A Mom's Year

Creating a comfortable life one moment at a time

End of Summer

I’m trying very hard to ignore the fact that school is starting next week. I dutifully purchased everything on the kids’ school supply lists. And then I crammed it all into the back of the closet. Out of sight, out of mind. But that doesn’t stop the e-mails and phone calls from people chomping at the bit to get back to schedules and meetings and general busyness.

Don’t they know that I’m holding on to this summer for as long as I can? Maybe they don’t have a son who can look them directly in the eye without standing on tip toes. Or maybe their baby isn’t going into first grade. Why be in such a hurry?

I suppose they’re longing for the structure and routine that the school year brings. Or maybe they’re just ready for a change. I’m not opposed to change, but I like where my kids are right now. They’re independent enough to entertain themselves most of the time, but young enough to like having me around. Just between you and me, I have this fear that Andrew will wake up one day a surly and sulky teenager who won’t have anything to do with me. I’m not really sure why I think this will happen. Maybe I’ve heard too many horror stories, sort of like when you’re pregnant and people tell you about their awful experiences. So I’m relishing every spontaneous hug and conversation. Even if it means talking about football a lot more than I really want to.

Well. Change is coming whether I want it to or not, so I might as well meet it with open arms. We had our annual day at Valleyfair (an amusement park) with our good friends the Schwietzes. When I saw this photo of Tim and Lily waiting for the big wave of water that drenches bystanders near The Wave ride, it made me smile because their faces are filled with such happy anticipation. They’re ready to meet that wave head on.

So I will try to channel their enthusiasm and enter into the dog and pony show with as much grace as I can muster. I will think about all the new things my children will learn, the friends they’ll make, and the fun we’ll still get to have as a family doing the things we always enjoy doing in the fall.

How do you feel about change? Do you look forward to it, or do you find yourself holding on to things the way they are?

Organizing: Daily Routines

One of the most valuable tools I use to maintain my life and sanity is a Daily Routine. I learned about Daily Routines from FlyLady years ago. FlyLady is the nickname of Marla Cilley, a southern lady who struggled with her own housekeeping issues and then created a website to provide help to others after she got her act together. Two friends recommended her to me; we all had new babies and were trying to figure out how to do things like shower and find our keys. FlyLady was a godsend because, while I craved order, I could never keep it together for long.

At one point, before FlyLady, I hired a clutter coach out of desperation. She helped me put stuff in bins and made the closets look neat and tidy. And for a while it all seemed pretty organized. But I soon fell off the wagon and back into the old messes. What I finally learned from FlyLady is that you can’t organize clutter. And you have to deal with things right away. (“Procrastination is failure to make a decision.” Kinda harsh, but true.) So laundry is washed, folded, and put away all in one day. Mostly. Junk mail and envelopes are chucked into recycling the minute they enter the door. When I buy a new pair of shoes, I get rid of an old pair.

[In fairness to the clutter coach, she set me with up with a folder system that I use to this day. I have a basket on the counter that holds folders for each child, and others for bills and taxes and the like, so I can easily slip paperwork into each one.]

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Free Printable Thank-You Notes

Today’s to-do list includes finishing up Lily’s thank-you notes for birthday gifts that have trickled in over the last couple of weeks. Do you make your kids (or yourself) write thank-you notes? We received one yesterday from our cousin Kate, thanking us for helping with her wedding shower and for the gift we gave her. Kate had taken time to write a very sweet and detailed note. Call me old-fashioned (it won’t be the first time), but it was nice to get something so personal.

I grew up adoring Princess Diana and I remember reading that she would spend hours writing thank-you notes by hand for luncheons, dinners, presents, and general kindnesses that came her way. I always thought that was such a nice way to live—thanking people for things, big and small. I fall far short of that (I’m pretty sure that one year I completely missed the boat on sending thank-you notes for one of the boys’ birthdays), but I do try to acknowledge gifts and kindnesses and make sure that my kids do the same. There are times when a phone call or e-mail is all I can seem to manage, but I hope it’s better than nothing.

And sometimes I’m ridiculously slow. It took me three years to write a thank you to the staff at the University of Minnesota hospital after Lily’s heart surgery. It was such a relief when I finally mailed a letter thanking them for their incredible kindness and skill. I had to hope that the people who had taken care of Lily were still there!

I like this thank-you card from Dandee Designs. It can be tricky for little ones to write in straight lines, so this design helps. Danyelle originally designed the cards to be gifts for teachers—her suggestion is to print a bunch out, buy some envelopes, and tie it all up in a cute bundle. You can download the cards here.

Lunch Suddenly Gets More Interesting

Did you know there’s an entire website devoted to coming up with cool lunch ideas? It’s called Funky Lunch and it was created by some folks in West Sussex, UK, who wanted to make lunch more exciting and healthy for kids. I’m constantly amazed at how clever people are. You can find out more about the Funky Lunch bunch and get directions for making the Hello Kitty sandwich here.

I’m going to make the grand piano sandwich and dazzle my family. Actually, some will be dazzled and some will wonder if I haven’t got something better to do with my time. But, really, what could be better than making art and then eating it?

How about you? Which one would you make?

{ Funky Lunch, via Hostess Blog }

DIY Homemade Crayons

Homemade crayons aren’t a terribly original concept, but since it’s taken us nearly 13 years to get around to making some, I feel a pictorial tutorial is in order. If you could act like you’ve never seen anything quite like this before, that’d be great.

It might be that one of the reasons why we’ve never made homemade crayons is that no one was ever willing to take on the time-consuming task of peeling wrappers off the leftover and broken crayons. Until Lily, that is. She happily unwrapped dozens of crayons.

When she was done, we broke the crayons into smallish pieces. Lily sorted the pieces into color families (more or less) in heart-shaped silicone molds. I honestly don’t remember where the mold came from. I probably picked it up at Target or JoAnn Fabrics right before Valentine’s Day one year. If you don’t have a silicone mold, a metal mold should work just fine. Shapes like hearts or stars are fun, but plain muffin tins (regular or mini) would be great, too. [Important UPDATE: If you use metal pans, be sure to spray them with a vegetable spray like Pam first.]

We baked the crayons at 250 degrees for about 13 minutes. I started checking on them after 10 minutes but they still had a few lumps. Make sure you put the crayons on a tray to catch drips and make it easier to pull them out of the oven.

After the crayons have cooled, gently dump them out of the mold.

And here are the finished products. They turned out even cuter than I thought they would. I think the key is not to mix too many colors together at once. Lily only used three or four colors for each heart.

These would make really cute valentines, but I’m not sure about making them in mass quantities. Maybe if we started now we’d have enough by February. We’ll see how it goes.