a few words about kids

The other day I was reading one of my favorite blogs, 71 toes.  I have been following this blog for a couple of years and I feel like I know Shawni and her 5 adorable kids.  Her blog is a recording of her day to day life.

I recently read a post about a motherhood from a retreat she went on.  She jotted down some key points from one of the speakers, and these points struck a chord with me.  Sometimes we see or hear things when we need to.  I felt like these words jumped out to me as a reminder.  The universe is amazing in the way it presents wisdom into our lives at the times when we need to hear it.  I wanted to share these words of wisdom for all you moms and dads out there, as I believe if it hit home with me then it might hit home with you as well.  Shawni's notes are in black and my comments are noted in green.  

Here they are:

• Children value themselves to the degree they feel valued.

• Of course we love our children and we assume they know that.  But there is a difference between being loved and feeling loved.  So true!

• You are a psychological mirror that your children use to build their identity.

• Be aware of giving technology more attention than we give our children.  Do our eyes light up when our children enter a room?  They should!  This one struck a chord with me as I am usually on the computer when Eli gets up in the morning (Zoe is still sleeping).  Sometimes I am frantically trying to get a post out and on those days I just give him a quick hug as I am typing away on the computer.  I was never really a computer person and since I have started blogging, I'm becoming more attached to the computer, and I'm not sure I like that.  I love blogging, but I also want to "be there and be present" with my kids more.  So, I have decided to blog when they are at school, before they get up, and after they go to sleep.  I don't want them to think the computer is more important then my time with them. 

• Sometimes as mothers we habitually attend to what is missing or what is wrong instead of building up the good stuff.  The speaker told a story of when she got so frustrated with her son for forgetting things and missing the bus.  She dropped him off at the school with all the weight of her lecture weighing him down.  As she was about to take off, her younger son rolled down the window and called out to his older brother: "I love you!"  Have you had days like this when you are frantically racing around trying to get the kids off to school.  You're cranky because they are slow to get going or are forgetting/losing things?  I have had mornings like this and I feel terrible after as I've sent my kids off to school feeling sad or angry.  That's really not a great way to start the day.  We have to sometimes remember that these are kids and they have only been on this earth for 12 or 7 years in my case.  We've had 40 years (in my case) to learn these things, lets give them a break and ease up a bit.  They are more important than the things they are losing or being late for, right?  

• Kids are such a work in progress...we should put ourselves in their shoes.  So true!  They are kids, and they're learning so much at all times.  Remember, they need time to play and just be kids.  Let's not rush them to be adults or over extend them so that they never know what "down time" is.  Kids need to get bored in order to get creative.  If they never sit and get quiet with themselves, then how are they going to learn about themselves.  My kids had plenty of downtime this summer, and there was plenty of complaining of being bored in the beginning, but by the end of the summer, they were following their bliss and creating and playing.  They figured it out!

• Find the goodness in each child and build that up.  Reinforce the good parts of the day and how they made you feel.  We all need positive feedback, right?  WOW, I so get this.  I love when I get a compliment and hear psotive feedback.  Think about how wonderful we feel when someone says a kind word, now think about how great our kids feel when their parent says something nice.  We mean the world to our kids, and hearing something nice with a smile attached can make all the difference in the world.  

• Compliment kids in front of the other kids...pray about how grateful you are for them with them at your side. This part comes naturally to me, and I know how much it means for kids to hear praise from other adults besides their parents. Some of my greatest compliments and the ones that really motivated me came from parents of my friends and from my teachers.  

• Undivided attention with each child is so important!  I so try and do this often.  I love the time I get with both Zoe, and Eli and I know it makes a difference to them.  Not having to compete with the other sibling and talk all they want about whatever they want and for however long, makes a HUGE difference in their day.  

• We are all encumbered and frazzled by so many things.  We need to be sure that we acknowledge that those sweet children are so much more important than a phone call, email, blog post, etc.  YES, YES, YES.  This is a great reminder.  We as parents in this technology driven society need to be reminded of this.  

Anyway, these words inspired me and I feel like they might inspire you as well.  

Kid's first day of school

Today is a bit bittersweet as the kids started school.  This summer totally flew by.  I'm sure all parents out there all say the same thing, but time goes too quickly for me at times. I wish I could slow it down so that each year was really like 10 years.  Wouldn’t that be great?  We had such a great lazy summer just relaxing and sleeping in, that I'm a bit sad to get back to the chaotic routine that the school year brings.  I know that once I get in the swing of things, it will all be good and fun.

Zoe starts 7th grade this year!  I have a 7^th grader!  I still can't get over that!  7th grade seems so grown up and its only 2 years away from high school.  Ok, so not ready for that. Zoe is super excited to start school, like over the top excited!  She’s totally like me in the sense that she was so organized (well a bit over organized) for day one.  She had her backpack filled to the brim with everything she could possibly need, and the cutest part, is that she was going over her checklist out loud this morning, just like I do before a trip.  I stopped and listened to her as she was reciting everything she needed, and laughed to myself because she picked up that habit from me.  The kid’s in her grade received their schedules yesterday, so friends were calling all day checking to see if they were in the same classes. It was so energizing and brought back happy memories for me. She is excited that she got a ton of classes with her friends and a great schedule overall.  

Eli starts 2nd grade this year. I honestly can't believe that as well. He got a male teacher named, Mr. Lescoe, and he was a bit nervous about it, as he has never had a male teacher before.  Zoe and I reminded him that some of our favorite teachers were male teachers, so that helped him a bit.  I think he equates a male teacher with being strict or something.  He is psyched that he is yet again with his best buddy, Oliver, (3 years in a row) so that helped him get a bit more excited.  He is also psyched that he finally gets his own desk with his very own supply kit!  That brought a smile to his face as we entered the classroom this morning. The simple things in life, right?  I tried to get a photo of him in front of his desk, but he was not going for it. I will try and get a photo when I pick him up today.  

Well, that’s all for now.  I'm sorry I haven’t posted on this blog for sometime. I’ve been super busy with my cooking blog, but plan on visiting and posting here more often with updates and thoughts.  Ok, I'm off to make the kid's favorite brownies for the first day of school celebration, and get my life and house organized again!

Halloween wrap up..

Halloween did not go entirely as expected, but really, what Holiday does?

The kids went off to school, Zoe as a vampire and Eli as Harry Potter.

I sadly did not get a picture of them, as it was a hectic morning.

I stopped by Eli's class party to take some picture and there no pictures to be taken as he and every other boy in his class had their costumes off.  I mean they can't play tetherball with their costumes on, duhhh.

Eli came home from school and threw up after consuming boatloads of candy and cookies at his class party.  Good times!

He finally admitted to us at breakfast today how much he actually consumed at the party. Yuck!  

Zoe decided that she was not feeling the vampire vibe anymore, so we quickly hit my closet and dressed her up as an 80's chick.  The whole costume took about 15 minutes to put together.  It's surprising or should I say sad, how much stuff I had to choose from.

I fed the kids some chicken Parmesan and broccoli for dinner (I wanted to get some solid food in them before the candy consumption).

I dropped off Zoe to trick or treat with her friends in another neighborhood.  It was sad as it was the first year she trick or treated without us and in another neighborhood :(  She had a blast trick or treating with her peeps though and she came home with a shopping bag FULL of candy!   What are we going to do with it all?

Here is a picture of the kids before they headed out!

Even though Eli was a bit under the weather, he still put on a show.  He seems to think that Harry Potter makes crazy, mean faces when he casts his spells.  I think he is acting more like Voldermort than Harry.

I had to get some close ups.  I told him to make a serene Harry face and he tried, but this is how he ended up.  He just can't keep a straight face.  He really wanted to be evil Harry! 

Eli and I went trick or treating with some friends while John manned the house and the candy bowl.  We didn't get to far as Eli was feeling tired and a bit under the weather.  I felt bad for him as Halloween to him is like Christmas.  I mean he didn't even eat one piece of candy last night and he was sound asleep by 8:00.  But, he made up for it today and got his candy fill :)

I love Halloween but I am glad its over.  It's a lot of work and a lot of candy!  Now, where to deposit all this candy.....

Pumpkin fun & Halloween through the years...

Zoe's 6th grade class got to carve pumpkins at school yesterday.  It's a 6th grade tradition.  The school provides all the pumpkins and carving utensils.  I love her pumpkin because it's silly and fun!    This weekend will be Eli's turn to carve his pumpkin.  I can't wait to dig out the seeds so we can roast them up.  Pumpkin seeds are the best snack!  I will post a picture of his pumpkin later!


Here are some photos of the kid's Halloween costumes through the years. 

This is the first costume I have a digital picture of.  Zoe was an adorable pumpkin her first Halloween and a monkey her 2nd Halloween.  Once I figure out how to scan photos, I will post the pictures.  She was so adorable!  This is Zoe and her friend Ellie!





Zoe with her black cat!  Eli was still in Guatemala in the 2 above photos :(





Here he is celebrating his first Halloween with us :)   He did not really want to put a costume on, so all we could get on was the bear hat.  He does look adorable!  Zoe was not to be messed with!  Girl power!

This is Zoe rocking it as Cleopatra with an attitude! You go girl!  She is posing with a neighbor friend!  Eli was not getting into a costume again this year.  He took off anything we put on him as costumes freaked him out!





Zoe above as a soccer dog.  We could not find any cute dog costumes for kids so we found a mask and created this.  She was so happy to be a dog that she did not care!  Eli was a pirate for his pre-schoool party and then decided to be a cowboy on Halloween night.  Talk about a huge leap from last year when he would not even put one costume on.  He found his inner Halloween spirit!

Zoe as yet another dog!  Can you tell that she loves dogs?  Zoe and her friends decided to be Dalmatian puppies together and we had a costume making party.  So cute!  3rd grade, love the innocence! Eli was Buzz Lightyear here!

Surprise, Surprise, Zoe is yet another dog, but a Guide Dog this time.  We visited the Guide Dogs of Marin for girl scouts so that is where we came up with this costume.  I love it as it's so original, and so Zoe!  Eli was into Star Wars at this point, so he was Obi Wan.  He still dresses up in this costume and he still loves Star Wars!

 Zoe was a "peace" girl from the 60's!  Peace out!  Eli was an astronaut.  Isn't that costume the bomb?  It was passed down to us from a friend and we passed it on to another friend this year!  


I will post this photos of  their costumes next week.   Zoe is going to be a vampire and Eli is going to be Harry Potter!

Have a great weekend!

Halloween Decorating and getting Booed?

We love Halloween at our house.  We get so excited to decorate the front porch that we always start on the first day of October, but this year the kids had off September 30th so we started a day early ;)  I can safely say we were the first house in the neighborhood to put up our Halloween decorations.  I think I like decorating for Halloween so much because the decorations look good with our house's color scheme.  I mean we have a brown-shingled house with a mango door.  It speaks Halloween!

We try not to be too scary with our decorations because we don't want to scare away any little kids (though Eli did talk me into getting 2 grave stones this year).

Some might say this big tarantula spider is scary!

But not these cute little guys!  

This is our creepy Halloween tree.  Eli always decorates it first and then Zoe comes in and changes it!  

So the other night we got booed!

Have any of you gotten booed before?  It's a cute Halloween tradition over here in our hood.  Someone basically rings your doorbell, drops off a bag with 2 notes attached and goodies inside, and runs before you can open the door (kind of like ding dong ditch).  The kids love it and love the pre-Halloween candy inside!

You then have to hang the above ghost on your front porch so everyone knows you got booed and your house is now off limits to any future boo's.  The other requirement is that you have to go out and boo two other people's house within 24 hours.  Well, my kids did not want to wait 24 hours, they wanted to go then and there.  So we made some copies and filled some bags and then set out to boo 2 neighborhood friends.

See the ghost hanging in our window?  One step down, the other to go!

Here are the kids with their boo bag heading over to hit their friend's house.  Eli looks a bit scared here!  

And they're off; they are going in slow motion here so I can capture them on camera!  Eli is still looking a bit nervous wouldn't  you say?

They arrive at home after hitting the first house and they are all smiles.  Eli told me, "Mom, I know I got busted, I know the mom saw me."

Zoe is heading inside, giving me a thumbs up for a successful and fun night!