A List for My Children

Well before I had the opportunity to stay at home with my children, I had a list of things I wanted to do with them when I did get to be at home.

I never wrote that list down.

Increasingly I find myself not doing everything I wanted to do.

This makes me feel like a failure.

I wonder if I've spent too much time behind my laptop. Have I spent too much time cleaning and organizing? Are too many minutes wasted marking things from my busy schedule?

In truth, I will probably spend my entire life feeling as if I haven't lived up to something I could have been or done. My hope is that my children do not feel this way about me.

On this cold January day here in Indiana, I am once again dreaming of this list.


{1} Laugh more often with my children

{2} Look in their eyes when they are speaking to me

{3} Have more patience when a mess is made and a drink is spilled

{4} Sit and read with them more than just for school or a bed time story

{5} Take more walks with them, observing the beautiful world around us

{6} Splash and play with them in their pool this Summer

{7} Take them to the State Park more often

{8} Watch their favorite cartoons/movies with them

{9} Tell them more stories of when I was a young girl

{10} Just sit and watch them be little

{11} Turn off all social media apps and power off the laptop daily. My kids deserve uninterrupted time.





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Guest Post Inquiry...

I enjoy having guest posts on A Bloggy Mom. I prefer them to be from another author... who has a blog. It's great if they link back to their blog when they send you an email pitch asking to guest post on your blog.

Over the course of the past year I have noticed an increased number of guest post pitches come my way... without any information as to who this author is. I usually receive their name, yet there is no other information to go on. These requests go unanswered.

I have done some snooping though. I've found that a lot of these solicitations, are in actuality advertisement posts... with links back to a website.

That is much too underhanded for me.

Tip: When you received a request for someone to guest post on your blog... research the author. If there are links in the post... go to the links.




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Frugal Friday - Cute ways to give

I love hearing stories of how couples, in their early years of marriage, managed to scrimp and save to get something for one another or give to each other.

I heard the most adorable story last Sunday!

The pastor where we have been attending church told the story of his mother and father giving to each other during time of financial hardship.

They would visit a store and browse the greeting card section. Choose cards {I'm not sure how many} and give them to one another. They didn't purchase the cards. They simply gave them to one another right there in the store. Read them... and then placed them back where they belonged.

Such a sweet and cute thing to do together. What a sweet memory to have.

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The last time I laughed so hard that I cried...

The last time I laughed so hard that I cried was yesterday. My Grandmother visits most afternoons after she has finished work. We sit and have coffee, watch the kids play, talk...

Yesterday we began talking about the cute and silly things that children say.  Halfway through the conversation it dawned on me that I had actually saved an email filled with cute and random things my children and their cousins have said over the years.

I pulled the email up on my laptop and we began reading through it.  By the time we reached the end of the email we were both laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes and could hardly speak.  I love those moments and especially love those moments with people so dear to my heart...

Here are a few of the things we were laughing so hard at, though not knowing the children... their ages and personalities, they may not be nearly as funny in your mind.


Payton - "Tomorrow never comes!"

Payton - (watching The Wizard of Oz) "Why are all those chicken nuggets running around"

Savannah and then Payton and Alyssa - "The Awful Tower"/Kings Island's Eiffel Tower 

Savannah - She picked small tornado's and big tornado's with daddy in the garden. (tomatoes)

Payton - "I ate a lot of chicken wings, but I still can't fly"

Alyssa - (Looking at the calendar on the fridege) Grandma, Where is one day?

Savannah - (to her daddy when they were in the car and he was singing) " I just want you to drive"

Payton - "Why when that mocking bird won't sing, does she waste her money on a diamond ring?"

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Seven Lies about Homeschoolers

The lovely Nicole Morgan shared this earlier on Facebook...and I just love it!





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