Here we go......

We've been a little busy around here today.

 

One last hurrah

Since Kylie and Audrey have to go back to school tomorrow we thought we would try to do something fun in the kitchen. To quote Homer Simpson "Mmm, donuts....".

 I guess tomorrow I'll go back to healthy eating, walking and whipping my house into shape. Darn it.

Happy New Year!

Last year I noticed something kind of neat going on in the blogging world. Instead of making new years resolutions many were coming up with one word to describe how they wanted their new year to play out. I thought this was a fabulous idea. I mean everyone knows that most resolutions are going to fizzle out before February arrives so this seemed like a much better alternative. 
I thought about what word I would pick and it took me all of two seconds to come up with one. Family. My husband and children have always come before anything, but I wanted to extend it a bit. My mom and dad had both just recently retired from their jobs, my youngest brother was going through marital problems and my oldest brother seemed to have gotten in over his head with his new house. Not to mention it seemed like everytime I turned around I was having to attend the funeral of yet another family member. So I decided that I was going to make spending time with all of my family a priority this year and that is exactly what I did. Yes, there were a few times I wanted to ignore the phone, or grumble a little about having to pack up the kids to go to a family reunion, but all in all I think that I accomplished what I set out to do. 

We've hosted cookouts and birthday parties this year and my mom and dad set up a mini playground in their backyard for the girls to play in when we visit. 

The girls are constantly wanting to go visit everyone and tell me all the time how much they love going to visit granny and paw paw and that they have the funnest uncles in the world.

Looking back over the past year I feel really good about how things have gone. I feel like my family is closer and that is awesome. I've been trying to think of a new word for how I want 2011 to play out and have been kind of stumped. So I think I'm just going to take the easy way out and recycle last years word. Sounds good doesn't it?

Your baby can read. Really?

Recently my children have started watching a new channel on television called the Hub. It's a family channel with preschool type shows during the day and older sitcoms during the evenings. The cartoons aren't too obnoxious so I can't really complain too much about it. There is one thing that kind of bugs me about it though. The commercials. I guess I've grown used to Noggin which is commercial free so this world of commercials takes some getting used to. For the most part it's not too bad. I thought the kids would drive me nuts asking for toys they see advertised but so far they haven't. There is one commercial on there however that makes me want to run screaming from the room everytime it comes on. It's the one for Your Baby Can Read. That's right your baby. As in small child under one year old. Reading. Am I crazy or is this really something parents want for their babies? I mean whatever happened to getting excited over things like the first word or first step? Is that not a big enough milestone anymore? Not only that but how in the world are parents supposed to talk about things in front of the children if they can read? You obviously won't be able to spell things out anymore, might as well just tell them what they're getting for their birthday. Or am I the only one that does that kind of thing? 
There are just so many things that I think are wrong with this program I don't even know where to begin. But I'll try. 

• Teaching by Rote. In other words memorizing without actually learning. You know like those little things called phonics.
• The price. Sure the commercial will tell you that you can try it for $14.95, but to purchase the entire set will knock you back over $200. 
• Studies have shown that children that begin reading early are no more advanced than children that begin reading once they are in school.
• You have to plop your baby in front of the television twice a day to watch the video. Everyday. 

• Two words. Baby Einstein. 

So feel free to call my a cynic, but I think this product is just another way to make money off of new parents that are nervous about not doing enough for their children. Trust me when I say you do not need this. Just spend some time with your baby and read to them for enjoyment, not in an attempt to create the next Einstein. 

I feel a project coming on........

I hope all of you had a fantastic holiday (for those of you that don't celebrate I hope you had an awesome weekend). I'm a little slow getting back into my blogging this week. I've been trying to get my house somewhat in order and with toys for three kids I'm sure you can imagine that it's no easy feat! 

It seems like every year I tend to forget just how small my house is when buying for the kids and end up in a panic trying to figure out where to put everything. Audrey and Sophie received so many bulky items for their dolls that right now about half of it is sitting in the hallway outside their bedroom door. So I've been trying to think of a solution and I think I've found one. This....

 Now my husband loves me a lot, but he kind of balked when I told him how much this bed cost ($1399+$175 for shipping + tax). Also, the bed is currently sold out so even if he was feeling generous he couldn't buy it if he wanted to. So what did I do? Why I found the plans to build one of course! After Audrey looked at him with her big brown eyes and asked him if he would please build her a new bed he couldn't help but agree to do it. Now finding the time to do it is whole 'nother thing. We have another birthday coming up in January (eeek!) and in February Sophie and I will be making a trip to Texas (gulp!) and considering how long it takes us to complete even the simplest of projects I'm just hoping to get it done before the girls start high school. Wish us luck!

Mommy's Christmas Wish List

For the past several months weeks I have been shopping, shopping, shopping for my loved ones. I love trying to find that perfect something for them and always get a kick out of their expressions when they finally get to open their gifts on Christmas morning. My poor family on the other hand hates shopping for me. Why? Because whenever they ask me what I want I can never think of anything. My husband has been going nuts trying to figure out what to buy me so I finally decided to take a moment and prepare a list of what I would really like to get this year.

• No Christmas morning meltdowns. Usually my kids are pretty well behaved during the holidays, however this year child one is getting the gift that child two asked for so things may get interesting.
• That Kyrie Irving's big toe will heal quickly so he can get back in the game. 
• That mother in law will not ask me or Kylie what we thought of our gifts. Seriously, when you ask someone what they want and they suggest a gift card just get them a gift card.
• For my little brother to miraculously grow up overnight so he doesn't ruin my parents Christmas like he did their Thanksgiving. One can always dream right?
• That the weather here will not shoot back up again like it did on Wednesday (78 degrees in December?!?!). I know we'll never have a white Christmas here, but I'd rather not have to break out the tank tops and shorts. 
• And if all else fails Cole Haan is always a good fall back. The black suede Denney bag would be a wonderful choice.

Happy birthday Sophie

It's so hard to believe that it's been five years already!