The Bucket List.

So, I am about to plagiarize in a big BAD way. Three of my favorite bloggers (and women) Kristen, Denise and Sara posted their summer fun lists.

Not only am I stealing their idea but I am also stealing the quote that Denise used in her post about being proactive.

"if i'm not proactive

i'm reactive

and that can be very unattractive."

(I just copied and pasted that little pearl right off Denise's blog)

(The days of me being worried about the punishment of plagiarism are behind me)

(Thank the LORD)

I admire these mommies so much and think The Bucket List  is something my family desperately needs this summer.  Because here is the truth.  I am struggling.  In a bad way.  The best way to communicate this is in numerical order. 

The heat has fried my paragraph writing skills.

1.  I haven't found "the groove" yet.  Our nights are late, our mornings are late.  The whole time that I am awake, so are the kids.  We haven't settled into a livable routine yet.  This is hard.  I need time alone each day to rejuvenate.  This hasn't been happening and I am feeling defeated upon waking up and it lasts all day.

2.  My house is TRASHED.  I don't function well in a messy space but I don't have the time or energy (see #1) to fix it.  I feel like a hamster on a wheel to nowhere.  I know someone wise will say to ignore the house and focus on the kids because time moves so fast.  blah blah blah.  I know that, but a messy house means a messy unorganized day.  And a messy unorganized day means a very FRAZZLED JANELLE.

3.  The constant fighting is KILLING ME SLOWLY.  My tolerance level for all the fighting is at an all time low.  Everything grates on my nerves right now. 

4.  Along with the fighting is the constant demand on my time.  Someone needs something at all times.  From sun up to sun down (read #1 again).

5.  Littlest one potty training.  (Read #1, and #4)

6.  It's HOT and HUMID and I'm not really an outside kinda girl.  (I added this one late because I have been hot all day.  Hot Janelle = Crabby Janelle.) 

7.  I have one child that thrives on tight structure.  Without it THE WORLD STOPS SPINNING and all *&#$ breaks loose.  High perfectionism and OCD tendencies are not a good combination with a laid back summer.  Transitioning into summer is very hard on this little one.  It affects the whole house, namely me.  With enough time, things eventually fall into place but not without severe gnashing of teeth and loss of privileges a mile long.

(insert pity party here)

Add that all up and you have one frustrated, drained, irritable, tired, emotional mess of a woman.  Not the mommy that my kids deserve.  Not the wife that Skip deserves.  I am not giving them my best. 

I am very unattractive.

After reading Sara's, Denise's and Kristen's blogs I felt very convicted of my attitude and my attention to the here and now.  I won't ever do this perfectly, but I can do better than I have.

We spent the day creating our Bucket List.  I am happy with the ideas my kids presented.  I told them we would try our hardest to do most of these things.  Some of them cost $$ so we will have to see if it fits in the budget.  But now we have a plan.

And I have a proactive attitude.

Here is our cute bucket.

And here is our idea list that they typed, printed and cut into strips. 

White Water

Splash Country

Eat out

Silver Dollar City

Bowling

Mini golf

Camp in

Cars 2

Picnic

Blueberry picking

Hotdogging

Tubing

Neighborhood pool

Rec Plex pool

Grisham’s pool

Lunch with granny

Lunch of choice

Donut date

Craft

Invite a friend

Uncle Mikey's store

Library incentives

Skating

Jump mania

Kids cook dinner

Take Bristow to lake

Play Doh

Horses

Movie Theater

Sprinklers

Redbox

Baseball Game

St. Louis

Lunch with Dad

Nature hike

Take a walk

Paint

Bouncy House

Ride Bikes

Feed ducks

Picnic

Make cookies

Star Gaze

Go Carts

Ma & Pa’s house

Gramma Papa’s house

KAMP!!

B2 School Shopping

Creek

Make Ice Cream

Play at the park

Wiffle Ball game

VBS

Thanks for listening to my heart!  I know that a lot of great mommies out there are feeling the same way.  Mothering is HARD.  Harder than anything I ever imagined.  Let's sharpen and encourage one another to be the mommy that God desires us to be.

Imperfectly yours,

I probably broke a million rules filming this...

Race on over to THE TRACK BLOG to read my testimonial about our date night with the kids. While you are there, use their website to plan you next Branson vacation, including a fabulous trip to any one of The Track locations. Sign up your email address and you can receive Branson/Track insider information all year long. You must come visit our fun town!!

My mission as a mom is complete. I have successfully embarrassed my children with this video.

Score.

I have a feeling, however, that when Langley starts driving I will be the one telling her to put her phone down and she will be the one blowing me off.

Score for her.

In the meantime, we will stick to go-carts!

Disclaimers (for my peace of mind only):
1. I hate hate hate the sound of my voice! Can you say, shrill?
2. Sorry about the crotch shot at the end. Nice.
3.  I bet there are a handful of people that go watch the video again just to see what I'm talking about.  That's just awkward.

I'm takin' this with me if we move.

Well, I am doing what I said I would yesterday.  I have chained myself to the house and I am taking it back. It is going so SLLLOOOOWWWLLLLYYY. I have been in the laundry room most of the day and I wanted to show you my very favorite thing in this house.

I have a friend who is a muralist. When I was pregnant with Langley, I hired her to paint this growth chart in the laundry room.  This ain't your ordinary growth chart. It's a work of art and my absolute favorite thing.

Forgive the terrible pictures.  There seems to be a horrible glare from the dryer and I didn't have much room to work with.  All around the room were huge piles of laundry and junk.  I refuse to show you that. 

Which is funny because I have pretty much bared my soul here on this blog.  But I feel a need to keep the mess in my laundry room a deep dark secret.

Mess in my life open for sharing?  Yes.

Disorganized chaos in the laundry room?  No.

I have to draw the line somewhere, people.

Anyway, back to the growth chart.  Every birthday, and happy-half birthday, my kids get measured.  They look forward to it as much as I do on their special days.  I treasure the way their not-so-tiny bodies (*sigh*) stand against the wall stick straight and how they delight in how much they have grown in six months.

The verse above the growth chart says...

"The child continued to grow and become strong increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him."  Luke 2:40

Rest assured, IF we ever move this wall is coming with me.

 
And if it can't, then we won't ever be able to move.

So there you have it. 

Thursday 13 and The Summer Can

The "Summer Can" made it's appearance last summer as a way to maintain fun and sanity during the long, lazy days of summer. The kids and I decorated an empty paint can with fun scrapbook paper of flip-flops and sunny skies. Then we wrote activities (mostly free ones) on slips of paper to be randomly drawn on a day with nothing else planned. I can't wait to get the Summer Can down from the shelf, dust it off and start having some fun with my kids. The key to The Can's success is to be flexible. I have to remind myself to slow down and play with my little people

For my Thursday 13, I thought I would share 13 fun things from the can. If you have any good ideas for activities that your kids love, post them in the comments. We are always looking for ways to spice things up!

Happy Summer!

1. Nature hike
2. Write a letter to a friend and mail it
3. Feed the ducks
3. Take daddy lunch at work
4. Sprinklers!!
5. Visit Library
6. Build a fort and have a picnic
7. Backyard Olympics
8. Bouncy House in garage
9. Do a puppet show and video
10. Cook a fun snack together
11. Visit the fish hatchery
12. Paint pictures
13. Free choice!!!