Category Archives: Kids

Moving Stress

movingWe’re moving.  Maybe you didn’t know that.  Here’s a brief run down…
July 30: house on the market; 8 showings in 4 days, 3 offers, sold August 3; 3 weeks of packing like crazy, then a bad inspection and a buyer backing out.

Oh, and we were preparing for a 13-day cross-country vacation.

On the day we left for vacation, we put the house back on the market, show-ready, and let our realtor do his thing.  We just drove away with headaches, stomach aches, heart aches.  We came back on a Tuesday, house sold on Saturday, September 10.  Back to … Read the rest

Finding a Rhythm

As we soldier on in this journey with Eli’s anger, I took some wise advice from a friend and started keeping track of his good days and bad days.  Guys, I’m so excited.

It turns out Eli has three good days and then one bad day.  Over and over and over.  It’s like a break through, without actually being a break through.  I know when it’s coming!!!

I didn’t tell Eli at first about the discovery, because he tends to have the attitude that this is all happening TO him and he has no control over it.  I was … Read the rest

Orlikowski Family Christmas Card

I really, really love Christmas cards.  I love picking out the paper, the photos, writing the letter – all of it.  This year it’s just not going to happen.  I decided that if something that isn’t required was causing me stress, I could cross it off my list.

But then your lovely Christmas cards started coming in and I felt so guilty!  So I’m cheating and using my blog :)  So here goes.

IMG_0084Ada is in third grade and will be NINE the day after Christmas.  I can’t even believe it.  My baby is going to be nine.  She is so … Read the rest

Less is More

I tend not to follow trends or what other people are doing just because they’re doing it.  Really sometimes that’s my only reason for not doing something.  Just because everyone else is.  Being stubborn is like a full-time job.

In this particular case I’m talking about my kids’ activities.  Their school activities can get sort of crazy, but manageable.  An hour before school (at school), 10-ish concerts a year, but that’s about it.  Also God blessed us with non-athletic children, this helps.

In the summertime, however, we shut down.  We go swimming, play in the sprinkler, go to church camp, … Read the rest

Anger Management

Having a blog has been so helpful for me.  I can look back through past posts and sort of get a read on where our family is now and where we’ve been.  Creating a new category called “Anger” tells me something about our current state of being…

I love my boy.  Eli is sweet and intellectual and honest.  He has a great moral compass (as long as his sisters aren’t involved).  But he has always had an anger issue.  I remember very clearly when he was about five, he was mad at me about something.  He glared at me and … Read the rest

My Daughter’s Gifts

My email signature is, “Lord, show me how You see them, show me how You’ve gifted them, shoe me how to guide them. Amen.”  This fall as Grace has started middle school and the new opportunities it brings, God has shown me some of her gifts.  And that I’ve been wrong about them.

My girl can sing.  She could sing on key before she could speak.  I’m not even a little bit exaggerating right now.  And the kicker is, she refused to be in choir.  In choir you have to sing the same songs over and over.  In choir you … Read the rest

The Defiance of a Rule-Follower

Ada is, by nature, a rule-follower.  She knows the rules, expects everyone to follow them, but also knows how to find the loopholes.  She isn’t often defiant because she knows when she’s lost an argument.  She is rational, which really makes her an easy 8-year-old.

However, she is still an 8-year-old.

When Ada has had enough and chooses to no longer be rational, her defiance shows up by choosing to do nothing.  She doesn’t speak, doesn’t move, literally does nothing – as evidenced by this photo:

onetiredmommaShe was mad about something, who can remember, and didn’t want to walk home.  … Read the rest

Doesn’t Play Well with Girls

I’m sitting on my porch, writing on my laptop, watching and listening to my son play with a friend.  Everything is a virtual peeing contest between the two of them.  Inevitably, their playing turns into smacking and laughing, then harder smacking, soon there’s less laughing, now they’re punching, and finally someone stops the game.  And back to racing the matchbox cars.

And then it dawned on me.  THIS is why he doesn’t play well with girls.  Well, more specifically, his sisters.  His sisters don’t play like this, but he expects them to.  He tries to play like this with them.  … Read the rest

When Expectations are Wrong

My oldest was at middle school camp last week with our church youth group.  It was her first time at THIS camp, she has been to elementary camp the three years prior.  While she was away I was pouring through the pictures, searching for one of her smiling face.  I didn’t see her, didn’t see her, didn’t see her.  I finally got one of her in a canoe.

As we picked her up and drove home, she started telling us about her amazing week away – the worship, the messages, her counselors, the friends she had made.  I tried to … Read the rest

Enjoying Sports in a Musical Family

I was contacted by Fanatics.com to write a post about our family enjoying sports.  Fanatics.com is a site that sells sports apparel and merchandise, with a wide selection of baseball hats from the MLB and college.  No worries – they sell both IU and Purdue gear.  Plus all the others…

I’m not going to lie, I really had to think about a time when our family went to a sporting event together, big or small.  Now concerts.  Concerts I have in spades.

onetiredmomma1

But when you live in Fort Wayne, you probably go to Tin Caps games.  That place is made … Read the rest