a collection of motherhood ideas

First of all, can I just tell you that this photos makes me laugh out loud!! It perfectly captures how 99% of the photos of my children and I turn out. They are usually running around at 90 miles per hour, I grab them in a choke hold........er, I mean loving embrace, and ask my husband to take a quick photos of us. I plaster on my best smile as the shutter releases, and this is inevitably what we end up with. Ahhhh, tender family moments :)

But I refuse to give up! I continue to park myself in front of the camera every now and then rather than always hiding behind it. I read an article in blogland ages ago about how important it is for mothers to make an appearance in the family photos albums........after all, when we are long gone, I have a feeling our children will treasure the photos of their mamas at least as much as the 100+ photos of their 3rd birthday party? That idea made so much sense to me, and I have never forgotten it.

Which got me to thinkin'. I spend a pretty good amount of time surfing blogs and websites, searching for ways to be a better mother, to strengthen family ties, to make our house a home, to infuse spirituality into our daily lives. It's become a hobby of sorts.......a hobby that has introduced me to amazing women, and taught me invaluable lessons. But sometimes, I am overwhelmed by the sheer volume of "helpful" information out there in the blog-o-sphere. There is really only so much a person can take in, and only so many hours in a day to put those wonderful ideas into practice. And I know other mothers (and fathers) struggle with information overload as well. So I thought I would take some time every now and again in my own little corner of blog land, to share some of my personal favorite Motherhood Ideas......a growing "collection" of sorts.

(1) Movie Night - this is one that we are going to implement in our family very soon. Our kids are finally both old enough to sit through an entire movie without too many interruptions, and I love the idea of having a set movie night each week for them to look forward to.......complete with popcorn, blankets and chocolate chip cookies.

(2) Mother's Day Letters - I recently read about this one on one of my favorite blogs and thought it was a great idea! Basically, you set aside a couple hours on Mother's Day each year to write a letter to each of your children. What a wonderful gift to yourself and to your children....and a great way to stop and reflect on the previous year and your progress as a mother.

(3) Making a house a home - this is a big one for me.....something that I am constantly thinking about. A few of my favorite ideas in this area are: hanging up framed photos of family (it doesn't have to be perfect, just get them up on the wall!!!), decorating the kid's bedroom doors with their artwork, hanging up a chalkboard and filling it with favorite quotes, encouraging messages, bible verses, etc...., hanging a large map somewhere in your home and putting little red stickers on all the places someone in your immediate family has been (I especially love this idea because I want to instill a love for travel and adventure in my children).

(4) Have at least one major family tradition each month for the kids to look forward to and anticipate - I am currently working on this one and I LOVE this idea!! Here's an example of ours so far:

January = Grant's birthday

February = Valentine's Day ("heart attack" tradition)

June = Father's Day/Daddy's birthday

August = Mommy's birthday/Back to School celebration

September = Welcome Fall Day

We still have a few months that are tradition-less........working on those today :)

I would love to hear some of your favorite Motherhood Ideas!! I believe we can all be so much better, so much stronger, so much more when we work together and support each other along this journey.