Mommy's Project 52:52 Active

We are a mom and dad with a 5 and a 2 year old.  Being active is what it is all about.  Dad has a very time consuming job and often works 7 days a week.  I am at home with the two kids for another month before I have to send my oldest off to Kindergarten.  For now, our days have been filled with playing in the sandbox, at the park, in the kiddie pool, and on the floor in the living room.  We color, paint, pretend, experiment, read, and cook our way through our days at home.  We also go to gymnastics classes, Jazzercise, and swimming lessons. It is a busy active life with two kids and we love it!

I will leave this year with some pictures of our active family life.  I plan to send this book to be printed so I will have a year of memories from this year of blogging.

Exploring with Daddy!

Tinkertoys with Grandpa.

Blowing bubbles with Grandma.

Painting.

Working with Daddy!

Helping in the kitchen.

Jumping and throwing!

Getting a big boy bike!

Park time!

Riding an elephant when the circus came to Muenster!

Checking the corn crop!

Helping mom pack hay on the wagon.

Geocaching at the state park.

Mom & Me Gymnastics class 

My son in his spider web he made in the back of Daddy's truck.

My daughter showing her dance moves while her friend sings.

Wow.  I made it to week 52.  I might have been late or very late but eventually I think I hit all 52 topic words. Yeah for a year of blogging.  Thank you Robin for starting this project or us.

Mommy's Project 52:51 Responsible

It is true; I am a responsible person. I remember not liking the label when I was younger. Being told I was reliable and responsible sounded so boring and uninteresting. I can't help it, I love to plan things out.

A recent example was having a long time friend visit with her two children for a week.  I was so excited.  She was one of my good college friends and I was eager to reconnect with her after 12 years. She was now also another mom with two small children.

I immediately went into planning mode.  I researched the locations we could visit, inquired about their interests, printed maps, made list of groceries and supplies, and really enjoyed planning for the visit.  I wanted her to not have to worry but enjoy her vacation while I took care of the details.  I wanted to be sufficiently planned so that we could spend a lot of time chatting and the least amount of time worrying about dinner and clean-up.  While it may sound like a chore to some, I really enjoyed planning out our week.

Below are some pictures from our week of fun.  We played in the sandbox and splashed in the kiddie pool.  We visited Fossil Rim Natural Area, Dinosaur Valley State Park, and Lego Land.  The kids got to know one another and we got to reconnect with each other.  It was as if no time had passed.  Good friends are such a treasure!

Fossil Rim Natural Area, Glen Rose, TX

New Friends!

Dinosaur Valley State Park, Glen Rose, TX

Lego Land Discovery Center - Grapevine, TX

  

College friends!

Mommy's Project 52:50 Forgetful

I have always thought it was a good thing to multi-task.   And I always thought I was pretty good at it....until I had kids.  For some reason, adding the job of children to my list made multi-tasking not as effective and sometimes dangerous.

I no longer have a teapot.  I make hot water with the coffee maker after burning two teapots up by leaving them on all night until all the water boiled away.  This was during the infancy of my oldest child.  The coffee pot automatically turns off after two hours.

Setting timers is a must.  Before when I cooked, I would always look at the clock and somehow always managed to make it back in time to check on my cooking.  After blackened cookies and numerous other things, I always set a timer that keeps beeping.

Lists, lists, and more lists.  I not only have to make a list of all the stops we need to make, I also have to make a list of the things that need to be accomplished at that location.  I have gone to the grocery store for milk and come away with everything but the real item that we had to have from the store in the first place.  I also have trouble making it to the store with the coupons, much less ones that are not expired or get to the check-out with the wrong size or kind of product listed on the coupon.  I have almost given up on coupons.  How many of us have those grocery bag that you can re-use but never can get them from the house back to the car and then from the car back into the grocery store?

While many call this "mommy brain", I think it is the result of distraction and multi-tasking.  I have too many balls in the air at one time and something has to be dropped.  I still have to balance and manage many tasks at once but I am now willing to accept help in any form I can in order to be less forgetful.

Mommy's Project 52:49 Sad

I asked my son today what made him sad.  He said, "The saddest thing I can think of is losing my sister.  I worry about that sometimes. When we grow up, I want us to live in apartments right next to each other."

My daughter is too young to answer the question but I know that she misses her daddy a lot when he is at work.  We recently took a three week trip to visit cousins and my husband had to stay home to work.  When he picked us up to take us home, she would not let him leave her sight.  She was so worried that he would disappear again, she would get upset if he tried to leave her sight for even a minute.  It took almost a week to convince her that Daddy would come home again at night.

For me, there are many things that make me sad but what strikes me today is when my kids are hurting and I can't fix it.  I remember the day my son figured out that a mommy kiss didn't take the hurt away anymore.  While we all need to learn to handle and deal with disappointment and sadness, it is hard to watch them go through it.

While none of us like to be sad, I think sadness has a role to play in our lives.  It helps us deal with events, to strive to do better and to make changes in our lives.  I really can't imagine life without this emotion.  It is all a part of what it is to be human.