Lullabye's for Jesus

Every night I sing to my kids.  Since the twins, Peanut and Melody all have different bedtimes, that means I sing three different times.  Peanut and the twins get rocked and sung to for several minutes before laying down to go to sleep (then they get more singing and rocking if they have trouble going to sleep for any reason).  Melody gets stories, a prayer, songs and a few minutes of snuggles before saying good night. 

Bedtime is one of the hardest most labor intensive times of the day at our house since everyone is still in the phase of needing so much love and care to help them drift off to sleep.  Even as I write this Melody is laying quietly in her bed with the door cracked (so she has some light) while she waits to fall asleep.  She will probably wind up with a few more hugs/kisses and snuggles before the night is over if she can't fall asleep on her own.

Tonight as I sang to each of my kids, I couldn't help but be thankful that every day, three or four or more times a day, I have a reason to sing and praise God for His goodness.  The songs of my childhood- camp songs, hymns and the like- flow out of me and I remember the connection I felt to God when I sang them growing up.   I am glad that my children will hear hymns and traditional songs and associate it with sweet memories of being tucked in bed by their parents, and I'm glad that I have a reason to sing. 

Crazy over Christmas

You can go ahead and hate me... I am one of those people this year.

Halloween is tomorrow and I am already ready for Christmas! (Emotionally ready, not prepared ready, ha!)

Having kids makes the holidays so much fun.  Melody is old enough to begin some real traditions with her and I am excited to incorporate the twins into a few of the traditions we already have.

Also I am actually looking forward to cooking for Thanksgiving.  The beauty of having Thanksgiving at your own house is that you get to be in charge of the menu.  This will come in handy since we have some food sensitivities to work around (Melody- no peanuts, no white flour, Me- no dairy, Criag- no bananas).

BUT crazy as it may seem, I (currently) feel UP to the challenge!  From somewhere deep inside of me the energy and enthusiasm is welling up to make a yummy Thanksgiving dinner and work around all of our food challenges.

If I can wrangle my time well, maybe I can get a few things posted this year about our menu and our holiday traditions- but no promises.  (Just being honest. :) )

Okay... off to be sure Melody's Halloween costume is ready for tomorrow!


In His Grace,
Rachel

Inspire Me! Monday: Getting your children to listen

Getting your children to listen.

Am I the only person who has a child who listens pretty well to others but suddenly has selective hearing when it's time to listen to Mommy or Daddy? 

Really?!   I AM the only one?!

:)

It has been awhile since my last Inspire Me! Monday post, but I found this article online and wanted to put it somewhere that I couldn't lose it and also share it with others.

As a parent, I am constantly learning new things and searching for positive and encouraging ways to fulfill my role as a mommy.  I have read a lot of books lately and found a lot helpful information about how to work things out with my 3 year old as she becomes more and more independent, resourceful and opinionated about her activities and her time.  She is a sensitive, caring, perceptive, structure-loving (and I am not a structured mommy!) beautiful, wonderful girl.  Sometimes we are so different though (and sometimes we are so the same) that I need a little inspiration about how to navigate these young and formative years.

This article by Dr. Sears is one of the most helpful (and short!) articles I have read about speaking to your children and avoiding power struggles while still teaching your child to heed your voice!  I was excited to see there are a few things on the list that I already do (and that work!) and also to see that there were many new ideas that I can try! 

25 Ways to Talk so Children Will Listen

So what do you do to help your child become a better listener? 

Love,
Rachel

PS- Yes I know that it is Sunday, I am just ahead for Monday! :)

Update: Summer List

Remember my idea to create a summer list of all the fun things we should do? I thought I would give you a little update about how it's going. Everything in black is something we have accomplished.

* Try new a new food every Wednesday * Blow Bubbles * Read a book every day * Family Picture Day * Play dates * Shoe lace lids * Dance to music * Watch Ballet * Throw Balls in Baskets * Library * Go swimming * Visit Nana & Papa John * Have Grammy & Papaw come visit * Do a "mommy" activity every week * Eat an ice cream cone *

Melody prefers chocolate ice cream.

We've done a little more than half of the things on our list so far! Some things we have "almost" done. For example, Melody has tried new foods (she loves eggs!), but not necessarily every Wednesday. And we don't yet have many balls to play with to throw in baskets, and we have danced and listened to music, but I'm not sure if we've done it at the same time. We did take a family picture recently, but Dad was not exactly ready for it (he had just come in from a run), so I don't really think it counts. (But it is cute.)

Two things that are really important to me on this list are taking a family picture (or several) and doing something fun for myself each week and bringing Melody along. I know the second thing sounds a little self-centered, but really I think making myself put Melody in a car to take her to do something fun just keeps me from staying at home too much. It's just too easy to stay at home and not go anywhere since it's more inconvenient to go out. So really, I think that is about making me still "try" by looking nice and getting out of the house for something enjoyable. I want to be the type of Mom who has things she likes to do, so that a little girl has a mom she looks up to and knows that her mom has interests too.

Some special times we have had so far this summer are all the visits/visiting we have done with family, our trip to the pool last Friday, our stay-cation, and playing in our inflatable kiddie pool in the backyard. And I have loved having so much Melody and Mommy time. It has been a sweet summer.

What special things have you done this summer with your kids? As a family?