Many years ago (we won’t say exactly how many) when I was a young girl and the oldest of four children, my mom came up with a better way to organize our chores. She called it the Choreganizer (catchy name, huh?!). I have vivid memories of coloring in the little cards after mom had drawn the pictures and it wasn’t just cute it actually worked!

Well the Choreganizer went on to be published and has been helping keep homes clean ever since. And now I have the joy of using it with my own kids – how cool is that!

I can say both as a kid who used it and as a mom, that it’s extremely user friendly and makes chores just a little more fun! You just pop out the little chore chart, write your child’s name at the top, choose which chore cards you want to assign your child, place them on the chart and when they complete the chore they get to pop the card off and place it in the pocket at the bottom of the chart. At the end of the day or week (you decide) you give them Mom Money or Dad Dollars that can be used toward purchasing a toy or book out of the Chore Store (which you stock with toys you know will interest them)!

Spencer gets a thrill out of having big boy chores to do. Right now we just do very simple things like picking up his toys in the evening, helping to set the table and brushing his teeth. He is earnestly saving his Mom Mommy for a new Thomas the Train engine!

For more information on the Choreganizer or to purchase one for your own home, click here.

It’s been over 6 months since we brought Emma home and it’s shocking to look back and see how much she’s grown in such a short time. I was looking back through pictures of meeting her for the first time and just had to post a few of…

Then:

Now:

If you look really close you can spot the feisty little sparkle in her eye. Emma’s personality has come out in full force – she is sweet and full of giggles and yet very independent and full of curiosity. She can hold her own with big brother and I often hear her tell him “Nooo!” If I’m not extra careful or when she thinks I’m not looking she finds the toilet a really fun place to play. She also enjoys climbing up on the couch so she can jump up and down. I believe she considers our furniture her personal bounce house! And she went from barely sitting up when we met her to running at break neck speed. I have many new gray hairs to say the least!

She is my precious little girl and it’s a joy to be her mommy

This summer we decided that it would be a good idea to start Spencer on swim lessons. He is fearless of the water and because of water wings, he thinks that he already knows how to swim. He is still too young to actually “swim” but at least he can now paddle/kick to the side or float on his back. It gives mommy some peace of mind!

As a bonus he got to take the class with his cousin and best buddy, Julia!

His teacher was very patient, yet firm and did a great job. Spence thought he was a pretty cool guy!

My mother-in-law recently twittered a link to this article and I found it to be very thought provoking. Multi-tasking in this day and age is seen as very good thing, a great skill to be learned and honed. At least that’s how I’ve always looked at it so I appreciated this alternative point of view.

Sure, I was getting a lot done as a mother of four. But I was having a hard time obeying God.

by Jennifer Grant

My husband and I had been married for eight years when I gave birth to our first child. Two years later, his brother was born. Eighteen months later, their sister. And less than two years after that, we started the adoption process and soon brought home a daughter.

“You’re busy,” people would remark, eyeing me with my children. I never knew whether the comment was tinged with pity or admiration.

Yes, I was busy. But, more significantly, I was evolving into a different person. No longer the dreamy, walk-taking, tea-drinking, poem-writing person who baked her own bread, I had become a woman barreling down the aisles at the grocery store, baby in sling, toddlers fastened into cart. After years of toting children on my hip, my forearms had begun to resemble Popeye the Sailor’s.

And I wasn’t just busy with the kids. Like many “at-home” mothers, I had part-time work and volunteer responsibilities at church and my children’s schools. Meanwhile, I was making Herculean efforts to stay close to my husband and friends. I found myself setting up interviews for a newspaper story, ordering curriculum, and making reminder calls from my cell phone in the grocery store — while, of course, keeping the kids in sight, buying food for the week, and stopping to compare the prices of varieties of pears.

In short, I learned to multitask.

To read the full article click here.

Wow – I can’t believe it’s really been a month since my last post! This summer has certainly flown by…I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how quickly time passes and how I am choosing to use that time. The Lord has been impressing upon me how important it is to slow down.

In Luke 10:38-42 it says:

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

Martha is a wonderful, hospitable women but she takes it too far and allows herself to become distracted and frustrated that she is doing all the work. In some ways I want to learn to be like Martha – she is quick to open her home,  and someone who cares about the needs of others. But I also want to be like Mary and learn to be quiet at times, sitting at the feet of my Lord. I want to choose the better thing.

So how do you do this when you are the mother of two busy little people? I’m still very much in the learning phase and some days are better then others but here are a few things I’ve tried…

• Pray, pray and pray again – Asking the Lord for strength to change and a heart that desires Him first and foremost.
• Try to reduce outside distraction and noise.
• Turned off email from beeping through to my phone unless I open it (an Iphone is a great tool but it can also be a huge distraction!) I now check my email in the evening instead of constantly through out the day.
• Turning of the radio while driving. I sing songs with the kids or recite ABC’s with Spencer. Or if by chance the kids are sleeping or quiet, I pray.
• Instead of doing chores during nap time I try to sit down with a cup of tea and my bible.
• Reduce my expectation of how much I can accomplish. I tend to feel lazy if I don’t have my entire task list checked off for the day or a project tackled. I’m beginning to realize that this is just my pride and a desire to feel good about myself.
• Lower my standards of how clean my house needs to be. This one is very difficult for me – I have a hard time functioning unless all my chores are complete.
• I’m realizing that the dishes will always be there and I can do them tomorrow but it’s not “lazy” to play with my kids or take time to visit with my neighbor – in fact it’s those things that have eternal value.

I have a plaque in my kitchen that says “Make time for quiet moments as God whispers and the world is loud.”

How do you make time for quiet moments? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Life around here has been a bit hectic lately. I was gone four weekends in a row (all fun things but gone none the less), we are in the middle of remodeling a downstairs room into a new office/library/guest room (please come visit us!), and over the next two weeks I am prepping to bake two separate wedding cakes and put on two Tastefully Simple parties.

But somehow during the craziness I managed to chisel out a little bit of time to sew Emma this little summer dress. I found this pattern on sale for a $1 and had fun sewing something frilly and pink for my little princess.Isn’t she adorable…

I could hardly get her to stand still while I took this picture. She is little girl on the move!

In honor of our country’s 234th birthday we celebrated in true American style…

We put on our red, white and blue clothes

Sunbathed, fished, swam, and generally enjoyed the beauty of Trinity Lake

Barbequed hotdogs and hamburgers and ate juicy, red slices of watermelon

We are so thankful for the freedom we enjoy and the men and women who fight to protect it!

For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail? ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Freedom is never free. ~Author Unknown

In honor of the official first day of Summer, June 21st, we decide to invite a few friends over and celebrate! We kept it very casual and laid back by asking every one to bring their own sack lunch and we provided the ice cream cones.

Spencer helped Mommy inflate and fill up the kiddie pool.

After that we brought out the bubbles, water balloons, and squirt guns and we were set!

Emma was a little fish – she LOVED the water!

Time for ice cream…

The kids had such a fun time I’m planning on turning this into an annual tradition! I think it will be a fun way to create memories and special for them to look back on when they’re older.

What are your favorite Summer memories? When I think of summer as a kid I remember…

• Ice cream cones from Thrifty’s
• Swimming in our pool (we lived in our bathing suits!)
• Eating Otter-Pops
• Reading book after book while sitting out on the back porch
• Going camping with my family
• Working in the garden
• Barbequing
• More ice cream (did I mention that I LOVE ice cream!)
• Playing on the Slip and Slide at our friends
• Sunflower Seeds
• Helping mom set up a yard sale
• Blackberry picking and making jam

A few months back I did a post about how you can enjoy yummy Ethiopian coffee and help families bring home their waiting children. Now you have the opportunity to look really cool in one of these adoption tees or ball caps while helping the Dixon family raise the money they need to bring home their children from Ethiopia!

The Lord may not call all of us to adopt a child into our home but He does call all of us to support the cause of orphans. Let’s take advantage of opportunities like this one. Even if you can’t support the Dixon family financially, drop them a note or leave a comment on their blog – the adoption journey is so much easier when you are surrounded and encouraged by others along the way!

They have a wonderful selection of 5 different t-shirts and 3 baseball caps in a variety of fun colors.

>> Order Now!

Yesterday I had the joy of taking my two little ones on a day trip to the Bay Area Discovery Museum located right at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge in Sausalito, California. The location alone is worth the visit, the views are amazing!

Thankfully it was a clear day because the museum was laid out a bit different then I expected. It’s spread out into about five different buildings, each with a different theme. Tot Spot (for really little ones), Wave Workshop, Treasure Cove, Art Studios etc.

Spencer ran around like a wild man and absolutely LOVED it! There wasn’t quite as much for Emma to do but she still had fun.

Emma’s favorite part – sneaking bites of sand and bark when mom wasn’t looking…

Spencer creating and enjoying splashing paint everywhere!

We look forward to going back but next time we hope to get a group of cousins and friends to come along with us! By the way the first Wednesday of the month is free so if you live in the area I would recommend checking it out!