Super Friends

Posted on July 28, 2013July 28, 2013 by Amy

Super Friend and her family came over last night. The kids ran and jumped and explored and chased. We had a cookout and made s’mores. Then the kids got into jammies and watched 3 Veggie Tales movies while the grown ups sat outside around a fire. It was so nice.

I got to thinking this morning how important friends are, and how lucky I have been to have had many true friends during the various stages in my life. True friends who remain so to this day, in spite of many miles between us and different life circumstances.

I have Cousin, who was my original BFF. I have a few friends from high school with whom I’m still in touch. I have one dear friend from college, a few from graduate school, and one from internship. And of course I have stayed close with some special women from my years in North Carolina. I even have a few good online friends.

All of these friends have been so important and have brought richness to my life. They still do.

But since having my kids I have learned about the absolute necessity of having a Mom Friend. Not just friends who are moms, but at least one friend who is at a similar stage in the journey that is motherhood, and who is nearby so that we can get together regularly to share it.

Seriously. Every mom needs this.

I cherish all of my friends. But at this point in my life, I really couldn’t do without a Mom Friend. I think maybe for some people this role would be filled by a sister or other nearby family member. I don’t have those. So of course for me, the Mom Friend is Super Friend.

I do have several other good Mom Friends in town now, though I don’t get together with them as often or know them quite as well as Super Friend.

I mean, she’s Super Friend.

There is a certain comfort that comes with similarity and familiarity in a good friend.

Super Friend and I have some similarity. We both have multiple young children close in age (between us we have seven under six). We have similar values and strategies for parenting. We enjoy some of the same things, like reading a good book, visiting over coffee and/or ice cream (usually and), and watching our kids play together.

A while ago I read this article about how making Mom Friends is like dating. Basically it goes like this: First base, talking while your kids are in activities together. Second base, getting together with kids at a park (or other neutral ground) for a play date. Third base, having a play date at one of your houses. Fourth base, hanging out without the kids.

When I read the article I laughed and sent it to Super Friend. We are so beyond Fourth base.

Yes, there is something beyond Fourth base for Mom Friends. I guess it’s kind of like sisterhood, because Super Friend and I have a great familiarity too. It’s a kind of knowing that comes from being in a similar place in life and spending quality time together.

When we have play dates at each other’s houses we seamlessly work together to care for seven small children, getting lunches, soothing babies, wiping faces, cleaning spills… All while barely even needing to speak. It doesn’t matter at whose house we are or whose kid needs something. We know, so we do. (I’ve written some about this before here).

If I’ve had a crappy morning trying to get my kids out the door to get Miss to camp on time, I can glance at Super Friend during drop off, and she just gives me this look. She knows from looking at me exactly how my morning has been. And I know she knows. And that makes it just a little bit better.

We can sympathize and then laugh together about the insanity that is sometimes mothering small children (like running through a furniture store with diarrhea dripping from your two year old onto the floor and all over your clothes, while your husband runs behind cleaning up the floor and ends up using all but two of the wipes… um, one for the kid, one for the mom??). We can give advice without sounding judge-y. We help each other whenever we are able.

I wish this kind of friendship for every mom.

When I was a new mom, I had some good friends (still have them), but no one living near enough to me to be The Mom Friend. So I know how it is to be a new mom without a friend like this.

Super Friend has been a huge blessing in my life.

And even more than having the great fortune of having my own treasured friend, I am thrilled that my girls have made some truly special friends in her kids.

Because like all moms I want my girls to have good friendships with good kids.

Whether or not our kids remain close (and I hope they do!), I am comforted by knowing that my girls will begin learning about good friendships with Super Friend’s Super Kids.

Summer Fun List Update

Posted on July 27, 2013July 26, 2013 by Amy

First of all, sorry about yesterday. Laundry and weeds and appliances? Yeah. Sorry.

I’ll do better today.

Some people have been asking me about our progress on our Summer Fun List.

Out of 51 things (the original list had 50, but I added “Iowa State Fair” to it when some travel plans changed), we have completed 28.

I just counted them up tonight and am a little surprised we haven’t done more.

But we’ve been having a heck of a great time.

Last night we went to the local old-fashioned drive-in restaurant for our family date night. We were going to have a picnic in the back of my truck, but there was a lot of loud and smelly construction going on right next to the restaurant. Hubby and I both thought that we could have handled the noise, but the diesel fumes were too much. So we went to a different place, with the plan to go back for our picnic either after the construction is finished or on a Saturday when the workers aren’t there.

Tonight our friends are coming over for a cookout and movie night. We’re having s’mores, and we’ll try to catch fireflies (second attempt). That’s three more things to check off in a few hours.

^Dancing/chasing when we went to an outdoor concert.

I have a date with Super Friend to take the kids to the (regular) zoo this next week. I think we’ll head to the Dirty Weird Zoo in the next two weeks too, probably when Daddy starts working nights again (we’re starting Z is for Zoo in school).

^Showing off some of the treasures we received after completing our library’s Summer Reading Program.

We have made lemonade and ice cream and I have some nice ripe bananas ready to blend into a popsicle mixture.

There are a few things we /can’t/won’t do until we go to the Farm/Iowa in a few weeks. We’ll hit the Iowa State Fair then of course, and while we’re there hopefully go to a cool butterfly garden they have. We’ll (they’ll) probably also sleep in a tent (or try to) and make sandcastles at the Farm.

I think we’ll get everything done, except maybe getting ice cream from an ice cream truck. I haven’t seen an ice cream truck on our street yet this year.

The best thing is that Miss has asked me if we can have a Winter Fun List too. We decided to have a Fall/Winter list, which already includes: Have a snowball fight, Make a snowman, Go deer hunting, and lots of crafts, all at Miss’s request.

For fun reference, with about one month to go, we have completed:

Pick Strawberries

Summer Reading Program

Find Outdoor Treasures and Use them to Make Art Project

Plant a Garden

Make Old-Fashioned Lemonade

Go to an Outdoor Concert

Go to the Park

Watch Fireworks

Make Firework Art

Go For a Boat Ride

Make Ice Cream

Do an Outdoor Scavenger Hunt

Read Books Outside

Water Play

Run Through a Sprinkler

Put the Sprinkler Under the Trampoline (this was a favorite!)

Picnic Lunch in the Yard

Catch Tadpoles

Go Fishing

Play Hopscotch

Go to a Splash Pad

Swim in a Lake or Pond

Visit a Horse Farm and Ride a Horse (these ended up being two separate outings)

Go On a Treasure Hunt Outside

Grow Caterpillars into Butterflies

Pick Wildflowers

Go to the Beach

Hunt for Bugs

23 to go!

I’m Just Rambling Because This is My 5th Post in 5 Days

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Amy

Linking up with Jen’s 7 Quick Takes again.

1. I have found the most adorable dresses for my girls to wear to be baptized. I bought them on Etsy, of course, my favorite place to shop for such things. You can see the dress here. The woman who made them was delightful to work with. She got the dresses made and shipped very quickly, and they are beautifully done.

I had a harder time finding shoes for the girls that wouldn’t cost me a small fortune. $60 seems a bit much to pair for a pair of little girl’s shoes that will most likely only be worn once. I bought three pairs of Stride Rite (love Stride Rite, because they have wide width shoes for my two youngest who have been blessed with my fat feet) shoes from Amazon only to receive them and have the ones I ordered for Miss arrive in the wrong size and with only one shoe in the box. I started to try to exchange them, only to find that all shoes in the girls’ size range were sold out. So, I returned all of those and turned to Zappos.

Normally I love Amazon. I have Amazon Prime so I get free two-day shipping on almost anything. Amazon and Target are the places I buy almost everything. But shoes? Shoes really need to come from Zappos. Free one-day shipping and free returns means I can basically order a mini shoe store (the shoes from Amazon I ordered a bit too big for the older girls and too small for Sis), try the shoes to get the right size, and then send the rest back, without having to enter an actual shoe store with three impatient littles. The only reason I didn’t go to Zappos first is because they tend to be a bit more expensive. But desperate times and all that.

Of course, Zappos provided. I found another brand of shoe that comes in wide width and ordered two different sizes to try on each girl. They were just a little bit more expensive than the Stride Rite shoes. I picked the best-fitting shoes for each girl and sent back the rest today. So easy. Love Zappos.

2. I like to get new gadgets and small appliances to make my life easier. But I have a strong aversion to getting said new gadgets/appliances out of the box and set up for use. I got a fancy new crock pot several months ago, and it sat, in the box, in our front closet until my husband got it out this past weekend to make pork adobo.

I got a new iPad a week ago or so, and it’s only because I knew my hubby would give me a hard time if I left it in the box for very long that I got it out right away and forced myself to go through the setup. Even so it took me several days to get some apps on it.

Last weekend I finally bought an appliance I have been wanting for a long time. I hate mopping. The process of mopping – the bucket, the squeezing, the slopping, the dirty water – makes me want to throw things. But to make it worse, the tile on our kitchen floor has a weird texture that tends to hold residue from mopping, which drives me crazy and makes the floor seem more dirty after being mopped than it did before. So I don’t mop. I clean my floor on hands and knees with vinegar and water and a microfiber cloth. And not as much as I ought to.

I have been dreaming of buying a steam cleaner mop thing for my floor. My Mom and Super Friend both have one and swear they are the best things ever. They also both have the same kind, and highly recommended the Shark brand. So last weekend I was in Target (aka – The Very Favorite Place of All Stay At Home Moms) and saw the beautiful Shark steam cleaner thing. I excitedly bought it and brought it home.

And put it in my laundry room.

And there it sits, looking accusingly at me every time I go in there. Getting it out and setting it up (and maybe even using it) is my goal for later today. Or maybe tomorrow…

3. Neither of my older girls is very interested in playing with baby dolls. Miss sometimes does, but Lass would rather play with her snake, horse, wildebeest or other animal toys. The last time Miss tried to play baby dolls with her, Lass took the doll and called it a “baby wildebeest.”

Sis, on the other hand, loves baby dolls.

She sleeps with one. She usually is carrying around at least one. She tucks them into bed and walks them in the stroller. She wears them in her baby doll sling. She rocks them and says, “Shhh, Shhh, Shhh.” Love.

4. I never used to have a set laundry day. I always just ignored the whole idea of laundry (other than diapers) until things reached critical mass and either our baskets/hampers were overflowing with dirty laundry, our towels were stiff enough to stand up themselves, or my husband was down to his last pair of clean undies. Then I’d do a few loads, usually leaving some in laundry baskets and/or in the dryer until the wrinkles became ridiculous. Laundry used to be one of my least favorite chores.

Then one day I came across something (probably on Pinterest) that showed a 7-day cleaning schedule where the writer recommended doing ALL your laundry on one day, folding, putting away, everything (I tried to find the source of my inspiration for this and can’t find it, sorry). I don’t know why the idea of a laundry day never occurred to me before this. But I decided to try it. And I love it!

I do laundry on Tuesdays because that is the one day of the week when a show is on in the evening that I enjoy (Chopped) and I like to watch TV while folding. I LOVE doing all my laundry (except diapers) on one day each week. I almost never have to fold sheets anymore because I just pull them off the beds, wash them and put them right back on. The wrinkles have decreased because the clothes (almost always) get folded and put away right away. At least they get folded pretty quickly, though sometimes I get a bit behind in putting them away. Now I don’t hate laundry anymore. My laundry room looks like a disaster only one day per week:

How lovely that you get three pics of my laundry room in one post.

5. I love that my husband can teach my girls the same kinds of things that my Dad taught me. Fishing and shooting and such. Miss even wants to go out deer hunting with him this year (I think he’ll just take her out in a blind for a bit to watch for deer).

6. Super Friend and her family are coming over tomorrow evening for a cook out and movie night. In preparation, I’ve been trying to tackle the mess that is the weeds in our backyard.

I have filled bucket after bucket with weeds and taken them into the woods to dump them out. I have pulled weeds the size of small trees.

It never ceases to amaze me how out of control the weeds get in our backyard. I start out the spring pulling them here and there. Then we go out of town for a week, and it rains a few times while we’re gone, and we come back to a jungle, and I never get caught up again. I’m making progress. Hopefully I can make it presentable by tomorrow (it’s raining out now).

7. I have been practicing my songs for the Labor Day party my husband’s family has every year. I play the songs in the car and the girls are getting into them quite a bit. Yesterday I got a text from my babysitter, “Miss is singing ‘Love Shack’ right now…!”

Miss and Lass have both informed me that this B52’s classic is their new favorite song. They do love to sing.

Have a great weekend!

The Rest of the Story: Happily Ever After

Posted on July 25, 2013 by Amy

The sequel to yesterday’s “How We Met” post:

The rest of our story took a bit longer than the first part.

Hubby and I moved to North Carolina. We were finally in the same state. I figured it wouldn’t be long at all before we were engaged and married and having babies and living happily ever after.

Things didn’t quite work out that way. For various reasons, we had a longer road to marriage than I anticipated. At times it seemed to me like we would never get married.

It also seemed to me like everyone we knew was getting married except us.

*I just paused in writing and did a quick mental tally of eight weddings of friends and family members between about the time we moved to North Carolina and when we got engaged. We attended seven of them (two were on the same date, so we had to miss one).

Whatever. So marriage came more slowly than I thought it would. We were still very happy and life was good and, even not-married, we were living happily ever after anyway.

We were together.

We spent time with great friends.

We traveled.

Hubby taught me how to fish and we spent a lot of time on the water.

We trained together and ran a couple marathons.

We were silly. We laughed a lot. We had fun.

Then one day in July 2006, we were sitting in the office in our house. I was reading on the floor. Pink Floyd was playing in the background.

He turned to me and said, “So, I was thinking about asking you to marry me.”

Just like that.

I said, “Well, if you did, I’d say ‘yes’.”

And we were engaged.

It wasn’t a big production. But it was perfect.

“Sucks eating dinner alone, doesn’t it?”

“So, I was thinking about asking you to marry me.”

My husband is the master of the short-and-sweet-and-straight-to-my-heart one-liner.

We got married at the Farm, where we spent so much time during the first year of our relationship, in May 2008.

About two weeks later I was pregnant with Miss.

Five years later we have three precious daughters.

And I love him more than ever.

Happily. Ever. After.

How We Met: An Unlikely (But Totally True) Love Story

Posted on July 24, 2013November 15, 2014 by Amy

Linking up with Grace.

Last week, when my husband and I went to the church to speak with the priest and become members, we got onto the topic of how we met (he seemed interested!) and told him our story (at least some of it).

I love the story of how I met my man. If ever there was a clear example of two people being “meant to be…” Well, I think we’d be it.

In September of 2001, shortly after I started my final year of graduate school in Louisville, I got dumped. Hard. For another girl. It was ugly. I was bitter and depressed.

This is not important except to illustrate how amazing the following story is in light of this fact…

So. I was hating life, but I still had to complete my applications for my clinical internship and go on interviews.

I ended up getting interviews for a couple of internships in North Carolina. They were scheduled in January 2002. At the end of my second day of interviews, one of the other applicants happened to mention that she had to wait for her ride to come and pick her up. I told her I’d give her a ride if she’d show me a good place to go get dinner in downtown Chapel Hill, since she had done her undergraduate study there.

As I drove down Franklin Street, she pointed out a place called “Woody’s,” and said something like, “That place is a little sports bar that’s pretty nice and has decent food.” It seemed fine to me, so I dropped her off, went back to my hotel to change, and went back to Woody’s by myself to get dinner.

I walked in, wandered around for a minute to decide where I wanted to sit, and it turned out that the only open table in the place (at least that I could see) was right next to this guy:

He was also eating dinner by himself.

So I sat. I got a drink and ordered food, and noticed that the guy at the next table was quite handsome.

He ate his dinner.

I ate my dinner.

I watched a little bit of basketball, because there was nothing else to do while eating dinner by myself in a sports bar (the game on happened to be Michigan vs. Iowa!).

Then I noticed that he started to pay his bill. I could not believe that he was planning to leave without talking to me! I really wanted to talk to him, so I started frantically trying to come up with something to say that wouldn’t sound totally stupid.

This is where the above mentioned dumping seems amazing for two reasons – 1) If I hadn’t been dumped I would not have wanted to talk to him, I’m not that kind of gal; and 2) I was still pretty down in the dumps about that break up and was not interested in dating or flirting at all. But I really wanted to talk to Hubby.

Anyway, the best line I could come up with was, “Excuse me, can you see the score of the basketball game?” which of course I could see perfectly fine, but it was sort of small on the screen so I figured it would be plausible that I couldn’t make it out…

Then, just as I was about to blurt out my dumb pick up line he leaned over to my table and said, “Sucks eating dinner alone, eh?”

Smoooth.

I still get chills just thinking about it.

Of course, I invited him to join me. We drank PBR until the bar closed.

I learned that he was also interviewing for his next step in graduate school.

And I learned that we both had interviews in Nashville four days later.

Meant to be?

Of course! But I wasn’t so sure at the time. Although I’d had a fantastic time with him, and I got his number so we could get together again in Nashville, I had not yet decided that I would call him.

I went back to Kentucky and told my friend T about meeting him.

T: “So, are you gonna call him???”

Me: (kind of whiney and sulky) “I don’t know. What’s the point? He lives in Iowa. I live in Kentucky. Nothing would come of it anyway.”

T: “Whatever. You never know what could happen. Call him.”

So I did. Love that girl.

Hubby and I got together in Nashville after our interviews there. I enjoyed my time with him there just as much as I had in North Carolina. I thought he was funny and smart and thoughtful (he is all that and more, of course).

He went back to Iowa.

I went back to Louisville.

We began a courtship by phone (I know “courtship” is a weird word, but I don’t know what else to call it, since I can’t say we were “dating,” and “talking” just seems so junior high). We talked regularly for hours at a time. We talked about family and philosophy and our childhoods and life plans.

In June, he drove to Louisville to visit me.

(side note: I had a strange eye makeup thing going on back then, which you might notice in ALL of these photos. Don’t judge. I have never been good at applying eye makeup beyond mascara. A friend gave me a kit with instructions, which included white sparkly eyeliner and eye shadow. So, I wore it. A lot. These days I just stick to mascara.)

Hubby and I spent the next year visiting as often as we could.

As luck would have it, we matched for our internships about 10 hours from each other. That’s not the lucky part, but the fact that the Farm was exactly halfway between our two temporary towns was.

We spent many weekends at the Farm that year.

We flew to visit each other as often as we could (we were both in small towns so it was a three-flight trip every time).

We went to football games together (I lost a bet, which is to only reason I wore the sweatshirt you see on me in the picture below).

It seemed like all of his friends were getting married (but none of mine?) so we went to lots of weddings.

We talked about getting married ourselves.

Finally, after that first year, we both took jobs in North Carolina and ended up right back where we started.

And the rest is a story for another day.

Maybe tomorrow since I’m posting every day this week.

“Check Out This Scene!”

Posted on July 23, 2013July 22, 2013 by Amy

The other day I heard Miss exclaim, “Mama! Look at this scene! It’s kind of awesome. Can you take a picture of it?”

So I did.

I took several.

I’m not sure what was going on in this “scene.” I think maybe I heard them say that some of the animals were getting married. Miss had arranged things very carefully, and she checked my photos to make sure I was capturing everything to her satisfaction.

I think I fall a bit short on wedding photography skills.

Naturally Lass wanted me to take a few photos of her “scene” as well.

(That’s another pony under all the ribbons)

These girls just make me laugh.

I love listening to them talk when they are pretending.

The imagination of a preschooler is wondrous to behold.

7 Posts in 7 Days – Let’s Start With a Blog Roll

Posted on July 22, 2013July 21, 2013 by Amy

Jen at Conversion Diary has issued a challenge to her reader-bloggers to write and post every day this week. I have decided to join her in posting seven posts in seven days.

That might not seem like a big deal to many people. Lots of folks write every day, I suppose. But I don’t know the last time I came even close to posting every single day for a whole week. I know I have been slacking a bit on the blog lately. So. I’m going to post every day this week, and maybe it will jump start my writing and get me into the groove of posting more often again.

To start with, I’d like to share with you some gems I have found, if you happen to be a blog loving person, as I am.

Not too long ago, my husband asked me how I find the blogs that I like to read. I wasn’t quite sure how to even answer that. I usually just stumble upon them fairly randomly.

Maybe someone posts a link to something on Facebook that piques my interest.

Maybe I think a blog’s name looks intriguing when I see it in someone’s blog roll.

Maybe I find something I enjoy when I click on someone’s blog after they leave a comment on mine (I always check out others’ blogs when they comment on mine!).

Maybe a friend tells me I must check out a particular site.

Sometimes I come across the same blog from more than one of the above sources. Those usually end up being my faves.

I have been meaning to add a blogroll to my sidebar. I used to have one when I was on Blogger, and haven’t gotten around to setting it up since I switched to WordPress (ahem, over a year ago). So, while I get working on that, I’ll give you all a list of some of my favorite blogs to read.

First up are the blogs I eagerly await posts from and click through to read pretty much every post I see. I am either subscribed to these blogs so I get an email letting me know when a new post comes up, or I follow on Facebook and see new posts there (FYI, you can follow my blog in either of these ways too, wink, wink. I wouldn’t want you to miss anything, of course):

Conversion Diary – I’ve mentioned this site before. Multiple times. It’s a blog written by a former atheist who converted to Catholicism. I first read one of Jen’s posts that someone linked on Facebook. Then Super Friend mentioned it to me, and I returned to it and got hooked. This woman can write. For real. It’s funny. It’s compelling. It’s informative. What’s not to like?

Teacher Tom – I just love Teacher Tom. He’s a teacher in a cooperative preschool in Seattle. He is just wise about kids and teaching, and I soak up every post.

Camp Patton – This is another blog I learned about from multiple sources. A friend recommended it to me, and then I saw it on the Conversion Diary blogroll. Grace is a mom of three very small children and is hilarious in her writing about (and posting photos of) mothering. Addictive.

Momastery – I first started reading this super popular blog when a friend on Facebook linked to the viral post “Don’t Carpe Diem.” Glennon is funny and inspiring. A wonderful combo.

And here are some other sites I enjoy. I read them often, though I might not catch every post:

They All Call Me Mom – This mom has 10 children ranging in age from 20 (I think? Her oldest is somewhere around there) and newborn! She homeschools at least some of them too. And she’s a lovely person. I sent her a message when I first started thinking about homeschooling, and she responded quickly with some very helpful information.

Foodie in WV – This is a great recipe review blog. She cooks lots of great recipes from other sites (providing links) and offers tips for execution and sometimes substitutions. Several of her recipes are gluten free. Her photos are even delicious.

Enjoying the Small Things – I love this mama’s writing and photos. Both are beautiful, and so is her family. This was the first blog I read regularly.

Sipping Lemonade – Beautifully written. One of my favorites is here and another that I return to often is here. That second is one of my favorite posts ever. Super Friend pointed me to this blog (and those posts).

Hands Free Mama – Inspirational commentary on slowing down and being more present as a parent.

Simple Homeschool – Good articles and info for homeschoolers.

A few blogs that I’ve just discovered but have enjoyed so far:

Minnesota Mom

The Kennedy Adventures

Blue Skies

And some homeschooling blogs that I look to very frequently for tons of free stuff for my homeschool units:

Confessions of a Homeschooler

3 Dinosaurs

2 Teaching Mommies

1+1+1=1

This isn’t the complete list of blogs I sometimes read. And no, I don’t spend tons of time reading them. But I do enjoy these and visit a few others as well.

What are your favorites?

Jumping Rainbows – More Thoughts and News on Catholic Stuff

Posted on July 19, 2013July 19, 2013 by Amy

I have been on a bit of an interesting journey the past few months.

An intense curiosity has awakened in me. I am reading and researching all things religion. I’m wondering why? and how? and who says? and what??

I’m finding answers that surprise me. I’ve learned a lot about Catholicism in particular. I’ve realized that many of my beliefs regarding what Catholicism is about were wrong.

Shocking, right? I wonder when the fact that I don’t know everything is going to stop surprising me.

Just kidding.

It all started when I had a brief crisis and thought that I was never going to go into the Catholic Church again.

At the time I realized that I actually liked going to our Catholic Church, and I learned more about it, and my little crisis was resolved, and it was all cool and everything.

Then I was criticized by another blogger for the reasons that I like going to our Catholic Church, which made me think about those reasons, and question myself and everything all over again, and come to like Catholicism even more.

And it just went on from there.

I’m reading, and web searching, and praying, and everything has gotten crazy in my spiritual self. Crazy in a good way.

So. Some news:

My husband and I met with the priest at the Catholic church we attend in order to formally become members of the parish this week. Big step.

I have scheduled the baptism of all three of my girls for early September. Even bigger step.

Never in my life would I have imagined that I would attend a Catholic church.

A year ago I would have scoffed at the idea.

And I surely would have laughed out loud if you had told me I would be signing up for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA).

(That’s the class that adults take to convert to Catholicism.)

Me, Catholic?

No. Way.

At least, that would have been my response a year ago.

A year ago, the idea of attending a Catholic church and baptizing my children Catholic would have seemed extremely unlikely.

The thought that I would convert to Catholicism myself would have seemed impossible.

About as likely as being able to jump over a rainbow.

Impossible.

And yet, here I am.

Jumping.

At the beginning of September I will be starting a process of attending class every Monday night until Easter in order to become Catholic.

Huge. Leap.

I am so thankful my parents taught me to love finding out about what I don’t know. To have an open mind and willing heart. And for some special people who have made me think and helped me learn (thanks Hubby and Super Friend and Baba).

I’m excited and a little nervous.

I Want to Save My Allowance For…

Posted on July 13, 2013July 14, 2013 by Amy

My older girls get a few dollars for an allowance each week.

They have never been too bad about asking me to buy them tons of toys or other things, but since implementing weekly allowance some time back, whenever they have asked I would say, “You’ll just have to save your allowance if you want to get that…”

This has worked out very well for the most part. We count their money every week. They understand the concept of saving. They no longer ask me to buy them anything.

But.

In the past month or so they have taken to saying, about a thousand times a day, “Mama, I want to save my allowance for…”

Any time they see something in which they are even slightly interested.

“Mama, I want to save my allowance for a toy turtle.”

“Mama, I want to save my allowance for a toy big Tiana.”

“Mama, I want to save my allowance for a toy crappie.”

“A wildebeest.”

“A wart hog.”

“A cape buffalo and all the other kinds of buffalo.”

When we’re playing the “Cat in the Hat I Can Do That” game?

Miss: “I want to save my allowance for a toy fan” (one of the game pieces).

Me: “Honey, that is a toy fan!”

Miss: “No, I want to save my allowance for a real toy fan.”

Me: Blinking. Blank stare. “Okay.”

They now comment about wanting to save their allowances for things much, much more frequently than they ever used to ask me to buy them things.

“Mama, I want to save my allowance for a toy fountain.”

This one came up multiple times yesterday at the splash pad.

And this morning?

“Mama, I want to save my allowance for a toy Baby Sis.”

It’s gotten a little out of hand.

I love that they think about wanting to save for things. And I love that they have actually saved for weeks and weeks for some things that they wanted very badly that were a bit more expensive. And I love that we have started a “Giving Jar” where they put $1 of their allowance each week to give to a charity of their choosing when the jar is full.

But man.

When we went to the fireworks last week both girls talked the whole time.

“Mama! I want to save my allowance for a toy firework like that one!”

“Oooo! Mama! Mama! I want to save my allowance for a toy firework like that one!”

“A blue one!” “A red one!” “A big one that twinkles and falls down like that!”

And on, and on, and on. The. whole. time.

I get a little freaked out about this sometimes and think, “Oh no!!! My children are falling victim to our overly commercialized society! They are becoming hyper materialistic! They want EVERYTHING! I have failed as a mother!!”

Then I take a deep breath and remember, they aren’t asking me for the fancy Barbie doll they just saw on a TV commercial. They don’t even watch TV commercials.

They don’t ask me for the latest and greatest toys that all the kids are getting. They don’t have the slightest idea what the latest and greatest toys are.

They don’t throw fits (usually) when we walk past, or even down, the toy aisles at Target or any other store. They just say they want to save their allowance for it if they see something they like. **

Most of the time they’re saying,

“I want to save my allowance for a toy butterfly” when they see one outside.

Or,

“I want to save my allowance for a toy chicken nugget” when I make them for dinner.

When we read books they constantly interrupt me to tell me they want to save for something (many things) in a book.

I have had to set a limit with this one.

As a general rule, I not fond of being interrupted when I’m reading stories to them, but I usually don’t mind too much when they are asking questions about a story or pointing out something interesting that is happening. I suppress my occasional urge to say something like, “Hey. I’m reading here. I’m in character and everything. Why are you talking?”

But the allowance thing is just too much. So I made a rule that they may not interrupt a story for allowance comments. They don’t follow it. I’m working on it.

Miss has been saying that she wants to save her allowance for a tiny baby doll like Sis’s.

They have these little dolls at Target for about $3, so I told Miss the next time we went to Target she could bring her allowance and get one if she wanted.

Today we went to Target to get some storage boxes for our new art shelf (oh my gosh, I love my new art shelf!). Both older girls brought their change purses. Lass said she wanted a pony. Miss said she wanted a baby doll with long brown hair.

Lass got a My Little Pony that she could decorate with stickers and markers.

Miss got…

a My Little Pony that she could decorate with stickers and markers. She just couldn’t resist it when she saw her sister getting one.

I walked her past all of the other things she had said she wanted. The baby dolls with brown hair. The tiny baby dolls like Sis’s. The big Tiana dolls.

She stuck to her guns and bought the My Little Pony. Both girls depleted their allowance stashes.

They have been saving for many weeks, saying they wanted to buy tons of things, but not actually buying anything and not really even pushing to buy anything.

I got to thinking about this.

Then this evening while I was cooking dinner and The Daddy had the girls outside, Miss came to the door repeatedly bearing various items and saying she wanted to save her allowance for something like them.

“A hydrangea.”

“A hydrangea leaf.”

“A leaf like this one too.”

Finally it clicked. They don’t really want to save their allowance money for any of these things. Or at least that’s not the main reason they’re telling me they do.

They’re just telling me how much they like these things or how interesting they are.

Duh.

So the next time Miss came to the door with, “Mama, I want to save my allowance for a purple flower like this one,” I said, “Wow, you really like that flower don’t you?”

She blinked at me and nodded and then said, “Why did you ask if I really like that flower?”

I said, “Because you said you wanted to save your allowance for it. Do you really like it?”

She smiled big and nodded with a shy, “Yes, I do.”

I guess I’ll have to revisit my rule about the allowance comments during stories.

** I have to add that even if my kids did beg for fancy Barbies or other toys or throw fits in the toy aisle, that would not in any way make me a failure as a mother (nor does it make anyone else one). I recall begging and begging for a Cabbage Patch doll, and Barbies, and all sorts of other stuff I imagine. All kids do it, and I’m sure mine will too when they get old enough to know what the “hot” toys are. But my thought process is what it is. Sometimes it just doesn’t take much for me to briefly freak out about having failed my kids in some way or another. Middle finger to you, “Mom Guilt.”

23 Picture Books About Horses

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Amy

We recently finished a unit on horses. My kids love horses, so this was a really fun one. If fact, we did this unit at their request.

As I always do, I got tons of picture books to read and talk about during our circle time. I found some really wonderful, beautiful horse books, and we had such a great time learning and imagining about these beautiful animals. As usual, I learned a lot while teaching it.

We read a total of 23 horse books, both fiction and nonfiction.

Here’s a list of what we read. The ones with links were our favorites.

Fiction:

Black Beauty retold by Sharon Lerner – This is such a classic story and this book has beautiful illustrations. My girls loved it. So did I.

The Wild Little Horse by Rita Gray – Sweet story of a little horse going off to explore.

Clip Clop by Nicola Smee – This was such a fun book to read with a really cute story about several animals taking a ride on a horse. My girls were laughing and asked to read it many times.

Are You a Horse? by Andy Rash – I LOVE this one. It’s a cute story about Roy, who gets a saddle for his birthday with the instructions: “1. Find a Horse, 2. Enjoy the Ride.” Roy doesn’t know what a horse is, so this is about his process of finding one. I love the twist at the end that had my girls (and me) surprised and laughing.

Where Horses Run Free: A Dream for the American Mustang by Joy Cowley – Gorgeous illustrations. My girls loved the main horse in this story.

The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble – Lovely story, beautiful illustrations. I loved this one, though my girls weren’t super impressed with it.

Hush, Little Horsie by Jane Yolen – A sweet book about mama horses watching over their babies.

The Story of Black Beauty retold by Susanna Davidson – Another great retelling of this classic. My girls just seemed to like the other one a little better.

Cowboy Ned and Andy by David Ezra Stein

A Blue Ribbom for Sugar by Elaine Clayton

Everything but the Horse by Holly Hobbie

Fiction and Nonfiction:

A Field full of Horses by Peter Hansard – I couldn’t categorize this as fiction or non. It has a little storytelling with lots of facts included.

Nonfiction:

Horses: Trotting! Prancing! Racing! by Patricia Hubbell – This book has catchy rhymes and good information about breeds of horses, caring for them, and different jobs horses do.

Horses (Naturebooks Farm Animals) by Mary Ann McDonald – This one had a bit more detailed information than (and wasn’t as fun to read as) “Trotting! Prancing! Racing!” but it wasn’t too wordy.

Horses by Sheri Doyle – Short and sweet.

I Love Horses and Ponies: Over 50 Breeds by Nicola Jane Swinney – This is a beautiful book that my mom just gave to the girls. It’s not one for sitting down and reading start to finish, at least not at their age, but they love to look at it and learn about all the different horse breeds.

Horses (Animals Animals) by Steven Otfinoski – This one was a little too wordy for my girls, though I skimmed over it and they still earned some cool new stuff. My favorite thing about this one is the photos. It goes beyond the standard photos of horses standing in a pasture or looking over a stable gate or carrying a rider… This book has photos of horses nibbling each other, making funny faces, showing their teeth and more.

Horses and Ponies by Anna Milbourne

Girls and Their Horses (American Girl Library) by Camela Decaire

Horses (Farm Animals) by Rachael Bell

Horses (Great Pets) by Gail Mack

Horses! by Gail Gibbons

Poetry:

Gallop O Gallop by Sandra Alonzo – I didn’t actually read this whole book for my girls. I just don’t enjoy reading them a book of poetry. A few poems is good, but not a whole book of this length.

What’s your favorite horse book?

Motherhood and Miscellany

Author: Amy