My whole life I have dreamed of being a mother!  It is a calling that I knew I would love!  I spent many hours as a girl dreaming about my husband and children.  I continue to dream for these angels of mine.  In my mind, I know exactly what would be good for them.   But the reality is this: they (our children) know what they like.

As a girl, my interests were wide; I loved sports, art, clothes, excercise, friends, being social and the theater.  I have always been pretty easy to please.  I ended up focusing a large part of my energy on playing soccer.  I loved it and I was good at it.

My older sister was a very talented gymnast and my younger sister was a very talented dancer.  They dabbled in other things, but that was their gift, the activity they LOVED to do.

As a mother, I already see this with my tween.  Lincoln has been exposed to lots of different activities.  I have him in piano lessons (which I will continue throughout his life).  He likes the piano but I’m not so sure it is his thing.  I won’t force him to practice hours every day, but I think learning music is important.

What Lincoln LOVES is sports.  I don’t care what it is, if it includes a ball, he is SO HAPPY!!  Because of this, we put him in lots of sports.  It is what he loves, it is what makes him happy, it is what he is good at!  He hasn’t narrowed down his favorite sport yet, but we will continue to support his love of sports and help him find that one sport that he can spend his life playing.

I find it so fun to be a mom and help to foster the talents of my tween!!

What talents and interests do you see in your tween?

I am lucky enough to say that my sisters are my best friends!!  They are the girls who know me better then anyone else in the whole world and love me unconditionally!

I recently watched my little sister married and sobbed like a baby.  Why did I do that?  Because I love her beyond words and care for her so deeply!!

I look at my own children and hope and pray that someday they will also have such a loving relationship.  There is power in a family and between siblings! 

Relationships aren’t always easy, especially in a family.  I watch my two oldest argue and get bugged with one another.  I know this is inevitable, but I also know that as a mother I need to be doing all that is in my power to help them build a solid and loving relationship.

Life gets so busy sometimes that I forget and see them getting frustrated with one another.  That is when I remind myself that alot of this other stuff in my life isn’t as important as helping them find happiness in their family.

Here are a few things I have learned over the years to help foster a loving relationship between my children.

- Create fun activities to do together as a family that they will all enjoy.

-If they are being super sweet to each other at night, I don’t stop them to go to bed, I let them enjoy every minute of building happy memories with each other.

-Try to be sensitive to their feelings, take them aside and talk things through with them to understand why they are frustrated and how we can help solve an argument without yelling.

-Praise them when they show kindness to each other, let them know how happy it makes us (their parents) and God to see them being kind to one another.

What are some things you have learned along the way in fostering solid relationships between your children?

Last week the weather was so beautiful!   I went on my usual morning run with my neighbor.  After we finished our workout, we were chatting in the driveway.  The kids were thirsty so they turned on the hose to get a drink….the hose stayed on…..they enjoyed splashing in the cool water!!  They got lost in kid land and about three hours later I made them come inside.  They had the most fun morning ever! 

 We have a small plot of land where we plant our garden and we haven’t planted it yet this year.  They filled the garden up with water.  They dug big holes, filled the holes with water and plopped their little baby sister in the little mud pools they created.  They made a trench and filled it with water.  They pulled out their boogy boards and made a homemade ‘mud’ slip ‘n slide that sent them sailing through the muddy water. 

During all this fun, I sat and watched and smiled….smiled because this is what I feel like life is about!!  It is about kids being outside, getting dirty, being creative, laughing and being together!! 

For me, motherhood can be pretty monotonous……it is in these moments, when I see my kids HAPPY and FREE that I feel that deep sense of joy and fulfillment in motherhood.  It is a joy that is felt by every mother and it is in those moments when it is all worth it……….all the diapers, all the headaches, all the sleepless nights, all the worrying, all the stress, all the money……….all those things are so worth those moments of pure JOY!!  Aren’t WE lucky!!??