Mom Rant

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Jennifer

I’m going to rant for a moment.

It won’t be becoming of me or show the nice side of myself but it will be truthful.

Parents can sometimes suck.

I’m not excluding myself from this group, sometimes I suck.

But not in this area.

Party attendance.

My mom raised us with the idea that when you are invited to a party you attend.

It doesn’t matter if they are not your best friend or your parents really don’t want to sit at Chuck E Cheese for 2 hours. If you can attend the party, you do.

Someone took the time to invite you. You never really know how many other kids have been invited or who else will show up. But you know that you will go if you can.

Several times my kids have been the only “school” friend to show up to someones party. That’s terrible when you know the entire class has been given an invitation.

I understand people have soccer games, parents work, family is in town, or any other reason that has ever been given for not attending a party.

I’m sure the thought process is…well we don’t really know this kid so we’re not going to go but I’m sure other kids will go…I’m here to tell you that a lot of time, no, the other kids are not going to the party. Therefore, no one from school is at the party.

We just had our annual Halloween party this weekend and to be honest, I was disappointed. My daughter said, “Mom, why didn’t my friends from school come?”

Out of the 13 classmates my daughter has in her class, only one child came to the party. ONE. And that was the only person who RSVP’d. That’s wrong people. At least respond that you aren’t coming.

Thankfully, we have really wonderful family friends who brought their children to the party so my daughter had friends there. But she still wondered aloud several times after the party on where her school friends were and honestly, it broke my heart for her.

She was so excited to bring the invitations to school and was eagerly anticipating sharing the pinata we made, the marshmallow toss game, and sweet treats with her friends.

I don’t know preschool parents.

I’m disappointed in you.

You could have done better.

But I will continue to teach my kids what I think is right.

So the next time my daughter receives a party invitation from school, we are going.

Because it’s the right thing to do.

At least in our house.

The – Shrek the Musical – Party

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Jennifer

For my daughter’s 5th birthday party she decided on a “Shrek the Musical,” party. We found this musical on Netflix and she feel in love with it, watching it probably 20 times.

In my opinion, this musical is FAB.U.LOUS! Go and put it on your netflix list right now!

For days after we watch it, I’ll hear my family humming the tunes or sometimes they bust out with the words. Alright, I’ll admit it, I sing and dance around the house to it as well.

A Shrek the Musical 5th Birthday Party. Hmmm…I put my thinking cap on and came up with what I think was a pretty fun party. So here’s the party recap:

Caroline greeted her guests outside with some sidewalk chalk paint. Using cornstarch, water, and food coloring I used this recipe to make the paint.

After everyone had arrived at the party, we went inside to watch our first clip of the movie which was the opening scene introducing Shrek. After watching the movie for about 8 -10 minutes we stopped and played, Stinky Shrek, our own version of hot potato. Several years ago my mom gave us a hot potato game with a built in beeper. I simply covered the hot potato in green fabric and we played Stinky Shrek – last person with the Stinky Shrek (hot potato) was the winner.

We then watched another clip of the musical which introduces the donkey.

After the clip we played – Pin the Tail on the donkey – a classic birthday game. I once again used our tracer and made the donkey out of construction paper.

Next was a clip which introduced the gingerbread man and Lord Farquaad.

Since I had enough to do to get ready for this party, I paid a friend who was just starting up a baking business to make sugar cookie gingerbread men for me. The kids enjoyed decorating their gingerbread men with frosting and candy. I had little baggies for the kids to take the gingerbread men home in but that did not work out since everyone wanted to eat their creation immediately.

Next up was the musical scene which introduced Princess Fiona. Sutton Foster plays Fiona in the Netflix musical and she is just outstanding. She was nominated for a Tony for this role.

To celebrate being a Princess like Fiona the girls made princess necklaces. The necklaces were plastic beads with large holes through the center. I also gave the girls a castle charm that they could place somewhere on their necklace. Since this party was for 4, 5, and 6 yr. olds I thought using a needle and stretchy thread might be a little difficult for them so I glued (using a glue gun) the needle to the piece of thread so the needle couldn’t fall off. I then glued a piece of fabric at the end of the thread so that the plastic beads wouldn’t come off on the other side. The girls really enjoyed making their necklaces. It was fun to see some of the girls where their necklaces to school the next week.

The last musical scene the girls watched was Princess Fiona tap dancing with the Pied Piper’s rats.

I decided to make tap shoes for the girls – the cheap way! I bought bottle caps at Hobby Lobby and glued (with a glue gun) them to a rubber band. I placed the hot glue in the bottom section of the bottle caps. The “tap shoes” were easy to put on since they just slipped right over their shoes.

At this time the girls also received their green Princess Fiona crown – the same one Caroline had been sporting the whole party.

The girls “tapping” like Princess Fiona in our garage.

Last up on the party agenda were cupcakes with Shrek character toppers. Normally I try and make a character cake for birthday but Caroline requested cupcakes so cupcakes it was. She helped me choose the characters she wanted on the toppers and we printed them right out.

So that’s it.

A “Shrek the Musical Birthday” party for my daughter’s 5th birthday.

I think I enjoyed planning it as much as she enjoyed sharing it with her friends.

And seriously, go watch this musical, it’s terrific!

Halloween Pillows Made by Kids

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Jennifer

I was walking through the store the other day when I found orange polka dot napkins on clearance. I decided to pick up a few since I thought they would make some fun Halloween pillows.

My 5 yr old and 9 yr old decided on Halloween silhouettes they wanted to paint onto the fabric. We then used the tracer to transfer the image onto the pillow. My son used a Sharpie which promptly bled through the think material onto the wall – yay!

My 9 yr old then painted his image with fabric paint staying inside the lines as best he could. For the 5 yr old, I decided to place blue painter’s tape around the image to help her.

I was planning on keeping the pillows in their original square shape but then realized they would have been huge. So we decided to cut around the shape, leaving room to sew the edges.

They chose to use a Halloween fabric we already had for the back of the pillow.

After they sewed around the edges, stuffed the pillows, and closed the last opening we were done!

Now here’s the thing. These will never make the cover of House Beautiful or any decorating site but my kids loved making them and love seeing them on the sofa. Every time they walk by the pillows they try and fluff them or stand them upright. and you can just see their sense of pride.

But here’s actually my favorite part of this whole project…

…their names written in permanent marker. Nothing sweeter than little kid handwriting.

Happy Halloween!

Super Mom?

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Jennifer

The other day my 5 year old and I were lying on the bed reading our own books after shower time.

I was reading a wonderful book and Caroline was looking at a Wonder Woman book she had chosen from the library.

I was enjoying our calm moment together when suddenly Caroline said with a sigh, “I guess I’ll never know who my real parents are.”

And then she continued reading as if she had just stated she wanted a glass of water.

I paused for a moment debating my options. After all, I do have a 6 inch scar proving that this kid came from my body. I decided to run with it.

“Who are your real parents?”

“They’re super heroes.”

“What super power do they have?”

“They can fly.”

“I wish Daddy and I had super powers like that.”

“Me too.”

“I love you Caroline.”

“I love you too Mommy.”

Summer Fun 2014

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Jennifer

Yesterday was officially the first day of Fall and the kids have started their 5th week of school but I still can’t shake the feeling of it being summer.

Maybe it’s because it’s still in the 90’s here or that I still love to spend days with my kids in our pajamas.

But I’m proud to say that I am moving in the direction of fall since in the last week I drove my kids to school only 50% of the time while sporting my pajama pants.

I thought it was now or never to show you our summer fun list since it’s time to move toward ghosts, goblins, and all things pumpkin.

We were all quite busy this summer…

visiting many people and places…

…and having tons of fun.

I guess it’s really time to say goodbye summer…

and hello Fall.

But maybe we’ll do that tomorrow since we are too busy going to the pool today.

Move Over Mia Hamm

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Jennifer

So this happened last weekend…

Caroline played in her first soccer game.

After watching her brothers play in roughly 692,000 games over the last five years, she is so excited to be on a team and play in her own games.

To mark the occasion, Caroline and I went to buy a new pink mesh bag which holds her new pink soccer ball. We also dusted off her brother’s old cleats and shin guards which she couldn’t be more happy to get to wear – except for the fact that she hates the feeling of the shin guards so she puts her socks on first and then puts the shin guards on top of the socks.

Now with Caroline, who we like to call “spirited,” there was no telling what the first game would bring – happiness? tears? refusal to play?

Well, I’m happy to report she was so happy (anyone else feel like this post should be sponsored by Pharrell Williams?)! She ran and ran around the field. At times, she was no where near the ball, just playing her own imaginary game, serpentining all around the field.

While the rest of us were sweating in the 101 degree heat, she was running around with such joy.

Apparently she runs better when sticking out her tongue because she did that the entire game – from here on out I’m calling her the Michael Jordan of soccer.

Of course when she wasn’t sticking her tongue out while running she was squeezing her lips while she watched everyone else go for the ball. Everyone else is cheering ,”Run,” while my husband and I are cheering, “Get your hands out of your mouth.”

And then the ball came her way!

And she ran with it!

Kicking it down the field!

And she scored!

The smile that came from her was amazing.

(I would have loved to show you that smile but my 9 year old had the camera at the time and stopped taking pictures right before she scored. I think he was as excited as the rest of us for Caroline and was cheering).

Goal or no goal, game 692,001 was a success!

Move over Mia, here comes Caroline!

A Little “Old Lady”

Posted on September 11, 2014 by Jennifer

My 5 year old and I went shoe shopping for me the other day.

I was in need of a new pair of heels and since the boys had already started school Caroline went with me.

At the first store the saleslady handed me the tan nylon socks to try some shoes on with. While I couldn’t have cared less about them, Caroline was enamored with them. She grabbed herself a pair to try on and then “tried on” many pairs of shoes. I didn’t find anything I liked so we went on with our search.

In and out of stores we went, desperately looking for a pair that were comfy, cheap, and most importantly, came in a size 10.

Sidenote: For all of you people with average feet I am deeply envious. To be able to walk up to a shoe display and actually place your entire foot into the shoe to see how it looks is something I can only dream of. I place my size 10 feet into the display shoes and get to see how three of my crunched up toes look.

Anyway, Caroline and I were searching for a pair of simple gold heels for my brother’s wedding. Well, at least that’s what I was searching for. Apparently Caroline was searching for shoes for me to go walk the streets of Louisville and pick up a few extra bucks while on our trip.

She pulled heels with three inch soles, heels with bows, heels with bows and buckles, heels with clear soles, pink patent leather heels, and her personal favorite, heels completely decorated in varying blue and green sequins which resulted in a peacock feathers design.

She was able to pull these shoes because they were all in the clearance section.

I can’t imagine why.

For some of the shoes I humored her and put them on when she asked me too. I mean, how else would I have known that five inch heels are not my thing – although the blue sequin ones did give me a moments pause.

After several stores we decided we needed to eat some lunch. While standing in line waiting for our lunch, I realized Caroline had added to her shorts and t-shirt combo from this morning.

On her feet were the nylon socks she had tried on in the first store.

Sandals and nylons. It’s like I was shopping with an 85 year old woman.

Caroline knew she had the “socks” on and was completely content with her look. After a brief moment of weighing my options, I decided I was going to be content too so I said nothing.

We finished our shopping, eventually finding a pair of shoes which worked for me – spoiler alert: they were not the blue sequined peacock shoes.

As we left the store walking hand and hand I looked down at Caroline and just smiled.

Shoe shopping with my little “old lady” was definitely a good day.

Tomorrow we have to go shoe shopping for her – I kind of want to stop by the lady’s department first : )

Hello, Is Anyone Out There?

Posted on September 8, 2014 by Jennifer

Hello.

Is anyone out there?

It’s been so long since I posted and yet it seems like just yesterday.

I’m not sure I even remember how to post anymore.

Since March I’ve sat down at the computer many times to write but it just didn’t happen. Maybe next week I’ll write. Maybe next month I’ll write because my heart won’t hurt so much. Well before you know its six months later and your heart still hurts.

Now please don’t call the authorities on me or send out the counselors.

I’ve got plenty to be happy and thankful for. My children and my husband make me laugh and smile every single day. Really its every single hour.

I’m here to say that its possible to move on but still have a tiny place in your heart that will always be sad. I think that’s the way it is for anyone who’s experienced a death. And for me it was the death of a dream, of a family member I had already placed deep into my heart.

Who knows what the future holds for us but I do want you to know that I’m here and experiencing life and its joys and I think I’m just about ready to start sharing with you again.

After all, how else am I going to remember that my daughter called my tummy squishy and my personal favorite lately…

Mom, take off your sunglasses.

OK. Why?

I want to see all those crinkles by your eyes.

(Sigh) Do you want to know who put a lot of those crinkles there?

Yes.

You.

Me?

Yes you. With the help of your brothers.

Maybe you should put your sunglasses back on so we don’t see the crinkles.

Sounds like a plan.

She is Fierce: Bedroom Art

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Jennifer

Anyone who knows my four year old knows that she has a mind of her own.

I present to you one of her latest self chosen preschool outfits as a small piece of evidence.

So when I came across the Shakespeare quote, “And though she be but little, she is fierce,” I knew it described Caroline and it would be perfect somewhere in her room.

One day while the boys were at school Caroline and I made this sign:

Here’s how we made it:

We found a board in the garage that was roughly 1 1/2 ft by 3 1/2 feet and gathered some paints. Since this is going in her “rainbow room” we grabbed an assortment of colors.

We then slapped on some color with the foam brushes, pausing after each color to dry the paint with the hair dryer.

“Please don’t touch the hair dryer it’s hot.”

Aaaaaand we touch it anyway.

I’m thinking maybe I should make another sign that says, “And though she has good hearing, she chooses to ignore most of what her momma says.”

After we had covered the entire board with bright colors I took some gold paint and randomly placed it on the board and completely around the edges.

I then found some leftover vinyl letters that we used on science fair boards several years ago and fashioned them into the letters we needed. I cut the letters and number below to create “she.”