Evil Charlotte

Katie has an imagination on steroids. She has an entire posse of "imagination friends" and enemies. Her BIFF (best imaginary friend forever) is Emma. However, Butterfly, Strawberry, Rainbow, Blueberry and Apple Dumplin are frequent visitors. Her arch enemy is Charlotte. According to Katie, she is evil. The other day she was telling me just how evil she is.

Katie: Charlotte is NOT a child of God.
Me: Oh yeah....
Katie: Yes. She is a child of....who's that bad guy that doesn't like Jesus?
Me: Satan?
Katie Yes. Charlotte is a child of Satan.

I have no idea where she comes up with this stuff, but it makes life interesting!

Coming Changes

As the summer approaches, our family is gearing up for fun in the sun! We are also getting ready to foster-to-adopt. My niece, Jessica, has gone through the process and eloquently documented it on her blog. It's something I have been considering for over a year, and the Hubby and I feel that now is the right time to add to our family. We're excited about who will be coming to join our family and I'll be giving occasional updates. Stay tuned....

Summer's Coming!

For this summer vacation, I'm trying something new. I always try to have a somewhat regular schedule that includes chores, reading, and projects, but this year I want to focus each week around a theme. My kids are old enough now to do independent, somewhat self-directed projects and Pinterest is filled with ideas to keep them busy. I just like the challenge of finding specific activities to support learning.
I came up with more themes than weeks of summer vacation, so I printed them out on fun paper, cut them into strips and placed them in a jar. Each week one of the kids will choose the theme for the week.

Themes:

Wild, Wild West

Under the Sea

Jungle Adventures
Don't Bug Me!
We Are Family
Weird Science
Under the Big Top
Fan of the Farm
Sports Camp
Ninjas & Princesses
Countries of the World
Holidays
Real Life Heroes
Fairytales, Myths & Legends
Money Matters
All About Me!
Lego Mania
Night Wonders
Famous Discoverers
Super Cool Scientists
Good Eats
Music, Music
Seasonally Speaking
Unicorns & Dragons
China
The Great Outdoors
Superheroes
Deep in the Heart of Texas

The kids were so excited to start, they wanted to pick today. So, this week we will be exploring Night Wonders

A Month of Thanks

So, a lot of my facebook friends are posting something they're thankful for each day in November. I consider myself a generally positive, grateful person. But, my focus will be a bit different this year. This past year has brought tremendous changes to me and my family. I am so grateful for the changes! Hard does not even cover it, but it has been worth it. I've emerged with a clear picture of who I am.

But I digress...

Today I am grateful for the moment when I tuck my kids into bed and ask them what their favorite thing about the day was.

National Adoption Month

I love this! It addresses something that's been nagging at me for the last couple of months. Everytime I make a mistake - whether personal, parenting, or cooking fiasco - I doubt my ability to be a good mamma to children other than my own. We are still 6 months or so away from starting our foster to adoption journey, but I'm already mentally gearing up for it. I'm not sure if that's an entirely good thing...

This one helps ease my mind a bit:

Happy National Adoption Awareness Month!

The Business of Motherhood

Every once in a while something happens that makes me sit back and say, "Wow! I really am glad to be involved in the business of motherhood."

A few days ago, my son and I were talking about snow. He suddenly says, "I really miss Susanville."

To which I replied, "What do you miss about Susanville?"

He then said, "I miss making snowmen with you."

A little backstory: A few months after our youngest was born, I got involved in learning the business of multi-level marketing of life insurance and annuities. This took tremendous amounts of time in addition to having a newborn taking up tremendous amounts of time. (Looking back, I have NO idea what I was thinking! A sleep deprived brain is not a good brain for making decisions.)

Anyhow, it was on a particularly time consuming day that my then 3 year old son comes up to me and asks me to help him build a snowman outside. It was more like begging with high pitched whineyness, which I normally have no tolerance for.

But, instead of snapping at him to use his "Big Boy Voice" and ask politely, I heard a little voice in my brain say, "stop." So I stopped. The little voice then said, "he will remember this day." And that was it. End of conversation.

So then I asked myself, "what do I want him to remember about this day?"

I'm still blown away by this experience and grateful that I have the opportunity once again to be in the business of full-time motherhood. As the kids are getting older, there are more and more days that they will remember, and I'm grateful to be a part of that.

Thinking about this...

Those who think of life as a personal ministry tend to be less lonely, less likely to feel that life has spun out of control, more inclined to have a gentle heart, more filled with purpose.

Sheri Dew