real-simple-mom-ness

Tonight, I visited a blog that I really enjoy reading (Mollycoddle.typepad.com) and she had just written about reading the same magazine that I had just finished - weird! She went ahead and created her own version of this article, and I thought it sounded like a lot of fun. Go ahead. Give it a shot. Let me know where I can find you, and I will read all about you, too.


NAME: Ahna AGE: 41 HOMETOWN: st. paul

OCCUPATION: full-time mom and wife, teacher, actor, writer


THE LAST TIME MY CHILDREN MADE ME LAUGH: My girls make me laugh on a daily basis - we laugh together alot. It's something that I really cherish in our family. Last night we had dinner with family friends from my childhood. My parents were good pals with my classmates parents - so it was a big shindig. My classmates father is an older gentleman who I still cannot call by his first name. I must call him "Dr. Gallagher." (That is, after all, his name... luckily.) Dr. Gallagher has a 4 wheeler that he uses for chores around their lake property, but this evening he gave my three girls and their 2 cousins rides in the woods for hours. He was kind and good natured, and the girls loved him. On the way home from the Bar-B-Que, my middle daughter was describing the evening. She was taken with Dr. Gallagher, describing him as "a magical little man."

THE LAST TIME I MADE MY CHILDREN LAUGH: Tonight after dinner at the cabin, sitting on the steps to the dock... telling stories about Loons (the birds, not our family)

WHEN I NEED TO GET DINNER ON THE TABLE IN A HURRY: oh baby, we hit the cereal cupboard in a big way! or scramble up some eggs. Or , if we're lucky - maybe, just maybe pancakes... breakfast for dinner, it's the only thing I can think of under the stress of hungry children.

I CARVE OUT TIME FOR MYSELF: This is still really hard for me to do. I feel so guilty going to work, that when we have time together as a family, I will take it and sacrifice the "me" time.

THE LAST BOOK I READ TO MY CHILDREN: Tonight before bedtime I read "Oh, David" by David Shannon to our youngest daughter. I also read a couple of chapters from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" to the whole gang. I am not as good about reading to our girls as my husband is. When he is home, it's "Daddy, read to me." He almost always says, "yes." It could be to get out of doing other house stuff, but that's OK.

I REALIZED THAT I HAD TURNED INTO MY MOTHER WHEN....: I insisted on cleaning the house BEFORE the cleaning service came to help clean our house one week after our second daughter was born. Coincidentally, I had just had my second c-section. Good grief! Who cares what a complete stranger thinks of my housekeeping skills?! I am paying her to clean it!

THE INVENTION I WOULD CREATE TO MAKE MY LIFE EASIER: an instant food/beverage maker - like the one on Star Trek: "Earl Gray. Hot." Each child would get exactly what they wanted to eat for each meal - no more weeping and whining. Everything would be hot and ready at exactly the time that we are, and I could have a glass of wine - Fat Bastard. Chilled.

WHAT SUPRISES ME THE MOST ABOUT BEING A PARENT: That I can love each child as much and as differently as I do. I don't know what I thought would happen when we had more than one child... someone put it perfectly, when your second child is born, you don't devide your love - you double it. Amazing!

FAVORITE OUTDOOR ACTIVITY TO DO WITH MY CHILDREN: We go on "bubble gum walks." Each kid gets a piece of gum to chew. When we find something interesting on the walk, we tear off a small piece of gum and attach the new treasure (ie, moss, a leaf, a cicada shell) to the piece of cereal box cardboard that we brought with us. When the gum is gone, it's time to go home and check out our new discoveries. I also love to make sidewalk chalk art. I guess it makes me think of Mary Poppins and jumping into the chalk paintings...

THE MOST FUN THING ABOUT BEING A MOM: Theme days. To keep things interesting in our house, and chase all of the crabby monsters away, we have theme days. In Feb, we crank the heat, move the furniture to the side of the room, put on our bathing suits and have "Beach Day." Many times a month, we have an "Opera Day" On this day, we can only sing our words to communicate with our family. It doesn't matter where we are going or what we are doing, we must sing. It's really hard to be mad at someone when you are singing to them: "Don't hit your sister. Here's a tissue, please blow your nose. No. You can not have another candybar before lunch time." It creates a few curious looks in the grocery store or at Target, but it's worth it. Everyone in our family loves it and we have such good stories to talk about at bedtime.

I HOPE THAT MY KIDS INHERIT: My positive outlook on life - a sense of joy and wonder. The love of good music and theater. My husband's quick wit and sense of humor.

THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON I WANT OUR CHILDREN TO LEARN ABOUT LIFE IS: Life is so wonderful. This life is a gift from God. Use that gift well. We are each given different talents and abilities. Celebrate yourself and your gifts, don't waste time comparing yourself to anyone. Laugh often. Sing loudly. Be kind to others. Watch out for yourself and each other. Know that your mom and dad really really really love you and we always will, no matter what you do or say because that's the Mom-and-Dad Rule.


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some more questions from the magazine that I didn't take the time to answer:
before I turn off the lights at bedtime, I say to my children:
the most noticeable way parenting has changed me:
favorite tradition I share with my children:
three things my children have taught me are:
the hardest thing about being a mom:
I carve out time for myself by:
when I have 30 minutes to myself I:
when I was a kid, I said, "When I'm a parent, I will never..."
the television mom I'm most like:
one thing I wish I had known about parenting before I became a parent: