Creating Calm: Get Moving

Truth: Creating Calm in my house means helping my children learn how to relax.  
Myth: Calm means there is no time for getting "wound up".

In order to best find times of relaxation, we have to help our children learn the appropriate times to be crazy, noisy, and off the walls.  The trampoline has been in our home for a few weeks now and is a favorite way to work out excess energy.  When the boys get impatient for meals, or need a break from routine, the trampoline is one of our first choices.  It is so fun to watch them as they "trample" up and down.  They really enjoy releasing pent up energy!  They don't even know that they will be more able to relax later if they have used their muscles well.

Another friend of ours is the Vtech Giraffe Bike.  Cassius especially enjoys "riding" it when I ride the stationary bike.  He loves it that he can exercise with me.  Bonus: it has educational games on it.  He is learning to pedal a bike while he practices counting!  When we all get moving early in the day, nap and bed time are much easier.  Resting is more natural after we have really used our bodies!

How do you get your children moving early in the day to help them when it is time for necessary rest?

Creating Calm Linky

Link up below with your ideas about creating calm space in your life and family.  Please add the linky code (found on the right column of the page) to your post or blog.

Children's Museum Adventure

 

We love to adventure with the boys - especially when our adventures include an educational element.  This week he had the opportunity to visit the children's museum in Indianapolis.  The boys LOVE the hands-on exhibits.  They wore themselves out exploring our great big world.  I love watching them learn and greatly look forward to them getting a little older so they can take more time reading and understanding the fantastic displays!

Here is a peek at our adventure this week:

 The Dinosphere is an incredibly cool experience with life sized dinosaur skeletons!  There are computerized simlations, an archeology digging area, costumes and play eggs, toy dinosaurs and so much more.  We had to visit this area first - all 5 of the "big" kids insisted.


Manasseh got to touch a REAL dinosaur bone.  Many of the displays are models, and he was excited to have the opportunity to put his hands on a real bone from a real dinosaur.  That is big stuff for a 4 year old (or a 34 year old).





All 6 Poppy's Posse members: Princess, Bugman, Spaceman, $, Moo, and Scout.   They had a blast together (they usually do).

 

Princess said her favorite area was "Jolly Days" - the seasonal exhibit.   The boys, therefore, also said it was their favorite.  They liked climbing, fishing, skating, and taking care of the reindeer.  I got a kick out of my guys, Spaceman (above) found a bucket in the reindeer room and decided he should milk the reindeer.  His brother, naturally followed suit.

The Hot Wheels exhibit was pretty cool too.  the boys loved playing with the cars, especially the large ones they cold climb inside.  In the picture above, Cassius had enough of waiting for a turn and climbed inside on top of Bugman's lap so he could drive.

 

We stayed for just under 6 hours.  My boys were exhausted.  Scout fell asleep in the Hot Wheels exhibit and missed the end of the day.  The other boys fell asleep before we were out of Indianapolis.

I give the Indianapolis Children's Museum 5 stars for their hands on activities and family friendliness.  Parking is free.  There are food options in the museum, however they are more pricey than I like.  We brought a sack lunch and ate it in the van.     The museum is very clean and offers hand sanitizers in many locations.  Although the restrooms are very heavily used, they were always clean when we used them (with 6 kids we used the restroom quite a bit).

Looking forward to Easter

You read it right.  Easter. Christmas, the celebration of Christ's birth is over.  now it is time for us to begin looking forward to the celebration of his death on a nasty cross so that we could have an intimate relationship with God. 

Randy and I have begun preparing our home and family for the Easter celebration.  Okay, okay - so we have started in small ways.  The tree is still up (for today), there are still assorted Christmas goodies around the house.  We even have some more Christmas celebrating to do in the next week. 

Still, we have begun talking with the boys about the next celebration.  We want them to know that Christ's birth is a BIG deal.  Even more than that, we want them to know that his death means that we can live. 

As we are preparing for the next year in the life of the Crum family, we have laid out a course of study for the first 3 months of the year.   We will be exploring the gospels with the boys from January 1 through March 31.  Each week we are focusing on a different story as a family and will be learning it through a variety of formats - crafts, music, reading, games and more.  You are invited to follow along with us on my Friday posts. 

Here is our road to Easter schedule:

January

Jesus as a child

Jesus' baptism

Jesus calls disciples

Jesus loves children

February

Lazarus

Water into wine

Jesus heals the blind

Walking on water

March

Jesus calms the storm

Feeding of 5,000

Passover

Good Friday

Easter

Looking back on Advent

I can hardly believe that we have reached the end of the advent season.  We have truly been blessed this month as we have anticipated the celebration of Christ's birth as a family.  The advent calendar has given us purpose to our meal times and family together times.  It has helped us be intentional about remembering others and sharing the story of Christmas. 

My favorite activites from the last month:
*Christmas at the Farm - I love watching my boys experience the story first hand.  Manasseh has begged several times each week to go back. 
*Making Christmas ornaments.  The boys get so excited about art.  It is fun to help them complete projects.
*Collecting money and sending it to Heifer International. What a joy to work toward a goal as a family and bless other families around the world!
* Making presents for friends was a lot of fun too, the boys loved coloring wooden cars for some of their friends.  Their friends were blessed by them.  In fact, one friend added colors to his car and named it his "teamwork" car because Cassius had started it for him.
* The boys have loved every excuse to play with the nativity set and act out the Christ story. 

I am already looking forward to advent next year.  We have started talking about what activities we might add, and what we might change.  I urge you to begin considering practicing advent with your family next year.

Did you practice advent this year?  What are your favorite advent activities?

Advent Day 17

Do your kids love to play but sometimes need direction?  My boys would play all day long - jumping off of things, climbing anything they can find, rolling on the floor, tackling each other, etc.  They do play with their toys some, but they frequently need help to use them well.

Last night's advent was perfect for helping them practice using toys in a story-telling fashion.  Tonight they put the Little People Nativity Set up on the table and acted out the story of Christ birth.  They also had a lot of fun making up stories with the animals.  I love helping them learn the art of story telling through toys, through words, through song and art - any way they can practice it!  Here are a few shots from their nativity adventure.

I'm sure the safety guide would recommend that you do not put the manger on top of another manger.  It seems like a safety risk.  Apparently Mary and Joseph did not know better.

The horse was giving wagon rides to anyone that wanted them.  I especially enjoyed the turkey vulture getting a ride in the wagon.  Do you remember the part of the story where he swooped down to pick up the dead animal in the road?  Me neither, but in the boy's story there HAD to be a turkey vulture.

I also loved the positioning of the animals.  We had 3 baskets of food for them all to crowd around.  One of the camels and one of the donkeys decided that they needed a little nuzzling.

Have you used the Christmas story to help your children practice or learn story telling?  How have you done this with your children?

Advent Day 16

It's another "Candle Sunday".  This week our theme is "joy".  We talked about joy being like happiness.  They are similar because joy is actively choosing to recognize our contentment because of God's gifts in our life.  We talked about the gift of Jesus and sang "Joy to the World".  

We lit the candles together and remembered what each of the purple candles on our wreath stands for.  The boys prayed thanks to God for the joy that we have and for giving us Jesus.  To close our devotion time at the dinner table, they each got to use permanent markers (with very close supervision) to color an ornament that says "joy" on it.  They later put pipe cleaners through the small holes at the top of their ornaments and hung them pridefully on the tree!

Thank you God, that even in times of sorrow, you are our joy.  Your joy is my strength and when I have fear and doubt myself, I can rely on that strength to accomplish my daily tasks.  Amen.

Advent Day 11

Okay, I'm out of order.  It's been a busy few days.  

Tonight for advent we scheduled Christmas Caroling.  Then we had a flat tire that ended up keeping the boys and I away from home until dinner time.  That meant late dinner, and late bed time.  We decided to change our project (and we are thankful that our boys can't read yet).

We chose to make baby Jesus out of play dough!  The boys LOVED the project.  We had fun talking about what Jesus looked like (our babies have mustaches).  Here is a quick clip from our family time.

Finding Peace through Advent

Have you noticed that we tend to fast forward through our holidays?  We try and fill our time with all of the great festivities and busy ourselves with shopping.  Christmas time is frequently anything but peaceful.

This week, as we lit our advent candle, we talked about peace.  Peace is often a struggle - I like fast paced living.  I like the rush of adventure.  I fret about things like "am I doing enough to teach my boys" and "what should I be doing to make my home a healthier, happier place".  While these are great things to consider - I sometimes forget to allow myself to experience the peace of God.

This month, as we celebrate advent, Randy and I have set out family activities that help us focus on the season of Christmas.  We have something every day that points us to the anticipation of the coming of Christ.  The change of our change of focus, the other concerns are less.

My lesson: When Christ is my focus, my problems fade.

How has advent changed your family life?

Advent Planning

Advent is the season of waiting in expectation for the birth of Christ Jesus.  As Christians, we know that Christ was born over 2000 years ago, and we celebrate his birth because the birth and death of Christ mean that we have the opportunity to know God in a personal way.  We have the ability to go directly to God with needs and concerns.  That is nothing short of amazing.

Many churches celebrate advent by decorating with evergreens (the hanging of the greens), lighting candles in a special advent wreath, and a variety of special events that lead us in expectation as we remember the hope that came in the form of a baby.  Many families have special traditions related to advent as well.  I remember a few Christmas traditions that we shared in our family as we were growing up.  I loved this time of year because it meant time with the extended family.  We have a huge family and I love the smells, the sounds, the chaos at times.  I have such great memories growing up and celebrating the birth of Christ.  I don't, however, remember very many special "advent" activities that helped us focus our season on the birth of Christ.

I want to help my children celebrate advent.  I never really fully understood what the advent calendar was about.  I am learning that it is about helping us focus on Christ and anticipate the celebration of his birth, and our new birth in him!  Today I downloaded Everyday Emmanuel from What's in the Bible (a series that I am extremely fond of).  I have enjoyed reading through it and pulling out so many rich ideas for sharing this season with my family.  I am excited to begin building traditions with my boys.  Randy and I are already working on some activities that we will be doing as we celebrate this season as a family.  

Next week I will share about the activities that we have lined up.  I'll share about our homemade advent calendar and how our activities are going so far.  I'm excited to put things together!  As I think about the upcoming month I am looking for input on 2 main areas.  Please leave a comment below responding to my questions:

1) How do you celebrate the season with your family?  Are there old traditions that you stick to?  Do you have some new things in mind that you want to try out with your family this year?

2) Are there any special meals that you share mostly during this season?  Is there a favorite family recipe that is unique to the Christmas season?  Have you found a great recipe you plan to try this year?

Many blessings.

Connecting Generations

Connecting Generations

I have always loved my family.  I love knowing about my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents - second cousins, great aunts... and the list goes on.  

I wrote the other day about my desire for my children to be connected with their family in the same way I was with mine as I grew up.  One thing that really has helped us to begin connecting is caring for creation.  Perky Pets bird feeders and waterers have been great for learning to care for nature.  We are very pleased with our waterer!  The boys love watching the birds come to the feeder, and since this has been such a dry year, the water has helped our bird friends immensely!

This cute waterer is less than $11 and holds 1.5 quarts of water.  As birds are leaving our area, this jug seems to last for a long time before it needs to be refilled.  As with other Perky Pet products, it is excellent quality that will last to share for years to come!

*** Disclaimer: I have received a product in exchange for this review.  All opinions expressed are my own.***

Connections

Do you have special people in your life that had a big part in helping you become who you are today?

I do.  I have a lot of them.  I have this big, beautiful family that has formed me in so many ways, I can't even begin to share them well.  The picture above is my "Nonnie".  She is my mom's mom.  I adored Nonnie.  I remember as a child that her house always smelled a little bit like stale smoke - I hated it that she smoked, but now there's something familiar about that stale smell.  I don't like it -but it brings back memories.

Some of my favorite memories of Nonnie involve doing crafts, eating out, sharing holidays, and shopping.  Nonnie always had crafts at her house for the kids.  I loved the great variety of projects we worked on together.  I cherish those memories and I hope that some day my children will have similar memories of their grandparents.  Shopping was always a great adventure as well.  We always listened to kids music (mostly Raffi) in her car.  After shopping we inevitably had a hard time finding her car.  The reason?  "Humpty Dumpty stole the car again."  I have NO idea why it was Humpty Dumpty - but it ALWAYS was.

I miss my Nonnie.  She never lived close to us, but our visits were always very special.

I believe that this picture of my grandparents and some of my cousins (and myself) was taken at an aunt's wedding.  Grandma and Grandpa loved their big family - 7 children, 18 grandchildren - and now nearly as many great-grandchildren.  I was fortunate to live near my grandparents and most of my cousins when I was growing up.  They were an integral part of my world from the time I was an infant.

My grandparents were an example of faith, love, and joy.  They always had time to talk.  They loved being with their family.  When grandpa passed I remember seeing pictures of him all over the apartment - it seemed like he was always holding a baby.  

Some of my favorite memories with my grandparents were watching birds, playing scrabble and yahtzee, sitting with them during breakfast devotions, and sitting for hours in the living room just talking.  They were great hosts with a zest for life that I hope to imitate. 

I want my children to have godly examples of living like I did.

These are my cousins (minus the youngest 3 and Pete is only there via photo).  Again - they were a large part of my world as I grew up.  We are a unique collection of artistic individuals.  We were all privileged to have been raised in a loving family that knew how to do community.  In times of need our parents stepped up to help each other out.  It's amazing to see where life has taken us.  I love each of these fantastic people so much.

I want my kids to be close with their cousins.  When they look back on growing up, I want them to remember that family is a community.  I want them to have fantastic memories of what it means to be part of a loving family.

These are my sisters - okay, one is ACTUALLY my cousin - but remember how I said that we took care of each other?  Ashlee, in so many ways, is our baby sister.  In fact, one of our foster sons (and a couple of our children) have thought that she WAS our sister.  I like that.

These are our babies that were born in 2010.  It was so much fun to have the experience of watching our bellies grow together - and now watching our little boys grow together.  They will all turn 3 between January and April.  My boys have cousins close to their age.  I hope they think of them as close family that they can depend on as they grow.

__________________________________________________

It seems like so many of us have lost the connections we used to have with our families.  Family seems to be a much looser term now than it was when I was growing up.  The definition is changing all the time.  I am glad to be part of a beautiful, big birth family.  I am also glad to have family that was not born to me, but has been adopted into our lives.  My kids have aunts, uncles, and cousins that are not at all blood related.  I am so glad for those connections.

I'm sad too.  We don't live TOO far from our parents and siblings, but far enough away that we don't get to see them every week, or even every couple of weeks.  I wish that my kids were able to spend more time with these important people, building bonds that will not fade as they age.  I am looking for new ways to help my children build those connections with their family.  We want to ensure that our children know they are deeply loved, not just by us, but by their extended family.  They are important and special.  I pray they begin to recognize each person's uniqueness and celebrate it as much as we do.

If you are part of my family - thank you for who you are.  We love you.  If I haven't seen you for a while - know that I miss you, I pray for you.  I am looking forward to the next time I see each of you.  

How do you help your children make connections with your family?  Do you have special traditions that help you keep relationships?  Do you share recipes, stories, pictures?  

Black Friday Shopping

Yep.  I'm one of those crazies.  My mom, sister and I enjoy going Black Friday shopping together.  We don't go for the "big deals" (although I've gotten a few of those myself).  We go for the adventure.  Believe me - it IS an adventure!  I thought I'd share a little bit about our night last night - and it's killing me that I don't have pictures to share!

Our first stop was Target.  They opened at midnight, we got there shortly before opening.  We talked with folks in line and enjoyed getting ready for the adventure.  Oh - this might be a good point to mention that I wore baby Crum while we shopped - the whole time.  

At midnight the line did NOT start moving.  They had done a fantastic job of splitting the line up into groups of approximately 30 and were planning to let people in every 20 seconds.  It seemed like a reasonable system, so why wasn't it moving? Well - another line had formed in the opposite direction and people were trying to push their way into the store.  The employees waited for police to come and deal with the line-jumpers, before letting everyone in.

It all worked out, we got inside.  This was the most calm Black Friday experience I can recall.  Target in Anderson did a fantastic job preparing for the mad rush.  I purchased 2 seasons of a favorite television show, found pajamas for the kids (Nana buys those for Christmas every year), and we headed out the door.  We then discovered flashing lights - a fire truck and an ambulance.  The rumor is that someone had a seizure in their car - yikes.  Prayers to that person.

We planned to go to Meijer store at 4 - we had a few hours to kill, so we stopped at Walmart.  We roamed the aisles, most of the big shoppers had cleared out already, and the special deals were largely gone.  Not a big deal, my mom and sister each found a couple of items that they thought they needed.

Our final stop of the morning was Meijer store.  They had some nice cast iron dutch ovens that had me drooling.  I was really looking forward to getting one and ditching my old dutch oven.  Before heading inside, I fed Baby Crum for a few minutes and discovered that he had soaked through his cloth diapers (we're having a ton of trouble getting diapers that are tight enough on his legs).  He generally sleeps until about 6, so I hadn't thought to bring a spare - oi.  We went inside, found those way cool dutch ovens, and headed to the diaper aisle.  I picked up diapers and wipes and went to the restroom for changing - problem?  Baby had leaked POO through the leg.  Thanks to some generous friends, we had a Meijer gift card and I was able to send my sister to pick out an outfit for him.

I took his diaper back tot he car, returned to find my family chatting with some of their church friends.  We decided not to get the beautiful dutch ovens - because they were MUCH smaller than we had anticipated - bummer.  I sat down while my family talked... and suddenly was very aware that I felt incredibly sick.  Maybe I was just tired, I tried to convince myself.

An hour before the sale, my mom and sister convinced me to go sleep in the car.  Baby and I headed out of the store. 

NOW

Here's my favorite part of the whole story.

A cowboy stopped me on the way out, he eyed me and said, "Is there a child in there?"  

I nodded and said, "mmmhmm"

"REALLY?"  The cowboy exclaimed.

I replied, "yep" and pulled the sling aside to show him the baby.

His eyes grew wide and the cowboy said, "OH MY".

As I walked away I realized that I had been talking to a cowboy.  How did I know?  This man had been riding the mechanical penny horse and eating a sucker.  Yep.  A full grown man, riding the kids' horse at the store.

Okay, back to the adventure.  Baby and I slept in the car.  Mom and sis came back just after 4.  We headed home.  I laid on my parent's house (my big boys were both in the bed with Mr. Crum).  Within an hour I was up, running.. vomiting.  Yuck.

A rough black Friday with a good start.

Did you have any black Friday adventures?

Wordless Wednesday: Billey Family Generations

Renew, Restore, Refresh

It's that time again.  I feel like I have this constant struggle with my commitment to health and I'm just not sure how to rectify it.  It's really been a struggle recently, and being pregnant hasn't been helpful for that.  In fact, a lot of days I just want to snack all day long.

Did I mention it's HOT?  Not just outside either, we have AC in our bedroom and the boy's bedroom - the rest of the house currently ranges from 82-90 degrees depending on the time of day.  YUCK!  The heat makes me not want to do ANYTHING at all.

Anyway, I'm writing about "Renew, Restore, Refresh"...

The basics: I'm working on changing the way we live - not just me, the whole family.  This includes our commitment to physical health, relationships outside the house, order within the house, the way we use our money, and consistency of scheduling.

I intend to blog about this very regularly over the next several months as we make some positive family changes.  I would love to have people share their ideas, stories, and encouragement with me.  I'd also really love it if people who know me - I mean for real know me - would check in... heck, even offer help if you've got some to offer!

This week I'll be focusing more specifically on what things I am going to be working on "renew, refresh, and restore" with.

Thanks to all for your support as I work on bettering my family.

Spring Cleaning

Okay, so it is not quite spring, but it sure has felt like it this week.  It has been so nice to take the boys out for some fresh air.  They love going for walks.  We walked to the store a couple of days ago and Crackers sang the whole way there and all the way back!  It was a great trip!

With spring comes spring cleaning - I don't know why this is, maybe because we can open our windows and breathe deeply while we air things out.  It just feels good to do a deep clean sometimes, and what better time to do it than while our bodies feel alive like the flowers that are starting to pop up!

So it is that I find myself in "spring cleaning" mode.  Now, I am not talking about cleaning my house (though I should).  I am talking about cleaning up my life.  I want to get things organized, get into a better, more consistent routine with my boys.  I want to figure out why our schedule makes it so difficult for Randy and I to get time with just the two of us and clean that up so it can happen. 

Ahh, the scent of the fresh air in my nostrils.  The feel of aliveness in my body.  Time to get cleaning (my home has to get cleaned for this to work too).

What is your favorite part of spring cleaning?  What is your most dreaded part? 
Are there things in your life that need to get cleaned up too?

Post Party Pleasure

We love parties, birthday parties are extra fun.  We had a fantastic time celebrating Crackers' first birthday yesterday.  Friends and family came and shared snacks and cakes, laughs and presents.  It was great.  We really missed our friends that were snowed in, and our family members that were sick and could not make it.  The boys stayed up HOURS past their bedtime and one of them had a hard time going to sleep. 

Even though we had an amazing time at Crackers' party, I think the best time of night was after everyone had left.  I took Crackers up to his room and read the first story out of his new Bible storybook, then snuggled.  Randy brought Monkey up a few minutes later and the little guy insisted on sitting on the arm of the recliner.  Randy and I sang with them, then Randy read the first story out of the book to Monkey.  And followed it with Monkey's favorite bedtime book.

Randy and I had spent some time previewing story Bibles and settled on this one.  The Adventure Bible Storybook is wonderfully written, with beautiful artistry.  The boys loved looking at the pictures while we read the stories.  I really look forward to using this every day with them.

My Word

My sister shared a challenge with me this week.  She read something that a friend had written about choosing a word to strive for this year, instead of a goal or a resolution.  Simply a word.  It can be anything, as long as it is meaningful and you desire to achieve it.  I have thought about this for a couple of days and finally come to a decision about my word for 2011. 

GROW

It seems like I often end up in a rut, a dead place.  I look around and feel like we are back in the same mess, with the same problem, and no solution.  I frequently feel dull, unexcited, un-passionate, and lacking in areas that are so important to me.  I lack in faith, in family relationship, in kind words, in friendship, in energy, in health.  Oi!  I sometimes feel dead - like I am in the middle of winter.

In the coming year I want to focus on growing in all of those areas.  I want to grow personally, and with my family.  I am confident that I will grow in ways that I never imagined possible.  I am also certain that there will be times when I feel stuck and dead.  I hope that others will hold me accountable and ask about how I am growing.  Right now I am looking for the little bits of beauty popping up from the snow of my winter.  I am working to nurture these things with the help of my God and my family.  It is the start of a beautiful year.

My two little men, who started out so small are growing.  Crackers turns 1 on Saturday and Monkey will be 2 1/2 next week!  I look forward to helping them each grow in strength, independence, knowledge, faith, and wisdom.  I hope they grow in stature also - poor Monkey is going to be shorter than his brother by the end of the year if he doesn't hurry up and grow some.  These sweeties are a thing of beauty, a hidden nest, in the days that seem short and dark.

Now, I know that the word "grow" is not magical and that focusing on a word  is not going to make every day feel like 100%.  I also know that God is with me and guiding me.  As I grow in Him more over the next year, what some days feels like a cold, dead winter, will be a lush green forest of growth.  

Thank you, God for the opportunity to grow in you and in so many other ways.  I look forward to the coming year of growth that will bring so many surprises.  Help me to lean hard on you on the cold days and remember the beautiful things that I have seen around me.

What about you?  Do you have a word?  Do you want to grow?