In the middle of our beautiful mess, we can find beautiful grace. Follow along as I homeschool, raise 6 wild kids, spend time with God, create beautiful paper crafts, and try to juggle it all without losing my mind. I have to extend grace to myself daily, and I hope that this blog helps you to remember to give yourself a bit of Grace too.
Welcome
Thanks for visiting my blog. I began journaling about my daily life when I was eleven. Over the years, this has grown to become a way for me to share my thoughts rather than my daily life. I’m pretty open with sharing all the beautiful chaos of life with six children. I have to remind myself to extend grace to myself each and every day! It is my hope that my writings will help others to learn to extend grace to themselves too. After all, if it weren’t for the Grace of God, life would just be messy. I’m so glad that life can instead be a Beautiful Mess and is covered by His Beautiful Grace.
Monday, August 4, 2014
They've Done it Again
There are a few other things going on with the kids too. They're watching way too much television and playing way too many video games this summer. They fight way too much. They don't seem to hear when asked to do something simple like setting the table for dinner. I'm at my wits end. I'm frustrated and just not happy with things at home lately. I yell in order to get things accomplished and then get comments from my husband about the yelling. Something has got to give and I don't know how to do it. I'm not really sure how life got like this. My kids are typically great at helping. They're typically pleasant to be around. They have great imaginations and love to play. When did they become lazy and hateful? When did I become lazy and hateful? At some point I stopped staying on top of them and then I started yelling when things didn't get done.
I am one of those moms that reads anything I can on parenting, relationships, etc. Not sure if this is because I studied child development, psychology and sociology so extensively in school or if it's just because my life is so crazy and I need the help. I suspect it's a little of both. Anyway, all of our books are currently packed in boxes due to all of the summer remodeling (I suspect this is where my parenting laziness came in to play) and I don't think I have anything that applies to us currently. I decided that I'd read some Mommy Blogs both to remind me that I am not alone and to also encourage me to make some changes that will turn this family around.
I've come to a few conclusions on my own before reading these blogs. First, this week we are going back on our school schedule of bedtimes and no electronics during the week. It worked great through out the day but Dad let them watch tv for a bit this evening. Oh well, we're working on this. Second, we've got to actually spend more time at home because they aren't going to learn these lessons and routines while riding around in the van and bouncing from place to place. This one is much easier said than done though. I'm working to reduce our outside obligations but there are a few things that I don't have a choice on. Third, I know that our home needs to be better organized and free of clutter. I am working on this but it does take time. With four kids and about to have a baby, clutter-free isn't exactly a reality. With remodeling projects going on all over the house, total organization isn't really possible either. We are working on it though. After these, I draw a blank! I need help!
Here are some links with some great articles and blog posts that I found helpful and encouraging. Be sure to leave links in the comments if you have any others that you would like to add. I love reading Mommy Blogs!
25 Ways to Simplify Your Life With Kids
Drastic Toy Decluttering
Simplify Toys
Getting Kids to Clean Their Room
How I Get My Kids to Clean Their Room This one is exactly what I need to be doing. I need to put all other things aside and spend each day teaching them to clean up behind themselves. I need to get rid of more toys or pack them up to rotate so that there isn't much in their rooms to mess up. I need to label bins with pictures for the younger two that can't yet read. I need to work on keeping the rest of the house picked up daily and having the kids help. Once this habit is established, then I can find time to do little things that I enjoy again. Until they get this habit, me trying to do things for myself are just going to continue to cause more frustration.
-
My building was a Christmas gift to me from Gabe. He spent evenings working on it for a week or two. He finished all of the painting on the ...
-
I was chatting back and forth through email with another mom from a Yahoo group and told her that I had some great things that I had printed...
-
I was recently asked, "Where do I start? I have so many photos and it all seems overwhelming." I know that I get asked this se...
No comments:
Post a Comment