Family Briefs

I’ve had laryngitis at least 3 or 4 times since last summer, and I’m struggling with a bout of it again. What are you supposed to do when you’re a mom and you’re sick? You can’t write down your requests to your children because only one of them reads and he ignores my verbal requests already (why add insult to injury). You can’t use sign language (aside from the fact that you don’t know sign language, they wouldn’t understand it and probably wouldn’t “listen” anyway).

One trick I found that actually has worked best this time is Read the rest of this entry »

Wasn’t yesterday just Thursday? How did it suddenly get to be Saturday and I miss doing a book review AND my SMART Saturday post??? I mean, it really hasn’t been a very exciting week, what with the plumbers breaking the water line and irrigation line in an attempt to fix the broken sewer line, the cable company digging up part of the yard and boring a hole under the driveway to run a new cable line to the house, and the critter-gitter company setting up poison stations throughout the attic to add to the lovely “dead” fragrance already pungent in our home. Geeesh!

So, here I am late on Saturday pulling together a two-for-one for you! Aren’t you excited? A SMART habit AND Read the rest of this entry »

How many diapers have I changed in my lifetime? LOTS - with 4 kids (2 still in diapers) and a bunch of babysitting in my youth, I’ve lost count! I remember my first wiggler (my oldest) on the changing table, but I soon learned that he would be quite cooperative if I just gave him a little board book to look at to pass the time. For my two middles, I kept some kind of little toy handy (something that was unique only to changing table time); that seemed to keep them cooperative while I completed the quickest diaper changes this side of the Mississippi. My youngest has been been an altogether different story - definitely my biggest challenge yet.

Since day one, she has ALWAYS wanted Read the rest of this entry »

**UPDATE I’m reposting this to include in Elise’s Children’s Book Monday. Head over to her site, A Path Made Straight, for more great reviews!

Since our summer is officially over, I wanted to choose a book about beginning a new school year. We have all the other Laura Numeroff books in the series, except this one. I can’t very well review a book I’ve never read! Since I’m sure it’s as good as “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,” we probably need to check it out from the library or add it to our own.

My daughter would love for me to tell you about one of her favorites, “Barbie: My First Day at School.” Unfortunately, it’s not one of my favorites .

One of my favorites is “Wemberly Worried” by Kevin Henkes. He has written a BUNCH of children’s books, and I plan to Read the rest of this entry »

I was recently invited to a Pampered Chef party by a friend of mine. She told me if I couldn’t go, I could just order online. Now, I know, these parties can be fun sometimes and often are opportunities for neat free gifts. I’m just not a party girl. The whole socializing with people I don’t really know just ain’t my thang.

I’m not a regular Pampered Chef shopper (remember, sometimes I’m too frugal for my own good), but some of the proceeds from this particular party were going to support breast cancer. Now, as a woman, how can I pass that up?

As I flipped through the magazine, I spent hundreds of dollars - in my head of course. I finally decided that one item Read the rest of this entry »

I ended a 3-day illness with the flu by picking blueberries with my children. My husband had frequently shooed them outside to play and pick their share of blueberries, all in an effort to help me rest and recover (although I suspect Read the rest of this entry »

What do you get when you cross one sick child with three healthy siblings? (scroll down for answer)

FOUR SICK CHILDREN!

And when you have FOUR SICK CHILDREN, how do you keep up with who had what medicine when (or which medicine was given to whom when? I forget)? You certainly can’t keep up with it in your head because your brain cells are fried from having four children :). Read the rest of this entry »

As I sat rocking my youngest tonight, I had a flashback. The sun must have been filtering through the curtains just right in a way that I remember from my childhood.

Often, I would be playing across the street with my sister and two boys that lived in the neighborhood. Without fail, my mother would call me inside to get ready for bed just as we were beginning to play something new. I can remember running across the dead-end street, through the drainage ditch in our front yard, complaining all the way about having to go to bed while it was still light. Read the rest of this entry »

I was listening to a podcast today by Joel Osteen (you can find links to subscribe to his podcast at www.joelosteen.com). I really enjoy listening to his messages because it always has a positive message - this particular message was on having realistic expectations of the people you are in relationship with. He spoke mostly about husband/wife relationships, but somewhere in the podcast he briefly mentioned children; my wheels started turning. Read the rest of this entry »

For me, one of the neatest parts of being a parent of four is seeing how each child is different from their siblings. Sometimes I am amazed that all four of my children came from my and my husband’s genes - they are all so different (although alike in some ways, too).

Their different personalities also means they have differing needs. Some of them want more cuddling whenever they can get it, while others want it just when they want it. Sometimes it’s hard to do the right thing for the right child :). Read the rest of this entry »