Life With Kids

Found this lovely idea today from a friend of a friend on Twitter.

The goal: Collecting pictures of our life with our kids with no faces. Excellent idea because we never can really get it right on anyway. So, I’m joining and if you wish please join as well.

The link is here at Building Camelot, and here is my first picture. I will probably post mine weekly.

Don’t Diss The Dalai Lama

This is what I read on the Yahoo news this morning.

China slams Dalai Lama in government report.

This makes me want to vomit.

Go ahead, follow the link.

The Dalai Lama is one of the few heroes I have in this world.  I have never heard a man so devoted to peace, love, understanding, caring for one another and the world about us.

I have issues with China.  Not Chinese people in general, don’t get me wrong.  But what the? The Chinese report praises it’s rule over Tibet and says it has spent vast sums of money and manpower to protect Tibetan culture.

Oh, is that why the Dalai Lama is in Dharmsala?

Is that why monk-led protests turned violent?  Shame on those violent Buddhist monks!

Sorry to get on my Soapbox, but some things really grate me.  Like governments.

Here’s a clip.

 

 

Tea Party

Boo skipped school Tuesday because her substitute was MEAN and she said that she would be back tomorrow and she was nice today but she would be mean tomorrow.  Also, she wouldn’t let them play by the tree.

So I know I suck and I should have made her go, but it’s one day and she LOVES school and I’m not going to let one substitute ruin it for her.  She went today.

Aaaannyyywayy…

We had a tea party.  It was cool.  It was fun.  She was outrageously cute.

Check out the cool new Halloween tablecloth..don’t you love it!

 

We had 12 friends and tea and raisins.  Does anyone else think plain raisins are gross?

 

Baby Kangaroo needed help with his tea.

 

Then she showed us Gerda Muller’s, Autumn, one of the finest books ever.

 

Overall, a fantastic day.  I will miss this when I go back to work.

Renaissance Festival

Was off to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Festival on Sunday with the girls, Dad, sister and boyfriend.
Great time had by all. If you’ve never been to a Renaissance festival, it’s a one of a kind thing.
People dressed to the hilt in costumes, the Queen and her court cascading around, human chess game, acrobats, sheepherders, falconers, music, food, food, food, gifts, crafts, food, wine, food.

Here’s some pics:

The Princess

The Wench

Baking For Bingo

Looky what I sent to PTO Bingo on Friday….jealous you weren’t there aren’t you?

 

Frosted Fall Brownies and Walnut Cheesecake Bars with Cherry Topping.

 

Goodnight

A seven year old girl, two pillows, a baby blanket and a teddy bear are way too much to try to carry up the stairs at once.

But finally she’s asleep.

10 Truths About Baking

1. Pure vanilla extract is worth the money. (Also, everyone tries it once and finds it tastes nothing like it smells, which is pure heaven).
2. A dishtowel under your mixing bowl saves a lot of frustration.
3. The butter really should be softened.
4. Sometimes leaving an ingredient out is okay, sometimes, okay, it’s really not at all.
5. Putting your hands in a cool flour mixture is the softest feeling in the world.
6. Fresh lemon juice is better than bottled.
7. Never multitask when you bake unless you have a REALLY LOUD timer.
8. Your kids will always, always cover themselves in chocolate when they lick the bowl.
9. When baking something for a school, church, important function you will always find at the last minute you are missing something you need.
10. Licking the bowl and eating the leftover pieces are NO CALORIES (all right, not really).

Spur Of The Moment Haircut

12 inches to Locks of Love, and I feel like a girl with blowy hair in a shampoo commercial.

 

Done!

Finally, Ems quilt is done. I don’t know if it was the sheer size, all those little blocks or the fact it’s not my cup of tea, but it was a real pain in the $#*()@$$U@*.

But her screeches of glee when she saw it on her bed were well worth it.

Now onto some Halloween goodies. I’ve become a bit of a sewing addict.

Simple Commands

When reading parenting books/magazines  you always hear that you should speak to  your kids with short concise commands so as to not confuse them or lose them with a big diatribe.

So why does this not work for me?

Dog escapes.  Run around in 90 degree weather chasing her and finally trap her in grandfather’s garage.  She has no harness on as she slipped it, so there is nothing to hold onto except 60 lbs of dog and fur. (Did I mention it was 90 degrees…..in September?).  Yell to children.  

Me: Shut the garage door!  (simple and concise).

Girls: Nothing.

Me: Will someone please shut the garage door.

Girls: What?

Me: (Screaming, also a no-no), Shut the garage door I have the dog in here and I can’t hold her forever!

Girls:  Oh, okay.

Next step:

Me:  Someone get her harness and leash for me.

Girls: What?

Me: (Exasperated hot and sick of dogs/kids/fur/heat/humidity) Go Get Me Her Leash and Harness!

Blondie:   Boo is getting it. (Sure send the five year old).

Five minutes elapses.

Reds:  I don’t know where it is.

Me:  It’s hanging on the basement door in our house.

Silence.  Reminder:  I am in garage with door closed and they are outside.

Me: Boo?

Reds:  What?

Me:  Will you get it?

Reds:  Oh, okay.

Ten minutes elapses.  Nothing.

Me:  Ems is she out there?  I can’t keep the dog in here forever.

Blondie:  Hold on.

Blondie: Here she comes.

Reds:  Mommy, it’s not there.

Stop, think think think.  A-ha!

Me:  Boo it’s hanging from the tree (where the dog run is).  Do you think you can get it?

Reds:  Sure Mommy.  (Pure confidence).

Six or seven more minutes elapse.  Look out garage window.  See Reds with leash slung over tree branch hanging and swinging.  Tra la la la la.

Sigh.

Me:  Ems?

Blondie:  What?

Me: Can  you go get your sister for me?

Don’t see Blondie but see Reds running up from our house leash held high over her head looking triumphant.

Garage door opens.

Reds:  Here you go Mommy.

 

Now tell me why when you say, “Want to go get ice cream?”  we don’t have these problems.

Have I said before how much fun it is to be the only adult in the household?