Swingers (& Giveaway Winners)

Posted: September 2, 2011 at 6:15 pm

First thing’s first – if you haven’t weighed in on my response post to Lisa’s take on the Healthy Living Summit, you should. Both are sparking GREAT discussions and I would love to hear your take!!!

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Today started out as one of those days. I accidentally hit the off button instead of the snooze button on the alarm and overslept by an hour. That meant I started the day in a tizzy rushing around like a mad woman. That rushing ended in a bowl of Braedon’s oatmeal and apple sauce mixture flying through the air and landing with a big kersplat in the middle of the floor I actually took the time to mop well this week. All with the lovely tune of a hungry little boy banging and moaning in the background.

Yea. One of those days. Good thing one of those days can quickly turn around! Just as I was about to let a stream of not nice words run through my head, I heard a chime from my phone. The chime that brings me back to sanity more times than I care to admit…

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Yes. I have daily reminders go off every two hours from 8 am to 10 pm for PRAYER. I hear the chime and I remember to pause, take a deep breath, and acknowledge I need help from The Greatest Guy Ever. Then, I can count my blessings, change my perspective, and move on with my day until I need that same reminder again two hours later. Hey – I never said I was perfect! Winking smile

After my close call with the meltdown of all meltdowns, I got on with the day. And a good day it was! After the standard morning routine around here, I went out and lived. You know – that thing that comes before blogging. Peter and I met up on his lunch break for some play time with the kids at the park.

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It’s so perfect that his work is a relatively short drive from home and right next to a park just the right size for Makenzie. It’s always so empty mid-day too. It’s a little haven for our family to get some quality time together.

This day’s park fun focused on one thing: the swings!!! Makenzie has long been obsessed with swings. We used to have to beg her to go play with other kids on the playground because she would easily spend the entire hour or so at the park having us push her in the swings. Now, she loves climbing and sliding more…except when she sees her brother get his first taste of the swings.

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He started off a little unsure…so Makenzie decided to show him how its done.

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He couldn’t take his eyes off her! So cute how much he looks up to his big sis. Smile

After that, little B got the swing of it (ha!) and joined the fun.

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The joy in his face here just melts me! Could that picture BE any cuter?! <—Yes, I watch too much Friends still.

It was the perfect little afternoon at the park. And when the chime on my phone went off on my way home, I needed no help remembering to thank God for my blessings. Winking smile

And if you’re up for a little video fun of the park…here ya go!

What was your favorite thing to do on the playground growing up?

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LUNA BAR GIVEAWAY WINNERS (chosen from random.org):

Check your email so you can claim your prize! Smile

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36 Comments to “Swingers (& Giveaway Winners)”
  1. Oh how I love Chandler Bing. But seriously , that photo is too adorable. Glad your day turned out good!

  2. Samantha says:

    That picture is adorable!!! So awesome that you were able to capture that on camera. I love little moments like that.

    And I watch FRIENDS all the time still. It’s ok 😉

  3. I think setting an alarm on your phone is a great idea to remind you to pray. Not gonna lie: one of my new school year’s resolutions was to spend more time with God–actually cut out a chunk of time every day to work on my relationship with Him (inspired by your blog! No lie. 🙂 ), and so far I’ve completely forgotten about it every day except one. I should probably set an alarm for myself!

  4. Charissa says:

    I love how you put reminders on your phone to pray! That inspired me…I think I should do that!

  5. Tina, your kids are so so so cute! I love that big smile on B’s face on the swing. And when he’s kicking his little feet on the way back, so precious! Makes me want my next one right now!

  6. Guh, your kids’ adorableness is giving me baby fever.

  7. Regular iphone reminders to pray and reflect seem like something wonderful to start. Thanks for the inspiring idea, Tina!

    Btw the pictures of your kids on the swing (and the video!) make my heart melt 🙂

  8. Michelle Fritzler says:

    Yay for the Prayer reminders! I have one set on my phone for me to take my vitamins everyday at 1pm 🙂

    I am going to take my 10 month old daughter to the park tomorrow and see if she will be up for giving the swings a try. That picture on of B smiling did melt my heart 🙂

    Can’t wait to get my bars from the giveaway! YAY!!

  9. What a great idea to have a “prayer alarm”!! Seriously, that’s genius! Thanks for hosting such a great giveaway friend!

  10. Coco says:

    Thanks for alerting me to Lisa’s post. I guess I backed into blogging – I didn’t really know other healthy living blogs before I started my own, so I didn’t know what I was getting into or what I “should” do.

    Love the idea of a prayer reminder. (I have an App with a reminder for water).

    That picture is the cutest. I can “hear” is laughter through seeing that smile!

    Oh–super cool on being a winner! Thank you so much. I can’t wait to try these Luna bars!

  11. Rebecca says:

    Adorable pictures, as always! Love!

    Why have *I* never thought of putting a prayer reminder on my phone?!? Genius!!

  12. Tina – I haven’t been reading for THAT long so I’ve never seen a picture of your husband – WHAT a cutie!! And now I see Peter in Braedon so much!

    I’ll be honest – my heart jumped a beat when I saw #5 was Lindsay…just not me. Bummer – if she doesn’t step up to claim the prize, I’ll fill her shoes! 😉

  13. Wow Tina, that is SUCH a great idea that you set off your alarm for prayer every two hours! I honestly need to be more active in my daily prayer, so this might be a great idea for me to do.

  14. You just have the cutest kids!!!

  15. What a fun thing to do with your family in the afternoon! I have really fond memories of my mom taking my siblings and I to have lunch or a picnic with my dad on his lunch break. Such a happy thing to remember!

  16. Emily says:

    Your kids are the absolute cutest…and B is getting so so big!! I love that you take prayer time breaks…such a great idea! It’s the inspiration I need to do a little more of that myself, thanks 🙂

  17. Swings were my favorite. My brother and I used to see how high we could go before the legs of the swing set would start to move!

  18. i love your prayer alarm, tina. if there’s one thing we can all use it’s a reminder to slow down and breathe every now and then.

    such a fun day on the swings 🙂

  19. Valencia says:

    How nice that you can meet hubby for a family play date midday. Hubs job is about 50 minutes away, so we don’t get that. I love the prayer alarm. I have been waking up a bit earlier than Blake just to have time to read my bible, pray and get my mind right for the day. Once you start chasing toddlers, it can be easy to forget about HIM and we need HIM to get through the day! I use the youversion on my Blackberry so I can read some scripture before I scroll through twitter, lol!

  20. I love me some Friends. Don’t you know that swings aren’t terrifying…if you’re Rachel, that is. 😉

    Love the photos. What a great way to spend Daddy’s lunch time.

  21. Sophia says:

    Tina!!!!! You genius!!! I love that prayer alarm thing. I always need to do scheduled prayer but I forget bc of busy life. That’s such an awesome (and modern!) way to remind ourselves that we are not just physical bodies!

  22. Lauren @ Forward is a Pace says:

    love the Friends reference! I’ve been watching way too much off that lately.

    But more than that, I love the reminders on your phone. I may steal that idea!

  23. Khushboo says:

    Love the idea of a prayer alarm! As much as I hate to admit it, it can be so easy to forget to pray regularly- I may have to follow suit!

  24. Katie says:

    Thats soo cool about the alarms tina! i have to say, the lord has been teaching me a lot about thinking about Him more, and less about the worldly things! That is a great reminder to do so! 🙂

  25. I am also a Friends lover!

    The swinging pics are too adorable! I love Baby B’s face and M seems to be having a blast! 😀

  26. I LOVE that you schedule your phone for prayer time! I am totally going to copy you on this one! And I love Friends also! My daughter wore a onsie yesterday that said Can I be any cuter?! haha! I love it! 🙂 And your kiddos are absolutely adorable! I can’t wait until my daughter is big enough for the swings! (She’s only 2 1/2 months) I’m going to love taking her to the park! 🙂

  27. Erin says:

    Wow Tina, your children are so beautiful 🙂 I love the video!!

  28. i like this post–sharing your techniques on how to pray. in my group, our leader tells us that we should have a reminder to pray all the time but i kinda dismissed the thought because i do talk to Him anywhere, but I realized that I really hould remind myself to pray more often because when we’re too busy with work, we forget, at least for me.

    your son and daughter are sweet. your daughter seems to be so active 🙂 your son looks really cute and happy in his swing 🙂 they make me want to have my own kids 🙂

    • Tina says:

      Agreed. It’s so important to have that regular time connecting with God, but also so easy to let distractions happen. Enter the phone reminders. LOL

      Thanks for the love on the kids. I obviously think the same. 😉

  29. M&B are so cute! I loveeee swings 🙂 I have that same face when swining as B 🙂

  30. I love that you set reminders for prayer throughout the day. This is a lesson so many of us could use… reminders to slow down, express gratitude, request strength, and then move forward.

  31. Kelly says:

    Oh my goodness…Baby B has the CUTEST cheeks!!!

  32. We took Peanut to the playground for the first time a couple of weeks ago and she loves to fly like superman in the swing lol.

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