Often times we may feel contained when boundaries are established even if it’s for our own good. I know my children question why they can’t do certain things like take someone else’s things without asking, talking back to their parents, or fibbing about their schoolwork. All of these questions are valid, and may seem unfair to their little minds. But as they start to understand who their Heavenly Father is and pursue a relationship with Him, all these “rules” will begin to make sense to them. The Holy Spirit begins to work within them and is a reminder that there is something bigger and better for them than this restrictive world.

This is for all you stay at home parents out there! 

A man came home from work and found his 3 children outside, still in their pyjamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn around garden, The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and no sign of the dog, walking in the door, he found ...an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, the throw rug was against one wall, In the front room the TV was on loudly with the cartoon channel, the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door. 

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls. 

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pyjamas, reading a novel... She looked up at him, smiled and asked how his day went.

He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?"

She again smiled and answered, "You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world do I do all day?..."
"Yes," was his incredulous reply..

She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it."

Re share! Photographer unknown - please let me know if you do :)

 
I have a son who is into all sorts of sports.  I just love to help him express himself in the decorating of his room.  I have looked hard and all over the Internet and many stores to try to find cool and amazing things for him.  Of course you can get just general sports stuff for like baseball, football, soccer, etc.  But if your kid is into BMX, motorcross, skateboarding it is a little harder to find just the right stuff.

You can get stickers, posters, and other small things but it is hard to find accessories, bedding and other things.  So I wanted to share with you a great place that I found to get some of these off the wall items for your kids.  I just love finding things to make my son's room fun and a cool space he wants to hang out.  So if you are one that has been looking for something special I hope this helps you like it has for me. 

Kid Themed Bedrooms


   

I love to just hang out with my family.  We don't just like sitting around.  As some of my friends have told me when we had kids that our kids better get use to the car, being on the road, and traveling because we are always on the go.  My husband and I of course we like to sit and relax but we also don't like to let life pass us by.  We like to see things, taste things and explore things.  So this means that we at times become a tourist in our own city.  We totally love it.  We love doing what some of our friends haven't done in years or say "oh yeah that would be fun to do when someone comes to visit".  Why wait do it now we say. 

So we have taken our kids on boat rides, taxi's, underground tours, the bus, and more.  They have flown all sorts of places too.  Our son had more frequent flier miles by the time he was 2 than most adults.  We just love to explore and take our kids on our journey of life with us.  This last summer we decided to take a family vacation to So. California.  We knew there was so much to see, eat, and do.  And one thing we just wanted to add as a new and different element to the trip was to follow food truck and try them out.  So we did.  It was fun.  We got to see all sorts of places and tried all sorts of food. 

I just love doing some of these fun things because we just never know where we are going to go and what life is going to take us but we know it will be fun and that we will get to try new things and meet new people.  It has helped our kids understand that there is a world outside of the walls of their home.   The hard thing about it sometimes is you have favorite places, food or something that is far away.  That isn't always a bad thing because when you do get a chance to taste it again or go back you have amazing memories.

Well both of my kids take dance and it is so strange to go there with all of the other mom's.  Now my kids are in other sports as well and I don't have the same issue so I am not sure it must just be a dance thing.  But well when we go sometimes there is a couple of mom's that might have known each other for a while talking but other wise no mom talks to one another.  It is just really strange.  I know there are new mom's and they could benifit from getting info on how things work, what the kids are doing, if they can leave to go run to the market while they are in class.  Just something with basic communication would be cool but they don't it is crazy.  I just have a hard time with it sometimes that the place I feel the most comfortable at times is in the car. 

I asked the girls that work there and they said it is strange but they see it too.  They don't know why it happens and why mom's at dance are like that.  One of them too has a girl in softball and it doesn't happen at sports like that.  So we just don't know why.  So is this where some girls get the idea of how to be snobs???

Today we took our kids to lunch and some shopping.  Of course this ment we had to let the kids stop off at the play area.  As we were watching them play we were noticing some kids and their clothing.  It was kind of strange to because being at a mall surrounded by kids clothing stores to find kids that had shirts that were to tight, to short and showing tummy, pants that didn't fit and some that had plumbers crack.  It was crazy to see all that goes on in the play area at the mall.  I just felt bad for the ones that some walk out of the house looking like this.

These days I have been working hard to try and find some middle ground.  For years even before we had kids I tried to talk and come up with a plan to have a middle ground for raising our kids.  And for years I have tried to work hard to be better with my temper and things and to be more calm about things so that we have a better middle ground. 

Well with all of this work, years, and things tried and gone by failed I just don't know what to do.  Things for years I have been able to keep to myself and deal with but these days with having kids and a family it is harder to hide things.  It isn't that I am not trying to keep it to myself but well people feel it, know, and can tell that something is up.

It hurts when your mom starts to notice and worry about you and hopes that things will be OK.. She knows I am strong and will fight and take care of things but she wants to let me know she is there for me.  It is one of the first times in my life that I have felt good about my mom being there for me and supporting me.

I want to raise my kids like my dad raised me with love but with strenght and discipline.  He was a great dad and guy.  He was a great example and I want to be an example like that to my kids.  I want to be strong and to be there for them and to love them always.  He was like a big teddy bear but you respected him.  He was a high school teacher, football coach, and so much more.  Everyone loved him and remembers him.  And yes that is what I live up to and want to be like a loving, caring parent, but one that my kids know when they have done wrong.

But I worry because in our house it is divided and where I try to show my kids one way my husband is different.  And the kids know it and sometimes take advantage of that. It is really hard when my little one throws a fit in public or something to see how he handles it. The kids are one way for him, one way for me, but together it is a mess at times.  And sometimes when things get really bad and he is trying to deal with it but it isn't going well he takes them to me and says now you have to tell your mom what you did.  And he turns it then to me to finish it and deal with it.  It is hard when this happens because then what is this telling the kids?  I get stressed, embarrased, want to cry, and so many feelings it is just hard to deal with.

I want a middle ground but I don't know what to do to find one.  I know I am trying really hard to have great kids but I know this is just really hard.

I confess: I don’t listen to every word my children say, and the reason is simple. They talk too much. And they talk about stuff I don’t care about.


For some kid-related topics, I can’t even muster up fake interest, like PC, Nintendo or PS3 games. When Evan plays some of his games and he'd say, “Guess what? I raced this guy and I was going so fast. . . ,” I’d stop her right there. With a shake of my head and the traffic-cop “STOP!” signal, I’d say, “Uh, sorry there darlin’! Don’t take this personally, but I hate your video games. I love you, of course, and am interested in anything you have to say about virtually anything other than your video games . . . school work, creative projects, philosophical musings, friend dilemmas—anything real.”


They’ve all heard variations on this speech many times. At this point, they police each other. Evan will say, “So in Tron. . .” and off he’ll go, but only for a minute or two, before Evan says, “Dude! Look who I'm talking to! Mom doesn’t care about Tron!”


And it’s true. I don’t. I care about their real lives . . . at least, theoretically, but I have to say that sometimes their real lives are boring too. There was a time last year when Evan talked endlessly about his friends. Evan would walk through the door after school, Aaliyah trailing behind him. Evan would say, “Oh my Gosh, she’s making me crazy!”


Overall though, I do care about their real lives . . . just not all the time. Sometimes they have exceptionally bad timing. Last night at 9:00, my neck was hurting and I am starting to get a cold and was trying to get everyone ready for bed, when Aaliyah said, “Hey! I like that story about princesses mom.” That is how she asks me to tell her a story.


I’m proud to say that I could respond honestly: “Yes, I remember!”But I told her that it was late and mommy hurt and it was time to go to bed.


Twenty minutes later, Aaliyah asked if she was a princess? I told her of course she was. And she then ten minutes later was finally asleep.


But you know what? They don’t always listen to me either. So there.

So my son is in the 3rd grade. And I know that the education system is hurting and that kids need to grow in education.  But I am just wondering how fast and who decides?  My son has been given a report for the past few weeks to work on for Social Studies on the state that they choose.  They have to basically build a travel brochure with the information they find. 

Well all the research you need to do, the pictures you have to find, and the preparing of this project this isn't a 3rd grade report I was saying.  Well it comes to find out by another parent that this use to be a 5th or 6th grade project just a year or 2 ago.  So why did they decide that younger kids could do something like this?   I don't know.  I know my son has a hard time picking out his clothing and finding his shoes so to do all the research was like doing a root canal.  It was amazing. 

Now as a parent I am behind helping him and things but come on this was out of control.  There is no way that I want to spend this much time on a project and need that much Advil, glasses of wine, or shots of vodka to get through something like this.  This is the third grade for crying out loud.  If you want them to do stuff like this well don't you think you should teach them.

They are starting to use a thesaurus in class and well my son thinks he can change all words.  But trying to explain to him that you can't change the name of a mountain range in a state for his report just because he doesn't know the word or can't say it doesn't mean you just go look up a new word and make one up.  I was not about to create another launguage just so he could be happy with the words.  And I can't count the number of times my eyes also rolled into the back of my head either.

So I am at this point glad that this report is done finally and out of my house.  I don't want to see another one for a while.  Because who knows what fun will happen next.

I totally love this and have done this for my kids for the past 2 years.   It is the Portable North Pole or PNP.  Go to www.pnp.com and create a personalized video from Santa Claus for your love ones in just a few easy steps. New Portable North Pole 2011: the elves' machine will help Santa decide if you behaved or not!

I just love the mind of a tiny person. It changes in a flash. They can be talking to you about one thing and then flash it is on to another thing. They can switch gears so fast and multi task so quick if you don’t keep up you will be lost in the dust. Their little minds are just taking in so much information and processing it I just love to watch and see it all processing. And to have a conversation or negotiation with them is crazy. They are genius. Wow the little minds are amazing little sponges. Some people don’t give them that much credit or realize how much and how fast they are really taking it all in. But they truly know way more than you think.

Why do you think that kids these days are having computers, gaming systems, cell phones and more at such early ages. And why do you think that kids are getting into sex and drugs before they even talk about it in schools. Kids are learning and growing up way to fast. Kids are seeing things like this is what I have dreamed about my whole life. And well they have only really probably understood it for a few years. And were as an adult we have had years to soak it all in and realize things. Yes I think that we should let our kids know it is OK to slow down a little and that there is a lot of learning to do over their whole lives. But as a parent you don’t need to slow down your kids growth to do that. You both can grow together, learn together, enjoy life together.

I love my kids each and every day and love each thing they learn and do. I love watching them and helping them grow. But I am not a parent that wants to stand back and think I can be their best friend or that I will know everything. What I need to do is make sure they have the tools to grow and know the next steps. I don’t want to keep things from them. So giving them the opportunities and love to grow and shine is what I can to. Because the mind of my tiny people is so fun to watch and learn from. Kids are just so amazing and I am so blessed to love kids and have a heart for them. I am so blessed and thank God everyday for the 2 that I have. They are both miracles.

I want to be a Super Mom.
I want to be the Momma who finds the perfect balance
between being your parent
and being your friend.


when you ask me to go out and ride bikes, scooters & skateboards
or to build sand castles with you at the beach,
or Ooo and Ahhh over your latest pop shove it trick or amazing art project.

I want to be the Momma whose not afraid to make messes,
get my hands dirty,
or create a bit of chaos
all in the name of having fun with my little ones.


I hope that you will have fond memories
of my after school goodies,
my knowledge of all your sports, 
and the fridge I made sure was always overflowing snacks for you and your friends.

Because, thanks to this Momma,
I know how much the little things make a difference.