Make the Ordinary EXTRAordinary
I have always wanted to be a mother. In fact, as I thought about college and tried an endless amount of times to declare a major and to get serious about what I saw myself doing "for the rest of my life", the only thing that kept coming back to me was the fact that I dreamed of being a mother. I could see myself doing all kinds of jobs and had several majors to prove this; high school dramatic arts teacher, high school English teacher, social worker, psychologist focusing on family studies, art education and nurse, just to name a few. The reason I could see myself doing so many things is simply because I felt like I could be trained to do ANY job and I knew I would work hard and do it well, no matter what.
Back to my being a Mom, I always knew I would work my hardest at doing that and doing it to the best of my ability. To some, that isn't an actual "job" per say but it is hard work none the less.
I thought I would have a large family, at least four kids or so. After two children, I learned about my limitations and realized that a family of four TOTAL persons was just perfect for me. One boy, one girl and a mom and dad is the perfect amount for my sanity.
Knowing I always wanted to do this Mom thing wholeheartedly is something that has challenged me but also put into perspective my view on parenthood in general. I have always enjoyed seeing the world from my children's eyes and their wonder and awe at everything around them. Everything is new through their eyes and it is in the most refreshing and innocent of ways that they continue to show me that I should slow down and enjoy it all with them. We have always made it a priority to give our kids experiences and with my husband's wanderlust perspective of the world and my ability to make the ordinary into something extraordinary, I think we have given them a solid foundation thus far in their young lives.
When I say "make the ordinary extraordinary" I am referring to things like our latest trip out of the country. This trip was an adult only trip to Costa Rica and although we would have loved to take the kids along, this was a much needed grown up vacation too. One thing I did before we left was count up the days we would be gone (5 total) and make an envelope with a note or activity for each of those days with instructions on which day to open each. They were simple things from a top ten list of reasons I would miss them to an online scavenger hunt of places we plan to visit this summer to simple puzzles they could do to pass the time. I had one large envelope with smaller labeled envelopes inside which gave them something to look forward to each day. Even the activities they didn't complete were something exciting to look forward to and putting the whole thing together took less than an hour of my time, well worth it to everyone.
Another way I turned something ordinary into something extraordinary was in how we presented our souvenirs to the children after we picked them up from Grandma and Grandpa's house.
First we hung clothesline across the kitchen so we could hang the four beach towels we bought them in order to see the entire design. Simple but effective as they are designed to look like Costa Rican Collones or "Sloth Dollars" as we so affectionately refer to them.
Secondly, I put all of our goodies on the table and arranged them so the kids knew which toucan whistle, post card and bottle opener belonged to them and that the ornament, coins and wedding favor belonged to everyone. I made sure it was a super fun display ready for their inspection as soon as we walked in the door.
Back to my being a Mom, I always knew I would work my hardest at doing that and doing it to the best of my ability. To some, that isn't an actual "job" per say but it is hard work none the less.
I thought I would have a large family, at least four kids or so. After two children, I learned about my limitations and realized that a family of four TOTAL persons was just perfect for me. One boy, one girl and a mom and dad is the perfect amount for my sanity.
Knowing I always wanted to do this Mom thing wholeheartedly is something that has challenged me but also put into perspective my view on parenthood in general. I have always enjoyed seeing the world from my children's eyes and their wonder and awe at everything around them. Everything is new through their eyes and it is in the most refreshing and innocent of ways that they continue to show me that I should slow down and enjoy it all with them. We have always made it a priority to give our kids experiences and with my husband's wanderlust perspective of the world and my ability to make the ordinary into something extraordinary, I think we have given them a solid foundation thus far in their young lives.
When I say "make the ordinary extraordinary" I am referring to things like our latest trip out of the country. This trip was an adult only trip to Costa Rica and although we would have loved to take the kids along, this was a much needed grown up vacation too. One thing I did before we left was count up the days we would be gone (5 total) and make an envelope with a note or activity for each of those days with instructions on which day to open each. They were simple things from a top ten list of reasons I would miss them to an online scavenger hunt of places we plan to visit this summer to simple puzzles they could do to pass the time. I had one large envelope with smaller labeled envelopes inside which gave them something to look forward to each day. Even the activities they didn't complete were something exciting to look forward to and putting the whole thing together took less than an hour of my time, well worth it to everyone.
Another way I turned something ordinary into something extraordinary was in how we presented our souvenirs to the children after we picked them up from Grandma and Grandpa's house.
First we hung clothesline across the kitchen so we could hang the four beach towels we bought them in order to see the entire design. Simple but effective as they are designed to look like Costa Rican Collones or "Sloth Dollars" as we so affectionately refer to them.
Secondly, I put all of our goodies on the table and arranged them so the kids knew which toucan whistle, post card and bottle opener belonged to them and that the ornament, coins and wedding favor belonged to everyone. I made sure it was a super fun display ready for their inspection as soon as we walked in the door.
I could have easily just given them the plastic bags with all of these items inside and they could have dug through to check it all out, then discarded everything and moved on to the next thing. However, taking a few extra minutes to "display" the items, made coming home an experience instead of just handing them something they were expecting from us. By making it something unexpected, which didn't take a lot of time, it took the ordinary and made it EXTRAordinary.
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