Miracle Happen/Quality Time

Yesterday I spoke of an incident with my computer and how Word crashed as I tried to save my post I intended to do. Well, I turned on my computer this morning and when I opened word… There it was! My post! I didn’t have to retype anything! Don’t know what happened but there’s no doubt in my mind it was a small miracle from my Heavenly Father telling me, “You’re not alone. I’m aware of you and your needs, wants and desires and I am here. I watch out for you even when you forget that I am.”

I wonder why I didn’t think to pray when it happened yesterday. That’s one of those things I would have prayed for when I was on my mission or when I was a kid, and I guess I’ve forgotten how to pray for everything and how to have that full faith I once did. I’m working on it, and I know my faith is deepening again, but I still have a very long way to go.

We are NOT alone, and if God knows, watches and love the sparrow, how much more does he know, watch and love you?

I really need to remember this.

All that said, here is my initially intended post from yesterday. Though the stuff above is probably just as (if not more) important in the long run. So much for all of you today! God bless, and enjoy!

Quality time with the kids and hubby can be hard to come by at times, even though I’m a stay at home mom. Just because I’m home all day doesn’t mean I have a lot of time. The house needs to be cleaned, dishes need to be done, laundry must be washed and meals don’t cook themselves. While yes, things can be left undone and prayer and scriptures are a must, (see my post: Just One Of Those Days) the fact is things do need to be done eventually. And my personality does not do well unless I can at least most of the time keep up with things as they need doing.

This morning was a particularly trying morning as far as whining, arguing, fighting kids goes. But thankfully, I remembered to do family prayer and scriptures first thing. While it hasn’t helped my children in any magnificent way, it has at least helped me be more patient and remember that my littles have sensitive needs and to be more gentle and calm with them. That has made the difference.

Typically, we wake up bright and early my kids wake up at the butt crack of dawn and I drag myself out of bed and we go downstairs to watch some Disney Jr. Yes, this TV time is sadly essential for my children’s wellbeing as I am simply not the morning person I used to be. I know my limits and starting the day with a get-up-and-go attitude is nowhere in the cards, at least for another for another 6 years… minimum. So we watch some clean TV in the mornings while Mom’s eyes adjust to being open.

Our days start off with good intentions but always (sadly, within the first 30 minutes of being up) take a turn for the worse when one of the kiddos hits, punches, screams, fights or pushes one of their siblings. (HOLY COW kids! Can’t we all just get along?! Seriously!!!) And then I clean while they play and the day always just slips away a little at a time til Daddy is home, then we need to eat, bathe and prep for bed. Bedtime always take an eternity with a little child and when I have four kids under the age of 7 it takes two eternities. So quality time with kiddos seems a far cry from the norm.

Then I turn on Pinterest while my kids are down for quiet time, and I see all these ideas for quality time with the kids and I think… Wow, I’m horrible! I should be doing all these things with my kids! But time simply does not exist all the time to do it all!

Ask yourself this though: How many things have you pinned, re-pinned or liked on Pinterest that you have actually done? I rest my case. So I stopped beating myself up over it. They are there for good ideas and a quiet mommy moment to look and be inspired by. The end.

So my takeaway from all of this?

Do what you can! Take a moment to think before you shoe your child from the kitchen while doing the dishes. Grab the spray nozzle from the sink and have an impromptu water fight! The floor need to be mopped anyway. (I think I’ll do that this week.) Grab the duct tape and put some on your carpet for a fun game! (We did that this morning for a bit and it was so much fun! Picture and our rules found in this post from yesterday.) Take the moment running between rooms to change the laundry and tackle your little boy with a mini wrestle/tickle session closed with millions of kisses and the wonderful phrase, “Mom! STOP KISSING ME!”

I’ve come to the conclusion that quality and quantity do not EVER mean the same thing. Quality time is simply undivided attention for however short that moment might be. We don’t have to plan it out. It doesn’t have to be a long drawn out event. Just do it throughout the day in the moments between the chaos.

Stupid Computers!

So I did this thing this morning with my kids. We put colored duct tape on the floor and made a kind of board game thing out of it. It was very fun! Good quality time with my babies!

I took a picture and I had a beautiful thought about quality time with your kids… what it is and what it isn’t. How to achieve it and how to stop beating yourself up for not having time to do it! I sat down while my kids were resting from out workout on the game board to write my post all about it and after nine minutes of inspired and thoughtful non-stop typing, I went to click save on my computer before I posted the thing to my blog here.

Wouldn’t you know it? I clicked save and the program crashed… I start freaking out! It’s gone! I’ve typed my fingers off for nearly 10 minutes and now it’s gone because I saved it before copy/pasting it to blogger? Are you KIDDING ME!?

So I take a deep breath and think, someone must have a solution! Google to the rescue! Turns out someone had something to say on the matter.

There is a way to recover unsaved documents in MS Word 2010. Thank heaven! So I follow the handy dandy steps to find my document and it isn’t there. Sad face. I read on to find out that the auto save time is every ten minutes. 10! So since I tried to save it at just after 9 minutes instead, I’m out of luck. I changed the option from 10 minutes down to 2 minutes. Because, well, that’s just crap!

I digress…

Quality time with the kiddos will have to wait for another day when I find the energy and new motivation to retype what was lost and not to throw my computer out the window from the 2^nd story just to see what happens. Until then, here is our game and please find the rules below. Enjoy! :)

Indoor Tag or Swamp Monster!!!

Board Setup - Tape squares onto the floor, at least 2 more squares than people playing, more is fine but no less in a circular(ish) pattern. Then connect these squares with a straight piece of tape to connect them all. These squares are safe squares.

Tape another square just inside your circle unrecognizable shape and between 2 of the other squares. Then connect that square to the line closest to it. The Square inside the shape is the start square.

 Game Play – Decide who’s “it”. That person is the swamp monster. The other players each stand inside a different safe square. 2 players are never allowed to stand in the same safe square. The players walk on the line from square to square sporadically in any direction at any time during game play. Players must always be on the line or in a square.

Object – The swamp monster tries to tag a player while on the line or cause a player to fall off the line into the swamp (onto the unmarked floor). If this happens, that player is the new swamp monster. The previous swamp monster then runs to the start square and must immediately follow the line to a safe square. If the new swamp monster can tag the old swamp monster before he reaches a safe square the old swamp monster remains “it” and the other player can enter the nearest available safe square without the need to begin at “Start”.