Crafty---To Be or Not to Be

 Putting lots of pieces of paper together to make a masterpiece craft is usually not my idea of fun. At times I can dread it. While some people find it relaxing and get a buzz using their creative juices, I find it stressful.My patience is limited and feel I need to do it fast but I want to do a good job(those don't mix).

Last week my brain was pushing me to do something fun for my kids. Our craft time if any, can last a whopping 20min on a good day. My extra goal this week is to make a craft everyday with my kids(This is a Challenge!) Last week I emerged myself into craft world on the Internet and found some ideas. I gave myself a pep talk: You have to make this fun for you too, or you'll dread it!!! Last Friday I announced to Kyrick that I was putting on a craft week. His eyes lit up. We went to the library to get some books on crafts so he could have some input. Sat morning he came to me bright eyed and bushy tailed
  " Mom what craft are we doing today?"
" We're not starting til Monday." He was disappointed. He started gazing through the books telling how much fun this one and that one would be.
" Oh, okay we can start today."
We got right to work. It was a simple but very fun craft to start with. A frog card  that when you open it, it's mouth pops out. Maliah wanted one too, so hers was a cat.They set them up proudly on our TV console and have played with them everyday since.  All day they couldn't wait to show Josh(unfortunately he had to stay and work late)and right before bed they mentioned their prized cards.
So I went the extra mile and did a craft on Sunday as well(because Kyrick mentioned it).

  I have to tell myself that it's what we do in between that counts. My kids really don't care about what they do and how it looks. They just want to create and have mom enjoy it while we're doing it. I really have to pay attention to my attitude, to make sure it's in check. I challenge all of us to do something with our kids they they enjoy(and maybe we aren't too fond of it) and do it with a genuine smile :)

I'm Back! A little Less Cluttered

  So I took a hiatus from blogging and from the women's challenge. Well I'm back and ready to go forward.    This last couple of weeks we stayed at our gracious friends house while we finished up painting and putting the floors in our new house( yes, the 7th move in 7 yrs). My friend has 4 kids with one on the way and lives in the exact same floor plan as our rental which was roughly 1850sqft. While living there I noticed how little they have. And not because they have to live without(he is a doctor)but because they choose to. She is very organized and her closet(which I almost died when we moved there cause it's little)wasn't even full. In fact her husband had more  clothes hanging up and that's not saying much. I hope I wasn't being to noisy but I looked through all the cupboards and closets thinking to myself, how does she do it!? Her children still had awesome toys and games but just less. Is less really more?
   She inspired me to de-cutter. While unpacking today I've really tried to ask myself if what I had in my hand was needed... Do I need 4 serving spoons? No. Do I need all these plastic cups? No. What about that ice cream maker...well I could use it, I did use it in the last 6 months, so i guess it gets a pass, maybe?  I have a long ways to go. I'm not ready to release all my clutter. If we all just start small: With one box, one closet, or if we really want to be ambitious try doing a whole room. I felt good and want to do more. More clearing  of all the stuff I've accumulated. I challenge you to do the same and make a goal to go through that drawer that you've been wanting to tackle for so long.
  I don't even want to think about my closet... :)