Love is spelled T-I-M-E

...and it is often the hardest thing to give to our kids. Lately, I have had a goal to take more time creatively with the kids, not necessarily in craft, but in doing things that need to be done and making it a positive experience together. Rather than sending them away or telling them no all the time.
Here are a few of the experiences that I call success:

Zurich wanted to help me make bread the other day, bread is a bit more fickle than some baking so it always gets me stressed to have the kids underfoot when I put it together. There have been many experiences in the past during baking or while it is cooling where the kids have had their hands in it... off the top of my head:
a child pushed down the perfectly risen loaves right before they were to be put in the oven
a child filled a hole they had dug out of a cooling loaf and eaten with blue play dough
a child took a bite out of a mini loaf that I had intended for giving away
a child added extra of an ingredient and I couldn't tell which one at the time.... it was salt
a child opened the oven while baking and we ended up with very flat dense bread
a child and accomplice desecrated a cooling loaf with a fork
the adventures continue...

I can't think it is making a good memory for either of us when I get so irritated with their "help". So this time I pre-measured most everything and put it in separate containers. Lifted Zuich and Nev onto the counter and let them dump the things in as I handed to them. This created A LOT of dishes, but did reduce the stress and we had a good time. It's worth it and the bread turned out.

Gary needed to change the tires on the car the other day since he commutes quite a way to work he didn't want to be caught in a snow storm with out snow tires on. He invited all the kids out to the garage with him to do the job. Later we were talking about how he let Zurich help with the lift and screwing the bolts on etc. Gary commented that at one point he realized how the whole job could have been done in 15 mins but they were out there for over an hour, because he took the time to let them help. And they loved it.


I needed to get some projects done in the studio that had been taking up space and had been avoiding it because Zurich often wants to sit on me and that just doesn't work when I need to use hot glue. So I glued his wooden train hitch (that had broken off in play) and the next day had him bring it down to the studio to paint while I worked with hot glue. He was happy with the time together doing separate projects and kept commenting about how he liked to paint his train, and what a good painter he was. He asked questions and told me about painting the buffers and how nice it looked and what it would look like with the rest of the train.

Olea was star student this week and needed to fill out a poster and I needed to get some computer work done so I pulled my laptop down stairs to the kitchen table. We worked on our projects side by side chatting about different things and at one point she said to me, "Thanks Mom, I like chatting with you." ohhh heart melting, and it made it totally worth working on a tiny screen compared to the 24 inches I am used do when doing such a computer project.

Olea got home from school and wanted to run off to the TV, but I had her come paint nails with me instead. When a friend came knocking at the door, she said to them, "I can't play right now, I am doing a special thing with my Mom, but maybe I can play after."

Normally, I would have hurried on home after going to the Chiro to get home in time for Olea but this time I thought we had some time and Zurich had not thrown a 20 minute screaming fit at the Chiro so I took him to "The big tree park" at the mall and let him and Nev play around for a good hour (I had brought my tatting along for my own entertainment) and after a stop in at See's of course (the little stinker got another pre-made, while Nev was happy with the chocolate coins) we headed home.


I am trying to rethink things and relax a little and just let my kids enjoy, and let myself enjoy them more. Some days I experience more success than others (Yesterday, Gary sent me upstairs because I snapped at Zurich after being hit by the ram rod for the 3rd time). Which I am laughing about now, but after a headache all day I wasn't in such a great mood at the time.