Chaos

Empty Threats

~ Kara Mills ~ 1 Comment

You’ve probably heard it before, you’re out at the store and there is a mom who is just about at her limit with her screaming child. She finally blows her top and tells the child that they’re never going have candy again if they don’t stop crying. Next thing you know, the kid is picking out a candy bar while waiting in the checkout line. That kid knows how to work the system. I’m talking about empty threats. Everyone does it some time or another. It might be in the heat of the moment and you say they will never get a toy again in their whole life. Yeah, that is probably not going to happen, but I get it, we all have those moments. I’m talking about continually doing that. It’s about keeping credibility with the kids. They need to know that you will do what you say you will do. Continue reading →

Hubs: My Hero

~ Kara Mills ~ Leave a comment

A big part of being married and knowing your spouse is knowing what really knocks their socks off. For some women it might be a nice purse or piece of jewelry. For others it may be time away getting pampered (my second choice item). For me however, my first choice is having a clean house. If I walk in and the floors are shining and things are tidied up….look out! This mama is doing a dance! Oh, you’ve emptied the dishwasher…shut your face! The laundry is folded…and put away! Oh go on you say! Pure bliss is what I call that! Continue reading →

Lucky to Be Alive

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The kids in our house have been dropping like flies. Aden was in the ER for his usual asthma stuff, which was triggered by a bad cold. It’s so usual that the respiratory therapist even recognized us. And gave us the same lecture she gave us the last time we were there 2 months ago. Clearly it’s not really working because we were back again. Sunday morning I stayed home with all of the boys instead of going to church and it was a good thing I did, Elijah woke up with a 102.7 fever. Nice. Did I mention Asher was battle a nice little cold/ear infection too? Oh yeah, and hubs has mid-terms this week. Oh, and another thing, my boss is in town this week because it is performance appraisal time at work. Nothing says “I want to advance my career” like “I need to reschedule my performance appraisal, and take a day off because my kids are sick and my husband has mid-terms”. I may be misguided and presumptuous by saying this, but the thought did cross my mind that if I was a SAHM it might be a little easier. At least I would have one less thing to schedule around- work. But, I really do love my job. Continue reading →

Valentine’s Day Boxes

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So there is a thing here in Minnesota, or probably everywhere, that I’m just learning about with the boys now in elementary school. I don’t recall this from Michigan, at least from friends that had kids in elementary school, but of course Pinterest didn’t really exist when we lived there- at least not like it does today. Valentine’s Day boxes. The joy for every Pinterest obsessed mom and the dread for every mom just making ends meet with getting homework done and lunches packed. Now, for those of you who might not quite understand the whole box occult, I would tell you to go to Pinterest and look it up, but you would be gone for a few hours and forget to finish reading my post. Continue reading →

Dirty Laundry

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Would all the moms out there who picked some piece of dirty clothing at some point during the day please raise your hand? Okay, for the 3 moms out there that did not, please let me know what your tricks are. Here is what happened in our house today- and know this is a fairly standard occurrence. I get up to get in the shower and realize that there is a small mountain of clothes on the bathroom floor. Continue reading →

Recovering from Christmas

~ Kara Mills ~ 2 Comments

Christmas

I don’t know about you, but this Christmas seemed to go by in a blink of an eye this year. Weeks before Christmas, I was scrambling to get gifts together while hubs was finishing his first semester of med school (post about that to come later). This was our first year celebrating Christmas without any family around. Part of me was thinking that might make it more relaxing- no trucking all over the place – 2 hours here, 3 hours there. But, on the other hand, what could possibly be fun and memorable for the kids? I mean for us – hubs and me – it’s a little less magical than when we were younger. I remember having such fond memories of Christmas as a child. Time with family, Christmas lights, candlelight services at church, Christmas carols, and the list goes on. For our kids, they know that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus and we’ve had great traditions with our church to celebrate. We’ve just never had a steady tradition for our home celebration. When we lived in Michigan and the boys were really little, we did the driving all over the place thing. Now that we live in Minnesota, it’s not that easy.

So, as we were nearing the holidays and as I began really thinking about what we were going to do this year, I began feeling the pressure. You know, the pressure to make everything so perfect that your kids will brag about how great their Christmas was. Now, we are on a tight budget so I knew that they would not be bragging about crazy iPad/Xbox One/Wii U gifts, I had to “wow” them with an experience. I had that pressure, I’ll call it the Pinterest pressure, mounting. Continue reading →

Chaos is the New Normal

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Every evening in our house is complete chaos. Okay, maybe not every evening, but at least most of them. I’ve tried many things to just have a normal night. You know, normal like everyone else- coming home from work, cooking dinner, doing homework and maybe relaxing. I’ve made lists. And I’ve made lists of lists, just hoping that ample organization might work. I’ve tried thinking outside of the box and letting the kids be “independent” and let them decide their evening. That crap does NOT work. So, back to the old fashioned schedule. That is about as close to normal as I can get. Although, that’s assuming that the boys are completely obedient (like all elementary aged kids of course) and that the baby is perfectly content. Thankfully, most nights it’s only one part of our evening that is crazy. Maybe homework is a struggle but by dinner and shower time we’re back on track. Or sometimes it takes FOREVER for them to get in the shower but homework and dinner were fine. And then, sometimes, at least once or twice a week (you know every day in my exaggerated world) all aspects of the evening are chaos. Take for instance, last night. I was dog tired picking the boys up. Continue reading →