B+C+B+C+B+C: New habits

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

New habits

We're two weeks into the Slim Down For Summer challenge on my friend Michelle's FunOnADime blog. It's going SO well! I love the motivation to improve my habits. I've earned full points every day, except for a few nights I didn't get at least 6 hours of sleep. I'll give you two guesses why. But the no-added-sugar and 8pm food curfew are awesome - I feel SO much better and healthier. And honestly - not deprived at all. The world is so full of yummily delicious foods that are good for you... it's not hard to cut out the crap once you get the right mindset going. Oh, and the fact that I'm COMPETING for PRIZES.... get ready for a "I WON THE CHALLENGE" post 6 weeks from now! Nothing like a little extrinsic motivation to keep ya going.
This week's "bonus point" opportunity was to simply do something fun and new with your kids/family. So I let the nanny and butler have a few days off, told Dora adios, and tried to do something more creative than just go to the park (lately our second home on these warmish Spring days).
Then I remembered I have no creative bones in my body.
So we settled for the "new" part and ventured out on a walk, stopping whenever Brianna saw something she wanted to do. Like balance-walk on a rock wall:

And run around the playhouse at McDonalds. (is it trashy to use their equipment without buying anything?? I don't want Brianna to find out that food is available there!)

And stop and stare at the guy from Liberty Tax getting paid to stand outside and wave around that sign. Now THAT would be my dream job. (so sarcastic. It looks like mind numbing torture)

We also made a dozen home videos with my fake-Flip camera (cheap knockoff from Dell, but it works well enough!) and then I let the kids watch them. They all looooove to watch videos of themselves. Vain, vain children...

And finger paint... with q-tips. Somehow our finger paints lost their thick consistency and got watery. So instead of paint brushes that I'd have to clean (because heaven knows I already have enough things to clean), we just use CHEAP q-tips... the ones that are $3 for 1000 of them. We'll re-use them a couple times but then just toss.

And I think we did some other new, fun activities.... but I have no more pictures, and I can't even remember what happened 5 minutes ago, so I won't try to conjure up memories from the week.
Honestly - seriously honestly - I'm just glad at the end of the day that we all are alive and well. That seems like a big accomplishment to me some days.

2 comments:

Natalia said...: I'm impressed with all of your new fun activities.; April 19, 2011 at 9:53 PM
Michelle {Fun On a Dime} said...: Look at you, Fun Lady! You did a lot last week and everyone looks like they are enjoying it!; April 21, 2011 at 7:58 PM

Quotes I want to remember

"The Lord knows our bearing capacity, both as to coping and to comprehending, and He will not give us more to bear than we can manage at the moment, though to us it may seem otherwise. Just as no temptations will come to us from which we cannot escape or which we cannot bear, we will not be given more trials than we can sustain."
- Neal A. Maxwell

"It is a fundamental truth that the responsibilities of motherhood cannot be successfully delegated. No, not to day-care centers, not to schools, not to nurseries, not to babysitters. We become enamored with men's theories such as the idea of preschool training outside the home for young children. Not only does this put added pressure on the budget, but it places young children in an environment away from mother's influence."
-Ezra Taft Benson

“Perhaps there has never been a time when we had greater need to pray and to teach our family members to pray. Prayer is a defense against temptation. It is through earnest and heartfelt prayer that we can receive the needed blessings and the support required to make our way in this sometimes difficult and challenging journey we call mortality.”
-Thomas S. Monson

“Live the gospel as conspicuously as you can. Keep the covenants your children know you have made. And bear your testimony! Don’t just assume your children will somehow get the drift of your beliefs on their own.
-Jeffrey R. Holland

"We hold in our arms the rising generation. They come to this earth with important responsibilities and great spiritual capacities. We cannot be casual in how we prepare them. Our challenge as parents and teachers is not to create a spiritual core in their souls but rather to fan the flame of their spiritual core already aglow with the fire of their premortal faith."
-Neil L. Andersen

"Certainly there are times when getting the family together to read the scriptures does not stack up as a spiritual experience worthy of a journal entry. But we must not be deterred. There are special times when the spirit of a son or daughter is just right and the power of these great scriptures goes down into their heart like fire. As we honor our Heavenly Father in our homes, He will honor our efforts."
-Neil L. Andersen

President Hinckley admonished both men and women to be nurturers. He said, ‘How much more beautiful would be the society in which we live if every father . . . and . . . mother regarded [their] children . . . as gifts from the God of heaven . . . and brought them up with true affection in the wisdom and admonition of the Lord.’ ”
-Susan W. Tanner

"Children are like trees. When they are young, their lives can be shaped and directed, usually with ever so little effort. Said the writer of Proverbs, 'Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it' (22:6). That training finds its roots in the home. There will be little of help from other sources. Do not depend on government to help in this darkening situation. Barbara Bush, wife of former U.S. president George Bush, spoke wisely: 'Your success as a family, our success as society, depends not on what happens at the White House, but on what happens inside your house.' "
-Gordon B. Hinckley

“I give counsel to husbands and wives. Pray for the love which allows you to see the good in your companion. Pray for the love that makes weaknesses and mistakes seem small. Pray for the love to make your companion’s joy your own. Pray for the love to want to lessen the load and soften the sorrows of your companion.”
-Henry B. Eyring

“Reverent behavior is not a natural tendency for most children. It is a quality that is taught by parents and leaders through example and training. But remember, if reverence is rooted in love, so is the teaching of it. Harshness in our training begets resentment, not reverence.”
-Margaret S. Lifferth

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else."
- M. Russell Ballard

“As parents, we should remember that our lives may be the book from the family library which the children most treasure. Are our examples worthy of emulation? Do we live in such a way that a son or a daughter may say, ‘I want to follow my dad,’ or ‘I want to be like my mother’?”
-Thomas S. Monson

“Security for our families comes from learning self-control, avoiding the excesses of this world, and being temperate in all things.”
-Kent D. Watson

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

New habits

2 comments:

Pageviews last month