Record Keeping

I find that when I keep up with my blog, I am more apt to plan more outings for the kids, be a more purposeful Mom, provide enriching experiences and not take the easy route and just lounge at home.
I don't want to diminish the wonder of the small and simple and the great times we have when we're all at home or another day at Grandma and Grandpa's...those are, without doubt, priceless and so needful to keep a healthy balance and build good relationships. But there is also a time and place for fun events and outings. And those don't simply happen on their own. Require planning, preparing and sometimes, dealing with "over-stimulated" kids. But, for the most part, they are fascinated with the new things they learn, they talk about it on the drive home (and that makes me smile), they reminisce about it later on and they can draw from that knowledge later on. How could they play make-believe if they had never seen a dinosaur museum and dug for dino bones? How can a kid appreciate a strawberry on their plate at lunch if they have never been to the patch and picked one off the tree? Why rob the kids the chance to split their peas from the pod fresh off the vine? There is too much out there in our world and so much goodness, and I'm so fortunate to live in a place with the freedom to travel to a destination that has taken the time to build a wonderfully enriching experience.

So, I am dedicating myself to be more purposeful. To be more proactive in planning fun events for the kids. And, heaven-forbid, bring something else besides my phone to document these moments that are so fleeting in these young kids' lives.

With a 4th child on the way, and looking back on old photos, I recognize how fast the time does pass. How quickly they grow and how little time I actually do have with them under my care. I want to be the kind of Mom who provides more memories than the child can remember in one sitting. That would be nigh impossible without the help of their siblings to recall all the great memories they experienced together.
At least, that's how I remember my childhood experience...