The Funny Things They Say

We all learned a lot when we went camping.

For example, Alex was our chief navigator. (Seriously, the kid can give you directions to the places we go on a regular basis, and he is always asking what street we're on.) We got a map of the campground and Alex would check it out and tell us where to go.

He would say, "Recording to the map..." It made us laugh every time.

Then Isaac discovered his new favorite food.

"Mom, can I have more of those yummy tomato chips?" Sure, buddy. And that's so gosh darned cute that I won't even correct you and tell you they are potato chips.

And Sam still says his bedtime prayer as "...to goom God's love" instead of "...to whom God's love."

It will be a sad day when they quit making such adorable mistakes. So no correcting the kids!

© Trippin' Mama 2012

Life's Jar

Some of you may have heard about or even seen someone demonstrate how to prioritize your life using a large glass jar.

You take an empty jar, which represents your life, your time, and your energy. Then you add some large rocks. These rocks represent the most important things in your life -- family, faith, job -- whatever you choose. But when your jar is full of large rocks, it isn't full. There's room for pebbles. These things are still important -- chatting with friends, volunteer work, hobbies -- again, the choices are up to you.

By now your jar looks pretty full, right? Wrong. Now comes the sand. The sand sifts in and fits around the large rocks and pebbles. The sand is all the daily things that have to be done -- grocery shopping, paying the bills, house cleaning -- things that are necessary, but not necessarily any kind of priority.

Guess what? Your jar still isn't full. It's time to add water. The water represents the things people do not to face the rocks or pebbles or life in general. Maybe it's using your kids as an excuse not to do things, or maybe it's spending time anonymously online instead of building relationships. The water, which flows around all the other priorities and must-do items in our life, fills our time to the brim even though the things it represents are not priorities in any way.

Over time large rocks may become pebbles. Pebbles may become sand or they may become large rocks. Priorities shift. Things change.

I have certainly found this to be true in my life. Almost four years ago my family rock grew to take up a lot more space in my jar, and this blog became a large rock for me. But now I find my priorities shifting again.

This blog, which I started as a creative outlet and to serve as my kids' baby book, is becoming a smaller rock. It's not a pebble, at least not in my heart, but I don't have the time and energy for it that I once did.

Since I started working and I'm writing every day, I don't need the same creative outlet for my writing. And, those hours at work mean I have less time with my family, which is a BIG rock I won't compromise on. That means something else in my jar has to shift to make room for a work rock. As a result, this blog rock has gotten a lot smaller in the last few weeks.

I'll still be checking in here from time to time, but until my job ends in November, I'm not making any promises about how often. I'm trying to be forgiving of myself and accept that I can't do it all and do it all well. It's OK to let go of something, even something that was once as important to me as this blog.

This was a lifeline for me in the early days. It was a place I connected with other moms of multiples. It was and is a record of our life as a family. It's a photo album, our home movies and the stories that will become our family lore all rolled into one.

None of that will change.

I'm not closing things down here. I just want to explain that while Trippin' is still important to me, priorities have shifted, and you won't find me here quite so regularly. Instead of an almost daily column, my posts here will be more like an occasional letter you get in the mail from a friend -- a pleasant surprise for you to sit down and savor.

I promise I will still be here sharing funny stories and daily frustrations. It just won't be quite so often, at least until November.

If you're a regular reader, thanks for cheering me on through the early years of life with triplets plus one. I hope you'll keep stopping by.

Thanks for understanding.

Christy

© Trippin' Mama 2012

Fun in Photos

There's been a real dry spell around here lately, both weather-wise and blog-wise. But there's been no shortage of fun!

First, there was the trip to the amusement park. Bumper boats were a big hit!

Then we built a "kid wash" after getting the idea from Pinterest. The kids loved that, too, though we can't use it now that we're under a watering ban.

We all enjoyed camping and fishing, especially since we only put bobbers and weights on the boys' poles, conveniently forgetting the hooks. True, they couldn't catch anything, but the safety of others outweighed the need to actually fish. Besides, they never realized it anyway.

We were on to more camping, this time with the grandparents, in 104-degree heat. Thankfully the horrible temps only lasted a day, and we were able to beat the heat in the campground pool.

We got in a little golf, too. A purse is the perfect golfing accessory, you know!

We fed the giraffes at the zoo, too.

And our water bugs really loved the beach!

It's been a great summer so far, and it's not over yet!

So if you check in with us to find that we're not here, we're probably out there having more fun. Hope you're finding lots of opportunities to close your computer and get out there and have fun, too!

© Trippin' Mama 2012

SNAKE!

We had a great camping trip with Grandma and Grandpa D. and Uncle Jacob last weekend. Well, except for the first day when it was 104 degrees. No joke. It's like we were camping in Satan's armpit.

Anyway, one of the things we did was visit a great zoo in the area. The grandparents bought each of the kiddos something from the zoo store on the way out.

Isaac picked a 3 1/2 foot stuffed snake. It's as big as he is!

He's been dragging "Snakey Snake" around for a few days now, and he's taking him to bed at night.

Well, early yesterday morning Isaac came to our bed looking for some "extra mommy snuggles." He climbed in, and unbeknowst to me, he brought his snake.

When I rolled over and opened my eyes a good hour later I came face to face with that blasted snake. It scared me so badly I nearly wet the bed!

Kids in my bed is one thing. Snakes? No way!

© Trippin' Mama 2012

Too Busy Having Fun!

Hmmm, looks like I took a little summer vacation from the blog there! We've been so busy having summer fun that I haven't found time to post.

It's been horribly hot, and our inflatable pool has given up the ghost. I'm too cheap to buy another one, since we're almost past that stage anyway. So we built a "kid wash" (i.e. a big sprinkler made of PVC pipe) that the kids can ride their bikes right through. Thanks to Pinterest for that idea. I'll post pictures of the kids enjoying that soon.

The rest of last week was taken up with packing for camping. We're talking real camping here. TENT camping. It's a story of weather and fun. But then isn't every camping trip a story of weather?

Throw in a late evening of catching fireflies, and another camping trip coming up this weekend, and we're squeezing everything out of the summer that we can!

Watch for lots of pictures to come!

© Trippin' Mama 2012