To escape the 102 degree weather outside, I took my kids to a favorite place that we used to visit quite often. It’s a large indoor play area, complete with a bounce house, a few pretend kitchen areas and way too much other stuff to list.

My children are now 6, 4 and 2-years-old. We hadn’t been there in about 3 months, but we used to come to this place about 1-2 times per month when I only had my two oldest. I met lots of friends for plenty of playdates here and generally had a good time.

Is it wrong that I feel that I was not as friendly as I could have been to the other moms on this particular trip? Maybe it was the fact that I was keeping an eye on my 2-year-old who insisted on using the bounce house with the older kids. This time I noticed that I was focused on keeping track of my kids, checking my email, and writing (sort of) a blog for the site.  I mean, I remember when I used to want to make friends at this place, or at the park, or other child friendly places.

I wanted to meet other moms who had children in the same age range as mine. Now, I have 3 kids and I feel like I make friends very easily at their schools and their activities. I am always open to new friendships, but maybe I feel like I am not trying as hard to make that 1^st move. Is that wrong? I figure that I am more likely to have something in common with the other moms whose kids are already doing what my kids are doing or moms who are involved in activities I enjoy. What do you think? Have you gotten comfortable with your group of mom friends, or are you always open to making new friends and trying new playgroups?

It’s almost official, I am about to become a soccer mom. I don’t have anything against soccer moms, or baseball moms, or hockey moms, etc. Many of my good friends are soccer moms – and yes, they get very excited about their kids games.

Our oldest daughter is 6-years-old and is playing on her first sports team. Honestly, she had no interest whatsoever in soccer until my husband volunteered to be the team coach. Now she asks almost everyday when they will start to practice and she puts on her cleats and black/pink soccer shoes (of course) and shows us her soccer ball “tricks.”

My husband’s siblings all played soccer, so I suppose you can say it runs in the family. As a matter of fact, they were phenomenal soccer players – although Dan didn’t quite inherit the soccer gene!  Anyway, I have joyfully avoided enrolling my kids in sports because of 1. the extra time commitment to our already hectic schedule and 2. I just don’t see myself as a sports mom type. But here I am, getting really anxious to find out my daughter’s uniform color so I can get matching hair bows for the whole team and so I can buy some team spirit stuff. I always laughed at the vehicles in the school parking lot painted in team colors to cheer the kids on game days – now, it doesn’t seem so crazy.  

I am looking forward to what our first season in kids sports involves and how we react to it around our home…my daughter is looking forward to seeing her friends at games and has already told her team coach – her dad – that there is no way she can take the ball away from a friend who is on another team.   I’ll keep you posted throughout the season.

For the past two weeks my 6 and 4-year-old daughters have been taking swimming lessons through the local park district. My 6-year-old has taken a few lessons over the past summers, so she is very comfortable in the water while this was my 4-year-old’s first lesson.

It was great watching them become more confident each day, but two moments stick out. My 4-year-old told me after the 3^rd day in class that she LOVED swimming. This little girl was scared to even go near the water last year and I had been worried that she would not enjoy her swim class this summer. I was fully expecting to have her scream or cry for the first few classes! This just reminded me that she was finally ready...

The other neat moment came when my 6-year-old’s swim instructor asked her to go onto the small diving board….this was her first time ever on it. She looked so nervous, she took very small steps up the few stairs, and walked every so carefully along the board. She stood at the edge for a while, her arms at her side, and finally, she jumped into the water…she was so excited when she got out of the pool! She was ready to do it again and again!

These little moments of accomplishments make me happy. I know, there will be many years when they can do “big” things and I am looking forward to those too, but these little ones too are sweet. I want to always remind myself of that, to tell my kids that their small accomplishments and progress along the way to bigger things are just as important.  Maybe this is because I want to raise confident girls who feel like they can take on the world...or the pool for now!

I love making stuff…today I made playdough with the kids and last weekend I finished a scrapbook for my goddaughter.

At Christmas time, we bake and make all sorts of little treats to give as gifts. I've also been known to make soap with the kiddos (although there was that soap making disaster in 2008!). I know, making stuff can take time and some of the projects are a little corny , but alas I enjoy making them. One of my favorite crafts is scrapbooking. By the way, make sure to visit our scrapbooking section on vidacoco.com.

I always knew that this hobby would be something I would enjoy, long before I was married or had kids. When I was young and I would happen to be in a Jo-Ann Fabrics or a Michaels, I would walk over to the sticker and scrapbooking section. Once in a while I could convince my mom to buy me a little something from this section and I would be so happy – really happy!  You could give me a new pack of colored paper and stickers over any toy anytime!

In college I would often wonder into the craft section of a local mom and pop hobby shop and buy a few items to make cards for my friends.  I would have bought much more stuff at the store, but I guess it was a good thing that I was broke!   When it was time to put together my wedding album, I put it together myself because I was not happy with what my photographer could do or what I could buy.  All very geeky!

Fast forward 7 years and 3 kids and I still enjoy scrapbooking. I actually wonder whether I will ever let my kids keep their scrapbooks because I have spent so much time on them!  Unfortunately, I find that I am having less and less time to work on this little hobby. Every now and then I wll get together with a friend and do some late night scrapbooking.  I like doing it because it's therapeutic for me.  As I sort through pictures, I remember lots of the good moments in my life and I am grateful for them.  I write down something special about a picture or two and I remember that life happens too fast and that I need to slow it down to enjoy the everyday moments.  I sit and chat with a good friend about life....all good stuff. Now if I could only start my son's baby scrapbook - he turns 2 years old tomorrow!