Afternoon Art Adventure

I am reading an amazing book right now by Ann Kroeker called Not So Fast - Slow Down Solutions for Frenzied Families.

This book has inspired me to slow down with my kids. So Sunday afternoon we had an afternoon art adventure. My oldest was at the river with some friends so the younger two and I gathered up our paint, markers, crayons and colored pencils and we had so much fun.

First we laid out a tablecloth on the front porch and we painted. They thought it would be fun to splatter paint. They filled their brushes with paint and hit the handle to make speckles all over their papers.



After our painting fun we loaded our picnic blanket, sketch books and drawing supplies into the stroller. Madi jumped on her bike and Nadia climbed into the stroller and we were off. We walked to City park and created.


Not long after we were there we had a little visitor. This little bird really wanted to get onto our blanket.



Nadia said, "He wants to be my friend."

My Baby went to school today

I just have to share a few pictures from Nadia's first day of preschool. I just picked her up and she had a great afternoon. There are only two other little girls in her class so she will get a lot of attention (like she doesn't already get a lot of that at home).

It's Party Day!

You can join the party fun on this site, or over at SnazL.com. Don't forget 3pm EST today!

Want to win a prize pack of books for your family? Stop by and chat with us.

Party Party Party!

I am so excited to chat with all of you tomorrow at my SnazL party. I wanted to share with you a few things ahead of time that you can look forward to at the party.

Healthy Snack alternatives from WAT-AAH!


Are you wondering which activities you should involve your children in? Check out this new book from Ann Kroeker.



Are you interested in a new way to communicate with your children's teachers?



Aparna Vashisht-Rota, the founding Mom of Parentella.com will be sharing a great way to get involved in your child's education. Below she shares her tips for Back to School. Come to the party and you can chat with Aparna.

It is back to school time! My son starts middle school tomorrow. We went shopping as he has outgrown his clothes, shoes, and backpack. He was very patient while we picked out his clothes and shoes.

He is really excited to go back to school and meet his friends and get back into the routine. It reminds me of my own eagerness and anticipation for a new school year. I used to love the new school year, so much excitement, new books, new notebooks, pencils, etc. I really enjoyed it.

As happy as I am for my son to embark on a new transition, I also feel sad. He is no longer a baby. He is older but I am also happy that he is grown into such a wonderful, loving, and kind person. I am very proud of him. I have heard that as they get older, it gets a little bit harder. I really want to get to know the other parents and make sure that the transition is as smooth as possible.

I am going to connect with other parents on Parentella. Parental involvement is the most important thing in a child's education. You'd have thought it is the latest and the greatest but it boils down to parents being involved. Parentella is one such tool that helps parents stay connected, informed, involved, and on top of it.

10 reasons I am going to be on Parentella:

1. It is free.

2. It is only for parents and teachers.

3. It is private, safe, and secure.

4. It is simple, easy to use, site.

5. It allows busy moms to keep all information regarding the kids in one place. I am so done reading through the stack of paper they send us! If we are all online, it is money saved for school as no more paper is needed.

6. Parentella sends you automated reminders for events, never forget the movie night again!

7. Ask other parents that difficult question in Algebra. One time, my son got homework and it was tough! I wasn't sure really what we were supposed to do and I'd have loved to ask another parent.

8. Get context rich information! Ask a mom in your child's class regarding videogames, allowance, cellphone usage, etc. We are in it together, so might as well help each other.

9. You can archive information for the entire year when you leave the class to join the next grade, you still have access to the information. All the content you created, stays with you.

10. Organize online signups for potlucks, book fairs, staff luncheon, class parties.

Get Parentella, get involved. It is a MUST HAVE for back to school.

This post is written by Aparna Vashisht-Rota, the founding Mom of Parentella.com. Thank you for reading this post and please feel free to write her at aparna (at) parentella dot com.

Good Enough Mom

Before I became a mom I thought I had motherhood all figured out. I thought that adding children to our little twosome would be a piece of cake. I thought I would just keep working, always have a clean house, cook and bake all while raising my children to have excellent manners.

And then. . .I had kids. I realized that I do not have a Super Woman cape hiding under my clothing. I do not have super human strength and lightning fast speed.
I tried to be Super Mom, but it just was not possible. I want to be a great mom to my kids. But by whose definition?

I am learning that I cannot say "Yes" to everyone and everything. I have learned that some days if I decide to have an afternoon art adventure with my girls. . .the house may stay a mess.

I am going to start making a few changes with this blog and I can't wait to share them with you.

This blog is my journey to helping my children have an unforgettable childhood. If I was trying to be Super Mom I don't think that is the experience that they would have. I think by being a "good enough" mom, we can embark on an amazing adventure.

Stay tuned to some changes around here and don't forget to join my SnazL party on Wednesday afternoon at 3pm EST/2pm CST. It should be a fun time for us to get to know each other better.

Have a great week!

It is Time for a Party!!!

This is your invitation to a party! This Wednesday I am having a party at SnazL.com on Back to School Survival and I would love to see you there.

What is SnazL?

"The power of snazL is that it lets us, the community, create Our Story in real-time. We can watch what’s been shared in sync and then respond by chat; by adding new videos, audio, and pictures live to the snazL story for the community to watch as part of the story; even by drawing. Community members can interact from multiple locations through the snazL: they can take any snazL to their own social networks, websites, and blogs for THEIR friends to discover and interact with. Any changes that are made to a snazL from one location or from snazL.com update automatically to every location where it’s located."--from the SnazL.com blog

I have had the opportunity to party with some of the coolest bloggers around over the last two weeks with SnazL. Heather from The Domestic Diva, Danielle from Extraordinary Mommy, Nirasha from Mommy Niri, Beth from Role Mommy and Susan from 5 Minutes for Mom all hosted parties that I was able to attend with SnazL. I was able to chat real time with them and share my stories.

Here is what I am asking you to do. Check out my SnazL below. Go to SnazL.com and register. On your account you can make an album of your back to school pictures and videos. Below is a list of some of the questions we are going to focus on that day.

It doesn't matter if your kids are in preschool or College. It doesn't matter if your kids go to public school, private school or homeschool. We all have tips to share. You might not even have kids, but I am sure you have stories of your own to share.
What are your morning routines?
How do you decide which activities your kids get to be involved in each year?
What are some of your favorite After School Snacks or lunch box secrets?
How do you prepare your children to deal with bullying?

Oh, and before I forget. . .there will be prizes. Who doesn't love prizes. Stuff for your kids and stuff for you! It is going to be a great party, I can't wait to see you there.

Any questions about how all of this works, send me an email at amy.thue(at)hotmail(dot)com. I can't wait to see what you have to share.

Next weeks topic. . .Marriage.

Give Me Your Best Shot - My Little Monkey

We have survived our first week of Back to School. Nadia misses her sisters during the day, so she will be happy to head to preschool next week. It is hard to believe it is already Friday. Of course we have to start the weekend with a friend sleeping over tonight. (Sleepovers are very important to our 8 year old). I am surprised that they like to do them here, because my husband actually makes them go to bed. He isn't a very fun sleepover dad.

I am going to share one of my favorite pictures of the week with you today. We headed to the park on Tuesday. Nadia dressed herself before we left. Her sisters couldn't believe I let her leave the house dressed this way. I didn't care. At least her clothes matched. She looked better than she does on the days that she is wearing horizontal stripes on top and vertical stripes on the bottom. When I try to get her to change those days she says, "I do to match mom, see stripes and stripes."

She thought she would try to attempt the monkey bars, but this is all the farther she got. . .


I am linking up with Lolli's Give me Your Best Shot today. Head over to her blog to check out more great pictures.