Moments They'll Remember

This post was supposed to be ready for yesterday.... however, the time change finally got the best of me and I fell asleep early - very early. So early in fact, that I was up well before the alarm even thought to go off this morning, so enjoy yesterday's post & hopefully - despite the gorgeous weather and beautiful sunshine - I'll get my post for today up too!

Yes - I'm one of those overly sappy mothers that get a little too emotional when I realize how quickly my kids are growing up. I let them climb in my bed when they have nightmares, I pick them up and carry them up the stairs at night, I let them climb up on my lap when we read a story, because I know that this time is limited - that soon they will be grown and I won't be able to carry them anymore.

Not to say that I wouldn't have been a sappy mother regardless, but it probably doesn't help that my father died very suddenly in a work accident when I was a senior in high school - or the fact that a year ago this month, my little brother was killed in an accident while working on a dump truck. Both very sudden - both without saying good-bye - both leaving me clinging to all those precious family memories from when I was a kid.

Sure I can recall lots of different memories from growing up, but some of my favorite memories come from simple, precious moments, spent as a family. Fortunately for me - there are many - and I hold them very dear to my heart.

One Saturday several weeks ago, I woke up and decided out of nowhere that I was going to cook a big breakfast for the family. It was a few weeks after Brayden was born, and I was finally starting to feel like a normal person again. (For those of you who don't know, I had some really bad hip issues following Brayden's birth and had some problems walking, moving, etc. for a little over a month) We aren't big breakfast people - mainly because Matt hates breakfast food. How is that possible you ask? I don't know! - but we had all slept in that day, it was past time for breakfast, but not time for lunch and we had lots of errands to run - so I thought maybe a big breakfast sounded good.

So anyway, I got up, dusted off the griddle and got busy mixing pancake batter, cooking sausage and scrambling eggs. The kids loved it - and I think Matt even enjoyed it too.

Then the next week I decided to do it again and before I knew it, I was cooking a big breakfast every Saturday morning. What started off as a virtuous mission one Saturday morning, had quickly turned into one of my families favorite times of the week.

When we do our meal planning for the next week, my kids love deciding what will be on our Saturday morning breakfast menu - blueberry pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes, french toast and the list goes on and on. There is nothing better then family time on a lazy Saturday morning and I love that over the past several weeks, my kids have come to look forward to our Saturday morning "tradition."

Our Saturday morning "tradition" may seem a little silly to some, but I love that it's something special for our family and that it brings us a little closer. In the busy hustle and bustle of our lives, it's so nice to have a time to enjoy each other that isn't rushed... and I hope that several years down the road, when my kids are all grown - and maybe have kids of their own - that our silly little tradition might bring back warm moments they'll remember and cherish.

How do you and your family find ways to spend time with one another? Feel free to share in the comments section... Don't have a family "tradition" of your own - it's not too late to start one today.

Family Goals

I don't know about you, but I am a very goal oriented individual. I am constantly setting goals for myself, small or large, it doesn't really matter... but I always have at least one goal I'm currently working on. Maybe it's a goal to read my Bible in a year, to wash 5 loads of laundry in a single day, to lose that extra few pounds or to save up for that dream camera I would love to have. We expect that by reaching these goals, we will somehow have improved our quality of living in one way or another. Which is true - reading my Bible in a year will definitely help out my spiritual life... washing 5 loads of laundry will mean everyone in my house will have clean clothes the next day... losing a few pounds will improve my health and that dream camera would improve the quality of the many pictures I take. (and boy do I ever take a lot of pictures!)

Meet my happy family of 5! (Taken the day after having my third child.) And while Brayden is still a little young to be included in brainstorming goal ideas for our family, Kirsten & David have gotten to an age where they like to voice their opinions and Matt and I needed a way to listen. Hence the need for family goals.

Family goals can be a great way to build a stronger family but like any goal, there are a few things you want to keep in mind when creating family goals.

• Include Everyone - As you brainstorm goals, make sure that everyone's voice is heard and accepted. Get all the ideas out (and on paper too) and then let a day or two pass before choosing how to prioritize them. That way you give everyone's ideas a chance to sink in and really be heard.



• Set a TIME LIMIT to reach your goal: Without a time limit, you may find yourself saying you'll work on it tomorrow or the next day and before you know it, your family goals will be like most people's New Years Resolutions - non-existent. (Ok, so maybe I'm speaking for myself here, hehe.)



• Create goals that are ATTAINABLE: No one wants to strive towards something they no that they will never reach, so make sure that the goals you set can be reached within your time limit - especially when you are first starting out!



• Make sure your goals are MEASURABLE: It can be discouraging when you don't see change - so make sure that regardless of the goal, every so often you can stop and see that you have made progress. Saving money to go on vacation is great and you'll know how much you have collected, but if you don't have some idea of how much you want to save for the trip, you won't really know how close you are to achieving your goal.

Last year our family went on our first family vacation! We had the best time taking our kids to Disney World and spending the week relaxing and enjoying each other. Our kids loved the trip and as soon as we got home they were ready to do it again. So we decided to start saving for it. Now each week when we clean the house or when the kids find spare change in the car or in the laundry, they put it in our special jug. Every so often we dump out the jug and count to see where we are at. And while that jug isn't big enough to get us to Disney again, we are working our way to another vacation that we can all enjoy. The best part is that our kids (Kirsten is 6 and David is 4) actually really enjoy saving for this trip. I love it when David finds a dime... "Mommy, is this enough to buy a toy?" "No David, you'll need lots of dimes to get a toy." "That's ok mommy. I don't want a toy. Let's give to vacation." (I swear this is really what our conversations are like when he finds money!) And not only do we have a good time trying to reach our goals together as a family but the reward means spending more time as a family too!

Our 4th of July @ Cinderella's Castle

I would love to hear about the family goals that you and your family come up with or what you have learned once you achieve your goals - or if you already have family goals that you are working on, I would love to hear about them too!