Mom Confessions

I should not be allowing this:

And I definitely should not be encouraging this, for obvious reasons:

But, hey, at least we have fun at our house, right? (That is until someone gets hurt.)

S is for Smoothie

One of the cool things about being out on my own, married, and in control of my own life is being able to realize some of my childhood dreams about what I wanted my home to be like when I "grew up." And in spite of what strangers think when they see my scrawny frame pushing two kids in a shopping cart at Wal-Mart, yes, I am grown-up, and yes they are BOTH my children. Sometimes as a kid I would think about what life would be like when I could stock my own kitchen and be completely in charge of what foods were in it. I imagined a salsa garden in my backyard, citrus trees aplenty, a winter of fresh-squeezed juice and a summer of smoothies--right there besides my awesome husband and lots of boys who get dirty--it was a vision of Heaven on Earth for sure. I am getting closer to realizing that utopia, with a great husband and two cute and dirty boys, and although we buy instead of grow our own fruit and veggies for now, smoothies are often found in contented little tummies around here. This week I bought a bunch of fruit for great prices, cut them up and froze them. Seeing the bags of frozen fruit in my freezer makes me happy. (In case you need a tip, freeze the cut fruit on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper, once frozen, transfer to freezer bags.) And of course every little person loves a good smoothie.

Here is a rough recipe of today's creation:

1 cup apple juice

1/2 or more cup vanilla yogurt

handful each: frozen peaches, mangoes, pineapple

Tablespoon O.J. concentrate

Blend together and add more apple juice or water till it blends easily. I love berries but today I felt like breaking the mold and making a smoothie without them--I'm glad I did, it was sure tasty and refreshing.

Sales

In case anyone's interested, my sis alerted me to this one.:
Alberton's has lots of stuff on sale for $1 and $1.50 each if you buy eight. Then, you can find coupons for quite a few of these items on the Box Tops for Education website. This makes some items super cheap: Fruity cheerios for 75 cents, Gogurt $1, Cookie mix 50 cents, etc. Albertson's sale good til Tuesday and only one reward :( (after you buy 8 items) per customer. Maybe I'll have to squeeze in two trips in the next couple of days.

Oh, Rebellious Me

Maybe it's a bit of a surprise to some that know me, but I am a rebel. It's true. There is something within me that feels like I have to do things differently than those around me. This can be a good thing or a bad thing--It depends on what everyone else is doing. Here is some of my rebelliousness explained:



1. I don't go to sales parties. I consider myself a pretty social person, so it's definitely not shying away from the social scene that keeps me out of your house if you are having one of these parties. Then why have I boycotted every one I have been invited to in at least the last three or four years? It's because I'm cheap, okay? Or, let's use the word frugal. And yes, that link will take you to an article I wrote a few years ago. If you read it, please understand I was just trying to be funny, I don't know if it worked, but I was definitely not trying to be insulting. Someday I will have all the money in the world and I will buy all the candles, spatulas, and/or ankle bracelets that my heart desires. But likely, my heart will still only desire two or three candles and/or spatulas, and ankle bracelets just aren't my style. So, don't feel like you need to cross me off your invite list unless you are mailing the invites and you want to save on postage. It's really out of courtesy that I don't show up to your party. There's too much pressure. If I don't want to spend the money, I am not going to come and eat your food. I still love you. And please keep inviting me if you'd like. It is nice to feel the love, to know that I am a close enough friend that you want my money. Sorry, that last line was a joke. If I keep getting the invites, I know someday I will break the cycle and show up. Will it be to your party?



2. I have not read (and don't plan on reading) Twilight. I don't plan on going into detail with this one because I do not think I could tread lightly enough on this subject to not hurt the feelings of the Twilight fans. It all started with not wanting to follow the crowd. And, I thought I was all alone. From a previous post I have discovered that there are others like me. Bless them. If you too are not reading Twilight, I would love to talk with you about it sometime. But not here. Too many people are watching.

3. I am not a movie buff. It's nearly pointless to ask me anymore if I have seen this or that movie, especially if it has come out within the last year. I just haven't. I can't even remember the last time Mark and I went to a movie theater, I know it was before we moved, and it likely was a discount theater. Besides, it's only once or twice a year that a movie comes out that gets me excited to see it. Even then, we usually don't see it until it is nearly gone from the cheapy theaters. We do have plans to see Prince Caspian this weekend. I hate to say this, but I am getting just a little tired of people gasping for their breath when I tell them I haven't seen whichever particular movie they are asking about. Please don't let this make you self-conscious around me, it's not you...it's me.

On a similar note, my friend Tiffany and I made a pact in our first years of college to not see PG-13 movies and since then--a good 5 or 6 years ago--I could probably count on one hand the number that I've seen: Lord of the Rings (not sure how many of these were PG-13), Harry Potter, and some strange but funny one my sisters-in-law brought over, The Sasquatch Gang, which must really have been mis-rated. You see, it's easy to be picky about movies when you only see one a month.

4. I am not putting my child in preschool. This may be my most deviant move yet. I worried and worried about what to do with Dallin for preschool and the more I read the more I realized that it was silly to worry. I realized again what I knew to be true: it doesn't matter in the long run whether your child goes to preschool or not. Whatever my child doesn't get from preschool, whether it is social experience, learning to read, or germs, he will catch up with when he does get to school. There is so much pressure to do the right thing with your child and to get them started so early, and you know what? It's not necessary.

I am saying the pressure is what is not necessary, because if as a parent you think that preschool is the right thing for child then that is great. Every parent will make different decisions for their child, and many parents realize that preschool can provide their child with some benefits. I am sure Dallin would benefit from preschool also, but we chose to go a different route. This is what we are doing instead:

• "Learning Time" each weekday after Adam goes down for nap. This can last from 5 minutes to 30 minutes depending on the day. We go over counting and letters and sometimes just do games or crafts.
• Going on outings to the library, museums, etc
• Allocating money which would have gone to preschool to other activities like getting a museum membership, signing Dallin up for various classes to provide some social opportunities for him, etc

So in the end, I think we will get basically what a preschool has to offer, just in a more piecemeal fashion.

5. I signed my son up for dance. Yes, and he is the only boy in his class. Woah. Am I strange or what? Since Dallin isn't doing preschool we wanted him to have some opportunities to interact with other kids and follow directions, etc. The thought of him on a soccer team, running around frantically trying to kick a ball that 10 other kids are hovering around did not sound very productive to me at this age in his life. I mean, he does plenty of running and kicking as it is, and four-year-olds don't quite get the idea to "work as a team." So dance is a way for him to use his active self in a more controlled, productive way. He has to follow instructions. He has to coordinate the movements of his body. Both things that are beneficial to learn.

One of the other reasons Dallin is taking a dance class is because I want him to be a well-rounded man. I don't want him to be the kind of guy that is too "manly" to do certain things like change babies diapers or watch a romantic movie with his wife or dance with her when she wants to dance. I want my kids to be open to every good experience that life has to offer.

If you've stayed reading this for this long, maybe you'll be up for reading just a tidge more. I hope I haven't made anyone defensive of their own decisions. That's not the point--these are just the weird things that I do and they don't have a lot to do with anyone else. I love it that we all have the opportunity to make our own choices for ourselves and our children. But certainly, there are certain things about you that are rebellious, even a little? I'd love to know. Come on, spill it.

Other people's blogs

Though I am not quite up there with the true blogaholics, I have done my share of blog-hopping. I find myself addicting to checking out who has posted something new. There are a few blogs that I find myself checking time and time again. What's wrong with this? Well, it's fine if they are friends or family members' blogs, but sometimes they are total strangers. And, I'm not just talking about total strangers whose blogs appeal to the public with titles like "Kooking for Kids" or "I ALSO Like to Make and Sell Baby Stuff." I am talking about people's personal blogs about themselves and their family. Why am I interested in other people's lives like this? Sometimes it is because someone is simply great at writing and their blog is entertaining to read. And sometimes, or at least in the case of two or three of these blogs that I secretly spy on, it is because That Girl is so much cooler than me. She wears clothes in colors that I would never feel cool enough to wear, she gives her children names that disregard phonics, and she makes even the dummest things look awe-inspiringly awesome by the pictures she takes with her fancy camera.

Online Yard Sale

My friend Britta is moving and has some things listed on a blog here. She has great taste and has some good stuff for sale. Check it out.

Advice for a mom of a four-year-old

Topic #1: Kindergarten
All right friends, I have some questions about school choice and I need you to be honest with me. Dallin is nearly four and so now it's time for us to start thinking about where we want to take him to school. The strange part is, I can't get over the fact that there is now a choice in where to send him to kindergarten. I mean, there have always been private schools and a few charter schools, but 10 and 20 years ago when I was in school most parents didn't sit down and choose where to send their child. It was pretty obvious that the vast majority of kids would go to the neighborhood public school. Of course there were a few parents that would send their children to other schools, but as a kid--no offense--I thought those were just the overprotective parents whose children ended up not being able to interact with the rest of society. Most of the kids we go to church with don't go to the neighborhood public school, generally they go to one of the Franklin schools or a charter school.
How can a parent decide?
Especially if the parent is still dragging his/her feet in bitter disappointment that parents are taking their kids out of the neighborhood public schools?

We always thought our kids would go to public schools but now we are not so sure. It is not as much about the difference in the education that would lead us to sending our son to somewhere other than the neighborhood school, more like we want him to be around good kids, whose parents care about what they are learning and who aren't raising heck in the classroom distracting the other kids from learning. So what's a parent to do? Go with the public school on principle because I don't want be a part of public schools going downhill? Or admit that I am being one of the protective parents whose children are too good for the public school?

Topic #2: Preschool
Seems like everyone is signing their kids up for preschool these days. Does it really make a difference or is just something to keep the kid busy? Dallin is coming up on four and we could have put him in preschool last year if we wanted to. Frankly, the thought never even crossed my mind. Maybe I am just reluctant to admit that my little boy is old enough for school. Maybe it's just that there is not much point in putting a 3-year-old in preschool. I am not saying one way or the other, just laying the cards on the table. You tell me. Some of you have older kids, and some of you just have a stronger opinion than I do. Great. Let me know what you have to say. I know that these can even be controversial topics, but say what's on your mind, okay?