Family Night

I feel so blessed to have some of our family close by.  Every week we get together with my parents (Gama & Pop-Pop) and my sister and her hubby (Aunt Stacey & Uncle Matt) for family night.  We all have dinner together and then we take turns planning the activity for the night.  We've done everything from playing at the park, having a Wii tournament, playing board games, having a bon-fire with s'mores and sparklers, to a family swim night.  It's always a lot of fun and I'm so grateful for the memories we're making for the girls.

This past week it was the girls turn to plan our family night.  When I asked them what they wanted to do, they each immediately had an idea.  Avalyn wanted to start the evening with a tea party.  She REALLY didn't want the boys to be there, but when I said that wasn't an option she finally agreed.  She wanted to have mini shaped grilled cheese sandwiches, and drink lemonade in little tea cups (becuase only old people drink tea.)  Brinley decided that after the tea party we should all watch a movie.  We learned about penguins last week for science so they decided we should all watch March of the Penguins together. 

Gama agreed to the night and got to work with a surprise concession stand for the girls to work at.  We were all ordered to go outside after dinner while the girls helped Gama get setup and even I didn't know what they were doing.  When they finally opened the back door we were greeted by adorable little girls donning aprons and announcing free snacks.  There were drinks, popcorn, candy, and two kinds of rice crispy treats.  The girls said that everything was free, but tips were accepted which made us all laugh.  They made $3.31 each and excitedly added it to their piggy-bank.  We all got our snacks and snuggled up together to watch our movie while Brinley narrated and commentated, which was better than even Morgan Freeman in my opinion!   Overall, another great and successful family night!

Rainy Days

I was given some great advice by a wise homeschool mom when I first started on this adventure. She said to make sure I enjoyed the little moments and to make time for special memories amongst our schooling. She said one of the things here girls still remember most from their early homeschool years was taking a break on a rainy day to cuddle together under a blanket with a cup of hot cocoa and a good book.

So today, when I woke up to the sound of rain on my window... I decided to do just that! I asked the girls to get everything cleaned up and then instead of heading into the school room I told them to go wait quietly on the couch for me. I warmed up some hot cocoa on the stove and brought it to them (with squeals of delight) in their new princess mugs they got for Christmas.

I downloaded The Wizard of Oz onto my Kindle Ap and we all snuggled under a blanket drinking our cocoa while I read for over an hour about the amazing adventures of Dorothy. It was everything I was promised and more! The girls were great and listened intently, and we got to just be us, together, making memories we will never forget! I can't wait for more rainy days in the years to come and am so thankful I listed to those wise words and let myself just stop and enjoy the moment!

Oh and as a bonus... my sweet little Brin lost her 2nd tooth today!

Monday Musings

I always thought "having" to spend the day teaching my girls would make us butt heads and possibly cause me to be slightly resentful of not having as much "me time." I know it's only been a few weeks, but if anything I feel the opposite. I can honestly say I feel closer to the girls just having set a few quality hours to spend together. I've never really been one to follow a schedule even though I know it will make my life easier. For some reason when I HAVE to do something at a specified time I start to feel stifled by it and begin to rebel against said schedule. But... I'm finding that scheduling a few hours actually helps our day go smoother and the girls play so much better since they have already had a bit of my undivided attention.

Once I changed my mindset from being selfish and wanting time to myself... to thinking about how I could truly serve my children best in the short time I have with them, my thinking was totally reset. We only have 18 out of a hopefully 80+ year life with which we can directly influence and shape our kids. If I'm careful about how I schedule my time I not only get great one on one time with both the girls, but time together where we can play and do activities we never did before. Believe it or not, I also get time to myself where I don't feel guilty becuase I've already given of myself to them first. It's really turning out to be a win win for everyone! So glad God "pushed me" to go in this direction becuase He definitely knows best!