Events. Activities. Trips.
Happy Mother's Day! I hope everyone had a great day. I certainly did. I got to do some of my favorite things:
1. go to church
2. eat out
3. take nap
4. take my girls to parties/playdates
5. grill
6. play cards
It really doesn't get any better than that!
I also got called to take inventory, as I so often need to do, of my life, my parenting.
Pastor Mike (God bless him, he is amazing!) reminded us today of some very important "rules of parenting". 1. Discipline, but don't smother 2. Spend quality time, not activity time
So, how am I doing?
1. The discipline thing is tough, but I think we're on the right track. We try to give the girls some space to make decisions and then allow for those natural consequences to happen. We try to set clear expectations (have you seen all of our chore charts around the house?) and then have clear consequences if those aren't done. I need to improve on my communication (stop yelling!) and my follow through with Avery (oh it's so much easier to just do it myself or to giggle at that kid, she's just too cute!).
2. Quality time, not activities. I'm sorry what? I spend a ton of time with the kiddos (back and forth to swimming 3x/week, softball 2x/week, on the way to grammys or the grocery store) those count, right? Well, they do, but I also have to make sure that we are carving out time for some good, old fashioned family time. What I have to do is make sure that my E.A.T. (event, activities, trips) are not more important than our quiet, slow moments together.
Now, Dave and I have been doing okay here, we did eat "dinner" together at 4:45 the other day, just so we could all eat together once that week, but we need to be more consistent. We need to make sure that we have time set aside that is for family. Time to catch up, hear what's going on at school (who does Ella have a crush on this week), what the girls are dealing with (friends, crazy bus driver), and reconnect with and encourage each other.
So, Dave and I talked about what we are doing and what we can do better.
We can do better at sitting down together. We can continue to have an extended family meal with grandparents once a week. We can continue to take a little time every night to snuggle and pray with the girls. We can make more time to serve together. We can try new things. Like breakfast, every morning, together. (If you know us, that is a toughie. God didn't make any of us early birds. But we can try.
Happy Mother's Day. Happy "get out and learn how to be an even better mommy" day. I love my family, my friends and the adventure of parenthood! Thanks for sharing this journey with me!
