Category Archives: caroline

Intellectual Balancing Act

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Parenting can be a delicate balancing act.

Whether you are guiding your children in friendships, school, or at home, parents are always looking for this balance.

This past holiday weekend, my husband and I decided to take our family on a short “staycation” in town, visiting local attractions and spending one night in a hotel.

Our first stop was the Dallas Museum of Art – a fine institution in the art world.

There we contemplated. Observed. Pondered.

Found what the art meant to us.

We were one with the art.

At this point of our trip we were enlightened and philosophical.

And oh so bored.

We decided to change things up for our second stop.

Yes. We. Did.

We went to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum!

Want to broaden your children’s horizons and redeem yourself in their eyes as a satisfactory trip planner?

Go here. Nothing like a few shrunkin’ heads to help with that.

As our day ended my husband and I reviewed our two museum stops and felt like we had done our job as parents and found some balance for our children.

Refined and freakish all in one afternoon, in terms of parenting, you really can’t beat that.

Blame it on Disney

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Caroline – “Andrew wants to be a zookeeper when he gets big.”

Me – “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Caroline – “A princess.”

Ugh.

After having two boys, I’m really struggling with this whole princesses thing.

And after seeing this, I don’t feel much better.

Have a great long weekend!

It happened again.

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It happened again.

But this time my husband was the victim.

If you ask me though, he was kind of asking for it.

Caroline was loose and there were consequences.

I’m thinking of possibly buying a cage to stick her in when I shower.

Or maybe I should just shower when she’s asleep.

 I left her watching TV on my bed so I could step in the shower – it’s roughly an eight foot walk.

I left the TV on and gave her some stickers with strict instructions to only put them on the paper I provided.

As I got out of the shower I saw she had moved from the bed to the floor.

She apparently listened because there were stickers on the paper.

But at some point while I was in the shower, she eyed my husbands Easter candy.

And ate it.

Notice the white chocolate flecks around her mouth?

Maybe I should be mad but frankly, who leaves Easter candy on their nightstand and expects it to be there in the morning? Plus, she didn’t put the stickers on the wall so I’m calling it a victory!

Packing Tip

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For our recent trip to Indiana I tried a new technique for packing.

You see, when packing for 5 people who are going on a 4 night trip with 3 hotel stays, things need to be as organized as possible.

Our clothing needs ran the gamut, from graduation clothes to traveling clothes to caving clothes so I decided to pack all of the kids clothes into gallon sized Ziploc bags.

I first wrote out a label for each bag with the name of the day/event the clothes inside the bag would be for.

The kids and I then chose the clothes and included a pair of socks and some underwear into each bag.

I ended up with 5 bags for each child and found this system perfect for all of our late nights. It was easy to just grab a bag, hand the kids their clothes, and yell, “Oh my God it’s 10:30! Hurry up and shower!”

Now if only I could get my husband into littler clothing all of our packing dilemmas would be solved

 

Yeehaw!

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Howdy folks!

Living in Texas lends itself to many “dressing western” days at school.

Seeing as I don’t particularly embrace boots and hats we often struggle to come up with an appropriate costume on those days. The boys have never been concerned, often refusing to even wear jeans on those days. Caroline, on the other hand, enjoys her school dress up days so I decided to do my best to outfit her appropriately.

An old dress up hat plus a ribbon was the first part of the ensemble.

Next I made her a skirt using the circle skirt tutorial from MADE.

Caroline and I wandered around the fabric store looking for some appropriate fabric. She refused the horse pattern (thank goodness!) and decided on this flower pattern.

To make this skirt, you have to make a quick pattern and then use it to cut out a circle of fabric. From there you adhere the elastic. Sewing on the elastic was the most difficult part for me though it won’t deter me from making another skirt.

The final piece of her outfit was a $3 shirt from a consignment shop.

Caroline is currently loving the book, Cindy Ellen, which is Cinderella with a western twist. She took this book to school to share saying, “I’m a cowgirl like Cindy Ellen.”

And no, she is not wearing boots.

It was 85 degrees that day and boots are not looked upon kindly on the playground.

Plus, this Louisiana momma can only do so much to encourage a Texas style.

Old

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Last weekend Caroline and I were at the playground during Alex’s lacrosse practice.

She was quite content to just swing and swing.

After awhile, two little girls walked up and got on the swings to her left.

Caroline proceeded to talk to them and they proceeded to ignore her.

One little girl told the other she was five.

The second little girl said, “Oh, I’m six.”

Caroline then said, “I’m fa-ree,” while holding up her three little fingers.

No response from them.

So I said, “Yes, Caroline. You are three.”

She ignored me and looked at the girls again.

With a flick of the wrist in my direction, she then said …..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“And this is my mom. She’s not fa-ree. She’s old.”

 

I love you because…

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One of  my Januaray goals was to hang the “I love you because” signs which I bought from Kiki Creates when she was having an “oops sale.”

The defect in the prints turned out to be the white rim around them. Eventually I will add a little black border to cover that up, but hey, they went up in January and it’s still not done so don’t hold your breath.

I bought cheap IKEA frames to display them on the wall (I think the frames were $3 for a pair).

the view coming down our stairs – everyone sits on the stairs to put their shoes on so I thought this would be the perfect spot.

Current and previous entries…

“you love to dress up”

“you love to have stories read to you”

“you love your brothers”

“your laugh is contagious”

“you have a passion for animals”

“you have found a love of reading”

“Your smile makes me smile”

“You love to listen to NPR with me”

“You are a wonderful big brother”

The kids immediately notice when a new reason has been posted so it’s fun to listen and watch them discuss it. Which reminds me, I need to go write something new right now.

*Here’s Kiki’s original post which inspired me to put these prints up in our house*

$11.90

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How would you spend $11.90 if you had it?

11 $1 items at McDonald’s?

4 pairs of socks?

 1 lunch with the ladies?

Here’s how my 3 year old spends $11.90 when I’m in the shower…

Next time I’m just going to take a sponge bath…think of all the money it will save me.

Easter Synopsis Part 2

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Let’s see, where were we when we last left off…

7:24 am – Oldest Bunny decides to change attitude

7:27 am – Shoes are on and baskets are empty – let the games begin. First up, the front yard.

7:38 am – The backyard. Happiness overtakes sleepiness when candy bar is found.

7:39 am – “There’s even an egg up here!”

7:47 am – The examination begins.

This is the dumper. Each egg is opened and emptied into a pile.

The examiner. Each egg is opened. Looked at. And closed again. The candy will be removed at each eating session. This technique is quite frustrating to Momma Bunny when she’s searching for a quick treat in the pantry.

The Eater. Open an egg. Eat whatever’s inside – all of it – as fast as you can.

8:02 am – Yep, she’s still eating.

8:25 am – Momma Bunny jumps into the shower throwing Dad the kids outfits, yelling that they need to leave in 35 minutes if they are to get to the 9:15 service.

8:30 am – 8:55 am – Pleading, negotiating, threatening all take place.

9:14 am – Bunny family slides into pews two rows from the back.

9:17 am – Momma Bunny pulls out a pad of paper and a pen for Littlest Bunny to play with.

9:19 am – Momma Bunny is tracing Littlest Bunny’s hand for entertainment.

9:24 am – 30 pieces of paper later Littlest Bunny decides she needs a new distraction so Momma Bunny pulls out some magnets and paper clips.

9:26 am – The priest tells all of the children of the church to answer him this question, “Doesn’t the church look beautiful now with all of the flowers in it?”

Middle Bunny shouts out, “No!”

Momma Bunny quickly brings her hand to Middle Bunny’s mouth while Poppa Bunny gives him a stern look.

9:28 am – Oldest Bunny and Middle Bunny start arguing over who gets to hold the hymnal so Momma Bunny takes hers and gives it to the Middle Bunny. Momma Bunny and Poppa Bunny just stand now and move their mouths as if to show they have memorized every Easter song.

9:30 am – Littlest Bunny starts talking loudly. She is escorted to the front yard by Poppa Bunny for a prolonged botany lesson.

9:58 am – Church is over and Momma Bunny is ready to leave. Unfortunately, Littlest Bunny has been outside for the last 30 minutes watching the egg hunt being set up so there is no chance of that.

10:04 – Littlest Bunny mentally prepares for the challenge ahead.

10:05 – Middle Bunny and Oldest Bunny talk strategy with the Littlest Bunny for the hunt. There is talk of pushing and shoving if deemed necessary.

10:08 am – The hunt begins. Littlest Bunny is not keeping her eyes on the prize.  This frustrates Middle Bunny and Oldest Bunny who are doing their best to form a human wall discouraging other Bunnies from snatching eggs in the vicinity.

10:11 am – The victory walk.

10:14 am – Champions Easter egg hunters

10:30 am – Bunny family arrives home.

10:31 am – All designated Easter clothing has been stripped off and thrown to the ground by little bunnies.

10:32 am – Momma and Poppa Bunny tell the bunnies to go put some clothes on and stay upstairs. Momma and Poppa Bunny have designated this time as mandatory quiet time.

10:33 am – The Bunny children just laugh at their parents. They know their sugar high will last until right before dinnertime when all three will meltdown at the same time at the sight of their dinner.

Easter 2012 is deemed a success!