More than Adrift

We are always busy around my house, but lately I've been trying to be busier with a purpose. After subbing in the preschool for a few days I decided that I was not putting enough effort into my stay at home mom routine. So, I found a great great website (thanks to a good friend/teacher) http://www.makinglearningfun.com/ It's so great for preschool age kids!! They have TONS of ideas for easy crafts, math ideas, reading ideas.... I really love this website. I've tried a lot of them out for ideas for preschool curriculum planning, and this so far has been my favorite. So this week we made cow masks, read books about the farm... then made policeman finger puppets out of toilet paper tubes and then watched a movie about policemen (yes, andrew loves movies, i'm a terrible enforcer of no tv time) Thanks to being at Grandma's house, we also made many many forts. Forts are my MIL's specialty, and the kids get a big kick out of it that Grandma lets them jump on, o...

As you may or may not know about me, I have a longing to be living closer to family. This wasn't a problem in my younger days, but now that I have children, it's completely different. Anytime I meet a new mom friend who lives near her parents, or her husband's parents, I am instantly jealous, thinking of how much different my life would be if we lived near a set of grandparents! Having my sister in law move here and marry my husband's best friend was definitely a blessing, and life has changed for the better! Someone to love my kids, WANT to be around them, support Gibbs & I in our parenting endeavor...it's amazing. But I want more (shocker eh?)  For the first three years of our marriage, I begged my husband to find a job in Michigan, where my family and friends live. Not really a possibility with the economy over there. So now, I have switched tactics, and tried convincing him we should move to Minnesota, where HIS family lives. He has two brothers, a siste...

I've been writing this blog over and over in my head since Monday (the day of K's psychiatric appointment) but it's so... emotional, touchy, embarassing.... that I struggle with how to put it into words....especially without offending anyone. But, I think it's important enough to write about regardless of all of that. I've made a lot of judgements about people in the course of my christian life (a relatively short period of time, but still, somehow the judgements have really piled up!)  Especially in regards to parenting. What other moms are doing right, what other moms are doing wrong. Big decisions, small decisions, for whatever reason, I would like to think that I know best. And when people do it differently....well, usually that means that their way is wrong. I hate to admit this, it makes me sound terrible... but I hope that most of us can admit that we've all done it. A few examples so that this posting is more clear: Crying it out, Organic vs. non org...

My best friend said yesterday that she isn't considering having three kids because I make it look terrifying (to be fair to her, it was about 10 minutes after I referred to her as a 'little crazy') But the comment made me think a lot about my attitude, my comments on raising kids, my attitude WITH the kids, etc. This is what I've come up with after a really late night with not a lot of sleep 1. I'm an open book. I always have been. With God's help, I've changed a little since my days in high school when I was a bit more volatile. But I'm still an emotional person. When I'm up, I'm up, and when I'm down, I'm pretty down. I know some women are made a little more stable than this, but it's just not how I'm made. 2. I don't think it helps anyone if I pretend like life is always perfect. I think there's a lot of damage being done by women (unintentionally) putting on a good face and pretending that they have everything un...

Ugh, my struggle has always been finishing things I start. I am great at the beginning, ok in the middle, but I really fall apart in the day to day follow through. I don't have enough energy to list ALL of the ways that this is true, so I will try to keep it to the funny and most honest things that I'm struggling with.  This blog! I can't believe I am struggling to write a blog. If you knew how many words I say to myself in my head every day, you would think writing them down would be so simple! I love writing, I love thinking, I love sharing things, but still I struggle with sitting down and just ...completing this thing that I started. I will continue doing it. If for NO other reason, then just to finish something. So my goal is this: At least stick to it until my birthday. At least once a week. The other way I'm struggling is just child rearing day to day stuff.  This is not eloquent today. We have been sick for TWO long weeks. I'm lucky to have functioning...