Change!

And once again our lives are changing!  
I actually love change. Too long in one "spot" seems to leave me dreaming of something new! Maybe that is why we have moved around so much.
This time we are not moving away. It is our children who are making all of the changes!

Leaving for the MTC! 

We have just arrived home from dropping our dear son, Nathan, off in Provo Utah at the Mission Training Center. He will be there for a few weeks before heading off to Halifax where he will serve a two year mission for our church. Although we have been planning this for years, it was still hard to drop him off and drive away.  I am grateful for emails and happy news that he is doing well and not homesick at all!

Saying good bye

Our dear Mackenzie is starting the countdown for high school graduation. She is making summer plans that don't include anything on my big brown paper summer calendar that I make every year. Instead she is planning her own adventures with her friends. Then she will be off to college and maybe a mission of her own!
I am excited to see her branch out and explore her world. This is what I have been working on their whole lives~ getting them ready to make it on their own,  But boy oh boy, it is hard to be left behind. I wonder and hope that I have given them the tools they will need to be happy and successful!

It could be 3 1/2 years before they see each other again!
 Glad to know they will miss each other!!

Even our dear Jacob is making plans without me and is excited for his own adventures.  He will be 16 in a few weeks and is planning his first date with a sweet girl. They will be double dating with his dear sister and her date.  He was very clear with us that a double date with mom and dad is just NOT cool!! Whaat???

There are always many changes with the "Littles". Our five year old is finished with preschool and getting ready for kindergarten. He is need of a bigger bike and we are even talking about taking off the training wheels! Our 2 and 3 year old are working on mastering the potty. Their favorite words these days are "Me do it" and "I do it myself"! 

All of these changes are wonderful, positive, exciting and expected.  I am grateful to be the mom and to have a front row seat to watching it all unfold!
I will still take out the big roll of brown paper, draw on some calendars, make some plans, fill in the days and go on my own adventures with whoever will come with with me. Maybe some geocaching, a trip to the zoo, swimming lessons and a hike in the mountains!  We will continue to make more memories but I will always cherish the memories of years gone by!

He didn't even look back!!
Love this guy!

 I hope you enjoy the changes of your day!  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!

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!