MOMent Challenges #1-4

Earlier this summer I found a great blog called MomLife Today that I have been following via Facebook. It has been a great resource of encouragement, inspiration, and challenge. They issued what they are calling weekly "Summer Fun MOMent Challenges" which are challenging moms to be intentional about spending quality time with our kids.  Two key words there: intentional and quality! Intentional meaning that we have planned the event/activity and we have set aside specific time to spend with our kid(s).  Quality meaning that the event/activity is creating a special "mom" moment/memory for our child-- so a grocery shopping trip to HEB unfortunately was not going to cut it by these standards :)

I accepted the challenge and I've been going strong for 4 weeks! It has been a lot of fun for me to "plan" these activities and Emma has really enjoyed them. I use the term "plan" loosely because every week there is a theme and they give you a fairly long list of activities you can pick from.

Week #1 Challenge-- Get MUDDY or WET!

While Emma took her nap that day I filled 80+ water balloons. It took quite a while to fill that many balloons!  It was worth it though because when she woke up-- IT WAS ON! Granted we didn't get soaking wet but Emma thought it was TOO COOL :) She still talks about being able to throw water balloons at mommy!

Week #2 Challenge: 4th of July Celebration

There were several choices this particular week so we did a couple-- 1) create fireworks using window markers, and 2) use face paint to paint fireworks on each other! I have always been cautious to buy the window markers/crayons because I felt that if I left Emma color on anything but paper she would indeed color on everything but paper!  I suppose this might have been true of 2 year old Emma but I had to realize that she is almost 4 year old Emma-- so much more mature :) -- and it was time to get over my fears.  I am so glad I did!  Window markers and crayons are AWESOME! It was so fun drawing fireworks, flags, and all things patriotic on our back door windows.  We "face painted" on our arms and Emma LOVED being able to cover me with paint.  She held nothing back and I was soon covered with all sorts of objects, none of which were fireworks :)



Week #3 Challenge: PLAY with your child

We were given free reign this week, although, they did provide a list if we were stumped.  This week fell in conjunction with our road trip to Ohio so we had 19 HOURS to play with each other on the way up and back!  Most of the time we did arts and crafts together.  Here is a sampling of her many creations and one of mine! :)

Week #4 Challenge: Create Your Own MOMent

They made us stretch a little and come up with our own idea of something to do.  A mom in my neighborhood has an at-home business called The Tipsy Brush.  She teaches classes to help any one learn to paint by breaking down paintings into simple parts.  This summer she branched out and began offering kids classes as well as "mommy and me" classes.  I signed Emma and myself up for one of these classes this week.  We had a great time and she created a masterpiece which is now adorning her bedroom wall. Fun times and a great souvenir to remember our morning! Check out our little Picasso's work of art:

Can't wait to see what week #5 holds...