Dear Blog,

I am writing to apologize for my lack of attention this last month.  I find myself feeling guilty that I only added my sentiments to your bright white space 4 times this month.  I must tell you that I don’t have much time for you.  I hope you can understand.  You see, my 4 off-spring need me. …and my handsome hunk pulls me in and I can’t resist spending time with him.  I am searching for a balance.  I know how important it is to just be with these wonderful people who fill my days.  I also want to record all the moments that happen.  Like yesterday, when my kids were playing outside because it was so warm.  Jonathan and I laying on our bed snuggling, talking, and listening to our children play in the backyard.  It was one of those moments that I wish I could freeze.  It was when I wish someone was around to capture it.  It is hard to photograph your own life; especially when you live in it. I wish to capture more of those surreal moments.

Mr. Blog, I hope to find more time for you during the month of March.  If I don’t, please know I am spending my time with really important people.  Four little people, and one grown-up with dreamy eyes; that make my life amazing.

Oh, and I did find time to add a few photos to 365.  I can’t believe I am a month behind.  That’s what happens when you are enjoying life.

my sincere apologies,

Andrea Swenson

Affection

For the last two weeks our home has been filled with a few extra loved ones.  My BFF, Krysta came for a little visit.  We even got to share a little time with her husband.  Then just a few days later my baby sister, Lindsay and her baby London came for a visit.  Just a few days later my mother and other sister joined us.

Can you say?  Girls Weekend!!! (Tess did not want to be left out of all the girly fun.)

We had such a wonderful visit.  While they were here, I learned a wonderful lesson.

I watched as my children ran up to each family member and gave them a big hug.  I watched as they laid there head on them, or wrapped their arms around them.  I smiled when they climbed up on their lap and settled in.

It was then that I realized how giving of affection children are.

Each day I relish the moments that my kids greet Jonathan at the door with big hugs and kisses.

  

The words, “I love you mom” are music to my ears.

After the realization of this, I paid a little more attention.

I was amazed at how many times a day my kids showed some sort of affection to me, without my initiating it.

  

Even little Tess will crawl up on my lap, or walk over and plant a slobbery kiss on my face.

 

I even recognized how Jonathan and I use affection to help them feel better when they are upset, or to reinforce a particular rule.   We also use it when giving praise.

  

It taught me two important lessons:

1.  It is important to give affection to our kids.  They thrive on it, and it helps them feel secure.  It also teaches them to show affection.

2.  After watching how my kids can so easily show affection to other people outside our immediate family.  Most importantly how they give it so freely.  It reminded me of how I should be doing that in my own life.  Kids don’t think before they hug someone.  I, on the other hand question myself.  Should I hug my dear friend, should I not.  Is it okay to pat them on the back for a job well done?

 

After taking cues from my kids, I realized how important it is to show more affection.  Not only to my immediate family, but to other loved ones as well. 

It was so much fun to look back through my pictures and remember how affection has been a big part of raising our children.

Even when Jonathan and I hear the sound, “ooo” because we are kissing in front of the children.

…and now a few weeks later then promised, my scrapbook pages and love notes to my children in honor of February.

My challenge to you: write a love note to someone and show more affection then you normally do.

Improvise

Yesterday morning at 6:45 my alarm went off.  I sat on the edge of the bed and mumbled to Jonathan, “can I have the morning off?”  Sometimes I find getting the kids off to school the most daunting task.  I think it is because I am still half asleep, and I hate fighting them to get going.  I guess one would suppose after many school days the phrase, “how come you don’t have shoes on, or please eat your breakfast” would no longer have to be uttered.  They do.  I say them every morning.  In fact, sometimes I say them very loudly.

I did not take the morning off.  I got up, and got them going.  I made breakfast, and almost packed them a lunch.  Then Stella decided that she would like to try the ham and cheese sandwich that the school would be serving, so I talked Jex into is also.  At 7:45 we were out the door, and as I was driving I noticed the snow flurries begin to fall.  I waited in the car line, and told the kids I loved them as they jumped out of the car.

By 8:00 I was back home carrying around a very grumpy 15 month old, and by 8:15 the snow was really coming down.  At 8:20 I turned on the news and I knew it was time to take action.  It was time to go back and get the kids, and ten minutes later I got a text from the school saying they were closing at 9:00am due to weather.

Thanks so much school district.  I could have taken the morning off.  Next time there is threat of snow, I am just letting them sleep in.  I am just glad I didn’t make lunches that would have given me something to be really bitter about.

…and as Jex walks back through the door at 9:00am he says, “we are going to be going to school until July.”  I thought to myself that he was right.  If this crazy weather doesn’t let up you will.

My plans this whole week have been up in the air.  I planned to make it out to one of my favorite fabric stores.  I  have this sample I have been staring at and want to make pillows out of.  I had a play date scheduled, lunch with a friend, and funeral to go to.  I also need to get to the grocery store so I can finish my kids Valentines, and make food for the a super bowl party tomorrow.  Oh, and we have been invited to a friends for dinner tonight, and I needed ingredients for the dish I planned to take.  I also wanted to take some Love Photos of my kids this week.

SICK KIDS AND SNOW CHANGED ALL MY PLANS!!

I literally canceled almost everything that I had on my social calendar, and lets not forget my to-do list.

That is when it is time to improvise.

My plans were to go downtown with the kids for a fun photo shoot.  When it started to snow yesterday, I decided to take action and just cross something off my list.

Sometimes plan B turns out great, and you are grateful that plan A didn’t work in the first place.

The snow in the backyard seemed a great backdrop for Our Love photo shoot. (remember I already took pics of Tess.)

I had a lot of fun with Stella.  She really plays with me, and most of the time I just have to capture her being herself.  She loves to play up to the camera.

Here are a few of my favorites.

I think she loves pictures so much because I let her wear some of my jewelry and lip gloss.

I love the small little flecks of snow that are falling down.

She makes photography fun.  I love coming in and plugging these pictures in to my computer and being so pleased with the results.  A good subject really makes great photos.

The boys are never as fun to photograph.  They say things like, “okay, but only one photo”, and “are we done yet?”  I never seem to get all I want out of them.

After I loaded them and started looking I reminded myself that although they don’t play with me, that I am so grateful that I captured them today.

They are mine, and I am taking these pictures as a reminder of what I love about them right now.

I love that Jex looks so grown-up, and I was actually so happy with the few that he let me snap.

Isn’t he awesome flashing his “I love you” sign.

It was a good reminder of what I wanted these pictures to represent.

…and I was positive I had nothing good on Isaac.

….and then he looked at me with those eyes and I was smitten.

He makes me just want to pucker up and smooch him back.

Now I have something to cross off my list:

take Love photos in the month of February

make Valentines for the kids

 

I also crossed one more thing off my list.

Record what you love about your kids in the month of February

Done, Done, and Done!!

I made a scrapbook page for each child yesterday using these photos.  I wrote about them and what I love about them.

I will post the pages and thoughts tomorrow.  It’s just too much for one day.

I guess I am grateful we were snowed in.  I crossed some of the important things off my list.

A little love of mine.

This little love of mine and I had a little photo shoot the other day.

I just couldn’t resist these piggies.

…and lets not forget these piggies.

I love her so much.  She is so much fun at this age.

She is learning to communicate, and makes me laugh every day.

Like when I ask her if she is ready for a nap, and she tells me “no.”

   

She has been sick the last few days, so I have got in lots of snuggling.

Can I just say that I don’t think she should grow any more.

I have also been working on Valentines for my 4 little loves.  Do you want a sneak peak?

Here is Tessa’s:

Could she be any Sweeter?

I plan to make Love Potion for the kids classmates this year.

I saw that this little blog already beat me to the punch with their post, but I had a similar idea.

This is my printable.  I plan to wrap these little beauties around a water bottle.

I plan to cut them apart.  This makes six to a page. Once cut then you take off the original packaging, and replace it with this.  an 8 1/2 inch long strip fits perfectly around the bottle.  I have used hot glue in the past to seal the ends around the bottle.

Then I plan to buy the little packets that you dump in water bottles for flavor (red), of course.  Then I will add this little tag to it and tie it to the bottle.

If the children in my kids class love dumping packets in to water bottles as much as my kids do then I know this will be a hit.

We will also attach the homemade Valentine for each child that I will have printed at a photo store.

What do you think?

I will show you how it turns out once I get it all assembled.

I planned to have it done already, but I have been cooped up inside with sick kids. I can’t wait to get out!!

Now the big question.  What are you giving your children for Valentines?

 

Obedience

As the CEO of the Swenson Family, I am often bombarded with thoughts on how to make this family run smoother.  I also have thoughts and ideas of what I want to accomplish as a mother, truths I want my kids to know, and responsibilities that I have to find time for. 

To be honest, It can all make my mind swim a bit.

This last week, my mind has been doing just that.  I have been trying to figure out how I will squeeze in all the little extra’s that I feel are important for our family.

For example:

I want to bake more with the kids.  I want them to enjoy yummy homemade treats(which I don’t like to make because I eat them), but I don’t want to deprive the kids of that experience.  I also want them to help and learn how to be in the kitchen.

I want to spend time playing more games.

I need to make time to sit down with Jex and help him accomplish his scouting and Faith in God responsibilities.

I am also struggling with finding the appropriate time for our Family Scripture Study.

Sometimes my mind becomes overwhelmed and guilt ridden with what I need to find time for. 

Several years ago, a leader in our church talked about separating good tasks in to good, better, and best.(go here to read entire talk)

He said, “We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families.”  Dallin H. Oaks (2007)

He gives examples such as, it is good to hold a meeting, even better to teach a principle, and best to improve lives as a result of that meeting.

His talk led me to think about our own little family meeting.  As Mormons, we like to call this Family Home Evening.  We have set aside one night a week to be home, and share time with one another.

As a family, we have been working hard to do this.  We have set aside Monday evenings to be with one another.

I have to admit that I have been flying by the seat of my pants for the last 2 years.  I have gone in to our family meeting completely unprepared.  I decided that I am no longer going to do that.

I plan to make our Family time the BEST I can; our family deserves it.

And because this is a family meeting, I am making sure each person has a responsibility.  I have strived for this in that past, but have never really followed through. 

So in order to do so, Stella and I set out on a little project.  We made a new updated Family Home Evening Chart.

Each pocket is labeled with a different responsibility.

Song

Prayer

Scripture/Story

Lesson

Activity

Treat

Then we made a tag for each person to be placed in the pocket.  At the end of FHE we will rotate the tags and remind each family member of their responsibility so they have a whole week to think about it.

After our successful FHE this week, I  had an Ah-ha moment.

When we hold regular, successful FHE I can cross almost all my concerns off my list. 

I have spent Monday afternoons preparing a treat with one child.  We will play a game as part of our activity each week.  I will make sure we have time to read a few scriptures(I still hope to find more time, but this is a good start).  The weeks that Jex is in charge of the lesson, we will tackle something in his scout book and Faith in God.

I understand now why Obedience is so important.  The leaders of the LDS church have asked us to hold regular FHE. 

…and because we are obediently doing so; Family Home Evening cleared my mind.  What a blessing that is.

I encourage you to set aside time each week to share with your family, regardless if you are a Mormon or not.  It really does set a peaceful tone in your home, and you can learn so much about each other.

Our kids look forward to Mondays each week.  Now that I am little more organized, they are already talking about what we will do next week.