What kind of mom are you?

A few days ago my sweet friend over at The-Good-Steward shared a post from another blogger mom about what kind of mom she is.  I was inspired and have been thinking about this for the last few days.  Every mom is different and we all have our strengths and our weaknesses and in this social media world we too often only see the strengths.  I try my best to be honest here, so I want to share with you what kind of mom I am, the good and the not so good.

I am a snuggle on the couch while we watch shows kind of mom (excuse me while I sneak in a nap).

I am a let you help me cook and then lick the beaters kind of mom.

I am a make you do your chores, even when you don't want to kind of mom.  A forgive me if your stubbornness causes me to yell sometimes kind of mom.

I am a take the kids to plays and concerts so they learn that entertainment doesn't only come from a screen kind of mom.

I am a picnics, car races, puzzles, and read all the stories kind of mom.

I am a teach the scriptures and other things of eternal importance so you can know your Savior (and siblings and ancestors) kind of mom.

I am an oily (as in essential) kind of mom.

I am a bereaved and missing my babies in heaven so I sometimes cry, a lot, kind of mom.

I am not a super organized kind of mom and my house is often messier than I would like.

I am a try to cook dinner every night, but sometimes it just escapes me and we eat out kind of mom.  I am also a throw away the happy meal toys before the kids see them kind of mom (they didn't know most kids meals came with toys until very recently).

I am not a roll with the punches kind of mom, broken plans really mess with me.

I would much rather stay home with my kids than go out kind of mom.

I am a sometimes lose my cool over something seemingly silly kind of mom, because sometimes I let lots of little and big things build up and a needle just breaks this camel's back.

I am a surprise you with a trip to the park or a playdate kind of mom.

I am an attempts to clock out at bedtime kind of mom, who stays up too late trying to squeeze in a little adult time.

I am a sleep in kind of mom.  Early mornings are for the birds.

I am a sing along and dance in the car kind of mom.

I am a stop to blow the dandelions kind of mom.



Now that you know what kind of mom I am please tell me, what kind of mom are you???

I Have an Oil for That!

Sorry its been a minute since I posted!  February got super crazy and ran away from me faster than the gingerbread man!  You may have noticed a lot of changes around here lately. I want to share about one big one.

A few years ago I met an amazing woman named Candy.  Candy was married to a friend of ours from college and they came to our house for a New Years Eve party with some other college friends.  Towards the end of the party Candy gave each of us sample bottles of wild orange essential oil (which smelled so good!).  Soon after the party Candy sent me a text to tell me how much they had enjoyed the party.  Later she asked if I would be interested in learning more about essential oils.  I thanked her, but turned her down, I was mildly intrigued, but also skeptical; I had used a few essential oils here and there, but never consistently.  She took my rejection in kind and we remained friends.

Fast forward a few months, a different friend threw me a baby shower for Princess A.  It was so sweet and thoughtful.  We made hair bows, had treats, and enjoyed adult company.  Among the gifts I received was a keychain filled with sample bottles of essential oils to help with baby care.  I used some of them, and my curiosity started to grow.  I dabbled in a few more essential oils and started to see some benefits.

I saw Candy several more times and when I was finally ready to learn more about essential oils (about two years later) she was there.  I agreed to host a class, but no one else came, so Candy and I talked and I decided to give them a try.

I was nervous and excited when my box came.  I started trying some right away.  Lavender to help the kids sleep, a respiratory blend for Lawrence's snoring, lemon to get me drinking more water, a protective blend to help boost our immune systems (mostly when we were already sick), a soothing blend for sore muscles... You get the point.  The more consistently I used the oils the better our results were.  I started learning about the benefits of other oils so I tried more.  Lawrence saw the benefits and got on board pretty quickly too.  Then he suggested that I consider becoming a DoTERRA wellness advocate.

I scoffed at the idea.  I struggle with social anxiety.  I have turned down a lot of other similar opportunities in the past, It just wasn't something I was interested in, at the time.  Then I helped Candy run a booth at the Parade of Homes in Utah County.  It was easy to share experiences with people, to share the simplest benefits with them.  Then I met Holly, who is on Candy's team.  She shared a bit more about being a wellness advocate with me.  I considered it over about a week, and decided that I want to help other people in the way that Candy helped me.  I want to share ways to live a cleaner, healthier life with others.  I want to help other moms feel empowered, the way I had felt, when their kids were sick at night after the doctor's office is closed, or itchy with a rash, or got a giant goose egg from a run-in with a wall.  I want to help other wives soothe their husbands after a long day at work (or the other way around).  I also want to help my family achieve our goals, to be able to take vacations together and remain debt free.  So I chose to build.

Just in case you haven't noticed, I've been sharing links for Essential oils that we have used with great results.  If you make a purchase through any of those links I get a small commission.  If you are at all curious about essential oils and what they could do for you and your family, please ask, I would love to share with you!  If you love essential oils and want to learn more about how to share them and help those you love, I would be happy to help with that as well.  Do I think essential oils can cure everything, and fix all the world's problems?  Probably not.  But I do think that they can (and do) help with many, many things. Do I still take my kids to the doctor when necessary? You bet I do, but you can also bet that I have tried all my tools, within reason.  I can say that I have certainly been able to save myself a few doctor visits with oils, and spared my kids (especially Mr. J) from antibiotics that can really mess with their little guts.  I can say that essential oils have saved my sanity on more than one occasion.  So keep your eyes out for some shares and a new tab on the blog about the oils we love, why we love them, and how you can get your hands on them!  I am so excited to share with you!

Circle Time

I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time getting going in the mornings.  I have always been a night owl and when that alarm goes off in the morning all I want to do is chuck it against a wall and wrap myself back up in the blankets/Lawrence’s arms.  Unfortunately kids don’t usually get that, jobs require people to be on time, and dogs need let outside, so I do eventually drag myself out of bed.  The dogs get out, the kids get fed, the husband gets off to work, and I’m left to manage our schedule the rest of the day.

Our display board

For a long time it looked something like this:  7:30-8ish- kids get up, I roll out of bed, 8ish-9ish- feed kids and send Lawrence off to work, 9ish-10ish kids get dressed, I take shower, kids play, then sometime between 10:30 and 11 we were finally ready to start our day’s activities. Getting the kids started on school work was almost always a fight. They had been having lots of fun playing and didn’t want to quit, they were hungry for a snack, and school work just isn’t as much fun.  I was getting so tired of always fighting about this and looking for a new, fun way to kick off our school time.  Enter The Homeschool Sisters’ podcast.

Monday: music

Tuesday: shapes and colors

I had been following Cait at My Little Poppies for about a year and finally subscribed to a podcast she does with another homeschool mom, Kara. They answer questions, share stories and strategies, and interview other homeschoolers, advocates, and teachers to support and help the homeschooling community.  I was scrolling through the episodes of their podcast, looking for ones that sparked my interest, when I saw one titled “Creating a Morning Time Routine.” THIS! This is what I needed, help organizing my mornings better. So I listened, and I found that it was something I could do, even something I had kind of already done when we were in the preschool years.  Basically Morning Time is a time to gather all the kiddos and do some simple and fun learning activities all together. Instead of breaking us all up for our individual tasks before we get going on our more formal learning.  We sit down together and sing songs, read stories, do puzzles, listen to music, and learn.  It came so naturally!

Wednesday: states and capitals

I want to share how we do it. Keep in mind, this is how we do it, Morning Time, or as we call it Circle Time, can look different for everyone; you do you.  These are just some of my ideas.  Back when we did a preschool co-op I made this board (see above) with a weather center, calendar, shapes and letters on it.  It was a foam core poster with a holographic side and a white side and I taped all my things on the holographic side so they would come off without tearing up the poster board, it worked great! When we transitioned to kindergarten I modified the board and added a laminated calendar that I could re-use, a Pledge of Allegiance, and a list of the months of the year.  Since then some things have come off and I put up other learning graphics as we worked on different things. We start Circle Time when I play the song “The Greatest Show” (Greatest Showman), which signals to the kids that it is time to head downstairs and gather on a rug.  They can sing, dance, and play until he song is over, then it is time to sit.  I swipe an essential oil roller to help with focus across the backs of each of their necks then we do the Pledge, check the weather and mark it on the board, talk about the date, sing a few songs, work on memorizing an Article of Faith, then each day gets a different learning activity.  Monday we do music, Tuesday is shapes and colors, Wednesday we work on learning the states and capitals, Thursday we practice Spanish, and Friday we play a game.  I tried to include acticvities for all my kids and the things they are working on, but that they can also all do together and enjoy.  We use puzzles, songs, books, and move a lot (the pictures are just a few of the resources we use).

Thursday: Spanish

Friday: games

This has transformed our mornings (mostly)! The kids get excited when they hear the Circle Time song and race to the basement.  We have fun doing activities together, that also help the kids all learn, and we transition into regular schoolwork easier.  Don’t get me wrong, there are still mornings when there’s grumbling, and we do our best to work through that, but for the most part we get into school earlier, faster, and easier when we start with circle time.  The nice thing about it is that it is super flexible, so if we have a field trip, an appointment, or we get sidetracked we can skip a day and it doesn’t matter a ton, but when we do skip it the kids miss it and remind me that we missed it.  I love that we can change it up at any time if we need too.  If the kids are getting bored with the music stuff we're doing we can choose a different way to do it, or even a different subject or activity, it's so flexible!  I love that it gets the kids excited to learn and get going in the mornings.  I'm still working on getting out of bed and getting us started a little earlier in the day, but whether we get started at 11 or at 9 Circle Time will be there to get us started and get my kids excited to learn.





(ETA: This post contains affiliate links, at no extra cost to you may get free product or money if you click on a link and make a purchase.)

Word for the Year

As the new year rolled in I saw many friends and family members sharing their word for the year.  Each was a sort of mantra or affirmation to remind each person of their goals and desires for the coming year.  Words such as simplify, kindness, gratitude, organize, hope, and love are just a few examples of words my friends have chosen to represent this year.  We had mentioned choosing a family mission statement or word for 2019, but when we had our goal setting Family Home Evening we forgot about it (think creating vision boards with three kids... more on that later).  The idea had stuck with me, though, and for a few days I rolled it around in my head, trying to think of a phrase or word that could represent the things I/we want to accomplish this year.

One of my goals is to complete a 30 day yoga journey via a youtube channel called "Yoga with Adrienne" (it's a free channel and she has many wonderful videos of gentle and customizable yoga practices that anyone can follow along with).  This is a challenge she has done on her channel every January for at least the last 3 years.  I did most of last year's 30 days and really enjoyed it, so I decided to try again this year.  Each day has a focus.  The focus for day 2 was "Foundation" the practice was all about building a strong body foundation for safety and health, and strong foundational breathing.  As I followed along I got to thinking, building a strong foundation is exactly what I am trying to accomplish with many of my goals this year.  Through better eating and exercise I am building a better foundation in my body, through more consistent scripture study and temple attendance I am building a stronger foundation for my faith, by building a business and supporting my husband in his business goals I am building a better financial foundation for my family, and so on.  So there I had it, my word for the year, Foundation.  When I shared it with Lawrence he agreed that it was a great word and asked if we could use it as our word for the year for the whole family, I whole heartily agreed to share.

Word cloud created at WordArt.com

I look forward to this year of focussing on building foundations, personally and as a family by working together for gospel learning, education, family togetherness, health, and business.  I look forward to helping my children and husband strengthen their foundations as they support me in my building also.  Here's to a new year, to new experiences, and to building firmer foundations!

Do you choose a word or mantra for your year?  What are your goals?