WorryFreeMom

So far, we’ve thought about what our big goals are for our lives in five areas–faith, family, finances, fitness & fun.  And we’ve thought about what things in our lives we can cut out to make sure we have room to work on those goals.  This week, I want you to create some action goals for each of these five areas.

It’s really important, especially for women, to create action goals.  Many women tend to see themselves as failures when we don’t meet a goal.  Feeling like a failure is certainly not conducive to continuing on our path!  So, creating action goals–things we can do each day to take action–rather than on the final destination helps us to move forward.

I’ve already mentioned briefly an action goal for faith–reading your Bible each day.  You can print out my planner pages for a great M-F plan, purchase a read the bible in one year Bible, or even find an online plan that gets sent to your cell phone or e-mail.  That daily Bible reading becomes something on your to-do list, something that you can finish and feel great about.  And if you get a little behind, you know exactly what you need to do to catch up.  The key is consistency!

How about a goal for your family?  It could be simple, like eating together each evening, or spending 30 minutes together.  Think about something that you can take action on TODAY, and make that your action goal for your Family area.

Here are some ideas for finances, fitness, and fun…

Finances:  Call 5 people each day to set up an appointment to share your business with them.  If you stick with this, you’ll be calling 100 people each month!  Imagine what will happen as you start making appointments and following through with sharing your business opportunity!

Fitness:  It is vital that you find a way to integrate fitness into your life.  Whether your goal is to walk 30 minutes each morning or do a quick 10 minute workout video, creating that action goal and sticking to it will make a difference in your life!

Fun:  My fun action goal for this year is to do something creative at least once a week.  Sew a skirt, make a project with the kids, etc.  Allowing myself to be creative helps me to be more focused on the other areas of my life.

Have a great week!

Karen

 

A few months ago on the way home from a company event, I was thinking about what it means to be a soccer mom.  The image of the mom in workout clothes with the mini-van full of kids comes to mind.  She’s the super-mom–the one who works full time, is in great shape, runs the PTA, participates in every school event, runs kids all over the place, etc. Somehow this image, which actually started out as a pejorative term, has become the goal of many moms.

Unfortunately, when we focus on all the extra activities and accomplishments and outward appearances, we miss out on what is most important–the hearts of our kids.  With all the extra things we cram into our lives–and our kids’ lives–so they can be the best and have the best, it’s no wonder that kids today are feeling so disjointed.

As moms, it’s our job to bring our family together.  And sometimes that means making tough decisions and saying no to some activities.  Just like any other mom, I want my kids to have the opportunities I didn’t.  I want them to be able to do the things they love and excel in them.  HOWEVER, I also know that they don’t NEED to be in 20 different activities to be happy.  What they need is time with their family.

It’s really important to choose carefully the things your kids are involved in, not only for their sakes, but for the sake of the family as a whole.  It doesn’t do any of us any good to be running around here and there and everywhere.

In our family, each of the kids gets to pick one thing every year to do outside the home.  And we try to make it so that only one of the three kids is in an activity at a time.  (or they share an activity)  This year, for example, Tristan played football in the fall.  Over the next 6 weeks or so, Megan is in a play.  And we’ll be signing Josyan up for a spring sport here in a few weeks.  Next year, the boys will play football together on the same team, etc.

The key is to allow kids to choose something they love, but also teach them that they don’t have to do everything.  You’ll all benefit from the rest from frantic activity and the time to spend with each other.

Karen

PS  This looks like an interesting resource on this topic:  http://www.hyper-parenting.com/

So many moms I talk to feel torn between their work and their family. They might work full time and feel that they spend every spare minute in the evening cooking and cleaning, rather than spending time with their kids. Or they might have a business from home and feel torn between building their business and spending time with their kids. One minute, they feel guilty for spending too much time on work, the next they feel guilty for spending too much time with their kids and not getting work done. Still other moms stay at home with their kids, but are constantly cleaning or doing other projects and STILL feel like they don't have enough time with their kids. Read the rest of this entry »

We are really enjoying our little countdown to Christmas!  The past few days, we’ve been enjoying being crafty together–making and wrapping gifts.

Here are some of the things we’ve made…

Fleece Hat, scarf, & mittens.  The kids helped me sew & cut the fringe.  Find info HERE.  The scarves aren’t pictured, but are super easy–just sew three scarf-sized pieces of fleece together straight down the middle length-wise, then cut fringe on both sides and fluff.  Directions & pictures HERE.

Crazy ornaments.  I made some baby bibs a few weeks ago, and the piece that is left from the neck hole looks like an ornament.  Josyan has been begging for weeks to let him sew an ornament.  These are the results…

We just sewed them together…

stuffed them…

& added a ribbon and a button.

Kind of silly, but cute.  :)

Then we made some headbands…out of old T-shirts!  For detailed instructions, click HERE.  First, you cut off 2 inch strips from old t-shirts.  Sew 5 strips together, then pull down on each strip until it rolls up on itself.  Separate like this:

Braid the strands, always starting with the outside strand–first the left, then the right and back and forth.  Sew the ends together, add some pretties and you get:

It’s been fun finding projects that the kids can help with or do on their own.  I’m a recovering perfectionist, so letting them do their own thing without helping can be hard for me, but it’s so worth it!

 

DAY 8:  Make a Christmas Ornament

On day 8, the kids painted a ceramic Christmas ornament.

It was fun to see how they all decorated theirs differently.  Megan painted a peace sign on her snowflake, Tristan made his bell look exactly like the one on the picture, except he painted a crack in it like the Liberty Bell, and Josyan painted his green tree blue and then green again before adding ornaments.

Later that afternoon, we all went down to the fire station with our neighbor Julie for a tour of the old New Braunfels fire station, only the 4th station in the state of Texas.  It was so cool to see the old engines and learn some of the history of firefighting.  The kids even got to sit on one of the old ladder trucks, but Megan was the only one who would try on the old hat.

DAY 9:  Thank you note to Jesus.

For Day 9, the kids made a picture of all the things they are thankful for (in lieu of a letter).  First, we talked some about the difference between Santa and Jesus–Jesus gave Himself for us, Santa gives gifts.  Jesus offers the gift of eternal life to all, but Santa’s gifts are conditional–only the good children get gifts.  We talked about how Christmas is about giving, not getting, and that we should be thankful for what we have.  I love hearing the kids talk about what they are thankful for.

The weather is really chilly for Texas this year, so, for day 7, we took a stroll down memory lane and I taught my kiddos how to make a popcorn/cranberry chain!  This was one of my favorite things to do when I was little.  Not only is this fun (though a little messy!), but it also gives the birds & squirrels a little treat.  :)

I popped up two bowls of popcorn–one to string & one to eat, and brought out a small bag of frozen cranberries from the freezer.  After setting the kids up with towels to work on, a nice blunt needle with a big eye, and some pretty yarn, they went to town.

They were happy for two hours watching a Christmas movie and stringing their popcorn & cranberries.

                          

They created some really long chains–I couldn’t believe the little bag of cranberries lasted that long!

They hung the chains up on the one bush that didn’t have Christmas lights on it.  :)