The difference between my J boys.
My grandparents came into town a few weeks ago. My grandmother couldn’t wait to get some sugar from my little ones. I mean, what grandmother doesn’t want to snuggle a baby? Jonah, of course, was happy to let her indulge. He’ll cuddle with anyone, because he’s cool like that.
Josiah, however… well, let’s just say he has separation anxiety, even if I’m only six inches away from him. Good grief.
I swear, she wasn’t even pinching him.
I’m either lazy, thrifty, or green.
Since Andy and I got married in 1999, I have mailed a year-at-a-glance letter each Christmas rather than a greeting card. My reason was simple: I give what I like to receive.
There are people who display Christmas cards around their home during the month of December. I’m not one of those people. While I appreciate that someone cares enough to send our family a Christmas card, they go right into the trash. I can hear some of you gasp as you read that, thinking I’m the Grinch. Maybe it’s bad that I think of cards as clutter, but it is what it is.
I do enjoy getting year-at-a-glance letters, though. This is especially nice when we receive them from people who don’t update regularly on Facebook, or people who [unbelievably] aren’t on Facebook. I like to be kept in the loop, you know.
I also like getting photo cards in the mail. I do keep those in an album, forever and ever. But anyway. Back to the point.
Since 1999 I’ve mailed a year-at-a-glance letter each Christmas. This letter is accompanied by a photo of my charming family, or maybe just my kids if a decent family photo wasn’t available. Also, because I’m so clever, I always printed a copy of the letter for myself. I’ve saved these letters in a binder, so that we have a book of memories for each year of our marriage. I’m thinking this will be a treasured piece of history when we’re 90, and our kids and their kids will probably love it, too. This idea came to me in 2000, which means I don’t have a copy of our 1999 letter. In case you haven’t already figured this out, I’m slightly OCD and have actually lost sleep over not having EVERY year represented in my little book. I’m really trying to get over it. Really.
But this is 2011, folks. Thanks to this little networking tool with a book of faces (The Facebook, if you will), not only do I have a year-at-a-glance summary of my friends’ lives, sometimes I even know what they eat for dinner, how many centimeters they’re dilated, or if they’ve been barfing for the past three days. I’ve likely also seen 100+ photos of them with their charming families, or classy self-portraits they’ve taken in their bathrooms. And because I’ve seen these updates and photos all year, I assume my family/friends have all seen the same in regards to me and my family, unless they’ve hidden me in their feed, and then really, they don’t care if they get a letter/photo from me or not. So, I feel that a year-at-a-glance letter with a photo is, well, REDUNDANT. I’m still going to write a letter and stick a copy in my binder, but I decided to only mail it to my peeps who aren’t on The Facebook. This will save time, money, and the planet, which means I’m either lazy, thrifty, or green.
So freaking disgusting.
Nail-biting is one of the most disgusting, unsanitary habits I can think of. It grosses me out more than nose-picking. In my opinion, chewing on your nails is equivalent to licking the floor in a public restroom. And not only is there a cesspool of germs under your nails that you ingest when you gnaw on them, it also damages your teeth and makes your fingers look like little nubs. I am horrified that my four-year-old has picked up this habit at preschool. I bought the bitter-tasting clear nail polish, hoping that would help, but it hasn’t stopped him at all. I need advice, people! Should I make him wear gloves 24/7 until he stops?
Just how nasty is chewing on your fingernails? Here, educate yourself:
Nail Biting (via WebMD)
So easy, so convenient, so great, so helpful.
I have so many friends who are knocked up, that I actually keep a spreadsheet at my desk with who’s pregnant, their due dates, and the gender of their fetus (if known). Is that a bit ridiculous? Well, yes, but I’ve been accused of far worse. Anyway, not the point.
When my local friends have babies, I like to organize meals for them. Anyone who has received meals after bringing home a new baby (or any other time of need, really) knows how awesome it is. It makes a world of difference, which is why I take it upon myself to return the favor to my peeps.
Well, a few months ago I heard about FoodTidings.com, which lets you organize meals with basically no headache. There are other web sites who offer similar services, but I have found FoodTidings to be the best. Why I like it:
1. Set up is easy and fast. I can create a schedule in less than five minutes.
2. Once a schedule is set up and you email it to all your mutual friends, your work is done. The web site generates reminder emails to people who have signed up, so you don’t have to keep track of it.
3. You can share the link with the meal recipient. This is nice, because they can check the schedule as often as they like to see if there have been any additions or changes.
4. When people sign up, they type in what they’re bringing. This is helpful for whoever signs up next, because they can make sure the family isn’t getting ten lasagnas in a row.
5. When creating the schedule, you can select which days to have meals, and also remove days. So, if they only need meals every other day, you can set the schedule accordingly.
6. You can also indicate if there are any allergies or things they don’t eat (like venison or tofu, for example).
So, if you’re planning meals for your friends in need, I definitely think you should check out FoodTidings.com. Did they pay me to talk about them? Of course not. I just love their simple and convenient tool, and I think you will, too.
What CAN you do? What WILL you do?
The current population of San Diego, California, is 1.35 million. That’s a lot of people. I can’t really visualize what that number looks like. So, when I hear there are 1.39 million sex slaves worldwide, I can’t even fathom it. Yet those numbers represent real people – people like Srey Pov. Read her story. No, seriously. Go read it.
Now, what if that was your six-year-old daughter? Or your little sister? Or your best friend? Wouldn’t you want to DO something? Well, you can. You can do something right now, while sitting at your computer. You can support the A21 Campaign, an organization committed to rescuing these girls and women. Maybe you can’t save everyone, but you could help save one like Srey.
A21 wristband, available to purchase for $10 (shop the A21 store)
Not the typical kid.
The Destin Festival of the Arts was held October 29-30. This was the second year that my husband, Andy, participated. I brought the kids on Sunday to see him and take some photos. While we were there, a couple and their daughter stopped by Andy’s tent. Apparently the daughter (I’m estimating age 12) saw a guitar piece the day before, and had returned with her own allowance money to purchase the piece. She explained that she liked to sing and play the guitar, and she really wanted that piece of art for her bedroom. Needless to say, we were both shocked and impressed that a girl her age would spend hundreds of dollars on something like art. High five for being awesome!
I wish we knew the girl’s name. She’s officially our favorite customer!
Cruise Survey
We are in the early stages of planning a vacation for 2012. Given the value and convenience a cruise offers (for kids ages 15, 10, 5, 3, and almost 2 by next summer), I’m 99% sure that’s what we’re going to do again. To date, we’ve only been on Carnival cruises. I’m looking for feedback on other cruise lines. We were happy with Carnival, but I’m open to other options. Also, we loved Cozumel and the Cayman Islands, but now that Andy and I have been both of those places twice, I want to go somewhere we haven’t been yet. So, I’m looking for feedback on other Caribbean destinations. Please leave comments below with your recommendations for (1) cruise lines and (2) Caribbean destinations. I can’t wait to hear your feedback!
P.S. – Don’t even start with me about the Disney cruise. Not going to happen. Way too expensive for a family of 7.
Soccer Mom
I have a bunch of kids, I [proudly] drive a van, and now I’m officially a soccer mom. Nathan played soccer with our city’s youth program August through October this year. It was his first year to play. He might not have resembled David Beckham [yet], but he put forth good effort, had fun, and wants to play again next year. Yeah!
Silver Shells
At the beginning of 2011, Andy won a competition. His prize was a two-night stay at a beach condo. We didn’t use our voucher during the summer, because it was too hot to enjoy the beach. Our plan was to use it early fall, but September was too busy, and then we went to Fairhope the beginning of October. We booked the Silver Shells condo October 22-24, since the kids didn’t have school that Monday. As luck would have it, a cold front moved in. And by “cold front”, I mean it was in the high 60s on Sunday, which is entirely too cold to swim (for us local wussies, anyway). Of course, Monday was back up near 80 degrees, but we had to check out by 10:00 am. That was kind of a bummer, but I have no complaints about the facility. Silver Shells was beautiful, had great amenities, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone planning a Destin vacation.
We stayed on the fifth floor of the St. Croix building. Our three-bedroom condo had a fantastic view from the wraparound balcony.
The boys thought the condo was “fancy”.
October really does have the best sunsets.
Breakfast on the balcony? Don’t mind if we do!
See the little white arrow? That’s our unit.
October is a great time of year to visit Destin beaches. The crowds are gone and the weather is beautiful.
Since it was too cold to swim in the morning, we brought the boys to the playground.
These are all the males in our family. That’s a lot of testosterone.
Nathan, Noah, and Jonah gave into temptation by late afternoon. They were freezing, but they just HAD to swim.
Jonah turned blue, so we wrapped him like a burrito while he shivered.
They were much happier playing in the indoor heated pool!
Nathan loved the hot tub.
Taylor had a couple friends come hang out with her. She was wearing my t-shirt from 1992, which reminds me…
I stayed at a condo with my family when I was her age, and had a couple friends come hang out with me. I know you’re glad I shared this jewel with you. Aren’t we so hot?
The kids pretty much ate ice cream sandwiches for every meal. What can I say? Vacation!
Josiah liked the condo during the day, but not so much at night. He woke up 752 like 7 times. Sucked to be him me.
Another award-winning sunset!
Halloween 2011 Recap
We hosted our second annual Halloween block party Monday night. It was bigger than last year, and this time included a movie playing on the big screen. Set up took longer than expected, and my baby was being a total screaming nightmare not cooperating*, so my youngest three children never actually got their costumes on. They didn’t seem to care. In fact, I think they were more comfortable in their regular clothing. You might notice in the photo of our outdoor theater that Thomas & Friends was playing. This was to appease the young children so the adults could talk. After putting Josiah to bed at 7:00, I finally got my act together and turned on Monsters, Inc, which is a bit more Halloween-ish. After all the little kids were in bed, some of the teenagers watched The Others. It was a really fun night, and I plan to host another block party before next Halloween.
Taylor was a “cereal killer”. Ha!
Gnawing on a lollipop was the only thing that made Josiah stop crying.
This photo was taken right before the swarm of children invaded the space.
Noah and Jonah were so well behaved! It [almost] made up for Josiah being terrible.
Nathan and Jared were Mario and Luigi. They looked more legit with their fake mustaches on.
The food was great! I made this and this, and our neighbors brought delicious nom-noms.
This was the scariest costume ever. I instantly felt like my five-year-old self after seeing The Wizard of Oz for the first time.
This was the most creative costume of the night. Maybe a bit top-heavy, but so cool!
So much fun!
* Yesterday I discovered that Josiah has an ear infection, which would explain his clingy/crying behavior. Ear infections are not contagious, yet somehow 3 of my 5 kids have one right now. Nice.
