Over the years, my dear husband helped me come to the realization that I was a major control freak.  I never accepted help for anything because I was afraid it either wouldn’t get done, or it wouldn’t get done the way I wanted it done.  Of course this issue with control continued into motherhood.  When my first two boys, Joshua and Jesse, were very little, I did EVERYTHING for them.  When most parents were putting a bowl of spaghetti in front of their toddler, I was cutting it up into millimeter sized bites and feeding it to them on a spoon.  My babies never wore bibs.  They never had the opportunity to get messy!  I can’t remember the first time I allowed Joshua or Jesse to have a ‘sucker’, but it certainly wasn’t in the first two years of their life.  The clothing that Owen, my sixteen month old, is wearing right now, is clothing that both Joshua and Jesse wore when they were that age.  It is in ‘like new’ condition.  That is partly because Joshua is just as much of a neat freak as his mother and he never liked to be dirty as a toddler.  The other reason is simply because I didn’t let them get nasty.  As I’ve gained more wisdom and knowledge, little by little, whether through experience or the advice of other mommy friends, I’ve learned to loosen up.  For example, my best friend laughed histarically of the picture of Owen with chili all over his hands and face and the bowl sitting right in front of him at his highchair.  Joshua and Jesse have NO pictures like that.  However, now that I have four other mouths to feed, the convenience of having my toddler feed himself appeals to me more than the idea of a clean baby after mealtime.   Does it leave a little more work for me after dinner?  Yes.  But was I able to actually sit down and eat my own food at the same time as the rest of my family?  Yes!  Ironically, I feel like I have better control of my household as a whole as I’ve gained experience over the years.  I cook more, the laundry stays under control, my house stays pretty clean, and I’m on top of our finances.  Yet through that process, I’ve learned to let go.  I’ve learned that life is simply too short to push my kids aside for one more hour just so I can finish cleaning my kitchen.  I’ve forced myself to look back on my own childhood and what I was able to experience when I was six years old.  Life was fun.  We were care-free!  And that lead me to examine how my children would describe their lives on any given day.  I want them to be able to look back and smile because… “Mommy would let us splash naked in the puddles of our driveway after it rained.  We went on wild adventures in the backyard with flashlights and mom’s gardening shovels.  We rode bikes by the river until our legs could no longer push the peddles.  Daddy took us camping all the time and we’d stay up late looking at stars and roasting marshmallows.  Mommy and Daddy always found a way to turn discipline into a life lesson, never without quoting the word of God.  We turned everyday errands into acts of service for those less fortunate.  We learned the value of a servant spirit.  We had a great childhood!”  I’ve learned to evaluate my priorities daily.  At the end of each day, I ask myself; did I spend valuable quality time with the Lord, my husband, and my children?  Because the truth is, whether I cleaned my house, did a load of laundry, or had a gourmet meal on the table doesn’t matter in view of eternity.  Have you learned to let go?  Do you choose to laugh as many times as possible every single day?  I challenge you to let yourself relax.  Enjoy all the little things that you take for granted in your life.  Take a long bath with your favorite book.  Go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink if it means 20 more minutes of quality time with your husband.  Or better yet, let your kids do the dishes and let them splash each other and make a mess while they do it!  They’ll remember that much better than what you made for dinner or whether the kitchen was clean when they woke up the next morning.  Life is too short to sweat the small stuff.

~audrey

I wish I had gotten this conversation on video, I just might have won $10,000. 

The boys and I were out running errands when we pulled up to a stop light at an off ramp.  There was quite a bit of traffic, so we were probably ten cars back from the light.  Keep in mind, there is a LOT of construction going on in our area and there are signs everywhere about where to go, where not to go, what you can and can’t do…you get the picture!  I heard Jesse ask, “Hey, what does that sign mean?”  This is what he was looking at:

Joshua, being the very intellegent, know-it-all that he is, replied very matter-of-factly:

“Jesse, that means there is no ‘p’ there.”

Jesse replied, “What do you mean?”  so Joshua went on to explain, “You can’t get out of the car and pee on the road right there!”  I guess Jesse simply accepted that answer because he just said, “oh, ok.”  and that was that!

I feel I need to inform some of you that this is coming from two boys who, before we had a very serious conversation about it, would pee absolutely ANYWHERE!  If we were outside, it was male ‘pee’ territory.  Oh yes, they’ve dropped drawers in the church parking lot, walmart parking lot, the neighborhood playground (on a tree of course), our front yard…you name it, they’ve probably ‘marked it!’.  So, to Jesse, this sign was giving him valuable information about where he definitely could NOT pee. 

boys. 

~audrey

Most people are familiar with the Biblical concept “You reap what you sow.”  This is true in EVERY arena of life.  I was just talking with a girlfriend yesterday and she was cleaning out her car, getting ready to go on a trip.  We began talking about how wonderful it is to come home from vacation to a clean house, with clean sheets, a clean kitchen, and no housework to do!  It’s equally as wonderful to leave for your trip with a freshly cleaned car…vacuumed, clean windows, shiney tires.  I don’t know why it makes such a difference.  I suppose it is like wiping the slate clean.  Afterall, who doesn’t love a clean, good smelling house or car??  I encourage you to get all the housework and laundry done that you can today (if you’re at home of course).  There is nothing worse, for me, than to wake up on Saturday morning and know that the house is a wreck or I have ten loads of laundry to do.  If you want to go a step further, you could also get everyone’s church clothes ironed and ready for Sunday morning, plan your weekend meals (even your lunches and snacks), and if you have kids it’s a great idea to have several activities planned.  For my family, the weekend is a time when we like to relax and prefer not to have much planned.  But sometimes it’s nice to go for a family bike ride on Saturday mornings or take a day trip to Nana and Grandpa’s house.  Think outside the box.  If you have boys, they might love the surprise of taking them hiking or to a new park.  For girls (and some boys as well), you could try a fun new dessert recipe that you can make together and enjoy as a family after dinner.  You may also want to think in terms of ‘tradition’.  For our family, it is ‘tradition’ for us to have a big breakfast together on Saturday mornings.  Pancakes, biscuits, gravy, eggs, bacon, and every once in a while I surprise them with Paula Deen’s homemade cinnamon roles (to die for!).  I’m sure this tradition will be appreciated MUCH more as my three boys get older and their appetites increase!  Whatever you do, have fun!  It is easier to have fun when you have as little stress as possible, and the best way to reduce stress is to plan!  What are some of your weekend traditions? Do you save your housework for the weekends, or do you just have fun?  I’d love to hear from you! Have a great weekend everyone! 

~audrey

Here is a picture of Owen eating his chili the other night.  I’m not really a huge fan of letting my babies feed themselves when we have messy meals, but my husband put the bowl in front of him, and by the time I realized it, it was too late.   He ate every bite!  Spoon in one hand, food in the other!

Owen

Today started out like most for me.  Wake up at 5am, go to the gym, stopped by the store on the way home, Josh left for work, the boys woke up… My youngest son, Owen, is sixteen months old.  He fell on the slide at Chik-fil-A yesterday and completely bit through his bottom lip.  He is the cutest baby in the entire world.  Blue eyes, fine, curly, light blonde hair, and always a smile on his face.  Well this morning, he looked absolutely pitiful with his bruised fat lip and moist scabs from where he drooled and tried to keep his pacifier in his mouth throughout the night.    I let the boys go out back to play this morning while I swept and mopped the kitchen floor.  There is a window over my kitchen sink that over looks the backyard and I always keep it open when they’re out there.  Just as I was finishing up the floor, I heard Owen crying and Joshua was yelling, “Owen fell in the water!”  Much to my dismay, there was an old plastic baby pool in the backyard that was full of rain water, bugs, dirt, fallen leaves, and my youngest child!  Owen’s butt, back, and both arms were completely submerged.  Oh, did I mention it was 50 degrees out?!  So I ran out there with a large towel, pulled him out of the water, stripped his clothes, shoes, and diaper off…surprise:  HE HAD POOP IN HIS DIAPER!  I did what I could to scrape the poop off his butt with the diaper and run inside to put him in the bath.  Even after all of that drama, I’ve had a GREAT morning.  Seriously.  I seem to have the best days/weeks when I get up early, workout, and have my quiet time before the boys wake up.  I got a lot of house work done and I even put supper in the crockpot: Southern Living Slow Cooker recipe; Baked Potato Soup…YUM!  Did I mention all of this happened before 9am!?  I just have to laugh and chock it up to another fun-filled day with my children!

~audrey

Do you ever have those weeks that fly by and you wonder where they went?  Suddenly it’s Monday again and you feel like you’ve been running around in circles?  It is only Tuesday and it has already seemed like that for me. 

I decided, with the encouragement of a workout buddy, to start going to the gym at 5am again.  Yesterday was Monday.  What better day to start, right?  I sluggishly rolled out of bed at 4:45am, got dressed, and out the door at 5am.  Our spinning class wasn’t until 5:30, so I stopped at the gas station to get some coffee.  By the time I got home at 6:45am, I was wound up and ready to start my day at full force!  Before I could even take my shoes off, I started straightening the office, picking up leftover toys from the night before, cleaning up the kitchen, starting a new load of laundry…I was ready for a productive day!  I made a few mental notes about what needed to be done that day and kept moving.  I changed the sheets, did about four or five loads of laundry, took my five year old to piano lessons (in the pouring down rain), made lunch, did a clean sweep of the house and put the baby down for a nap around 12:30.  By this time, I was running on fumes!  I took my clean sheets out of the dryer and bundled up on the couch while my older two watched Nemo… I ended up taking a two hour nap!  That was quite refreshing, but I was still dragging the rest of the afternoon.  However, because I had already gotten so much accomplished earlier in the day, I was okay with my afternoon laziness.

Today was a completely different story.  My husband and I got up around 8am, made breakfast for the boys, and left to go vote while my father-in-law watched the munchkins.  By the time we got back, around 10:30am, Josh left for work, the boys all went out back to play, and I got started on more house stuff.  I’m pleased to report that I finally finished my laundry, the kitchen is clean, the entire house was tidey and picked up, my grocery list and menu are ready for the next two weeks, and I FINALLY tackled my master bedroom…and WON!  It’s absolutely amazing and baffling to me how much stuff accumulates in my bedroom!  Here are just a few examples… childrens’ shoes, pacifier clips, medicine bottles, lots of miscellaneous trash, tags ripped off of new clothing, unmatched socks (I matched every thing I had and trashed the rest!), old magazines (these can clutter every room in your house if you’re not careful!)…the list could go on, by I won’t.  Now it is 4:30 in the afternoon.  My house is quiet and peaceful.  I’m babysitting for a friend who went to vote.  Her baby is laying down in the living room with my older two and Owen is taking a very long, much needed nap.  I now have the time to catch up on the things that I love to do, but often get pushed to the back burner…like blogging!  It feels great to have productive days like today.  I got a lot done, I spent quality time with the kids, I’m not exhausted, I haven’t blown my top today, and I still have a good six hours before my day will officially end.  Overall, I complete success!

~audrey

P.S.  To tackle your magazine clutter, pick out your favorites that you just don’t want to part with.  Get a three ring binder and a box of clear plastic sheet protectors.  Go through each magazine and tear out your favorite design ideas, recipes, crafts, etc.  Make dividers in your notebook for the subjects that pertain to your interests and slide each page into its own sheet protector and you can compile a notebook of the very best of all of those magazines that take up so much space around your house.  Recycle the remainder of the magazines and you’ll be one step closer to organizational bliss.  Once your notebook starts to get full, you may need to make a separate notebook for each subject.  However, that will still be more functional and take up less space than saving all of those magazines!  Happy Organizing!