Technology vs Responsibility

I get it. Technology is pretty much everything right now. Everything is paperless. Most people carry around a smart phone with a calendar on it. My husband prefers his phone calendar. Me? I love my day-timer and my wall calendar. I love post-its and paper and sharpies and all that. My husband and I for the most part have managed to co-exist with our different ways, very few appointments have been missed.

But thats not really what I want to talk about today. It’s that EVERYTHING is going paperless lately; bills, letters, and now at my children’s school. And I HATE it.

There is no longer any responsibility put on kids to make sure they bring home important notes and paper work. Everything is on the school website or emailed to us. I hate it. I remember both dreading and loving when I got to bring home stuff. I was proud when I remembered something and didn’t lose anything. My kids? They don’t bring anything home now so they don’t get to experience that and learn.

And now my kids school has started an online thing were you have to email when your kid is sick. So no more talking to an actual human. No interaction whatsoever. Yes I am sure this cuts down on the phone calls the school gets during flu season, but still. Maybe it is the stay at home mom in me, but a little human interaction with an adult would be nice.

On top of that, they also started a program online so when you need to send money to school, again the kid is taken out the equation and no responsibility at all is placed on the child, the parent simply pays online. We can’t even send $1 into school with our child for popcorn day.

My children can also do their homework online and send it to their teacher. Again, no responsibility to make sure they bring home the homework, do the homework and then remember it in the morning! No extra responsibility at all.

Yes I see the upside, my kids will never lose an important paper, they won’t forget their homework at school, they won’t forget their homework at home, they won’t lose a field trip form and miss out on it, they won’t take money to school and risk the chance of losing that if they aren’t careful.

But I also see the downside, my kids will never learn simple responsibly because they will never lose an important paper – it will just get emailed to me, they won’t forget their homework at school because its online, they won’t get marks taken off their homework because they left it at home in their morning rush, they won’t miss out on a field trip because they won’t have to bring home the form, and as long as I pay online they won’t have the responsibility to cary around a couple dollars for pizza day which they may or may not lose if they had kept the money in their pocket and went running around playing at school.

Its all part of technology and our world it seems. So many things rely on the internet. I’m not against it, I don’t think machines will rise up one day and kill us all (SkyNet). But I don’t agree with technology taking away responsibility from my kids. Simple things that for a child are big things. Simple things that lead to bigger things.

~ Michelle

7Sep2016

Back To School. Grade 5 & Grade 4.

Posted in Blog, Motherhood by Mommyhood Land Blog

My boys are back to school. Its hard to believe. The summer went by in a blur. I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I just sent my boys off to Grade 5 and Grade 4! I still remember those grades like they were yesterday! Especially Grade 5, a lot happened that year. I was living in Kenya. I met friends that are still in my life today. I had my appendix out. Which resulted in 3 hospital visits after that including another hospital stay. I went on a school trip to Mt. Kenya, which resulted in one of the hospital visits and being sent home early. Good times.
And now here I am, the mother of a son in Grade 5 and another son in Grade 4.

I remember thinking when I was little that the days would just drag on and on. But now, it is as if someone has push the fast forward button on my life. I’m not sure I am ready for this. Every time I feel like I have my kids figured out, they go and grow up and change on me. Always changing, always growing.

I wonder if my parents ever felt like this? If they did they never let on. Maybe they just had better poker faces that I do, or they just handled it all a lot better than I am.

Lets be real here for a minute. Completely honest. I am a complete wreck over how fast my kids are growing up. I don’t feel like I am handling it all that well. I am an emotional wreck. I feel like I am constantly playing catch up. Always just one step behind them. Just when I think I have it all figured out, they go and grow up a bit more, not a lot, just enjoy to change every single thing!

Something else, HOW AM I OLD ENOUGH TO HAVE KIDS IN GRADE 5 AND GRADE 4?! Ok… never mind lets not go there.

Back to the important thing here… My kids. School. Such a bitter sweet thing! I am so incredible proud of them! They are such awesome little humans. They love school. They do well in school. They behave in school! But they are growing too fast. I love watching them grow and reach new milestones, but does it have to happen so damn fast?! This mama isn’t fully prepared for it.

Time to pull up my big girl panties, and handle this like the mom boss that I am!

Onward and upward.

Forever changing and forever growing.

Now… If I could get people to stop telling me when my daughter will start school and talk about how quickly that is coming, that would be awesome!

~ Michelle

12Aug2016

Moms Command Centre

Posted in Blog, DIY, Motherhood by Mommyhood Land Blog

Its that time of year again. Back to school.
Its a time filled with mixed emotions, excitement and anxiety. But mostly for me its a time to reorganize after a summer of fun.
I want to share with you a “Command Centre” I made up a couple of years ago.
Want your own Command Centre?
Start off with a wall with a lot of space that is in a room in your house that you will be in every day. I picked my kitchen.

Next you will need a calendar. I LOVE the Ultimate Mom Calendar. Its all sorts of awesome. It is huge so there is tons of space for writing down appointments and notes and anything else you may need to write down.

Next I find a white board/ cork board / chalk board works wonders.
Or if you are like me, all 3. Because, why not?

I found this beauty of a chalk board while out on a drive with my hubby at some handmade store we passed by. I’m in love with it.

( I love the message the kids put on it).

Put all these pieces together, and Ta-Da! A Command Centre for the school year!

The chalk board is used for meal lists, and to-do lists for mom and dad and to hold mail.
Calendar is for the family.
The cork board and white board at the end is for the boys. Reminders for school, pin up paper work and such.

Now to stay on top of the school year and all the kids projects, deadlines and appointments!
~Michelle

8Aug2016

I Want To Do It ALL!

Posted in Blog, Motherhood by Mommyhood Land Blog

Hello New Day.
Hello New Week.
Hello New Adventure.

What a whirlwind this summer has been! I can’t believe it is already August! Where as the time gone?

Summer is soon coming to an end. I have already done back to school shopping! I’ve been so busy with all the running around, errands, shopping, water fights, and such that my poor blog has been left alone. I have missed my little blog. My little slice of the internet. My escape and my release.

I don’t know what it is, but today I woke up with such determination to get so much done, and such a strong urge to blog, that I am just going with it. I must say, it is nice to be back.

Usually on Monday’s I write out To-Do Lists and goals. But today I just want to accomplish EVERYTHING that I don’t really have a list. If that even makes sense? See something amazing happened last night! My beautiful toddler actually slept all night on her own! This hasn’t happened in… well I can’t even remember when the last time she did this was, thats how long ago it was. So maybe that is the reason behind my sudden burst of energy!

Do you know what else could be behind my sudden burst of energy? My husband and I are planning a road trip in October. This will be our first real trip as a family of five! We have done Niagara Falls for a couple nights, but thats a few hours from home. This trip, we hope, will be a week long trip down to the states! I am equal parts nervous and anxiety filled, but also totally excited and over joyed!

I have a feeling today will be a great day. I will get a lot accomplished. Today will be a good day! I will make it a good day! I am not wasting my one night of sleep on a crap day!

So now to clean, organize, work, sew, make necklaces, spend time with the kids, workout, blog, read, run errands, meal prep, meal plan, and have a fantastic day!

What do you hope to accomplish today?

~ Michelle

7Sep2015

Back To Reality

Posted in Blog, Motherhood by Mommyhood Land Blog

Hello New Day.
Hello New Week.
Hello New Month.
Hello New School Year!
Hello New Adventure!

It is Monday again. Only something is different this year. Oh right, its back to school tomorrow!

Who else is excited? I am. I love my kids. But I also love when they are in school, mostly because they love school so much and I love that.

So what does back to school mean for this week? Well it means endless time for me to relax, stay in bed, watch tv, read, paint my nails, sleep the day away… Oh wait. I have a 17 month old and a never-ending To-Do List. Guess all that other stuff will have to wait.

This week is all about getting back into routine for my boys and the rest of the family. I am excited. See I am a complex creature, I love routine, till I get in a funk, then I like randomness, then I get frazzled and crave routine again. I’ve reached that point, I am highly looking forward to routine.

My goals for this week are:

Home

1. Get everyone back on routine. Lunches made the night before school. Homework time.
2. Survive the first week of school.

Family

3. Have everyone make sure there stuff is all ready the night before school/work.
4. Find time to still read together at bed time.
5. Prepare the family calendar, and make sure it is up to date.

Personal

6. Eat healthy. I do tend to eat healthy, but there is room for improvement. No more soda!
7. Learn to take time for myself and not feel guilty about it. Seriously. I am horrible about this.
8. Workout. Not just Zumba. Mix it up with something else.

Work

9. Still working on over coming those darn fears. This may take some time. But I am working on it, taking baby steps.
10. Set out a calendar, and schedule time to work, and then actually do it.

Now if I will be able to sleep tonight. I think I get as many butterflies in my stomach, if not more, than my kids before school starts. It is such a mix of emotions. I know my boys love school, and that makes me happy. But I am also a bit nervous and worry, I know there can be mean people in this world and that as hard as I try I cannot protect my kids from them, especially when those mean people are kids at school. I have to trust in the school, and trust that my children are safe and surrounded by good people.

Let the picking of first day of school outfits start…for the kids, not me!

~ Michelle

31Aug2015

Ending of Chapter 8

Posted in Blog, Motherhood by Mommyhood Land Blog

Hello New Day.
Hello New Week.
Hello New Adventure.
Goodbye August, until next year.

I can not believe how fast this year has gone by, especially this summer. My daughter is already 17 months, my boys are 9 and 8 years old, and my son that I gave up for adoption is now 13! Everyone is growing up too fast for my liking. Even my dog is celebrating her 15th birthday today. Yes I know my dogs birthday, don’t judge.

The end of August also means that it’s almost school time. This is so bitter-sweet for me. I love when my kids go to school, I love how excited they are about it, I love watching them do homework, I love watching them as they tell me all the new things they learned. And I will fully admit, I love the break. Now don’t go thinking I am a bad mom or something. I do miss my kids when they are at school, but I also like having the house around a normal noise level, and its nice that it stays clean for more than a few minutes at a time with out 3 kids running around.

This week should be interesting, my goals for the week are:

Family

1. Get organized. Finish the final touches on my “command centre” that I made in my kitchen.
2. Meal plan, stick to it. Seriously this sounds easy enough, but this past week my daughter has been teething, and I’ve been fighting off a sore throat that by dinner time my energy is gone. I’m finally feeling more like myself, so I am determined to stick to my list this week.
3. Read together. Long summer days and late summer nights have kept us busy. We haven’t been reading as much as I would like, or even the boys would like, so back to reality.

Home

4. Clean and organize the front hall and front hall closet. Its turned into a disaster over the summer.
5. Basically do an end of summer purge, clean and organization of the whole house!

Personal

6. Read. I actually read a whole book, one whole book this summer and it was so wonderful. I read “The Girl on The Train” and loved it! So any other recommendations would be wonderful!
7. Write. Journal. Write some more. Journal some more. Write just for the sake of writing. It can be such an emotional release, I really don’t know why I don’t make time to do it more often.
8. Workout. Last week I finally started wearing my Fitbit again, and of course I get sick. So this week its time to kick it up a notch. My plan this week on top of working out is to also hit 30 mins of active minutes, at least, a day on my Fitbit.

Work

9. Organize my desk, and my thoughts. Maybe they will go hand in hand. Maybe once my desk is organized my thoughts will be able to be organized.
10. Take chances. Get over my stupid fears.

What are you hoping to accomplish this week? Are you on a mad dash to finish back to school shopping?

~ Michelle