Count to 10

You always hear people say when you get mad or frustrated count to 10.  yeah right like that ever works can you really change your mood in 10 seconds?  Let me tell you, you can!  After I had my second child, I had to find some new ways to deal with my older girl, a way to get her attention quickly (without spanking) and a way to get her to calm down so we can work together to find a solution to the problem.

This is what I do and it might help you,

When my child is crying because she hasn't gotten her way, or she is over reacting to some situation, I get down in her face and tell them that "we are going to count to ten and take big breaths, when we get to 10 the crying is going to stop so we can talk about what is going on".

I then begin to count, between each number  I a big breath, like an overly big breath the kind you do when the doctor is listening to your lungs, by the time you get to 7 they might start breathing with you, or you may have a child they will hold their breath, or cry louder. (Both of my girls will cry all the way to 10 but then stop right once we get to 10) Once I get to 10 I say now lets talk.  Sometimes it doesn't work right away, I them will tell them we will try this again in a minute, but until we try it again you are not moving from this spot.

I have been doing this for 3 years now and I have done it in a classroom setting with kids that are not my own, and it does work for the most part if anything it gets you to take big breaths.

Blessings In The Small Things

This weekend I found some small little bugs crawling on my daughter’s head.  I did everything a normal person would do I freaked out.  I ran downtown to get special shampoo and comb.  Upon returning home my girls were not allowed to leave their bedroom, they even got to have a picnic dinner in their room.  I stripped bed sheets and blankets, all laundry, pillows, toys got washed, couches got vacuumed, brushes got boiled and don’t forget my girls got a shampooing of their lives.  Then my ape instincts came out in me and I began to pick through my girls heads of hair.  I got lucky one girl got lice the other didn’t.   The next day brought more cleaning and laundry and laundry and picking bugs and eggs out of hair.  My poor washing machine and drier.  I am sure you are wondering where the blessing is in all of this, well since one daughter didn’t have lice I was able to send her off to Sunday school with her cousins.  I had the whole day to clean and spend with my youngest, which doesn’t normally happen.  I got so much done, I don’t think I have had a more productive day in a long time.  It made me wonder if this is what it is like to have a child in school, you send them off in the morning and get them home in the afternoon, and you can clean and get different things accomplished that you normally don’t when you have children under your feet all day.  It sounds nice and wonderful, but the reality is I love having my girls at home with me to homeschool them.  Who cares if my floors don’t normally get as clean as they need to but I get to spend my days teaching my girls and loving them all day long.  It is a true blessing.  It has also made me realize that I might enjoy at least once a month or so to have a day to get those crazy chores done.  Sometimes it is the small things in life that make you appreciate the big things in your life. 

This Moment

this moment

A single photo - no words 

12 Things That Will Keep Me Going in 2012

In the year 2012:

• My first baby is turning 6
• My Baby baby is turning 4
• I will be married for 10 years
• In May I will be an aunt again X2 
• I will turn  29 for the first time.
• I will start homeschooling both my girls come fall 
• I will have to official start recording HS with the State (which scares me)
• Mike and I will go away for  a weekend just the 2 of us (haven't done so in 6 years)
• I will get in the habit of blogging
• I will get an iphone :)
• My family will get in the habit of eating healthy
• I will be more Thankful to our creator this year for all the many blessings in my life.

Holiday Time

We have a few holiday traditions, one we make gingerbread houses and we have a cookie swap.
For the gingerbread houses,  for some strange reason I choose to make my own gingerbread and I have never bought a kit.  This year I finally got my recipe right  and the roof did not fall off during the process of decorating. I have also found that it is useful to have the girls have their own house to decorate, which they love.

For the cookie swap we invite all our friends to bake homemade cookies, and then we swap them. But not before we taste each cookie and vote on the best tasting cookie and the best looking.  Everyone always seems to have a good time and enjoy the time together.

I love having these traditions to do every year with my girls.  Do you have anything that you do every year with your family?

Pinterest

my 3 year olds work

I have found that I really enjoy Pinterest .  It is a really neat site where you can pin all the different things you see online and they are all in the same spot, a online pin board.  I try my best  to pin the things that I really think I will do, I have a pin board that I made for my girls bathroom, all the ideas that I like for a bathroom and I re-did their bathroom from all those ideas,  my food board is another one that I have made 2 or 3 of the foods I have pinned.  One of my most resent pins was painting your family on clothes pins. such a cute idea.  Over this past holiday I sat down with my girls and my mom and my brother and we painted away.  It was surprising how much fun everyone had fun doing it, my 3 year old loved it, I couldn't get her to stop.  My suggestions for you is to try out some of your pins, instead of just looking at them try them, you never know what you will like doing!

my parent and siblings

self-portraits by my 2 girls