the simple life...

one of my favorite blogs, the creative mama, had a great post today about technology in our world and how much of an influence it has over us. i have recently been dealing with this balance between family and tchnology after realizing how much time i was spending on the computer and not being present during some of the amazing moments with my family. i love blogging, reading others blogs, shopping online, talking to the girls on my photog. forum, keeping up with friends on facebok, playing in photoshop, all that fun stuff, but i definitely needed to work on the balance. I decided that i wouldn't work on the computer when my children are awake or my husband is home {except on a few occasions when i need to get actual "work" done {not just play} and he can help me}. this basically means i have a lot of late nights after the babies are sleeping, but i have found it working so much better for me. i know i am giving my children & husband "all" of me and i still can make time to do the things i want to do after the kids go to bed and bo goes to work. i feel so much more connected to my family without the distraction! next project...turning off the t.v. i have actually already started this one. we had gotten in a terrible habit of keeping the t.v. on even if we weren't watching it and just letting it play in the background...noise. one day i turned it off in the afternoon while ava and i were coloring and talking and i was shocked when not ten seconds later she went and turned it on {even though we weren't watching it at all}. this was a problem. so i have been turning off the t.v. throughout the day {she still gets her sesame street...how could i deprive her of elmo and friends...she absolutely loves them!} and the quiet has been so nice. i have been making it a priority to get the kiddos outside {which ava has always loved} now that the weather is cooperating again {the rain finally let up }. we have always loved playing outside, but all the rain kept us in for a few weeks and we kind of got stuck in a rut. well, the days are too beautiful to waste and this time with our family is even more precious. i have been given this amazing gift to be able to be home with my children and i will not waste it.

this was the paragraph that really got me on the creative mama:
"With the social avenues of facebook, twitter, online forums, etc. we often feel connected with people we do not even know.Unfortunately, at the end of the day, we sometimes have tuned out the people who are sitting right beside us on the couch. So often every machine we turn on in turn tunes someone out. A part of me wonders if the disconnect we feel in our communities isn't a symptom of us forgetting how to interact on a face to face basis with people in our own homes and communities." ~Tisha
{the whole post is wonderful and if you have a moment i would head over there and read it...made me think}

anyway, that's it for now...sorry for the ramble...
~a