SISTERS

I took this photo on the oldest’s Birthday back in November.
(The day she got her hair cut in fact.)

I fell in love with the two sisters smiling like this.
And THEN later I saw a Pinterest Pin (I can’t find it now to show you) but it had a framed image of sisters above a cute desk in their bedroom.
I was all. VOILá. I am SO doing that with this photo.

I ordered a giant 20×24 poster of the image and now I need a frame!
(I’ll update when it’s on the girl’s Wall.)

Yin & Yang you ask?
Yeah they are so completely opposite in sooo many ways!

Taken with my Nikon D5000, probably on Auto??
But I used a pre-set ‘action’ in PSE8 from Marcel Walker Photographica Called “Honey Daze” —my favorite one, I use it a lot.

Emma Watson is coming to live at our house today!
{OhMiGosh how CRAZY is that?!}

We’re so excited, I hope she likes the sheets?
I have no idea what her favorite foods are, but we TOTALLY have gourmet Cinnamon Chocolate Cupcakes coming in special for the big birthday celebrations going on here tonight!!

{They are from our local Crave Bakery—and I know WE are going to like them!}
Photo courtesy of the Crave folks.

Emma and Cupcakes —I mean how can we go wrong, Right??

Okay… So Emma isn’t c

oming to live at our house.  My newly minted 14yrold is getting a Hermoine Doo.

It’s her birthday wish.

To Cut Off All Her Hair.

I was against it for a while, but she’s been persistent as only a 13yrold-who-wishes-she-were-14-already-so-she-can-attend-church-dances girl can.

I told her it sucks growing that sort of thing out.
She understands.

I told her I’m not really keen on spending a lot of money getting it cut every 3-5 weeks to keep it from looking like the awkward growing out stage.
She understands.

I told her it will take a long time to grow it back to anywhere as long as it is now (NOTE: she has bizarrely slow growing hair, and it never grows past her shoulders, it’s a genetic thing, we don’t know why, but we collectively hate it.)
She understands.

AND.

It’s her birthday.

AND.

It’s what she asked for.

Could be worse right?
She could be dying it black.
Or spiking it into a mohawk.
And those braces, eh?

And everyone has to try this at least once.
Who knows?
Maybe she’ll love it and maybe I’ll love it so much I’ll cut my hair that short too.

It could happen.

Okay probably not.

In case you’re wondering…
The haircut hasn’t taken place yet.

I’ll be back to update for part 2. When Emma gets here.
What do the Brits eat anyway??

….and….

TA DAH!!!
What do we think??

I just realized my oldest will be a freshman this year.

In HIGH SCHOOL people!

Okay I’ve known for 156 months (13 years) this was coming.
I am SO not stressed for her in the least. Oh no.

I mean, let’s talk about ME blog-o-peeps.

I just realized…
I will spend the next TEN years of my life with at least.one.kid in High School!

Ten Years of:

• I’m freaked out mom!
• The School is huge mom!
• How will I find my locker mom!?
• Drive me here mom.
• Not the MEAN English teacher mom!
• Will I get asked (who should I ask) to the dance mom?
• ZITS! Mom! Fix This! Now!
• Drive me there mom.
• Ew. No. I am not eating school lunch. Pleeease can you bring me Subway?
• College Applications, Standardized Tests, Essay Questions. (I need a Xanax.)
• Drive me everywhere mom.
• Freshman Book Reviews, Sophomore Shakespeare Series, Junior Band Competitions, and Senior Year Project. (Didn’t I already attend High School?)

And my worst fear of all… (Mormons will understand the pain and angst of what I’m about to type…)

• TEN YEARS of EARLY MORNING SEMINARY! (Que the bad B-movie horror music.)

In the past (Pre-economy-stinks, Pre-school-budget-in-the-toilet, Pre-our-school-still-has-options) our high school started at 8AM. The kids attended early morning off-site Mormon seminary at 6:45AM. (Shoot me now). Giving them time for 1 hour of groggy, teen, sleep-deprived, yet spiritual enlightenment. I was Terrified about that 6:45AM bit.

TEN YEARS of getting up WHEN?

Here’s the kicker: Oh yay, guess what? This year the high school has eliminated about 10 programs (including business courses—I am NOT even kidding). We are down to 6 classes per day. I think that includes lunch and ‘homeroom-pretend-to-do-homework-class’. So technically 4 classes, I mean who needs all that extra fluff like Geography?

(Sidenote: If any incoming freshman fails a single class he/she cannot get enough credits to graduate without summer school. Not one single slip up.)

And in addition they will now begin classes at 9AM.
Weird? Yes. Idiotic? Definitely.

Okay back to that early morning seminary mom stress.
(It’s all about me remember?)

If they still start at 6:45AM, for an hour, then they will have over an hour before school starts. (The seminary teacher has a job that starts at 8AM.) I ‘d have to go back to get her, or worry about what teens do with nothing to do before school. Neither makes me very happy.

We are waiting to hear the outcome.

A new teacher? A later seminary start time?
Earth shattering things here.
Can I really deal with all this for TEN MORE YEARS?

I refuse to think about the TEN straight years of college that will begin in 4 more years.

You can’t make me.
Dang! I just thought about it and now my left eye is twitching.

At least I won’t be driving them to college every day at 6AM will I?
Crap. Now my other eye is twitching.

***Update.
Just heard they will be adding a second, later-starting seminary class.
All is saved.
Please go back to your oatmeal.

Sponsored by One2OneNetwork (They sent me a Young Love CD to review).

First of all? My daughter (13yrold) was all? What is that?

Not that she didn’t recognize a CD, but she was confused as to how we were going to listen to what is fast becoming her favorite music artist. And she needed it like, NOW mom!

And I thought. Oh yeah, we don’t have any CD players left anywhere in our house?
No worries. We jumped in the Mom-Van where there’s still a CD player in working order! We drove around town just so we could hear the whole album together.

Talk about a mother-daughter bonding moment? How cool do I look that I just got the new Mat Kearney Album practically before it came out in iTunes (not really.. it’s already out, but-work with me on my coolness factor here!)

The next day she was all RIP IT TO iTunes already dangit!

And I thought: Teaching Moment (in a sing-song voice, as moms do). Srsly you don’t know how to load a CD into the computer and then rip to iTunes so you can THEN sync with your iPod? (She DOES know how to do that last step I assure you.) I showed her. (Coolness factor increasing people.)

Okay the Album

If you haven’t heard the new song ‘Hey Mama‘ (and easily the best song, beat and lyrics on the album), then maybe you should check and see if your house has turned into a rock that is not letting any sunlight into your world. Because YOU NEED THIS SONG in your world! I first heard it on Pandora, and it literally made my day better and I could smell lilacs.

I was listening carefully to the lyrics with my daughter..

• Singing hey mama, don’t want no drama…
• Hey lady, don’t say maybe…
• Hey lover, don’t want no other

I thought it was about his girlfriend, so why call her mama?? I said this out loud and my daughter in sincere voice said: “I heard that it’s about his wife.”

HIS WHAT? For real’s his wife?  How fricken sweet is that?

Google to the rescue:

“I wrote “Hey Mama” about that first day we met between the shoe table and the dress rack. The chorus popped into my head driving home one night. I recorded some hand claps & a big bass drum and wrote the rest dancing around my living room that night. I hope you feel some of the butterflies.” – Mat Kearney as quoted on Direct Current Website (must be true if it’s on the web right?)

Butterflies? Okay now I’m in love with him too. Tell me you don’t love that? I dare you.

I also really, really like the 2nd track titled ‘Ships in the Night‘, a lot of the sounds remind me of his song ‘Undeniable‘.  (Which, I mean who DOESN’T love that song, right? Ala Chris Farley.) The song titled ‘Count On Me‘ is fabulous too. The beat in all three of these songs is fun and dance-a-licious. Several of the other songs on the album fall into the category of perfect for listening to while blogging.

I Love me some blogging tunes!

Here’s ‘Hey Mama’ Listen to it ALREADY!

WHITE

Now just imagine I was able to see him in concert WITH my daughter? Alas. He isn’t touring anywhere near us. I did get to see him at BlissDom back in January, but srsly, with my daughter? My cool factor would blow up my brain!

I recently started working with…

(A fabulous little company dedicated to helping parents wade through the thousands of Android apps and games out there. Finding the best and reviewing them, and giving family friendly ratings!)

One of the first articles I wrote for them was about kicking summer boredom and keeping kids entertained.
(It’s awesome of course… go read it!)

And yesterday we tested out one of the suggestions…

Aliens VS Legos!

• First, Building the City:
  

It took them nearly 2 hours to set up this ‘Lego City’ (and Lincoln Log ranch house of course!). I was surprised at how long they were willing to work at this!

• Then time to create the Play-Doh Aliens: (So scary!)
  

• And it was time to ATTACK! (This took 2 seconds BTW.)

The end.

(Love to hear your summertime boredom busters. Read more of my ideas on the Famigo Blog.)

I was not compensated for this post.
However I am part of the Parent Advisory Board for Famigo.

Not just shoes, but a lot of things.

Are you like me, and tend to complete projects for your kids like getting their room all painted and decorated WAY before your own? We purchased matching beds and some other inexpensive furniture for our daughters years and years before we ever saved up to buy our own bedroom furniture!

And here’s the paint job in their new room. My room? Yeah, still have to get the wall paper down first! I have plans though. An apple green and white bedspread and one wall painted a fun color…

Clothes are also a funny issue. And yes SHOES too.

I have a theory. I figure, the kids are always growing and therefore need new clothing more often. And when you head out to buy shoes or a new church dress, you end up buying not necessarily the most expensive, but at least you buy the current trend, right?

And for myself, I’m not growing any more. (I’m not!) So I end up doing the practical thing and buying only when I need something and then tend to buy neutral items to match the most things. Black shoes and lots of jeans.

So who has the cuter shoes? My kids. Hands Down.

BUT. I’m dreaming a little here. Red Boots Anyone? Do NOT check the price tag. I’ve gotta find some red boots for less than $200! Sheesh!

I’ll NEVER….
(The most taken back words in the English language)

• … let my kid play with a BARBIE DOLL.

I mean breasts? On a doll? At age 2…? My inner feminist speeds up to mock 6, NO WAY. NOT MY KID. Yeah… That failed.

• ... allow my child’s nose to run, it WILL be wiped clean 24/7!! What kind of parent doesn’t notice a 3yrold’s snotty face??

Um. The kind who has a younger AND an older kid also needing attention. The kind who has learned that handing a kid a tissue is so much kinder than wiping ad nauseum a poor kid’s chapped nose.

• … force my kid to eat their veggies.

Sometimes. You just have to. FOR THEIR OWN GOOD. Carrots anyone?

And my favorite. When I was a kid I always swore: I will be a POOL mom.
You know, the kind of mom who’s IN the pool playing with the kids. My mom wasn’t much of a POOL mom. And dangit, I was going to be!

And at first I was a POOL mom. Right up until the second child was born. And then… I WASN’T. You can’t get in the pool with a 3yrold while you have a newborn. And then the third kiddo comes along and there you are again. And when I think about it… my mom had 10 kids. (I know.) And they were each about 2 years apart. (I know.) And… DUH. No wonder she wasn’t a POOL mom.

Lesson learned. You have to experience the thing to understand it. And Never make Never statements. (Whoops.)

I was talking with a friend about grandparenting. And there we were, making those statements.

‘When I’m a grandparent I’ll NEVER…” And I thought about my POOL mom lesson.

What type of a GrandParent do you intend to be?
And when you get there, why don’t you let me know how it worked out?

This is part of my SkinnyScoop series. I am not being compensated. In fact, you can get your own custom SkinnyScoop poll, or use their prompts to get you writing!

Photo by Marcel Walker.

Wait. They what?
What is a PASS card?

It’s a re-loadable CASH card perfect for kids ages 13 and up from American Express. Plus you can get $25 free when you register. Read below for details.

Here’s what it ISN’T!

• It’s NOT a credit card.
• It’s NOT a debit card.
• It’s NOT going to check your credit when you sign up.
• It’s NOT going to turn your kid into a Debt monster.

At first I was all, why would my kid need to use a card like this? She’s only 13.  And then I thought…

• Use it as a teaching tool.

She can’t screw up because once the money is gone from the card she can’t keep spending. She can however learn to budget, calculate what is left and weigh that against what she wants that second, compared to what she knows she’ll need later on. I love giving my kids little bites of independence in a way that helps them learn a lot and even if they fail, it will be just painful enough to learn from it.

• Mom never has cash around anymore.

We are big on allowance. Each kid gets a certain amount each week. Yes for chores but also so they can learn to save and spend and understand how money works! We expect our kids to pay for almost all of their own expenses. From school fees to friend’s birthday gifts and especially for entertainment time with friends. Movies, frozen yogurt parlor etc.  However, paying allowance is tricky when mom rarely has any cash on hand. I have to make a special trip to an ATM, but then the bills are too big and I have to get them changed to ones and fives… I end up skipping it altogether half the time!

We’re adding a full month’s allowance to her new PASS card and YAY(!), no extra trip to the dreaded ATM machine.

• What if her babysitting gigs could pay her via her new PASS card?

Would that totally rock? Most times she goes to babysit and they end up waiting to pay her for a week or so because they also forgot to hit the ATM on the way home. If they write a check, then I’M THE ONE who ends up headed to an extra bank stop. I asked the AMEX people and they said yeah, sorry you’d have to give them your account passwords for this to work.. but I can dream for the future right?? (And heck I’d give grandma the passcodes.. that way they could send her bits of cash for birthdays if they wanted??)

• Imagine sending a kid off to summer camp, or eventually college?

This card would solve a lot for a kid who isn’t around parents for an extended period. They can use the card as needed. And mom and dad can easily re-load the card if there is an emergency or a surprise expense shows up. I’ve heard nightmares about young adults totally screwing up their credit at a really young age! This would be a nice way to introduce the concept of ‘plastic’ without the painful debt mistakes.

As part of the SheSpeaks campaign; American Express WILL ADD $25 when you load $25 on your new PASS account.

YES you read that right. Register for a PASS card (you need a 13+yrold kid) and load $25 on it. It will magically turn into $50 when it shows up in the mail! You must use the code SS25, and you must order yours before April 15th!

Whatcha waiting for? Go!
Your kid’s allowance is being paid by AMEX this month!

(Disclosure: I am compensated as part of the SheSpeaks campaign. And please note there IS a fee to use the PASS card, but it’s being waived until October 1st, 2011.)

Project Take More Pictures| Take 3

This isn’t technically a self portrait because my daughter took the photo.. but whatever.

In my quest to be IN more photos this is day 3 post ‘laser’ treatment after my chin got the acne treatment. Other than the artsy fartsy editing, I did not alter my face at all, I am wearing a tinted moisturizer though because my chin is screaming red still!

And right after a giant Flour Fiasco! She was holding the flour bin upside down and it all came crashing out. All over the counter, the floor and HERSELF!

We laughed and she had already cleaned up most of the counter, but when we grabbed the vacuum my little boy shouts: “I Want to Vacuum My Sister!!”

Reminds me of a story my older sister told once about her daughter making a mess in the kitchen with flour. The kid was upset, so my sister says, “you think THIS is a big mess?” And proceeded to throw flour all over the kitchen… “Now THIS is a BIG mess!!”

I’ve been waiting for over a month to share this with everyone!

I was asked last month to host a ‘Period Party’ with my daughter and her friends and her friend’s moms. I was all… um… really?? Like, sit around and talk about tampons and cramps and… yeah I don’t think so.

Turns out. I asked my daughter what she thought about it.. and she totally surprised me.
Please go read about it, I posted it on the Seventh Generation website.

Watch my daughter talk about her first period. Dude. Have times changed or what?