Food for thought

Some of you might have wondered..or you may not have why I decided to cut ties with Facebook for Lent.

Well a few weeks ago on a blog I follow, The Southern Belle Boy Mom, she referenced a post by another blog author and shared her plans to unplug for a week. I read the article and it really hit home for me. I will attach the link so you can read to if you wish. Click here to read the original article.

The article talked about losing precious time with your kids, husband, and whole family because we are always so caught up in social media. Some people have a great balance, some don't. She went on to talk about not just social media, but TV also. Many times I find myself so wrapped up in a show that I don't notice that my kids or husband need me. It might be as simple as a few minutes snuggling on the couch or some alone time after the kids have gone to bed. Since I have read it I have really tried to limit my TV watching until the kids are in bed or on weekend mornings, when they are playing or watching cartoons in the other room.

The main kicker: Social Media. There are so many social media outlets today, it started with Myspace, then Facebook,  Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare, Google +...get my drift? It doesn't need to define us, we define ourselves. While I love reading what all my friends are up to and seeing pictures of their lives. I have realized I don't need to know what your doing every 5-10 minutes. I don't care where you are eating dinner for the 10th time or that your cuddling on the couch with your husband. I think we have become so used to putting our whole lives out there for everyone to see we don't realize when we cross the line. I don't want my kids to grow up thinking they need to post everything in their lives on the Internet. I see pictures that teenagers (and some adults) post on facebook and instagram and think wow that might come back to haunt them one day. You never know who is out there looking at your pictures and that it might come back to bite you in the bum.

The other thing she talks about is talking on the phone while driving with kids in the car. I am so bad at this! I am almost always on the phone if I am in the car. She said do you children need to be hearing adult conversations? Well No they don't. Also you loose so much time to interact with them, even if it is just a 10 min car ride. Use that time to get to know your family again. I used to use drive time to help Kelsey memorize easy things like her address, phone numbers, birthdays. Now we are working on helping Hayden learn his letters, numbers, colors. I am not perfect and sometimes I do catch myself on the phone, but it is all about being aware of whats happening.

I come back to the main problem of all of the above being too accessible to us now. If you have a smart phone you can have all the social media apps at your fingertips 24/7, you can even watch TV on your phone now from your cable provider. Do we need all this? I really don't think so. Like I said in my other post checking my phone became part of my routine during the day. I would leave a room and if I left my phone in there one of my children would bring it to me...umm wake up call! I can live without it, it isn't a source of life.  I don't think I will cut ties all the way with Social Media, but I am now very aware of when it is taking time away from my family.

xoxo...Brittany

first few days down...

and I have realized this is hard!! I almost caved tonight, even told myself...its ok on Sundays right? NOT. I have delete the Facebook app off my phone because the temptation was just to much. I am still posting on Instagram though...so keep up with me there to if ya want. The first couple of days I kept saying O I need to post that on Fb or I should share this picture and I would catch myself. I then told myself wait I don't need to post every detail about my day or life on this site! We are so used to telling the world to much!

We haven't been up to a whole lot around our house. Last week was a busy week! We went to dinner on Valentines Day at Waffle House! Everyone laughed and made fun of me, but we had so much fun. They decorated WH all fancy and even the servers looked nice. Tablecloths on the tables...with candles and a free picture of the family to take home. This weekend was pretty busy also, we were gone all day Sat delivering cookies to people and running errands. Travis bought me my anniversary present :)I got new cowboy boots!! yea I am strange...but nothing says I love you more than a new pair of boots.Then today I froze my buns off at the barn, grocery shopped, cleaned house, cooked chili, then made a cake in the crock pot...when to church, came home had dinner and now both kids are fast asleep.

I need help with Hayden and church. I usually leave him at home with Travis, but I want to start taking him. He is good...except he likes to talk. He asks about 50 times where Kelsey is when she goes to children church and most of the time he is just talking to hear himself. Tonight I finally took him out and stood in the back but he continued to talk. I need some tricks from all the pros out there...how do I make it through mass without having to leave with a 2 year old. Coloring books? toys? all advice is welcome!


So I think I am off to dreamland...kiddos get to stay home tomorrow while the parents work..Don't worry my mother in law is coming over :)

photo dump

Here is a glimpse into our lives over the last few weeks... Most of these are instagram photos...hope you enjoy!

MLK day at the GA Aquarium with my kiddos



Hayden and Mike Superbowl 2013



Hayden, Mike and Kelsey



My baby boy has grown up :(

Hayden and his Mardi Gras beads....and yes Travis taught him how to earn them :)


Happy Fat Tuesday!!!



Lent 2013

I usually try to give up the normal things like sweets, coke, caffeine, swearing...but this year I have decided to dig deep and really give something up that will be a challenge for me. I thought about adding something in my life, but I feel like what I finally decided on would be the best thing in the long run.

I have become addicted to Facebook...probably a little to addicted. I think now that is so accessible all the time ( app on my phone) and I depend on it. I roll over in the morning and first thing I do is grab my phone to look at fb. I check it multiple times during the day and find myself re reading the same posts at night. While I am watching TV I am also on facebook. I do love that fact of seeing my friends from school start families and I love staying in touch with my family I don't see often, but there has to be a boundary drawn.

I feel like staying away for 40 days while be a HUGE test but also just what I need to find that boundary. I understand it will be hard and I will have temptations to just check in..update my status...but I have decided every time I want to get in my Facebook fix I am going to pray..if I have time I want to pray the rosary. If not just a quick prayer for guidance.

Here is to hoping for a change and working on finding a boundary for social media in my life. I plan to update my blog still and stay active on Instagram...but it will be like once a day not every free minute I get.

What have you decided to give up?? Add in? Do you celebrate Lent?