Say It Enough, You'll Start to Believe It
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I posted over at 5 Minutes for Mom today. I featured my friend Nicole’s awesome, hilarious blog. Go check it out. Also, I just posted over at the guild and would love your thoughts on the FTC’s new guidelines for endorsements.
So hop on over from here to there and enjoy the reads!
Now I’m going to try and sneak in a little nap before kids get up.
Happy Memorial Day!
Whew – we’re home and we’re worn out. After nearly 45 minutes of wandering Forest Park looking for the blasted Zoo, I finally found the detour route that led us there. Um, could we possibly get a flippin’ sign out there folks? Kthanks…
The kids were awesome, partly because they really are just great kids and partly because I told them we’d go straight home if they started fighting with one another or me – and they knew I meant it. I wasn’t messin’ around today.
We’re still fighting the crud around here. I hoped a day in the sun would knock it out of them a bit. Tia is getting over croup, everyone’s getting over pink eye, and Landon’s nose is a constant flow of thick green mucus. Mmmmm…aren’t you glad you stopped by today?
Anyway, moving on…I’m thrilled, nay, ecstatic that cutie-pie Kris Allen won American Idol last night. In fact, I voted for the first time ever on Tuesday night. I voted five times, actually, which I thought was a lot until I read on Facebook that some lady voted 10,000 times on her cell phone. How is that even possible? How do you even keep track of that? Like, was it actually 10,000 times or was it only 9,782 and she rounded up? Baffling.
We are going to lay low this weekend – thank the good Lord. It’s been nuts around here lately. I am thrilled to have no real solid plans for now. Happy almost Memorial Day to you all. I may be back tomorrow, or I may not – because I’m not committing to anything for the next few days. Ha! That feels good…
Oh yeah, and it looks like I may have the new design up by Monday. Very exciting.
*original post as follows*
It’s beautiful out today so we’re headed to the Zoo. I’ll be back later with an update. If anyone is interested in joining us, come on out. I’ll be the crazy lady in green trying to wrangle three kids into submission. Why am I doing this again? Oh yeah, because I love my kids…
Second to seeing the delight etched across my kid’s faces as they dash down a white, sandy beach, one of my favorite things is watching them run through a sprinkler. It’s so simple and yet they feel as though I’ve moved mountains, aligned stars and hung the moon just for them when I pull out a rusty sprinkler head, attach it to the hose and set them loose.
Evidence of this fact:
The only one who didn’t seem to enjoy himself was Landon:
He was all smiles by the end, though – as were the other two…
It’s the simple things…
A few recipe’s from the tea party are published in a page on the sidebar. I’ll add to it over the next couple of days.
Tea parties are a lost art. There is something so beautiful and relaxing about sitting at a beautifully decorated table and just taking your time. It is nearly as peaceful as a calm day at the beach – I said nearly…
The tea party yesterday afternoon was perfect. It was a beautiful day, the food was spectacular, the tea’s were amazing and the company was special. Instead of lasting 2 hours, it lasted 3 and it was just delightfully laid back and blissful.
Here was the final menu:
Watermelon Feta Salad
Caramelized Pear, Bleu Cheese and Walnut Quiche
Cinnamon Raison Bread with Carrot and Cream Cheese Filling
Spinach Tartletts with Cream Cheese Crust (aka-a mouth full of awesome!)
Choco-Chewy Scotch Bars
Orange Cream Scones w/ Strawberry and Lemon Curd
Lemon Cake
Fruit Salad w/ Spiced Syrup
The Tea’s:
Almond Biscotti
Pina Coloda Ginger Coconut (mm-hmm you heard me right…)
Tarragon Orange Apple Pomegranate Iced Tea
Seriously, the food was to die for. I hope my mansion in heaven is filled with three-tiered plates of those delights, ’cause I’m going to have my eternal body and I’m hoping I can eat to my heart’s content without a single repercussion – and no, I’m pretty sure that last sentence is not theologically correct.
Here is a picture of the set table – unfortunately, we forgot to take pictures of the dessert because we were too busy eating them, but it was equally as beautiful when displayed:
Don't you just want to say, "Aaaaahhhh..."
The hostesses - Lauren and Kelli the Amazon woman - seriously, I look like I'm towering over her. It was the heels.
I have amazing recipes for all of these delights and what I think I’ll do is put up a new page in the sidebar with some of my favorites. Most of them were really easy to make.
I seriously want to run a tea business when I grow up. I’m thinking when the kids are a little older, I just may get one started. In the meantime, if any of you ever want to throw one and need help or ideas, let me know.
Okay – I’m off…
Well, Tia’s hair still looks awful this morning. You were all so kind in your comments about her “fixed” hair, and I appreciate your sweetness, but it really does not look good. In a couple of months, when the right side has grown out a little, I think it will be a little cuter.
I have attempted little-bitty ponytails today, which require massive amounts of hairspray and barretts to hold back the super short hair on the right side of her head. I keep telling her she looks beautiful and she really is a doll, but that hair – oh my…
A friend and I are throwing a Mother’s Day (a week late) tea party on Sunday so I’m ramping up for a few days of baking. Orange Cream Scones, fresh Strawberry and Lemon Curd, Fruit Salad with Spiced Syrup, Watermelon-Feta Salad, Spinach Tartlets with Cream Cheese Crust…who’s hungry? And those are just the things I’m making – you should see my friend’s half of the menu.
I love tea parties. I love the food and the leisure, the tea’s and the accessories. I’m going today to pick out the tea’s and get the final ingredients. I’ll post some pictures when it’s all said and done…I know you can’t wait.
Today is Sloan’s last day of preschool. That’s very strange. He will never be a preschooler again. It feels right, of course. He’s so big and so mature that I’ve sometimes questioned our decision to hold him back this year. I know in the long run we’ll be glad, but for now he seems way too advanced for where he is. I hope we can keep him challenged next year in kindegarten. We’ll see.
And finally, can I just say that I love my husband? He’s a good guy. But I will tell you that the other night, when we were flipping the channels and we landed on Grease 2 and he started singing along to the songs – I was a little baffled. After nearly 9 years, I’m still learning new things about him. Grease 2? Interesting…
*updated pictures below – it’s not any better.
I woke up this morning to a very quiet house. It was 7:00 and I thought, wow – today’s gonna be a good day.
I was wrong…
As I was getting dressed, Sloan came in to my room and said, “Mom, look at Tia’s hair. It’s short!”
He cut her hair off. He cut it off.
I just started crying and sent them out of the room. I know it’s just hair, but I love her hair. I love pigtails and braids. These are the things I love about having a girl. And I’m just so sad. Here are pictures for now. I’ll post more after I’ve taken her to the salon and had them do whatever they can with it. Pray for me!
Too bad the mullet is no longer in style
Why couldn't he have done this on the other side?
The bag of her hair that I'm crying over
I was hoping that blogging about it would make me feel better. But it didn’t. In fact, looking at the pictures has brought on fresh tears. *sigh* I guess I’ll find this funny someday?
Bad Dorothy Hammel haircut. Notice how the right side is significantly shorter than the left?
She's going to have to get used to head bands.
Sloan, who usually is required to have an hour long “rest time” in his room had a few, shall we say, attitude problems today. When it was time to come in and he threw a lovely five year old tantrum, I upped his room time to an hour and a half, which prompted a melodramatic drop to the floor and great heaving sobs. He then kicked a chair over, which led me to up his room time to 2 hours. Which prompted more wailing.
He has a penchant for drama. I don’t know where he got that from. Ahem.
As I put Tia to bed I heard his mournful cries and genuinely felt bad for him. The kid is so much like me that I know how painful isolation for two whole hours would be.
When I came out, I gave him a hug and explained to him that his attitude and actions have consequences. He nodded. “I’m sorry mom that I made that bad choice. It wasn’t wise to slam the door and kick the chair.”
After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I agreed with him and told him I forgive him. Then came the kicker…
“Mom, I really don’t want to spend 2 hours in my room. I just really wanted to come out after an hour and spend time with you because I love you and I like to be with you.”
So I lowered the room time to 1.5 hours.
I know, I know… I’m a pansy.
To Kelli:
I love you very much!!!! You are a wonderful mother. Our children are blessed to call you mom. Thank you for your hard work, great attitude, consistent training and Godliness. Our kids will grow up with a mom who is cool, hip and loves them very much. What a blessing you are to me. You are loved and appreciated.
Your Husband
Short bits of information I know you’re all dying to know…
My internet at home has been down for a couple of days now, so I feel like I am slowly suffocating from lack of computer love. There is a very distinct possibility that I am an addict.
The kids had their russian concert last night. Pictures and perhaps video to come (aren’t you excited?). They did amazing. Tia stood up and said her russian poem right into the microphone! My Tia (or Katyoosha as they call her at school – I love russian names)! I was shocked and proud. It still baffles me how well they both do is those classes given that they get so little practice at home. Kids are amazing little beings.
I have so much I want to say, but most of it would be boring so I’ll keep it to myself. I will leave you with a few snippets from the last couple of days:
-When I had my hair colored the other day, the hairstylist found a grey hair. I made her pull it, then told her to never tell me again if she saw any, but to discreetly pull them while combing my hair. She laughed, but I’m pretty sure she thought I was nuts.
-Speaking of hair, she gave me a $15 gift certificate that I can give to a friend. I am going to give it to one of my local commentors. Just leave me a comment and let me know if you’re interested. Her name is Olga and she’s great. She works at The Face and the Body spa and salon in Chesterfield and she only charges $31 for a haircut, so this certificate gives a 50% discount. It’s a good deal.
-I talked to the bug people yesterday about our mouse situation. They said that the mice are likely nesting and the only thing that will stop them is if we find where they’re coming in and close it up. Riiiight. Our house is 45 years old. They could be coming in anywhere. I may have to just construct mouse hotels in the basement.
-My brother recently started his own blog. Go over and give him some love. His first story is from back in his Navy days – he’s got some good stories to tell and his blog should be a fun read. Brett’s a great writer (much better than me, but don’t tell him I told you that) so I’m excited to start reading his stuff.
Okay, that’s all for now. I have to go. It’s thundering and I’ve left my kids in the child care at the gym. But Sloan is so terrified of thunder that I fear he may be clawing the poor workers to death in there. I better go rescue him.
Happy Mother’s Day to all my mommy friends and, of course to my own mother and mother-in-law. I love you guys!
I’m not going to talk about American Idol today because I didn’t like the show last night at all. I didn’t think anyone sounded very good and I was nearly blinded several times by Paula’s plunging neckline, which left me feeling uncomfortable and nervous for her. The only thing I liked was Allison’s hair. It was rockin’…
I will tell you, however, that I finally finished the Harry Potter series. I know I’m a couple years late on this, but I have to say that those books were brilliant. Brilliant as in that may be the best series of our generation. I am actually a little sad today that it’s over. I miss Harry, Ron and Hermione. The story was written so well that I actually felt I was a part of that world when I read the books and when I closed book 7 last night, I felt a pang of regret that it was over.
I must admit that I was one of those people who did not read the books because of the witchcraft aspect of the storyline. I bought the whole idea of them being evil hook, line and sinker. But, I was wrong.
Yes, the books center on young witches and wizards in training and I don’t diminish the fact that we have to be careful how closely we tread to such practices, but the storyline of Harry Potter is complete fantasy. It’s the folklore surrounding witchcraft that makes up the story, but the theme is good verses evil and the power of love to conquer evil. In fact, after awhile, the magical part of the books became just a back story. I was more enraptured with the characters – with Harry’s reconciliation with the death of his parents; with Ron and Hermione’s obvious attraction; with Dumbledore’s wisdom on life, love and peace; with Fred and George’s ability to find the humor in any situation, no matter how bleak. Those were the things that stood out to me. The magic just faded into the background.
In fact, book 7 is ripe with Christian imagery and from the research that I’ve done on J.K. Rowling, that was intentional. I was pleasantly surprised by this fact.
Rowling does not practice witchcraft, as was widely circulated among Christian circles. She simply had a story to tell. And, we must remember that Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia also involved witches, wizards and magic as a means to tell a story. Gandolf was a good wizard, much along the lines of a Dumbledore. The White Witch in Chronicles was evil, much along the lines of Voldemort or Bellatrix Lestrange.
I do not think that the Potter series is as rich in imagery as Lord of the Rings or Chronicles, but in ranking those three series, I would place Rowling’s books third on the list. It’s that good.
I don’t think that I would read these books to my kids, however, for several reasons. First, there are over 4,000 pages to read and my kids can hardly sit still for a short picture book. Second, there are themes within those books that I think are far too mature for young children. I won’t even show them the movies for that reason alone. The story is fantastic, but it is dark and I just don’t think my kids are ready to process the messages and images presented at such a young age. I also won’t allow them see Lord of the Rings for the very same reason. It’s too dark and too scary.
When they get older, I will be happy to let them begin reading these stories and possibly see the movies if they’re even interested by then. But before then, in my opinion, these books are a little too much.
It is my hope that my children will one day have an appreciation for good literature and good story telling. I hope they will consume books and fall in love with the characters. Harry Potter is an easy character to fall in love with and at the end, his story is redemptive.
Now I am going to take a break and catch up on sleep because I am just exhausted.
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