Retreat

I just had a great scrapbook retreat weekend. Friendship with fellow scrapbookers, some awesome food, no chores, fresh air at camp and I come home rejuvenated and ready to go again! I know not a lot of people understand our weekends away. They think "scrapbookers"... they must just be crafting. But scrapbooking is so much more than that to me. It is a way of documenting life's moments... preserving a piece of our life to remember. I know that life is much more than a few memories, but this is one thing that I can do to share with my family what they mean to me. Here are some of my creations from the weekend:

Making Time...

This is one of those things that I think most parents struggle with their high schoolers about.... making time for the things that are important. They have school, homework, extracurricular activities, recreational and family activities, and they want to be involved in it all! So how do you teach them to decide what is IMPORTANT?

Of course, what I think is important and what they think is important may not necessarily be the same. School for example... is surely at the top of both our lists but school "extra-curricular" activities are very time consuming but very important to the kids. Doesn't that count as making school a priority? You don't want to let everyone else down because you need to do more research for your paper. It also seems that when things get busy at school it is all the family time that seems to get cut first! I know that as they grow up we will see less of them but that doesn't mean I won't miss that time spent together. I am learning to relish those times more.

How do you teach your kids that it is okay to give something up? That you don't need to participate in everything. I think this is going to be one of our biggest challenges this year.