Mommy's Project 52:9 Caring

There are so many ways to demonstrate that you care. It is important for our family that our kids grow up wanting to help and serve others. Here are some pictures that show some of the ways they care for others in their lives.

My husband has the privilege of still having both of his grandmothers so my kids have two great-grandmothers. It is amazing to see how both kids seem to understand and try to be gentle with both great-grandmothers. Just by being around them, they have an opportunity to really serve others. No one is better able than a little kid to get the shoes under the bed or find the domino that dropped under the table.

One of the reasons I am glad we have two kids is the opportunity for them to love and serve each other. In this photo, my son is trying hard to entertain his sister while we attend a graveside service. He also got to witness how people comfort and care for each other in time of loss.

This is my son in 2010 getting a shoebox ready for Operation Christmas Child. We started this last year when he had just turned four. We just got our shoeboxes for this year from church this week. For more information, you can visit www.samaritanspurse.org/occ. The local food pantry is another great way for kids to serve others in the community.

It starts small but I see caring actions initiated by him occasionally. He naturally wants to help and serve and I want to do all I can to encourage service to others as a life long passion.

Mommy's Project 52:8 Happiness

Happiness is something that I work toward in my life. It does not come easy to me. It is easy for me to get distracted by what doesn’t go right. So to stay on an even keel, I need to make an effort to be happy. That might sound weird, but being happy takes work.

I don’t know if this comes truly easy to others but this is what I do in my life to stay relatively happy.

1. Exercise – I know that when I get physical activity that it keeps darker thoughts away. I sleep better and I feel better.

2. Keeping a grateful list - I have a journal and when I pause in the evening to write down five things that I am grateful for from that day, my focus is on the right thing.

3. Let anger and resentment go - This can be hard to do but it will destroy all the work I did in a few moments time. It gets easier for me to do the older I get.

4. Participating in a spiritual community - For me, this is going to and participating in a church with my family.

5. Paying attention to and nurturing relationships - In my case, I need to make sure I don’t take for granted the people who are closest to me including my husband. They need love and attention and they should not be taken for granted. I need to tell them and appreciate them.

6. Learning to say no - I used to be so busy worrying that I would upset people by saying no that I made myself so busy and unhappy trying to make everyone else happy. This is one of the most empowering things I have learned to do. Once you feel free to say no, it can get very addictive. I try to pick one small and one big project to be involved in and I say no to everything else.

7. Eating healthy – This is something that I am not very good at but when I do it, I do feel better and that increases my overall happiness. I am working on balancing enjoying food and keeping it under control.

8. Let the silly out - I have been working on this the past few weeks and I can see baby steps at work. I try to use humor with my kids and it makes the days work so much better. Doing the above things makes being silly so much easier.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200910/the-road-happiness says, “…happiness is greatest when we combine frequent numbers of good experiences with a few very intense ones.” It seems to work for me. What makes you happy?

Mommy's Project 52:7: Selfless

This post is dedicated to my husband who shows us in many different ways how much he loves and cares for us. He often puts our needs ahead of his own. Selfless = My husband.

Selfless is getting up in the middle of the night with a crying child even though he has to go to work in the morning. I don't have a picture to support this since I am thankfully in bed.

Selfless is playing "horsie" with the kids even though he would rather read the news or relax a little after work.

Selfless is reading books every day while fighting not to fall asleep.

Selfless is becoming a bike rider just because it is important to me and fun for the kids.

Selfless is getting on this tall ride at the downtown aquarium even though he dislikes heights. He smiles and agrees to ride with our son.

I am so happy he is my partner for life. He makes raising two kids a wonderful journey and I am so blessed that we found each other.

Mommy's Project 52:6 Crazy

Crazy describes our weekend.

We did all this while towing a 4 ¾ year old and a 20 month old along for the ride.

The original plan was to go to Bandera (4 hour drive) to the Labor Day parade and spend time with great-grandma. We did that and a whole lot more. It started when my husband got a call for a job interview in Fort Worth on Friday. I didn’t want to cancel an opportunity to see Great-Grandma so we just added to the plan. We would drive to Boerne (drop husband at Enterprise Rental car place) and continue on to Bandera. He would drive to Fort Worth Thursday night (5 hours) and interview on Friday and then drive back to Bandera. No problem. Parade was not until 11 on Saturday.

All went according to plan and then Saturday afternoon instead of planned nap we got a call that great-grandma on my husband’s other side of family had passed and could we make the funeral in Hillsboro for Tuesday. So do we go home or go directly from Bandera? Saving the kids an extra 4 hours in the car, we decided to stop by Kohl’s on the way picking up any needed extra clothes and go straight to hotel in Hillsboro. Since it was so close to where my husband has been interviewing for jobs we decided that we would leave Sunday, drive up there (4 hours), do house scouting on Monday and then funeral service on Tuesday. It was practical and we would be so close already.

So Monday, we drove around most of the day scouting out neighborhoods, schools, and towns to see where we would like to live that was close enough for my husband to commute and yet in a place where there would be good schools and the size of community we were wanting to live. Then back to hotel Monday night and prepare for funeral on Tuesday. From there directly home so my husband can be at work on Wednesday. That last leg home to outside Houston we were close to silly happy after doing so much in the past five days. That was our crazy busy weekend. With a pending job change for my husband, I think this is the beginning of a crazy couple of months.

I was going to edit out the milk splatters on the window but I thought it illustrated the craziness of spending that much time in the car together. Can't wait to read about the crazy in your life.

Mommy's Project 52:5 Loving

This clip is from Tuesday morning, the first day of preschool for my son.

Transcript of video clip:

I’ll be home..

I will be home just before you go to bed for your nappy.

For your afternoon nap Emma, I promise I promise

I promise, I will miss your little.. your little

I will miss your little eyes

I will miss your little nose

I will miss you.

I will miss you.

I will miss you.

Emma, I really will miss you.

He is being a little dramatic here but I am thrilled by the loving sibling relationship that they have right now. I will do my best to help it continue to grow so they will have the love and support from each other for their entire lifetime.

Articles that I have the important role parents have to help develop and foster a loving relationship between siblings. See the links below for why it is important and some tips on how to develop that loving relationship.

Links:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700053714/BYU-study-says-siblings-make-life-sweeter.html

http://www.fredericksburgparent.net/family-values/sibling-love