Thankful for Small Miracles

My hubby and I spent some time over the weekend deciding on our new systems of family chores and allowance. Mind you, our kids have always had chores and they have an allowance, we just hadn't tied them together in a consistent manner.

Well, with some amazing ideas from the Power of Moms Retreat I attended last weekend and some creative ideas of our own, we explained it all to the kids and told them that the new system would start today.

I am happy to report that morning chores, homework, and afternoon chores were all done without reminders BEFORE I got home from work! They are determined to get all of their responsibilities done so that they can get all of their pay. Now, I'm not guaranteeing that they will always get everything done without reminders, but it's nice to see that there is hope! I'll take it!

I can't wait to start teaching this system to other moms! Love it!

*** As a side note, if you haven't attended a Power of Moms Retreat yet, there is another amazing one in Park City, UT in May. It is well worth the trip! ***

Econobusters Mother's Day Giveaway!

Molly over at Econobusters has put together an amazing Mother's Day Giveaway! Stop on over and learn how to enter!!!

Many of the items were created by my college friends! So excited! They are all amazing!

Get on over there and enter!

Power of Moms Retreat

 

I had the chance to attend a Power of Moms Retreat in Park City, UT this past weekend. Saren and April did an amazing job putting the retreat together with many great speakers and Saren's wonderful parents, Richard and Linda Eyre, hosting the retreat in their home. To say the experience was great, is a complete understatement. 100 moms wanting to be more deliberate in their mothering, wanting to learn to “take care of the person inside the mom” and getting ideas on how to better raise children in the crazy, lazy, entitled world that we seem to find ourselves among. Those 100 moms represented 500 children! 500 little hearts and minds that will forever be better because their moms DELIBERATELY took the time to become better in their profession of motherhood.

(Saren and April, our fearless leaders for the weekend)

This retreat was far more than I had imagined it would be...and I have been wanting to attend one since I found the website.



Friday started with Mind Organization for Moms (M.O.M.), which is based on “Getting Things Done” (GTD) by David Allen. I had been using GTD for months when I found M.O.M. and was excited to see that it had been customized for moms. The presentation by April Perry was wonderful and will help so many moms clear their minds and simplify their lives so that they can be more “present” when they are with their family instead of having to always worry about what else needs to get done. ~ I highly recommend this program to all moms. I was organized before doing this program, but now my mind is organized as well and I don’t feel overwhelmed by the many projects I tackle. ~


This session was followed by a meeting of almost all of the women on the Board for Power of Moms, of which I am one of the newest members and completely thrilled to have been invited.


Saturday was the main retreat and covered a variety of topics like “Taking Care of the Person Inside the Mom”, “Effective Family Systems”, Values Parenting, and others. I have to say that I took pages and PAGES of notes (and a few pictures) and am so excited to put some of these great ideas in place with our family...hopefully helping to curb some of the issues we find ourselves faced with at this point in raising children.


I also attended the Train-the-Trainer session on Saturday evening to finish up my training and become a Certified Trainer for Power of Moms. I couldn't be more excited to work with other moms that want to become more organized and deliberate in their mothering.


In addition, I bought the book below, "A Mother's Book of Secrets" (written by Saren's mom and sister) and almost finished the entire thing on my flight home - A perfect way to end the retreat weekend.

(You can get it here.)

As a side note: The journey home was an adventure of it’s own and as I was spending my extra long day at the airport on flight standby, I shopped for mementos for my family. In that shopping search, I found something I knew my girls would love -- bright colored pencils with facts about the State of Utah...including the state flower - the Sego Lily. They were so excited about these pencils that had THEIR last name (Sego) on them. Granted, they already have the cute pencils with their first names on them, but these Sego Lily pencils had more meaning to them.


As I was searching for a magnet to add to my collection, I found two bumper stickers that summed up my weekend so well, that I HAD to get them.

~ All mothers are working mothers. ~

and

~ The best way to predict the future is to help create it. ~

That is what all of these mothers were doing at this retreat. Helping to create a better future by raising and leading the next generation.

Sunshine - We really saw it!

The sun outside was amazing today! I'm so glad it decided to grace us with it's presence, even with the few rounds of sprinkles in between sun breaks. We got so much done inside and OUTSIDE today! Over the last week, we have been working in the carport, so we've thankfully been under cover while tackling some of our Spring projects. But today, it was SO amazingly nice to be able to work in the sun.

Chica took this picture while not actually looking at the sun. She was trying to protect her little eyes that haven't seen the WA sun in oh so many months. (It turned out to be an amazing shot!)

So, what did we work on today? Well, Hubby mowed the lawn, Chica visited a friend, and Monkey and I worked on spray painting a few projects. The main one that we completed today was this: A kids bench for our porch...weathered by the WA, well, NOT sun. We gave it a fresh coat of royal blue paint, then distressed it. Monkey was great help with the sandpaper. Then I added some twine since we have a "beachy" type theme on our porch. (I know we don't live at the beach, but a girl can dream.) Last touch is a cute pillow from Ikea that normally sits on our porch swing. Here are the before and after pictures:

Before: Yes, I know. VERY weathered and horrible before clean up.

Paint, and some distressing

After: Twine, pillow and put in place.

During the sprinkles, we were able to put up this adorable photo gallery kit that my amazing mom gave me as an early birthday gift! We even went through pictures and printed out the ones we wanted to fill the frames. I love it!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Friday tomorrow...and hoping the WA sun sticks around for just a few more months weeks days.

Putting Up Walls

Today we built a wall. Not a majorly important wall, structurally speaking, but a wall that will help us separate carport from project area. A wall that will allow one car to actually park in the carport and allow the project builder to actually use the other space and find the tools and supplies needed. This is a MAJOR accomplishment for this space.

The great part about building the wall is that we get to do a project together. He measures, I cut. He lines the boards up, I agree that they look good. He climbs the ladder, I take a picture of my handy man. He holds the plywood in place, I use the nail gun to tack it down. I hammer, he takes the hammer away. (Evidently I am allowed to use the nail gun and screw gun, but NOT the giant framing hammer.) Once the wall is up, we add peg board to hang the tools most used. Then comes sorting ALL of the tools, supplies, and miscellaneous items that I have NO idea what they are or what they do. Hubby's rule: If you don't know what it is, it's a tool. He names the items, I organize them into categories. Yes, his work space is going to so organized that we will actually be able to create things in there. (Like how I note that it is HIS space that WE will get to work in?  ;)  ) 

We aren't quite finished with the "Organize the Carport" project, but the major hurdle has been completed. Tomorrow I break out the label maker so that all of those organized containers have names. (Yes, I know I'm a nerd.)

These are the kind of walls we enjoy building.

(After photos will be posted soon...Before photos might be posted.)

Deliberate Mothering over at the Power of Moms

Are you a deliberate mother?

The last few months, I have been getting as involved as I can in Power of Moms (a gathering place for deliberate mothers). In fact, I've probably driven Saren and April (the wonderful women that started Power of Moms) crazy with all of my questions and my excitement to learn their programs and teach them to other DELIBERATE MOTHERS. I've been so thankful to be able to write articles and assist with editing a few projects for Power of Moms as well.

The biggest of my projects right now is becoming a certified Power of Moms Trainer. I am so excited to be attending a Premium Retreat in Utah in just a few weeks. I have been reading, stalking following blogs and working toward starting Power of Mom workshops and retreats in our area. The Learning Circle that I've already started has been awesome and I really enjoy the amazing moms that I get to talk to and learn from.

If you look to the right, you can see that I've got my blog all linked up so that you can find anything you're looking for over at Power of Moms. Stop on by and see what they have going on. There are Learning Circles, the Bloom Game, Mind Organization for Moms, Podcasts, and MUCH more!

Flea Market Fun

In February, my girls and I set up shop at a Flea Market at their school. We'd been working on various projects to sell and had a great time making them. We did ...ok... at the Flea Market, but hopefully next time there will be more advertising to get more customers in the door.

Here are some of the pictures once we were all set up.

There are still some items for sale that I will be posting on the Oges Design page. Take a look and let me know if you see anything you just have to have. My 10-year old made the t-shirts and they turned out great. My 7-year old made the adorable bowls which turned out to be very popular. In addition, there are hats, ruffle scarves, Scrabble tile keychains (pick your initial), wine charms, earrings and a few other items. Feel free to look around.

Memories - Old and New

So our big project for the upcoming week, besides that it is Spring Break, is to clear out, organize and then put our carport back together...hopefully in a system where items are group together in a consistent manner, can be found when needed, and will be put back when they are not in use. I know! My expectations may be a little high for a carport, but I REALLY like to have things organized.

In the process of going through old boxes, we ran across many interesting items...an old recorder I used for college classes, sorority t-shirts, ceramics that my mom made me when I was a kid, and a box full of purple and white wedding decor from our wedding in 1998.

The "old school" mini tape recorder was a huge hit with my girls as they recorded themselves and then played it back in slow motion or in "chipmunk" voices. Kept them entertained for at least an hour and I can see many more days of fun ahead with that one.

The tape recorder was then put aside when the box of purple tulle, wedding bells and bows was opened. Whispering began and the sneaky girls were quickly grabbing items and running out the front door. Back in for more items and then back out again. They were busy for about 45 minutes when they finally came in and announced that they has remade our wedding for us...in the front yard...for everyone to see! I have to admit, it really did look like someone was setting up for a wedding! Here is what we saw when we opened the front door...

(Don't mind the little one in the robe, hat and rubber boots - doesn't look like the boots even match!

She's been sick all week and was thrilled to finally get to go outside for a little bit.)

I hope the neighbors aren't mad that we didn't send out invites ;)

Girls - Thank you for giving our wedding decorations even more wonderful memories. You always know how to make us smile!

PS - Maybe I should use them to help decorate the weddings that I help coordinate. Lol