What We've Been Up To

Each day, the daylight hangs around longer and night comes later.

The temperatures are slowly creeping up.

The end of the school year is within the kiddo's reach (7 more days).

Spring sports are in full swing.

And we are savoring the minutes we are together and not rushing from here to there... and sometimes back again.  

I admit, I have not been very good at pulling the camera out, but here is a little snip-it of what we've been up to:

Watching and Cheering  Sassy at her Softball games:

(Action has had many baseball games, but it's been too chilly and rainy to pull out the camera ~ maybe tomorrow......)

Riding 4 wheelers at Grandpa and Grandma's house:

A weekend of fishing:

Smiley's first catch of the day ~ a little Walleye ~ which she was absolutely NOT going to touch! She almost wouldn't take her picture with it, because it was "too close":

A little golfing:

Shade Rockin' while doing some yard work:

Honoring our Service Men and Women who have and still fight for our Freedom and Safety:

A day at the Horse Races with friends:

Having fun at the race track (and acting like they like each other ~ ha!):

And learning ~ our friend was teaching Smiley how to braid in between races.

What have you been up to?

Something to Think About ~ Mother's Day ~ Take 2

A little over a week ago,  I posted some of my thoughts regarding an blog post that I had read titled, "Ten Things I Really F'ing Want for Mother's Day".  Reading this post struck a cord with me and it wasn't really a good one.  And I posted my feelings, on my personal blog for all of you to read.

I had many comments condemning me for judging other Mothers.  Honestly, I am one of the last people  to judge anyone.  I am FAR from a "perfect" mother.  And I FULLY recognize this. For example:  My kids have on occasion been known to watch TV and play video games for longer than they should.  My house is not always clean ~ right now, dishes sit in the sink, papers are strewn about and pillows and blankets from last nights fort building still lay on the floor.  Don't even go into the guest room, that's where I've been folding laundry and it is currently impossible to see the bed.  Dinners I create are not always amazing and I am known to loose my patience when the kids complain about the food I've set before them (there are SO many children who don't have a meal to eat or a table to set it on). And the list goes on and on and on.  Here's the thing,  I know and understand we all walk our own paths, our lives are all busy and complicated for many different reasons, and each one of us handles every circumstance differently.  We all respond to stress and anxiety in our own ways.  

Am I telling you you can't or shouldn't go out with your friends?  Absolutely NOT!  Go out, we NEED our friends!  We NEED dates with our husbands.  We NEED to give ourselves a break from our kiddos to keep our emotional tanks full! 

Am I insinuating you don't love your kids because you found the post funny or feel the same way as the author of it?  No Way!

My point in writing this post was to point out that our children grow up so very fast.  And every single moment counts, so savor them!  Think about this:  If you have your child from birth until the age of 18 (I know this is not always the case) you have about 6,575 days with your child.  That might sound like a lot, but take out about 6 hours each day your child is in school starting roughly at age 5 (not including preschool).  That's 13 years at 6 hours/day for about 170 school days.  Now your down to having your children for only 6,021 days.  That's down 553 days.  

So, 6021 days to enjoy your child.  And that doesn't include sleeping time,  the amount of time work (paid or volunteer work)  pulls us away from them, extracurricular classes and/or sports consume them, friends occupy them and as they get older, jobs engage them. 

Time is short.  It is fleeing.  And for me, I choose to enjoy every snuggle, middle of the night waking, and  homemade gift and card, with or without macaroni.  Is it easy to always enjoy these things?  No, sometimes it is a completely conscious choice I have to make.  And this choice is hard, when I am tired and want a full nights rest without having to change sheets on another wet bed or when I want to sleep in and snuggle with my hubby.  And yes, I would like to shower in peace without someone pounding on the door and eat my lunch in its entirety before having to wipe a butt.  But this isn't the case.  At least not for me, not right now.  And I wouldn't have it ANY OTHER WAY!

Let me leave you with this true story:

This story begins with me as a carefree high school-er.  The time of your life, when you are invincible, right? :)   The day began like every other.  Hanging out with friends, chatting at our lockers, but wondering why we hadn't seen our good friend "Mike" (I have changed his name).  He seldom missed a day of school.  The day went on normally until early afternoon, when the entire school was called to the auditorium for an unplanned announcement.  The solemn faces we saw as we entered the auditorium told us this was not going to be a good announcement.  They told us of a tragedy involving our friend Mike's 9 year old sister.  I don't remember the principal giving us much for details, but the details were all over the news that evening.  My friends little 9 year old sister was kidnapped while delivering news papers with her family (something they did every morning and they split up a bit to make the route go faster).  She was raped, murdered and found later that day abandoned in a gravel pit.  My friend and I lost contact and he was never the same after that, how could you be.  But I can guarantee that their mother would have given ANYTHING for more snuggles, more kisses, more homemade gifts from her as well as to be awoken in the middle of the night because her beautiful daughter had a bad dream.  Her daughter who would now never need her again.  Her daughter she would never see grow into a beautiful woman.  Her daughter who would never be married or have children.

I know of other families who have lost their children.  Tragedies happen every single day.  Accidents can not be prevented and any of these things could happen to my family at any moment.  We are not exempt.  And I will NOT live with anxiety or fear because these things could happen, but I do refuse to live with regret.  So I will make conscious decisions every single day to savor all 6021 days!  Actually I only have 2147 more until my 12 year old turns 18 and perhaps heads off to college............ :(

Always remember, 

The days may be long,

but the years are short!

Mother's Day ~ Something to Think About

Mother's Day is a celebration honoring mothers and motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in March or May. It complements Father's Day, a similar celebration honoring fathers.
Via ~ Wikipedia

I'm certain most of you realize Mother's day is this Sunday, only a few days away.  
I also know that many of you who read my blog are mothers.  And for you I have a question......

You see, a friend of mine posted a link to this blog post on Facebook entitled "Ten Things I Really F'ing Want for Mother's Day"

Seriously?

Go ahead and read it, or skim it.  I'll wait.................
.................................................................................
.................................................................................

Well?

Numbers's 4, 5, 9 and 10 have my jaw on the floor.

Here are my comments, I'll go in order....

1.  Yep, I'm tired of wiping butts ~ Smiley is on the verge of independence on that one, but can not quite be trusted :)

2.  I like brunch ~ and as long as I'm with people I care about, I'm happy

3.  Sleeping in......anything past 4:40am is sleeping in for me

4.  I would love a card ~ one created by Hallmark and meticulously chosen by someone I love, or one made using any or all of the following: paint, markers, glitter, crayons, tape, glue and or macaroni and no sauce and wine necessary.

5.  Jewelry ~ Sure.  Beads and Macaroni noodles more than welcome.  And this year, it was a shrinky dink pendant with a beautiful drawing of me on it.  Thanks to Smiley ~ who HAD to give it to me TODAY because she was so excited and proud and that is what makes the gift so unbelievably special!

6.  I'm ok with this one, but absolutely use our kitchen.  And honestly, cereal and fruit or yogurt is just fine with me.  Actually, a cup of coffee that someone else brewed (and in our own coffee pot is just fine) would be perfect!

7.  Yes, it would be nice to use the bathroom just once without someone trying to come in. 

8.  Chocolate is good.  I don't need any, but if you must, I prefer milk chocolate.

9.  What?  If a present is given, it is the thought that counts.  Just because I may not love it, doesn't make your effort and thoughtfulness any less valued!

10.  ARE YOU KIDDING?  Why are you a mother?


I'm sure, at least I hope that this blog post was written in humor (and no offense to my friend!).  

I just don't see it.  

Maybe it's because as I look around me, those little ones whose tiny diapers I used to change are not so little anymore.  They are 12, 9 and 4.  They are becoming more and more independent every.single.day.  The middle of the night (newborn/baby) and morning snuggles that use to be an everyday occurrence are already becoming few and far between.  And there will come a day when I long to hear them pitter pattering around in the mornings, when the house is too quiet, and I crave a knock on the bathroom door, just because it means they are home and there is something so unbelievably important that a 2 minute trip to the bathroom must be interrupted.  And yes, presents are always nice ~ whether they are something I truly love, or something I love because someone important to me had me in mind when they picked it out.  Handmade cards and gifts ~ bring them on!  Not because I love to accessorize with macaroni, but because the look on the face and the excitement in the heart of the giver is an absolute gift in and of itself.  

There are so many women who LONG to be mothers........

And I am lucky, I have three beautiful children and the smiles on their faces are what fill my soul.  I am a mother.  And I would never want that to change.  So please don't EVER give me "Leave me the Fuck Alone" coupons that never expire as that lovely blogger so eloquently expressed.   Yes, there are occasions I need to take a breather and times I need to go out with "the girls".  There are moments I wish my children would stop bickering and whining, but I would take those noises over the sounds of an empty home any day.  

So this Mother's day, I will wear my Shrinky Dink necklace, carefully created and designed by my 4 year old with pride.  And I will savor the day.... with an early start I'm certain, bickering, butt wiping included, but with my family and that my friends is the only present I need.  (ok, they can clean their respective rooms without me asking.... that would be a most wonderful gift!)

And now the question(s)...
What did you think of this blog post, and what do you really want for Mother's day?

Friday Funny ~ 9 year old humor

My 9 year old son is OB.SESS.ED with this video. 

And I admit, I laughed the first few times he begged me to watch it with him.

And seriously, what's with the sippy cups?

Have a fabulous weekend!

Snow Day

Last friday brought on another snow day. 10 more inches of the lovely stuff.   The kids were excited.  Me, I'm frustrated by the late arriving spring. The wet, heavy snow is not fun to shovel and I'm ready to be outside.  We do need the moisture, so for that I am thankful.  Anyway,  I decided that mother nature must be telling us that we need to build a snow man.  Since, as of Friday, we hadn't.   I convinced the kids of my theory that if they finally built a snow man, maybe, just maybe the snow would stop coming....

 (Yes, our snowman has a baseball bat and hat!)

(someone was tired of getting their picture taken)

a little snow basketball was played

and some real snowballs were thrown

 A lot of spring, snow playing, fun was had.  And did it work?  Well, we are suppose to get up to 4 more inches of the white stuff by Tuesday......  Hard to play baseball and softball in this stuff.  But, we'll make the most of it!

Why are we so critical?

Why?

Take a few moments to watch this video before you continue reading...



For me, this really hit home.  I'll be honest, I stood in the mirror just this very morning, checking out my  tummy, that I wish was flatter, my nose smaller, my arms more defined, my hair fuller..... Why do I do this?

I do believe that women, myself absolutely included, are so very critical of ourselves.  We compare ourselves to the "beautiful women" we see on TV and in print. Our hair is not quite the color or texture we would like it to be.  Our skin color, too light or too dark.  Our noses, too big, wide, pointy, simply not shaped the way we would like, or see as beautiful.

I could go on and on about the rest of our bodies, from our feet to the nails on our hands to the tips of our ears and I'm certain I most of us could tell you about the trait(s) we wish were different or think are ugly.

But these things that bug us about ourselves ~ are just that.  Things we see.

When was the last time you looked in the mirror and didn't think one negative thing about your physical body?  When was the last time you looked in the mirror and thanked God for your individual beauty ~ the beauty that makes you ~ you?

As women, I think we feel the demands and desires of the world, to be the thinnest, to be the prettiest, to be the best.  What if we all just embraced ourselves fully and conquered each day confident.  Confident in our abilities and especially in our skin.

We need to remember, as this video shows, we are ALL unique, we are ALL beautiful, we just need to change our attitudes.  Next time you look in the mirror,  remember who you are and that there is no one else in the world who is you ~ so Rock It!

Oh, and as my 12 year old daughter reminded me just last night, 

 "You're never fully dressed without a smile!"

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Coach's Thank You

My daughter's basketball season ended about a month ago, but just recently was their end of the season party in which we presented the Coach and Assistant Coach with a small token of our gratitude.  While the gifts themselves were nothing much (I collected money and purchased a variety of gift cards I thought they would enjoy) I did take some time creating a couple of things.

First, after the girls' league tournament, Sassy and I came up with this as we wanted to give "Coach" something, since the regular season was over (the state tournament was still to come).  I headed to the gas station, and picked out a bunch of candy bars I thought would work perfectly as words in a poem.  I'm sure many of you have seen these around, but this is what we came up with:

I've actually done this before (for a father's day gift) where I wrote the "poem" out and  taped the candy bars directly in place.  But for this one, I printed out the poem with candy bar images, then tied ribbon onto the candy bars and put it all into a gift bag ~ much easier to carry around a basketball tournament!


Then, for their "real" gifts, I made a couple of Thank You cards and had all of the families sign them.
The cards were a hit, by the parents and Coach's alike.

Here is the one I made for the Assistant Coach:

Outside:

Inside:

And the one for the Head Coach:

Outside:

Inside:

They were a hit, and could easily be revamped for different sports.

 Just a side note.  I know most coaches do not expect Thank You gifts.  I do however know how much time coaches put into the team.  My husband has coached my Daughter's and Son's teams (softball for her and basketball for him) for many years.  He doesn't just show up for practice or games.  He is at home in the evenings, after his full time job, organizing practices ~ always looking for new ideas ~ or ways he can help the team or individual players learn more and become their best.  Organizing line-ups for games and dealing with the last minute "no shows".  Setting up practice locations, signing up for tournaments, sending out emails, "dealing" with parents, giving rides to those who need help getting to/from practices and games.  So while I say thank you gifts are not expected.  I do hope you all are telling your coaches "Thank You"  and just so you know ~ words are just fine!  Just let them know you appreciate the time and effort they are putting in!