Over Coming the Natural Woman!

I have always had trouble doing what I am told when I am told to do it.  I have watched my dear daughter avoid following my pleas for chores to be done over the last few days. Not to the point that she wouldn't do them, but just waiting long enough that she could feel that she had the control over when she would begin. 
Frustration... but I totally get it.
What I don't get is why I do the same thing when it is my own schedule? What is that?  It seems as soon as I decide to take myself seriously about anything, I sabotage it and can't seem to follow the schedule I lay out for myself.
Even my menu planning. It is true, I can make a beautiful menu on my calendar, decide what to have and when, go out and buy all of the ingredients, and then it happens. I look at the day and decide I just don't feel like meat loaf today and I make Fridays meal.  WITHOUT FAIL!!!
Awe, maybe I need to be tested for ODD.
But let's be real it IS odd.
So about a month ago just as I was beginning to get this blog up and going, I decided to make a plan. Wrote it out on my calendar, looked up how to have a successful blog.. and. then. stopped. writing!!
So here is the deal, I am not going to write on a regular basis. I am just going to write when I feel like it. It might work out that I write Mondays and Fridays, but maybe not. You may find that a routine develops, but whatever you do...
DON'T TELL ME ABOUT IT!!!
I hope you have a very unpredictable day! I plan I mean hope to!

We Interupt our Regular Scheduled Programing! -A Bucket List Glitch!

Today should be a bucket list post and although I am working on it, it is proving to be more difficult then I had hoped.

So I thought I would share one of our Summer adventures instead. In a way it is a bucket list item... Jacob had wanted to go camping just the two of us for a couple of summer now. He seems to have had the hardest time adjusting to the littles in our home. Going from being the youngest to the 'big brother' of 3 is a huge adjustment!! One that he has done well with, but he was in great need of some one on one mom time!
With Jacob getting so big, camping in a tent seems just about impossible. But he doesn't like to be left out and I so wanted to fill this seemingly easy request.  Then I remembered being told of  a camp ground with cabins in Kananaskis country right here in Alberta. 
The William Watson Lodge!
It is a true blessing.  Each building has four "cabins" or units. Each unit is fully accessible. The bathroom, the kitchen counters and sink (My 15 year old was so excited to be able to wash the dishes for the first time!), the table, tracking in the ceiling for those who use it. All of the biking trails and walking trails are wheel chair accessible too- no roots to bounce over. A gem only a few hours away!!
So we made a call, booked a cabin, packed up the van and away we went!
(You have to have a priority number assigned to you before you can book. This requires filling out some paperwork and waiting to get it back to you)

Lunch on the road! We were packed to the gills for a four day trip!!
The bike, the bike trailer, art supplies, food, bedding...

We stopped a couple of times on the way there. He is so excited!

Beds are made!
Jacob Loved sharing a room.
It was a wonderful cabin that we stayed in!

Getting ready for our first of many bike rides!  I love our Wiki bike trailer. 
So does Jacob!
He did just about kill me!  We were in the mountains after all and it was up hill one way or the other! 

Getting book covers ready for binding!
(More on this in our next post!)

It was so beautiful! 

The view from Jacob's chair.
(This was a trail off of the lodges property - not wheel chair friendly.)
It was so wonderful to have accessibility wherever we went!

I love that smile my dear boy!!
We live in such an amazing part of the world!



"I told you it would be good Mom"

I told Jacob we could eat outside and have a picnic one evening.  I let him pick the spot. He said 'No' to many and then found this one. 
The look on his face says it all!  He was very impressed with himself!
Ah look at that view! Good pick Jacob!

Joy was felt by all!

I am so blessed to be this boys mom. I love that he wants to hang out with me!  He makes me laugh everyday and brings such joy into our world.
I love having one on one time with each one of my children. It gives us time to step out of our crazy lives and reconnect. I think it is so important. Not that is has to be 4 days away in the mountains, although I highly recommend it! But date night every once in a while can do the same thing.
Lets face it, it is easy to get so caught up in the hard parts of parenthood- discipline, homework, schedules, appointments, and just plain focusing on the difficulties and forget why we wanted to have these children in our lives in the first place! It is so important to have time where happy memories can be created for all of us!
I love being a Mom!!
Hope you can give the little ones in your life some time today, I plan to!

We are Further Ahead Than We Feel

I opened up my blog this morning wondering what I would write about. So many thoughts going through my mind, but none of them seem complete or enough to fill a post.  I am also feeling a bit discouraged with the progress I am making with my ideals. Limiting screen time is proving to be harder then I thought it would be and funny, but the members of my family are determined to use their own agency and not follow everything I want them to do...hmm
Then I gazed over at my 101 goals down the side and noticed an amazing thing! There staring me right in the face are 3 goals all accomplished and I didn't even realize it!
As a parent I often feel like I am always playing catch up~ with house work, laundry, scrap books, laundry, meal prep, teaching important lessons to my children,  laundry, losing those "last" 25 lbs., giving my children enough quality time and there is ALWAYS laundry... in most aspects of my daily life I feel like I am constantly running behind.
I think I have mentioned it before but one of my favourite books is Mitten Strings for God by Katrina Kenison. I like to read it every few years just to help me refocus on what is important and where I need to be placing my time and energy. 
This work that I am doing as a mom is so important. There isn't anything else that fills this space for me. I had about 14 years of trying to fill the hole I felt in my heart before we opened our door to these sweet "Littles".  Now it is full to over flowing and I am content and happy.
BUT that does Not mean it is easy and unless we are looking it is hard to feel very accomplished. Let's face it many a morning my hair doesn't get brushed until... well I have to leave the house. (Some days that is not at all!). Many times I realize way too late that I have goopy hand prints on the front of my shirt where some little one has reached up to get my attention. Quite often the music going around in my head is Wheels on the bus or the theme song from the big Purple dinosaur and Not something from the latest record charts. And as I am writing this, every door knob in my house is sticky or crusted over and there are dishes in my sink...
But I spent a little extra time this morning giving warm snuggles to a little one just waking up, I helped trace little hands with purple crayon on sheets of paper, I listened to my Dear Mackenzie share her plans for the day, I looked through a book order form with a sweet boy and got excited about his favourites, I helped the "Littles" clean up a big jar of buttons and enjoyed finding ones that were sparkly or a favourite colour and remembered the joy of looking through my grandma's button jar. I have enjoyed arms being wrapped around my neck in hugs and kisses and witnessed big smiles and giggles...
So Maybe, just maybe I am not as far behind as I thought!

I hope you enjoy finding the accomplishments in your day, I plan to!

Boo Humbug!

I have a secret...
Halloween is not my favourite holiday. 
The year that we all caught the flu and had to stay home felt a little bit like a blessing.

Having to come up with costumes and then taking these little ones door to door to collect poison, I mean candy by the hand full so they can spend the next couple of weeks whining and crying and throwing themselves on the floor in hopes to consume the stuff before 7am just does NOT add up to fun for me. 
I know, Boo humbug.

I have tried everything, Offered a night out to the movies with a bag full of treats and popcorn, family bowling night, indoor waterslides... Nothing seems to equal the pull of dressing up and collecting free candy!
Thankfully it comes but once a year.  And who am I to deprive these sweet children of mine of the highs and lows that sugar brings??
So we have our costumes ~No, they are not themed, unless Old McDonald's farm have a puppy and bumble bee who are attacked by a large green dragon, has a kind nurse who comes to mend everyone back to health and  brings meals on wheels with her!! (Jacob and his wheel chair is covered with cut out food from the grocery store ads... Meals on Wheels!! oh yeah, it just came to me in the middle of the night!) 
And Yes, some are wearing the same costumes as last year.  And  yes, My dear daughter has warned be of the trauma this may cause in the future when looking through the scrapbooks!But it was their choice and they still fit! Win- win! Right?

So, We will carve the pumpkins, we will go door to door and we will fill the hugest bowl in the house with all of the candy.  I will be the one who eats the most and be moody for days to come because for some reason I seem to think the best way to deal with a problem such as this is to get rid of it!... By means of ingesting it... oh yeah, fun times!!
I hope that you enjoy your Halloween... I plan to try!
Boo humbug

PROJECT BUCKET LIST: Create a New Recipe for Supper

Our first bucket list project! 
Jacob LOVES to be in the kitchen.  He has been a helper for years. With hand over hand he can measure out ingredients and dump them into the bowl, stir and whisk like no other and of course he loves to be the official taste tester!
Now that he is 15 it seems only fitting that he take on more of a leading role in creating something delicious!  So here is his adventure in coming up with a new recipe for supper!!

We needed an idea for the protein portion of our meal.  Jacob's choices: fish, pork chops, chicken and stewing beef. Jacob chose pork chops and bacon... We went on line to see what other people were doing with their pork chops and Jacob decided that he wanted to stuff them!

He took a look in the fridge & cupboards then using his "yes" and "no" faces he picked out the ingredients for the stuffing!

Strawberries, spinach, parmesan cheese, feta cheese, cornbread stuffing (the kind that comes in a box!) and some Greek dressing.

The bacon he wanted to save to wrap around the whole thing!



Filling the Chops!

Ready to be wrapped in bacon!

Getting the bacon ready.



Checking to make sure Mom followed his instructions!



Ready for the Oven!!

 

They smelled amazing while they cooked! 
And what did the family think?
Yummy!  
Mackenzie really liked them, Dad ate his all gone, Nathan, our other "chef extraordinaire", thought they were "pretty good"!  And Mom... I think I would only use one of the cheeses next time, but they were yummy!!
Well done Jacob! I can't wait to taste your ice cream creation!!!

Breaking Away!

This last couple of months I have been bombarded by one idea... That I am addicted to "social" media.
I know, here I am sharing these thoughts on my blog, hoping to reach others through the very means of which I am frustrated.
Hmmm.
My dear Daughter had me listen to a talk on DVD by Hank Smith, "Breaking up with the World". He asks what are you willing to "break up" with to become who you want to be? So I made a list, first of who I want to become...

• Play the Piano 30 minutes a day
• Learn to speak French
• Stop eating sugar and gain a healthy weight
• get outside everyday
• de clutter my home
• have a thriving blog
• Live in the moment with my children
• Give my Little children the same advantages aka. my time, as I did my big children.
• Create everyday
• Fill my days with people I love- the real people not their profile
• Go on adventures with my family... maybe even weekly!
• Read good books

The list goes on and on. I am tired of feeling that I don't have time... I do have time, I am just giving it away to technology. Something that gives very little back.
I have tried to put my finger on the why and the how.  How did I get here why do I give in over and over. Well there is some science behind it. I am not going to get into it right now but it is an addiction.  It does give us a kind of rush.  I know that in the middle of a crazy day I am drawn to the numbness of rearranging candy or even vegetables on a board. Scrolling through the pictures of another's life seems rewarding some how. Almost as good as living it myself. Scary and so sad. But when the house is a mess and others are pulling me in every direction, zoning out has it's charms
I remember 'way back when' watching a T.V sitcom about a pair of glasses that would give you a virtual experience. Seemed far fetched at the time... isn't that what we do everyday?  Live our lives vicariously through another's profile, a movie on Netflix or the tweets and twitters that zoom past us?

So here is a list of what I am willing to let go of, break up with and move away from

• Daily use of Netflix
• Games that don't include real people sitting around my table
• Checking my cell phone more then 2x a day
• Sugar and processed food

Not a very big list to gain my dreams is it?
I have a quote on my wall that my son said to me a few months ago,

"The only difference between a dream and a goal is waking up!" -Nathan Wynder-

So I am choosing to wake up. I am breaking away from the pull of numbness and choosing to live my real life... What ever that might look like! I hope to share it right here. Keeping myself on track and maybe encouraging others along the way!
I hope you will join me along the way!

New Beginnings!

There has been so much going on I don't even know where to begin.
Much of my time has been consumed with being a mom!  I LOVE being a mom and find so much joy in watching these little... and not so little ones, grow and learn. 
Nathan has graduated from high school... I am so not ready for this but ready or not it is happening.  I did have the joy of travelling with him to the Grand Canyon and Arizona- an adventure I will cherish forever. Now he is doing his best to navigate his way through making his own dreams come true!
Our dear Mackenzie is on a grand adventure of her own... in Europe!  A world traveller... wonder where that came from!!  
It has been amazing to hear about all of her exciting moments half way around the world.  In fact I am hopeful that I can figure out how to have her do a few posts of her own.
Jacob has been doing so dreaming of his own!  I have added a new page- Project: Bucket List.  For all of the details check it out! 
He has also used his PODD book (a book used in communication) to let me know that he wants to do what the others are doing. So we are off on an adventure of our own- a camping trip to the William Watson Lodge. I will fill you in as it happens. I love that he knows what he wants and is finding a way to let us know.
The other little ones are having adventures of their own. Lots of summer fun.  Watching them discover new skills like graduating from a tricycle, learning to love water and climb stairs is a delight. I find myself enjoying every moment I am blessed to be with them.
 
I even had the opportunity to get away on a journey of my own with my dear Husband in May. Exploring Greece and Venice was amazing... a check on my own bucket list! 

And that about sums up the whirl wind of our past year. I am excited to be back and ready to begin again!  I love new beginnings, fresh starts! 
I hope you will come along with us and begin again on this grand adventure!