Exercising with kids:

Exercising with kids is always interesting...probably why I haven't done it all these years. Well this spring I tried all different times to get to the gym. Since the babies in my house started to wake about 6:15 I would go early. Well...I thought that was early.

I would get up at 5 crawl into my gym clothes and head off to the gym.

Then...the time change came...and my baby started to wake up even earlier. 5:20 to be more specific. I tried going to the gym at nap time, but my four year old would need me. I tried going at night...but I was exhausted from being up so early.

So, since I am a morning person...I got up a little earlier. I go sometime between 4:15 and 5:30am. This morning I went from 4:30 to 5:30am...came home, showered, and had my meditation time.

Guess what...the little bugger didn't wake up till 7:55am! Go Figure!

BTW...when I was a young mom with 7 kids under 10, I would hear people talk about getting up super early to exercise or pray. It was super discouraging to me. If you are pregnant or nursing or have a house full of needy kids...sleep and take naps as much as possible!!!

THY WILL BE DONE!!! +JMJ+

Eating Healthy...

It is that time again this year when I try to help my family eat healthy.

I don't know about you but about once a year I rethink our eating habits. Thank God we have a limited budget. I tell my kids every time we drive by McDonald's that it is a good thing we have no extra money or mommy would drive in there and buy lots of junk...we would be fat and unhealthy!!! (for some reason I don't think they appreciate it)

So when I was at the grocery store the other day I started out in isle two and started to get whole grain pasta. It was hard since the regular pasta was so much cheaper. I have found over the years that one reason my hubby and I don't stay on the health kick is that junk food is so much cheaper than good food. I was thrilled to see that there was a big sale on the good pasta and I filled my basket up with every box. I was feeling very satisfied and proud about my great find.

But, like all times when pride is in my picture I slip and fail.

Little did I know that it was LITTLE DEBBIE's fiftieth anniversary. (How did that little girl get so old?) My grocery store was having a huge sale!!!

Then the next isle was having pop tarts 10 for $10 so I grabbed a bunch of those...ughhh!!!

All of us love those junkie goodies and the teens that hang at our house are always looking for a treat...so of course I had to fill up on all the junk too.

Oh dear Lord to find balance. Please help me to be the women you created me to be. I love and need Your guidance all the time!!!

THY WILL BE DONE!!! +JMJ+

Why start school before Labor Day?

I was looking for an article I wrote two years ago for our local paper about going to school before Labor day...that year the kids went to school around Aug 17Th!!! I remember practically crying when we were driving to the pool and seeing school buses and kids getting dropped off...what a crime.

I realize that Labor day is late this year...come on, I am due to have the baby that day(of course I am usually 2 weeks late)...so I know what day it is!!! But I feel as if the "school system" is chipping away at our family time...they go later-start earlier. Are they really learning more in school these days? With all the cutbacks around here it's a wonder they are teaching anything. Not to mention the homework they load on parents...come on, some of these kids are doing 2-3 hours of homework a night...that is more school than I do with my elementary kids in a day...I won't even touch on the push families feel towards extra activities like sports, music, scouts, or other club stuff...to people even eat dinner together anymore?...so lay off on families and let them enjoy the limited time they have with each other!!!

Here is an article I wrote last year about Back to school basics if interested...

TV

Lots of interesting discussion going on over at Faith and Family on tv watching...

We didn’t have a tv for nine years, and boy do I miss that special time!!! It came home for a baseball game and never left…With baby #12 on the way and my oldest 19, I miss the time I had with my older kids playing games and cards, not to mention how smart the big kids are. They used to read all the time and are so creative…now we have way to many tv’s in this crazy house.

I do say that I like having all the teens hang out at our house!!! We got a Wii for Christmas from all the relatives and it is like a teen magnet.

So BALANCE is the key as usual...

THY WILL BE DONE!!! +JMJ+

finding balance

"'Woman with a Balance' provides us not with a warning but with comfort and reassurance; it makes us feel not vanity of life but its preciousness. Against the violent baroque agitation of the painting behind her, the woman asserts a quite, imperturbable calm, the quintessence of Vermeer's vision."Edward A. Snow, A Study of Vermeer, 1979