Sunday, November 06, 2011

Sunday morning blues

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only mother who struggles with Sunday mornings.  Since Jadon was just a few weeks old Sunday mornings have been an exhausting, often painful day.  Trying to get everyone dressed and ready for church, keep them clean and happy and out the door on time has been a challenge for me.  Arriving home from church with hungry, tired kids at or after their usual lunchtime, scrambling to get them something to eat before we all fall into our beds, ready for the rest we desperately need after a hectic morning.  So, in all of the crazyness, where does the "Day of Rest" come into play?  


One thing I often hear is "This too shall pass".  When you're in the midst of week after week, month after month of miserable Sunday mornings it's hard to believe that.  I've been noticing lately that Sunday mornings aren't so bad at our house. I started taking note.  We would get up with the boys, have some play time.  Jon has been cooking breakfast with them.  A few weeks ago he and Jadon made crepes.  One week Brendan helped make waffles.  I'm thankful that I can see improvements in our Sunday morning family time.  I've even tried to look at my motives and ask why I do the things I do on Sunday.  Is it worth arguing over what clothes are church clothes versus play clothes?  Should I insist my boys wear dress shirts and pants when we are going to a church that has dirt floors and it's pouring rain? Or, is it more important that everyone walks out the door with a happy heart, looking forward to worship time with friends.


Hoping you all have a happy, worshipful, restful Sunday with your family!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs

Happy Birthday, Brendan!  

Brendan's favorite movie right now is "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs". His Uncle and Aunt sent the movie and it came with a cute umbrella.  As I was checking out some fun blogs the other day I came across one that had this awesome idea for spaghetti and meatball cupcakes!  PERFECT!  We turned his birthday party into a party all about food!  





ACTIVITIES:
  • Edible playdough, made with peanut butter and honey
  • Noodle throwing, overcooked spaghetti noodles until they were sticky and threw them at a target painted on a plain colored plastic tablecloth
  • Jello- a must have for this party!  We used local gelatin which is much firmer and doesn't melt in the heat!  I made 6 or 8 packages and then cut them up into large cubes.  Put it in large containers and the kids had to reach in and dig for marbles.  This might have been the best activity.  The jello was cold and refreshing for the kids to play in.  By the end of the party they were "swimming" in it!
  • Last, but not least, water balloons, just to send everyone home clean!








Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Top Ten ways to get out of a Funk!

A friend over at Day by Daye posted how she and her kids overcome cabin fever in winter. We don't get the winter blues here in Indo, but some days are so challenging we have to be creative in planning our daily fun! Here our our top ten ways to get out of a funk!

1. Hiking/Beach: We live at the base of a mountain that has a waterfall.  We love hiking up to the lower falls and swimming in the pool.  The water is ice cold and so refreshing on a hot day.  Our boys are finally old enough to do the hike with very little help from us. The beach is another favorite of our family.  We don't go often because it's a lot of work but it's so relaxing when we do. 

 
Pickle Falls

beach in Bali
2. Music- Sometimes my squirmy boys just have too much energy.  One of our favorite ways to release this energy is this song. We crank it up and press the repeat button.  It's a favorite of our neighbor kids too! Wiggy-Wiggles-Freeze-Dance



3.  Popsicles: Some days the heat is just more than we can handle!  We try and keep our freezer stocked with store bought or homemade popsicles.  It's amazing how refreshing it can be on a hot stressful day.  When our kids are disagreeing or struggling to get along, a popsicle can help improve attitudes instantly!
Family photo time, everyone say "popsicle"
4. Game Night:  Our kids love playing games.  Preferably "big kid" or "mommy and daddy" games.  Sometimes, we just open the game cabinet, grab a pile and sit around the table playing. Most of the games are too old and difficult for the boys to understand, but they are content to play with the pieces.  Some of their favorites are Blokus Mancala, and Traffic Jam by Rush Hour.


5. Creative activities.  I am not creative on my own, but I love creativity and creative activities.  My two favorite resources to get the creative juices flowing:  Five Minute Miracles and 365 Unplugged Family Fun Activities  Today's activity from the Miracle book, shining pennies.  We don't have a lot of pennies here in Indo, just what was in my wallet when we left the states last year, but the boys are having great fun trying to make their pennies as shiny as mine!
 

6. Parks, parks and no parks?  We don't really have parks here in Indo. It's a challenge, because my little boys love parks.  We do take them up to the international school to play at the playground.  MAF also has a little play place on their compound here.  We've discovered a few overlooks here that we also enjoy.  Some overlook beautiful Lake Sentani and others overlook the ocean.  Most of these places are not well cared for and have plenty of trash and overgrown grass but we love the views!

7. mini vacations: This is a new thing for our family.  Our first mini vacation of the year was in February, right before Jon went on a 10 day ministry trip to India.  We stayed in our town, just at a guesthouse, 10 minutes from home.  The change of scenery was all we needed.  It got us away from our house and"to do lists" and gave us a breath of fresh air for just 2 nights.  We came home refreshed and ready for a new week!


8. Up until recently we didn't have camping gear on this side of the world.  Plus, who really wants to go camping outside in a tent when it's 80-90 degrees and muggy all the time!  Or what about the fact that one little mosquito bite may mean contracting a tropical disease like malaria or dengue fever! So, we came up with "camping" in mommy and daddy's bedroom.  The kids love it.  We make little pallettes on the floor for them and they bring in all of their special stuffed animals to sleep in the air conditioned room.  It's a special treat for them to sleep in a cool room with ac so we save it for times when the kids are sick or have had a rough week.

9. I don't do tons of baking, but when I do, I really enjoy it! My latest favorite is bagels.  We can't get them in stores here and I found a tasty recipe in my breadmaker cookbook.  I love that the machine does half the work for me and I just have to form and bake!  I think I need to make bagels a bit more often though.  I was doing a project with the kids one day, making napkin rings.  Jon came home and saw them sitting on the counter and got excited that I was making bagels or donuts.  Sorry, honey!  Here are the pictures from the project!
unpainted, ready to bake

painted napkin rings

the boys had a blast painting these
 10. Have you ever told your kids "don't Play With Your Food !"  We don't!  Early on I learned that kids will eat anything if it is presented in the right way!  My kids love the cool things that we come up with to make lunch more fun!  Again, I am not at all creative on my own.  I just do a search online to get some good ideas.  One of the easiest ways to be creative is with peanut butter and jelly.  I spread the peanut butter on one piece of bread and use a squeeze bottle with jam to draw silly faces on the bread.  My kids think it's great and usually ask for another one with a different face!  Great way to get kids to eat on a picky day!
  
Pig sandwhich, got the idea from a library book.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Christmas in March

Yes, it's true.  Our family had a mini christmas celebration yesterday. I'm sure it's not that uncommon for people living overseas.  My in laws arrived this week, Mother, Father and brother in law.  They will be in our town wrapping up their life and ministry after 36 years of working here.  They hand carried Christmas presents for our family from their youngest son and daughter in law.  The boys enjoyed opening gifts that were wrapped in hand decorated paper with snowmen and Christmas trees.  Watching them made me so thankful for our families and the effort they go through to make our lives here easier and more enjoyable!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Tropical Rain

One of my favorite parts of living overseas is the tropical rain.  It rained all night last night and we woke up to the sounds of a gentle rain on our tin roof.  The rain means cooler weather until the sun comes out!  It means the fires that people have started to burn their trash or grass clippings will be put out! The down side is that it put a hiccup in my morning plans.  I was going to drop the boys at a friends house while I went shopping at the local outdoor market, but... I don't go to the market on rainy days.  Last time I made the attempt the my flip flops and the mud at the market was not a good combination!  I was also planning to pick up fruit and veggies for my mother in law and brother in law, who arrive tomorrow morning.