Category: Being a Mom

A few weeks ago I began composing a job description for myself in my head.  And it both cracked me up and depressed me at the same time.  I would suggest that all moms, whether we work at home, stay at home, work outside the home, work part-time, or homeschool, have pretty much the most jacked-up job description on earth.  Mainly because of that “other duties” line that falls at the end of most formal job descriptions that always manages to ruin a day once in awhile.  When Emily and I were working in non-profit, some of out “other duties” including risking our lives to spray paint arrows all over state routes in southwestern Indiana more than once.  Yes, I’d say it’s the “other duties” that really get ya!  Here are some of my “other duties as assigned” that fall into my job description as a mom:

• Dose Sophie daily with Miralax.  Apparently her bowel movements are on me.
• Amateur meteorologist: every day I have to forecast the weather for Joshua because he is deathly afraid of storms since the great Hail Deluge of 2011.  Every day I have to soothe his anxiety and if there is a storm in the forecast, assure him that we are not gonna die.  He never believes me anyways so I really should just make random crap up.
• Taxi driver.  Self-explanatory.
• Butt wiper.
• Wii game distributor, Nunchuck disconnector
• Speech therapist (who knew?)
• Occupational therapist (where’s my advanced degree!???)
• Baby-food maker
• French braider
• Librarian (gotta keep tabs on our extensive book and DVD collection as well as what we borrow from the library.)
• Hand-me-down organizer
• Choking Hazard Police officer
• Fruit Snack Distributor
• Cheez-It Gatekeeper

Those are just a few of the “other duties” I tackle on a regular basis. Some I never thought I’d do, some I didn’t even realize were a possibility, and all are a part of my life for at least a season.  There’s so much more to being a parent than just popping out a kid, or siring one (for all you Dads).  It’s exhausting and exhilarating and depressing and surprising and sometimes, just FUNNY.

So tell me, what “other duties as assigned” are unique to your parenting experience?

Yesterday the kids and I ventured out to our local children’s museum, the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, to check out their new Mindbender Mansion exhibit. We LOVE the Boonshoft and go several times a year, but it’s always more fun with friends! So I “twisted” Cortney’s arm and she and her boys joined us as well.  We had an awesome time!  First, we hit all our regular exhibits, like the zoo and the Cassano’s Pizza making-station and the pretend Animal Hospital, then we ventured to the main exhibit hall to see Mindbender Mansion.

Mindbender Mansion is full of brain teasers and interactive challenges.  I gotta admit, some of  the brain teasers were even hard for myself and math teacher Cortney, so it is fun for the whole family!  There are also several group activities that are really fun, like this fast-paced shape sorting – putting food shapes on “cafeteria trays” on a conveyor belt!  The kids LOVED this one.

We spent almost an hour in just Mindbender Mansion itself.  Everything was SO hands-on and easy to manipulate, the little kids even had fun playing the activities that were age-appropriate as well as the ones that were over their heads, and all the kids had a lot of fun working on things together.

We easily could’ve spent at least another hour in just the Mindbender Mansion exhibit, if I hadn’t had the baby with me. We might have to go back and check it out again before it moves on. The four kids and two moms in our group had a blast using our bodies and brains and working together!

Mindbender Mansion will be at the Boonshoft through August 28th.  If you haven’t experienced it yet, go for it!  We had a blast and learned a few things too!

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This post was sponsored by the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery.  The opinions expressed therein are all me, baby!

Last month, I sent Joshua and Sophie to Vacation Bible School at our church.   VBS at my church when I was a child was pretty much the AWESOMEST week of the whole summer, so I was psyched for them to go.    And, they L-O-V-E-D it.  It was in the evenings, and even though they got home past bedtime, it was ok with me because they actually slept in for once in their lives!  They learned songs about Jesus, did crafts, made friends, and had an amazing time.  In the mornings at home, they’d sing me a duet of the songs they learned. And Bobby and I, we got a few semi-quiet evenings at home with just the baby.  WIN!

Since VBS was just the 2nd week of summer, I’ve been longing for it.  It was over far too soon.

So I decided to become a VBS ho and send my kids to another VBS.  At my brother’s church. After all my sister-in-law is in charge of the preschool program so I know they’ll be in good hands. Tee-hee.  I guess I’m not really a VBS ho *yet*, I mean I think two VBS’ is marginal, but three would be down-right skanky.  So I am just marginally skanky right now.  In terms of sending my kids to multiple church programs.

Hmm. That last paragraph is all kinds of messed up.

Once again, my little VBSers are LOVING it!  And I am loving dropping them off every evening and running off for a couple hours of semi-freedom.

So…any of you locals have a good VBS coming up in August?  Maybe in the daytime? 🙂