Managing the MotherLoad by Jennifer Applin

Freebies

Did your kids do some reading this summer? It's not too late to take advantage of the Barnes and Noble Summer Reading program. This program is for school-age children entering grades 1-6 this fall. Print off the Summer in the Magic Tree House Reading Journal and have your child list eight books they read over the summer and a brief description of their favorite part of the story. Then take the completed form to Barnes and Noble by September 2nd and you'll receive a coupon for a FREE book (limit 2 completed forms/coupons per child). With the coupon you can choose from a list of paperbacks, all for doing what you kids love to do anyway!

I love checking out Parentdish and yesterday they posted about how you can get a free advance copy of the Disney Princess Enchanted Tales Follow Your Dreams DVD. All you have to do is leave a comment on this site with your e-mail address and she'll contact you so Disney can send you the DVD. After you watch the movie you need to review it on your blog or leave a comment on that site. The DVD is then yours to keep!

Smart Habit Saturday

Check out this great new banner Lara at The Lazy Organizer has for Smart Habit Saturday! Of course my habit of participating in SHS hasn't exactly taken off, but I'm giving it another shot. Here's my previous list and my progress:

EXERCISE-let's start with 30 minutes 3x's a week for now.~uhh no, this one hasn't been happening, but I knew it would be the hardest to fit in.

LAUNDRY-2-3 loads a day Mon-Sat. But here's the kicker-it has to be put away!!~I was doing pretty good here until this week with getting back from the lake. I am doing a major downsizing with the amount of clothes everyone has in general, so this should help.

READ TO MY KIDS DURING LUNCH-I do read to them regularly, but I've found that reading during lunch helps keep their lunchtime goofing off in check.~I need to work on this more. My babysitter who is here three mornings a week has started doing this and it seems to be working pretty good.

DAILY SCRIPTURE/DEVOTION TIME-I'm really working on having a Christ-centered life and keeping His plan for me at the forefront of my mind.~This will never be perfect, but I'm happy with my progress.

MEAL PLANNING-Must do this. NO excuses!~This is still not a habit, but getting there.

READ DAILY-DURING THE DAY-I love to read for pleasure, but I usually wait until I crawl into bed around midnight. Therefore I get through about a page and a half before I fall asleep. I want to treat myself to about 30 minutes of reading somewhere, somehow before going to bed.~Nope, not yet. Maybe now that school is starting back up I'll be able to fit this in.

BE MORE DILIGENT WITH MY PLANNER-I flaked on a doctor's appt this week-enough said!~I've been doing a ton of work setting up a new planner system and home organizer. It's great!

STICK WITH A TO-DO/ROUTINE LIST FOR THE KIDS- they benefit from habits just as much as I do. I just need to help them manage this more.~Still putting the finishing touches on this now that school is starting.

LISTEN TO MUSIC DAILY-I have a wide range of music on my computer, so there's sure to be something to suit my mood. In the evenings when I like a little background noise while I work, music is a better choice over the TV. It's inspiring and uplifting without being distracting.~I'm doing this about half of the time.

GO TO BED EARLIER-I think sleeping 11-6:30/7 is best for me. That way I can get up a little before my kids do and actually wake up before I start meeting the needs of four little ones.~Most nights I'm getting to bed earlier.

Here's my new habit to add to the list:

START DRESSING NICER EVERYDAY-I'm a yoga pants junkie! I love just being comfortable everyday especially since I'm at the computer so much. But I think the "just-got-back-from-the-gym" look (when I haven't even been) is getting old. So I'm focusing on dressing nicer, yet still selecting clothes that I'll be comfortable in.

For more SHS check out The Lazy Organizer!

Back from the Lake

Sorry for the lack of posts! We've been gone squeezing in one last summer vacation before my daughter started back to school. Here's a few pics from our time at the lake:

My hubby with our little guy

 Who knew my daughter could fly?

 My surfin' 4-year-old

Of course my 2-year-old wants to be like the bigger kids!

Let's hit the open sea...errr I mean lake.

Hey mom, feed me lunch so I can quit eating sand!

Not sure what kind it is, but the kids were excited to find this swimming near by (notice I said the KIDS were excited-I was not!). 

So that's my excuse for my blogging hiatus :-)

Thank You Kind Lady at Kohls

One complaint I have with having four small children is the frequency of looks, stares, and unkind comments by strangers. Actually my complaint has nothing to do with my children, but everything to do with feeling like I'm some sort of freak when I'm out in public.

It really seems impossible to be out and about with my children and not have all eyes on us. I know that four is an above average number of children, and when they are all within a 5-year span that can be even more shocking. But...I do not feel that this warrants the unwanted attention and comments I receive.

Whenever any parent ventures out with a small child there is always a little concern about the child misbehaving and causing a scene. When you have many young children this concern is even greater. If any or all of my kids were to act up when we're dining out I'd expect the stares and maybe even a comment. My complaint, though, has to do with the fact that I'm receiving this treatment even when my kids are very well-behaved (which they usually are when we are out in public, not so much at home, but in public-yes). Knowing that the mere presence of my family walking through store doors will draw a lot of unwanted attention can be stressful.

I know that most large(r) families out there share this same complaint. I've also recently read where a woman who has two small children started babysitting two other small children. She noticed a drastic difference in the treatment she received from total strangers when she was out in public with the four children (6 and under). I'm guessing she's received some of the comments strangers have made to me: "WOW, you have your hands full" (spoken with a "you're NUTS" attitude), "are they ALL yours" (not spoken with an admiring tone), or my personal favorite "you know you probably could have prevented this!" In many ways I feel like someone with a disability with all of the looks and stares I get, yet I don't think anyone would walk up to someone in a wheelchair and say "you know you probably could have prevented this!" 

So this takes me to my quick trip to Kohls the other day. I'm walking through the store with my youngest in a stroller and the other three walking with me. They are being good and quiet and I'm hoping to get through the store without drawing too much attention. All of a sudden I turn the corner and an elderly woman walking towards me stops as we start to pass by her. (Great I think to myself) "Are they all yours" she asks...(Here we go again)..."Yes" I quickly reply not wanting to encourage a discussion on my reproductive activities. "How old are they? Are any twins?"...(And it continues)..."No, they are 6, 4 1/2, 2 1/2, and 14 months." She gets a look of shock on her face and lets out a little gasp...(Now here comes the rude comment)...She looks up at me and with the most sincere look says "You are sooo lucky!"...(OMG, did she really say what I think she said!?)..."Uh, thanks! Yes, I am." She turns to walk away and then quickly turns around and says "And so are their grandmas!"

So thank you kind lady at Kohls! You made my day and reminded me that all of the attention we receive is not always bad.

Works-For-Me-Wednesday: $ Bills for School

I've been busy writing articles for a back-to-school guide for one of my clients. As I was thinking about sanity saving tips for busy parents of school-aged children I thought of everything I learned from my daughter's kindergarten experience last year.

I quickly recalled the number of times she brought home a note saying the next day she needed $2 for this, $3 for that etc., etc. There was always something whether it was a field trip, some little fundraiser, or chipping in for a class party. Forking out the money never bothered me, but the problem was that I rarely carry cash. So every time I saw one of those notes it meant an unplanned trip to the ATM (which can be very annoying when you already have a busy evening planned!).

This year I'm prepared. Bring on the notes, because I've gone to the bank and gotten a stack of 50 $1 bills! These dollars are tucked away only to be touched for school purposes (well, and maybe one last binge from the ice cream truck this year!).

So that's my WFMW tip: have a stash of $1 bills on hand ready to stuff into your child's backpack with a moment's notice :-)

For more Works-For-Me-Wednesday tips check out Shannon's blog at Rocks In My Dryer!

Featured Resource Friday: MotherTalk

Welcome to the first "Featured Resource Friday" post! As I mentioned the other day this will be a regular Friday occurrence here at Managing the MotherLoad. Every Friday I will feature a valuable resource (or two or three) to share with all of my blog readers. Nothing beats tried and true recommendations! So by posting about them I'm passing something on to you that I find helpful and giving kudos to useful resources. It's a great example of "sharin' the love!"

As far as the types of resources, this may include blogs, websites, books, magazines, e-zines, dvds, cd, movies, television shows, or other helpful services widely available to others. Starting next week I will host this as a weekly carnival giving all of the wise bloggers out there the chance to pass on their recommendations to others. Here's my first featured resource:

If you like reading blogs there is a good chance you like to read fiction and/or nonfiction books. But as a busy mom your time is limited and you'd hate to invest too much in an unworthy book. A great way make sure your book selection lives up to your expectations is by reading book reviews, and MotherTalk is just the site. Now I'm not talking about those formal literary reviews, but simply reviews by other mom bloggers. MotherTalk facilitates virtual book tours, blog bonanzas, podcasts and more. Check out MotherTalk's services to learn more about the ways readers and writers connect in this motherhood community!   

A Daily Giveaway!!!

  Christina Katz at Writer Mama is hosting a daily giveaway for the entire month of September! Simply leave a comment on her blog each day to be entered into the drawing. The prizes consist of great resources for writers (or wanna-be writers) at all levels! September is a great time to get your kids back to school and your writing career back on track. Check out  Writer Mama daily to win prizes to help make your writing dreams come true.

Coming Soon: Featured Resource Friday

I'm starting something new on this blog. Every Friday I'll have a post titled "Featured Resource Friday" where I'll highlight one (or some) of my favorite resources. This includes favorite books, magazines, websites, blogs, dvds, cds, etc. I know that trying out the recommended resources of others has always benefited me, so now I'll be "sharin' the love!"

Want to participate? I'll set this up as a carnival using Mister Linky. I'll type up a separate post with guidelines for this tomorrow. In the meantime think about a few of your favorite resources that you find helpful, inspiring, or just entertaining that you'd like to share with others. Also keep in mind that these do not have to be strictly parenting resources. As this blog is titled-I'm all about managing ALL of the "loads" mothers try to juggle.

***** I've decided to kick off "Featured Resource Friday" tomorrow by just posting the first one myself. That way you can see what it's all about and have something to go off of when I make this a carnival starting the following week. I'll post additional guidelines next week and in the meantime think about how you'd like to share the love!******

New Post up at Larger Families

I'm a contributor to the group blog at Larger Families. This is an informative, inspirational, and entertaining blog dedicated to those with more than the "average" number of children. The current topic is about some of our favorite resources (books, blogs, websites, etc). Here's A Few of My Favorite Reads.

S.M.A.R.T. Habits Saturday

Okay I compiled my list of wanna-be habits and it is quite long. So I've decided to just post 10 now and I'll add one a week until I get to 20. By then at least one of those original 10 should actually be a habit and can be replaced with something else (right?!?). So here I go:

EXERCISE-let's start with 30 minutes 3x's a week for now.

LAUNDRY-2-3 loads a day Mon-Sat. But here's the kicker-it has to be put away!!

READ TO MY KIDS DURING LUNCH-I do read to them regularly, but I've found that reading during lunch helps keep their lunchtime goofing off in check.

DAILY SCRIPTURE/DEVOTION TIME-I'm really working on having a Christ-centered life and keeping His plan for me at the forefront of my mind.

MEAL PLANNING-Must do this. NO excuses!

READ DAILY-DURING THE DAY-I love to read for pleasure, but I usually wait until I crawl into bed around midnight. Therefore I get through about a page and a half before I fall asleep. I want to treat myself to about 30 minutes of reading somewhere, somehow before going to bed.

BE MORE DILIGENT WITH MY PLANNER-I flaked on a doctor's appt this week-enough said!

STICK WITH A TO-DO/ROUTINE LIST FOR THE KIDS- they benefit from habits just as much as I do. I just need to help them manage this more.

LISTEN TO MUSIC DAILY-I have a wide range of music on my computer, so there's sure to be something to suit my mood. In the evenings when I like a little background noise while I work, music is a better choice over the TV. It's inspiring and uplifting without being distracting.

GO TO BED EARLIER-I think sleeping 11-6:30/7 is best for me. That way I can get up a little before my kids do and actually wake up before I start meeting the needs of four little ones.

There it is-on paper, well the computer at least, for all to see and keep me accountable. Be sure to check out Lara's blog, The Lazy Organizer, for more SHS, and check back next week to see how I did!