Mornings

Like looking in a mirror in the morning

For as long as I can remember I have always hated mornings. I'm just not a morning person. I look like death warmed over and can not talk to any single person. No one told me this would become a real problem once I became a mom. This is why I now drink coffee. At least one cup of Joe every morning!

The wee hours of the morning do not slow down my children and actually seem to energize them. I dearly appreciate my sons because both of them are wonderful sleepers! They generally sleep until 8 or 9 o'clock. Sometimes they switch things around and are the first ones awake. Why, what makes kids sleep longer or shorter? I don't get it. I put my kids to bed later thinking surely they will sleep later but to my utter disappointment they are up even earlier than ever expected. I am very sure that my children were given to me for the sole purpose of forcing me to wake earlier than I'd ever like. If I had a choice I wouldn't wake until 8:30 or 9:00 every morning but as most adults I do not have that choice.

Lily, my dear sweet Lily she just challenges me on all parenting levels. Her tiny little body senses the suns rays outside her window. All the kids have sun blocking curtains but somehow she knows and she's up. Again just like little Anna (seriously we have too much in common with this Disney blockbuster) her argument is "the sky's awake, so I'm awake.".



 I just can not deal with the craziness so early in the morning. Can someone please explain to me how a child can be so contrary first thing in the morning, even when waking up at their own will? It never fails that my two youngest are not only contrary but contrary with each other. I must quickly reach for my coffee in the morning because sometimes I just can not. Mom's you've been there that one moment where all your disciplining and order goes out the window simply because you can not. I get it, I'm there with you.

I've decided it must get better at some point. We did go through the extremely annoying phase where each child came to my bed first thing in the morning and each asked for breakfast because they were SO hungry follow by crying and a full blown fit. Praise be to the Lord this no longer happens! I've decided that there must be hope for the not so morning moms who have little kids that are waking at high speed far too early in the morning. I'm truly looking forward to those teenage years when they don't want to wake up until noon. Finally we can be done with mornings all together! ;-)

Now don't get me wrong I love my children, I just don't love mornings. After we've all truly been awake and the attitudes are back to normal levels I enjoy a cuddle with these little monsters who call me mom. There's nothing like getting a hug from your child it's incredible and so rewarding in itself.

Sunshine

Spring has finally sprung here in the midwest! Winter is rough and always seems extremely long, especially when you don't have to leave the house. I am a homeschooling stay at home mom, we don't leave the house in the winter unless it is necessary. The warmer weather brings an improved attitude for our family. In exchange for monotony and forced heat there is plenty of sunshine and fresh air.

I am constantly reminded that not only do I need the air and sunshine but so do my kids. They need to be outdoors.

 Most of us have learned at one time or another that sunshine has several health benefits.

1. Vitamin D (strong bones) 

2. Release of Serotonin (enhanced mood/fights depression) 

3. Prevents cancer (limited exposure) 

4. Treats many skin issues. (like eczema)

 Sunlight gives us more benefits than I had realized according to Heath Line.
Just remember not to overexpose your family because that is how skin cancer begins, or so we're told. ;-)

The kids are using muscles that have not been easy to use during the winter months. I try to keep them active as much as possible. We do have our YMCA days for our homeschool group as I informed you about in a previous post Homeschool "Group". But when we are stuck indoors our physical activities are limited. They naturally run and move about but I will have some structured kids yoga from YouTube Cosmic Kids Yoga and the kids enjoy it. The younger two lose interest faster but it is a perfect little yoga program for 4 and older. But I know they are not gaining the muscle strength from home as they would being outdoors exploring and climbing.

Sometimes we all just need a little break of unstructured play both young and old. The kids and I can run and be loud which are things that just can not be experienced indoors. Freedom if you will, freedom to play without much limitations. This is another reason why we need the outdoors, to be free! 

Electronic Usage

We use electronics frequently in our home. We try not to over play since we have some one gaming addict. If he could play games all day he would. Whether they are on the computer, tablet, DS, Wii, phone, doesn't matter he loves them all and would do nothing else with his time. Because of this especially I try my best to limit the electronic use in our house. Here is what we do in the area of electronics.

First, all electronics are put away the children must ask to play/use them. I'm old fashioned in the fact that, I would rather my children use their imagination and play together or play outdoors, when possible. A screen can only give you so much entertainment. To become active you must get up and get out. To use your brain you sometimes need to step away from the device and sometimes there needs to be quiet and reflection or we all miss the world going by. Now you know me, to each his own. If electric devices work great in your house and the kids use them all the time I don't judge. Each mom must do what they feel is best for their kiddos. I keep most electronics in these baskets high up on shelves. They don't even have access to any remote at this point.

The three older children do most of their school work on the computer. In a previous post I stated that we use the Easy Peasy homeschool curriculum. My children love the curriculum and so do I! This curriculum requires most daily work to be done on the computer, which is great practice for the future. The honest truth is, our culture will only become more advanced and dependent on these tools. This curriculum will give my children the opportunity to experience a computer not only as a toy but a tool. We will seldom allow the children to play games on a few of our favorite sites, pbskids.org and disneyjunior.com I fully trust these sites for my young children to use. My sister in law also signed up for abcmouse.com and since she only has one child she allows the older children to also use her account. These are fabulous sites I would recommend to parents for fun play and educational play.

I love electronics that are focused on education! If I had it my way that would be the only electronic capabilities my children would own. But we have daddy who lives in our house and he will not lie to you he enjoys playing wii games with the children. Remember I have a game addict and because of this we I have decided to only allow wii (fun video games) on Fridays for an hour. Maybe that's strict or crazy but we came an agreement that we don't want these games controlling our household. So, only on Fridays, only for an hour and lastly it must be earned! If any of the children have been a pain in the behind all week long NO Friday video games. It's harsh but I feel that fun games are privilege. Some of their (including daddy) favorite games are down below. 

Portable electronics are used spontaneously with our children. They become last minute resorts, time killers, or transition makers. We use them at least once each week but do not use them daily. We own 3 Leappads and 1 Leapster 2 2 Kindle Fires and one DS. The Leappads I bought when the kids were little for long trips in the car. The Leapster was given to us by family. The Kindle Fires my husband and I bought for ourselves during amazon black friday sale and the DS was given to Eli from our cousins. So most of these items were given to us.

Let me start with Leappads, I really like Leappads! They are education only and not wi fi capable. We've had them for several years and I prefer to buy game and movie downloads. I always purchase downloads before we venture out on a big trip. The cost is not much only a few dollars since I only buy the apps that are on sale. The downloaded apps can be shared up to four devices. I recommend these devices for children 4 and under it is a perfect device for my two littles. The Leapster is like the Leappad only an older version and the kids  love it too!


Kindle Fire has an installed app that is incredible. You can set up how much time your children can play, what days they can play and even set time to use the educational apps before the entertainment apps. This app is amazing and we all love it! It manages the time and play so you don't have to. Many times I'll allow my children to play on the Kindle and forget they are playing. Generally this would result in overplay until the battery power was exhausted. With FreeTime my children are cut off after a set amount of time and can no longer play.

TV time is spent in the morning waking up which is usually use watching PBS kids. PBS kids is educational and they all appreciate the shows. From time to time in the afternoons we'll watch a DVD or movie on Netflix during quiet time.  Most of the time we let the kids watch a show on Netflix before bedtime. I really try not to use the TV too much but again when I do I try to keep it educational.

We are not perfect, I'm ashamed to say that sometimes I just need a break and I throw them a tablet or turn on the TV just to get a little quiet after a long day. I know I shouldn't but if we as moms were honest with ourselves and others we would realize that we all have those days. There is NO perfect mom!

Homeschool "Group"

Shortly after we started homeschooling my dear friend and I decided to start our very own homeschool group. We did not know any other homeschool families in our town. We couldn't believe we were the only ones and welcomed the new relationships for us all! Initially we hoped the group would thrive into something gigantic and incredible but to our surprise no such thing happened.

Yes, I know we're crazy! We have a huge group! Look at all ten of those kids! They are all ours.... I know, we do have our hands full! First we were disappointed our group didn't grow by leaps and bounds but now we can see the blessing. We are two families from the same church, with the same values and both have a larger family.

The kids are best friends, I'm pretty sure a few of them may even think they're cousins! We've had picnic park days, class holiday parties, class learning on a particular subject and field trips. This fall it started to get cooler out and we knew we had to find somewhere to go in this little town where our little rascals could run off that extra energy. We don't have that luxury of the schools in town having a gym during the cooler months. We could dual enroll them for gym but we would eventually drive all around town to get and take our children to different schools for this experience. We finally decided to make a call.

Since my friend's youngest is older than my oldest child she was decided she should make the call. Our first choice was to contact the local YMCA hoping to have access to the gym specifically. We had no idea what would enjoy! The YMCA director met with us and we agreed for a small monthly fee to enjoy a planned gym activity AND pool time! We were all excited! Since October our kids have experienced pickle ball, kickball, dodge ball, soccer, archery, softball, floor hockey and other games I don't even remember the names of.

The director has been great with the kids and it's nice to give them someone else to look up to, listen and respect. We have grown our little group, my husband's cousin and her son come and do activities with us. They fit in great with the homeschool group and we enjoy having them participate. We are so excited and can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings!

The Youngest Toddler Trouble

Over the winter our youngest turned two. Let me answer the age old question, "Is there such a thing as terrible twos?" Yes, yes there is! I'm not sure what mentally changes in these tiny human beings but there is an enormous change. Toddlers are learning to make decisions and become more independent. They reach this mere independence but to them they believe they have reached their full independence. Toddlers begin to push the rules and regulations of there tiny lives.

As mothers we must remind them that they still need a lot of help. They are not nearly as independent as they believe. There must be training to reign in their spirit and true desires. Toddlers not only need a lot of help and need to have rules in their lives even though it may be extremely difficult we as mothers need to keep pressing forward.

With their growth comes a strong spirit and attitude like no other. These little spitfires feel as though they are quite capable to accomplish anything, anytime, anywhere. Whether it's crossing the street on their own or pouring their own glass of juice there is a strong will to fight all odds to accomplish the impractical.

I can't help but think what we can learn from the attitude of a toddler. Not only as mothers or even women but simply as a human being. There is persistence. Persistence to do quiet literally the impossible. Do you have a calling or a dream? Does it seem unreachable? If you keep working hard you might make it. How many times are toddlers refused and told no but continue to work toward their goal despite it? There are no great limitations to a toddler. What good could we accomplish with bravery, the bravery of a toddler?