Whatever You Do, Do it WITH Them

I recently heard this saying...

"Whatever you do, do it WITH them."

So, I'm definitely not always doing things with my kids... even though I'm completely passionate about motherhood and blog about it :).  And involving them in everything is just not realistic or possible.  Kids having some play time alone is great... my kids are just not quite at the stage yet where they can play alone together for a long time without some serious issues :).  Some days can be so tough and I can so easily lose sight of my vision and hopes.  I find myself getting easily agitated with the littles when I'm just trying to get something done! Sometimes a little show or movie is my saving grace to whip up some dinner, to clean up the spills, to squeeze in a two-second shower :), or to just have one ounce of time to attack my to do list or a deep breath to feel a moment of peace!!  And, I also find myself feeling guilty about the times when I'm not with them giving them my whole best self.  But... I will not give up!   I re-vow each day to try again and be a little more like the mother I want to be.  

You hear many experienced mothers talk about how fast your kids grow up and how it's gone all too quickly. These mothers are about in tears as they talk about how important the little daily moments are (especially when they are all gone captured only in photographs).  It's funny how while in the trenches, certain days can feel like an eternity.  But, in 10 or 20 years, I'm not going to care about the to do list that I had accomplished.  I'm going to care about the cute moment tonight when Brayden and Hailey chugged their fruit shakes together while sitting on the kitchen table.  And the way he put his arm around her and how they giggled together ...  

I'm going to care that I took the time to develop deep relationships with my husband and children.  I feel like I have to learn the same lesson over and over again!!  But I just so desire to BE there more WITH them... to laugh more and to share more and more meaningful moments together.  THAT is what really matters most... not just spending time living in the same house, but pouring out my whole focus and love to them!    

So recently I've been trying out the power of INVOLVING my kids a little more in what I am doing.  

In an attempt to help my picky eater be somewhat healthy, TOGETHER we made raspberry wheat rolls with cream cheese frosting.  He pretty much only licked the frosting off, but we had so much fun making it - and making a big mess too :)

This week, I actually had Brayden put all the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. With a little training, I was completely amazed and how well he did!! He was just beaming with excitement and giddiness that he could do it.  (Here's a post about how to train your kids to work and another post about why working together is so important... both things I need to remember!)

For the first time, "all the buddies" (a.k.a. me, steve, brayden, and hailey) washed our car TOGETHER!  Both kids had a blast in all the bubbles and feeling like they had a job to do.

Even though we had a ton of housework to do when Steve got home from work, we just took off and hiked to a waterfall TOGETHER!... something we have talked about doing for years!  And if you can believe it - instead of being so rushed to get there and back, we actually took time to throw rocks over the bridge and to explore around...

And so I write this post to remind myself (since I need the reminder every single day!) to do and be MORE WITH THEM.  In all of your life's craziness, I hope you forgive yourself when you're not your best and feel encouraged to enjoy your children more!!  Your precious children need and want YOU desperately, and now is the precious time to make it happen.