Thanks Mom for the Life Lessons!

There are times in our lives (and admit it we all do it) that we laugh at our moms. We laugh at things our moms do. We I'll never do it that way. I am sure A and D will do the same to me. I know I have done this plenty of times. Well now I find my self thinking, "Okay what would my mom do?" The answer I usually arrive at seems to be the very things I once laughed at.

Here are a few things I have laughed at or at least thought, is that necessary?

• When kids come over she covers her dining room chairs with towels- I now have 5 towels covering my dining room chairs and am ever so thankful. I am pretty sure I would have already had to buy new chairs if I had not taken this action on our upholstered chairs! 
• As a kid we (and all those who spent lots of time at our house as kids know this because even neighborhood kids had one at our house) had "busy boxes". Busy boxes were shoe boxes with our own set of crayons, markers, glue stick, and scissors.- Well guess what I was shopping for last night on a late night trip to the store? Yup, three sets of markers to place in the busy boxes I am creating. It is my way of dealing with the "She didn't put the cap on the marker and its all dry now!" "He took the black marker and I was using it!" "I want the box of markers at my place!" I am all about sharing, but I am also all about peace too! 
• Color coding- there was a lot of this. Green towels at my parents are just for the kids to use as napkins, etc... You know the messy stuff kids need cleaned up! I also always had the same color tooth brush growing up. I get it now! Color coding with kids can make life easier. Laundry has doubled (okay tripled!) When we use wash clothes to clean kids up from dinner I hate to throw them in the wash because it just creates more laundry. But, it is hard to keep track of who is using what. My solution, every kid has their own color towel. Works like a charm. Sippy cups-- yup everyone has their own color sippy cup as well. 

So the moral of my story, Mom's know a lot and it seems guaranteed that everything I once laughed at I will find myself doing one day. Maybe next time I laugh I will just write down what I am laughing about so I know exactly what to do when I am ready to do it to.