On Keeping it Real and Simple

I love pinterest, I love the Internet, I love blogs and I love kids toys.  Sometimes I think though, that we make things complicated and its easy to feel overwhelmed.  While its great to sit down with your kids and help them with a complicated craft its important not to forget that really, simple is just as good.  Its about balance.  If your feeling overwhelmed with the grocery lists and meal planning, you don't have to wait until you print lists and make a home binder before you can start.  Although if I'm honest, making a home planning binder is on my to-do list, but the reality is its been on that list for over 6 months.  What I've been doing for the past 5 years? I sit down once a week and write out my meal plan.  In my note book of everything, or on the back of an envelope, in a pinch its even been on the back of a ripped piece of paper.

When I get overwhelmed with the workload that needs to get done.  I sit down and simply scribble in my notebook.  It never seems so bad when I see it on paper.  And when the list is long, I just work through it slowly, checking things off as I go.  This book is full of random thoughts, grocery lists, to do lists, projects.  Its not going to get a prize for best organizational tool, but for me it works, and in the danger of only sharing the complicated in blog world, I want to share the simple as well.

Almost every morning we do a craft.  Crafts in our house ranges from painting to colouring to cutting to making necklaces to making forts out of marshmallows and toothpicks.

A favorite these days - cutting out pictures from magazines and gluing them to paper.  A craft that allows me to work in the kitchen and help when I'm called.  The kids learn to cut, they pick out "themes" which means for Jacob - its anything that moves, and Kaylin's is always pictures of everything.  From kitchens to flowers to people.

We turn the music up and they make an art of covering every inch of the table in paper and glue.  I love these times.  The simple crafting that is done while I'm getting an early start on dinner, or organizing a cupboard or baking, sometimes I just sit at the table and read.

I help Jacob with his cutting, but he's getting there.  He searches the magazines for anything that has a motor in it.  I do preflip through magazines and pull out any pictures that I find not suitable for kids.

We did this craft last week, found on pinterest.  The kids loved it, and I did have to plan for it.  When the paint is out I need to hover.  Jacob tends to get too excited and starts waving brushes around.  Maddie stretches up on her tip toes to try to sneek a little finger in the red paint for a lick.

I'm looking forward to this weekend, I love Easter.  Tomorrow we spend the day with family and we start our egg hunt using the resurrection eggs to teach.  The kids saw them on the counter yesterday and were excited.  And soon, the Lord willing, we'll meet two new nieces or nephews.  The miracle of new babies always makes me stop and marvel at God's handiwork,  I can't wait to get my hands on them:)

Wishing you all a blessed Easter weekend!