• hand sanitizer
• bottle of water
• full sized box of tissues
• package of wipes
• change of undergarments for the kids (yes, I still carry an extra pair... you just never know)
• small paper and plastic bags (can be used for all sorts of things)
• small zipper pouch for extra change
• small zipper pouch for girlie products
• baggie of bandages (I keep a larger first aid kit in a storage compartment but these will be much easier to access)

I have always admired those who seem to be naturally positive.  You know, the people who seem to flit and flutter through life, always smiling and seeming as though the world is always wonderful.  At times, I have found myself resenting those type of people.  Why did they get the "positive gene"?  What line did they stand in that I obviously missed?  I would be happier if I could just smile and not over analyze every little detail of my life.  If only I could let things go and just roll with the flow. Let me make myself perfectly clear, I don't know that I have ever just "rolled with the flow".  If I did, I definitely wasn't smiling and giggling through the experience.  I was probably questioning every step, just acting as though I was laid back.  I have literally annoyed myself with my negative thoughts, before.  It is one thing to be annoyed by others, it is a whole different level of aggravation to be annoyed by yourself. When my husband witnesses me getting a little too negative or becoming a bit too uptight, he forces me to stop and give him a hug.  Literally stop, he will not let me move another step until after he is done with the hug.  He says it is his job to slow me down.  This action usually makes me roll my eyes and realize once again he is right.  He is naturally a positive person.  I am naturally a realistic person.  I prefer not to call myself a pessimist, it makes me start analyzing if I am really that negative.  :)  Does it make me positive since I added that little smiley face at the end of my sentence?  :) Becoming more positive is something I am constantly working on.  I read daily devotionals, reference Bible verses, read "self-help" books, all for the same goal - trying to find the magic answer.  What do those positive people know that I don't? I am currently reading, "Today is the Day" by Bil Cornelius.  He just happens to be the pastor of our church and a very, very positive person.  The book is about finding your dreams and acting on them.  Today, I read Chapter 4, Change Your Beliefs.  For some reason, today it just seemed a little easier to believe and understand that I really do have the control to make my thoughts positive.  It doesn't mean my circumstances will always be perfect or that my days will always be easy but that doesn't mean I can't try to keep my thoughts positive.  Maybe it sunk in more today because the book was written by our pastor.  He is definitely someone I feel is full of wisdom.  His positive outlook is also contagious.  Maybe, God knew I would hear it louder if it came from someone I respect. The past two years have been filled with challenges.  We are still working on our son's diagnosis.  Is it really ADHD?  The name Aspergers has also been thrown around.  As we constantly try to figure out the best route to parent him and the best way for him to receive his education, we are also constantly feeling immense pressure and often failure.  Our marriage has always been solid, that is truly a blessing from God.  There is no way a shaky marriage could make it through the past two years we have endured.  The last few months have definitely sent both of us into this state of negative thinking.  We vowed to each other that 2014 had to be different.  We have decided to make it "our year" regardless of our circumstances. Reading Chapter 4 today helped solidify that vow.  I have a feeling I will be reading it many times in the future.  I have lived the last two years in a negative state.  I am tired of negative...  I am ready to try on the feeling of positive.  It seems to work for all those other positive people! :) I have added a couple of my favorite verses from the Bible which Pastor Bil referenced in his book.
"With God's help, I can do this" Phil. 4:13
"As a man thinks in his heart, so is he" Prov. 23:7
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" 2 Cor. 12:9

Dance and music have been a huge part of my life. Actually, dance has been the biggest part of my life right behind wife and mommy of five. I started dancing when I was four years old and fell in love. I was always the serious student in class, absorbing every step and detail. I decided to major in Dance and went on to teach it at the high school level for 10 years. I loved teaching my students how great dance can make a person feel. My three year old daughter started taking ballet this fall and I see similar characteristics in her. She does not like it when the class plays games, she only wants to practice "real" dance steps. I love it! :) All three of my boys (husband included) love to dance around the house. Anytime a good song comes on the radio we all start be-bopping around. It creates such a good mood. To me, a good song and a little shaking can cure just about any bad mood or stress (at least for the moment). We recently found a new, favorite song. The band is Mercy Me and the song is called, "Shake". It is very upbeat song, the whole family loves it.  We have deemed it as our family song.  Whenever the song comes on we stop what we are doing and dance. Moments like these are some of my most favorite memories, so many smiles and sounds of laughter. I am so thankful my family enjoys music and dance. It is definitely a common bond the five of us share.

If you can, take a moment out of your day and give yourself a little "Shake". :)

Can you tell my oldest son loves science? :)

This post is going to be honest, real, an open book, and hopefully comforting to all of my mommy friends. I am a mom. I am THE mom God has chosen for my three children. Do I get it right every day?  Absolutely not. Do I try my hardest every day?  Hmmmm...I guess if I am being real, the answer is no.  Some days I just don't have it in me to make a home cooked meal or help my children with the latest and greatest craft on Pinterest.  Some days are just TV, electronics, Happy Meal days. Do I constatnly question myself and the decisions I make?  Yes, one thing is for sure, I question myself pretty much every day. Do I overanalyze everything, even the little things?  Yep, I am a chronic analytical thinker.  I actually analyze how much I over-analyze.  It is a ridiculous argument that I have with myself almost daily. BUT.... Do I remind myself that God pick me for these children?  This is my corner stone reminder.  He picked me, no one else.  Just like He picked you for your children.  We are hand chosen.  It is not a random luck of the draw.  He knows our children before we know them and he ever so carefully places them with each one of us. I would say most days as a mom are not easy.  Can you remember the last time you went to bed feeling like the day was a breeze?  Honestly, I can not remember that day. It takes a village to raise children.  You can't do it on your own.  But, I also believe it takes a village to raise a mom.  We, as moms, need support systems, cheerleaders, and trusted friends.  We need to help one another and offer encouragement.  We need other women who will not only listen to our rant but who will also tell us to pull up our boot straps and get back in the game. My children are 9, 6, and 3.  I am definitely learning that each phase has it's own joys and challenges.  I am so thankful we no longer have diapers and bottles or baby gates and outlet covers but now we have eye-rolling, activity schedules, and homework.  On the flip side, we also have great conversations, nights filled with sleep, and family movie night. I am about to turn 35 (ugh, not sure how that happened) and I am finally beginning to feel like I have gained some wisdom in this adventure called motherhood.  As much as I worry about the dreaded "teenage years", I know I have amazing women who will be more than happy to cheer me along when the time comes.  Trust me, I will need the cheering and lots of it.  I taught high school for 10 years and it scared the daylights out of me as to what is to come. :) The point to all of this is: 1.  We must remind one another that each of us was hand picked for our children by the God (The Almighty Creator).  He took the time to hand select you, He trusts and believes in you. 2.  Find your village, cheer squad, or parenting platoon.  Lean on them and be a support when they need to lean on you. 3.  Remind yourself to take a deep breath, pull up your boot straps, and get back in the game - because the timer just went off on the dryer, dinner is on the stove, homework needs to be done, and I am sure someone needs their nose or some other area of their body wiped! BUT REMEMBER...IT IS A GIFT!!! :) This post is dedicated to my village, you know who you are! :)  

Do you ever feel like you need a date night every night of the week?  I do!  Why? Time with my hubby. Time away from the kiddos.  I love being with them but I could definitely use time as an adult, too. The joy of sitting down to a meal that someone else cooked. The pleasure of not having to wipe some one's mouth, cut up food, wipe up spills, or pick items off the floor. NOT HAVING TO CLEAN THE KITCHEN! The list could go on and on. REALITY CHECK!!!! Finding a babysitter. Paying a babysitter. Preparing everything before you go.  I usually feed everyone and do bath time before a date. Picking everything up when you get home. Just as above, the list goes on and on. My husband and I have taken on a new kind of date... The Speed Date. Speed Dating - working as hard as possible to make sure you and your hubby still get a date each week, even if it is only 60-90 minutes long. My husband works very long hours, six days a week, 10-12 hour days.  He usually gets home between 7:30 and 8:00pm.  It has always seemed impossible for us to have a date during the week.  Until, last night.... :)  My mom offered her free babysitting services for any night this week.  Typically, it would be used for a scheduled activity... Cub Scout meeting, volunteer meetings, and any other type of meeting that may come up.  BUT!!!  This week we did not have any scheduled meetings, wide open schedule!!!  How did this happen?  Don't question it?  Don't tell anyone or post it on Facebook because they will schedule something that involves you!   This was our plan. 1.  Feed and bath the kids prior to Mom arriving.  This was actually the kids' idea.  They said they did not want to waste their time bathing while "Ma" was at our house. :) 2.  Have an amazing mother who offered to bring the kids milk shakes and tater tots.  Wow!  What a treat!  Can I stay? 3.  Arrange with the hubby a time and place to meet.  There is not enough time for him to drive all the way home to pick me up.  I know this seems ridiculous but it takes him 20 minutes to get home then a few minutes visiting with the kids and finally another 15 minutes to drive to a restaurant.  It is much easier and saves a lot of time for me to meet him.  We picked Jason's Deli (on his side of town) at 7pm.  Not romantic but sounded really good. 4.  Tell mom that we will be back around 8:15.  I am a real stickler for bedtimes during the week.  I would not be able to relax on our date if I knew the kids would be going to bed really late because we were not home.  Our kids are not the easiest to put to bed so I never ask grandmas or babysitters to worry about bedtime.  I want them to come back! So, the plan was in place, now to execute it.  I found myself a little excited to meet my husband at the deli.  I waited in my car in the parking lot and watched for a white pick up truck.  Where we live, there are a lot of white pick ups.  It actually felt like our original days of dating.  It was fun to watch and wait for him to pull into the parking lot.  Is that corny?  Probably, but I love that I still get that excited feeling in my stomach when I meet my husband for a date.  I hope it is like that when we are 80, although our children will probably be driving us to our dates.  :) We had a great dinner and the food seemed extra yummy.  Probably because someone else made it and brought it to the table.  We actually ended up with some time to spare.  We decided to run an errand to Academy for snow gloves.  We are taking a family trip to Washington in March.  It has been quite the battle trying to outfit our family for this trip when we live in a warm weather climate.  We laughed because we saw a display with snow hats and bikinis! I was quite fond of our "speed date".  I will take a short date over no date any day! Last week, we put the kids to bed a little early, rented a movie, drank coffee and ate donuts.  That was a fantastic date!  It only cost the amount of the movie.  Plus, we felt like we were breaking the rules eating donuts at 10:00pm!  Hey, its the little things!!! What kind of dates work for you?

One of my favorite blogs to check regularly is, The M.O.B Society (Mothers of Boys).  It is such a great site and is beneficial for all moms, not just boy-only moms. :)  After reading the January 1st post, I became inspired to pick a verse or two to pray over my kids for the entire year.  I have never used one specific verse before and I thought it would be a great habit to introduce into the new year.  I talked it over with my hubby and he agreed it was something we should do. It is not an easy task, picking just one verse.  I have so many favorites!   We finally decided on Galatians 5:22 (The Fruits of the Spirit).  We felt it was a great verse for the kids to hear...ALL THE TIME, EVERY DAY, ALL YEAR LONG! :)  It is a great reminder of the qualities we should strive to live by. We have also made a family commitment to sit down and have family prayer time before the kids go to bed.  The kids have always said their bedtime prayers, but to be honest it has always been a bit rushed.  Now we sit down together, pray our verse for the year, read a devotional, ask the kids if they have any prayer requests, and then take turns praying.  So far, it has gone pretty well.  My husband and I decided this is our commitment for the year.  As hectic as life will get, we will try our hardest to end our day all together in prayer.  I must say, I have been blown away by the prayer requests of our children.  Our youngest son always requests to pray for those who are sick or traveling...it is so sweet. We know it is only January 6th, but we really want to honor this commitment. I highly recommend you take a moment and hop over to The M.O.B. Society and enjoy reading the many verses other moms have chosen for the year.  If you are a blogger, they suggest you write a post about your verse for the year.  There is a also a free printable! We have also enforced two main rules for our family to live by: 1.  Love God more than anything or anyone.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.  Matthew 22:37

2.  Treat others the way you want to be treated - BE KIND
Do to others as you would have them do to you.  Luke 6:31

These rules seem obvious, right?  But how often do we actually remind ourselves, each other, and our kids to live this way?  When we sat down and really took a long hard look at things, we decided we were going to keep things simple and follow these two main rules. So, our family will have three points of focus: Galatians 5:22, Matthew 22:37, and Luke 6:31.  I think it is going to be a great year!!! :) *** The devotional our family loves is Jesus Calling 365 Devotionals for Kids by Sarah Young.

Well, the holidays are over and now it is time to put everything away until next year.  My house always feels so empty when the Christmas decorations come down.  Some years I take the time to organize and clean out decorations I did not use.  Other years, I throw everything in the Christmas buckets, stick the lid on, and call it done! This year, I decided to take the time and really organize my Christmas cards.  I love sending and receiving cards!!! In years past, I displayed our cherished cards over my kitchen window.  Using wooden clothes pins, I attached each card to the hem of the window valance.  It was something I looked forward to, but this year I changed my window treatment.  The new window covering (DIY No Sew Burlap Curtains) did not allow for the cards.  Instead, I took a large red and white striped ribbon (about six feet long with wire edges) and hung it on a column between our living room and kitchen.  Each time a new card came in the mail, I attached it to the ribbon with the wooden clothes pins.  It was so much fun to add new cards and to see six feet of cards going down our wall.  We filled the entire ribbon by the end of the season! But now what?  The holidays are over but I just hate throwing out Christmas cards.  I know how hard everyone works to get just the right card and just the right pictures.  To keep the cards, I decided to use a small decorative box to hold the pictures until next year.  It won't hurt so much to throw them out when I am getting new cards in the mail.  :)  It may seem silly to hold on to them for a year, however, it will remind me who I need to send cards to.  This year, we had a really tight budget for cards.  I ordered the amount I thought I needed, however, received cards from several other people.  I felt awful not being able to send them a card in return.  I have already noted that I need to increase the number of cards and budget for next year. In the box, I also included the cards my family has sent out over the past 10 years.  Those are always so much fun to look at each year.  I decided it would make the most sense to also include the ribbon, thumb tack, and clothes pins in the box, as well.  Perfect!  Everything is in one box and ready to go for next year.