June 4, 1998 (Thursday)– This afternoon Mack got bored.  She decided to fight the boredom by enlisting me to play with her.  First, she just handed me the end of a rope and held the other end.  She then directed me on moving it certain ways to create squiggles and waves.  The next activity was pretending to be trees.  We each took turns pretending to be Christmas trees while the other person wrapped the rope around the “tree” for Christmas lights.  I wasn’t a very good tree.  I kept moving and Mack would call me a “bad tree” or “naughty tree.”  When my turn was over she’d unwrap the “lights” and tell me it was time to throw me away.  What an imagination!

June 25, 2000 (Sunday)– I found an injured baby bird Thursday when I was mowing the lawn.  I brought it in and put it in Nesto’s old cage with some food, water, and some soft bedding.  The girls were all quite interested in it.  We made sure they understood that the bird was not our pet, as soon as it could fend for itself we would set it free.  We named it “Fauna.”  It perked up Friday and was even chirping quite a bit.  It flew around the cage and sat on the perches.  Saturday I took the girls shopping for summer clothes and when we came back home the bird was lying on its side in the cage.  I picked it up and it died in my hand a short time later.  We were all pretty bummed about it.  But, Hoob has decided that Nesto is going to be Fauna’s mommy in heaven and take care of her.  We haven’t had very good luck with animals around here lately.

June 29, 2006 (Thursday)– Yawlin graduates from Kindergarten today.  No more kindergarten–ever.  It makes me sad.  Yawlin’s part for the program is:  “T is for teacher.  Isn’t that her name?”  I will be providing the drink and cups for the party after the program.  ****  The other day all three girls had softball practice the same night, but on a staggered schedule.  Rather than make umpteen trips back and forth between Sandy and Murray I packed us a picnic and we ate at the park near the Jr. High.  I brought Yawlin’s June activity calendar so that we could work on it while his sisters were practicing.  One of the activities was for him to write three things he would do if he were President of the United States.  Yawlin’s answer:  1.  Help the people.  2.  Make phone calls.  3.  Help injured people.

June 30, 2006 (Friday) – Huh is not happy to owe $74.00 in overage charges on her cell phone.  She is even angrier that $66.00 of that charge was caused by ONE boy.  Ah, life lessons!  🙂

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One of the most rewarding activities I have done for my kids is to keep individual journals for each of them.  I have done it for years.  Because our days are rather hectic I don’t write in all four journals every day.  Instead, I rotate the journals and write in one each day, so there is a new entry written in each journal every fourth day.  Of course life gets in the way sometimes and journaling gets behind, but I do try to keep my journaling schedule intact as much as possible.

The benefits?  Memories have been preserved that otherwise would have been lost.  It is amazing to me, when I sit and read past entries, how many of them I have forgotten.  But, thankfully they have been recorded in the journals.  My kids also enjoy rereading what has been written about them.  They laugh out loud at some of the entries and then run to share them with their siblings.  It has created a connection between all of us.  The biggest benefit to me is watching my kids pull out their journal and read it when they are going through a rough time.  For whatever reason, reading past entries in their journals helps them deal with whatever they are going through.  

The journals record the good times as well as the bad.  They are full of my expressions of love and pride in the people they are becoming.  There are a few mementos and pictures tucked inside as well.  The plan is to give the journals to the kids as they leave the nest.  They will receive the handwritten copy, a typewritten copy, and a computer disc that has all of the kids journals recorded on it (since they share so many of the same memories).  The kids know this plan and embrace it.

I am horrible at scrapbooking, it is something I do not enjoy.  But, I don’t mind sitting down each day and writing in a journal.  Each entry takes only a few minutes to write and provides a little snippet of life.  For this post I chose random entries from past Junes to share.  It has taken me longer than usual to write this post because I got lost in the memories, but I don’t mind.  It was fun to take a look back.  For all those who hate spreading photos, scissors, paper, and other random scrapbooking items out on a work surface and spending hours creating those works of art called scrapbooks, journaling for your kids might be an alternative.  I know it has brought me much satisfaction and joy.  And the kids like it!