Little Things in Life

Every morning begins with me getting up and getting ready for work. I usually wait to wake Addi up until 5:45am, so she has just enough time to get ready before we have to leave. You really don't know which child you are getting out of bed until you get into her room....evil Addi or sweet Addi. If sweet Addi gets out of bed, then the morning routine is smooth sailing. If evil Addi rolls out of bed....watch out. A simple task such as putting on your socks turns into a major screaming, yelling affair. When these crazy morning happen, it 1) makes me questions why I want 2 more children, 2) makes me want to yell back (yeah, that works great), and 3) makes me appreciate the weekends that much more. Everywhere we go, we are constantly rushing, i.e. herding squirrels, from one place to the other. 

This is why I think you should appreciate the little things in life more often. You don't need a lot of money to entertain your kids. Here is a list of a few things my girls absolutely love to do that cost less than $5. 

1) Make hot chocolate and popcorn and watch a movie together.

2) Make cupcakes or cookies and decorate them. I used to do this when I taught 2nd grade and you would not believe how ecstatic kids were to do this. 

3) Go on a walk outside. Our girls love taking a bag of carrots and feeding the horses that live outside of our neighborhood. 

4) Pull out a few magazines and ask your kids to pick out things that they are thankful for. I did this with my 4 year old and I was pleasantly surprised by how thoughtful she could be. She picked things like a house and she told me she was thankful for it because she had a place to sleep....and keep her toys. Don't get me wrong, we picked out a Justin Beiber too. Don't wanna leave him out! 

5) Play in the leaves! Lance blew a big pile of leaves together and the girls had a blast!

Have fun and enjoy some relaxing time with the family!