Priorities amidst the madness

How do other working parents, with very active children, set priorities? I feel like it is a constant struggle. My husband and I make a conscious effort to make our children our top priority but what parent doesn't? What I am really asking is how do you juggle that priority while maintaining your own identity? We are constantly on the run, going from one activity to another, which our children love -- as do I! But there is also a long long list of things I want to do for myself, and that does NOT include the grocery shopping and cleaning. I am talking about wanting to learn more about photography, scrapbooking all of my photos, reading that stack of books that are collecting dust on my beside table, trying some new recipes, etc. Each day I start with the best of intentions. My goal after a long day at work is to head home, spend some quality time with the kids (ask about their camp day, play, ignore the pile of dirty dishes in the sink....), and find some time for "MY" things but when I find the time for "MY" things, I am just too tired. So in the end, I do very little of "MY" things. --- My husband may disagree with that last statement. I do scrap ALOT but never as much as I would like.

Do I just accept that "MY" things will need to wait until my kids are a bit older? I don't think I should need to. I think my kids should see that I am more than just their mom --- that I have interests outside of car pool, packing lunches, and kissing boo-boos.

I am going to set a goal for July. I am going to get my children involved in "MY" things. They periodically come in and do arts and crafts with me while I scrap but I think we need to do more of "MY" things together. I am going to set aside an hour each weekend to take my daughter with me while I test out new Photo techniques...she has a camera as well, she can play along. Who knows, it could turn out that she is a better photographer than I'll ever be! I am going to sit and read wtih my son. He reads most nights before bed but now with camp, he is exhausted come reading time and has skipped many a night. He and I will sit for a half an hour and read together. We can then sit and talk about what we liked about our books. My littlest one and I can test a new recipe each weekend. I love to bake in particular and what little girl doesn't like to help "lick the spoon" -- as well as crack some eggs and run the mixer?

These are my priorities and goals.......wish me luck!

Caught up in the Whirlwind

I apologize for not keeping up with my blog posts the past few weeks. We have been unbelievabley busy with activity after activity. Let me try to get you up to date...kids are finally out of school with camp starting tomorrow. We had two graduations to attend, pre-school for one and Kindergarten for another. Luckily the third did not have a "ceremony". We had end of year shows for gymnastics and cheerleading. Then of course there was the end of baseball season, try-outs for a tournament team, and the All-Star game...Yes, N was chosen for the All-Star team (so so proud of him!). I have a TON of pictures but haven't even begun to get those into order. Wonder when I will find the time for that? Probably after I run out of scrappy inspiration for my stack of May pictures! If I find a moment, I will try to pull a couple out to post. I have some fabulous baseball shots --- love the automatic sports mode with a zoom lense!! Makes for great pictures with zero effort!!

In the midst of all of activities, I have been keeping up with the summer layout challenge. I stand now at 30 of 100 complete. How about you? Luckily I got a running start out the gate b/c I seem to have slowed down quite a bit. I do have a few that I like and will post this week. Here is one I did over the weekend....
Can you believe these pictures were their actual passport photos??? I can't wait to see what kind of comments we get over the next few years as use their passports (...although other than going to Canada, I can't imagine we'll be using them much!).



Be back in a few days to share some more....

One that Got me There

Here is one of the layouts I submitted when applying for the Design Team over at Sketchabilities. I used one of their previous sketches for it. Don't you just love that rooster stamp? I adore it!! I won that stamp from a new kit club called Midnight Rooster. My friend Jing-Jing is one of their designers and as soon as I saw her using that stamp, I just HAD to have it! Got lucky and won it! You just have to love the generosity of those in the scrapbooking community.

More Great News - Sketchabilities

I was just invited to join the Sketchabilities Design Team. If you aren't familiar with Sketchabilities, you should run over and check them out! Each month they release two brand new sketches and highlight pages from the DT using those sketches. I love using sketches...they are such a great way to jump start a layout and sometimes, give you the push to try something new and different. I am BEYOND excited to be a part of this site! Look for my first reveal on their site on July 15.

For those of you playing along with the 100 pages between Memorial Day and Labor Day challenge -- these sketches are a great way to up your productivity! Can't wait to see what you produce!!