by Mindy Lockard on March 23, 2010
Sometimes as a mom there are ideas that I have that are much better in theory. For example yesterday on my morning desert run, I ran by this…
adorable French Patisserie and had visions of dining with our vacation crew treat under an umbrella and being served by a french man with a wirery le moustache. In reality, there was a gentleman with an impressive le moustashe, five very excited children seated next to champagne sipping seniors and two moms who gradually became more tense…
Does this ever happen to you? What I need to learn is to take a deep breath and relax, because my children respond to my lead. When I get tense, so do they. When I talk loud, so do they. When I start to freak out, well guess what… How do you say “Mellow Out Mama” in French?
by Mindy Lockard on March 23, 2010
Our little vacation totes are toting several pairs of these..
Gold and gaudy… Hey, when in the California desert!
Flip Flops (or thongs for those who grew up in the 80s… did I just date myself) are great for trips to the farmers market in the summer or sunning on the shore. But one little thing to keep in mind, that a decendent of what was once called a thong is not professional foot attire. No matter how dressy, or how well manicured your little piggies are.
Shhh, can you hear it? The click clack coming from cubicles across America? I’m pretty sure our coworkers can. Before you slip on these little noise makers for work, remember this little “foot for thought”.
by Mindy Lockard on March 21, 2010
Our road trip made a quick weekend stop in one of our favorite California Beach Towns, Del Mar, to visit one of our favorite people, Auntie Steph (not a blood Aunt, but one that we love just the same. I promise you, if she’s ever in the market to expand her family there will be three Lockard ladies with their hands in the air with a “Please pick us!” and she’ll have to because we used the magic word, no?!)
Back to the vaca…mornings on the beach followed by lazy afternoons by the pool. Love this place.
Also what I love is this…
that children can meet on the beach only having the fun of running into the waves in common.
never caring what their parents do, where they live, what school they go to, who made their swim suits or that they are in a 5T at age 4. A little lesson we can all learn from our little ones.
by Mindy Lockard on March 18, 2010
Today was a great day. A great, crazy day. A great, crazy, sixteen hours in a car, show up to Starbucks in your PJ’s from the road type of day…
A great, crazy, sixteen hour in a car, show up in Starbucks in your PJ’s, I shouldn’t be blogging because I’m so out of it type of day.
Today really could have gone one of two ways. The way it went, or with two mommies checking into a nutty farm rather than the Marriott. Thank goodness, it wasn’t the latter. I can honestly say, this is one time when planning paid off. A road trip can be fun when flying down the freeway (going the speed limit of course, wink) but not necessarily fun when flying by the seat of your pants. Especially where children are concerned.
Two things that made it smooth sailing…
One planning high protein food. We packed pre made bagels and cream cheese, cut up fruit and yogurt for breakfast. These little plastic bowls were perfect!
Lunch: Ham and cheese sammies on whole wheat bread, baked chips and orange slices.
This gives a new and less creepy meaning to the word rest stop! For those who are concerned, primarily my facebook friends, no this is not at an actual rest stop!
The next little trick we had up our sleeve or more like tucked away in our travel binder was a good behavior incentive plan (from ManneroftheMonth.com’s March Issue)
At most of the stops we reviewed the behavior and gave stickers to those with great behavior. Along with a sticker came the chance to draw out of the bag o’ fun. Really a bag of little dollar store items that Elle and Maggie call treasures. Oh to see life like through “all things are treasures and magical” colored glasses. Do you remember those days? Sigh.
We also had bonus rounds, like if you fall asleep during quiet time you get a bonus trip to the grab bag. Guess what really works and what is very necessary when traveling sixteen hours in a car.
The goodie goodie grab bag and well rested children on a road trip! Win Win!
by Mindy Lockard on March 17, 2010
Today is my birthday, and yes I will be enjoying every moment of it from a Suburban with five children and one of my bestest friends for thirteen hours. Last night we had a little pre-birthday celebration where Ty and the girls gave me a little project they have been working on.
Melt my heart! I’m so touched by their sweet words… especially the one in the lower right-hand corner. Do you see it? Here let me see if I can enlarge it… Oh, there we go!
Oh yeah, this practically moved me to tears! Why? Because I’ve worked really hard to make thank-you notes fun! When I first started teaching manners my mother said to me, ” Are you sure you want your children to be put under a manners microscope?” my response, “I’m not worried about what others think, I just want my children to be kind.” I’ve tried really hard to separate what I do from how I parent. What I mean is that I don’t want the girls to have good manners because it makes my business look good, I want them to have manners because it’s important for them. As a mom I’ve tried really hard to make manners fun! Please know that just because I teach manners doesn’t make my children more prone to them… trust me I have stories to back this up. What this sweet little gift does, is help me to know that I’m on the right path. A little gem that will help me sleep well tonight…at a Marriott somewhere in Southern California!
