Our Summer Vacation....

(Remembering our vacation last summer to Jellystone Park,

a fantastic place for a family vacay!)

Welcome to the Jellystone Park!

We met Boo Boo and Yogi,

and made new friends.

There were tons of fun activities and things to do.

Daddy caught fish

And Seth caught everything else.

We had lots of wild weather leaving us without power a couple of times.

And lots of time for Mommy to play with pictures. :)

We had so much fun that we plan to go back this summer!



(I'm so glad that one of this week's writing prompts from Mama Kat was to "Remember Summer".  I had intended on blogging about our trip back in August, and this gave me the perfect excuse.)

 

Ten Things I NEVER Want to Experience as a Mother

This week's Writer's Workshop brought to you by Mama Kat.  Visit her page to join in!
My Choice: Create a reverse bucket list that names the top ten things you never want to do.
(Inspired by The Hairpin)

Ten Things I NEVER Want to Experience as a Mother

(from funny to frightening)

1. Fishing a small object from a child's nose.

Whether it's a pea, a rock or a small piece of sponge (like in the case of my brother (around 1981) who stuffed an chunk of a McDonald's Grimace sponge up one nostril and had to have it surgically removed because it began to grow to his nasal cavity), going up the nose with tweezers does not sound enjoyable.

2.  Cleaning vomit from car seats.

Crossing my fingers that I did not just jinx myself.  Some say it is a right of passage in motherhood.  I just hope to never cross that bridge. Especially on a long car ride.

3.  Digging through a diaper for a small, swallowed object.

Again, hoping I did not curse myself. Having been the unfortunate collector of a baby's stool sample, that is as close to fecal matter as I want to get.  Thankful to be almost to the end of the "I want to put everything in my mouth phase".

4.  Sitting down on a pee soaked couch/bed/chair.

Sorry, that's happened before. A few times.

5.   Being "That" Mom.

Hoping I do not embarrass my children (and myself) by being over protective/too involved/under-involved/behind the times/too conservative/etc.....

6.   Receiving a call to report to the Principal's office for a child's bad behavior.

Maybe it's wishful thinking that I feel I'm raising good boys.  I hope they continue down the path of respect, manners, obedience and become the gentlemen I know they can be.  If not, I may be calling Maury Povich for an intervention.

7.   Watching my children lose their innocence too soon.

I pray each day that God continue to protect my boys from the scary things in this world. For now, I am resting peacefully in their little, safe bubble.

8.  Having to give tough love too often.

It's very effective, yes.  As my boys age, I wish they never get themselves into situations where I have to allow them to deal with the potentially terrible consequences of bad decision making. 

9.  Losing my child in a large crowd.

Instant panic.  (And then an instant spanking upon their safe return.)

10. Losing my child.

I'm no different than most mothers.  My thoughts and prayers go to mothers (and fathers) who have lost little ones.  My heart cannot imagine the pain and grief.

If You Give a Mom an Empty House....

Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop for this week....

"If You Give a Mom a BLANK....." (inspired by "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" books by Laura Numeroff.

If You Give a Mom an Empty House

If you give a Mom an empty house, she will jump for joy.

All of the jumping will remind her that she needs to exercise.

She will pull out her yoga mat and notice all the clutter in the closet.

The amount of clutter will cause her to have an overwhelming urge to reorganize the closet.

Buried underneath the contents of the closet, her tummy will rumble.

She will realize it is lunch time and head into the kitchen.

She will open all the cupboards and refrigerator and see there is no food.

She decides to write out a shopping list based on recipes she's found online, so she gets on the computer.

An hour later, she is caught up on blog reading, Facebook and Pinterest and still hasn't started her grocery list.

Deciding to go to the store another day, she decides to try to tackle the laundry.

In between loads, she remembers she needs to finish reading her book before this month's book club meeting.

So, she begins to read and falls asleep on the couch.

She is woken up to sounds of a van coming down the drive.

The sudden return of her husband and children cause her to run around in a panic straightening up the house.

While rushing around in a cleaning frenzy, she will realize there was too much on her to do list for one afternoon.

So, she will ask her husband if he could plan to take the kids out the next day too.

And chances are, if you give a Mom an empty house...

She'll find plenty of things to fill her time.

I need a writing prompt....

I'm trying, honestly. :) I think I'm doing a decent job. However, I've been drawing a blank about what to write about lately. Then I remembered that inspiration is just a click away.

I follow Mama Kat on Instagram. She has a great blog that I really enjoy reading. As a former English teacher turned stay at home mom (with a home daycare), she craved some sort of creative outlet.

Once a week she provides writing prompts for bloggers (me included) to use to help get the writing juices flowing. So, I'm jumping in and finally going to write one. On my blog. And not in my head.

My writing prompt choice this week:

Write a poem about a little boy in your life...

To My Baby Boy

Sweet son, growing fast.
Stopping time, my only wish.
You're changing daily.

I've always loved haiku, don't you? :)