Keeping Memories

My mom has the amazing ability to keep stuff. Not like a hoarder or anything but she has kept a lot of our toys and books from childhood.  When ever we go to my parents the girls love to play with my old toys and find the books that say my name in them and either Teagan will try to read it or they will want Grandma to read it to them.

It's really a lot of fun for me and it takes me back down memory lane. I enjoy seeing the girls find excitement and joy playing with toys I once found that same excitement and joy in.

My mom has each box nicely organized and placed in the attic.  They aren't dirty and they also aren't just stacked clutter all over the house. Oh and it's not like she kept every toy....or at least I don't think she did ;) But she kept the one's we loved the one's I remember and I can't think of any toy that she didn't keep because I must not of felt any attachment to them.

Now here I sit as a mom of 3 girls overwhelmed with the amounts of totes we have! Personally I would love to just get rid of all of it. If we haven't opened it in the last year why keep it??!! The only reason I have kept stuff so far is in case we have another baby some day. But even then I have no desire to dig through them to find my favorites or to get stuff out if we do ever have another one. Honestly it would just be easier to go to the store and buy new.

But that's the country we live in we are a throw away country.  We want the next new thing and we don't want the old. We are never satisfied with what we have. If it's broke we won't fix it and if it's not broke we try to fix it (doesn't make sense does it??) And ok I just went off on a tangent there that's not really what this post is about :) lol

So back to keeping memories.  I have brought down all the totes that were stored upstairs that are completely covered in construction dust and we're digging through them today. The girls are going down memory lane (that whole 5 years ;) and remembering playing with certain toys and who gave it to them and what they love about it. Oh and why we SHOULD or HAVE to keep it.

So the question is how do you decide? 

While I really want to just give it all away a keep none of it, I also want my grandkids to have that joy and excitement of playing with their Mommy's toys....just like my girls do here...............

Family Church

So Brandon and I had this genius idea about a month ago (well actually it was just me but Brandon has helped implement the idea :) So I thought I would share it with everyone.

We moved to Parkersburg almost 4 years ago and we started attending our church at that time too. Our church encourages children to stay in the service and worship as a family. The concept really makes sense to me and I get it but I got to be honest up until a month ago I hated it!! Sometimes there would be a nursery during 2nd service but not always and Teagan and Harper are now both older then 3 so technically they aren't supposed to be in the nursery anyways so we just decided they would stay in the service with us.

For the last 4 years we have been trying all kinds of things.  Snacks, suckers, gum, books, toys, the church "quiet" bag, etc.  They all have left me wanting to scream by the end of church. I felt like the whole service was spent trying to keep my kids quiet and I leave unfilled and have got nothing out of being in the service other then stress and wondering why my kids don't behave or listen. Envious of the parents whose children just quietly sit there perfectly and just plain annoyed.

That was all until my genius idea I had a month ago and I am a little bit afraid to share it with you as it might jinx me. This is what has worked for is the last 4 Sunday's.....

This is what we have finally found works!!!

We give them............

NOTHING

Yep that's right nothing (Genius right??!)

I wish I would have thought of this brilliant idea 4 years ago! The last 4 Sunday's I have left church feeling peace,  and calm and not stressed out. I have been proud of all 3 of my daughters quietly sitting in church not distracted by which crayon they want or which toy fell under the pew, or why does she have more of a snack then I do?

I have actually been able to listen to the sermons!  Amazing huh?!

Now as I think back all this is kind of my fault. All those stressful Sunday's of thinking my children needed some sort of activity to keep them busy and occupied. I am the one who thought they needed all of those things. When in reality they don't need anything!  Sometimes more stuff actually just becomes a distraction. I think we can learn a lot from this. We need to simplify other areas of our lives too.
One blog that has really inspired me to simplify our lives is:
www.livingwellspendingless.com and she writes a blog entry on why she took her kids toys away. She is a much better writer then me!

Disclaimer: this idea might not work for everyone and my children are by no means perfect in church now. They are still kids we have still had to step out to the bathroom a time or two (which everyone knows can never be good ;)
But we are learning as a family what works for us and this has decreased stress and distractions for us!

On to Week 2 of 7 foods

Well we made it through the first week without any major problems. We didn't get any breaks, we didn't mess up and accidentally eat something that we weren't suppose to, and we didn't kill anyone (always a plus for any week really :).


Now on to week 2! It's actually become a lot easier, it almost seems "normal" whatever that is. I don't even think much about it, I know theses are the 7 foods I have so that's that. We are counting down the days though until Harper's birthday. With the approval of the Council (our advising and accountability team) we are taking Harper's birthday off and enjoying the day celebrating Harper. Harper's birthday is March 20th, that day we plan to attend Timothy Christian School's annual steak supper, and then home to have Scratch Cupcakes!!
 Side note: If you've never had a Scratch cupcake you are missing out and the next time your in the Cedar Falls area stop by Scratch on main street CF and get yourself a cupcake!!
So One more week until we get to enjoy some really good food and oh most importantly Harper's 3rd Birthday....wow time flies!!

Speaking of Harper's birthday I have had a really difficult time deciding what to get her. It's really hard when you have 3 girls, I feel like we already have everything. There is nothing she really needs and she doesn't really ask for anything yet (I better enjoy this now). When I asked Harper what she wants for her birthday she says a baby and crayons....ok I can probably handle that.

I've continued to read past the chapter of foods in the 7 book and right now I'm feeling overtaken by my house and all the stuff we have!! I've been organizing and pitching and putting stuff in a pile to either give away or sell. I think we might be moving possessions up to month 2 instead of 3 because seriously I already have my 210 items I could give away for the month!! This could be fun....I'm so not sentimental.....Brandon on the other hand, may have a difficult time this month because I already have an eye on his clothes.....seriously he's got more then me!

Sensory Bins

As an ER nurse when I think of sensory bins I instantly get scared and think potential foreign body in nose or choking hazard!! I never really used these ideas until last year when we filled our sand table with corn kernels for the winter.....And sure enough we ended up with Teagan having a corn kernel stuck in her nose. Luckily we were able to get it out at home with a little trick I learned from an ER doctor. 

However, Today I did decided to pull out another sensory bin idea and this time I used Lima Beans, pinato beans, and kidney beans. The girls really seemed to enjoy this activity! 

Of course sensory items never really stay in the sensory bin.........

 And Harper would be the one to try to climb into the small bin...........

 But Blakely had a lot of fun going through the beans and feeling all the different textures.......

Teagan is a little on the older side I think for sensory bins and wasn't all that interested in playing in the bin like the younger two so she worked on categorizing, counting, and making patterns out of the beans.....

This is her don't take a picture face :) 

And then to top the day off we played in a big box!!! 

Sometimes its the simple things that make It a Sweet Life in a Sowers Home :)

Indoor Fun

Brandon and I have been talking lately about whether or not to home school our girls. One of our biggest concerns is the governments role in the education system right now, however we are blessed to live in a very good school district so we have not made any decisions. Also we still have 1-2 years before we have to decide. We do know that Teagan will not attend preschool. So I have been working on a "curriculum" or more like fun activities to get the girls interested in learning and learning at home. The internet has made this so much easier and I can't imagine if I would have tried to do it 20 years ago. My biggest addiction.....Pinterest!!! 

Here is one of the fun activities we have been doing this week........

SHAVING CREAM PAINT!!!

Even Blakely got involved tonight and obviously LOVED it

So nicely playing and painting together :)......

And then This..........

Yep that's my Harper.....One of a Kind!! :)

I know you may be wondering about the clean up and the mess......

Even the cleaning is fun :)

And it wasn't long Harper cheered right up....I just love those CURLS and SMILE!! 

As you can see it's a Sweet Life in Sowers Home!!