Mr. Kuda

See the bottom of today's post for an easy Father's Day (or any day, really) craft! Mr. Kuda: DONT LOOK UNTIL YOU GET YOUR GIFTS!
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A few nights ago, Mr. Kuda and I were talking about plans for Father's Day. I can't remember the specific details of the conversation, but basically he told me that, while he was happy to celebrate the holiday, he didn't see the point seeing as I (as the mom) do all the hard work.

Which was sweet. But kind of depressing.

Sure, I do all the scheduling, I make lunches and breakfasts. I'm usually the one to fix up a boo-boo and put the kiddos to bed. I know the ins and outs of our routine because I set it. Because that's what we chose.

You choose to do the hard thing. To move your family an hour an a half from work so we could have more space, more peace, a lesser mortgage, and better schools. You choose to get up at 3:45 every morning and choose to work your booty off to provide your family the life you think is best for them.

When I get weary and overwhelmed from the daily grind of raising the wee ones, you take over, despite having little sleep and your 3 hour-a-day commute. You help me to not take life too seriously, to see the lighter side, to change things up to keep life fun. And you cook dinner. Thank the good Lord you cook dinner (we'd otherwise be forever consuming chicken fingers and/or pasta).

Wouldn't it be awful for our kids if we were the same? If we both reinforced schedules and made laundry and keeping house our responsibility? What fun would that be? Maybe you don't see it, but I do. They do. They see you as this giant of a man who loves them unconditionally, who challenges them, and teaches them to do good in this world. You're teaching them adventure, the not-so-serious side of things (thank goodness for that), and most importantly, you are a strong father figure showing them the ways of the world.

We love you so much, and we are the luckiest family in the world to have you as our fearless leader!

xoxo, k.

P.S.

A shout out to the other awesome dad in my life... My own! Love you, dad!











And here's the craft I promised!

Easy as pie, I promise! I had the kiddos paint their own design using acrylic paint using an 8x10 canvas board. Then, I adhered a favorite photo using Matte Modge Podge. I used a sponge brush to cover the entire project, then using a hot glue gun, I attached a ribbon at the top to hang. Voila!

What I'm Doing For My Summer Vacation

Y'all. It is our very first real summer in the Kuda household. Miss E finished up her first year of preschool, and starting today, Summer vacay is on!

In that, I'm finding all of these summer bucket lists, and then reading how we're ruining our children by not letting them run free. These are all in the same newsfeed as an article telling me how I should micromanage every single moment of summer to make sure it's the BEST. SUMMER. EVER.

Oy vey.

Being the Type A person that I am, I had even gone as far as preparing activities to do with each of the kiddos, by theme, switching them up every other week. Further, I had scoped out every free program, library class, and play date to keep ourselves busy through the summer months.

And then I regained my sanity and decided how we're going to do summer this year. And that's how I came up with...

Throw away the schedule.

Not like when we have quiet time or Mr C's nap. Or heck, I'm not really going to change bedtime. But you know what? The library class can wait. Miss E wakes up every morning, asks what day it is, then asks me, "What do we do on ____?" And the answer, aside from vacation weeks, has been the same each and every week day since September. The only things we will stick to as far as the kiddos are concerned are the classes we have already paid for, which will only go through June, and the two week-long camps Miss E is signed up for (and let's be honest, who wouldn't want to go to a Princess Ballet Camp? That's what I thought.). Not only am I throwing the schedule away, I'm throwing the ball into their court. That being said...

Try to say "yes" more. Yes to "Mommy can we have dessert for snack?" And Yes to, "Mommy can we paint with chalk?" And Yes to, "Mommy can we go on a car adventure?" I got that one the other day. Yes, honey, we can.

"Mommy, can we go for a walk in our pjs?

Read more books.

This Spring I ended up reading more books than I have in the past year. They were really good (Highs included Something other than God, Surviving Motherhood, and I jumped on the The Fault In Our Stars bandwagon. Worth the hype.), and I just feel like I'm starting to get my cognitive groove back after having E and C. A couple I have my eyes on are Dinner: A Love Story and What Alice Forgot. There are others, but I'm not making any lofty goals this summer. And that brings me to...

Don't make any lofty goals.

I have started umpteen crafty crafts for the new house, and none of them are complete. It's driving me bonkers. And while I do think there's something to said for a little list to help a girl get going (you'll see more of that on an upcoming post), I'm not going to fret this summer about them. Projects will get done, pictures will get hung, walls will be painted. Eventually.

Go outside. A lot.

I'm finding the more time we spend outside, the more time I get to see the kiddos do things they wouldn't necessarily do by themselves. Mini hikes in the woods behind the house, scavenger hunt for critters, etc. They pushed rocks in our driveway with miniature rakes for forty-five minutes this afternoon. FORTY-FIVE MINUTES. And later? Miss E told me her favorite time of today was playing with rocks with Mr. C. Go figure.

And there you have it. Nothing epic. Nothing earth-shattering. We will relax this summer, and leave the rigorous schedule for later.

Until next time,

Mrs. Kuda

The After Mommy

Have you encouraged a mom today? You can't imagine the blessing she receives when you do! Tell a mom she's awesome on this sweet Mother's Day :)

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What happens when they leave? When the hallways and bedrooms are silent? No more screaming my turn or he won't share or tears needing the only kiss that will heal... No more middle of the night cuddle sessions or stay-up-lates because it's summer...

What happens when I can't sit still because I've spent the past twenty years running myself ragged trying to give them the good life? To lead by example? To raise them up in the way they should go? What happens after all of the hard stuff? What happens after the little voices calling out mommy disappear?

When I was eighteen, I made a decision. I didn't want to ever go back home. Ever. I was ready for my own time. My mom says that was the sign that she'd done it right. That she's raised me up in the way I should go. I was ready, and I went.

And apart from one summer, I never went back. She taught me how to land on my own two feet, regardless of how far I'd fallen. She taught me to turn that frown upside down and get on with it. She taught me what it meant to work harder tha hard to get what I want. She taught me to work even harder for my family.

Even though our lives could not have been more different. Even though she wasn't always given the best situations, my mom persisted. She never left. She was always there. Always.

I'll never forget the day I left for Boston. I had been living by myself for three years at this point, but she was still an ever present force in my daily life. I (my brother-in-law) had sold my (her) car, and had packed everything I owned in a friend's pickup truck to make the 17 hour trek (which turned into 24 due to torrential downpours all the way up) from Atlanta to Boston. We met at a Starbucks, and each got our usual latte. I had cut my long ballerina mane into a short pixie, and as she cried claiming she was devastated for the loss of my "beautiful hair" (This is partly true. She still talks about it.), I knew this was it. This was the beginning of the rest of my life.

And she let me go. Because that's what moms do. They do everything humanly possible they are able; the gutwrenching-feels-impossible-to-make-it-another-day part of motherhood just to get to that very moment. And they let go.

She let me go when my dreams of becoming a ballerina persisted into my college years. When I left the cozy, small town safety of a small women's college in exchange for the big city not knowing what lay ahead. When I called her up and said, "I'm going to be a Speech-Language Pathologist! And the only school I got into is in Boston!" And she let me go when I was engaged to a man she hardly knew, aside from the way I spoke about him. The way I knew he was different than the others.

Mom, I don't know how you did it. I want to hold these babies so close it hurts. I don't want to ever let them go.  I don't want these hallways to go silent, for them to move on. But I do want this: I want them to grow to be independent, but dependent on the Lord. I want them to live with purpose even when they don't know what their purpose is. And I want them to love me as much as I love you.

You've taught me all of those things mom. Thank you for being the perfect mom for me.

Happy Mother's Day, xoxo, k.