Do you ever just go up to your kids and give them a hug?  I'm talking about a hug that is totally unexpected and unrelated to their behavior or an event.  A hug that says I'm glad you're in my life and I love you!  It makes everyone feel good and lets your kids know how special they are to you.  It shows them the total unconditional love you have for them just being who they are!

I try to remember to do this from time to time- a hug just out of the blue.  I always get a huge smile from the person I am hugging.  If you're not sure if you are doing enough hugging, here is a quick easy test.  After you give a hug if the recipient asks, "What was that for?" then you need to do it more often!

For advanced hugging, don't be the first to let go.  You'll be surprised at just how long your kids can hug you.  Try it, just give a hug and don't let go right away.  Enjoy it.  Allow them to let go first when they are ready.  You might be surprised that they hold on for longer than you expected. 

Don't forget to share your hugs with all your loved ones! 

The other day we solved the mystery of the missing clothes. Every few days, one of the boys would say he was out of clothes. We couldn't understand it, but okay, I put a load to wash. Next day, the same thing. Okay, put another load to wash. Again, nothing to wear someone would proclaim. I thought, how can they be out of clothes? It just got washed, yesterday???

Well I've been busy with other stuff and just didn't have time to investigate. Honestly, it was easier just to do another load of laundry than to find out where the clothes were going. So, I decided to finally go into the boys' room and solve the mystery. Well we have 3 boys sharing a small closet that keeps all their summer and winter clothes. We live in a warm climate and you can never really put away your short sleeve stuff. We can have one day of 44 degree weather and the next day can be 74 degrees! Another topic completely.

I started pulling out clothes and found out that my oldest son's clothes were falling off the hangers in the back of the closet. They were accumulating into a nice pile of clean laundry. My second son's clothes were being shifted to the opposite side of the closet and getiing mixed up with his brothers'. Of course his brothers never mentioned or paid attention to that fact. He later said that he was wondering why every washing of his clothes resulted in less clothes.

The boys of course never bothered to really search their closet, it was much easier to announce being out of clothes. For me it was easier to just throw in another load than to search the closet. We were all shirking a job, hoping that someone else would get it figured out.  In the end, I'm not much different than my boys or should I say that they are not much different than their mom? Do you find that true for yourself?

This mystery reminded me about how I'm being an example to our kids even during the daily life stuff-when I don't even realize it.  It's a big task to be a good example to our kids, but it's an even bigger task to remember we're being an example all the time!  I have a lot of room for improvement, thankfully goofing up and making mistakes are great teachable moments.