I saw this quote when I was reading this post over on Real Food University. I had heard the quote in the past, but it touched me a bit differently this time around. I decided to make it into a graphic, because I’m such a visual person.
I need my reminders to be colorful and eye catching!
We love the season of fall here in Texas. After months of sweltering heat, it’s when Texas families can finally be outdoors for more then 20 minutes at a time before rushing to the nearest source of water!
Here are some pics of our fall family fun that we’ve enjoyed in the past few weeks (also, I recently purchased a new camera lens (this one: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens
) and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it! 
Eating Snowcones
Looking at bunnies & pigs
A RARE family portrait
Cool chairs
Playing in a "corn crib"
They sure do love each other!
Feeding animals!
Singing her "I'm a duck" song to the ducks (from her class)
Wheee! At Daddy's company picnic
Fishing in the fountain at Company Picnic
Just being pretty.
Miniature golf!
Much more fun to come! I’m so glad it’s finally getting cooler!
What kinds of fun things do you do in the fall?
Look at that pretty girl!
This is what my daughter looked like when I picked her up from school today.
When I first got to the school, I stood outside the door with the other moms wondering why the teacher’s hadn’t opened the door yet?
By the time they opened the door…there was quite the line. Try as I might, I couldn’t see my little girl at all. Patiently, I waited for the other mom’s to get their little ones so I could have my turn (did you know Mom is a rock star at pick up time? It’s true!).
The first child that left the room this afternoon had a few green marks on his face. I immediately assumed that he must have gotten carried away with a green marker and kept trying to peer into the class to see my Lizzie.
The next child that left had a bit more color on their face, and I started wondering why they weren’t encouraging proper marker use in this classroom?
Then I see my Lizzie. My beautiful, vibrant feminine little Lizzie. She looks like she has a beard!
Turns out, they played with face paint today. The teachers allowed them to put face paint on their faces using mirrors. What an awesome idea! They must have allowed the kids to keep the face paint on to show mom and dad. So of course, I had to snap a picture! Luckily it came off super easily with a baby wipe…but I let her wear it for a bit!
What a great idea for a fun rainy day craft!
If you don’t have face paint (you can probably find face paint super cheap right now at any store that carries Halloween costumes! Or these face paint sticks on Amazon are pretty neat), you could just let them use some of your older make up (provided it’s not waterproof…yeesh, that would be a mess).
Anyway, I just had to share my little bearded lady and a fun little craft (courtesy of Lizzie’s teachers!) with all of you!
Enjoy!
The contents of the bags along with a fun little poem/graphic.
Tomorrow my kiddos start school! Noah is 4, so he will be in preschool. Lizzie is 2, so her’s is more of a Mother’s Day Out.
I am quite nervous for many reasons!
I am excited though. Now that I am a work from home mom, it’s tough to juggle giving the kids the time they need from me on top of household duties and work. Luckily, I can say that I have still stayed on top of my mommy duties throughout it all, but my house is a mess and I’ve neglected some areas of my life that are really important to me (scratch cooking, sewing, honestly pretty much anything domestic!).
Having the children in school 5 days a week for a few hours gives me time to get the things I need to do guilt free and I’m hoping will really increase the quality of my time with my family (not thinking about the laundry that needs to be folded, the fridge that needs to be cleaned out and the article that needs to be written!).
I was a Mother’s Day Out teacher for several years, so I know how crazy those first days can be! I read a cute idea over on Keeping Life Creative recently, and I decided I wanted to do it for my children’s teachers! (I pretty much did her project exactly, I just left out the nuts because I worry about allergies)
The bags!
They are teacher survival kits and they were super easy to make and put together (I had to put together 6!). I hope their teacher’s like them and find them useful!
For full instructions and the print outs, be sure to check out Keeping Life Creative!
It’s tough to resist this face.
I’m not sure if it’s the freckles that lightly dot across his cheeks and nose, or his eyelashes that go on for days? Probably it’s his beautiful hazel eyes that sparkle with joy and innocence. Or perhaps it’s the total and complete unconditional love that radiates from him at all times, whether he’s happy with me or not.
Regardless…I’m a sucker for this kid!
His latest WANT is for a puppy.
The boy is puppy crazy. Every where we turn, he sees a puppy. He wants a dog so badly. In fact, I’m thinking that he’s talking to God about it. Why else was the sermon at church on Sunday about our pastor impulsively buying a dog for his son (among other things)? My son must be talking to God about his puppy love.
However, we’re just not ready for a dog yet. Too much going on in our lives and honestly, I’d rather just have another kid (here’s where my husband decides to stop by the pet store on his way home from work).
I get it though. I had a dog growing up and so did Colin. It’s part of growing up, and we’re definitely not going to deprive our children of all the wonderful-ness that comes along with owning and caring for a pet.
Our kids are still young though. Noah’s only 4. I think teaching a child to care for an animal is a wonderful thing, but I also want Noah to be ready for the responsibility. So while we were in the car last night, Noah yet again asked for a dog.
This was our conversation:
Noah: “Mommy, look at the puppy! Oh Mommy, I so want a puppy. We need to get a puppy!”
Me: “Are you ready to take care of a puppy Noah? Feed the puppy, give the puppy water, take the puppy for walks?”
Noah: “Oh yes Mommy, I will take good care of my puppy.”
Me: “Well, Noah…you refuse to clean your room or help pick up the playroom. If you can’t take care of those things, why do you think you can take care of a dog?”
I stopped abruptly after that sentence, and look at my husband. He looked at me and we both laugh.
You see, we are HORRIBLE housekeepers. Our room looks like a bomb hit it. We can clean our room and a day later…BOOM! I’m not sure what is wrong with us, but the “keep things neat and orderly” gene bypassed both of us.
I joked with my husband and said, “Yeah we can’t be trusted to keep a dog alive, but we’re doing pretty good with these kids!“.
It did get me to thinking though. I often talk the talk, but in some areas…I am horrible at walking the walk. I never thought I’d be a “Do as I say, not as I do” type of parent, but honestly? I am sometimes. And I don’t like it.
What’s my solution though? Should I never teach my children to do things that I haven’t mastered simply so I avoid looking like a hypocrite? Well that doesn’t seem fair to them at all!
I suppose I could try harder at the things that don’t come as naturally to me, so that way they at least could say I tried?
Whether I keep my room clean or not, I do think asking my child to prove that he’s ready for a big responsibility (like a dog) by taking responsibility for something else in his life first is a valid life lesson.
It does raise some interesting questions though. Should we push our children to accomplish things that we ourselves have not? Is it wrong to want better for them, while we slack ourselves? One day when your finances are out of control, will you be able to look at your children and encourage them to do better when you still don’t have things figured out for yourself?
Do I have the answers to these questions? No, I actually don’t.
I do think they are worth asking though.
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
PS: Noah said he was going to keep his room clean and help clean up the playroom from now on. He was very excited to start on his new goals! First thing this morning I asked if he wanted to help me clean his room. What do you think he said?
