Where are my KEYS???!

Soo, today started off cold and slow. I woke up, the heat had not been turned on the previous evening so our home was a chilly 64 degrees with the windows wide open. I came out into the living room to see Austen dancing in his big boy pants, Moriah without a diaper, in her big girl pants and a tank top and Jayden reading about budgies and cockatoo birds. I was bombarded with " can we have a vitamin c?" " What type of bird would you like as a pet?" " Momma, I'm hungry" within 10 seconds of opening the door.

I set about getting cereal ready for them as it was going to be a light breakfast due to a fun Valentine's Party we would be attending at 10 am. Well, we slowly ate breakfast, slowly played and at around 830am I decided, " hmm, I should get ready." The kids were already dressed so that was half the battle and quietly watching a movie. So I meandered into the bathroom and slowly set about my face and make routine. Lalalalala, twiddle dee twiddle do. Oh, I think I will half curl my hair this morning, oh, wow, it's 9:15 am and I umm, have no juice and I have not started making my 2 dozen eggs and none of the 72 valentines cards that I bought LAST YEAR have been cut out, signed, stickers inserted....and oh wow, I am not going to have time to finish curling my hair, and Hannah is not up yet and I haven't dressed her or nursed her and the kids have no shoes on, and the pen is not working so I can quickly sign Austen's name and the stickers are not sticking and the eggs are slopping all over the stove because I did not put them in the larger skillet and the smoke is billowing from the burner and the noise in our house is getting LOUDER and Hannah has a dirty diaper, and it is now 9:50 am and it'll take me at least 15 minutes to get there and I forgot about buying the kids bingo game prize contributions and how am I going to quickly load up, unload 4 kids into Target and rush find the juice, find the prizes, pay, rush out and rush to the party????! And OHMIGOSH! We have got to go and my hands are not able to fold the valentines quickly enough and my hands are fumbling and valentines are dropping on the ground and WHERE ARE SOME BAGS TO PUT THE VALENTINES IN???!!!! Quick, found some gift bags...calmly stated, " Kids please get in the car" ( as none of this is their fault).....kissed and said goodbye to Ben and OHMIGOSH! I am below E on my gas gauge, I am so far below E that I am surprised my van even started....AHHHH now I have to stop at the gas station...quick, drive to the gas station, fill up a 1/2 tank of gas, pull up to the front....have the kids count to 50 with the doors locked, grabbed a gallon of water, ran out ( oh yeah, paid for it )...jumped in the car, drove umm, "quickly" down the road and there is a DETOUR! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We arrived, 30 minutes late, with 14 eggs, not 24 eggs scrambled, excited children and a slightly frazzled mama..... I called Ben and said, " I cannot believe I do this to myself" I am no longer in the stage of life where I can just wing it and expect it all to fall together. I have so many more details and people relying on me and my planning that when I neglect it all "hades" comes loose. I felt really convicted by the Holy Spirit to start to be more meaningful with my time management. I felt awful being late for the kids' party not because of them, but me. Hannah was fed at the party and we arrived...however, next time, my goal is no stress, planning and setting about the tasks the night before so that we can get up and handle a detour with ease as I would have left 25 minutes before the party and been able to "slowly" steer the van in its circular fashion around the flashing orange lights. Wow, kids thank you for your grace.

How do you fill your time???

This past week has been incredibly busy for me, my family. It has finally stopped today and I am looking forward to this upcoming week with not too much on the calendar. I am really into books that force us to think out of the box from the status quo toys, " Elmo, Mickey Mouse, Dora, etc" and make us channel our childrens energies into more creative, unhibited play. I do not think there is anything wrong with branded toys as my sons have a slew of Thomas the Train Wooden Railway sets and trains. However, I read in this book once that when children are only given toys that they have seen on tv, videos, etc...they loose that ability to make it their own. They no longer desire to give it , it's own personality but rather the personality that was chosen for it by the producers or creators of the product. I kind of go in spurts of what is my passion to read and research about. For awhile, it was just focusing on the lost art of play. I try hard for my kids to do puzzles, play dough, color, read, dress up, go outside. Do not feel condemed if you have a playstation, but I personally feel that my boys, especially, will have so many opportunities for those types of games that I would rather get down at their level and play " Rat a tat Cat", " Silly Faces" or" Go Nuts" ( just a few of my millions of favorite games with my babies) .

I love watching their faces discover, to go outside and explore and learn. To build confidence outside the confines of a television. Do my children watch movies, absolutely, but for the most part, there are exceptions, it is a very small porportion to what else they may have done on that particular day. I encourage you to allow your children to explore, to not stock up on the branded toys but rather invest in some quality NON noise making toys and watch as your children light up. I am a huge advocate AGAINST the pressure to enroll your child in many different activities. I was not always like this, I wanted Jayden and Austen to be in everything. They will be involved and enjoy being involved at church, soccer, co ops, etc. However, I highly recommend the " The Hurried Child" as well as " Einstein never used Flashcards". These are great books that really put into persepctive how we, as Americans, force ourselves into the mindest that we needed to always be going and doing and being involved.

I am fighting hard against that; especially after this week. I love being busy to an EXTENT. I do not want my schedule filled every day, every hour. I want my children to be able to play together and not live out of a van. Is it so important that we enroll our babies in sports at 2/3 or that we foster a loving relationship with them and delay the enrollment to , gasp, 7/8???? Just some food for thought. I do enroll my boys in soccer and they are not 7/8 but we also say no to some things too. We need to use our time wisely. Especially those of us who are homeschooling. This is such a critical and important time, not only in our childrens' lives, but ours as well. Enjoy this time, don't spend it being overstimulated and feeling pressure from society to have your child enrolled in the highest this or the best this. Spend your time cuddling up and reading together, simmer some homemade hot cocoa on the stove, pop some old fashion popcorn and breathe. Laugh. Realize this is life.

I encourage you to be wise with your time and not waste it foolishly. Many times, when God calls us to our families we are able to say no to some things now so that we can open our hearts and say yes to many things now. I have trusted God with this area of my life and feel such an immense peace that I do not want to use this precious time of staying at home filling it with as I like to call " fillers". A perfect example as of recent. My children and I are members our cities science center. We were able to go get a preview of the robotic exhibit as well as SID the Science Kid( I told you I was not completley against branded things) . Well, Sid was arriving mid afternoon which meant that we delayed arriving to the museum until smack dab in the middle of nap hour. Oh joy. We drove an hour to the science center, spent the time amongst hoards of children, lines, and parents trying our best to get a chance to do some hands on activities. My oldest son melted down only about a thousand times, and he does NOT do that often. My middle son was amazing and my daughter ran away countless times, throwing herself to the ground, me picking her up, her squirming to get out of my arms, all while we waited IMPATIENTLY for Sid and a simple picture. I was irriated, tired and grumpy. My children were as well and we snapped a lovely picture of the boys with SID as Riah screamed from stroller and left immediately to enjoy a silent hour ride home.

I say this to make this point, was it worth all the hassel, the driving and the stress just to "do something" Sure Sid is great, but we spent about 5 seconds with Sid and about 4 hours of high stress with my children, traffic and a slew of people. My conclusion is no. This was one of those times where I chose to do something not based on what was best for my family or myself but what I thought sounded like a good idea, a great opportunity. It turned out frusterating and deflating. What have a I learned, once again, priortize my time, spend it in prayer and say no to opportunities, there are not such things as "once in a lifetime opportunities" if it is not the right timing. We drove home, the kids all fell asleep and I stopped and bought myself a java chip frappuccino...ahhh, now that was bliss!