Sweeping Through Life

This  past weekend my husband and I attend our church's couples retreat. Even though he is not a member there (yet) when he has gone to church he always attended there. I must say that I really enjoyed the retreat and the time that we had together alone. We were are able to connect with each over through conversations with other couple of all different years as well reconnect with each other. It was nice to hear that other couples have struggles and obtain feedback on what worked for them and may some of it will work for us. There are 3 things that I learned from this weekend, listen, pray and love. Listen. I think that I have always listen to my husband, but I do not think that I have listen to the point that I have processed what I was hearing to respond appropriately. The couples there who has 20, 30 one that had 50 all said that you have to learn to listen to your spouse and that listening is just not hearing what they said but it also includes knowing their body language ...

I love the holidays but sometimes it seems it is always about the hustle and bustle. I love seeing the lights, going to the parties and building the family traditions, but sometimes I just want to sit at home and look at the lights on my tree and cuddle under a blanket and watch holiday movies. I am going to try to find a balance with all exploring the real reason for the season and all the fun of the holiday season. I am going to do this by doing a daily reading plan about Christmas  to give me more insight as well sharing with my daughter the real meaning of Christmas. I think that this will give me more peace, a closer relationship to Him (which would be a present in itself) and more stability to endure the hustle and bustle of the season. I love this time of year and will cherish all the memories made. What will you do this holiday season to be more centered?

I just love Halloween. The idea of being someone else for 24 hours, eating all the candy you want without judgement and decorating the house in creepy things is always fun. What I really like about Halloween, it is the official kick off to the holiday season. Not only can you shop for all of the Trick or Treat items you need but you can also pick out your stuffed turkey for Thanksgiving and your new Christmas decorations. You also watch a horror movie and then flip to another channel and watch a Christmas movie. No really, I love the holidays but I want to enjoy one holiday at a time. Yes, I have been on Pintrest gathering all of my intel for Thanksgiving and Christmas decor and watching a few of the Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel,  for the most part I have not been mashing all the holidays together.  Mashing all of the holidays together, just speeds up the ending of the year.  I want to enjoy being with family, baking cookies with my daughter, decorating the ...

Have you started dreaming about the holidays? Of course the kids have, but have you thought about what you want this season to be. I love this time of year and I get so excited for whats to come. I love the decorate and every year for either Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas I look for something new to add to my decor. I have started looking on Pintrest to for ideas. It's a shame, but some of the stores in my area have already put the Christmas lights and trees in one aisle and all the fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations in another aisle. My wheels are turning on thinking on what I want to add. I am always looking for a deal or what I can make. I am trying to put a plan in place on how to execute this master plan of mine. I cannot wait to share what I come up with. Do you enjoy the holidays? What do you do for your home?

As mom's we want our children to have all the experiences they can have in life. Exploring those activities also involves moms being the taxi, the banker and snack machine for them. Not only are we wanting them to explore the activities, we also explore them by participating in the activity, socializing with the other parents or providing the snacks for the team. I really do not think that is the intent of the activity. I know that children need parent involvement, but sometimes it is too much, between work and home. To be honest, at times I want to be that parent who drops the kid off  at the activity and sometimes socializes with the other parents but gets to enjoy 45 minutes of "me" time. At times, that 45 minutes is needed  to refresh especially with the 50 minutes of prep time used to get to the activity. I have thought about limiting the number of activities she participated in, but I have also thought with doing that, that I was limiting her.  I do not want to ...

I am excited about fall. Besides the fact that it means that my favorite holiday, Christmas, is not to far away, there is so much to do during the fall season. I look forward to going apple picking, drinking apple cider, carving pumpkins, bonfires, football and bike rides and hikes with all of the beautiful fall colors. The coolness of the weather is great for exploring outside or leaving the windows open for a cool breeze to sleep to. It is great for  nice fluffy blankets and cool leather jackets. I love Autumn for the change in the season and for daylight savings time. I look forward to fall for the all the holidays off from work and all of the cardigans I love to wear. Autumn is for wearing crazy socks and fashionable hats. Autumn is for a refreshing of the home in preparation of welcoming of family and friends for gathering and celebrating football, food and thankfulness. It seems like such a busy time of year,, and it is, but I look forward to every moment of it. Do have any...

I have been spending a lot of time on Instagram lately and I have found some very funny mommies pages on there that feel my pain while giving me a good laugh. If you need a good laugh or a dose of reality some of these women can help you out. momcode scarymommy averageparentproblems hotmessmoms momandwine momsuperhero relaxingmommy sammichespsychmeds insanitywithkids difficultmommy These are just a few that I follow. Do you have any funny mommy blogs, Facebook pages or Instragram pages that you follow? List them in the comments and so we can check them out. You can find me at Sweepingmommy on Instagram. 

I have a new, I guess it is not really new, but a renewed interest in something....riding my bike. No not a Harley but an actual bicycle. I have been enjoying taking evening rides with my daughter or just going on a spin by myself. The wind flowing and rustling to on my shirt makes me feel so free. I like to hear all of the different sounds I hear in my neighborhood, that I otherwise ignore when I am within my home. I like going fast down the hills and slow around the corners. I want to ride each night and get really bummed when it rains or it is too hot. I look forward to the nightly rides. I was so excited when city put in a new a bike path close to my home that I have added to my nightly journey. Riding for me is not only exercise but a daily freeing of my mind of the hustle and bustle of the day. I am going to enjoy as many of these rides as possible until winter falls upon us and even then I might try to find away to ride. Do you go bike riding or what do you do to free your m...

Over the last week and a half, I have had two deaths in my family, one being my father and other my brother-in-law. Both of these men had unique qualities and characteristics but the one thing that they had in common is that they both loved my little girl. I have had to learn quickly that explaining death to a five year old is not really that easy. My little one is very inquisitive in general, so I tried to figure out a way to say what occurred without saying "passing" or "sleeping". Heck, so I would not slip up I just had my husband explain it. It seemed to go a lot better. Maybe because I was so upset, I could not explain in. She still has been asking questions and working through things like she should. Helping her talk through it and been helpful for me to process things. I have also learned that I have not been able to truly grieve  the last couple of weeks due to trying to care for my daughter. My husband has tried to help but at this time I just don't...

My church had a back to school rally this past weekend for the families within the neighborhood of the church. Since I was one of the coordinators of the event, I decided to leave my daughter home for the day since so much would be going on. She was so upset because she wanted to help the kids that did not have school supplies. I gave her a tasks to assist to assist me with gathering items for the event, picking out some schools supplies to donate and helping me get additional school supplies organized for the event. While I assisting she was asking questions about," Why don't other kids have school supplies?" " Do you think purple is one the kids favorite colors like mine?" I tried to my best of ability to  answer the questions of my inquisitive 5 year old so that should could understand. I did not think that I did a good job in explaining but then Gabrielle said, "We are helping the parents, help their kids, like you and daddy help me." All I could...

This weekend when we went to a children's museum ( more on our trip later), but while Gabrielle was exploring one of the areas that was supposed to look like a woods area. There were places to climb trees, rock walls, places to crawl and a fish tank tunnel to crawl through.  While in this part of the museum,  Gabrielle began to run around to with  4-5 other children in the area.  I was just sitting there listening to all the children, who just met, call each other names, laughing, and talking to each other. I turned to my husband and said, " They just met and they all act like they have known each other forever. Children don't see color."  He agreed and we just watched and listen some more as they played and little would we know the events of Saturday were taking place in Virginia.  Children don't see color sex or race, they just see another child. Why do people teach hate instead of concern for one another?  Why can't this world be like a 5 year old...

After weeks of saying,"No." I gave in and purchased my daughter a fidget spinner.  After I purchased it, I thought, "Why did I buy this thing?" I know why I just wanted her to stop talking about it and obsessing about when she saw one in the store. Why did I do that? UGH!!! Just for instant mommy gratification. I am think that this is one of dumbest toys ever. Now she is running around to all the kids in the neighborhood or anyone that she sees saying, "I got a fidget spinner." I want to say " WHO CARES!" at the top of my lungs every time she says it.  I think I made things worse. I guess I thought that it would lessen her talking about it if she obtained one. Now I am second guessing why I even purchased the darn thing anyway. As most mommas do, I will figure out how to get through this temporary obsession by, ummm, I don't know maybe making it disappear, running away when she is playing with it or just learning to play with it myself (NOT...

I love my bed. There is nothing like sleeping in your own bed. I think that you love it even more when you go out of town or have which I experienced this past weekend or a busy family to take care of.  Rest is essential and a comfortable place to rest is key to the mind and the soul.  Add in some nice cotton sheets, a fluffy pillow and some soothing music will help you to dream away. It is time for me to rest do I ending this post......so until next time  Zzzzzzzzzzzz. What do you do to get a good nights sleep?

I am tired. I feel puffy right now and know that tomorrows doctor appointment is not going to be fun. I have been so busy this month already that I have not been really taken care of my self. I want a nap. I wish my laundry would wash and put itself up.  I love my bed.  I have been really enjoying the rain, it waters the garden for me.  I have been exploring the Viceland Channel. Interesting programming. I really enjoyed youth week this past week at church. I think that I am addicted to pretzel buns and honey mustard.  I am obsessed with eyeglasses and have started my daughter on the path.  I like that I can work in the community. I need to blog more. I need to get up and restart my morning prayer routine.  I love ice cream. Do I really want to take my daughter to see Kidz Bop with a whole lot of other screaming kids? I think I am going to keep my hair in braids.  Ready for my girls trip.  What are you murmuring about? Tha...