Headstrong and fiesty. You have a mind of your own that's full of romantic dreams about the world around you. Exploring exotic places is your ultimate dream, and although you can be a little naive you'll realize that there is something to be gained from your family's wisdom.
My mother-in-law stole an magazine on her last flight because it had an article she read and thought of me. She gave it to me last night and it was awesome. It is a list of 63 things to do to get wild with your kids. I loved them all and am going to do them all over the course of my children's life. I will post my success as I go and let you share in our adventures with us. Here is the list if anyone else is interested. Its fun and it made my mind spring off into a spider web creativity effect and I can add more as I go.
1. Run a marathon. I am definitely going to do this we run everyday and can not wait to run a marathon with my family.
2. Destroy a toaster. When your old one needs to be replaced let your kids experiment with the old one. Take it apart with them to learn how it works.
3. Screen silent movies.
4. Build a super sand castle. they have workshops to teach you how in South padre Island.
5. Vote. Have your kids go with you when you vote teach them young about its importance.
6. Walk off the edge of the Grand Canyon. They have that new see-through glass sky walk.
7. Get old school. Show them you high school year books and let them laugh at you and your clothes.
8. Pull Taffy. We used to do this with my Grandma and I loved it. I can wait to make it a tradition in my home.
9. Tour the world in a trio of American cities. Chicago's Ukraine Village. Washington D.C.'s Little Ethiopia, and Anaheim's Little Gaza.
10. Do lunch. Take you child out of school and take them to lunch with just you and them.
11. Crack Cascarones. They are confetti filled egg shells. Just break of the top portion of an egg. Pour out the eggs contents. Let them dry. Decorate the egg shells as you wish. Fill egg with confetti. Cover hole with tissue paper. Them have a egg-static time throwing them around.
12. Camp out. In your backyard. Pitch a tent and enjoy the stars.
13. Go guerrilla. Commit random acts of kindness anonymously.
14. Get lost in a snow globe. Make your own family version of a giant snow globe. Instructions can be found at hgtv.com
15. Got to work. Let you children see what you do for a day.
16. Explode a volcano. Just a little baking soda and Kaboom. eshow.com has step-by-step instructions.
17. Discover planet Earth. Watch the 11 part series over the course of a couple of weeks.
18. Go puddle jumping.
19. Make a portable height chart. in case you do not live in the same place forever. Our is a piece of 4x4. The magazine suggested a piece of felt.
20. Score a pro baseball. Or at least try to. Do not just try to catch a fly ball ask the players to give you a ball when sitting there watching the game.
21. Make pizza. let you kids do whatever and add whatever they want to the pizza of there choice. Let them be creative and enjoy finding out for themselves why we do not eat, pepperoni with chocolate and jellybeans.
22. "Get" money. Teach you kids young to save and pay tithing or share, there money. Have three piggy banks and label them. Tithing, Spend, Save. Teach them and let them decide what to pay to each.
23. Make snow angels.
24. Read kid classics. My uncle Mike and his family read a t least one book a month with the whole family and would read before scripture study. It was so cool and fun to be there and enjoy in the family time together. It also instilled a love of reading in most of there kids.
25. Give piggy back rides.
26. Pitch in. Volunteer to help clean up your city or town. There are a tone of ways even in the smallest of town.
27. Stuff a time capsule. include not only important things for you at the time you make it but write a note to yourself about why you liked those specific things.
28. Make a tasty breakfast in bed. For mothers and fathers day let your kids help make breakfast and jump into bed with you to enjoy the meal. Isn't that what we are celebrating on these days. HELLO!
29. Swim with the dolphins. Find the closest place to you on the web.
30. Build an obstacle course in your backyard.
31. Get carded in D.C. The book City walks with kids is a book with double sided cards with fun things to do in D.C. centered around kids. The book is by Chronicle books.
32. Watch Julie Andrews. Or whoever your favorite kid friendly actor was at there age.
33. Skate on Olympic ice. You can skate where the athletes skated in Salt Lake city from October to March. Visit utahathleticsfoundation.com.
34. Visit a petting Zoo. Find locations in every state at pettingzoofarm.com.
35. Write thank you notes. Teach you kids young that this is a good way to show your appreciation for those that do things for them. I love sending out thank you for birthday cards and presents.
36. Make mud pies.
37. Launch water balloons. I would totally make this into a science thing and have my kids play around with a whole bunch of launchers and have them build there own. Predict which launcher would go the farthest and see what you can do to make those that do not work as well better.
38. Install a tire swing.
39. See a drive in movie. Love this because there is no stress to keep your kids quiet or worry about them disrupting others with questions about what is going on. driveinmovie.com has locations around the states.
40. Ride a pair of wooden roller coasters. There a a few different locations to choose from. aceonline.org is the roller coaster enthusiasts website with the locations.
41 Meet the Wizard of Oz. L. Frank Baum’s classic fantasy series comes in many different forms, so your kids can enjoy it over and over again as they grow up:
4 to 8: Ease your child into the Oz universe with Robert Sabuda’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz pop-up book (Little Simon). The spinning cyclone, rising hot-air balloon, and set of wearable emerald-tinted eye spectacles will get them hooked.
8 to 9: Watch the classic 1939 film. If your kids startle easily, you might want to fast-forward through the flying monkeys and melting witch.
9 to 12: Read Baum’s books—all 14 of them. Dorothy’s adventures didn’t end when she returned to Kansas. In fact, she soon sets up shop in the Emerald City, taking Auntie Em and Uncle Henry with her. Grab the Dover edition of the books, complete with John R. Neill’s delightful illustrations, and introduce your child to Jack Pumpkinhead, Ozma, Rinkitink, and the rest of Dorothy’s new friends.
10 to 12: See Wicked, the smash Broadway musical about Elphaba, Glinda, and life in Oz before Dorothy showed up. Reserve a seat at the permanent shows in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, or catch the tour near you this summer.
12: Watch Return to Oz, the 1985 cult classic. A quasi-sequel to the original film, Return incorporates characters and plot elements from Baum’s later books, including Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz.
Adult: While your kid watches her fifth straight showing of Oz, amuse yourself by reading Salman Rushdie’s The Wizard of Oz, part of a British Film Institute series on classic movies.
42. Race downhill. I have many, one in particular, fond memories of racing downhill with my siblings. I will never forget them.
43. See stars. On the Hollywood walk of fame.
44. Fly to the home of flight. Manteo, North Carolina. See the Wright brothers museum with films and reproductions of there first fliers.
45. Bottle up lightning bugs. Go east of Kansas and catch these guys by the hundreds.
46. Make a mobile. visit artcyclopedia.com for a guide.
47. Sled in sand. Add furniture polish to the rails of you sled and go for it.
48. Bust mutton. In English ride a sheep.
49. Make a bird feeder. Buy a bird book at the store to indentifiy the birds that drop by for a feed.
50. Teach good greetings. How to talk and communicate successfully. How to introduce yourself under every circumstance.
51. Hunt for fossils. If you do not have someplace near home to do this. Make your own with some bones and sticks in the back your.
52. Meet your inner pirate. There are tons of pirate celebrations year round in many different locations. search for the closest near you and find your treasure.
53. Grow a carrot top tree. Kind of like a potato in a jar. Just cut off the top of a carrot and put it in like warm water and watch it grow new leaves.
54. Eat king cake. Its a mardi gras classic and the best is found in Lafayette, Louisiana at Meches Donut King.
55. Do Disney. Smee this one for you. You can not let your kids get to old before you experience Disney world of Disneyland.
56. Play with shadows. Perfect FHE. Put up a white sheet and a light and write your own shadow puppets story. Get crazy and use your feet as well as your hands.
57. Learn Math. This is such a cool idea. Instead of chalk boards and dry erase boards. Cover them with shaving cream and let them use there finger to work out problems. Then just smooth it over and do another one.
58. Beckon butterflies. Make a butterfly garden. There are tons of books that explain how and I am sure you could find instructions online as well.
59. Ride an electric trolley. They have them in Dallas for free and San Francisco for a price.
60. Spin in a circle. At my house its called twirling. We see you can last the longest without falling over.
61. Sail into the sunset. If you do not have a sail boat. Rent on out or go on a tour.
62. Climb a tree.
63. Saddle up. Find a place to go on a horse riding adventure. It is an awesome alternative to hiking. And you get to be in nature. Can not beat that.
I love the teaching aspect of being a Mom. I love watching my kids figure things out and, learn things. Having my boys at the ages they are now, (2 1/2 and 19 months) they learn a lot in the course of a day. That being said I have learned more and more everyday that your kids not only learn those things that are taught, for example colors, shapes, numbers, words. They learn everything from you. I have comprise a list of those things that I inadvertantly taught my kids, this is not neccesarily a good thing.
Benjamin now says:
"That's enough", whenever jacob cries, which I say to jacob (when he is whinning) and the dog when he barks.
"Are you kidding me?" whenever I catch him doing something naughty.
"Get off your phone" whenever I say anything to a car while drivng.
"What", whenever I speak to him, i think because it is hard to understand him so when he is with people other than me and Bobby, but us included, we say what to him when we can not understand him.
He not only says these things but it is like looking in the mirror when he says them. He makes my facial expressions and somethimes stands just like me while reapting these phraes.
Jacob now says:
"Benjamin", with a tone like I use when Ben is beating Jacob, whenever he is being attacked.
"Eww, that is stinky", with his nose in the air when I changed Benjamins diaper.
It is amazing to me how much they watch and listen to you. I have also learned that if I over reacted when the little things happen that they both over react over everything they can not do. I am trying to remain calm and the last couple of weeks have been wonderful. I find that Ben and Jacob try to figure things out on there own a lot more. They are less whinny, and a lot more happy. It is true what they say, The mom sets the tone for the mood of the house.
If your life were a soundtrack, what would the music be?
Here’s how it works:
1. open your library (iTunes, winamp, media player, iPod)
2. put it on shuffle
3. press play
4. for every question, type the song that’s playing
5. new question — press the next button
6. don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool
opening credits: The Little Things, Cobbie Calliat
waking up: What A Beautiful Day, Chris Cagle
first day at school: Hide and Seek, Imogen Heap
falling in love: You're a Superstar, DJ Sammy
breaking up: Sending Postcards From a Plane, Fall Out Boy
prom: Tequila Loves Me, Kenny Chesney_ That was Funnny
life’s okay: Your My Angel, Anberlin
mental breakdown: True Colors, Fredero Starr
driving: Fine With Me, Little Big Town
flashback: Ellsworth, Rascal Flatts
gettting back together: Say It Right, Nellu Furtado
wedding: Days Of New, Lagwagon
birth of child: You'll be in my Heart, Glenn Close_ That was crazy
final battle: Take my breath away, Dido
death scene: You've got a Friend in Me, From Toy Story
end credits: Ocean Avenue, Yellowcard
That was fun. Alot of these songs have never heard either. This is manly Bobbys music.
The country and kids songs i know but the other ones are a mystery to me. Crazy that the titles of some of them match what it corresponds to but when you listen to the song it has nothing to do with it. Thanks Pea that was fun.
I tagged penders
I have never been a good cook. When I was about 13 I made a cake with out the oil and it was disgusting. That same year I cooked pudding on the stove in a glass bowl. For any of you who are thinking, "what's wrong with that?", Glass + heat= explostion. I broke the bowl into a thousand little tiny pieces. When I was seventeen I burned macaroni and cheese, the kinda that comes in a box, it was not even homemade. I was eighteen when I finally flipped a egg and was so excited that I made a long distance phone call to my mom in Utah.
So needless to say this has been my biggest struggle lately. It has taken three years, one husband, and two hungry boys later to finally master the skill. I have made for the first time in my life four nights in a row, good heathly, and not from a box, dinners for my family. On monday i made homemade chicken nuggets, which were good enough that we had none left. (I am feeding my in-laws too. Tough crowd) On tuesday I made a pork roast and homeade french fries. And yesterday and tonight I have made casseroles. I have finally gained enough confidence to try new things and venture out. It has been so fullfilling and I feel like I am finally one of those moms that people talk about how they miss there moms food most when gone. Hopefully I will continue to get better and better.
I am going to do a quick update. We have been in the middle of a move and without a computer for awhile so I have not been able to post. I have been busy with birthdays, halloween and christmas and wanted to update all on those holidays.
First was Jacobs 1st birthday. We had a blast. We had it at my moms house and set up a pool in the back yard for the kids and the insdie was full of food for the adults.
Second was halloween which was a blast. We did not celebrate halloween a lot as kids because we were usually at Disneyland (way more fun), so this was my first halloween in a long time. Benjamin was Fred Flintstone(my sister "Pea" made the costume) and Jacob was a dinosuar. We taught Ben to sat yabba-dabba do and he did once the whole night. We put Jacob in his costume and without any instruction he started to growl. It was so cute that we put him in his costume for entertainment over the next week. 
About a week before Halloween we had our annual pumpkin carving party at my Brother-in-laws house. Benjamin was not intersested in carving but loved pulling out the gooey insided of the pumpkin. Him and his uncle cleaned out almost all of them and Benjamin would say EWWWW! with every handful that he pulled out. I also made my first cupcake cake that was a pumpkin and was very proud of it.
In attendance was a friend of the families who was pregnant and due on the first of november. We painted her belly and made it a pumpkin. Funny thing was that I think we willed her baby to come on Halloween she was born in the morning of halloween a week before she was due.
I got his meme from Pea. And have no one to pass it onto. I am new to the blogger world so I do not know what to do, other than to post it. So here it is.
6 facts/habits about myself:
1.(fact) I love to learn. If I was rich and had loads of free time I would be a full time student. I would love to major in; ultra sound technology, meteorology, education specifically history, message therapy, culinary arts, physical fitness, just to name a few.
2.(habit) I have a shower and morning routine, that I stick to religiously. If I do not do everything in my "order" I always, yes always forget a step. It is nothing out of the ordinary I just wash my hair, shave, clean my face, clean my feet, in the same order every time i shower. I put my makeup, lotion, and do my hair the exact same way every morning. I can choose to skip a step without any consequences for the sake of time, I do have two kids here but I have to do it consciously and take note of it.
3.(fact) I was pecked by a rooster. I know many people can say the same due to having to feed or catch them but my story is entirely different. I was 4 years old playing on my grandparents farm. A huge rooster snuck up behind me with no warning what so ever and clobbered me. I was pushed down onto the ground while the rooster preceded to peck me on my head and back over and over and over. I was apparently screaming because anyone within ear shot came running and rushed me inside. I was ok just minor injuries no hospital visit needed but afraid of roosters ever since. The best part of the story, my Grandfather came home that evening and heard what had happened. Without saying a word walked out the front door and rung that roosters neck. I found out years later that the rooster was worth 500 dollars. Now that is true love.
4.(habit) I pluck my eyebrows three or four times a day. I do this not out of vanity but because I love plucking hair. If I could I would pluck all of the hairs off my husbands face, legs, arms, etc.
5.(fact) I am older than my husband, Yes it is true i rock the cradle. No not really. I am exactly 31 days older. WOW huh. We have know each other for 10 years and he has never let me forget that he is the youngest. He loves pointing it out when we play games and take turns based on age. Everyone assumes he is older and you can almost always she him smirk when it is either assumed to be my turn or his.
6.(habit) I can only eat snack foods two at a time. If left with an extra in a bag I throw it away. It started innocently enough with M&M's. My favorite snack in High School. It has just stuck with me I guess. I eat chips and crackers and cookies this way. All candy's that are sold in multiples. Odd thing about this is that my favorite number is 3.
