells. We had a lot of dry heaving going on.
Yesterday was our first day in the orphanages. The first one was called "Safe Haven" attached to the women's prison. They live in 2 rooms that are maybe 12 foot by 12 foot and there is nowhere to play outside. There were about 35 children all lined up in rows eating their lunch of rice and noodles. There was not an inch to spare in that room. They were about to take their naps, so we are going back today.
We then drove to the "Holland House" orphanage. We were very blessed to find it-with the many little roads throughout the city, with no street signs, we had a tender mercy as we ran into a lady that drove us straight there...
This is the part of the story where every wonder of doubt we had over coming and spending the money disappeared into thin air. I have been up since 3 am thinking about the day we had yesterday. We walked into the small orphanage and the children were also eating their lunch. I watched as my children almost instinctively picked a child to sit next to and help feed them their lunch. Sam and Brandon took some of the little boys and played football with them with the football they had brought. Ashton had no language barrier as he ran around playing with the other 3 and 4 year olds. Olivia was in her element as the children just wanted to be held and kept jumping in her lap and on her back. It was a true gift to be there experiencing this with our children. They loved it. The workers there who spoke very little English kept saying over and over again-"Children happy. Children happy." The children in the orphanage giggled and giggled, tackled the boys (they really are the same everywhere), and had such an amazing spirit about them. There really was a feeling of love there. They had about 4 workers who you could absolutely feel loved these children. Though some only had a t-shirt and underwear on with no shoes, they did feel love.
There was one little girl however that I can't get out of my mind. She is almost 2, but looked malnourished and half her age. She wouldn't move off of the helper's lap and she cried on and off the whole time we were there. I can't erase the sadness off her face. She is the only one who never engaged or even smiled. Through the broken English we learned that she had only been there 2 days. Obviously, she was dealing with the sadness of losing her family and being somewhere where she knew no one and missed her family. I kept thinking of that happening to my little Charlotte. Alone and confused as to where her family was. It was truly heartbreaking.
The children are so BEAUTIFUL. The Thai people are so gracious and kind. I had heard and read about how the Thai people loved and revered children, and it was no understatement.
We are off to go back today and bring more items and head to the grocery store to bring food that they had on their list. They get a little government funding, but desperately need donations to survive. They had run out of diapers and while we were there 2 of the children had an accident as a puddle formed around where they were sitting. They were obviously wearing underwear before they were ready due to the lack of diapers.
Some of you have asked if there was anything else you could do or donate. The answer is yes, yes, yes! They are desperate for money to buy needed goods. They also said the children have not been on an outing to the beach or aquarium etc. in 6 months-which means they have not left the orphanage. An outing like that costs about 2000 baht which is about $70. Anyway, if you would like to help more just let me know.
We love you all! I will start posting on my blog, which I never write on, as soon as I can get it back to English. All the words to make a new post etc are in Thai. The blog is www.carefreetimelessness.
The email was from Allyson, a mom who attended our New Hampshire Retreat and who decided to jump in and do something she's always thought would be so good for her family. I'm SO excited for her (and jealous, I'll admit). Our day will come - we're saving up and waiting for the kids to get a little older then we're headed to Bulgaria to spend time with the orphans we raise money for each Christmas - and hopefully to many other exciting and eye-opening places as well both here in this country and abroad. And we've already found a couple ways to help others and learn from those we reach out to in this community
You certainly don't have to go to Thailand (like Allyson) to create the experiences you want for your family - you can create amazingly memorable experiences full of life-lessons for your kids on any budget in any location - the key is deciding what you want for your family and then making those things a priority and pushing through any obstacles to make what you believe is best for your family actually happen.
Anyway, here's what I got from Allyson - totally worth the read:
Dear Power of Mom Retreat friends! This is an email I wrote about the new adventure we are on. I wanted to make sure you all got it as YOU are a big part of the reasons we are doing this! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the words of wisdom and advice I received from all of you. It changed my life!
XOXO, Ally
PS My blog is now working- see link at the bottom - all you pro bloggers out there just ignore my kindergarten attempt:)
Dear friends,
We made it! It was a long trip, but I am happy to report that Charlotte and Ashton only cried once the entire trip to Thailand - a miracle since they basically missed an entire night's sleep, were severely jet lagged, and had to wear the same clothes for 3 days.
I'll give a little background info for those who are just hearing about what we are doing. In Nov. I attended a Power of Moms Retreat (highly recommend it-it was fabulous). One of the main things that I pulled away from the conference was that we need to be deliberate in the things that we want to teach our children. I have thought a great deal about what I want to be "deliberate" in as a mother. There are things that I have always wanted to incorporate into our family, but I never do anything about. Part of the reason is simply because I have been down in the trenches with babies, nursing, sleep deprivation, and moves. The other reason is because I have failed to sit down and take a moment to figure out how to implement it. If we are distracted in the day to day things, we let the long term goals go by the wayside.
I was reading an article called "How Will You Measure Your Life" by Clayton Christensen in the Harvard Business Review magazine. These particular lines stood out to me. "If you want your kids to have strong self-esteem and confidence that they can solve hard problems, those qualities won’t magically materialize in high school. You have to design them into your family’s culture—and you have to think about this very early on. Like employees, children build self-esteem by doing things that are hard and learning what works"
A little panic set in after I read that because while I still have a lot of little kids, my Samuel will be in High School next year. Half of his life I have been in bed sick with pregnancies:) He was amazing through it all, but I realized high school is just around the corner for him. That is when I took being deliberate seriously and Matt and I came up with our "bucket list" of parenting. On the top of our list was to have the children see a different side of the world-one that is a polar opposite of their itouch, xbox, homework-filled, sports-crazed, fast food on every corner life. Don't get me wrong, we love America, we are so grateful for all the blessings we enjoy, but we just wanted them to see what most of the children in this world live like.
After going through finances, it was a stretch, but we prayed about it and spent a lot of time thinking-weighing the positives and negatives and we decided to book it. Eight tickets to Thailand for almost a month. I don't know if I would have had the courage to do it except for a dear friend I met at the Power of Moms conference who shared how her family sold their house and moved to South America for 8 months. She said it changed their life. She gave me courage.
The children went door to door selling a hand sanitizer that my brother-in-law's company sells and they were able to raise money for the orphans (ownership of the helping the orphans). We gathered the many donations of items people brought over (thank you!) as well as the money, packed our bags, and we were off.
Korea was beautiful (and freezing)- our bags continued to Phuket, so all we had were what we had on. It was snowing, but the kids loved the Palace and many outdoor markets. New food, new culture, and definitely new smells. We had a lot of dry heaving going on.
Yesterday was our first day in the orphanages. The first one was called "Safe Haven" attached to the women's prison. They live in 2 rooms that are maybe 12 foot by 12 foot and there is nowhere to play outside. There were about 35 children all lined up in rows eating their lunch of rice and noodles. There was not an inch to spare in that room. They were about to take their naps, so we are going back today.
We then drove to the "Holland House" orphanage. We were very blessed to find it-with the many little roads throughout the city, with no street signs, we had a tender mercy as we ran into a lady that drove us straight there...
This is the part of the story where every wonder of doubt we had over coming and spending the money disappeared into thin air. I have been up since 3 am thinking about the day we had yesterday. We walked into the small orphanage and the children were also eating their lunch. I watched as my children almost instinctively picked a child to sit next to and help feed them their lunch. Sam and Brandon took some of the little boys and played football with them with the football they had brought. Ashton had no language barrier as he ran around playing with the other 3 and 4 year olds. Olivia was in her element as the children just wanted to be held and kept jumping in her lap and on her back. It was a true gift to be there experiencing this with our children. They loved it. The workers there who spoke very little English kept saying over and over again-"Children happy. Children happy." The children in the orphanage giggled and giggled, tackled the boys (they really are the same everywhere), and had such an amazing spirit about them. There really was a feeling of love there. They had about 4 workers who you could absolutely feel loved these children. Though some only had a t-shirt and underwear on with no shoes, they did feel love.
There was one little girl however that I can't get out of my mind. She is almost 2, but looked malnourished and half her age. She wouldn't move off of the helper's lap and she cried on and off the whole time we were there. I can't erase the sadness off her face. She is the only one who never engaged or even smiled. Through the broken English we learned that she had only been there 2 days. Obviously, she was dealing with the sadness of losing her family and being somewhere where she knew no one and missed her family. I kept thinking of that happening to my little Charlotte. Alone and confused as to where her family was. It was truly heartbreaking.
The children are so BEAUTIFUL. The Thai people are so gracious and kind. I had heard and read about how the Thai people loved and revered children, and it was no understatement.
We are off to go back today and bring more items and head to the grocery store to bring food that they had on their list. They get a little government funding, but desperately need donations to survive. They had run out of diapers and while we were there 2 of the children had an accident as a puddle formed around where they were sitting. They were obviously wearing underwear before they were ready due to the lack of diapers.
Some of you have asked if there was anything else you could do or donate. The answer is yes, yes, yes! They are desperate for money to buy needed goods. They also said the children have not been on an outing to the beach or aquarium etc. in 6 months-which means they have not left the orphanage. An outing like that costs about 2000 baht which is about $70. Anyway, if you would like to help more just let me know.
We love you all! I will start posting on my blog, which I never write on, as soon as I can get it back to English. All the words to make a new post etc are in Thai. The blog is www.carefreetimelessness.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Coldness
OK so it's late and I've got to keep up on my routine resolutions but I wanted to just say one thing (to keep up with my blog-writing resolutions).
It's cold here. It's really really really cold here. I like Odgen - I really do. And I love our new old house. And this is really feeling like home. And I do like the coziness of being inside on a cold day and the snow is very pretty (when it's fresh). But after tons of gray skies and temperatures that have mostly been in the teens, I'm feeling just a tad bit nostalgic for good old St George. Oh, the skies are so blue there! And it's warm there! I think maybe we'll go back and visit this weekend. We'll see.
Here's what I used to see out my window every day (view from the back balcony):
Now I see this (view from our bedroom):
Pretty big contrast, huh?
It's cold here. It's really really really cold here. I like Odgen - I really do. And I love our new old house. And this is really feeling like home. And I do like the coziness of being inside on a cold day and the snow is very pretty (when it's fresh). But after tons of gray skies and temperatures that have mostly been in the teens, I'm feeling just a tad bit nostalgic for good old St George. Oh, the skies are so blue there! And it's warm there! I think maybe we'll go back and visit this weekend. We'll see.
Here's what I used to see out my window every day (view from the back balcony):
Now I see this (view from our bedroom):
Pretty big contrast, huh?
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Don't get Cocky
I like this quote - can't remember who said it or where I heard it, but it stuck with me:
"As soon as you get a little cocky about your mothering, the principal will call and let you know that your son just drove a motorcycle through the gymnasium."
Sort of weird, yes - but it sticks with you, no?
I was a little cocky in my last post about routines. I did do a good job getting the routines rolling and I was enjoying a good day that day. But here's how our "routine" went this morning:
I got up 10 minutes late. I used the snooze button on my new phone - thought it was a 5 minute snooze - nope - ten. I dragged myself out of bed and headed upstairs to make sure the kids were up and going on the good old routine.
Nope. Ashton was reading a book instead of taking a shower and the rest of the kids were asleep.
I sent Ashton into the shower and got the other kids up. But I'd been tired the night before and forgot to set out their clothes - or go over what the schedule and routine was for the morning. Ashton had no school shirts that could be found anywhere. Isaac got dressed quickly and headed downstairs - I asked him to set out the bowls and make sure his homework was ready in his backpack. I got the twins going on getting dressed and got myself ready.
Time for breakfast - just 10 minutes late - we'll still be OK. I realized Ashton was still in the shower and headed upstairs to ask him nicely - again - to HURRY. On the way back down I heard another shower and found that Eliza had decided to take a shower too even though it's not her shower day so I asked her to HURRY.
Got downstairs to find Isaac wandering around aimlessly, no bowls on the table, no homework ready - what had he been doing for the last precious 10 minutes? He had no idea.
Got oatmeal whipped up and sat down to eat. Ashton finally came downstairs demanding that I find him some shorts to wear for gym that day and that they needed to be shorts that went past his knees. I explained that needs for things like new gym shorts should really be stated in advance of when you actually need them. We have shorts that go to the middle of his knee but he said they would be too short. I searched through his stuff and handed him the longest shorts I could find and asked him to put them in his backpack.
I finished everyone's hair, checked all the backpacks, reminded everyone to clear their places (somehow it's SO hard to remember), asked whoever was guilty - and I don't even care who - to PLEASE go flush the poo down the toilet in the powder room right off the kitchen (wondering what that smell was as I was getting breakfast), and asked everyone when their socks are supposed to go on their feet - "before we come downstairs for breakfast" they chorused back. Well, no one remembered that little part of the routine so everyone went upstairs to the laundry room where we keep socks and got socks on, got coats on, got backpacks, got shoes on (some people strangely doing this in slow motion while I urged everyone along with increasingly less-nice urgings). Then I realized Eliza didn't have her glasses on and had her go back upstairs and get them (much to her dismay - going ALL the way upstairs is so HARD. Tell me about it - I've already done it like 10 times today myself...)
I sent the kids to hop in the car while I looked for the keys that I really thought I left on the window sill. Turns out Ashton had taken the keys to the car. I got in the car and saw that Ashton somehow had no coat on - even though I'm pretty darn sure I reminded each child to get their backpacks AND their coats when they headed to the closet. Reminded Ashton for the hundreth time that we live in a cold place and we should always put on a coat when we go outside (St George habits die hard with that guy). He said he was perfectly fine without a coat. The temperature thing in the car said 11 degrees. I sent him back in for the coat.
We headed out - just 8 minutes late. In the car, we had a fun little quiz to see who could remember all the steps in the morning routine. Eliza passed it off with flying colors. Ashton passed it off too - but somehow KNOWING what he's supposed to do and actually remembering to do it are two different things. We dropped Ashton off at school and then I asked Isaac to tell me the routine and he didn't answer. We all realized he wasn't in the car. Oops. The kids in the back thought he was in the front seat by me and I assumed he was in the back.
We headed back home and found a very sad Isaac sitting on the back steps (with no coat - and it was still 11 degrees). He'd been in the bathroom when we left. I'm not sure how he missed all the commotion of trying to find the socks and get the coats and shoes on. I guess he was in the upstairs bathroom since the downstairs one was so stinky. We all felt bad.
We got Isaac's coat and headed out to school for the second time.
When I got back from dropping off the kids, I saw that Ashton's gym shorts were sitting on the kitchen counter. Glad I spent that extra 5 minutes looking for them.
So yes, routines are beautiful. But when the mom gets up 10 minutes late and the reminders of the routine didn't happen the night before and someone needs gym shorts, even the best routines just don't quite work out!
At least I haven't received any calls from the principal - yet!
"As soon as you get a little cocky about your mothering, the principal will call and let you know that your son just drove a motorcycle through the gymnasium."
Sort of weird, yes - but it sticks with you, no?
I was a little cocky in my last post about routines. I did do a good job getting the routines rolling and I was enjoying a good day that day. But here's how our "routine" went this morning:
I got up 10 minutes late. I used the snooze button on my new phone - thought it was a 5 minute snooze - nope - ten. I dragged myself out of bed and headed upstairs to make sure the kids were up and going on the good old routine.
Nope. Ashton was reading a book instead of taking a shower and the rest of the kids were asleep.
I sent Ashton into the shower and got the other kids up. But I'd been tired the night before and forgot to set out their clothes - or go over what the schedule and routine was for the morning. Ashton had no school shirts that could be found anywhere. Isaac got dressed quickly and headed downstairs - I asked him to set out the bowls and make sure his homework was ready in his backpack. I got the twins going on getting dressed and got myself ready.
Time for breakfast - just 10 minutes late - we'll still be OK. I realized Ashton was still in the shower and headed upstairs to ask him nicely - again - to HURRY. On the way back down I heard another shower and found that Eliza had decided to take a shower too even though it's not her shower day so I asked her to HURRY.
Got downstairs to find Isaac wandering around aimlessly, no bowls on the table, no homework ready - what had he been doing for the last precious 10 minutes? He had no idea.
Got oatmeal whipped up and sat down to eat. Ashton finally came downstairs demanding that I find him some shorts to wear for gym that day and that they needed to be shorts that went past his knees. I explained that needs for things like new gym shorts should really be stated in advance of when you actually need them. We have shorts that go to the middle of his knee but he said they would be too short. I searched through his stuff and handed him the longest shorts I could find and asked him to put them in his backpack.
I finished everyone's hair, checked all the backpacks, reminded everyone to clear their places (somehow it's SO hard to remember), asked whoever was guilty - and I don't even care who - to PLEASE go flush the poo down the toilet in the powder room right off the kitchen (wondering what that smell was as I was getting breakfast), and asked everyone when their socks are supposed to go on their feet - "before we come downstairs for breakfast" they chorused back. Well, no one remembered that little part of the routine so everyone went upstairs to the laundry room where we keep socks and got socks on, got coats on, got backpacks, got shoes on (some people strangely doing this in slow motion while I urged everyone along with increasingly less-nice urgings). Then I realized Eliza didn't have her glasses on and had her go back upstairs and get them (much to her dismay - going ALL the way upstairs is so HARD. Tell me about it - I've already done it like 10 times today myself...)
I sent the kids to hop in the car while I looked for the keys that I really thought I left on the window sill. Turns out Ashton had taken the keys to the car. I got in the car and saw that Ashton somehow had no coat on - even though I'm pretty darn sure I reminded each child to get their backpacks AND their coats when they headed to the closet. Reminded Ashton for the hundreth time that we live in a cold place and we should always put on a coat when we go outside (St George habits die hard with that guy). He said he was perfectly fine without a coat. The temperature thing in the car said 11 degrees. I sent him back in for the coat.
We headed out - just 8 minutes late. In the car, we had a fun little quiz to see who could remember all the steps in the morning routine. Eliza passed it off with flying colors. Ashton passed it off too - but somehow KNOWING what he's supposed to do and actually remembering to do it are two different things. We dropped Ashton off at school and then I asked Isaac to tell me the routine and he didn't answer. We all realized he wasn't in the car. Oops. The kids in the back thought he was in the front seat by me and I assumed he was in the back.
We headed back home and found a very sad Isaac sitting on the back steps (with no coat - and it was still 11 degrees). He'd been in the bathroom when we left. I'm not sure how he missed all the commotion of trying to find the socks and get the coats and shoes on. I guess he was in the upstairs bathroom since the downstairs one was so stinky. We all felt bad.
We got Isaac's coat and headed out to school for the second time.
When I got back from dropping off the kids, I saw that Ashton's gym shorts were sitting on the kitchen counter. Glad I spent that extra 5 minutes looking for them.
So yes, routines are beautiful. But when the mom gets up 10 minutes late and the reminders of the routine didn't happen the night before and someone needs gym shorts, even the best routines just don't quite work out!
At least I haven't received any calls from the principal - yet!
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
The Beauty of Routines
The kids went back to school today. I'm pretty excited to have some semblance of a routine and regular schedule for the first time in a couple months (moving back to back with the holidays wasn't very routine-friendly).
Last night we talked about our school-day routine before getting the kids to bed. We make beds when we stand up out of bed. We brush teeth when we go to the bathroom. We take a shower before we get dressed in our school clothes that are laid out the night before. We don't play or eat before we're dressed and ready. We put our socks on before we come downstairs. We keep our shoes in the shoe place by the door.
So this morning went really well. I got all the big kids to school on time (the clear morning routine plus the fact that everyone can now actually find their clothes and the fact that I've finally figured out the fastest route between our home and their school sure helped). After dropping off the big kids, the twins and I had a quality reading time and I so enjoyed snuggling with them by the fire while we read. I replied to a handful of emails while they drew pictures (30 minutes of email time in the mornings - max - that's one of my New Years Resolutions) then we had a nice little lunch together before I took them to school (another resolution - lunch at 11:15 so they can be at school by noon - and we were on time!). I came home, got dinner in the crock pot (resolution to figure out what to have for dinner before it's actually dinner time), and spent the last hour and a half on the phone with April prioritizing Power of Moms stuff (and I'm feeling much better now that we've put off some things that were making me way too stressed - resolution to be better at prioritizing and saying no). Now I've got 20 minutes to write this little post before I go pick up all the kids (resolution to write more often and write shorter more targeted posts).
Routines are wonderful things. I've missed them dearly. And routines sure help with resolutions.
Of course, most days the established routines get messed up here and there. Unexpected things pop up - usually at the least opportune times. The repairman shows up when you need to go pick up the kids from school. Someone calls with a crisis when you're trying to help your kids with homework and you probably shouldn't have answered the phone right then but you did (or one of your kids did...). Your twins dump out 50 pounds of pinto beans in the pantry while you're downstairs cleaning up the potted plant they upturned a few minutes prior while you were trying to do story time with your older kids (happened to me a few years ago - similar sorts of things again and again almost every day while the twins were two - any semblance of a routine was hard in those days - but still, days when I tried for at least a simple routine went better than those when I didn't even attempt a routine).
But having a routine that generally works is a very good thing. Having times where you can usually plan on having a little quiet time to get things done or plan on helping with homework or plan on running errands or plan on doing bedtime stuff is a good thing. Being able to "blame" the clock for the necessity of doing certain things at certain times can be a great thing with kids - and can help you be more personally disciplined as well. Knowing what to expect and setting up expectations for your family members about how the day should go generally makes the day go better - as long as your expectations are realistic, that is.
So today, I give thanks for routines - imperfect and flexible but generally tried-and-true routines. Long may they live.
Last night we talked about our school-day routine before getting the kids to bed. We make beds when we stand up out of bed. We brush teeth when we go to the bathroom. We take a shower before we get dressed in our school clothes that are laid out the night before. We don't play or eat before we're dressed and ready. We put our socks on before we come downstairs. We keep our shoes in the shoe place by the door.
So this morning went really well. I got all the big kids to school on time (the clear morning routine plus the fact that everyone can now actually find their clothes and the fact that I've finally figured out the fastest route between our home and their school sure helped). After dropping off the big kids, the twins and I had a quality reading time and I so enjoyed snuggling with them by the fire while we read. I replied to a handful of emails while they drew pictures (30 minutes of email time in the mornings - max - that's one of my New Years Resolutions) then we had a nice little lunch together before I took them to school (another resolution - lunch at 11:15 so they can be at school by noon - and we were on time!). I came home, got dinner in the crock pot (resolution to figure out what to have for dinner before it's actually dinner time), and spent the last hour and a half on the phone with April prioritizing Power of Moms stuff (and I'm feeling much better now that we've put off some things that were making me way too stressed - resolution to be better at prioritizing and saying no). Now I've got 20 minutes to write this little post before I go pick up all the kids (resolution to write more often and write shorter more targeted posts).
Routines are wonderful things. I've missed them dearly. And routines sure help with resolutions.
Of course, most days the established routines get messed up here and there. Unexpected things pop up - usually at the least opportune times. The repairman shows up when you need to go pick up the kids from school. Someone calls with a crisis when you're trying to help your kids with homework and you probably shouldn't have answered the phone right then but you did (or one of your kids did...). Your twins dump out 50 pounds of pinto beans in the pantry while you're downstairs cleaning up the potted plant they upturned a few minutes prior while you were trying to do story time with your older kids (happened to me a few years ago - similar sorts of things again and again almost every day while the twins were two - any semblance of a routine was hard in those days - but still, days when I tried for at least a simple routine went better than those when I didn't even attempt a routine).
But having a routine that generally works is a very good thing. Having times where you can usually plan on having a little quiet time to get things done or plan on helping with homework or plan on running errands or plan on doing bedtime stuff is a good thing. Being able to "blame" the clock for the necessity of doing certain things at certain times can be a great thing with kids - and can help you be more personally disciplined as well. Knowing what to expect and setting up expectations for your family members about how the day should go generally makes the day go better - as long as your expectations are realistic, that is.
So today, I give thanks for routines - imperfect and flexible but generally tried-and-true routines. Long may they live.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Enjoying
Oliver's sitting here next to me singing the cutest song to his new stuffed pet pug: "Puggy I love you yes I do, I love you, yes I do, I-I-I-I-I loooove you." Now he's reading Puggy a story. I think Santa brought a good gift. And Silas is eagerly awaiting his chihuahua while Oliver lets him hold Puggy every time he asks. They'll both be so excited when the chihuahua shows up (today hopefully). I can't get enough of these cute little kids lately!
We're back home and it's like Christmas all over again as the kids play with the fun presents they only had a few hours to play with before leaving them behind and heading up to Ashton for more presents. I love the day or two after a Christmas trip when the kids are so totally enjoying their new toys and I can get caught up on some work in between some nice games and stories with the kids.
We're all a little sick and that's getting old. Oliver came and slept with us last night. He woke me up to tell me "I think I just swallowed some germs because my head is hot and my throat hurts." Even at 4am, that was pretty funny. I don't sleep well with a kid next to me - their squirming makes it hard to sleep and makes me worried about whether Jared's able to sleep because he's been going on very little sleep lately. I love the idea of snuggling up and sleeping with a sweet little child but somehow it never really works out.
I'm so grateful for these few days to enjoy time together in our cozy new house. The tree's still going strong (I think I'm a Home Depot tree convert - we got the most beautiful, freshest tree there this year!) and we've still got plenty of Christmas books to read together. I'm with the Europeans - Christmas should go through the beginning of January at least. We're doing a little outing each day to keep us all sane (the art museum down the street yesterday, the library and a few present returns today). But mostly we're just enjoying each other and our home and our fun new things. I've got SO much that needs to be done on this Power of Moms book and I was able to get a post done for our Motherhood Matters blog at the Deseret News. But mostly, I'm trying to put off and delegate all that I can to enjoy this time with my kids - this time that will never come back.
We're back home and it's like Christmas all over again as the kids play with the fun presents they only had a few hours to play with before leaving them behind and heading up to Ashton for more presents. I love the day or two after a Christmas trip when the kids are so totally enjoying their new toys and I can get caught up on some work in between some nice games and stories with the kids.
We're all a little sick and that's getting old. Oliver came and slept with us last night. He woke me up to tell me "I think I just swallowed some germs because my head is hot and my throat hurts." Even at 4am, that was pretty funny. I don't sleep well with a kid next to me - their squirming makes it hard to sleep and makes me worried about whether Jared's able to sleep because he's been going on very little sleep lately. I love the idea of snuggling up and sleeping with a sweet little child but somehow it never really works out.
I'm so grateful for these few days to enjoy time together in our cozy new house. The tree's still going strong (I think I'm a Home Depot tree convert - we got the most beautiful, freshest tree there this year!) and we've still got plenty of Christmas books to read together. I'm with the Europeans - Christmas should go through the beginning of January at least. We're doing a little outing each day to keep us all sane (the art museum down the street yesterday, the library and a few present returns today). But mostly we're just enjoying each other and our home and our fun new things. I've got SO much that needs to be done on this Power of Moms book and I was able to get a post done for our Motherhood Matters blog at the Deseret News. But mostly, I'm trying to put off and delegate all that I can to enjoy this time with my kids - this time that will never come back.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Overview of Christmas
I'm sitting here at my husband's parents' house in Idaho. The boys are happily playing in the snow and Eliza went with all her girl cousins and some aunts to see the movie Tangled (she and her cousin brought their new Tangled dolls with them and were so thrilled about the whole thing). There's a half-assembled train set mixed with candy wrappers at my feet and my pants are feeling too tight thanks to all the treats.
Christmas was wonderful. We were tight on our budget thanks to all the expenses of moving, but it felt like everyone got everything they wanted and more (when your family comes from two huge families - Jared and I each have 8 siblings- there are always quite a lot of presents even if you buy almost nothing for your kids...). Plus really, the best parts of Christmas don't have to do with presents - they have to do with treats. Just kidding (sort of). The best parts have to do with being together with the people you love and enjoying good times with them while you count your blessings.
Over the past week or so, we've played tons of games, opened a plethora of presents, attended a couple nice Christmas events, had great times with lots of relatives on both sides of the family, played in the snow, fed cows, participated in a couple Nativity plays, enjoyed catching up with tons of loved ones via Christmas cards and emails, and generally had a wonderful time. Sure, there were late nights involved and sure there were a few tears (what's Christmas without someone crying?). But I think we all agreed that this was the best Christmas ever. It's been a hard, hard year in so many ways and the past couple months have been truly crazy. I guess the hard stuff makes the sweet stuff all the sweeter.
Here's the story of all our major Christmas activities in photos with a little explanation:
Movie Night
We kicked off the Christmas season by going to the wonderful new movie, Narnia with my parents and grandma (my dad read us all the Narnia books when we were kids so it's extra special to go with him). We all LOVED the movie. And we love that we're closer to Grandma Great now - we went to visit her in Logan a couple days after the movie and loved doing all the puzzles she made for her kids 60 years ago while talking about long-ago memories (she's lost her short-term memory but her long-term memory is great...).
Children for Children Evening
Our Children for Children evening turned out great. We had 3 families come to our house and enjoyed watching some videos about orphans in Bulgaria and in Ghana (one of the families is adopting 2 little girls from Ghana), enjoyed some great treats and all the kids pitched in money they'd earned from doing jobs around the house or selling stuff they don't use (One family had the great idea of taking extra stuff to Kid to Kid and giving the proceeds to the orphans). We raised about $100 - not a ton, but it'll go a long way in Bulgaria and help make the orphans more comfortable this winter. And it was great to see the looks of compassion on the kids' faces as they watched the videos and asked questions about these unfortunate kids. I'm so glad we made the effort to at least do something little this year and spend an evening really focusing on those who are less fortunate.
The kids got their new Christmas Sunday clothes the Sunday before Christmas.
The Nutcracker
My parents treated Liza and I to the Nutcracker at the beautiful Capitol Theater in SLC. Isaac got to tag along since we ended up with an extra ticket and since Ashton's got fun birthday stuff coming up and Isaac needed a little something extra. We went out for a wonderful dinner and then, as we walked into the theater, a group of high school kids were singing and it totally took me back to the many Christmases when I was part of various singing groups and participated in those pre-ballet lobby shows. Everything about the theater and the ballet itself was pretty much exactly the way it was when I went to see the Nutcracker as a kid. I love those moments of deja vu and it was so fun to share it all with my kids. Unfortunately Isaac got hit with aches and pains and a fever and horrible headache half way through the ballet - the flu. But at least he enjoyed dinner and the first 1/2 of the ballet! And luckily this nasty case of the flu proved to be just the 24 hour version.
Gingerbread houses - the easy way
We did our gingerbread houses. This is not my favorite tradition but the kids just can't bear to leave it undone. This year we tried making it simple by just using graham crackers and letting everyone make their own so there wouldn't be squabbles over design. But you know what? Gluing crumbly graham crackers together isn't that easy - especially when it comes to trying to get a candy-laden roof to not crash down the walls. But the kids were thrilled with the objectively none-too-artistic but very tasty results.
Temple Square Lights
We headed down to SLC to enjoy the beautiful lights at Temple Square with two of Jared's brothers and their families - we lost a kid or two plus a glove or two in the throngs (found the kids, not the gloves, oh well). So fun to be with family (although the star of the evening was definitely Connie and Bruce and Rachel's new chihuahua who was nestled under Connie's coat - the twins were SO excited about her). I was glad to see that the kids remembered going on a tour there a few months ago and it was great to hear Oliver and Silas beg to "go see the big Jesus who wants to hug us" (the big Christus statue in the visitors' center).
We had a great party with my dad's mom and sibling and all their kids and grandkids at the old favorite, Maddox in Brigham City. Lots of memories of events there as well. Such great people. Forgot to take photos. Oh well.
Nativity
Then my parents came home to Ogden with us and we did our Nativity Scene - always one of my very favorite parts of Christmas. There's nothing like the loving faces of my sweet children in the light of the Christmas tree as they pass around the Baby Jesus and as we all sing our favorite Christmas carols with love and reverence.
Then we opened our Christmas PJs and headed to bed.
Christmas Morning #1
The next morning, we did all the fun traditions I grew up with on Christmas Eve with my parents - the kids sang on the stairs to wake us up (Ashton added the nice touch of recorded accompaniment from the electric piano - they sounded pretty amazing!), we opened the fun presents from Grammie and Grandfather and the kids happily played with their presents while my mom and I made the traditional eggs benedict, and we had each child give their carefully selected gifts to each other (always a favorite part of Christmas for me to see kids delight in giving the things they've saved up for, picked out and wrapped on their own to each other).
Singing on the stairs:
All ready to open up their gifts!
The twins were SO excited about a set of 1700 legos! I remember my mom saying one time, after stepping on a left-out lego for the 1000th time (those legos are SHARP under bare feet) that legos were no longer allowed in our house. And here she is giving them to my boys. Not sure how much I'm going to love those 1700 small pieces all over the house but these boys love building so much it's worth it.
The kids worked for like 2 whole days on this special book they made for Grammie and Grandfather. They each wrote about some of the special activities my parents do with them, drew illustrations and then we got some photos to go with each section to further illustrate the fun and wonderful things my parents are always doing with them. They were SO excited to give this gift to Grammie and Grandfather. And Grammie and Grandfather were thrilled and had each kid read their parts to them.
The kids so carefully picked out thoughtful gifts for each other with their hard-earned money at the dollar store.
My parents gave us the very exciting gift of a Kindle! I'm excited to be able to indulge in one of my favorite activities a lot more without having to find the time to get to the bookstore or library to get books.
After opening most of our presents, we packed up quickly and headed up to Ashton, Idaho to be with Jared's family for a lovely Christmas Eve dinner, another fun Nativity scene with cousins, and all the fun of Santa presents and stockings the next morning in the beautiful winter wonderland of Ashton (after all the blizzards when we first moved in in Odgen, there wasn't a bit of snow for Christmas so we were glad to get up here and have the white Christmas we'd been hoping for). The kids were delighted with their presents from Santa. Sadly, one of Silas's presents from Santa fell off the sleigh on the trip and it'll hopefully be waiting for him when we get back to Odgen. There were a few tears shed before we successfully redirected Silas to the exciting train set he and Oliver requested from Santa. I guess with all those presents Santa has to transport, there's bound to be a few casualties. Silas was really pretty understanding about the whole thing.
A fun Nativity play with cousins in Ashton. So great to do it all again with new people.
Christmas Morning #2
Ready to head up and see what Santa brought!
Santa's offerings for the year:
Ashton got a "totally totally awesome dune buggy that can go 0-60 in just a few seconds."
"Best stocking stuff ever"
Since Silas's own chihuahua didn't show up, the twins were extra glad to have Lilly to play with - that sweet little dog was so patient with them!
Santa brought Isaac the rip stick he'd been dreaming of - and he's already almost mastered that tricky thing - even though he could only practice in Grandma's kitchen thanks to all the snow.
Eliza got the very Madame Alexander doll she's been admiring and named her Susan. She hasn't left her side since Christmas morning. I love that I have a sweet little girl who enjoys dolls just like I did when I was little.
The twins got the train set they've been talking about for months and all the little boys played with it practically non-stop for days.
The kids did lots of snowmobile riding and playing in the snow. We were so glad to get ourselves a white Christmas! Crazy that after being dumped on like crazy when we first moved to Ogden, there was hardly any snow to be seen on Christmas Eve there.
Along with the Santa gifts, the kids got to open their presents from Grandma and from the cousins who were here with them. They got some really great stuff and all the cousins had so much fun playing all day with all their new things. We ate tons, played games, I downloaded lots of exciting samples on our new Kindle and had a great time helping the twins put together cool stuff with the new building toys they got. I love just playing, playing, playing and being right down on the floor with my kids.
A big highlight was heading out to feed all the cows. It's a Loosli family tradition to take care of all the feeding of the cows during the holidays so that the farm hands can have a break. We sit on top of huge hay bales on a trailer pulled by a tractor and toss out chunks of hay to all the eagerly following cows. Wow, it's beautiful riding out over those fields. And the deep red of the cattle with their nice furry winter coats is so pretty against the snow. Yeah, we all get covered in hay dust which isn't totally pleasant, but it's all good.I'm so very glad we've got this farm to come to!
Here in Ashton, we've eaten tons of good food and played lots of great games. Everyone played "Minute to Win It" together until late last night and we had some great laughs watching people try to do everything from stack cups to get a bunch of jingle bells out of a tissue box strapped to their rear end by dancing around like crazy. The Loosli family sure knows how to have a good time.
Here are Michael, Liza and Bruce trying to move a cookie from their foreheads into their mouths using only their facial muscles - good stuff.
We're catching up on sleep a little bit and having a nice mellow day today. Life is good. Christmas is wonderful. Forgetting about everything but fun times and love and eating and sleeping for 3 days is good medicine for a person like me who doesn't do that enough.
Winter is beautiful. White Christmases with loved ones all around are beautiful. Life is good.
Christmas was wonderful. We were tight on our budget thanks to all the expenses of moving, but it felt like everyone got everything they wanted and more (when your family comes from two huge families - Jared and I each have 8 siblings- there are always quite a lot of presents even if you buy almost nothing for your kids...). Plus really, the best parts of Christmas don't have to do with presents - they have to do with treats. Just kidding (sort of). The best parts have to do with being together with the people you love and enjoying good times with them while you count your blessings.
Over the past week or so, we've played tons of games, opened a plethora of presents, attended a couple nice Christmas events, had great times with lots of relatives on both sides of the family, played in the snow, fed cows, participated in a couple Nativity plays, enjoyed catching up with tons of loved ones via Christmas cards and emails, and generally had a wonderful time. Sure, there were late nights involved and sure there were a few tears (what's Christmas without someone crying?). But I think we all agreed that this was the best Christmas ever. It's been a hard, hard year in so many ways and the past couple months have been truly crazy. I guess the hard stuff makes the sweet stuff all the sweeter.
Here's the story of all our major Christmas activities in photos with a little explanation:
Movie Night
We kicked off the Christmas season by going to the wonderful new movie, Narnia with my parents and grandma (my dad read us all the Narnia books when we were kids so it's extra special to go with him). We all LOVED the movie. And we love that we're closer to Grandma Great now - we went to visit her in Logan a couple days after the movie and loved doing all the puzzles she made for her kids 60 years ago while talking about long-ago memories (she's lost her short-term memory but her long-term memory is great...).
Children for Children Evening
Our Children for Children evening turned out great. We had 3 families come to our house and enjoyed watching some videos about orphans in Bulgaria and in Ghana (one of the families is adopting 2 little girls from Ghana), enjoyed some great treats and all the kids pitched in money they'd earned from doing jobs around the house or selling stuff they don't use (One family had the great idea of taking extra stuff to Kid to Kid and giving the proceeds to the orphans). We raised about $100 - not a ton, but it'll go a long way in Bulgaria and help make the orphans more comfortable this winter. And it was great to see the looks of compassion on the kids' faces as they watched the videos and asked questions about these unfortunate kids. I'm so glad we made the effort to at least do something little this year and spend an evening really focusing on those who are less fortunate.
The kids got their new Christmas Sunday clothes the Sunday before Christmas.
The Nutcracker
My parents treated Liza and I to the Nutcracker at the beautiful Capitol Theater in SLC. Isaac got to tag along since we ended up with an extra ticket and since Ashton's got fun birthday stuff coming up and Isaac needed a little something extra. We went out for a wonderful dinner and then, as we walked into the theater, a group of high school kids were singing and it totally took me back to the many Christmases when I was part of various singing groups and participated in those pre-ballet lobby shows. Everything about the theater and the ballet itself was pretty much exactly the way it was when I went to see the Nutcracker as a kid. I love those moments of deja vu and it was so fun to share it all with my kids. Unfortunately Isaac got hit with aches and pains and a fever and horrible headache half way through the ballet - the flu. But at least he enjoyed dinner and the first 1/2 of the ballet! And luckily this nasty case of the flu proved to be just the 24 hour version.
Gingerbread houses - the easy way
We did our gingerbread houses. This is not my favorite tradition but the kids just can't bear to leave it undone. This year we tried making it simple by just using graham crackers and letting everyone make their own so there wouldn't be squabbles over design. But you know what? Gluing crumbly graham crackers together isn't that easy - especially when it comes to trying to get a candy-laden roof to not crash down the walls. But the kids were thrilled with the objectively none-too-artistic but very tasty results.
Temple Square Lights
We headed down to SLC to enjoy the beautiful lights at Temple Square with two of Jared's brothers and their families - we lost a kid or two plus a glove or two in the throngs (found the kids, not the gloves, oh well). So fun to be with family (although the star of the evening was definitely Connie and Bruce and Rachel's new chihuahua who was nestled under Connie's coat - the twins were SO excited about her). I was glad to see that the kids remembered going on a tour there a few months ago and it was great to hear Oliver and Silas beg to "go see the big Jesus who wants to hug us" (the big Christus statue in the visitors' center).
We had a great party with my dad's mom and sibling and all their kids and grandkids at the old favorite, Maddox in Brigham City. Lots of memories of events there as well. Such great people. Forgot to take photos. Oh well.
Nativity
Then my parents came home to Ogden with us and we did our Nativity Scene - always one of my very favorite parts of Christmas. There's nothing like the loving faces of my sweet children in the light of the Christmas tree as they pass around the Baby Jesus and as we all sing our favorite Christmas carols with love and reverence.
Christmas Morning #1
The next morning, we did all the fun traditions I grew up with on Christmas Eve with my parents - the kids sang on the stairs to wake us up (Ashton added the nice touch of recorded accompaniment from the electric piano - they sounded pretty amazing!), we opened the fun presents from Grammie and Grandfather and the kids happily played with their presents while my mom and I made the traditional eggs benedict, and we had each child give their carefully selected gifts to each other (always a favorite part of Christmas for me to see kids delight in giving the things they've saved up for, picked out and wrapped on their own to each other).
Singing on the stairs:
All ready to open up their gifts!
The twins were SO excited about a set of 1700 legos! I remember my mom saying one time, after stepping on a left-out lego for the 1000th time (those legos are SHARP under bare feet) that legos were no longer allowed in our house. And here she is giving them to my boys. Not sure how much I'm going to love those 1700 small pieces all over the house but these boys love building so much it's worth it.
A magic set for Ashton - he's put on about 10 pretty impressive magic shows for us so far.
Tech decks for Isaac (who wanted a skateboard or rip stick from Santa and is so into this sort of thing). He played with it for like 3 hours straight and found that the ramps work great for launching monster trucks and Hotwheels cars as well.
A fabulous magnetic paper doll set for Eliza.
The kids worked for like 2 whole days on this special book they made for Grammie and Grandfather. They each wrote about some of the special activities my parents do with them, drew illustrations and then we got some photos to go with each section to further illustrate the fun and wonderful things my parents are always doing with them. They were SO excited to give this gift to Grammie and Grandfather. And Grammie and Grandfather were thrilled and had each kid read their parts to them.
Mom and I made the Eggs Benedict - or cholesterol extravaganza as my mom likes to call it. Worth those calories though - yum, yum, yum. Made me appreciate my old large kitchen but we made it all work in this lovely little new kitchen.
The kids so carefully picked out thoughtful gifts for each other with their hard-earned money at the dollar store.
The heart-felt "thank you's" and hugs are so beautiful.
Liza used all the points she earned for doing well on stuff at school to "buy" this special book for Oliver called "Ollie's New Tricks" - she was SO excited that it said his name on the cover and that it was an easy reader so he could read it himself. She just couldn't hold back from helping him open it.
My parents gave us the very exciting gift of a Kindle! I'm excited to be able to indulge in one of my favorite activities a lot more without having to find the time to get to the bookstore or library to get books.
After opening most of our presents, we packed up quickly and headed up to Ashton, Idaho to be with Jared's family for a lovely Christmas Eve dinner, another fun Nativity scene with cousins, and all the fun of Santa presents and stockings the next morning in the beautiful winter wonderland of Ashton (after all the blizzards when we first moved in in Odgen, there wasn't a bit of snow for Christmas so we were glad to get up here and have the white Christmas we'd been hoping for). The kids were delighted with their presents from Santa. Sadly, one of Silas's presents from Santa fell off the sleigh on the trip and it'll hopefully be waiting for him when we get back to Odgen. There were a few tears shed before we successfully redirected Silas to the exciting train set he and Oliver requested from Santa. I guess with all those presents Santa has to transport, there's bound to be a few casualties. Silas was really pretty understanding about the whole thing.
A fun Nativity play with cousins in Ashton. So great to do it all again with new people.
Christmas Morning #2
Ready to head up and see what Santa brought!
Ashton got a "totally totally awesome dune buggy that can go 0-60 in just a few seconds."
"Best stocking stuff ever"
Oliver got his own pet pug that never has to be fed or taken on walks. He promptly named him "Puggy Huggy" and kindly shared him with Silas who only cried for a few minutes when he saw Santa's note explaining that the stuffed chihuahua that was meant for him had fallen off Santa's sleigh and would have to be delivered to Odgen in a couple days.
Since Silas's own chihuahua didn't show up, the twins were extra glad to have Lilly to play with - that sweet little dog was so patient with them!
Santa brought Isaac the rip stick he'd been dreaming of - and he's already almost mastered that tricky thing - even though he could only practice in Grandma's kitchen thanks to all the snow.
Eliza got the very Madame Alexander doll she's been admiring and named her Susan. She hasn't left her side since Christmas morning. I love that I have a sweet little girl who enjoys dolls just like I did when I was little.
The twins got the train set they've been talking about for months and all the little boys played with it practically non-stop for days.
Lots of fun with cousin Logan's new DS:
The girls heading out to see the movie Tangled with Aunt Michelle (and others who wouldn't get in the picture!):
The kids did lots of snowmobile riding and playing in the snow. We were so glad to get ourselves a white Christmas! Crazy that after being dumped on like crazy when we first moved to Ogden, there was hardly any snow to be seen on Christmas Eve there.
Along with the Santa gifts, the kids got to open their presents from Grandma and from the cousins who were here with them. They got some really great stuff and all the cousins had so much fun playing all day with all their new things. We ate tons, played games, I downloaded lots of exciting samples on our new Kindle and had a great time helping the twins put together cool stuff with the new building toys they got. I love just playing, playing, playing and being right down on the floor with my kids.
A big highlight was heading out to feed all the cows. It's a Loosli family tradition to take care of all the feeding of the cows during the holidays so that the farm hands can have a break. We sit on top of huge hay bales on a trailer pulled by a tractor and toss out chunks of hay to all the eagerly following cows. Wow, it's beautiful riding out over those fields. And the deep red of the cattle with their nice furry winter coats is so pretty against the snow. Yeah, we all get covered in hay dust which isn't totally pleasant, but it's all good.I'm so very glad we've got this farm to come to!
Here in Ashton, we've eaten tons of good food and played lots of great games. Everyone played "Minute to Win It" together until late last night and we had some great laughs watching people try to do everything from stack cups to get a bunch of jingle bells out of a tissue box strapped to their rear end by dancing around like crazy. The Loosli family sure knows how to have a good time.
Here are Michael, Liza and Bruce trying to move a cookie from their foreheads into their mouths using only their facial muscles - good stuff.
Winter is beautiful. White Christmases with loved ones all around are beautiful. Life is good.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Our 2010 Christmas Card
- Ashton (10): Inventor, musician, resident technology expert. Worked HARD to earn $300 to buy a Lego Mindstorm and then spent every free moment building and programming some pretty amazing robots. Taught himself some great songs on the keyboard and won the school talent contest. Read all the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books (and about 100 other books - got in trouble for reading too much at school and at home...). Created an arrangement of the song "What I've Done" by Linkin Park for xylophones and played it with a friend at a school concert.
- Isaac (9): Hard-worker, friend to everyone (especially babies), always helpful. Took first in the school science fair for his project on friction. Finally decided that reading can be fun thanks to the beautiful book Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. Won a state-wide poetry contest and had his poem featured in an anthology. Did a great job in the school choir and orffestra plus enjoyed playing violin.
- Eliza (7): Artist, writer, teacher, lover of all things beautiful. Produced about 1000 works of art and wrote 100's of pages of stories, essays and journal entries in both English and Spanish. Taught the twins to read and explains things so well to them. Adored her visit to Wellesley College and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts as well as every other part of her much-anticipated Boston trip.
- Oliver (5): Dog-lover, puzzle-lover, reader, builder. Loves to build with magnets and with K'nex. Can do a 150-piece puzzle in just a few minutes. Knows all about different dog breeds and insists on petting every dog we encounter. Loves reading and being read to (like Silas). Loves kindergarten.
- Silas (5): Panda-lover, transformer-lover, reader, artist. Loves to play with transformers. Plays imaginative games all day with Oliver. Loves to learn about everything from how cars are made to the habits of panda via YouTube videos. Gives me about 200 hugs a day. Loves kindergarten.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Traditions that Matter
Wow, there are a lot of really fun traditions you can do at Christmas! But, wow, they can really take over your life and sometimes the very things that were planned to bring more joy to the season can become joy-suckers.
I'm grateful to have a pretty good excuse to keep Christmas simple this year. We just moved in. We don't know a lot of neighbors and friends here who might hope for or deliver Christmas goodies. I haven't had time to shop for anything other than shelving and hardware and curtains and now that the kids are out of school, I don't think there will be much shopping going on.
In general, we're blessed with pretty easy Christmas lists anyway. Both of our families draw names so Jared and I need to get one present for someone on each side of our families plus our parents - that's always the hardest - and the kids each buy for one cousin plus saving up for dollar-store gifts for each other. Santa brings one gift plus stocking stuffers. The kids get a gift from each grandparent plus a cousin. I used to get them a few gifts each but then they get too much and can't even seem to enjoy that much at once. So now Jared and I just give them some clothes that they need and they still get 4 toys (one from Santa, 2 from grandparents, 1 from a cousin).
Most of the people we love won't get presents from us this Chirstmas - or probably any Christmas. I hope they'll still love us and I hope the heartfelt emails we'll send off will help them know of our love for them plus we'll give gifts and do acts of service for those we love throughout the year - does it really have to be at Christmas? I have friends who really love doing Christmas gifts for friends at Christmas, who have a real knack for coming up with perfect gifts, who are talented with crafting lovely things, who find joy in preparing and giving wonderful gifts. But that's not me. I'm a terrible gift giver. I analyze and worry nonstop about each gift and all my misery and the time-pressure involved doesn't seem to result in gifts that really matter much to anyone most of the time.
As I've thought about what to find time for this Christmas and what to set aside, I've realized that there are a lot of Christmas traditions that have snuck in on us over the years that don't really matter and ought to be crossed off my list quite permanently.
Speaking of Children for Children, last year was the BEST (read about the prep and causes we supported here and the results here if you want) but I thought that perhaps it might not happen this year. Even though it's one of our most meaningful Christmas traditions, it's also one of our most complicated and stressful and time-consuming traditions. But when the kids asked about when we were going to do it and insisted that we do SOMETHING for the orphans this year, I had to agree. So we're having the 3 families that we've met so far come over tonight to share favorite Christmas treats and watch a video about needy children in Bulgaria (check out the video here if you want - I'm actually in it from when I went to help in the orphanages when I was pregnant with the twins - One Heart Bulgaria was started by my mission companions and donations go directly to really meeting these sweet kids' needs). All the kids will pitch in whatever money they'd like to donate to help these kids. And while we won't raise nearly as much money as we have with our big concerts in the past, we'll be caring and sharing and keeping this important part of Christmas alive.
Christmas Stories
Another tradition that we're protecting is reading Christmas stories by the Christmas tree each evening. And this year, with few parties and committments, we've been able to do it much better than in the past. There is nothing like cuddling with my sweet children with the Christmas tree lights aglow and reading beautifully written and illustrated books that celebrate both the true meaning of Christmas and the magical fun of Santa. Each year, I've sought out the best Chrstmas books to add to our collection (and sometimes I've totally scored at after-Christmas 1/2 price sales). Here are our current favorites (people have asked in the past and I'm finally getting around to this - so this list is my little Christmas gift to you - if you want it!).
So there are my thoughts for the day!
I'm grateful to have a pretty good excuse to keep Christmas simple this year. We just moved in. We don't know a lot of neighbors and friends here who might hope for or deliver Christmas goodies. I haven't had time to shop for anything other than shelving and hardware and curtains and now that the kids are out of school, I don't think there will be much shopping going on.
In general, we're blessed with pretty easy Christmas lists anyway. Both of our families draw names so Jared and I need to get one present for someone on each side of our families plus our parents - that's always the hardest - and the kids each buy for one cousin plus saving up for dollar-store gifts for each other. Santa brings one gift plus stocking stuffers. The kids get a gift from each grandparent plus a cousin. I used to get them a few gifts each but then they get too much and can't even seem to enjoy that much at once. So now Jared and I just give them some clothes that they need and they still get 4 toys (one from Santa, 2 from grandparents, 1 from a cousin).
Most of the people we love won't get presents from us this Chirstmas - or probably any Christmas. I hope they'll still love us and I hope the heartfelt emails we'll send off will help them know of our love for them plus we'll give gifts and do acts of service for those we love throughout the year - does it really have to be at Christmas? I have friends who really love doing Christmas gifts for friends at Christmas, who have a real knack for coming up with perfect gifts, who are talented with crafting lovely things, who find joy in preparing and giving wonderful gifts. But that's not me. I'm a terrible gift giver. I analyze and worry nonstop about each gift and all my misery and the time-pressure involved doesn't seem to result in gifts that really matter much to anyone most of the time.
As I've thought about what to find time for this Christmas and what to set aside, I've realized that there are a lot of Christmas traditions that have snuck in on us over the years that don't really matter and ought to be crossed off my list quite permanently.
- Taking our kids to Christmas performances (other than the ones their in) is best limited to maybe one really special thing for only the kids who would really enjoy it. I tried taking the boys to the Nutcracker last year - good experience for them, not one that needs to be repeated anytime soon (they must have whispered to me 20x, "when will this be over?") Liza and I are going with my parents this year and the boys will be just fine hanging out with Jared. A ballet every few years should do it for them.
- Making a gingerbread house from scratch is a big fat pain (I thought it would be so cool but it actually turned out to be way too much work and a big fight over all the decorative elements). The kids are way excited to make and decorate their own little houses out of graham crackers this coming week.
- Taking treats to neighbors sort of happened as a guilt-respose to the treats being delivered to us. It was fine when we just had a few neighbors we knew but it got out of control over the years. We love getting treats but we limit our treat-giving quite a bit. It was refreshing when we started our Children for Children concert tradition and invited all our neighbors and friends to come eat treats at our house and to give a donation to help orphans rather than giving us any treats or gifts.
Speaking of Children for Children, last year was the BEST (read about the prep and causes we supported here and the results here if you want) but I thought that perhaps it might not happen this year. Even though it's one of our most meaningful Christmas traditions, it's also one of our most complicated and stressful and time-consuming traditions. But when the kids asked about when we were going to do it and insisted that we do SOMETHING for the orphans this year, I had to agree. So we're having the 3 families that we've met so far come over tonight to share favorite Christmas treats and watch a video about needy children in Bulgaria (check out the video here if you want - I'm actually in it from when I went to help in the orphanages when I was pregnant with the twins - One Heart Bulgaria was started by my mission companions and donations go directly to really meeting these sweet kids' needs). All the kids will pitch in whatever money they'd like to donate to help these kids. And while we won't raise nearly as much money as we have with our big concerts in the past, we'll be caring and sharing and keeping this important part of Christmas alive.
Christmas Stories
Another tradition that we're protecting is reading Christmas stories by the Christmas tree each evening. And this year, with few parties and committments, we've been able to do it much better than in the past. There is nothing like cuddling with my sweet children with the Christmas tree lights aglow and reading beautifully written and illustrated books that celebrate both the true meaning of Christmas and the magical fun of Santa. Each year, I've sought out the best Chrstmas books to add to our collection (and sometimes I've totally scored at after-Christmas 1/2 price sales). Here are our current favorites (people have asked in the past and I'm finally getting around to this - so this list is my little Christmas gift to you - if you want it!).
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (a short chapter book I LOVE - great for ages 5 and up)
- Santa Claus by Rod Green (so magical - it shares all Santa's secrets in a beautiful book)
- A Shepherd's Gift by Mary Calhoun
- The Christmas Rose by William H. Hooks (this one and the one above are about children who visited the Christ child and they're great for helping kids really get into the story of the first Christmas)
- The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by Julie Lane (a chapter book that shares a beautiful story about how Santa became Santa - not in print anymore but you can find it used)
- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (simplified versions for younger kids, great chapter read-aloud for big kids)
- Great Joy by Kate DiCamillo (one of my very favorites by one of my favorite children's authors - teaches empathy and caring, has really lovely illustrations)
So there are my thoughts for the day!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
New column and serious POWER for 2011
With huge help from April and our great friend Allyson, our new blog/column on The Deseret News was somehow launched in the midst of my move. I seem to have this habit of moving stuff forward to a certain point and then getting totally overwhelmed and needing to pass them off to some degree. But with both this Deseret News project and our book project, great people have stepped up to help in a timely manner and things go forward beautifully even when I can't help with them as much as I'd like. I love seeing how our Power of Moms work has attracted some truly amazing women who have jumped on board at just the right times to make exciting new things happen!
Anyway, take a minute to check out the new blog here. This month we're focusing each of our 3 posts a week on one of the "12 Powers of Motherhood" that will become the backbone of the Power of Moms website this coming year.
Moving forward, on the Deseret News and on our website, we'll be focusing on one "power" of motherhood each month through great articles and resources. Plus this book we're chipping away at (and that we gathered tons of great stuff for with our writing contest last week) will feature a chapter on each of these powers so it can be used as a 12-month program for becoming the mother you want to be, as part of a Learning Circle group or just on your own or however you want to use the book.
Think of the power of 1000's of moms everywhere focusing on one aspect of motherhood each month as they share their best ideas! I know I do better when I focus on one thing at a time and I'm excited to make this coming year a year of truly growing as a mother and as a person as I focus on the universally embraced themes we've been able to develop - stuff like increasing patience, creating more balance and boundaries, enjoying the moments, embracing more fun, becoming more optimistic... Check out all 12 monthly themes here if you want. Get excited!
Anyway, take a minute to check out the new blog here. This month we're focusing each of our 3 posts a week on one of the "12 Powers of Motherhood" that will become the backbone of the Power of Moms website this coming year.
Moving forward, on the Deseret News and on our website, we'll be focusing on one "power" of motherhood each month through great articles and resources. Plus this book we're chipping away at (and that we gathered tons of great stuff for with our writing contest last week) will feature a chapter on each of these powers so it can be used as a 12-month program for becoming the mother you want to be, as part of a Learning Circle group or just on your own or however you want to use the book.
Think of the power of 1000's of moms everywhere focusing on one aspect of motherhood each month as they share their best ideas! I know I do better when I focus on one thing at a time and I'm excited to make this coming year a year of truly growing as a mother and as a person as I focus on the universally embraced themes we've been able to develop - stuff like increasing patience, creating more balance and boundaries, enjoying the moments, embracing more fun, becoming more optimistic... Check out all 12 monthly themes here if you want. Get excited!
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