• Mothering Mondays ~ Making Memories

    Monday, February 28, 2011

    Hello Dear Mothers,

    Today I would like to share something from my heart that has been important to me through out my 'mothering ' years. It is about creating memories, creating happy times that make our children laugh and smile and enjoy daily living! I am passionate about this because I have seen the good that has come out of creating memories. I have seen how activities like the ones I am about to share about have knitted our family together tightly. It has aloud me to mould my children’s hearts as they have seen my love displayed in the efforts made to ' bless ' them and they have felt good about themselves.

    When I talk about memory building, I do not mean making traditional holidays good memories... no… I am actually talking about making memories spontaneously… Just for the simple reason of loving life and living purposefully. Years ago I adopted an idea from a children’s book I read by Tasha Tudor. The book is called " A Time For Everything" In this beautifully written and illustrated book, Tasha writes about special memories they made, month by month...

    I think I will do the same and share some of the memories we made this past year...

    January: The children and I thought it would be great to a have a party to bless a girl that we had got to know. She is so sweet and unfortunately lonely as she has no brothers or sisters and lives with her Grandmother. So in our planning of our party, we knew she loved rabbits, but did not have one. We asked the grandmother if we could buy one for her and the grandmother agreed. So on the day of the surprise party our house was humming with " rabbit '" theme decorating, a poster on her plate telling her that she is special, a " rabbit " welcome sign on the door and a table set with tea cups, goodies, and ' rabbit ' cookies ready to be decorated etc. My children loved it.... And preparing for the party was as much fun as having the party!
    When she arrived, and realised that she was the " guest " of honour ... she was flushed with happiness. The children gave her a basket of small gifts and on the bottom of the basket was the first note of a scavenger hunt that ended with her opening a picnic basket to find a live rabbit. She was so overjoyed, tears slipped out of the corner of her eyes... she could not believe it. She was so happy, she could hardly put the rabbit down to decorate her cookies!
    At the end of the party, I asked my children what they thought of it all, and they all agreed that it was so wonderful to bless their friend. My children were happy!



    February: Valentines Party ...with a twist...
    This past year, I hosted a valentine party for my children and 6 guests. My children and their friends really love their stuffed toys and I wanted to include them somehow so... prior to the party, we asked our friends to let us know the name of their favourite stuffy. Instead of the children making cards for each other, their stuffy made a card for the other stuffs. I had a beautiful sparrow that we dubbed as the postmistress and when the children arrived all the cards were dropped in a wicker basket that looked like a house with a roof that opened. Later, the ' sparrow ‘ delivered all the cards to the right animal. I had games that included both children and stuffy.
    We set the table very festive, with a heart tablecloth ...candles glowing and little wooden trough for the " stuffys " snacks!
    The party was a success and my children smiled right into the month of March!







    March: Many years ago we began hosting and celebrating " A First Day of Spring Party ". We all love this party. This is how we celebrate it. We invite our friends and family over for an afternoon of fellowship and fun. The fun is that this is the one-day of the year that we eat ice cream in every way you can! Ice cream a la mode, ice cream with brownies, banana splits, sundaes, milkshakes, ice cream cones, ice cream with fruit, ice cream cake... my 10-ft table is full from end to end. We decorate with pictures of baby lambs, chicks and flowers etc. I often have hoped our sheep would have lammed and we would bring a sweet lamb inside to be held and cuddled by my children and their friends. A couple of years ago... we timed the hatching of chicks to fall on the first day of spring!
    Sometimes the Jewish Feast of Purim would fall on the same day and so we would have a combined feast of remembering the story of Esther and then ending the day with ice cream of all sorts.
    My children’s face glowed with happiness and excitement for days before the party and after !

    April: A & W and Movie Night. Here in the Cariboo my children are getting restless. The snow is melting finally and it is time for some fun to get us through the 'muddy ' month. In the past years we have done several theme parties. One party Rosaleen hosted (when I was giving birth to my 11 child) theme was "junk food party " They invited cousins and played games and enjoyed junk food ! We also have hosted ' bon - fire ' parties. We would invite families over and even us Moms were ready to enjoy the outdoors after months of being inside. We made our bonfire right by the animal barn so that we could enjoy our
    Livestock and take in the delicious smells of hay and animals.
    But the one I want to talk about is, A & W and movie party. It all started with going to our local A & W where I asked for enough cup lids, straws, foil wrap for hamburgers, paper holders for french fries, ketchup packs etc (I paid a small amount for these items) We set a date, sent our some invitations. My children were getting excited for the day of hosting a restaurant and movie night for their friends.
    On the day of our party, we made home-made hamburgers and wrapped them in the foil envelope and fries in their holders, milkshakes or root beer floats and set up the kitchen like a fast food outlet. We had little trays and napkins and our guests stood in line, as my girls took their orders. In the background we had fun music playing and the atmosphere was that of laughter and fun at its best.
    After everyone enjoyed dinner and a bit of free time, the guests bought their movie tickets and popcorn made by my children and enjoyed a wholesome movie in our ' home-made ' theatre! The party was fun and left my children with a lot of good memories. Not only that, they raised some money for a worthy cause!

    May: This past May I was thinking of an idea when a good friend of mine asked us if we would like to come and have a party at her house. She called it “ Sandwich Day! " Yes...we were game and we had a great time at her home. The date was set for May 25th! Bright and early that morning we got a phone call telling us that Little Lachlan was born! All the little children were auntie’s and uncle again and I was blessed to be a Grandmother again. We were so happy, we could hardly settle down to do school... and how fitting to be celebrating at noon with a " Sandwich " party! When we arrived at our friends, we made them guess our good news, which added to the celebration!
    The sandwich making was so much fun. My friend baked the loaf of bread and then the children all took turns adding ingredients. I think there were 15 entries! Now for eating it... my… it was so yummy and fun to eat! We all sat around the table laughing and telling stories. The fellowship was refreshing!
    After that the children played outside in the warm sunshine and we ended up finishing our party with pie! Look at the pictures. Look at the happy children… does life get any better then this?





    That is all for now, and my prayer for all you dear Mothers is that you might have found some encouragement. May you enjoy the seasons of mothering and find contentment and peace inside your homes.

    Blessings Alice

    ~

    Mother’s you are the guests of honour on Mondays and because you mother, are the giver of gifts, and pour out from your life ~ life to your children. I wish to send you something to let you know you are remarkable! And I know that! I know you often give more then you have to give. Every week I will have a little treasured package carefully chosen out to bless your mothering ambitions. All you must do is quietly slip your name into my inbox and I will fold your name into a draw. On Fridays I will randomly choose one of your beautiful names, then as quickly as I can, get it sent off to balm your long days. Email me at rogerandrosaleen@gmail.com and I would be delighted to add your name to this weeks gift give away!