Lamp on a timer

Forgive me if I have posted on this before, but honestly I can't remember if I have and it is a worthy topic to post or repost : )

At our house wake-up time is 7am.  It is fine if you sleep past then, but kiddos out of bed before that is not the best start to my day.  Call me selfish if you must, but I need that time to myself, to read my Bible or take a shower or if need be, sleep!

I fully recognize that it is hard for kids to want to jump out of bed as soon as they are awake, especially for little ones that can't tell time yet.  Here is an idea that was passed down to me from a fellow mama when H was little.

Put a light on a timmer in their room.  No need to set an alarm that could wake them if they might just happen to sleep in.  But a small lamp shouldn't wake someone up.

We bought these timers from Amazon.
I set it up in Bug's room to a lamp on her dresser.  Her lamp turns on at 7am, when it is okay for her to get out of bed.  She happily comes and finds us and our day starts out smoothly!

H-man can tell time so in his room we have a clock setup.  And B is too young to understand, but lucky for me he tends to sleep in!

teaching responsibility

I realized recently that I haven't done a great job of teaching H to be responsible for this things, messes, or his time. He was my only kiddo for 3 years so I had the time and ability to clean up after him, constantly remind him to stay on task, bus his plate, and to put things back where they belong. I don't have that ability or time anymore and I really do not have the desire to carry on like that. You see he is 6, and I find myself constantly saying "H, don't forget to do...." or "H, please pick up your room..." or "H, I asked you to get ready for bed, why are you sitting on your floor half dressed?"

Part of it is personality, and unfortunately part of it is training or lack there of. I thought I was on track during his little years, however I have started to see some area where I could have done so much better. For example, until H was 4 I never had him clear his plate from the dinner table because I was afraid of him spilling leftover food and crumbs along the way to the sink. With one kiddo it was easy to pick up that one extra plate. However now with 3 extra plates, 3 more sets of silverware, 3 half-full cups, I can't get it all in one load... and besides that the far grander motivation is that as a mom one of my main jobs is to train my kids to be responsible adults some day.

So how am I doing it differently with the little two.
1. B and Bug both bus their own plates... under these simple rules, hop down first from your chair, 1 thing at a time, 2 hands, careful walking, dump food in trash, then plate in sink or on counter.
2. Bug is making her own bed (most everyday)
3. All kids help dust-bust the floor under the table after meals
4. Even B-man at 18 months has chores he helps with... putting away shoes, wipping the floor, putting toys away.

We are working hard with H on being responsible, orderly, proactive, and tidy But it is not catching on as much as we have hoped. We are still far from having this perfected with any of our kids, there is so much room for growth... but I hope that you mama's of just one or two little kiddo(s)... spend your time teaching them to be responsible! Trust me re-training is SO much more work than training the first time!

The sayings of Bug

from the mouth of my 3 year old-

Mr. Steady came home with super glue, and Bug started asking about it, "daddy, what is this?"
"It is really sticky glue."
"What is it for daddy?"
"Well all kinds of stuff Bug."
"Like for your armpits?"

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For some reason when my kids are tired they get hick-ups.  Yesterday Bug asked me, "Mama, why do I keep getting these hicky-ups?"  Umm, Bug, they are called hick-ups!"

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Bug's platinum blond hair is starting to grow in darker.  Yesterday she asked me, "Mama, do you want to take a picture of my roots?"  I think she has heard me talk to Courtney too many times about needing to get my hair done : )

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At thanksgiving we were driving home from Utah and drove past a farm.  Bug said "it is so stinky!"
"Babe, it is just a farm."
"Why do they have skunks on the farm?"

Okay, so maybe these are only funny to us...

Prison Break

Last night when I was cooking dinner Bug asked if she could go wake up B-man from his nap. I told her "Sure Babe, I will be right up to get him."
H excitedly followed Bug up to B's room. I heard them giggling on the monitor as I quickly threw together dinner.
It got quiet for a minute, so I looked over on the video monitor... and what did I see... a jail break!
H had climbed into B's crib, picked up B under his arms and was lowering him down to Bug.  I was too late to do anything about it.  Within a minute all 3 happily came down the stairs, as if everything was totally normal.

I acted totally surprised when the 3 of them rounded the corner into the kitchen.  I asked, "How did B get out of his crib?" And they told me move by move how they did it.  Not realizing at all that they had done anything wrong, and actually quite proud of themselves for the successful jail break!

I thanked them for being careful with their baby bro, but told them to never do this again.  Getting kiddos out of cribs is Mama's job : )

I must say, I was encouraged by their teamwork and thankful for careful execution!  Oh, and I'm glad I have a video monitor... I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on seeing them in action... though I will make sure it never happens again!

Gingerbread house- mistakes!

I learned 2 critical lessons this year that apply to decorating gingerbread houses.

1.  Decorate one gingerbread house (GBH) per household.
2.  Limit how much sugar is consumed

Okay a little explination...
1.  We had our dear friends over to decorate GBHs.  H, and his best buddy Ev wanted to decorate a house together.  They had so much fun, giggling, devising a plan, dripping frosting all over my entire kitchen, eating candy, decorating, eating candy, licking frosting, decorating... you get the picture.  We had 2 budding artists, 2 little people investing all that their little kindergarten hearts and creative minds can come up with into a very special little GBH...

Well, somehow it never crossed our minds that at the end of the night, both of these sweet little peeps would want to keep this GBH.  Uggh, WHY DIDN'T WE THINK OF THAT!  So needless to say, when it was time for our friends to go home we had to make a game plan.  I talked H through it and thought he was going to be fine with Ev taking it home... however his little heart broke.

Needless to say that next year we will do one house per family, not one house for the big kids and one house for mama to work on with Bug.  I felt SO very bad!

2.  And well, too much sugar can give anyone a tummy ache, and if you know H well, you know that he is apt to throwing up... and he did... and it made the night that much more sad! 

maybe someone can learn from my mistakes! 

Nativity

my all time favorite decoration for Christmas is my Willow Tree Nativity Set.  This year it was the only decoration that was put out for the first half of December.  (we had a very busy start to our December)...  This year my sweet in-laws sent our kids the Little People Nativity.  Which was good, because no one can touch mamas!  Mr. Steady We  learned that lesson when H was a year old and let him hold a lamb... to which he enjoyed for a moment then dropped on the ground, poor little lamb lost an ear that night!  All the more reason the kids needed their own.  The kids has loved having their own Nativity that they can move the guys around, move people and animals in and out of the stable, have the people move all around the house... it has been a lot of fun.  And I love that they are learning the real reason why we celebrate Christmas!  We are celebrating when Jesus was born in a stable over 2,000 years ago!  We are celebrating our Savior!  We are celebrating God's perfect plan to bring his grace to our world!

I want my kids to understand the Christmas story as much as their little hearts and minds can.  I really had wanted to do a full advent with them this year, or Jesse Tree.  But I didn't, and I really do regret it, but I'm trying not to get too overwhelmed with mommy guilt.  Anyway, one day last week we had a window of time and some sweet friends over, so I asked the kids if they wanted to act out the Christmas story.  To which they were all VERY EXCITED!  I pulled out my stash of fabric and whipped up some outfits as fast as I could.  It was quite comical, as soon as I got one kid situated and started working on the next kid's outfit, the outfit of the first would start falling off.  It took many tries, especially figuring out how to get a queen-sheet to stay up on tiny little Bug as her angel costume (without having to cut it).  But alas it worked! 

  "I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”- Luke 2:10-12

Merry Christmas!  May your heart be full of the wonder of all God has done for you in sending His son!  As you celebrate the last few days of this Christmas season, I pray that you will be blessed by His grace, and peace!  May the real Nativity story grip your heart in amazing ways!  We all have so much to learn and really soak in about God's love and his perfect plan!

Being fully present

I have been thinking so much about how I am missing out on little nuggets of life, missing the beat of our family song, half-heartedly being a part of a conversation... all because I am distracted, pulled in different directions and at times mentally "checking-out."

Just this weekend as Mr. Steady and I were on our way to Alaska, we had a glorious "day-date" in the Seattle airport for 3 hours!  On this random fun little date, I was embarrassed how many times I looked down at my phone to see if emails came through, to see if anyone had text me back, even fighting the urge to check facebook. Seriously, would you have wanted to be on a date with me.  Ummm, NO!

For me, I am constantly tempted to stay connected to others via my phone (text, email, facebook...) that I end up lessening my connection through real face time.  Once I realized I was doing this to Mr. Steady, and we talked about it a little, I confessed how often I am doing this to my kids.  "Just a minute H, I have to finish sending this text, then i will come and see what you are working on."  "Hold on, I can't answer that question buddy, I'm trying to consentrate on what this email says."

I don't quite know what the answer is, because we all know having technology at the tip of my fingures is often so very conveniant and can save time.  However, I need to get some pesonal limits in place, because as one friend said to me (about herself) "I don't want my kids to just remember my profile, of me looking at a screen.  I want more face to face time with my kids."  Oh so true!!!

I'm not wanting to limit media just for the sake of limiting it.  I see how much time I am spending on my phone, and honestly discourages me.  I don't like it because it shows me what is really going on in my heart, I realize how often I am looking at something on my phone just so I can "checkout." For instance, I just looked at the weather on my phone 5 minutes ago, I don't need to check it again... really I am disconnecting from the chaos of my own house, and covering up my selfish heart!  Maybe that is what it comes down to, me being selfish with my time.  Anyone else struggle with this?

I truly desire to figure out what is realistic, and what is right... for me.   I want my time to honor God, to treasure the relationships that God has put in my life, to live fully present in each moment, and to be considerate of those around me, even if they are only 3 years-old!  On the other hand, I have some amazing friends and ALL of our family that live hundreds of MILES away, that I don't have the pleasure of getting enough face time with... and in these relationships, I am SO very thankful for my phone to keep me connected.  How do I balance it??  I would love prayers for wisdom, conviction and strength to follow through, to be disciplined to have some non-phone HOURS in each day. 

I want to live in the moment!

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Maybe it is my fault my kids like screen-time so much.

Monkey see, monkey do!

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I must say, this post REALLY encouraged me, especially this quote...
"
“But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this.
I did not live in the moment enough..."  by Anna Quindlin