Just Say No

How old do you have to be before "addictions" are a concern? Up until a few days ago, I would have told you teenager for sure. I don't know why I thought that - naivety I guess. My oldest has sucked his thumb since he was about 2 weeks old or less. I'm pretty sure thumb sucking is an addiction. It's an action that soothes my son to sleep. And though he is almost nine, he still does it sometimes when he's really tired. So I looked up the definition of "addicted"; it reads, "physically and mentally dependent on a particular substance, and unable to stop..." The synonyms? "devoted, obsessed, fixated, dedicated, passionate, a slave to." Whoa! Hold on. A slave to? Yikes. I'm pretty sure God warns us about being a slave to anything other than Him, because only He is a good and perfect Master.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. If I were just talking about thumb sucking I wouldn't be so concerned. Shoot, even with my youngest I didn't care if he sucked his paci until college because I knew that would just never happen. As our littles grow up, those childhood habits tend to fall away. But the other night my son was in the restroom for almost an hour. (To be fair, he does take an unusually long time in there, but not that long.) I finally got up from the dinner table to check on him. I opened the door after a quick knock and his eyes darted up at me while he frantically tried to hide his phone. Before you get all upset and possibly judgmental at the idea of a 9 year old having a phone, allow me to explain. It's an old, old iphone that has been disabled in every way except music and games. It was given to him as a Christmas gift one year after being wiped clean and having child friendly learning games uploaded.

As we grew more and more comfortable with the "child friendly" games, he began to request other games like Angry Bird, Minecraft and Clash of Clans. After some research, I decided these games were just glorified Lego games. He got to create, build and strategize in order to play. Harmless right? One look at his fear of being caught and desperate attempt to hide, I knew we were dealing with something much bigger than just a "child friendly" game. My oldest is a rule follower. He loves to do the right thing and has a very tender heart. He began crying and asked if there would be discipline for his being on the phone without permission. (Our boys generally get around 15 - 30 minutes each day, but on this particular day he wasn't allowed to play.)

As we discussed the whys behind his choices, he told me something that was unbelievable hard to hear and so painful... With tears streaming down his cheeks he said, "Mommy, I just can't help it. I have to play. It's like I can't stop myself." How on earth had we gotten here? The games, the iphone, they all seemed so innocent. But for my sweet boy they had become an addition. Something that he was a slave to. These games that were supposed to be fun and a source of joy were robbing my sweet son of his freedom, obedience and joy. At that very moment I knew - NOT WORTH IT.

The ease that comes from allowing my boys to play on various devices freely while I get stuff done around the house or work on the new business. It's just not worth it. I want my boys to have joy and freedom that comes with being a child - the good stuff! That rush that you get when you go down a hill really fast on your bike - good stuff. Catching lightening bugs at dusk - good stuff. Getting to talk that extra 5-10 minutes after it's "lights out" - good stuff. Those are the joys of childhood. The things that actually make memories. I don't think any child is going to be reminiscing over that really epic time they had playing video games together.

So I have decided that this summer my boys are device free. And as far as it stands right now, we are device free for a very long time. (Yes, I will limit my time as well.) My job as a parent it to protect, nurture and teach. If my son doesn't feel freedom and safety in playing those games, I don't want anything to do with them. Now I am certainly not saying that this is the choice that every parent should make. Not at all. This is the right choice for us. And as if I needed further convincing, I stumbled upon this post from a Mom who wrote a lovely letter to her boys about why they too are device free. It spoke straight to my heart. Give it a read. You will be so glad you did. Either that, or you will hate me because you might be a tad bit convicted. Whatever the case, I'm diving in and choosing to engage with my boys this summer.

Hello Summer. Goodbye iphone. I'm off to make our Summer Bucket List. Happy Weekend. xo

My Baby is SIX?

This moment. Six years ago my oldest became a big brother to the funniest, sweetest, kind hearted boy in the world. Liam has brought so much joy into our lives. He completed our little family and makes us laugh every single day. Oddly enough my dad called it the first time he ever held Liam. He looked into his eyes, looked at me and said, "this one... this one's gonna be funny."

A few weeks later, I had the sleep deprived emotion driven response of,  "I don't know him at all. I only know that he has changed everything and I'm so crazy right now that I can't even love my oldest well right now, much less give him the time he needs with his Momma." The first five and a half weeks of little Liam's life were some of the most challenging I have ever faced. It was a scary dark time for me. One that I am forever grateful to be on the healing and redeemed side of. I didn't like who I was those first five weeks. But once the hormones began to regulate, he started eating well and began sleeping - finally sleeping for more than 20-30 minutes, the love poured in and it hasn't stopped since. 

Liam makes every day better for whomever he spends time with that day. His adventurous spirit and carefree soul is infectious. We would be lost without this our bundle of laughter that turns six today and we celebrate the mighty ways that God has already used this little warrior in our lives. We love you Liam. You are simply amazing and hysterically funny.

Go squeeze your littles. They grow up too fast. xo

Motherhood

It changed everything. That pink plus sign. My heart stopped and then it started beating quickly and moving it's way up my throat! I was going to be a Mom. No, not a "Mom." I was going to be someone's Mommy. That very moment is when the adventure of my life began.
Not every moment has been a gift, but the ups and downs have changed me for the better. Yes, there were (and still are) moments when I wanted to run for the hills - like the time I sat on a plane for 2.5 hours with a screaming toddler and didn't have the presence of mind to by my fellow travelers a round of drinks. Or when my newborn would sleep for a max of 30 minutes in between feedings for the first five weeks of his life and I thought I might hurt myself or my children. By God's grace, and with the help of community, I got through the really low lows. And for every difficult season there has been a wellspring of joy. The happiness that fills my home and my heart is like no other. From that first introduction followed by sweet baby smells and cuddles to the silly milestones of losing teeth and tying their own shoes... Mommyhood is a celebration of life. Life in it's purist simplest, hardest, rawest form.

I am a Mommy. I wipe bottoms. (Not anymore thank you sweet Jesus.) I wipe tears. I prepare lunches. I don't get much sleep. I am often a pack mule. I get 2-3 hours "off" on a good day. I rarely take vacations. And I LOVE IT. It is the best job in the world. I am so grateful for my little nuggets and the way they grow me. Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there. You are one seriously badass breed of people! Much love and mad props. xoxo

Themed Parties - Confetti

Ughh... I've fallen so far behind on this little blog of mine. I promise once we launch our new project, you will see that it was totally worth it! In addition to prepping for our new product launch, I have been planning a few birthday parties for my guys. Uh-huh, all three of them. In my research, I've come across some pretty amazing confetti influenced craft and party ideas. I thought I would share them here just in case you happen to be doing any party planning as well.

 via aunt peaches

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 via you are my fave

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You're welcome. Tee hee hee. xo

stingray confetti via flickr

It's Coming... And We Need Your Help

My new line is launching soon and we are trying to get some cuties lined up for a photo shoot! If you live in the Dallas-Ft.Worth area and have littles between the ages of 3 months and 3 years... this is the shoot for you. The shoot will take place at our studio in Lake Highlands from 10am - 2pm. 

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It's gonna be a party with music, balloons and snacks too because we want your littles to have fun. The best part... you get a link to all the photos via SmugMug, where you can order really inexpensive prints for your whole family if you so desire. It's the perfect Father's Day gift. Will you and your littles come party with us? Email me for the address! xo

The Buff - Part 2

One more deal for you over at Brickyard Buffalo today. As Spring nips at the heels of Winter, we're all ready to shed some layers. The infinity scarf is the perfect accessory for your littles. Throw one on with a long sleeve tee to keep the last gusts of winter at bay during their afternoon play. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy! xo

The Lego Movie... Genius

For fear of spoiling the genius behind the Lego Movie, let me just stick to the reasons why you should GO See It! I won't bore you with the obvious, "it's funny" "it's clever" "your littles will love it" answers.  Y'all I was so pleasantly surprised. It wasn't at all what I expected. This movie teaches team work, creativity out the yang, thinking outside the box (which can be hard for me sometimes) and the importance of being a kid. The bonus... when my boys and their friends came home from the movie we had a mega epic Lego build. Everyone's ideas were valued. No idea was a bad idea. And, they worked together to create something amazing. 

Now, Lego's weren't officially dead in our house, but they weren't in my boys' top 10 play list either. And they love Legos. I'm so grateful that this movie has given them Lego fever again. When they are building and playing with Legos, I get a glimpse into them. How their brains work when there is complete freedom; no one watching, no one judging, no rules. I love that and it's so telling about who they are; their unique personalities and the many facets of each. Watching them, seeing what they've created and how they play with it... really really good stuff right there. Some might say, and they should, priceless.

If you haven't taken your littles to see this movie, like the rest of the entire country - it seems, you definitely should. It is so worth the overpriced seat and overpriced popcorn that has entirely too much fake butter dripping off every kernel. And you thought I was going to talk about Valentine's again today huh? xo

Last Minute Valentine's Gifts

My poor kitchen table has been covered in perler beads and craft supplies all week. And the craft heavens have opened - my boys are making all of their own Valentine gifts. Thank you Perler!!  Just in case you are a last minute mom, like myself, here's what we've done for my boys' classmates.

First let me tell you, I found the cutest Valentine monster cards at the Dollar Tree - no mushy stuff, just straight up "you're the coolest" sayings that would actually come from a boy's mouth. One package came with 30 cards, including 2 for teachers. They are the perfect size for attaching small gifts.

For the girls: barretts and rings

We made tiny little perler bead hearts and hot glued them onto inexpensive barretts (Dollar Tree) and metal rings from the craft store. (I bought the rings 2 years ago when they were on sale, but I had never done anything with them. This is starting to be a pattern huh?) Rings were attached to the cards with pipe cleaners.

For the boys: Minecraft Steve head and creeper head keychains. What else?

As you can see, we still have some creeper heads to make. The creeper head pattern can be found on Pinterest. You can find the Steve head there too, but my oldest made his from memory so they differ a bit from others I've seen online. We are attaching the "heads"to keyrings found at the crafts stores in bulk. My youngest made a few oversize hearts that we attached to some small carabiners I found at the Dollar Tree (4 for $1.00), and those work great for this craft as well.

All in all, I think our Valentine's ended up costing about 25-50 cents each. Best part - afternoons of busy bee crafting hands and zero candy.

Happy Crafting my little Valentine's. xo

Gem-tastic

I'm a girl. I like sparkly things. Lucky for me, my oldest loves crystals. He collects any quartz he happens to stumble upon while playing outside. This made gem mining, while in Boone, North Carolina a no brainer. I didn't hold high hopes. I mean, you pay this store $10 for a small bucket of dirt or $20 for a large and then you belly up to a mote like trough of water and sift through scoops of dirt. I was quite sure that I was paying $10 per child for the experience. But lo and behold, my oldest uncovered 2 rubies (1.5 to 3 carats) that mind you, look like ugly dirty rocks until cut and polished, a few fools gold pieces and some other beauties. My youngest scored beautiful amethyst, smokey quartz, topaz and more.  Even better than their treasures... they had so much fun and now I get to see the sunlight stream through the sparkly gems every time I do dishes (I moved them to the kitchen window after taking these pics). And I am reminded - beauty from ashes. 

Reminding myself of that truth found in Isaiah is worth more than all the rubies in the world. xo

gem illustration above via tumblr

Lunch Lady...

Well it took me two years, but I've finally tackled lunches.  Yes, thank you. Applauding is extremely welcome. Throughout Kinder and 1st grade the lunch scenario looked one of two ways: I would either stumble into the kitchen at 6:30 am completely groggy to make my morning coffee and lunches OR I would be in a mad rush to shove something healthy-ish into my littles' lunch boxes before we rushed out the door. Either way I was pretty much a hot mess. 

This year, I decided to make lunches for the entire week on Sundays. I keep them packaged up in a bin in the fridge so everything stays fresh...

Bam! 10 minutes and 6-8 lunches depending on the week's schedule. That my friends is epic progress for this lunch lady/mommy. (If you have any suggestions for packaging that will keep my sandwiches fresh for days, I'd greatly appreciate your advice. We are currently saving the plastic baggies and washing them for reuse.)

How do you manage daily lunches? xo

The Business of Making Beds

If left to their own devices, my boys bedroom would look like this everyday. They see this as "clean". And I can not, in good conscience, do this to their future roommates and wives. As their mom, it is my job to teach them. And I think there are several schools of thought on this.

1. Chores are just a part of growing up. It teaches them responsibility.

2. I can't do it all. They live here, they need to help out.

3. It teaches them to be good stewards of the their things and not take them for granted (read also entitled).

I happen to fall into the camp of "all of the above" are correct. And, I think we, as parents, are missing out on a huge opportunity to teach and grow our children's character if we see bed making and tidy rooms simply as chores. Yes, chores are important. Please don't misunderstand me. I think chores around the house for littles shows them that they are a part of something bigger. A team - where everyone plays an important part. They are needed to make the team machine run smoothly. Because it's true, I can't do it all. None of us can. And I also believe it's an opportunity to teach them about material things and how to be a good steward of all God has given us. I don't want my littles growing up entitled and I definitely don't want them thinking that there is a bed making fairy that swoops in daily to make their beds and change their sheets every two weeks. What a tragedy that would be - for them and me. 

Now before I go tooting any horns, you should all know that my kids, until recently, haven't made their beds daily and have thrown fits when having to do so.  This summer I just realized that I was doing them a disservice by not expecting this of them. Even though they are only 5 and 8, they CAN do this and I want them to have confidence in themselves and their abilities. So recently I set some ground rules (after consulting friends) that they will not play wii, watch tv, go outside to play or any other fun activities until their beds are made. Yes, days are still had with pajama jammy jams on the wii and silliness at every turn, but getting the day off to a good start with the accomplishment of bed making is good for everyone. (Yes, I practice what I preach. My bed is made mostly before coffee.)

And no, their bed making is NOT perfect. Far from it. It looks nothing like the bottom bunk above. Sadly, it doesn't even look as good as the tidy beds below (close though). I have determined to have peace about semi-made beds with sheets that aren't straight and don't cover the mattress fully. "Perfection" will come with time and practice. For now I am just loving the confidence boost they're getting each day.

How about you?  What's your bed-making camp? Oh, and how do you accomplish the task with your littles? I'm always looking for advice and growth in the mommyhood arena! xo

Reading is Fun

It's gotta be one of summer's best kept secrets... the library. It's free. It's got rockin' A/C. It's got puzzles and movies. And, it's got stories out the yang that let the imagination soar. I love it.

When is the last time you visited your city's best kept secret? xo