Category Archives: On My Mind

Find Joy

There is a whole lot of Yuck happening right now around the world, and while I know it’s important to know what is going on, there are times when I need to just take a few steps back and just focus on what is immediately around me.  Focus on my family and all of the things I am grateful for, but always conscious of the things that I can do to hopefully make the world better in some way.  Sometimes simply deciding to smile when all you want to do is cry can make a difference.  I can’t personally focus too much on everything that is wrong in the world, so I choose to focus on what is right. I choose to remain an optimist.

Kindergarten Thoughts…

One month. No, less than a month and we will have a kindergartner on our hands.  This should not be having such an emotional effect on me, but it is. It makes sense that moms who have had their kids home with them since they were babies would be emotional, but he’s been in day care since he was 6 weeks old. Six weeks.  That sounds so young now.  At the time I was so conflicted about leaving him. I really had no choice, but while part of me was loath to be separated from him, the other part of me was also glad to have space and adult interaction.

Now he’s five and asking about when it will be September. He’s so excited and therefore I need to be just as excited for him. But, oh the anxiety that is for some reason creeping in.  That feral part of me wants to protect him from everything, but I know that I have to just step back and watch him go. Maybe it’s harder because it won’t be me putting him on that bus every day?  I feel like I’m losing so much time with them by having to work and I would love more than anything to be able to drive him to school and pick him up, or at the very least to wait with him at the bus stop with his sister and excitedly be there when he gets home.

Sigh.

Anyway, I never did share any pictures from his preschool graduation, did I?

Oh this boy.  Sometimes we’re too much alike.  More and more we’re starting to find a better middle ground. We’re both hot headed at times and need our space.  I can always count on him to be a champion for whoever needs it, though.  Whether it’s protecting his sister from a bully on the playground or trying to keep everyone out of the room while I have quiet time.  You’ll do fine… we’ll do fine.

August Blogging Challenge – Day 1

I was inspired by another blogger to take on a challenge for August. For better or for worse, I’m going to blog every single day.  Okay, maybe not weekends… we’ll see.  Regardless, that’s still a lot of days, and more than I typically do, so a challenge it is.  Why do this, considering not many people even read this blog?  It’s more for myself.  Maybe I’m hoping that by forcing myself to do something even when I feel like I have nothing to say it will maybe give me some kind of motivation to tackle some other things.

Lately I’ve been feeling like I need to re-evaluate a lot of things and really look at my priorities and where they are right now vs. what they should be/need to be.  At the moment I only have so much time in a day and I’m often torn during the hours that are considered “free” on how to best spend that time.  I think that is the hardest part of parenting, to be honest. There are many times when I really, really want to just sit down with a book, but I’m being pulled in different directions to do other things that, let’s just be honest, aren’t necessarily what I want to do, but my kids do.  One day I’m going to make certain I have more time with my kids so that in turn I have more time for myself as well.  One day, I will be able to drive my kids to school and pick them up in the afternoon and spend the majority of the summer with them rather than them being in day care. One day I’m going to do something that makes me feel fulfilled and proud.

Happy Friday!

I’m just going to say it – I’ve been busy lately, so I haven’t been the best at keeping up with… well, most things really.  There are weird stomach bugs going around, my house is a mess, we have a new habitat that we need to get Bowser settled in tonight, we have friends coming over this weekend, and I could go on and on.

If you want to read my latest video game review, you’ll have to head over to Rapscallion Brigade!  I’m going to try and do more of these, but that also means I need more time to play video games. 😉

I seem to be a little all over the place as I try to figure out what my brain wants to settle on.  Often my biggest problem is that I have so many things I want to do that I can’t decide which to tackle and end up not accomplishing anything because I either spent too much time debating what to do, or I just kind of get lost in the whirlwind, get a couple things done and then wind up in bed with a book.  So… I think I need to find a better way to schedule my time and actually complete some projects. I have several on my list that should not keep getting put off and yet they just do.

Anyhoo… have a beautiful weekend!

Water, Water, Everywhere

I think we’re down to only one lesson left of swimming for the kids.  At least for now.  We’ll enroll them into the next level as soon as registration opens since we don’t want them to lose momentum at all!  Has it been worth it?  Ultimately, they may not have learned much this time around, but it’s amazing how much more willing to try new things kids are when someone besides their parents asks them to.  They’re putting their mouths in the water, blowing bubbles, willingly getting their ears and heads wet… it’s a big step forward for sure.

Soon enough they’ll be able to rescue me if I fall into deep water!  Haha!  In all seriousness I should probably work on my lack of swimming skill. I can do your basic back float and some kind of strokes, but I can’t tread water and honestly have a slight fear of deep water anyway.  All the more reason to make sure our kids know how to swim!