Finding a Way to Slow Time Down

Wow. Time goes so fast. Each year it seems to go by faster. My boss tells me quite often that life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer you get to the end, the faster it unrolls. I didn't understand what he meant, but now I do. I think he likes to make fun of me for getting older. His wife was my Sunday School teacher, so I've know them since I was 15. I guess now that I'm 31 I'm not so young anymore. LOL. But he's older too ;)  However, yes, now I get the toilet paper analogy.

This past year has gone by especially fast. (I can't believe I haven't written a post since July! It does NOT seem that long ago!) But a year ago today, my sweet mother-in-law passed away. It's hard to believe we were walking through her last week with us a year ago already. It's hard to believe we have lived through a year's worth of life without her already. And my precious Grandmother, who I'm named after, passed away in November. We know Where they both are, and that we will see them again. But it still hurts. Especially realizing how fast time goes.

So this made me start thinking, there HAS to be a way to slow down life. To enjoy it more purposefully. To savor our short time together. We started brainstorming ideas, ways to ensure more time together. We don't have it figured out yet, but at least we are aware of the problem and on the hunt for a solution. I think this is the first step. Otherwise we go through life missing it, and turn around one day and it's done. No way. No more.

One thing we started doing is birthday-dates. Each month we strive to take each our kids out one-on-one for a Mommy or Daddy date for some quality alone time on the day of the month of their birthday. (Luckily, they each have a different day!) They have truly grown to love this time, and look forward to it every month. In fact, today, R was asking when his date night would be, knowing it is coming up :) LOVE IT!   I about cried when his Awana teacher told me last week that he said his favorite part of Christmas was spending all that time with his family. What a blessing to my mommy-heart! This spoke VOLUMES to me that TIME is really the thing my kids want most from me. I hope and pray to give them more of it in the months and year to come. That said, the blog might suffer because of it, but so be it. At least now you'll know why ;)

Lake Baby

We have discovered a love for the lake! (Um, yeah... this is why I have been absent for a while! We have been spending ALL our free time out there!) I was worried about taking Smily Boy, though, but APPARENTLY, he loves it too!! Check him out:



He goes around and around in circles! What a cutie!!

Flashback Friday - Scary Then, Funny Now

Today’s memory involves car explosions, a super-hero brother and a rescued damsel in distress!    Well, just a rescued me, but damsel-in-distress sounded more dramatic!

Yes, when I was around 8, our station wagon caught on fire! While. We. Were. Driving!  

Talk about S-C-A-R-Y!!!! 

It started smoking and my mom pulled over, made us rush out of the car and run as far away as possible. “It’s gonna blow up!” we screamed.  In the adrenaline rush, I lost my shoe, but I kept running. It was only when we finally stopped that I realized I was missing my shoe!

My baby brother was 5, ya’ll. YES, 5. However, being the man of the house, he bravely declared that HE would go back and get my shoe!

“NO!” Screamed my mom.

Then I started I crying.

 I was about to kill my baby brother because I couldn’t keep my shoe on.

However, my fearless five-year-old brother ran fast as his little legs could carry him back to the smoking station wagon and back to me, with shoe in hand. I was rescued by my baby brother. I smothered him with hugs and kisses. My mom did the same. It was a scene right out of the movies.

Well, in my mind at least ;)  LOL.

Then, the other day, my mom tells me we used to make fun of her driving that station wagon. THIS I did NOT remember. Apparently, when she bought it, she could only afford a manual, but she had never driven one. So as she pulled it off the lot it went “start-stop-start-stop” all jerky like, and my brother and I laughed and laughed, she says. Then she tells me that we said “Mom, I thought you knew how drive!”

HAHAHA! Obviously did not understand the difference between an automatic and a manual car. But this provided some laughs then and now. It was fun (NOW) talking about our burning station wagon. I wonder if my brother remembers this?

Be sure to link up your Flashback for today! Tell us about a memory that was scary then, but funny now! Can’t wait to read them!

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Flashback Friday - Beginnings

Do you ever have flashbacks? Like when an old song comes on the radio and suddenly you remember where you were the first time you heard it?  Or maybe a smell drifts across your nose and magically you are transported back to your childhood? I have those all the time. When I hear almost any song my Bryan Adams I remember laying on the floor of my bedroom, pining away about all my tweenage worries. When I smell an old diesel car’s fumes, I feel like I am back in Colombia during one of the many summers I spent there as a child. These flashbacks are fun to recall.

Other memories are more powerful, though. Like lessons I learned as a kid or teenager that I wish I could pass on to my kids, as well as experiences I went through that I want to share with my sister, who is experiencing them now.  Recently, I have had a couple family members tell me that my sister believes we have little in common. I want so desperately to have this close, amazing “like sisters” friendship with her. But she is 10 years younger than me and so if she thinks we have little in common, I guess that creates a divide between us. But I feel like memories and flashbacks can connect us, not only to our past, but also to others in the present.

Therefore… I think it would be fun to start a weekly series where we share our flashback moments. No matter what age you are, you always have a past, a “when I was younger” memory. Ex:  My 3 year old told me today “remember when I was a baby and I used to say “wahh! I want my mook!” (aka milk)” See? (And I doubt anyone reading this is 3 years old, so you know you’ve got at least a few more years on her that you could draw memories from to share with us all, LOL) So let’s share our flashbacks to connect and encourage each other, young and old. Maybe some wisdom will be gleaned from them, or even just some laughs. Either way, it will be fun!

To start, I am beginning with my obsession over remembering memories. Since I was a kid I was obsessed with making sure I would remember something. Since I learned to write, I have kept a diary. I know most girls did, so this is nothing revolutionary. However, my reason for keeping it might have been different than most: I wanted to make sure I remembered my childhood and teenage years because I felt like grown-ups forgot all about theirs. I didn’t want to be that grown-up. As a teenager especially, I felt like adults always bunched us all into one group (“TEENAGERS!”)  left it at that. They assumed we were all disrespectful, lazy and careless. I wanted PROOF that I wasn’t, not just for me or my kids when I had them, but for “the rest of the world”, LOL, whatever that meant! No, seriously… I felt it was my duty to show the world all teens weren’t bad. In fact, I believed then (and I still do) that teens are actually pretty powerful young men and women. They have insatiable appetites for creativity and this easily leads to problem solving. What would happen if we challenged teens to do something good with this creative energy, instead of assuming that they want to do the worst with it? I think there would be no stopping them.

Guess what? I still have all those diaries! The other day I was reading the one I started when I was 6. It cracks me up! I will have to try and scan some of those pages and post them. But the funny thing is, I remember writing those entries! I remember how I felt & what I was thinking when I wrote those entries!  So I think we should all keep a diary! We should encourage our kids to do it, and if we don’t already, we should do it! I can’t wait for my kids to read my thoughts I wrote when I was their age. I can’t wait to talk to them about the similarities they see between our thoughts and feelings, and the connection we will form by discovering those bonds. I will be sure to share about this experience when it occurs.  ; )

SOOOO…. Share with me yours! Tell us what you remember thinking about "grown-ups" when you were a kid or teen. Comment below, or link up to your post about your flashback.

It will be fun to read all about our childhood memories and see what similar experiences (or drastically different ones?) we have!

Look forward to reading them!!

Sew Not So Much

Yeah... this is one of those "I am so embarrased to admit this" posts... BUT... here I go anyway. Why? I have no idea!

I got a sewing machine for Christmas. It was on my Amazon wish list, and I was VERY excited to get it. I must admit however, that I had forgotten I put it on my wish list. When I tried to rememeber when I added it, the thought comes to me that it must have been waaaay before I had 4 kids, 2 jobs, and a house to keep up with! You know, because how on earth would I think I have time to sew (or even learn how to sew?) now?!  However, I was still excited to get it and very determined to put it to use soon after the Christmas rush was over.

AND... here we are in June. Almost 6 months later. Where do you think that awesome sewing machine is now? Yep... still in the box. COMPLETELY UNOPENED!

My 6 year old thinks I'm nuts. I probably am. But he cannot comprehend why I have a sewing machine if I never use it, let alone never even learned how. You see, he is begging me to sew him a list of things. Here's his (current!) list:

1. A lego man costume
2. An Angry Birds costume
3. Angry Birds plush toys
4. A ninja costume

See a pattern here? He wants a costume for everything! In his mind, the solution is easy... Mom + sewing machine = presto! New Costumes!! It makes sense, really, IF I KNEW HOW TO SEW!!!

OK, so at the top of my "to-do-real-soon list" is LEARN TO USE MY NEW SEWING MACHINE!

Summer "Treasure Hunts"

Summer is here!  

I love everything about summer:

• the heat (because heat = water play and I LOOOVE playing with water!)
• lazy days (ie. no hectic schedules w/ school, activities, homework, projects, etc.)
• endless time together (see above)
• free summer deals (see my previous posts about free movies and free zoo visits!)

However, despite my best efforts, I still hear those dreaded words "I'm BORED!"  OK, maybe I don't so much love this part of Summer. But I found something I DO love to help bust that B word! This Massive list of Summer Boredom Busting Ideas!!!

She does a weekly series called Works For Me Wednesday where she shares a tip about something she's found that worked for her to make life easier/better/more fun, and invites her readers to link up their own as well. They have been fun and enlightening to read! I'm not sure I can keep up with posting my own each week, but I sure do enjoy reading hers, so I thought I'd share her link. And maybe I'll post a few of my own when time allows ; ) 

Since today's WFMW is about Summer ideas, I figured this list is a universal necessity for parents in the Summer time, so I wanted to do my part to spread the word about it and share an idea of my own:

I like free. I really like free and educational.And I especially like free, educational and creative! This idea I cam across in  a magazine years ago has become one of our favorite boredom busters for the Summer Time. We call it our Summer Treasure Hunt. And its so simple, fun and time consuming!

1. Grab a bucket
2. Go OUTSIDE!
3. Fill said bucket with all sorts of natural treasures (cool leaves, funny shaped sticks, even BUGS of all shapes and sizes)
4. sit on driveway sorting through all the "goodies" you found, picking out out favorites, then put them all back
5. go inside (to cool off!) and write/draw/use play dough to recreate (and recall!) favorite finds

Somewhere (don't remember where) I recently read about a summer idea that expanded on this even further, but since my kids are young (oldest is 6) it doesn't work for us, yet. However, for those with older kids, they would love it: go online together researching those favorite finds to learn more about them. Write these facts on a paper under a photo or drawn picture of the find. Put all these sheets together to create a Summer Nature Journal. What a fun keepsake to have at the end of the summer! Silly as it sounds, I never thought to create a keepsake from this collection of Summer Treasure Hunt Finds. But starting now, I totally will!

Let me know if you have any fun Summer Boredom Busting Ideas! Let's keep this list going and growing!!

FREE Movies are back!!

Every Summer, Movies 278 in Hiram does a Free Family Film Festival!!  HOORAY!!! I love Free Family Fun!  They show the free movies on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. You can see the schedule of movies for this summer here:

(click image to follow link and see other locations as well)

Regal Cinemas used show free movies, too. But this summer they changed it to $1 showings. Bummer. But still, $1 admission is better than $8, so if you don't live near Hiram for the free movies at 278, check out the dollar movies Regal at Town Center in Kennesaw. Or you can check out their other locations as well.  Just go to Regal Cinema's main website.

If you live even further, check with your local theater and see if they have similar programs. I would be surprised if none do. It's a great marketing idea for them as well! Hey... if they don't maybe you could suggest it to them and be the one who brought free family films to your area! Wouldn't THAT ROCK?!


OH! Also, remember, you can review any movie before you go see it at Focus on the Family's PluggedIn Online website. It is incredibly helpful if you like to be picky about what you let your kids watch. We sure do! The great news is that they all usually show a great selection of family friendly movies during the Summer film festival series.




Do you know of other fun, free stuff to do in the Atlanta Area? if so, please share with us all in the comments below! We could all use more free fun!