Many Kinds of Moms Make the World Go Round

As I read other people's blogs, talk to other moms, and lay awake at night thinking I had some thoughts that I just wanted to get out of my head.

Our world is full of all kinds of moms....

=moms who give their crockpot a good workout (I wish I used mine more)
=moms that can change a tire
=moms that stay home
=moms that work
=moms that stay home part time and work part-time.
=moms that keep a clean house.
=moms that are laid back and can let the stress of a clean house go.
=moms that get cleaning people who come in and do the "dirty" work. (gosh I wish this was me!)
=moms that can come up with crazy projects and activities.
=moms that find fun things to do outside of the home.
=moms who fit in a workout.
=moms who don't worry about the workout.
=moms who serve all organic.
=moms who don't do vaccines.
=moms who volunteer at school.
=moms who volunteer their time in so many ways it is amazing.
=moms who can cook a different meal every night.
=moms who know a 100 ways to make tator tot casserole.
=moms who have patience that never ends.
=moms who take time to read up on new ways to raise their children.
=moms who forget to make time for one's self.
=moms who are great at making time for girlfriends, book clubs, and things that make them happy...
=moms who let you know they are having a bad day, a sad day, a great day, or a lazy ass day.
=moms who never let you know that things are not perfect.
=moms who put on makeup even when they don't leave the house.
=moms who don't leave the house period.
=moms who support other mom's the best they can.
=moms who need support right now in their life.
=moms who live by the nap schedule
=moms who sneak the veggies in to their kids foods in secret ways.
=moms who do an excellent job teaching values, morals, religions...the deep and tough stuff.
=moms who raise free spirits.
=moms who rule with an iron fist and are strict.
=moms who are great about getting outdoors and teaching a love of nature.
=moms who do dates with each of her children individually.
=moms who manage to go on dates with their husbands.
=moms who use teen babysitters
=moms who only use family to babysit.
=moms who take their kids to the sled hill.
=moms who join their kids going down the sled hill.
=moms that do everything for their kids.
=moms who give their children chores/jobs/and do their best to teach responsibility.
=moms who don't let their children watch TV.
=moms that know they let their children watch too much TV.
=moms that expose their children to every opportunity out there.
=moms that sign their children up for swimming lessons.
=moms that share ideas.
=moms that keep to themselves.


And there are so many more.

I believe that I am all of these mom's on various day. There are times when I am each of these moms or times when I strive to be one of these moms. There are things on this list that come naturally and things on this list that I have to work really hard at. The thing is...we need all these various ways of being mommys so that our children are all different. It is what makes motherhood a job that doesn't put us completely over the edge because there is no ONE way to do it and accomplish it. There are things one might feel strongly about. There are things that one would maybe say "I would or would never do that." However, something I love about the mom's I surround myself with is that however we choose to do things it is okay. They support me and I hope they know I support them. I learn from each of my friends. I am jealous of each of my friends for their crumbless floor, their time out with girlfriends, their ability to never have a dirty dish on their counter, the way their children play together, the way they hold it together in situations where I would scream out in frustration, their chance to be out using their college degree...this list could go on and on.

I have lived as a working mom and I have lived as a stay at home mom. Both are demanding and hard in their own way. We need both kinds of mom's and it makes me sad when there is tension between the two choices. And that goes for anything on that list up above. So judging yourself as a mom, putting pressure on yourself to do better, feeling confident in the choices you make, where you focus your time, it is hard. It is impossible to feel confident all the time. And if someone says they don't doubt them self at times- I really have a hard time believing it. Maybe not every day -fine - but when the kids don't listen, the house is a mess, the laundry isn't done, and it is spaghetti night, AGAIN! It is impossible not to feel a little down on this job called being a mom. When I feel my confidence weaning I somehow always pull my bootstraps up and figure out how to get myself feeling better. And I have this huge feeling that it comes from having a network of mom's who support, family that encourage, friends who lighten the load, and people that cross the lines of family/friends/mom network. So thank you to all the people who help me feel like tomorrow I will have a little more patience, a little more energy, a little more of whatever it is that I need. Thank goodness there isn't one way to do things and thank goodness we can be a little of all those mom's from time to time. Every day is a fresh start. I LOVE being a mom. I LOVE learning and seeing how other mom's do things. I LOVE deciding for myself what is best for me and my kids. Because when it comes down to it...that is what matters. What is best for you and your own. Make that your priority.

Meet an Author

Charley was an author this morning. He wrote a book called I LOVE. Here he is reading his first book.





Note: the video takes the picture backwards...so the house is opposite, some of his letters are backwards....etc.

My Class

So I offered my class through community ed and no one signed up. Not sure if I am more relieved or bummed. Either way, I did have interest from people but the time didn't work. The Community Ed people said it is normal for a class not to run the first time...it takes a time or two to show up in the brochure. So I will be offering it again in April. So for the time being I am going to just try and keep the ideas flowing and I will share them on my Busy Bee Blog...I am going to make it a goal to update it more often so when the class does come around I am in a groove and will feel confident in my ideas. If any one who reads my blog does something fun with their kids and wants to share it..... Feel free to email me a picture or a description and I will post it and give you credit!

2 things....fried rice recipe and comments

Here is the link to the pork fried rice recipe. I also have it typed on word. So I can email you it. Let me know.

Also, I think I have changed the settings so that you can now leave comments without having a blogger or gmail account. Just click on the URL choice and leave your name. FUN! Whether you are friend, family, or friends of friends and family....whether you find my blog annoying, frustrating, silly, goofy, or interesting....whether you have anything important to say (because I rarely do)....it is fun to know who is out there...and what you think about things. Go for it!

Three things that made me smile today...

1. Henry got a haircut today. He has had his haircut three times now. But the first two times were only little trims of the bangs and a little clean up but still long. Today he got a real cut. I LOVE it. I am happy. I have not captured a good picture yet. But here he is




2. Today I was sitting with a few of the mom's in one of my playgroups. It is a group that has been meeting for over a year. We meet every other Thursday. We were asked to name our playgroup so that it could be listed and referred to in our MOMS Group. Charley is the only boy (well besides Henry). He loves his friends in this group and I enjoy the mom's and look to them for support and fun during some of these long days at home. So, my friend Lynelle came up with a name for our playgroup......drum roll. "Charley's Angels". HILARIOUS! LOVE IT! And someday he will get it.

3. Tonight for dinner I made pork fried rice. I got the recipe from one of my favorite blogs. She said it was to die for. I would have to agree. It wasn't too hard and it tasted really good. It will now be my standard pork fried rice. Here are two snap shots of the rice and ingredients. I am trying to better my skills at picture taking so that is why I am starting to take pictures of things other than my boys.

This is not a real endorsement...

Some car.com websites operate like this.


WroblewskiCarSoup.com
Where you tell us what you are looking for and we find it for you!

A thought hits home...

Today I am having a delightful day with my kids. It is Rian's last day so I baked heart cookies last night and today we decorated them. There is a mixed message in the shape...they are hearts...partly for Valentine's day...but also because I truly loved having Rian here and I hope she had a good time with us.

We had our friends over to decorate cookies and my girlfriend and I sat and drank our diet cokes and chatted about various topics. I threw in a frozen pizza. The three big kids all got along and played well. Henry followed them around and kept checking in with me. It was a comfortable morning and I treasure the ability to do these silly little holiday activities. Reading a blog today on the site I realized that the last thoughts in her post really hit me. Here it is:


I had always thought that I was a stay-at-home mom for my kids' sake, that this was something I was doing for them but now, after ten years of perspective, I can see that it was all for me, this tremendous gift that I gave myself. Now she is right on the cusp of her unafraid leap into the bigger world and I know that these are the very best days of my whole life, these leisurely days with her and the days I spent with her brother and sister, and that for the rest of my life this will be the golden remembered time, this radiant center of my all of my days.

I will leave it at that. Happy Tuesday!

Today's three thoughts...

So I just took a minute to read through some of the blogs I follow and loved this one. I have mentioned that I love reading other mommy blogs. They inspire me, make me feel less stress, make me feel more normal, and invigorate me for the next day...to look at the situations that I experience each day and see them with a more creative and open mind.

Charley is having trouble listening lately. I can ask him to do something, not to do something, to clean something up, to help with something, to put something on, and the list goes on and on...and he refuses and often throws a fit. So today I decided to try a little something to make him more aware of how often he questions my requests. We will only do this for a day or two. Hopefully by causing him pause things will start to turn around.

On another note, tomorrow is our last day watching Rian. It has been a fun three weeks. It has been nice to have a playmate for Charley. Henry too has started interacting more and more with Rian. We have enjoyed her giggle, her easy going attitude, and her ability to put up with "bossy" and emotional Charley. I have enjoyed having her. I will admit that watching another child isn't always more work (Rian was not more work at all, she just was here). However, it is someone else to think about, clean up after, and feel guilty about (am I doing enough, is she entertained, am I being fair, is she hungry, does she need a nap, are her parents happy, is her face washed,...etc). It is also a little more overwhelming going places, so the grocery store and Target have not been a weekday stop for three weeks(I think Ed appreciates that). So tomorrow we will enjoy and hope that Rian leaves wanting to come back and play sometime. But, I will also be glad to just have my boys to worry about. Charley said at dinner he is going to miss having Rian here. He made a great friend these last few weeks. Let's keep the connection there Dana. Thanks for trusting me to watch your daughter. It was an honor and a pleasure.

Favorite "old" treasured photos

A good friend advised me to scan these photos that I have hanging in our house because some of them are fading. So I am going to share them...now that we finally have them scanned. They normally hang in our living room. I LOVE these pictures. But I will probably find some new favorites sense I want these photos to last.

July 20, 2002



Just love this picture...maybe because I remember this garage sale maybe because of the jeans in summer. Maybe because I loved living at 944 Webster Lane.


My Grandpa Schooksie!



My brother and sister - Merry Christmas!



My favorite place on earth!



My parents!



This is Ed when he was little.

My day...

I had a delicious day. This afternoon I went to a movie with a good friend of mine. We went to see New in Town. The movie was set in New Ulm, MN. Going in to this movie experience I figured it would be a mindless fluffy "Sarah" Movie. However, the movie gave me a lot to think about. The story focused on a small town factory working hard to stay in business. It made real to me the reality for a lot of people these days who are losing jobs because of the economy. On a brighter note, I AM and WILL always be proud to have grown up in Wisconsin. Right now I live in Minnesota and in most ways it is very similar to Wisconsin. This movie exaggerated the Minnesota "talk" and other aspects of MN life and I found myself enjoying the exaggeration and feeling a sense of pride...even though I will always cheer for the Packers and enjoy a good 'ol Johnsonville Brat!

Later today we went over to our neighbors house for a little Super Bowl celebration. When we moved into this house from the townhouse my dream was to have fun neighbors. Next door to us live two fantastic babysitters and around the corner a delightful family with two girls (ages 4 and 7). Charley plays well with them. We are slowly getting to know each other. We meet in the cul de sac to play, we had them over for pizza, they had us over for a spur of the moment new years celebration, and now we had a little Superbowl party. We seem to mesh well. The kids play nicely and it is close enough that we can walk. It was a fun evening. Some yummy appetizers and snacks, a beer or two, some fun conversation, and the kids were entertained.

Tomorrow is Monday, Daddy goes to work. Bedtime on Sundays is always a little hard because of this. But Friday will be here before we know it. Happy February everyone!