Having three little ones under 2 definitely brings on its fair share of stress.

There are times when all three of the boys are flipping out, days full of endless tantrums, grocery store trips ending in meltdowns and we are almost never anywhere on time.

I am a control freak by nature, I love to have a plan and I prefer when we stick to that plan.  I am ok with change as long as we  have a back-up plan to go with it.

No matter how much of a control freak I am, or my preference for a schedule my boys beat to sound of their own drums.  They could care less if mommy is a control freak or prefers a schedule and a plan, they have their own ideas of how the day should go.

This lack of control makes me stress out and over the past 21 months of being a mom I have learned that I just need to let things go.  One of the ways I have been able to do that is by developing a life motto.

My motto for this phase of my life is “it is what it is”.

We are 30 minutes late to a family dinner.  It is what it is, there is nothing we can do.

The boys throw a tantrum in the grocery store and start throwing food out of the cart (this actually happened! Noah threw food as Ian threw his shoes and attempted to take of his shirt).

It is what it is.  We deal with it and move on, of course while laughing because that is all you can do when everyone in the store is staring at you.

Eli has a blow-out diaper and I discover that I forgot a change of clothes.  It is what it is, nothing you can do now. Thank God for wipes!

When issues come up that are out of my control I simply take a deep breath, say my motto and move on.

I have come to understand that no matter how great my plans are, I am just not in control.  Life moves at a crazy exciting pace that is unpredictable.

I can’t plan for everything.

I can’t control every situation.

No matter how great of a mom I am, no matter how much I plan or prepare the unexpected will happen and when it does I am prepared to roll with it.

It is what it is and life moves on.

Often times I find myself caught up in the tasks of raising three very small boys.  I reach the end  of the day and wonder if I was truly intentional as a mom.  Although I play with my boys hugging and kissing them many times a day I also am distracted by whoever is fussing, needing to eat or drink or changing one of the three adorable tushies still in diapers.  This year I decided to challenge myself to plan 100 different activities to do with my boys.  These can be small or big activities, but many of them involve items found around the house.  I am looking forward to a year of focused play with my boys.

Items Needed:

1. Cooked Spaghetti (cook according to package directions)
2. Plastic bag or metal bowl
3. Food coloring
4. Vegetable Oil

After cooking the spaghetti, let it cool until it is cool enough to touch.  Divide the spaghetti into 4 bowls or bags.  Place enough vegetable oil in the bags/bowls to coat the spaghetti (about 1Tbsp per bag).  Put several drops of food coloring into each bag/bowl and shake until the spaghetti is colored.  Place colored spaghetti into the tub (or a kiddie pool outside) and let your little ones play away.

My boys loved this activity! They sat in the tub and wiggled and giggled as they moved around in the squishy spaghetti.

They would pick up handfuls and then put it on their head, on their brother’s head or straight into their mouths.

They played in the spaghetti bath for about an hour and had the best time!

As they played part of the spaghetti started rubbing off on the tub and I honestly thought it was staining my tub.  Once we finished playing and I began cleaning up, the tub wiped down with ease.  I simply took a wet washcloth and all the coloring came right off.

This was such a fun activity and we will definitely be doing it again! Maybe outside in a kiddie pool next time!

Before the boys were born, I planned on working, going to school for my masters (Family Nurse practitioner) and being an awesome Mom and wife. Why couldn’t I?  It might be busy and chaotic, but I could handle it.

I’m not a quitter, I don’t quit, I always meet my goals.  I’m driven, have big dreams and love to push myself hard.  I can do it all.  I knew I could.

Shortly after the boys were born, I learned that life looked a little different than I ever imagined.  Not only did I now have two babies, but I wasn’t sleeping, I could barely clean my house, I hardly ever showered and I was constantly covered in spit-up.

I still thought I could do it all.

I began taking classes again about 6 weeks after the boys were born.  I was just going to take it slow.  I went back to work when the boys were 10 weeks old.  It was only 2 days a week, not bad at all.

I could do this.

I thought I could handle it.  Accomplish all my dreams and goals, while still putting my boys first.

5 months after the boys were born we found out we were expecting Eli.  This is when my philosophy on life quickly came crumbling down.

I was barely juggling all my plates alone as it was, how was I going to add another baby to my plate?

I wasn’t sure I could do it….maybe I couldn’t handle it all.

This made me seriously evaluate my life.  I had big plans, dreams, goals and I knew where my life was headed.

This was not what I had planned for.

How could I quit?

How could I drop out of school?

I have never quit at anything.  I wasn’t sure I could do it.

As the months went by I continued to evaluate my life and honestly seek God and His plan for my life.

As I searched I discovered that I was missing the point.  That there was no way I could do everything alone.  Did I really want to do everything?

By adding so many things to my plate  I was missing out on the things that were really important.  I could do a lot of things, I could handle it, but just barely.

Or I could do a few really well.

I could step back and pick out my treasures in life and focus on those.

Would I ever look back and regret dropping out of school?

Or will school always be there for me in the future?

Would I look back and wish I wasn’t so stressed why the boys were little?

Are those moments I could ever get back?

By trying to do everything I wasn’t doing anything well.  I was so divided between so many different things, that I couldn’t really focus on one thing.

By trying to do it all, I was actually missing it all.

I learned that sometimes the most unplanned events become the biggest blessings.

I quit school.  It was the first thing in my life I have ever quit, and when I quit I felt more relief and freedom than I have in a long time.

I relaxed.

I sat back.

I enjoyed life, my boys, my hubby, the little moments.

I learned I can do it all, but I don’t want to.

I want to do a little really really well.

My life is more full now that there isn’t so much in it.

I have the time to truly savor the small moments and those are moments I will carry with me throughout the rest of my life.

Items Needed:

1. Lots of pillows
2. Chair to jump off of

My boys have a ton of energy, all the time! They also love to climb and jump off of things.  One afternoon I decided to plan an activity that would let them do exactly that as well as burn off some extra energy.

I gathered up all the pillows in our house.  The ones from the couch, our bed, the boys’ beds and any extra ones I could find.  Then I made a huge pillow pile by a chair in our living room.

I didn’t even have to tell the boys what to do! They saw the pile and immediately climbed up the chair and jumped off!

And then they climbed back up…

And jumped off again! Giggling the entire time!

It was very rainy and stormy on this particular day so we couldn’t go outside.  This was the perfect activity for them to use up all their extra energy!

Plus they loved every second of it!

Our precious Eli turned 6 months old at the beginning of this month! I cannot believe we have reached the half way point of his first year.  I feel like time is just flying by and he is growing so quickly.

Eli is truly the happiest baby.  He hardly ever fusses (unless he is hungry or teething) and he is all smiles all the time!

When we found out we were pregnant with Eli I have to admit I was completely shocked.  The boys were only 5 months old and I was just getting the hang of managing two babies.  I felt like we were finally able to leave the house regularly, we could even sometimes go out to dinner.  The boys still weren’t sleeping through the night and I just wasn’t sure how I was going to handle 3 babies 14 months and under.

I spent the better part of my pregnancy worrying about how everything was going to work.  I just wasn’t sure I could handle it, but I had to trust that God was in control and He knew Eli was suppose to be apart of our family at exactly that moment.

Boy was He right! Eli is our sunshine and joy! He is such a sweet happy baby! Some days can be really stressful, but then I look over and Eli smiles his huge bright smile at me and all my stress melts away!

He has a way of bringing you complete joy and making you forget about anything that may be bothering you.  He loves to snuggle and will smile all day long.  He is easy going very laid back!

He is nearly the perfect baby (if only he would go back to sleep through the night)! I wasn’t sure God’s timing was right when we found out we were expecting Eli, but now I know His timing is always perfect!

I, we, needed Eli in our family.  He brings such happiness to all of us! Now, if I had a choice, I would have definitely planned on having Eli.  He has added so  much to our family in only 6 months of life.  I couldn’t imagine not having him.  It’s almost as if a piece of our family was missing, and God added that piece in Eli.

Our joy, smiles and precious sunshine!

Items Needed:

1. Empty wipe boxes
2. Fabric Scraps

The other day my boys were running around crazy and Ian was attempting to set the record for the most tantrums thrown in one day! They desperately needed something to do and distract them and I needed to come up with an activity quick!

I found a few old wipe boxes that I had been holding on to (there just had to be something I could do with them) and some old fabric scraps, so I divided the scraps equally into each box and gave them to the boys.

They loved it! They would pull out the fabric and stuff it back in and repeat it over and over again.  It was such an easy activity to throw together and actually provided lots of entertainment throughout the day!

It wasn’t messy and didn’t require much clean-up afterwards! I decided to hide away the fabric boxes for another difficult day when the boys need a little entertainment.

Items Needed:

1. 4 packages of Jello (all the same color/flavor)
2. Water
3. Cookies cutter, spoons, forks, etc.
4. Sheet/tarp for floor

Follow the Jello jigglers recipe on the side of the Jello box, refrigerate for directed amount of time.  Cover the floor underneath the highchairs with a sheet/tarp.  Once refrigerated, cut out large squares of the Jello Jigglers for your toddlers to play with and place them on their highchair trays.  Give them small cookie cutter, spoons, forks, etc to play with.  Have fun!

My boys LOVED this activity! I mean, who wouldn’t love playing with something that you can also eat?!

They had so much fun watching the Jello jiggle, cutting out various shapes and of course eating it!

This did make a little mess and made for some very sticky toddlers! Bath time was a must after this activity!

The boys played for about 45 minutes, until Ian’s fork stuck to his hand, which flipped him out and quickly ended play time!

I guess the thought of a fork being permanently stuck to your hand would be a little terrifying…

Overall this activity was a lot of fun and a great sensory experience for the boys.

Items Needed:

1. Pipe Cleaners

This is an extremely easy, clean activity to do with your toddlers.  We simply took pipe cleaners and shaped them into hats.  The boys loved creating their new “hats” and wore them for most of the day!

Of course hats always look better with sunglasses!

Noah would not take his off! He loved it!

It’s awful when your hat falls in your eyes!

I hope your little ones enjoy this as much as my guys did!

Items Needed:

1. Homemade or boxed waffle mix
2. Several colors of food coloring
3. Waffle Iron
4. Butter and Syrup
5. Several bowls and spoons
6. Pam or another kind of cooking spray

While the waffle iron is heating up, mix up your waffle mix and divide it into 5 different bowls. Place several drops of food coloring into each bowl.  I had red, yellow, green and blue food coloring so I combined the yellow and red to make orange, you also can combine the red and blue to make purple if you would like.

Once you have all your colors mixed up, spray the waffle iron and then pour each color of waffle mix onto the waffle iron.  You can layer each color, pour them in circles around each other, or pour it however you would like.

Once you are done, top your waffles with butter and syrup and enjoy!

On the weekends we always enjoy a big family breakfast.  The boys love waffles, so most of the time I make waffles.  One morning I decided our waffles would be so much more fun if they were extra colorful!

The boys loved their colorful waffles!

This was an easy and fun activity! We all enjoyed eating the rainbow waffles!

Everything is better with a little color!

*I am by no means a chef, but this is the waffle recipe we use.  I use skim milk to make it a little healthier.

Items Needed:

1. Large sheets or blankets (I used 1 queen and 1 king size sheet)
2. Kitchen/Dining room table and chairs

Simply drape the sheets over the table and use the chairs to hold up the ends of the sheet.  Keeping shaping the sheet until you have created an amazing table tent!

One afternoon while the boys were napping I decided to make them a table tent.  It took about 10 mins to do and they loved it!

They got up from their naps and walked into the kitchen to find their tent! They were so excited!

They laid inside the tent for a few minutes and then started bringing a few toys in to play with.

After a while they decided that they couldn’t just stay inside the tent, they had to try and climb it! I wouldn’t expect any less from these two!

Once Ian started jumping around on the table and trying to dive onto the sheet we quickly took our tent down, but it sure was fun while it lasted!