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Women Living Well Blog: I Want To Be A Fun Mom!

Women Living Well Blog

Saturday, October 9, 2010

I Want To Be A Fun Mom!

One of my desires is to be a fun mom! I have to be honest. I know without a shadow of a doubt my kids think their Dad is super fun. My husband is funny, silly, goofy, creative, and would turn the house upside down creating some amazing game that they can all play. They laugh hard, run hard, wrestle hard and play hard. My husband and I work in the nursery on Sunday mornings and he is outrageously goofy and the babies LOVE him. He can take a child who is out of control crying and turn their frown upside down. He just has a knack for entertaining children. (which comes in handy for me I must admit!)


But I on the other hand need some help! Recently I discovered Leslie at FunMoms.org. Crafts are NOT my forte but her ideas are truly easy and fun! So, rather than trying to come up with something creative to do, I'm following her lead.


So let me introduce you to her and recommend her to mommies like me who want to be more fun - but just aren't very creative.(and by the way she's a huge fan of Sally Clarkson as I am - so that knit our hearts together immediately!!):


Leslie: is a stay-at-home-working mama to a very active and imaginative little boy (Landon, 3). She enjoys her morning (okay, and afternoon) coffee, is crazy about her high-school-sweetheart-turned-hubby, loved (just about) every minute of being an elementary teacher before becoming a mom, thinks sleep is overrated, and has a passion for all things colorful and creative. She is SO thankful for Jesus, is being stretched by secondary infertility, and is usually in the midst of about 8 projects. She started http://www.funmoms.org/ in May of 2010 to encourage moms to have messy, silly, crafty, good ol' fashioned FUN with their kiddos.


So the first craft I chose from her website is one I made as a child - Fall Placemats and Suncatchers. We went for a walk collecting leaves. The children loved this part and I explained to them that just as each leaf is different and beautiful in its own way, God has created them different and beautiful in their own way.Then I wrestled with the contact paper and won woohoo!!
And voila - instantly I was a fun mom! Check out Leslie's website here and go be a fun mom!

Edith Shaeffer says in the Art of Homemaking "If you have been afraid that your love of beautiful flowers and the flickering flame of the candle is somehow less spiritual than living in starkness and ugliness, remember that He who created you to be creative gave you the things with which to make beauty and gave you the sensitivity to appreciate and respond to his creation. Creativity is his gift to you and the 'raw materials' to be put together in various ways are His gift to you as well."


Walk with the King!

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21 Comments:

Blogger Suzanne said...

Kids just love to do crafts! Everyday mine ask what can we make. I am always looking for inspiraton:-) And Sally Clarkson is coming to Massachusetts next week--okay, no one comes to Massachusetts!!!! I am so excited I have been reading her books for 20 years and wished so badly to attend one of those teas,but always down south! I hosted Karen Andreola here for a home school conference about 10 years ago and she and Sally are great friends and she just couldn't say enough wonderful things about here. I am going to meet her next week--yeah!!!!

October 9, 2010 at 8:40 AM  
Blogger Alliwoo said...

I've struggled with this issue as well. I've even gone through seasons of being the "fun mom" and then not so much. Thank you for the encouragement to return to being fun!

October 9, 2010 at 8:44 AM  
Blogger Courtney (Women Living Well) said...

Suzanne - hooray! You get to meet her! I'm so glad for you!! I'll be meeting her in 2 weeks at the Relevant blogging conference! I can't wait! We are actually on a few panels together - I can't imagine sitting beside her giving advice rather than at her feet learning! Have fun!

Courtney

October 9, 2010 at 8:51 AM  
Blogger Mrs. Stam said...

How fun, that is a very neat project! For us we decided that I would be the one making house chores and school fun and my husband would make learning working fun!

How does it work, well I don't do school from this time set to that time set, we do school from time we are up until we go to bed everyday, meaning school is more then learning abc and 123, manners, good habit, learning about God, doing chores is done from morning to bedtime!

I have to be constantly creative to make thing like scrubbing the commode a fun and enjoyable thing haha!

My husband is the bread winner and bring our little girls to work from time to time and show them what her does to provide for us with a cheerful heart, they a re learning to appreciate his hard work.

Thanks for sharing this with us!

October 9, 2010 at 8:56 AM  
Blogger Home's Where My Heart Is said...

My husband tends to be the fun one for kids, too.

Thanks for suggesting this site, she has fantastic ideas. I especially love the fall placemat. The leaves are falling like crazy right now so this couldn't have come at a better time.

And now I'm really looking forward to Sally Clarkson being at Relevant. I clicked on her blog because the link was in this post and..wow.

I'm also looking forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks. I know it's going to be a wonderful time.

Thanks for being such an inspiration!

Erin

www.homeswheremyheartis.blogspot.com

October 9, 2010 at 9:48 AM  
Anonymous becca banana said...

Great post! I love the placemats and if it's not too rainy I think I want to try that today with my kiddos!

Thanks for the link. It's time for some new inspiration and making memories (not just keeping my house clean)!!!

October 9, 2010 at 10:37 AM  
Blogger Nicole @Team Pipkin said...

AWESOME! I'm gonna check out her website. I want to be a fun mom too!

My daughter is making something like this in kindergarten. I help cut out the BIG fall leaf & the wax paper that is going in the middle. In the BIG fall leaf, they will cut out the middle & leave a border. So in the middle will be the wax paper & tissue paper for a stain glass window effect craft.

October 9, 2010 at 10:48 AM  
Blogger Larena said...

This is exactly what I needed! My 3yr old isn't in preschool yet and I'm running out of ideas on how to keep him entertained without turning the TV on. Thanks for posting this.

October 9, 2010 at 10:49 AM  
Blogger Toni said...

That's how I found you, Courtney, when you commented over at Leslie's site. We've implemented several of her ideas already. Fruit man has been, hands down, my kids' favorite. Yesterday, I was inspired to make bird nests with my kids in homeschool, feeling more creative to come up with my own idea, thanks in part to Leslie's site and example.
Blessings,
Toni

October 9, 2010 at 11:09 AM  
Blogger Toni said...

Btw, it's true in our house too. Dh has NO problem being a fun dad. He wrestles (they all call it "big time wrAstling"), plays ball in the yard, gets on the playground equipment with them, takes them fishing on our pond, etc. Even the neighbor kids know he is the "fun dad." I love his example. Just wish it came more naturally to me to follow it.
Blessings,
Toni

October 9, 2010 at 11:11 AM  
Anonymous Michelle said...

I remember making these when my boys were much younger.
So much fun!
Hope you have a fun & exciting weekend!

October 9, 2010 at 11:51 AM  
Blogger Jamie said...

I loved this! This is such a cute idea. I NEVER would have thought about that. I'll definitely have to give that a try tomorrow if we have the time. Did you use fake leaves or fallen leaves?

October 9, 2010 at 3:37 PM  
Blogger Alison said...

Love that quote at the end of the post!

October 9, 2010 at 4:15 PM  
Blogger Courtney (Women Living Well) said...

Stam House - I always love what you share - thank you! It's not always being crafty that makes a mom creative - sometimes it's just the creativity we use during the daily tasks of cooking and cleaning - I completely agree. :-) Thx for the wisdom.

Erin - see you soon woot!

Toni - that's interesting that that's where you found me ;-) Hooray! So glad you did - you have been such an encourager thank you!

Jamie - yep - real leaves - it was fun to go for a walk in search of "bright" leaves. They loved that part!

Courtney

October 9, 2010 at 4:17 PM  
Blogger Erin said...

Courtney - thank you for sharing thIs fun blog! Love their mission and I have been trying to do better at this as well!

And I get to meet you AND Sally Clarkson in the same weekend!!! Woohoo!!! So inspired by both of you daily! Relevant - here we come!!!

October 9, 2010 at 11:31 PM  
Blogger LisasFitLife said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

October 10, 2010 at 12:46 AM  
Blogger LisasFitLife said...

This post couldn't have come at a better time! Lately, I have been looking for simple yet (cute) craft ideas I can do with my kids during the fall. Thanks for the website suggestion!

http://lisa52lis5.blogspot.com/

October 10, 2010 at 12:48 AM  
Blogger Claire said...

Those placemats are beautiful! Thank you for linking this!

Cxx

October 10, 2010 at 8:04 AM  
Blogger Dianne said...

Sort of embarrassed as I write this, but here goes! I literally had to hold back the tears as I read this. I struggle with aspects of homemaking in general and you always seem to hit the nail on the head with your posts, but this is my number one struggle! My father made it a point not to play with us when we were little. He was orphaned at a very young age and left in the care of an older brother who exploited him financially. Anyway, somewhere along the line he formed a notion that parents should not play with their children because children would lose respect for their parents. My mom did not play with us much either as she worked full-time opposite schedules as us most of the time (not by choice!) and played "catch-up" the rest of the time. I had a wonderful Christian neighbor friend who was ALWAYS playing with us kids and I vowed I would be a mom just like her someday. But I'm not. My husband is very playful like yours (God's grace falling on me), but I'm terrible. My children are growing up and I feel I haven't made their childhood fun. I'm saving the website you talked about and implementing those ideas. Thank you for your Godly example.

October 11, 2010 at 10:23 AM  
Blogger Courtney (Women Living Well) said...

Dianne - thank you for your transparency! I love your heart and your desire to change. You have taken the time to really look at yourself and assess - how wise you are! We all have blind spots...things we don't see but others see or things we know we should work on but just don't make the time to do.

Take baby steps - and enjoy your role as wife and mom!!! Your family is going to be so blessed!!! We are in it together girl! Keep walking with the King!
Courtney

October 11, 2010 at 10:02 PM  
Blogger Elizabeth said...

Love your piggy back ride photo. Such joy.

October 13, 2010 at 10:51 AM  

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