So, it is that time of year again when the kids are having their first long break of the school year. It is Fall Break!! Ten long days where the kids are bored after the first couple hours, and on each others nerves soon after they wake up on day one.
As I look over at them  now; one has a Xbox controller attached to his hand and the other is holding a tablet. (And already bickering over everything) I want to make things different this year! The weather is beautiful, and they could be outside playing. As a kid I grew up in Louisiana, I had sugar cane fields in my back yard...we used to run and play in those fields for hours. My sister and I even use to take our dolls outside and play house in those fields. It was so much fun. Now I know we live in an apartment complex on a busy road, but there is so much to do around here and it won't cost me a dime.
We can have a scavenger hunt, like I used to do with my parents.  Play a game of whiffle ball. Tag Football. Painting...I have some canvas' left.  Baking together is always fun, plus we get to eat the treats!! Maybe we will take a trip to the park.  and when all else fails put on a good movie, and pile up on the couch together. I think I will save that one for a rainy day.
Starting today I am going to limit their amount of technology they can play with, and get the creative juices flowing!!

Christmas in my family has always been a big deal, at least for me it is. It starts with the putting up of the Christmas decorations, to the day we put the ornaments on the tree. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years all rolled into one huge family celebration. My favorite parts were cooking together,playing games together,and the just spend time with each other part. I loved being part of a family. For me the holidays seem to make all other problems go away.
So this year, it is time for me to start my own things for my kids. This will be the first Christmas, and Thanksgiving we have spent together as a family with Mike and Harlee. I so excited about it, I am decorating everything on Monday and Tuesday...except the Christmas tree. The tree is saved for Bailey's birthday, just a few weeks before Christmas.
I previously wrote about finances were getting me down about Holiday time. Then my sister reminded me, it is not all about what the kids get for Christmas, it is about how they enjoy the time. I can't tell you now a single gift I recieved on a particular year, but I can tell you the traditions we had every year. That iswhat I want them to reflect on.  So big thanks to my little sis, for reminding me that I don't have to go all out to make it a Christmas to remember. And remember Love Never Fails.

Picture: myself, sister, step brother when I was 13yrs old on Christmas morning. We got matching PJ's they even had the butt traps in them.

For many centuries all siblings have had a rivalry with one another. Brothers picking on sisters, grossing them out, and tattling on them. Sisters are always trying to out do the other at what ever it is they are doing. My sister and I have been doing it for years. Even though I am the oldest I still feel the need to try and out do her some times. We no longer have that close best friend relationship we use to have, instead I feel we have a competion, and I don't like it at all.
Now watching my two children, they are doing the same thing, just at a much earlier age. Did my sister and I teach this to them?  Or is this different? I hate when they fight constantly, and tell each other that they wish they were an only child, and that they hate each other. I wish that they could see how precious  having each other is, and they are hurting a lifetime bond. Or am I going overboard here? Should I let them fight it out, and at the end of the day everything will be okay. I'm still so new to all this, that some times I just go blank. Afraid to ask for help, because I will feel like a failure as a parent, and afraid someone will take them away form me again. I wanrt to be a super mom, and have all the answers, and know how to do it all perfectly. I watch the "traditional moms" out there and feel like "WOW, they have got all together".  Or are they just like me, feeling there way through this, and have no clue either? I may not have the answers, but what I do know is....... Love Never Fails!