A Perfect Halloween

Today was Halloween.  Judging  by the fact that I actually have the time/energy to blog about this on the same day, just shows how perfectly it went!

Caveat: Lately, I have realized the need to simplify. I have been trying to do this in MANY areas of my life.  Mostly out of necessity with having 2 extra kids living with us.  My mantra has turned into, "ok, what can I cut out?" :)

In past Halloweens I have noticed that by the end of the day I feel exhausted.  I put so much effort into making the day super fun and memorable for my kids, but after today (a day of simplifying) I realized I have been going overboard!

Today was memorable and fun, yet simple!  I got up, got the kids all ready, sent them to school.  Got myself ready, the girls ready, and headed to the school for the costume parade.  I wound up being 30 minutes early...which was on accident, but turned out really nice.  I was able to drop things off the kids classes that they needed. Talked to Jake, the duty guard, his teacher, and other kids about how he crashed and burned on his skateboard on the way to school.  He will probably lose a fingernail as a result.  But he was fine by the time I saw him.  

Because I was 30 minutes early, the girls and I calmly found 3 chairs from which to comfortably watch all 3 kids (M, J, and London) march through confidently showing off the spooky digs.  The girls were happy.  I was happy.

We left, headed to Papa Murphy's for a Jack-o-Lantern pizza, and even had time to go to Costco to meet Trev for lunch.

We then headed back to the school to help with J's Halloween Party.  I was in charge of the Mummy Musical Chairs (tp and music...SO EASY..not much fuss or prep).  The girls hung out, then we left and took J with us.  His finger was throbbing.  But the pain seemed to fade as we headed to Walmart to get him a new skateboard which he paid 1/2 for!  He was all smiles. :)

In the late afternoon we came home.  Hung out.  The kids played.  I tootled around the house.  Not stressed.  Not trying to cram too much in...something I would normally do.  I just let the day pass and enjoyed it.  Then while the pizza cooked, I prepped the trick-or-treaters one final time and took pictures individually.  I would normally try to have them all together...why??!!!  The group shots NEVER turn out, and I wind up frustrated.  I also would take them RIGHT as they were trying to leave to collect oodles of candy...not this time.  They actually were happy about the picture-taking!!! See??

I passed out candy for a bit while Trev took the little girls candy-collecting.  At each house Abby would ask for 2 candies instead of 1. :)

Once Trev got back, Abby, Morgan, and I headed out.  I took my neighbor girls as well.  Jake went with his buddies Luke and Cam.  We girls had a blast!  I SERIOUSLY loved it!  Plus the weather was AMAZING.  We didn't even need jackets!  I got to chat with neighbors.  Be my the fun mom I dream about for a bit.  It was truly great.

As the night drew to a close and all the kids were back home we hung out together.  We even read spooky stories before bed.  Another thing my energy level has not supported lately. :)

Today taught me something great.  I don't need to cram things in to make our holiday (or our lives for that matter) memorable.  I just need to do the important things, and let the rest go.  What my kids will remember about today was how I was with them.  How I made them feel.  They will remember how much fun we had, and the love they felt from me.

I am grateful for the lesson of this Halloween.

Doing less lends to loving more.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Attitude of Gratitude

This morning, while running I had a truckload of inspiration.  I wanted to record it quick before other matters  began to crowd it out in my mind.

Last night, after leaving our Lighten family Halloween party, something happened.  Immediately upon getting in the car to drive home, complaints started!  Here these kids had just had a fun party, lots of candy, costumes, the whole nine-yards laid out for them, but what is the first response when it was over?  complaint.  

How disappointing I thought.

In addition, while collecting last minute things for Halloween yesterday at Target, I experienced one of my biggest pet peeves - how the stores start putting up Christmas stuff even before Halloween!  I get so bugged that each year, one of the BEST holidays of the year gets ignored.  The one where we are supposed to be focused on the blessings we have, not the things we don't.  

Hearing my kids complain just topped it all off.  So this morning while running I realized something.  An attitude of gratitude needs to be cultivated in my life and my family.  Thanksgiving is coming, what a perfect month to focus on gratitude.

So here is the inspiration I received.

1.  Use the whole month of November to count our blessings.  Record each on  a slip of paper from each member of the family at dinner each night.  Connect those papers to make a chain.  String the chain throughout the house.  Watch it grow.  Comment on how it grows.  Watch for how focusing on the blessings in our lives affects how we treat each other, our conversations, our lives.  

2.  Invite others in our family to join the quest?  With everything going on as a result of a recent tragedy, Trev's family has a lot to murmur about.  Encourage everyone to be grateful.  Invite them to join the experiment.  Link all our chains at Thanksgiving or Christmas?

3.  Get a white board and write inspirational quotes on it.  Post it in kitchen.  

4.  Update Lighten Family Motto: 
          "Love & Lighten"

5.  Spearhead this by being grateful myself.  Change myself and watch how others react.  Do they change?

I will start now.  I am grateful for my Heavenly Father who loves me.  Who knows me.  Who watches over me.  Who understands me.  Who sent His Son to die for me.  Who hears and answers my prayers, both silent and aloud.  Who sends just the inspiration I need at that moment.  My heart is full this morning.  I know with my Savior's help, I can do anything.  I can do this!

It's going to be a great month...I can feel it.

A&C head off to Preschool

It is official...my babies have started Preschool!  Seriously, when did that happen??  (Oh like a month ago. :))  

It is only 2 days a week for 2 hours each day...but in "mom time" that means 4 hours each week all by myself!!!  It goes by fast, but I am happy about that.  I would miss them too much if it were more.

The girls are attending Miss Mikki's USA Tykes  Preschool (M&J's alma mater).  They love it, just like the other kids did.  And I have to say, that I think they are the cutest preschoolers ever! ;)

Here they are on the big day:

Here they are meeting THE infamous Miss Mikki...she won them over quickly. :)  

They may look a little freaked out, but really they were just wanting to play with the toys more than take pictures. ;)  

Love these girls!  Can't believe how fast they are growing. :(

Closing Out Cali

This will be my final installment in documenting our fun family vacation 2012 - Cali Style...

Part 5 - A Vacation for Us All.

Over the last 8 years of our "Adventures in Parenthood" we have started to learn a few things.

When it comes to family vacations:

1. Kids and adults alike LOVE vacations.

2. Little kids can struggle on vacations because of lack in structure, schedules, and routines.

Items 1 & 2 led us to believe this:

3. When taking kids on vacation, you have to go into it with the mindset that this is a vacation for them...not necessarily what you would want to do.

Ultimately we realized if the kids are having fun...we would all have fun and enjoy ourselves.

For the longest time, we were good with this realization.  That is until we discovered something magical...we took a trip and brought a babysitter!  It changed our traveling lives!

My youngest sister, Jessica, is the ripe old age of 15.  She is uber-sweet, and seems to adore our family. :)  Plus she is down for fun travel whenever she can squeeze it in.  So when we started talking about our Cali-trip, immediately we thought..."HEY, let's bring Jess!  It would be fun for her, and fun for us.  WIN, WIN." :)

So we did. :)

This is my cute sister who doubles as Best Aunt Ever, and step-in nanny when us adults need some time out on vacation.  She truly has become crucial to our trips.  Because of this amazing girl...Cali became a vacation for us all.

This gorgeous young lady is truly amazing...in soo many ways.  We all adore her tremendously.  Our kids were lucky to have her in their lives.  

We are lucky to have her in ours.

Sure love you sister. ;)

Here is the result of her self-less service.

Good-bye Cali...hope to be back soon!

Cali Party continued...

Part 4 : Living it up at classy Montage, Family Photo Shoot, and Ruby's Shake Shack

The last beach we went to on our beach-hopping extravaganza was "Montage Beach." 

This beach was located at the foot of some stunningly gorgeous cliffs in a super-ritzy part of So Cal.  It was named after the 5-trillion star (yes, that was the official rating) Montage Hotel.

To say it was beautiful would be an understatement.  Witness for yourselves.

We basically spent our day playing in Paradise.

Agenda items: 1. Sand pit digging and decorating.

2. Wave-catching and jumping

3. Assorted beach sports - including football and paddle ball, and good ol' fashion sand-slinging.

4. Lounging, relaxing, and hamming it up for the camera.

Above are J's famous "Chicken Wings", he is quite proud of these. :)

5. Last but not least, picking up chicks, and the occasional melt-down moment.  (this is the real life folks - and let's face it, it's not always pretty)

I guess no one can stay sad too long at this beach. ;)

Because it was so stunning, I quickly determined THIS beach would be the backdrop for our 2012 Family Photo Shoot.

I revealed these in a previous post, but just in case you forgot...here's a little refresher (for more see previous post).

Man I LOVE this crew. :)

After a full day playing at the beach, we had one other agenda item to attend to...we promised the kids a trip to RUBY'S Shake Shack to watch the sunset...we'll just say they were pleased. :)

Honestly, does it get any better than this?

Now just in case you were thinking, wow...what great parents these guys are to sacrifice so much time, money, and effort to show these kids a great time...my next, and final installment will illustrate how we were able to have a fun vacation for the kids while simultaneously enjoying ourselves.

I would like to call this final section:  

Part 5 - A vacation for us all.