Good Reads

Life is Good: and so are these quotes!

I happened upon this post and am crazy about these wise words!

How to Draw on Dishes & Mugs

Life is Good: and colorful

I've been having a lot of fun visiting the Big Kid's class the past several weeks. His school has a carnival and silent auction coming up, so I offered to do a class art project to use as an auction item.

I bought a white platter from Pier 1 and some oil-based Sharpie markers from Michael's. After lots of research online, I determined that the best way to make the drawing permanent (fingers crossed) was to use oil-based markers and then, after placing the finished item into a cold oven, baking the item at 250 degrees for four hours. After four hours, you leave the item in the oven until the oven cools completely. It's basically a day's time to complete this part of things.

My idea for the platter was to draw a tree and then let each child draw a bird on the tree. I figured that a bird was simple enough for everyone. I drew the tree as an outline and told the kids to keep their birds as outlines, too. I felt like coloring in the birds might lead to smears or other mistakes that could not be fixed and might cause kids to get upset.

After I drew the tree outline, I baked it as described above. Then, I applied pieces of painter's tape on the platter leaving spaces in between. I did this in hopes of keeping all of the birds uniform in size and preventing kids from smearing or drawing over each other's work. (And it seemed to work well!)

I bought a red, blue, yellow, light blue, and orange marker. I let the kids pick what color they wanted. My only rule was that they could not use the color that had just been used (to keep things colorful).


After the spaces in between the tape had been used, I had kids draw where I pulled off the tape. Again, they could use any color but the colors beside their space. This didn't cause any problems and everyone was happy with their color. I brought a piece of paper with some bird sketches in case kids wanted to see some examples. Then, before they drew on the platter, I asked them to practice drawing their bird at least once in a space the same size as they would have on the platter. (Preparation is always key no matter what you do! This is my mantra!)

I had to go to school a few times for a couple of hours at a time to get all of the drawings done. It was fun to get to spend a little time with each child and witness their process. Some drew slowly and with intention, some took time to think about their drawing, but then drew it fairly quickly. One child drew his in seconds! (But it looks great!) After I got all of the birds drawn, I baked the platter again.

The final step in this process was getting kids to sign the back of the platter. I visited the class to read, "The Snail and The Whale" and then had them all write their names. I will go back later this week to read (maybe "The Popcorn Book"?) and get the last two names of kids who were absent. After I bake the platter once more, it will be time to give it to the silent auction committee and hope that a bunch of parents fight over ($$$) who gets to take it home!

Thoughts on Forgiveness and Lent

Life is Good: I'm still learning

Two years ago, I took a vacation from social media and spent Lent in deep thought and reflection about Forgiveness. Forgiving has always been a topic of on-going study for me. I seem to be able to forgive everyone but myself. In fact, one of our family's mantras is "Everybody makes mistakes sometimes." And I believe that. Whole-heartedly. And I want for our children to grow up believing this in their hearts and if they do, hopefully, they will forgive easily---themselves as much as others. Sometimes those mistakes are unplanned and sometimes they are completely intentional. But because of my faith, I forgive. It's easy to forgive when you aren't perfect yourself! It's a funny, thing, though, because I think not being able to forgive myself has a lot to do with being a "recovering perfectionist". And when I say that, I'm speaking about recovering from my pursuit and expectation of perfection, not actually ever being perfect.

I also think my inability to forgive myself easily has to do with how deeply I feel things. I think our strengths are often our weaknesses, too, and while I am able to use my sensitivity to support and empathize with others, I also seem to let it flood me with guilt and pain when I make the eensiest of mistakes. I hold myself to a standard that I would never use to measure anyone else in my life. Gosh, I am still kicking myself for not taking a meal over to an acquaintance when her dad died several years ago. It happened to be a rough time for me and I just wasn't able to do it. But I still think of it and feel guilty! I feel guilty for big and small things---for not volunteering to be room mother this year because I had a new house to unpack and a baby to keep me running all over the place. Good reasons, right? But when I get an email from the class room mothers about an upcoming party, I hang my head in shame! I feel guilty for removing people from my life who weren't kind to me or good for me or there for me when I needed them. I feel guilty for not doing things, for not doing things sooner, for not doing something first or last or twelfth. Yes, it is sometimes comical and ridiculous. Other times, it's completely warranted because I have really messed up! And of course, this is a totally abbreviated version of my nuttiness.

As I continue to work on this "issue" of mine (in an effort for me to have less inner struggle but also, so that I can be a good example for my family),  I try to remind myself that when I can't forgive myself, I'm getting in God's way and not allowing Him to be in control; I'm not allowing myself to receive the forgiveness that my faith is based upon and therefore, I'm not fully living out my faith. When I am mindful of this, it works. But when my mind is muddied with guilt and to-do lists and the noise of everyday life, it doesn't. I'm a work in progress. Sigh.

In my time spent this Lent pondering Forgiveness, I discovered a sweet little devotion about this subject entitled "Remodeling 101". My favorite part of the piece is, "God is the One who heals. Forgiveness puts us in the correct posture for Him to do so.  Don’t wait another minute to deal with the issue of forgiveness in your life." (Mary Southerland) I also really like this nugget of truth from Southerland, too, "True forgiveness is a choice – a deliberate choice to release the person who has hurt us from the pain they have caused. We can stop forgiving others when God stops forgiving us." (Forgiveness = freedom = love!)

In this time of pondering Jesus' last days on this Earth and His gift of Forgiveness to us, I'm trying my best to remember that I deserve the same forgiveness that I give to others. That I am a child of God and that He wants for me to let go of the (control) guilt.

Admittedly, there is nothing profound here. But if you have trouble forgiving yourself or someone else, I urge you to read the post I referenced above. I found it to be succinct, well-written and thought-provoking.

How to keep your 4-year old pleasant

Life is Good: when you have a bunch of tape 

When your four-year old NEEDS a boat, I mean, MUST HAVE a boat right now in order to survive, in order for the world not to cease, in order for life, as we know it, to continue on it's peaceful, cheery way, you grab a cardboard box from the garage, paper towel rolls from the recycling, some paper from the craft bin, your MacGuyver's mom cape from the closet, and, with a whole lotta tape, you make a boat.

 

Play-doh Still Rules!

Life is Good: and silly

I am crazy about this crazy kid!
(Play-doh still rules!)

When Mom has a Hangover

Life is Good: Even with a Hangover

I have a mom hangover this morning. What's a "mom hangover", you ask? Many of the same symptoms of the hangover you are used to---headache, puffy eyes, stuffy nose, did I mention headache?, and that overall "I want to stay in bed with the covers pulled over my head for at least a month" feeling---but this time, induced by momming (my word, you can use it).

Yesterday, I mommed like crazy---all the typical things like getting kids up and fed and on to their days. (Yes, I'm skipping the "is everything in your backpack?", "I can't find my green hat...no not THAT green hat, my FAVORITE green hat, I can't go to school without this EXACT green hat", baby brother wants to be held instead of letting mommy get everyone ready for school and more drama.) Anyhoo, I mommed with the best of them yesterday--laundry done, baked goods in the oven, emails answered and written, lists made and items checked off, a half day at the big kid's school to do a special class project (great kids, they were a joy), a chat with the big kid's teacher (he's doing well, is silly & happy, and has lots of friends...phew), work, a work meeting, a playdate that involved SIX boys! SIX! It was testosterone-fueled cuteness including our littlest who kept getting in our friend's 8-mth old's face to say, "HI!" (Our third is officially mine. Sigh.)

But that wasn't the end of the day. After dinner, there were basement obstacle courses, a board game or two, a chase or three into putting on pajamas (the little kid), bedtime reading (we just started The Secret Garden...I can't wait for spring any longer)...And, of course, a bedtime conversation about what suicide is and why Meriwether Lewis shot himself (Thanks to a book about Sacagewea.) because growing brains don't have a pause button for moms who've had long days. Grant looked at me with big, surprised eyes and took the little kid and the baby into another room. I said a silent prayer and then employed the Susie Formula for answering tough questions---keep to the science & keep it simple. I explained that because of very little credible documentation, we aren't 100% certain about Lewis' death. He could have been shot by someone, he could have accidentally shot himself..."The book said he intentionally shot himself. Why would he do that?" Deep breath, silent prayer, remember: science & simple. And then, in short sentences, I explained that sometimes people's minds get sick just like bodies get sick. Maybe Lewis had a mental illness that confused his brain. I repeated this thought in a couple of different ways and then, silence.

So I'm telling myself. Be quiet. Don't complicate things. Be quiet. Wait for him to speak. And then the big kid says, "Okay I have one more thing..." Ugh. Please, Lord, give me the words.

"You will never believe what Sophia did today at school!" And breathe outtttttttttttt. (Thank you, God!)

A few more reports about school and I thought I was close to putting a pin in what had been a very full, caffeine-free day (yes! I totally forgot to have coffee. That is mom hangover-inducing on its own let alone my many tasks and adventures!). And then, as I turned the light from dim to off, the big kid declared, "I changed my mind. I do want to dress up tomorrow for "dress like your favorite book character day".

What?

I will skip the part where it was well past his bedtime and I had been asking this kid for three days to pick a book character so that we could put together a costume and how he kept saying that he didn't want to participate (which is totally out of character, so I should have seen this coming) and that I hate hate hate doing things at the last minute!!!

So I ask him who the character is. Danny Dragonbreath. Okay, Susie. You're a creative problem-solver. You can do this. People pay you to do this.

Breathe.

Then I put on my invisible super hero cape and thinking cap, channeled MacGyver's mom, and, by the grace of God, my brain was still functioning well enough to remember that we have a dragon costume (that fits our 4-yr old) with a separate dragon head. Danny wears a black t-shirt = check. Now, a tail. Enter green grosgrain ribbon and my best friend the hot glue gun. Costume complete. Thank you, thank you, thank you, God.

As tired as I was, I awakened often last night. This extrovert got too many shots of other people's energy yesterday. So when the alarm went off this morning, the pounding of the mom hangover began.

Grant was already off to work but had left a full pot of coffee waiting for me. (Swoon.) It was just the remedy I needed since everyone woke up earlier than usual. Deeeeeeeeep sigh.

I think my mom hangover is beginning to dissipate. Sure, the coffee helped. But no doubt it has been the early morning of snuggles, smiles, giggles, hugs & kisses and the adorableness of a 7-year old dragon bouncing onto the bus that was the real antidote.

It's supposed to be 46 degrees in Minnesota today. It's raining right now and the droplets appear to be washing the snow away. WOW!
Happy Friday!