Snapshot of a Little Boy

Paul and Katie both have parent-teacher conferences tomorrow. Of course, I have no idea when Paul’s is. He waved a form in front of my face at some time when I was too busy to actually hold the form. I have a feeling it was at 9:00, and is possibly tomorrow. Of course, it could be any time tomorrow or Wednesday. If I don’t find this paper tonight, we’re showing up at 9:00, and if we’re wrong, then we’ll find something else to do to fill the time gap until it actually is his conference time. In an effort to ascertain the actual time, I decided to look through his backpack. I didn’t find a conference letter in the paper jungle, but I did find a snapshot of my little boy. He gives me a run for my money on a daily basis, but at this moment, when he was sleeping sweetly downstairs and I was having a sneak-peek into his six-year-old life, my heart melted. God gives us these moments for a reason. Here is what I found: A small notebook completely filled with sketches and notes. I found a small calendar in the back, and the two dates written down were Mom’s Birthday and Gymnastics. He loves me! Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules. I try to steer my children toward good literature, but both Katie and Paul love the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. A army guy action figure and one of the plastic green army men holding a bazooka. A bookmark. The wrapper from some sort of Japanese playing cards A composition book. Many, many pencils. Now I know why I have no writing implements in my house. Books on ancient Egypt and ancient Rome. A Magic Tree House book. He’s way past these books, but he still enjoys reading them. A Lego Club magazine. A little book that came as an insert in the Ghostbusters movie. A Lego Star Wars comic book that’s been read over and over and over. Candy wrappers. Completed homework (Paul is an excellent student) and a parent newsletter that I never saw. A drawing that appears to be the ever-resourceful  Hardy Boys putting out a fire. Paul has just gotten into the Hardy Boys series and is reading his third book right now. A birthday invitation from two months ago to an Angry Birds party. His math textbooks. His speech for class office. He ran for president, vice-president, senator, and supreme court justice. Every office you could run for. He didn’t get elected for anything. He’s a super-smart kindergartener in a class of second and third grade boys. Of course he’s not going to be elected. But you couldn’t tell him that. Surprisingly, he never seemed disappointed. He just said, “Oh well. I’ll run for the next office.” And when there were no more offices left, he said, “That’s fine. I’m an alternate in case someone loses his office for bad behavior.” I would have voted for you, Paul. If we had more candidates for office who had the qualifications you have, the world would be a much better place.

Dream Homes

I’ve decided that I’m in love with this floor plan. Not that you’d ever find an affordable lot in ABQ to build this on, and of course you would never have a sweeping lawn with huge mature trees here, but there’s always wishful thinking, right? It’s not ridiculously big (5 bedrooms, 4 baths and 3437 square feet), but definitely as big as we would ever need. And I love the layout. Main level Upper level It’s got what we really want: 5 bedrooms, a play room, master bedroom separated from kid bedrooms, a laundry room, three-car garage not facing the street, a fabulous deck, brick and way more. And of course it would be built on a incredible, large, woodsy lot with beautiful landscaping. And a pool. If we’re dreaming, we’re definitely going to be having a pool. And maid service. And grandparents close by. And oodles of cousins to fill up the playroom. What’s in your dream house?

Fall questions and answers

Some questionnaire I read on a blog, and I thought it had some fun ideas, since I’m not quite sure what else to blog about right now! 1. I have been looking for some simple but interesting Halloween crafts/decorations, what is your favourite one to do with your children? please include a link if you have one. I haven’t been too great about doing crafts lately, since it seems like we have so little time left over after life is finished.  But I plan on remedying that!  I do love Family Fun for their craft ideas.  They actually turn out like the pictures, and kids can really do them, unlike so many other “kid” crafts.  Here are some we plan on doing to get ready for Thanksgiving: (but for fall, not for Canada)     2. What is your favorite way to spend a rainy day with your children? Without my kids, it’s easy—in bed with a book.  Or in a hot bath with a book.  Or curled on the couch with a book.  With kids—cuddling and watching a movie.  I’m also trying to embrace the seasons, so I think we’d also be sipping hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows.  But not on the couch.  That’s a recipe for disaster. 3. What is your favourite fall food?  Hot soups.  I LOVE a good tomato soup (I suggest this recipe for anyone looking for one!) with fresh crusty bread.  The best tomato soup I’ve ever had was in a little cafe by Windsor Castle.  It was SOOOO delicious.  Side note: Isn’t it funny how sometimes a place can be defined completely by the food you ate there?  At Windsor, it was the tomato soup.  In Boston, I ate the most amazing pastrami sandwich in the world.  It still makes my mouth water thinking about it.  Savannah had the best fudge I’ve tasted.  At Staten Island, I ate the WORST steak sandwich I’ve ever had in my life.  Apparently food means a lot to me. And I love pumpkin everything.  These Pumpkin Apple Struesel muffins are amazing! 4. What is your current favourite read aloud book? We finished Matilda not too long ago.  Reading Roald Dahl out loud is a blast.  Some of the words are just so much more hilarious when you hear them spoken. 5. What is your favourite novel?  That’s like asking me to choose a favorite child.  Not a fair question.  But I’ll throw out a series for you: I love the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.  I’ve read them twice (all 12 volumes!) and I could read them again.  My advice: if you get bogged down in the middle books (particularly 8 and 9) just read the synopsis online and go to 10.  Don’t give up!  Book 13 is being released this week for the very few of you that care (Ashley!).  I may have to preorder it.  I’m lame like that. 6. What book from your childhood do you remember the most, and why? Anne of Green Gables.  I have no idea how many times I’ve read that book.  I want to be Anne and live at the turn of the century and wear puffed sleeves and write on a slate and bake cakes for company and wander forever in the woods and memorize The Lady of Shalott.  I usually go on to finish the series (at least through Anne’s House of Dreams) because every girl loves a good love story. 7. What type of music do you enjoy the most?  Please include examples! I love musicals, especially when I can belt them out.  Wicked is one of my favorites.  It’s just so singable.  Little secret: I’m also a huge ABBA fan.  Betcha didn’t know that! 8. What subject do you find most challenging (to teach or to learn)? I never had a problem with math until calculus.  There I met my Waterloo. 9. What is your favorite hot drink?  Bonus points for including the recipe! As mentioned above, hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows.  I love nearly all the Stephen’s varieties, but the Mexican hot chocolate is my favorite.

Some things I’m loving right now

Peonies. If this flower were a dress, it would be by Carolina Herrera. Classic, feminine, and gorgeous. Grace Kelly. If I could come back to life as a different person, I think it would be her. We watched Rear Window last night, and I think I spent more time drooling over her dresses than I did watching the movie. Ginger Mentha Body Lotion. Aaron got me this for Christmas, and I melt away every time I put it on. I’m a firm believer that every girl should own a lotion she truly LOVES. It makes everything so much nicer. Basil. Is there another herb that smells and tastes so delicious? I just planted four plants in our garden (my seeds never sprouted when our sprinkler system died for a few weeks), and I rub them every time I walk past. I can’t wait to do a grilled margherita pizza this summer with fresh basil and tomatoes! Front porches with swings. Oh, and front porches overlooking the sea are particularly charming. Hoop earrings. They can make you look pulled together in any outfit, especially when paired with oversized sunglasses. No makeup needed! I’m in mourning since BOTH of my pairs are now broken. Guess who’s going shopping! Albuquerque Botanical Gardens. We go to the Aquarium for the kids, the Botanical Gardens for Mom. I could spend hours looking at the different plantings. If you go right now and look at the garden in front of the farmhouse, that’s how I want my front yard to look. Drifts of penstemons and California poppies, half barrel container plantings, informal paths…I came back with so many ideas! This girl. She’s going through a stinkin’ adorable phase right now. She’s starting to speak quite a lot, and she has the best nature. I just love being around her and don’t want her to grow any older!

Things I Love: The Mouse

Say what you will about Disney, but I have never had anything but fabulous experiences when involved with them. Case in point: the Disney Movie Club. After we had two kids, we began talking about building up our Disney movie collection. The problem was that they're just so darn expensive! The new ones are rarely on sale outside of the first week after release, and even the old ones are still fairly pricey compared to other DVDs. For example, a newer, more popular Disney movie at Costco will cost $19. An older movie will run about $13. So for someone hoping to build up a little collection for the kids to choose from, it was simply too pricey. Then one day I received an offer in the mail to join the Disney Movie Club. It seemed a bit too good to be true, so I researched extensively and found almost exclusively positive reviews. So I decided to give it a shot. Two years later, I've amassed quite the collection at a fraction of the cost and I am thoroughly pleased. So here's how the math works out. Your initial offer includes 5 movies for $5 with free shipping if you include your credit card. If you accept this offer, you are on the hook to purchase 4 more movies at full price over the course of a two year period. However, you are offered two bonus movies in your initial order: one for $11.95 and one for $8.95. The $11.95 movie counts towards your commitment, which leaves you to purchase 3 more full price movies. This is what your out of pocket spending looks like so far: 5 movies: $5.00 Bonus #1: $11.94 Bonus #2: $8.95 Shipping: Free Total cost: $25.90 for 7 movies. Ah, you say, now here's the catch. You now have to pay FULL PRICE for the other 3 movies. That's where they'll get you. Not really. If you don't take advantage of any special offers (which is a big if, but we'll pretend), each movie is usually $21.95 with $3.95 shipping. So here's what the rest of the math looks like: Commitment #1: $21.95 with $3.95 shipping Commitment #2: $21.95 with $3.95 shipping Commitment #3: $21.95 with $3.95 shipping Total for commitment movies: $77.70 So your total cost up to the point when you're able to cancel: $103.60 Total cost per movie: $10.36 GREAT!!!! But it gets even better. They're constantly offering deals like, "Buy one, get all others 50% off!" or "Special combo price when you buy these two movies and free shipping on your entire order!" So your cost per movie could be even lower. And once you fulfill your membership, you become a VIP member and get "Buy one, get all others 60% off." Pretty sweet. You can choose Blu-rays as well (but not for the initial super cheap movies). It's slightly more, but not ridiculously so. You do have to know that you will be responding to movies about every 4 weeks. If you do not respond, you're automatically sent the movie. But they make it really easy to respond. You get an email when your feature selection is available, you click on the link and sign in, and then you decline. They then send a decline confirmation. Easy. You can also decline by phone or mail. But what happens if something goes wrong and you get a movie you thought you declined? This happened to me today. I just called up the number (which is on all information you're sent by DMC), told the operator that something must have happened because I got a movie I thought I declined and that we already owned. He cheerfully told me that he was sorry and that he would send me a prepaid postage label this week. As soon as they got the movie, they would credit the account. It took about 3 minutes start to finish. Talk about good customer service. So here's the breakdown: Pros: Cheap Disney movies, including new releases Only a 3 movie commitment Excellent customer service Cons: Have to constantly decline offers if you don't want to be surprised in the mail If this seems like this would be good for your family (and it's been great for ours), let me know. I can send you a referral (the offer for free movies is usually better if you've been referred) and then I'll also get a free movie. No pressure at all, though! Do you guys have any questions? I've been through most scenarios, so I'm sure I could help you out.