I have the two cutest nieces on the planet. They just "published" a story, which made me laugh until I cried, and which I absolutely have to share with a larger audience. It is the best thing I have read in a long, long time.
So, without further ado, please redirect yourselves to my sister-in-law Emily's blog, where you can read what she very appropriately described as "a Salvador Dali painting with princesses". Enjoy.
Showing posts with label links. Show all posts
Showing posts with label links. Show all posts
Monday, April 11, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
A Handy Guide for Parents
Several months ago we got to have The Talk with Lexi. It was fun.
But oh, how I wish I'd had this handy-dandy "where you came from" guide, along with its stunning visuals.
It would have made The Talk a lot more fun for everyone.
I'm definitely bookmarking it for when Ellie's ready. You can never be too prepared for things like this.
But oh, how I wish I'd had this handy-dandy "where you came from" guide, along with its stunning visuals.
It would have made The Talk a lot more fun for everyone.
I'm definitely bookmarking it for when Ellie's ready. You can never be too prepared for things like this.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Project 365 - Get Ready!
Remember this post?
I promise I haven't forgotten!
Life has been busy, but I've finally set up a new blog for everyone who's interested in participating.
If you click the image above, it should (if I did everything right) take you to Project 365 Central, which I have set up and organized to be a jumping-off point for everyone who wants to join me in taking lots and lots of pictures!
Instructions are waiting there, along with a linky list, just like the linky for Random Thoughts Thursday, so that we can all have a quick and easy way to
I don't consider myself a blogging expert, by any means, but I've been doing it for a few years now, so if you have any questions, particularly about setting up a blog if you've never done it before, let me know and I'll see what I can do to help!
I'm so excited for this joint project! I can't wait to see what kind of pictures everyone else takes! I like exclamation marks!
If you haven't decided yet whether you want to join me in this project, there's still time! The more the merrier!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Sunday Bribery Encouragement
Last Sunday was not a good day in church.
If you're my friend on Facebook, you're aware of that. Seeing as how my status that afternoon was me wondering whether I'd qualified for extra points in the next life by not killing my children in church.
See, a couple of months ago, Chris was called to be a counselor in our Bishopric, which, for all you non-Mormon readers, means he's an assistant to the leader of our congregation, who is called the Bishop. Our church has a lay ministry, and all leadership positions are filled by members of the congregation.
What this means for Chris is more responsibilities and more meetings. What this means for the rest of us is Sunday services without Daddy, since the Bishopric sit together on the stand where they cankeep an eye on the congregation be visible to the congregation.
The girls are old enough that they're not too much trouble in church. They can control their wiggles (for the most part) and don't need snacks or emergency walks to keep them sane. I usually bring a bag with notebooks, crayons and pencils to keep them busy, but they should be fully capable of sitting through an hour-long service without too much trouble, especially when they've been attending that hour-long service every single week for their entire lives.
Which is why I thought I was going to completely lose it on Sunday.
No, strike that. I did lose it. Completely.
I won't name names, but the experience culminated in all the coloring materials being confiscated (apparently the "dirty crayons" are unpopular. Who knew?) and one daughter being marched out of the chapel and into an empty classroom, where she was placed on a chair in a corner and instructed to remain there alone until she was ready to be in church.
She contemplated the ramifications of this punishment and asked what would happen if she wasn't ready by the time church was over.
Suffice it to say, there wasn't a lot of meaningful worship going on in our pew that day. And my daughters all spent the majority of Sunday afternoon in their bedroom, contemplating, in theory, where they had gone astray and what they could do to put themselves back in Mother's good graces.
I've been thinking about this ever since then, wondering where I've gone wrong and why it is that my children look on Sunday services as something they're being dragged to, rather than something they're attending willingly. They love their Sunday school classes, but the worship service itself is clearly, in their eyes, something to be tolerated, but not enjoyed.
The one thing I'd decided by Sunday afternoon is that we are no longer bringing crayons to church. Vicki is 10 and only colors because the materials are there anyway. I'm pretty sure she can handle the meeting without a problem. Lexi is 8 and should be capable of sitting quietly for an hour. Even if she has no interest in the speakers, she has a vivid imagination and could easily lose herself in daydreams and simply appear to be listening. I don't care, as long as she's not disruptive. And Ellie...well, at 5 she may need a little distraction still, but I'm sure she could make it through one talk. Maybe I'll still bring crayons for her. I haven't decided yet.
But this morning I read this post by one of my favorite bloggers, Daring Young Mom. It's comforting to know I'm not the only one out there dealing with this. My favorite part?
She has a great plan for encouraging this kind of faking it in her children. I'm not thrilled with the idea of bribing my children to make it through church, but at the same time, not bribing them is clearly not working. And I'm definitely not above bribery. What parent is, truly? And bribing with dedicated one-on-one Mom or Dad time? Priceless. At least in this house.
We'll be on vacation for the next few Sundays, and therefore going to church with grandmas, who seem to encourage good Sunday behavior without even trying, but you can expect a full report sometime after the New Year, when we've had a chance to test it out a few times. If it works, I'll be able to enjoy meaningful worship and people at church will think my children are little angels.
If it doesn't, well, there are a lot of empty classrooms.
If you're my friend on Facebook, you're aware of that. Seeing as how my status that afternoon was me wondering whether I'd qualified for extra points in the next life by not killing my children in church.
See, a couple of months ago, Chris was called to be a counselor in our Bishopric, which, for all you non-Mormon readers, means he's an assistant to the leader of our congregation, who is called the Bishop. Our church has a lay ministry, and all leadership positions are filled by members of the congregation.
What this means for Chris is more responsibilities and more meetings. What this means for the rest of us is Sunday services without Daddy, since the Bishopric sit together on the stand where they can
The girls are old enough that they're not too much trouble in church. They can control their wiggles (for the most part) and don't need snacks or emergency walks to keep them sane. I usually bring a bag with notebooks, crayons and pencils to keep them busy, but they should be fully capable of sitting through an hour-long service without too much trouble, especially when they've been attending that hour-long service every single week for their entire lives.
Which is why I thought I was going to completely lose it on Sunday.
No, strike that. I did lose it. Completely.
I won't name names, but the experience culminated in all the coloring materials being confiscated (apparently the "dirty crayons" are unpopular. Who knew?) and one daughter being marched out of the chapel and into an empty classroom, where she was placed on a chair in a corner and instructed to remain there alone until she was ready to be in church.
She contemplated the ramifications of this punishment and asked what would happen if she wasn't ready by the time church was over.
Suffice it to say, there wasn't a lot of meaningful worship going on in our pew that day. And my daughters all spent the majority of Sunday afternoon in their bedroom, contemplating, in theory, where they had gone astray and what they could do to put themselves back in Mother's good graces.
I've been thinking about this ever since then, wondering where I've gone wrong and why it is that my children look on Sunday services as something they're being dragged to, rather than something they're attending willingly. They love their Sunday school classes, but the worship service itself is clearly, in their eyes, something to be tolerated, but not enjoyed.
The one thing I'd decided by Sunday afternoon is that we are no longer bringing crayons to church. Vicki is 10 and only colors because the materials are there anyway. I'm pretty sure she can handle the meeting without a problem. Lexi is 8 and should be capable of sitting quietly for an hour. Even if she has no interest in the speakers, she has a vivid imagination and could easily lose herself in daydreams and simply appear to be listening. I don't care, as long as she's not disruptive. And Ellie...well, at 5 she may need a little distraction still, but I'm sure she could make it through one talk. Maybe I'll still bring crayons for her. I haven't decided yet.
But this morning I read this post by one of my favorite bloggers, Daring Young Mom. It's comforting to know I'm not the only one out there dealing with this. My favorite part?
"Technically I know they’re not old enough to sit and worship for an hour and have a meaningful experience but I do think they should be capable of faking it so people around us can enjoy being there."Exactly.
She has a great plan for encouraging this kind of faking it in her children. I'm not thrilled with the idea of bribing my children to make it through church, but at the same time, not bribing them is clearly not working. And I'm definitely not above bribery. What parent is, truly? And bribing with dedicated one-on-one Mom or Dad time? Priceless. At least in this house.
We'll be on vacation for the next few Sundays, and therefore going to church with grandmas, who seem to encourage good Sunday behavior without even trying, but you can expect a full report sometime after the New Year, when we've had a chance to test it out a few times. If it works, I'll be able to enjoy meaningful worship and people at church will think my children are little angels.
If it doesn't, well, there are a lot of empty classrooms.
Friday, November 5, 2010
I Have an Idea, and It Involves You
If you haven't and you're not, you should take a look. Go ahead; I'll wait.
Are we all back now? Alrighty...
Last year around this time Chris mentioned that, while browsing Flikr, he'd come across some groups of people who were taking a picture every day for a year and sharing them. He thought it was a really cool idea, and since he knew I liked to take pictures, he thought I should give it a shot.
So I did.
And I almost gave up on the second day.
See, I decided to document all of 2010, but we were on vacation and January 2 was spent packing up so we could pull out and head home extremely early in the morning on the 3rd. It wasn't until we crawled into bed close to 11:00 on the 2nd that I remembered I hadn't taken any pictures that day, because nothing interesting had happened. I almost just threw the towel in right then and there (we were sleeping in the basement of my in-laws' house in Utah, and it was COLD!) But Chris knew I'd regret it if I did, so he convinced me to get out of bed. I figured if I was already out of bed, I might as well go outside, which is why my picture for Day 2 is this one.
Today is Day 309 and I've only missed three (assuming I take any pictures today, since I haven't yet. But I will, dang it! I will!)
But I'm not writing all this to brag about it.
I've noticed that people actually seem to think this is a really cool idea. It's fun to document a year in this way. I take a LOT of pictures, and I don't always post the one that tells the most about my day, but I will always be able to look back at this project and see what was going on in my world on any given day of the year. And I think my photography skills have improved considerably, at least as far as composition is concerned. (Although I still maintain that if I had a nicer camera, my photography skills would be nicer, too.)
So I'm proposing an idea, just to get a feel for it and see how many people would be willing to participate.
I want you to join me.
Yes, you.
I'm planning on continuing the project for another year (because I'm determined not to miss any days this time), and I'd love to have some company! I thought I'd plant the idea now so you can be thinking about it for a while. If there's enough interest, I'll organize some sort of "Project 365 Central", so that everyone participating can enjoy everyone else's pictures, too. Of course, your project doesn't have to start on Jan. 1, but it's a good, easy date to remember. I have a friend who started on her 33rd birthday and is documenting a year from there, and another friend, a teacher, who is documenting a school year. Whatever works for you is great. But I'll be starting over on Jan. 1, 2011, and I invite anyone who is interested to join me!
Think about it. Let me know. Have your people call my people; we'll do lunch. Or something.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Moral Dilemma
We all know I love spelling and grammar.
I may be in a minority here, but we're a strong and vocal minority. You can find snarky grammar blogs all over the internet.
Ever since I discovered The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks, I've been spotting offenses everywhere. You may even remember my delight awhile back when one I submitted was featured.
Well, when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere. I volunteer at the girls' school, and way back at the beginning of the year I noticed an offending sign in the art room there. Because of Project 365, I pretty much always have a camera handy, so I took a picture. Several months later I submitted it, along with three or four others.
Well, whenever I post on the blog, I link to it on Facebook. And since the time I submitted those particular photos, I have become Facebook friends with a couple of the staff at the school. And I know they follow the links and read this blog (hi there!)
So, what I'm about to do is essentially to make fun of my daughters' school. But not really. I love the school and the people who work there! I don't have any idea who wrote the sign, or whether they even work at the school anymore (or if they ever did; it may have been a volunteer like myself, for all I know.) So I hope no one thinks I'm mocking them if I go ahead and point out that this particular picture was posted on the "Blog" yesterday.
Enjoy.
My apologies to the school. But don't forget to put it away. Never, ever "dump it".
I may be in a minority here, but we're a strong and vocal minority. You can find snarky grammar blogs all over the internet.
Ever since I discovered The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks, I've been spotting offenses everywhere. You may even remember my delight awhile back when one I submitted was featured.
Well, when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere. I volunteer at the girls' school, and way back at the beginning of the year I noticed an offending sign in the art room there. Because of Project 365, I pretty much always have a camera handy, so I took a picture. Several months later I submitted it, along with three or four others.
Well, whenever I post on the blog, I link to it on Facebook. And since the time I submitted those particular photos, I have become Facebook friends with a couple of the staff at the school. And I know they follow the links and read this blog (hi there!)
So, what I'm about to do is essentially to make fun of my daughters' school. But not really. I love the school and the people who work there! I don't have any idea who wrote the sign, or whether they even work at the school anymore (or if they ever did; it may have been a volunteer like myself, for all I know.) So I hope no one thinks I'm mocking them if I go ahead and point out that this particular picture was posted on the "Blog" yesterday.
Enjoy.
My apologies to the school. But don't forget to put it away. Never, ever "dump it".
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Recommended For...Someone
We love amazon.com around our house. Especially at Christmas time. The more shopping I can do without actually leaving my house the better.
If you are a user of amazon, you're probably familiar with how they keep track of your purchases and then give you recommendations based on those. However, because most of my purchases this time of year are for people other than myself, the recommendations aren't always things I, personally, would be interested in.
Today, for example, I logged on and found that amazon was suggesting I purchase the following four items:
Lego Road Construction Set. This item makes sense because Santa brings us a new Lego set every year. And it's actually pretty cool and something the girls would probably enjoy.
Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales (Library of America). I also understand where this one came from. Chris has become obsessed with this publishing company and his fondest dream may possibly be to one day own every volume. I bought him a volume of Mark Twain's writings for Christmas, but he'd love the Poe.
Screamfree Parenting: The Revolutionary Approach to Raising Your Kids By Keeping Your Cool. I'm a little worried about this one. Why does amazon think I need to learn the art of Screamfree Parenting? I haven't purchased a parenting book from them (or reviewed one) in at least five years. It sounds like a good idea, but this recommendation is actually kinda freaking me out, Big Brother style.
Radio Control Giant Tarantula. I have absolutely no idea where they got the idea that I'd ever, in a million years, want one of these.
But if I had one, I could see where the Screamfree Parenting could come in handy.
If you are a user of amazon, you're probably familiar with how they keep track of your purchases and then give you recommendations based on those. However, because most of my purchases this time of year are for people other than myself, the recommendations aren't always things I, personally, would be interested in.
Today, for example, I logged on and found that amazon was suggesting I purchase the following four items:
Lego Road Construction Set. This item makes sense because Santa brings us a new Lego set every year. And it's actually pretty cool and something the girls would probably enjoy.
Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales (Library of America). I also understand where this one came from. Chris has become obsessed with this publishing company and his fondest dream may possibly be to one day own every volume. I bought him a volume of Mark Twain's writings for Christmas, but he'd love the Poe.
Screamfree Parenting: The Revolutionary Approach to Raising Your Kids By Keeping Your Cool. I'm a little worried about this one. Why does amazon think I need to learn the art of Screamfree Parenting? I haven't purchased a parenting book from them (or reviewed one) in at least five years. It sounds like a good idea, but this recommendation is actually kinda freaking me out, Big Brother style.
Radio Control Giant Tarantula. I have absolutely no idea where they got the idea that I'd ever, in a million years, want one of these.But if I had one, I could see where the Screamfree Parenting could come in handy.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Attention dieters everywhere!
Yep, it's that time of year again! Cookies sales begin today in our council, which means that I will eat, sleep, and breathe Girl Scout cookies until the middle of March. Being a Brownie troop leader means that we get to have boxes and cases of cookies piled up in our living room awaiting distrubution - and tempting us incessently to buy just one more box. I swear I can hear them calling me at night. Those Thin Mints are relentless.
If you're interested in paying the shipping costs (we waive those for grandparents, by the way), we'd be more than happy to sell you some :) Otherwise, you can always check this website to find out when they go on sale in your area. All the money raised benefits the local council, and 60 cents from every box stays with the troop that sells them to you! Support your local Girl Scouts today!
Friday, October 5, 2007
The Mom Song
My friend Donna emailed me a link to The Mom Song on YouTube. And the best part is, you don't even have to be a mom to appreciate it! Anyone who's ever had a mom knows exactly what this woman is talking about!
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