Army Party

I AM BACK!  I have a lot to share, but I am going to take it slow and steady.  First a few updates.  I am still located at the Stillwater Antique Center in Greenville, RI.  I will be switching booths from 107 in the front to the furthest aisle, corner booth in the back left corner.  I did not need as much space and really couldn't keep up with it.  I am going to try to step back a little and refocus.  I hope to make a lot of changes and get more organized over the next 6 months.  I have been dwelling on the idea that I feel stuck between who I am and who I want to be.  I have a goal to combine these two realities and become a whole person!  Is it possible?  We shall see.  I can be so organized in some areas and so scattered in others.  I go 100 miles an hour every day and I have had enough and so has my family.  So I have put on the brakes.  I am getting my priorities in line and I will see where it leads me.

 I do have a Farmer's Day planned for this Sat 10-4 at Primrose Valley Gardens.  I would love to see some of you there.  I will be giving 20% off your entire purchase including custom orders if you mention that you read it here. This is the link to Primrose Valley Gardens facebook page to give you more info. https://www.facebook.com/events/105353619620150/

Ok, moving on, so as far as where I have been and what I have been doing, well that will take a while.  We had a very busy summer and fall.  Over the next month or so I hope to update you on all the trips, parties, and projects that have been happening around here. I am really excited to share some of the projects because they are ones that have been on my "to do" list for a long time.  It feels so good to get them done.  And I love how they came out.  YAY!

For now I would like to share the pictures from Joey's army party.  This was from last January and I never got around to posting them.  Joey turned 6 and  was really getting into army stuff.  He decided he would like an army party.  So I went to work researching ideas for a party and this is what we came up with.  We rented the hall at our church.

 So when the troops first arrived they had to be "processed".  This is where they received their flag sticker, dog tags with their name on it, face painting, and picture.  I printed the flag out onto large mailing labels and cut them into individual stickers.  We placed them on their arm sleeve. 

 They then found which "squad" they were in.  The troops were broken into two squads for the games to come.  They sat and colored pictures of tanks and fighter jets while they waited for all the troops to be processed. 

 Emma was a great soldier!  She held down the fort!

 I am very upset that I did not get pictures of the MRE that I made.  You can see the labels that I made.  I printed them on to mailing labels and then cut them out.  I put the food listed on the label in brown paper bags, folded them over and attached the label.  They were the cutest little brown packages!

 Boot camp was fun.  Sgt. Bobby had the troops solute and did role call where each soldier had to answer "SIR, YES SIR". 

 Next was the games.  They did a relay race and obstacle course.  They also had stand on a chair and drop a paratrooper and see who got the closes to the landing spot.  There were prizes for the winners.

 The final activity was a rescue mission in which each child had to go with bandages (toliet paper) on to the battle field and collect wounded soliders.  NO MAN LEFT BEHIND.  They each had 8 little soldiers to wrap and bring back to camp.  They each were given a purple heart sticker and and certificate.  Again I just printed and cut the sticker.  The certificate I made my own and printed it on camo paper.  I have attached a picture of one similar below.  I can not find the one I made.

 

 I had planned to make my own cake but did not end up with enough time.  SHOCKER!  I called the local grocery store and begged to get an army cake fast.  They did not make an army cake....hmmm...ok, can you make dirt??  Yes, GREAT!  I just added a toy tank, perfect!

 

Upon completing their mission they received their own box army play box.  I got containers from the dollar store, made a mission complete sticker and stuck it on top.  We have many little rocks in our yard so I filled the boxes up and put in army men, tanks, and jets.  They all had a great time!

How I Make the Most of My Time

I have often been asked, "How do I have the time to do all the things I do?"  Well I think the easy answer is that I just keep moving.  Tonight was a perfect example.  While I wrote this blog post, I was making dinner while checking my date book to mentally prepare for tomorrow.  I finished emptying out my son's lunch bag and looked through all of his school work.  I already had on my work clothes on so that I can get a few projects done after the kids go to bed.  I had Emma in her seat and prepared her food all the while keeping an eye on dinner to keep it from burning.  I was stirring rice while fielding questions from my boys and Bobby.  I just move!  From one task to another without stopping.  I must say that I am high energy and love to get things done.  The down side is that I sometimes over extend myself which then overwhelms me, but I recover quickly.  I am a multi-tasker.  I developed this trait while working for 8 years at a very busy mortgage company.  I try my best to take advantage of the time that I do have. I would have never thought that the skills I was learning then would be just what I needed as a busy mommy of three.

Even if you are not high energy or do not enjoy being busy, there are some things you can do to gain more time.  One of the biggest thing that I gave up that freed up so much time for me was TV.  We still own one, but we do not have cable or DVR.  We have Netflix which has some cute shows for the kids.  It has been a year now, and I do not miss it at all.  Many nights after putting the kids to bed and doing our own separate projects, Bobby and I will wind down with 30 minutes of a show before bed.  This allows me a couple hours after the kids go to bed and before I do to get some things done.  If I have a task already planned then I can usually get it started and finished before the end of the night. 

Another thing that really helps me is the idea of baby steps.  If you have a lot to get done and you think of all of it at once it feels like too much to handle and we tend to give up before we even get started.  Getting something done, even if it is a small task is better then not doing anything.  If you get a few things done everyday then by the end of the week you have accomplished a lot.  Try to break it up into baby steps.  Pick a few task to get done for the day.  Make sure you get those things done and do not worry about everything else!  That way when you go to bed you feel like you have reached your goal.  That gives you motivation to do more the next day.  It also helps, if you are a list maker like me, to write down a list of what you did accomplish during the day, which is encouraging instead of a list of what you did not do, which is discouraging. 

Finally the most important change I made when trying to make more time for myself was creating routines.  Bobby and I have an amazing morning routine.  We work together like a well oiled machine.  We set out each with our own tasks to get us all ready in the morning, fed and properly prepared for the day.  I am amazed at how much I get done before 8 am.  Routines are hard in the beginning so start slow.  Once you are doing it for a couple months it feels natural.  Then you can add to it.  Be reasonable and only set out to do what is necessary and what you are capable of.  Do not try to be superwomen.  You will set yourself up to fail.  Remember baby steps!  I laugh, because every time I "say" that I think of "What About Bob".  Anyone else?

I hope that some of these ideas can help some of you.  They help me daily.  If anyone else has some good ones to share please do.