Dancing Machines

They are ready for a wedding dance!!  

Life is a dance...

When you become a parent, you know that you are going to encounter tough times.  Life is not always perfect, children misbehave, get cranky, become sick, pop teeth and so on.  Even though you go through these times, they are always learning by the examples we are setting for them.  I am a very laid back person, I usually just go with the flow and walk my children through their struggles peacefully and try to teach them appropriate ways to handle situations and treat others, including their siblings how they want to be treated.  It usually doesn't bother me if someone is frustrated with something or upset over something because these are all learning situations and it gives me a chance to teach them.   This past week, however, I have come to a breaking point!  I don't remember ever getting to this point before, maybe I have and have just chose to forget about it, who knows.  Not because I have 3 young children, not because I rarely ever get a break, but because of a little sickness called Hand Foot and Mouth!  Have your kids ever had it??  I don't wish it upon anyone, especially when they have an infant they are trying to keep from getting it!  Yes, I know there are far way WORSE things out there to be going through, but when your usually well mannered, well behaved kids are whining, screaming, and throwing fits all day it leads to a very stressful day(s)!!  There are only so many times you can emphasize with them because they just flat out don't feel good, are miserable, not sleeping the greatest and have sores on their bodies!!  Did I mention I got it myself(a very mild case of it) but still it is exhausting when you put all of this into a pot!!  I am praying they wake up in the morning our happy children that I know they are and we can go back to having enjoyable days!!  I did not write this for a pitty party, because all of us parents go through these times and have sick kids, but more so to remind myself to truly appreciate those good, fun days we usually have and also when they are teenagers and we are not seeing eye to eye I can at least be thankful I am not listening to them scream all day.  They will probably just be mad and sit in their room peacefully, right???:)

Science Center

We are thankful when our friends invite us to go visit the Science Center with them!!  My older 2 LOVE this!!  Here are some pictures of our recent trip there!!

Building Lego cars

The egg toss

Bubbles of course

Fishing

Flying Hot Air Balloons

Grocery shopping

Bubbles

Lily's favorite activity currently is anything to do with bubbles!!  She has been at this for the past few months and continues to ask for them daily.  It has been fun watching her learn to blow her own and do it all herself and she also got a bubble gun in her easter basket(they were like 2.50 at Target) and are a huge hit in our house!! You can only imagine how much bubble solution we go through:)!!  I found a recipe online that calls for corn syrup with dish soap and water, but it was really sticky afterwards and I really didn't like it.  So I figured out, you really don't need to corn syrup at all and you get perfectly good bubble solution with just dish soap and water!!  

 Isaac loves to pour and mix things, so making the bubble solution was right up his alley!!

We have fun!!

Our house is not always put together and I usually have something very messy set up for the kids to get into!  The bottom line is they are learning, playing and WE are having FUN!!  I love to watch them explore with different items and develop skills that will help them later in life!!  I have tons of pictures of them doing things like this daily when we are home but I just selected a few to post!!  I am not one who can do a post on just 1 activity...I just don't want to make the time to do that so here is a glimpse of what we DO all day and how to easily entertain 3 small children at once and have a smooth day...let them play and explore:)  Some of these ideas are from PAHM and others are just what we threw together for the day:)

I had to add this picture so the little man could make a shot!! 

 They did this for hours...stamping and dot paints on large paper

 Light box with water beads and mirrors:)  I LOVE their faces!!!

 Painting during our bath...this happens multiple times a week:)

 Messy but lots of fun!!!

 After dying Easter Eggs, Isaac asked to play with the color mix...he had a blast!!  He LOVES to pour and mix things!!

 We had colored epson salt they were playing with inside for a while and we added water to it and brought it outside for some fun splashing and pouring!!  And it turned into a "Car Wash"

 They love dot paints!!  And Letters!!

 One of Isaac's favorite activities...Typing words and letters!!  He asks to do this all the time!!  He is really good at using the computer!!

 Sand box:)

 Letters on the felt board:)!!  I love that Lily put some of Isaac's undies on and came back to play:)

 Play doh and colors:)

Snow with Kool aid in it!!  This was a hit since it was too cold to play outside!!

Your Children Want YOU!

There truly is nothing better than being a parent!!  I believe this and you hear it all the time!!  However, at times parenting can make you crazy!!  For me, not literally crazy(at least not yet), but trying to "do" "create" and be the best parent you can be for your kids.  You hear of all these studies that tell us we should be doing this and you shouldn't be doing that.  It is hard as a parent to balance all of these ideas and figure out what is best for you and your kids.  Maybe I am one of few who sit and question these types of things.  I have come to the conclusion that I need to stop reading articles that tell me "How" I should be raising my kids and stick to the ones that empower me as a mother!  This article below really hit home for me and I think others would like to enjoy it as well.

Your Children Want YOU!

Easter at the Farm

My kids are so Blessed to not only have Grandparents who live on a Lake in MN, but to have Grandparents who live on a farm in IA.  They always have a BLAST at both places and yesterday was no exception!  They are also blessed on the Miller side to have 10 other cousins all in the same age range to play with.  8 of the 13 Grandkids were there yesterday (we missed the other 5) and they all had so much fun playing together!!  I am so thankful for their cousins who are all very sweet kids who love to play and have fun together.  "Cousins are those childhood playmates who grow up to be forever friends."

 Checking out the pigs

 Sitting on hay bales 

 Getting dirty on the gravel road...They could have played here for hours:)

 Jumping Hay Bales in the shed

 Driving the Combine and "honking" the horn:)

 She LOVES to be tossed up

 Driving the "BIG TRACTOR"

I love this picture of my sister-in-law and 2 of her kids so I had to post it:)  Gotta love the open space to run, play, and explore:)