Summer Ideas

By Katharine Grubb

Counting pennies this summer?  Or are you looking for things to do in between day camp and the week at the beach?  Here’s a lengthy list of activites for you and your preschooler. All require little preparation and little expense and are just right for ages 3 and up.  

1. Check out your local library and sign up for storytimes, special programs for kids, reading incentives and activities. It’s almost always free! 
2. Take a neighborhood walk and look for shapes, colors and textures. 
3. Each week of the summer, choose a specific animal - say, elephants. Read elephant books from the library, download elephant coloring pages. Search Pinterest for elephant art projects.
4. Collect pretty leaves and flowers from your yard. Glue them to a paper and display them.
5. Your kids are up early anyway, right? Take them outside and ask them to listen to different kinds sounds.  What do they hear?  How many different kinds of birds? 
6. Choose an “Author of the Week” and, on your library day, check out all of the books by that author. In between reading books, look up a biography of that author. Start with Eric Carle, Lois Ehlert, H. A. Rey, Margaret Wise Brown, or Rosemary Wells. If you run out of authors, ask your librarian.
7. Make popsicles.
8. Stay up late and identify constellations. 
9. On another night, collect fireflies. 
10. Identify cirrus, cumulus and nimbus clouds and look for them everyday. 
11. Grow marigolds.
12. At the grocery store, look for all the letters of the alphabet.
13. Choose a mode of transportation each week - for example, trains. That week, read books about trains, watch videos, color pages, get out that train set you forgot about and set it up in the living room. The next week is airplanes or trucks or race cars. 
14. July 10 is Teddy Bear Picnic Day!  Host a Teddy Bear picnic at your home.  Invite all your friends over for cupcakes, teddy bear games and fun time together.
15. Who in your family has a birthday this summer?  Instead of a card or gift, make them a video birthday greeting.
16. Play dress up with your kids. My favorite dress up game? Cinderella. Before the ball, we clean the house! 
17. Check your local newspaper (or city website).  Often cities have free concerts, fun runs, parades or other events for the public.
18. June is Audio Book Appreciation Month, so make lunchtime listening time. From your local library, check out books on CDs. Ask your librarian for age-appropriate materials and then make a habit of listening while you eat lunch.
19. Pack a lunch and go on a Coin Toss adventure. Go for a walk, and every time you come to an intersection, flip a coin to tell you which way to go - use common sense in dangerous places, though!  Walk until you get hungry, eat and then come home. 
20. Add music! Try a children’s Pandora station or check out CDs from your local library and make a certain time of day music time.
21. Make jewelry with colored pasta and yarn.
22. Check out any local churches who host Vacation Bible School. Many of these programs are free.
23. Talk about color.  Can you draw a picture in which you only use warm colors like orange, yellow and red?  What about cool colors like blue, green and purple? 
24. Do a search on Pinterest for kid's art. What do you have around the house? 
25. Cut up a magazine and look for words. Glue them on paper for a collage.

Need more ideas? Do a search on Pinterest for preschool activites. And don’t forget to take lots of photos -- you can have an amazing summer with your child and spend very little money.

Part 1 of 4 - Check back the next 3 Thursdays for more ideas!

Ways I've Grown As a Mom

By Katharine Grubb

I’ve brought five of them home from the hospital, so I know that babies change everything. Before I was a mother, I wasn’t all that concerned about dryness. And I never calculated actual hours slept during my daily morning ritual. I knew with my first daughter, that things would be different. What I didn’t know that the most profound difference was in how I would change. If I knew then, what I know now, I might have never left the hospital. But if I knew then, what I know now, then I’d see that my new responsibilities made me more like Jesus.

If I could go back to the overwhelmed and intimidated new mother I was in 1998 and tell her what I was going to be in 2012, this is what I would say:

1. I’M WAY MORE ORGANIZED

Despite the lengthy tirade I ignited on Facebook about the problem with 10-year-old-boys and the Sunday morning clean-jeans-with-holey-knees vs. dirty-jeans-without-holes issue, my household is generally run like a finely tuned machine. But it has taken years to work out the kinks of cleaning, cooking and general managing---and even then it’s not perfect. (And props to me for doing this long before Pinterest was around.)

2. I’M WAY MORE DISCIPLINED

I was told, as a naive college student, that I would never have as much time for myself as I did right then. Of course, I laughed at this. I wish I understood, many years ago, that there would come a time when my biggest personal goal was reading a book that didn’t have a princess in it. To find time, over the years I’ve developed disciplined habits to meet everybody’s needs. And I’m happy to say, that as my kids are getting older, I’m finding my me time is growing.

3. I’M SHOCKED AT HOW GIVING I AM

Oh, I’m still selfish, but in those moments when I give my child the last piece of toast that I wanted, or I gladly surrender a writing project for the sake of sitting at a doll’s “birthday party,” I wonder, "who have I become?" I wasn’t always like this. My kids are making me die to myself. This is a good thing.

4. I’M WAY MORE COMPASSIONATE

Now that I’m a mother, the stakes are higher. There are very real threats in the world against my family, like disease, crime, financial collapse, and freakish acts of nature. As a result, I’m more attuned to suffering of those who have not have been as blessed as I have. I empathize far more readily with bad days and skinned knees and the tragic world. My heart is breaking more and more for the things that breaks the heart of God and because of this, I can teach my children how to be compassionate.

5. I’M WAY MORE PROTECTIVE

Just ask the Kirby salesman who came to my door and wouldn’t take my no for an answer---I can be a real mean Momma Bear. I didn’t know, until that day, what it would take for me to get out my “claws” and protect my family. While I cringe over most of that story, I’m very proud of the fact that I stood firm. I didn’t back down. I protected my family from what I perceived as a threat. I have a confidence now I didn’t have before. Don’t mess with me, I’m a MOM!

6. I’M WAY MORE SELF-AWARE

Wanna intimidate a new mom? Tell her that all of her bad habits will be passed down to her children. Oh boy. I have found this to be true in my own children. As a result, I try to be aware of my own bad habits, my tones of voice and my own impatience. I try, try, try to always speak and behave in the way that Jesus does, but I often fail. This idea, that more is caught that taught---has changed me to realize how influential I am. And as a result of this . . .

7. I’M WAY MORE HUMBLE

If we aren’t humble enough when we have children, then God allows them to learn to talk and say things to others in public that make us want to hide under a rock. But even if that didn’t happen, I would find myself running to God frequently and whimpering, “I can’t do this. Help me!” I once read a blog called Clutching the Hem of His Garment, and I asked myself, why am I, like the writer of this blog, always in a place of desperation and neediness? Then I knew my answer. Is there really any better place to be?

8. I’M WAY MORE SKILLED

One of my childless friends asked me, “Can you teach me to cook?” I said, “Sure,” (and then my response wasn’t all that graceful). I said, “Step one. Get married. Step two. Choose to live frugally, making everything from scratch for every meal for the next sixteen years. Then you’ll know how to cook.” Motherhood has forced me to do hard things, like cooking, and be patient with myself and persevere through failure. Now, I know how to do many things I didn’t know how to do before. But I should probably work on being nicer when people ask me a question.

9. I’M WAY MORE COURAGEOUS

The first time I ever drove in Boston, was when I took my newborn to her first pediatric appointment. I drove from East Boston, through the tunnel, down Storrow Drive to Brighton, in a horrendous downpour. I was terrified. But it had to be done and I was the mother. Since then there have been many more scary incidents. This is one of the hardest parts of being a mother---being in charge when hell seems to break loose---but God has always shown me what to do and held me fast, so I don’t panic or give into my fear. Most of the time.

10. I’M WAY MORE DETERMINED

There are people in my life who have said, “there are no guarantees in life, so why try? Or, “homeschooling is way too hard, why don’t you do something easier?” Or, “you can’t.” Nothing gets me going than to have my vision for home and family criticized by others. You say I can’t? I say, “watch me.” When it was just me I worried about, I never had this much gumption, but then I often too easily believed what I was told. Not now. Now, I’m a mother!

11. I’M WAY MORE CREATIVE

This is my favorite part of being a mother---coming up with the stories to keep my children happy during a car trip, or coming up with a game that helps us pick up our toys, or making up a song about spring, or creating a Lord of the Rings birthday party on a budget. (Not to mention coming up with nutritious meals when there aren’t a whole lot of groceries in the house.) I love being able to give my creative self to those around me. I may never be famous for my creativity---but I’ve given it to the people I love the most and our home is happier for it.

12. I’M MORE CONFIDENT

I don’t go around with a cape calling myself Super Mom. But I do go around reminding myself that God is at work in me to make me strong and capable. There are plenty of areas to work on, but because I am a mother, I have done things and conquered things and savored things that I never thought I would. I am thankful for not only those little babies that came home from the hospital with me, but for Jesus who has used them to make me more like Him every single day.

What about you? How has God changed you since becoming a mom? What has surprised you about yourself?

what amazing thing are you going to do today?

By Katharine Grubb
 

My daughter Veronica, who is 6, thinks she can do everything.

She can add up to the thousands place, she can read, and she wants to clean the house. She has no concept of fear or hesitation or anything but complete acceptance. At our house, she tries and she’s proud of her accomplishments and if she messes up, it’s OK, she tries again. She has gone from preschooler to serious elementary school student in a very short time and she believes life is just like that---new challenges and new successes. I asked her one morning, “What amazing thing are you going to do today?”

It never occurs to her that she could be less than amazing.

Recently, over the course of three days, I had three different people ask me at different times how I manage to homeschool five children at a time. I told them about my day, what I expect, how the kids like it, and what we’ve accomplished. All three of these women were impressed. It should be noted that they are all homeschooling as well, but none of them have five children. And all of them called me “amazing” or something like that. (And all of them have skills and abilities that make me drop my jaw in bewilderment.) My response to them was modest. I don’t see myself as amazing. I just see a mom trying to get by, doing what she’s called to do with a minimum number of trips to the emergency room. I probably need to see myself in a better light. I should be more like Veronica.

Our Father asks me the same thing I asked my daughter. “What amazing thing are you going to do today?” Funny, He loves me more than I love her. He is as delighted by me as I am by her. Oh, that’s mind-blowing!

I need to stop believing that my day-to-day accomplishments are nothing. I need to believe that God sees them differently. He knows that when I am at my best, when I believe I can’t fail, when I am working in my strengths, when I am fearless and confident, I AM AMAZING. I can do amazing things. Failure or mediocrity or even false modesty should not even be in my vocabulary. After all, they aren’t in Veronica’s.

So, my question to you, dear readers, is this: What amazing thing are you going to do today?

 Via Lucius Art on Etsy

Ladies and Gentleman we have a TODDLER....Yikes!

By Jessica Floyd

Being a mom is hard.   Really, it is.   I have the most adorable, sweet, energetic little boy who I love to shower with adoration.  He was seriously the PERFECT baby.  People would tell me that I was so lucky to have such a sweet easy-going baby.  I knew this was a blessing, and that they were right.  I could see that my son had his father's easy-going, go-with-the-flow personality, and I could not be more pumped!  Well, my easy-going baby has now turned into a stubborn, strong-willed toddler.  Traits that I recognize a little too closely from personal experience.   Don't get me wrong, I still adore him, and he is still a very sweet little boy....he is just a little boy who's favorite word is now, "NO."  How is it possible that a toddler telling me, "NOOOO," can sting so badly? Well, it does. 

I have had a lot of experience with babies, and that stage never scared me, in fact, I loved every minute.   This, on the other hand, feels like a brand new game.  How do I be firm but kind?  How do I parent a toddler when I feel like I am learning along with him?  These thoughts occupy my mind as I am laying in bed at night.  This is a first for me.  I am always prepared, thorough.  I have a Master's degree in special education with a focus in behavior.  I can come up with all kinds of positive reinforcement solutions for school-aged children, but my son is a little too young for those now.  

We do spend a lot of time in Time Out these days. Really, it happens all the time.  He wants to be in charge and decide what he can and can not do.  I tell him no or ask him to stop what he is doing and, all the sudden, that old western music that comes on right before the outlaw and the sheriff draw their guns plays in my head.  I know I am showing him love by disciplining him and practicing consistency, but I never realized it would be so hard on me, his mommy, the one who has adored every move he has made every day of his life.

It got me thinking that this is just the beginning.  My son will continue to challenge me, frustrate me with his choices, and act out in ways I do not understand.  So yes, being a mom is hard.  Harder than I imagined because, when it is your child, things are personal.  You wonder if you are doing everything wrong, if you are too strict, too nurturing, too quick or slow to respond to their actions.  I just never understood how hurtful it can feel for an 18-month-old to look you straight in the eyes with an ugly face, stomp his foot, and shout, "NOOOOOO, NOOOOOO!"  It makes my heart sink every time.  I know this is age-appropriate, I know that this happens.  I just did not realize how devastated it would make me feel. The good news is I am not in this alone.

I feel like I have been praying a lot lately, praying specifically for my husband and myself as parents.  Praying that God will help us through this stage and that we can help bring out the character in our son that God intends for him to have.  I feel that this experience has brought me closer to God.  Maybe before I had a child of my own, I did not grasp how much God loves all of us.  We are His children, he has adored us everyday of our lives.  Boy, I know I have disappointed him by telling him, "NO" over the years.  God is the most perfect Father, and yet, I have been disobedient.  I know that my husband and I cannot be perfect parents, but it gives me comfort that God is the Heavenly Father of my child and He is going to help us along the way.

I came across this blog that gave me some reassurance, I hope if you are having the same issues at your house it can be helpful to you also.

Sarah Jane Studios

By Karen Brown

I have long been a fan of Sarah Jane Studios. Her artwork is beautifully done with the slight vintage vibe I am drawn to, and gorgeous color!

She has recently added some children’s prints to her collection that would be perfect in a nursery. Don’t they just make you smile? What I may love most is that they come in both boy and girl designs, several skin colors and even different languages to choose from.

In addition to nursery artwork, Sarah Jane has some more grown-up, but equally inspiring prints you can download for free here and here.

I would love to have these hanging in my home...such good reminders! Check out what Ashley Ann did with hers. So very creative!