“I feel very blessed to have two wonderful, healthy children who keep me completely grounded, sane and throw up on my shoes just before I go to an awards show just so I know to keep it real.” ~Reese Witherspoon
Actress/mom/goddess Reese Witherspoon recently “got real” about parenthood in an interview with Southern Living magazine.
“No one’s really doing it perfectly,” Witherspoon told the mag’s editor-at-large, Jenna Bush Hager.
“I think you love your kids with your whole heart, and you do the best you possibly can,” she says. “But, you know, right now I’m feeling sad missing my little 2-year-old [Tennessee], and my daughter [Ava]s about to finish her freshman year of high school, and my son [Deacon] has a golf tournament this weekend that I hope I don’t miss.”
But, the actress says, her kids are pretty supportive.
“There are some sacrifices you make, and it hurts your heart sometimes,” she says “But my kids tell me they’re proud of what I’ve accomplished, and that just means everything. I grew up with a working mom, and I have so much respect for the things she did as a nurse and a teacher. I would never begrudge her that.”
Southern Values Still in Place
I can’t lie – I’ve always loved me some Reese Witherspoon. Between her fashion sense and her hot-mom-ness, who wouldn’t love her? (And I have a serious affinity for the whole Legally Blonde thing – but ONLY the Reese version!).
But the Sweet Home Alabama star’s strong ethics and liberal Southern values are being passed along to her kids – I love it. Growing up, Witherspoon said her parents were strict but “incredibly loving,” adding that “We had family dinner every night. That’s a big thing I learned from my grandmother, to spend time with your kids and listen to their dreams.”
‘And, of Southern women, Witherspoon says she knows only strong ones.
“I don’t know a weak Southern woman. My mom says if you want something done, then ask a Southern woman,” she says.
Everyone’s talking about this woman who recently wrote a letter to the woman who married her ex-husband (and stepped into the role of “stepmother” to her child. (more…)
When I woke up this morning, I was feeling a little bit sorry for myself. After all, it’s Mother’s Day, and while I am very blessed to have three beautiful children, this year, it felt a little bittersweet.
See, my oldest son (going on 17 in July) has made a poor choice in his young life; one that caused our family to have to change drastically. And thanks to choices others have made, our lives won’t ever be the same.
But as a family, we are working through it and we are confident that he will be just fine when he’s through with his treatment. He even wrote me a beautiful Mother’s Day poem that brought tears to my eyes (I shared that today on our Facebook page, if you’d like to read it–of course I’d highly recommend it!)
And my beloved mother-in-law passed away in December. Today, I’m really feeling her.
And maybe it was her influence that caused me to wake up and change my attitude.
But though I allowed myself a moment to wallow (and another second when I saw someone post a Facebook status about unconditional love), I quickly got over it.
In fact, when I heard my husband and son making coffee as they prepared to surprise me with breakfast in bed, I almost felt guilty for feeling anything other than joy.
The fact is that I have three beautiful, healthy kids and a husband who loves me to the moon and back. And we are about to move into our dream home and begin the next amazing leg on this journey of life. How can I be anything less than grateful?
(The photo here was taken a few years ago after my daughter’s first dance recital.)
My point is this: no matter where you are today and how you’re feeling, try taking a moment to focus not on what’s bothering you or what makes you sad about your life, but on what makes you feel happy, thrilled, grateful, loved, fulfilled.
All those things that make you smile even when no one’s looking–those are the things that you need to stay focused on today. Because the truth is that you bring about what you think about–so focus on what you want and not what you don’t.
Happy Mother’s Day to everyone who has ever had the privilege to be called Mommy. And to everyone who is or was a Mom even when she didn’t have to be.
Do you dread getting out of bed on school mornings? Do you want to smash the alarm clock and toss it out the window? Pull the covers up over your head and hide? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then you need to learn how to survive those hectic mornings with kids.
Whether you have one child or four children to help get ready for the school day these tips will help you survive the hectic mornings when nothing goes right and everything that can go wrong does.
Like most moms, I thought it was normal to run around like a chicken with my head cut off making lunches, and breakfast at the same time. One particular hectic morning, we were running really late when my young daughter asked me, “Mommy, why are we having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast?”
It was at that exact moment I realized that I had just poured syrup on the waffle in her lunch bag. Needless to say, that day I sent her out the door with a not so healthy donut breakfast in one hand a few dollars in the other hand to buy a school lunch. She looked as confused as I felt. Talk about Mother of the year. NOT!
You think that is bad? I also have an older son who while I was rushing my young daughter out the door to the bus stop was nowhere to be found. The worst part was that I never even noticed he was not at the breakfast table. I watched my daughter get on the bus and the bus pulled away.
I turned around to enter the kitchen and there stood my 13-year-old son still in his pajamas asking, “What’s for breakfast?” Out of the box came another “healthy” donut and from my mouth came “Hurry up and get dressed I’ll have to drop you off at school on my way to work you missed the bus.” Luckily, for me, he does not mind the school lunches.
A few minutes later, I grabbed my purse as I heard him clomping down the stairs and realized my daughter forgot her backpack – Perfect!
We rushed out to the car and I dropped him off at the junior high and drove the 5 minutes down the street to the elementary school. I actually caught my first break of the morning as I saw my daughter getting off the school bus. I honked the horn to get her attention she ran over to the car and I handed her backpack and she was on her way.
Phew! That was over. The rest of the day thankfully was uneventful. However, I realized that I needed to make some changes to prevent another morning like that from ever happening again!
The ideas I came up with later that night seemed simple and easy enough to put into effect–and hectic mornings with kids are almost a thing of the past!.
Tips for a Smooth Morning Routine: Say Goodbye to Hectic Mornings With Kids
• After the homework is completed and all the necessary items needed for school the next day are in the backpack it gets set by the back door where they exit to get on the school bus.
• Sandwiches get made the night before and put in the refrigerator next to the juice box and fruit or veggie sticks. Anything that does not need to be refrigerated that is going into the lunch bag gets put in the lunch bag and the bag is left open for easy access to place the refrigerated items in.
• Clothes and shoes get picked out the night before, are placed on top of the dresser, and are ready to be put on in the morning.
• All the dry ingredients for breakfast and the pan or waffle maker are set out the night before. The table is set so all I have to do is make breakfast and carry it to the table.
Since that fateful day, I have been applying my four easy tips every morning. I am happy to report, we no longer have stressful mornings and no one has eaten a donut for breakfast, forgotten a lunch or backpack since that day!
Actress/mom/goddess Reese Witherspoon recently “got real” about parenthood in an interview with Southern Living magazine.
When I woke up this morning, I was feeling a little bit sorry for myself. After all, it’s Mother’s Day, and while I am very blessed to have three beautiful children, this year, it felt a little bittersweet.
