blogging sometimes stinks

today i decided that i am OVER the blogging guilt.
you won't hear me apologize for not doing it.
life is too short.
i have decided that the guilt alone keeps me from blogging.


speaking of guilt.....or lack of.....
i'm eating Doritos right now. actually i'm just starting in on my 5th handful.
i ate 3 cookies at 11:45 pm last night.
i had another one at midnight.
i haven't shaved my legs in 4 days.
i don't really like eating turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing.  gasp.
yesterday i took a tiny little piece on my plate just so i wouldn't have to admit i didn't actually eat turkey on Thanksgiving!
i don't know why i feel guilt that i prefer Ham over Turkey. how dumb is that??
oh, and i haven't been on the treadmill in a few weeks.
 i don't really feel the need to hop on tonight.

now that i have ALL THAT off my shoulders i can go on eating my Doritos guilt-free.

it's also been over a week since i added something to my 'thankful' list. please know, i am thankful. yesterday was a wonderful day of fellowship with the likkels (and a few others!).  unexpected snowfall made for hours of fun for the kids. oh, and the big boys too.
we laughed much.
we are all healthy.
we were well fed.
we were thankful .
our cup runneth over.
it was a good day, remembering how GOOD & FAITHFUL God has been to our family this year.

the boys always love to have a part in the decorating for the festivities. of course, their mother didn't think about all the name place cards until late on Wednesday night. ugh. what could we pull together that would make it look like we gave it MUCH thought?
let's see.....
hhhmmmm....
PINECONES!!!!
in spite of the snow, we dug around, in the frigid weather and came up with 36 of um. i won't even mention all the little spiders and bugs that came in with them. oh wait, i just mentioned it. whatever.
jack wrote out all the names on card stock.
i (and beppe) tied them on with colorful ribbon.
wouldn't you know it, they turned out really cute.
problem averted.

max and jack also decided that the tables needed 'thankful verses'. so we Googled 'thankful' passages and wrote a few out for each table. great idea boys!!

sam contributed a 'i'm thankful for' list.....
my family
my fish
my coat
my room
my house
my alarm clock
my toliet (can't argue with THAT?)
my air soft guns
my DS
my ipod
my pellet gun
my friends
my teachers
my legos
my school
the snow
my bible
music
my snowpants
my gloves
my bed
and most of all, i am thankful for Jesus Christ and God and that He sent his only son to die for us and that Jesus went to heaven and took our sins with.

be patient

hold your horses.....i'm just waiting for a snowy day to hunker down and blog. :)
i'll be back.

really, i'm thankful.

i'd be a horrible leader. in any sense of the term.
here i challenged YOU, my faithful blog readers to a challenge and i skipped out.
let me just make THIS very clear, i'm thankful.
i've been thankful for something EVERY day since i posted on the third. i've just been too lazy to write about it.
let me recap. (minus the pictures)

the 4th. thursday.
thankful for an unexpected coffee date. i 'quick' ran into kathy's, my bff, to answer a question. about 2 hours & a big-ol-mug of java later, home. love u kathy sue. thank you for a wonderful break from my everyday 'norm'.

the 5th. friday.
today i was thankful for pizza lunch. although i'm 'in charge' (kath http://www.wubbenworld.blogspot.com/ & amy http://www.vandalenclan.blogspot.com/ are EQUALLY partnered with me!!), i still LOVE a day that i don't have to make lunches!!

the 6th. saturday.
a PERFECT stay-in-all-day-have-nothing-planned-day. i'm so thankful for a hub that lets me sleep in, makes breakfast to keep the whipper snappers quiet, THEN makes me coffee! ahhhh. yup, i'm thankful.

the 7th. sunday.
i am SO incredibly thankful to belong to a small group at church that helps to direct parents in the right direction. i wish i could sum up all the amazing things i learned in this class this morning but don't know where to begin. in a nutshell, we are learning how to teach our children (and ourselves) to center their/our  lives around scripture. we are learning MUCH.

the 8th. monday.
i'm thankful for the opportunity to spent most of the day shopping with a 'new' friend. we are kindred spirits in the shopping/decorating world. thanks to miss A for a GREAT day out!! check out her crafty little blog over at http://www.vintagedutchgirl.blogspot.com/ . she's inspires me!

the 9th. tuesday.
thankful that i have a home in which to wash toilets. a weird thing to be thankful for, but it's true. if i didn't have a home, i wouldn't have toilets to clean.
as the day wore on, i started feeling crappy. went to bed at 8. spent the next 10 1/2 hours sleeping. awww. thankful again for a hub that can handle things on the home front while this mama is down.

the 10th. today.
today i am thankful that i am feeling a little better. missed small group this morning. sadness. pulled myself together to make it to my meeting at school. had a good afternoon with fellow 6th grade mom's watching our kiddos practice for their upcoming musical. come check it out on Thursday afternoon or Friday night. (next week). it'll be worth your time!

there you have it.
i'm current.
yeah for my fellow bloggers who are also doing the Thankful Challenge. a shout out to Emily http://www.2boys2girls2ofakind.blogspot.com/  and Emily http://www.ghettobarbiegab.blogspot.com/
way to go girls!!!

working to be a 'YES' mom!!

i stumbled on this story from someone's blog and it made me think....am i a 'yes' mom?
 most days, not so much.  that is one thing that i struggle with. i really WANT to be a mom that let's her kids, well, be kids. MOST of the time, my reasons for saying NO are purely selfish.
i'm working on this.
i would LOVE to hear your stories.
do you consider yourself a 'yes' mom?
if not, why?
give me your stories!!



Last week my boys ran inside and said, "Mom, mom...it's so hot outside! Can we see if it's hot enough to cook an egg on the sidewalk?"

The practical side of me started to say no, but then I caught myself. What would it hurt for them to try it? Why couldn't I say yes? Is it "wasting" an egg, or simply using it for a different, but just as valuable, purpose?

After that quick argument in my head, I finally said, "Sure. If you want to try it, go ahead! Just make sure you wash off the sidewalk when you're done." They got an egg from the refrigerator and ran out of the house to try their science experiment.

Over 24 years of mothering, I've finally learned how to be a "yes" mom more than a "no" mom. It wasn't an easy transition...but it was an important one. For years my interactions with my kids looked more like this:

"No, you can't fingerpaint." (It will make too much of a mess.)



"No, you can't bake cookies today." (I just mopped the kitchen floor!)



"No, you can't have a friend over today." (I don't want to go anywhere today and I'd have to go get them.)



"No, you can't play in the sprinklers." (I'm not in the mood for wet swimsuits, towels, and grass tracked in the house.)



"No, you can't go out and play in the snow." (I don't want to deal with the snowsuits, boots, gloves, scarves, and hassle of it all.)


Over time, however, I started paying attention to the "no's" and my reasoning behind them. It usually had something to do with my selfish reasons. I didn't want to deal with a mess. I didn't want to be inconvenienced. I didn't want to have more work to do.

That's not fun to admit, but it was true. My selfishness was robbing my kids of some of the joy of just being kids!

I remember one afternoon many years ago when a couple of the kids asked, "Can we blow bubbles in the house? I initially said no because bubbles have always been an outside activity. But then I thought about my answer. Why couldn't they blow bubbles in the house? We even have the bubble cups that don't spill! Why do I always say no so quickly? Finally, I called my kids back into the kitchen and said, "Yes, you can blow bubbles in the house. Have a blast."

And they did.

And I started being more of a "yes" mom, than a "no" mom that day.

Now I'm not talking here about permissive parenting. I'm not talking about the times that we need to say no because our kids really do need us to set boundaries. I'm talking about the times that I say no out of selfishness, or default, or habit.

please, SHARE YOUR STORIES!!!