The Suede Sofa Blog

{Kids Service Project}

Once a month I teach Sunday School at my church and here is a SeRviCe PrOjEcT we do from time to time:

Make table tents for hospital patients.

We start off with card stock paper or blank cards. Then DeCoRaTe with foam stickers & bandaids, sign our name, and wish them well. I deliver them to our town’s hospital where they are placed on patient’s meal trays. The hospital PR person tells me they especially like to receive them on holidays such as MoThEr’s DaY, FaThEr’S DaY, Christmas, etc. It’s easy and is a simple way we can give to those less fortunate than us!!

Robynn~

{Mommy Wars}

Ok, sometimes you just have to SpEaK uP and say, “Hold on a minute! I thought we (women) were in this thing ToGeThEr!!”

If you’ve been watching the news the last couple of days you undoubtedly heard the comment Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen made about Ann Romney (the Republican candidate, Mitt’s wife) not working a day in her life. Are you SeRiOuS? A stay-at-home mom of 5 boys not working a day in her life? I will have to admit that makes me a bit indignant. Maybe it’s because I have a DoG in this fight. I’m a stay-at-home mom.

This attack is not about Democrat or Republican, Conservative or Liberal, but rather it is an attack on womanhood. Whether you love or hate the Romneys, there is no denying that motherhood is HaRd WoRk.

I’ve been on both sides – I’ve been a professional working mother and now I’m a stay-at-home mom. And I will have to say I have great ReSpEcT for both.

Let me give you a small sampling of some of the women in my life to whom I tip my hat:

My OB/GYN whom I am so grateful my daughters will grow up seeing as not only the woman who brought them into this world, but who is also a caring and giving woman in my community. Then there is my dental hygienist; my daughters’ teachers; family & friends who are social workers, doctors, nurses, speech pathologists and teachers. All are excellent RoLe MoDeLs and working moms.
A MiLiTaRy young mom of a darling toddler who was recently deployed.
Numerous single mom’s who work their tail off to PrOviDe for themselves and their children. Many of these are former students of mine and my heart goes out to them.
Working moms who would stay-at-home in a heart beat if they could, but know for the welfare of their family they must work to keep the BoAt AfLoAt.
And of course, I know many StAy-At-HoMe moms like me.

This discussion is not about whose life is harder. There are pros and cons on both sides. Instead, I think it is about giving GrAcE Grace to the mother who chooses to WORK outside of the home and grace to the mother who chooses to WORK inside the home. We can appreciate the contribution each makes to society. The bottom line is We aRe On The SaMe TeAm!! Enough of the mommy wars!!

Ok, it’s time to get off the soapbox and take a breath!

What do you think? Does this discussion hit a nerve for you like it does me? If so, please share!!

;)

Robynn~

10 Things We Love About Summer!!

WE love summer! We LOVE summer!! We love SUMMER!!! Can you tell we love summer?! And we are already beginning to make plans for all the fun things we want to do. How about you? Do you have a list? Why not make this summer the funnest one yet?

With our commitment to “LiVe-It” we want to spend more time with our kids and less time on our computers so we’re planning on changing our writing schedule a bit. Robynn will be posting on Mondays, Robyn (Jersey Girl) will be posting on Wednesday and Lara will be posting on Fridays. From time to time we may share something extra on the other days, but this will give you an idea of when you can read our individual posts.

If you’re looking for a fun activity, why not make a list of why you love summer? Here’s our lists:

10 things Lara loves about summer:

1-Homemade Ice Cream

2-Planting Season/Corn Rows

3-Pony Tails

4-Putting Flip Flops on for the First Time

5-Inflatable Kiddy Pools

6-Longer Days

7-Watermelon, Lemonade, Burgers and Chips

8-Farmer Tans

9-Family Vacations

10-County Fairs

10 things Robyn loves about summer:

1-The Beach!

2-Building Sand Castles

3-Backyard BBQ’s

4-Patriotic Holidays

5-Flip Flops!!!

6-Gardening

7-Spending weekends with family and friends

8-Celebrating my kid’s birthdays

9-Warm Weather

10-No Schedule!

10 things Robynn loves about summer:

1-Barefeet babies!!

2-Hanging out on my back porch with friends & family

3-Driving in the country past corn fields

4-Catching lightning bugs with my kids – our version of catching lightning in a bottle!!

5-The smell of fresh cut grass, alfalfa hay, and bbq

6-Family road trips back to South Dakata to see friends & family

7-Regular family biking trips to our town’s pool

8-4th of July Celebrations – family, friends, food, fun, fireworks!!

9-Heat!! And the feel of warm air on your skin!!

10-Early morning walks & jogs

~What do you LOVE about summer? Go ahead, make your list! ~

{When To Tell The Truth}

Does your mouth ever get you in trouble? Are you puzzled as to why some of your relationships are on the rocks or non-existent? Are you one to “speak your mind”?

If so, you may justify your actions by saying, “I was only telling the truth.” Telling the truth is good, but telling it all the time without discretion is not. I once heard someone say, “Always tell the truth, but don’t always be telling it.” It takes wisdom and self-control to know when to keep your mouth shut. I can attest that it is not always easy, but the wise King Solomon states over and over in the book of Proverbs how it is the fool who is always talking, but the wise man who can overlook an insult.

Do you use your words to destroy or build? Encourage or discourage? If you have relationships that need mended check your words. Do you need to give more grace? After all, you do reap what you sow. And speaking for myself I sure can use grace.

So, keep speaking the truth, but learn when it’s time to keep that truth to yourself. You will be doing you and all your relationships a favor.

Robynn~

Rated G Does Not Mean ALL AGES

As a mom I feel that almost every decision I make has some influence whether it be great or small on my children. If I send my son to school without a coat, “Will he be cold at recess?” If I let my daughter skip a nap to go to a playdate, “Will she be cranky all evening?” If I keep my son from watching cartoons that his friends are watching, “Will the other kids tease him?” So many decisions and so much to WoRrY about as parents.

My son has recently started a fascination with dinosaurs. He has been learning about them in school and can’t get enough of them. A friend let us borrow a National Geographic DVD about dinosaurs that Nicholas loved. It was really realistic looking and it had all of his favorite dinosaurs. Only problem was…it was a little TOO realistic. Nicholas had a few nightmares and we sent that DVD back. We found an old G rated animated dinosaur movie named, The Land Before Time to give to Nicholas for Easter. It looked adorable and I was thrilled that even though it was created in 1988 it was available on DVD. Without a second thought I put in the movie and started breakfast only to hear my husband calling me into our family room a few minutes later. Nicholas was curled up on the chair with tears in his eyes and wouldn’t talk. We shut off the movie and I sat down with him to find out what happened. He told me that in the movie the T-Rex hurts the mommy and he gave me the tightest hug his arms could give. Later that morning I found the scene he was referring to. Not only does the T-Rex hurt the mommy, but she dies right in front of her baby. I went right to the DVD packaging and read the description that mentioned NoThInG about the outcome of the scene that was so horrifying to a four-year old to watch.

A sickening feeling came over me that I couldn’t shake for most of the morning. Why didn’t I preview the movie before I let Nicholas watch it? Nicholas has been attached to my hip since the second he was born. He is a MoMmY’s BoY who still ends up waking up next to me more morning than not. Watching that baby dinosaurs mommy die must have been horrifying for him. How long is it going to take for him to forget how upsetting this scene was to him?

If anything good has come out of this, it’s that I have learned there are NO true G Rated shows, movies, apps, etc. in life. Kids have so many different personalities and QuIrKs…what sets off one may be the opposite of what sets off another. There are too many times when we let a false sense of security take over for our better judgement. Please learn from my mistake and take the time to really SEE for yourself!

~Robyn (Jersey Girl)

This Isn’t Working

How many times have you thought up a wonderful idea in your head but, when it came down to execution, it was much more difficult than you planned? Did you continue to force it to work or did you step back and realize ‘this isn’t working’?

I can think of nUmeRouS times I’ve tried to force a square peg into a round hole. This past Christmas Robynn and I were trying to shoot a video for our blog. The plan was to highlight all of our favorite Christmas crafts and cookies while we had a group of friends (and their kids) over. Two minutes into the video we realized how crazy we were thinking we could record ourselves with a handful of toddlers in the room. Come on, we are Mom’s! Why didn’t we realize this earlier?!

There is a fine line between not giving up on a goal and reCogNiziNg when things need adjusted. Many times we don’t realize this until we are in the moment but thankfully our gut does a pretty good job telling us when changes are needed!

What areas in your life are your forcing? Are you planning a special event for your family and it is stressing everyone out? Are you obsessing over perfection and it is upsetting everyone around you?

Many times there is a simple solution right there in front of you. Perhaps it is something like..reschedule…rethink…or… LET GO.

~Lara

{Pick One}

So, what do you do if you’re Tom Osborne (the athletic director and former iconic University Of Nebraska Cornhusker football coach), you’re without a mens’ basketball coach, and looking for a coach with a proven history to build a basketball program? You hire someone who has turned around a handful of floundering basketball programs into thriving and nationally competitive teams. And that coach is Tim Miles. Can I hear a Go BiG ReD?

Tim happens to be a FriEnD of mine. We are from the same small town in South Dakota and I’ve been friends with his parents and siblings for years. So when my family vacationed in Colorado around the time he landed his last job at Colorado State University a few years back, we stopped by to say “Hi” and check out his new facilities. As we were catching up on his life and new coaching position, Scott and I asked him if he ever went back to South Dakota to hunt (a popular sport there – the pheasant, after all is South Dakota’s state bird and for good reason. There are tons of them!) or if he was able to do much snow skiing.

Tim’s answer was one I ReMemBer for a very long time. He told us that years ago, one of his basketball coaching mentors told him that he should “Pick one.” Either he should focus on coaching or let the coaching take 2nd fiddle to these other activities. This mentor understood the sacrifice it would take to be successful at the collegiate level. Smart man (and successful too).

If you are frustrated because you don’t feel like you are good at anything (or at least not as good at something as you would like to be) could it be that you are trying to be good at everything? Is it time to StReEmLiNe? Contrary to popular belief, you can’t have it all.

Take a look at the people you AdMiRe who are at the top of their game in any area of life. When you do, chances are you will discover they have embraced the “Pick One” principle as well. There’s nothing wrong with experimenting to see what works best for you. But to be successful, eventually you have to make a choice and PiCk OnE.

Robynn~

P.S. Thanks for the lesson, Tim.

{Oh Happy Day!!}

Happy Easter!! What a Glorious Day!!!

Easter Surprises

Shhhhh… don’t tell our KiDs! This year we wanted to do something a little different from the traditional EaStEr BaSkEt (Grandparents have that covered). So, we decided to use this idea we saw on Pinterest. Our original idea was to use quart canning jars, but because they were sold out we chose these canisters that we’ll be able to reuse! Inside we have placed Easter grass along with our favorite Easter CaNdY: A Chocolate Bunny, Mini Reese Eggs, Mini Cadbury Eggs, Starburst JeLLy BeAnS, and of course Peeps! We think our kids will be surprised when they wake up to these Easter Treats! A new Easter TradiTioN!!

~Lara & Robynn~

Egg Dying Made Easy

My sister and I added a MuSt HaVe gadget to our egg dying extravaganza this year…a WiRe WhiSk for each cup of egg dye. Working with 3 kids under the age of 5 is tricky enough, but when you factor in 8 cups of water and 18 hard-boiled eggs you have a potential disaster waiting to happen. This year I purchased 8 wire whisks at my local dollar store and we let the kids use them to dunk their eggs into the egg dye and take them back out (over and over again) to check their colors until they had them just the way they wanted them. I am happy to report that even my 2-year-old was able to get her eggs in and out of the whisk easily and we didn’t break a single egg!

My niece Taylor using a wire whisk to dye her Easter egg!

~Robyn (Jersey Girl)