Have you heard of timehop? Of course you have, I'm late to the train. If by some chance you are later than me, I'll explain. timehop is an app that pulls data from all your social media accounts and everyday it sends you a little recap of your life on this day. I love timehop. Love it.
I mean how stinkin' fun is it to see the progression every morning. It's like a picture growth chart right on my tiny magic box every day.
But then of course I start to wonder. Is it good or am I obsessed? I mean is it normal to know/remember every detail of your life.
Have you ben watching Black Mirror? It's a British show about the negative effects of technology on our lives. It is very dark and very extreme. At first when you watch an episode it feels absurd, they've obviously distorted technology so much and made it into something awful, we would never let that happen. Would we?
In one episode, set in the not so distant future, everyone has memory implants. It's a tiny chip, called a grain, that holds everything in your life, every moment. Everything you do and say and see is there to review and relive. I won't spoil it for you, but needless to say this power has a costly effect on the people's relationships and emotional health. It was ridiculous to watch, but are we far from that.
Throwback Thursday, timehop, facebook archives....our last 8-10 years are all "backed up" for reviewing and reliving. Is that a good thing?
Well, I believe yes and no. Again, I LOVE timehop. I love pouring over every fat-cheeked picture of my girl from 3 years ago. I love that it reminds me to soak up time with her because it is most definitely flying by.
But, we are getting to a point where we hold on to too much information. We have access to too many memories, many of which aren't even our own.
The moral of my story, and my sermon to myself is, be selfish with your memories. Enjoy your life and your family and your friends. But guard your extra space, your heart and your emotions against being pulled into the constant flood of digital noise.
Again, preaching to myself. I struggle so much with this.
My goal- Stop spending your extra time reading everyone else's memories and make some of your own.
Now that Wesley is a fully formed functioning kid we have stepped up our bedtime reading choices. Here are our favorite things to go through in the evening, that is when we aren't skipping them because we've been out late (again!) and we have to go to bed right now or you are going to be so sleepy tomorrow!! I mean....that never happens.
Anyway, first up isn't really a book but it does promote thinking skills and great conversations. It's called Q&A a Day For Kids. It gives a prompt or question every night, and then the questions repeat for 3 years. For example on February 5th it might ask "When were you proud of yourself recently?" and then you answer that same question in 2014, 15 and 16 and watch how your child's answers change and mature.
We started this activity in March of 2013, so we are about to start round two and I am very excited to see how she processes the questions as a 5 year old. When we first started I really had to dig some nights for answers that made sense. But after a few weeks I figured out the random answers were way better and completely stopped leading her. By December she even started answering for herself!
So after sticking with it for 11 months I give this bedtime book a big two thumbs up! And it runs about $12 on Amazon.
Our next go to is the Jesus Storybook Bible. This is by far my favorite bible for kids. And maybe even adults. We have been through it twice now and I tear up almost every night. The way that Sally Lloyd-Jones breaks down the passages in such an understandable way, that always points to Jesus, it's just fantastic. No more cheesy Daniel in the Lion's Den picture books that paint him as the hero, when God did all the saving! No more kids bibles scaring them into thinking you have to be perfect for God to love you by just saying over and over again how to be good and obey.
(disclaimer: I have never seen a kids bible that directly says that, I'm just saying sometimes that's how kids feel about the bible, and grown ups too)
If you don't own this book I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is just a wonderful way for children to process a very complex text deeply and on their level. There are a ton of resources out there that pair with it as well, if you are looking for more with an older child. It runs around $10 on Amazon.
My next favorite story we are reading a lot of right now is called Paper Bag Princess
For parents raising a little girl who is obsessed with all things princess, very much to our chagrin, this is the perfect book. Because when I say chagrin, I don't at all mean I don't love dress up, make believe, Disney, or girly girls. I don't like the superficial princess--- the one who has an attitude of entitlement or an idea that a Prince gives your life meaning. And I have to hand it to Disney, they have done a pretty great job flipping that stereotype lately with Princess and the Frog, Tangled and of course the end all be all Frozen! ( More on that one soon!)
So back to the book. I hate to ruin it for you, but **Spoiler Alert** the princess saves the day in this one. But that's not why I love it, because a lot of stories are doing that lately. I love it because not only does she save the Prince, she also exposes him for being superficial and entitled! When she gets to him, dirty, disheveled and left only wearing a paper bag he tells her to go fix herself up to look like a "real princess". To which she replies "Ronald, you look nice, your clothes are neat, your hair is fixed, you look like a "real prince"....but you are a bum." Love it!!
And FYI this story was published in 1980, so they were on it years before the princess craze!
It is $5 on Amazon, paperback, and I highly recommend it for girls and boys!
My last recommendation, for now, for children's story time is a set of cards my best friend Alexis got Wesley for Christmas. They are called Tell me A Story and there are actually several sets to chose from. We have the fairytale mix-ups set (because it has a princess card in it, duh!)
This is a great game with limitless possibilities for creativity. You just select a few pictures and then make up a story using those pictures for your child. It shows them they are allowed to create the story, which they need to be taught. They also start to notice sequencing and story structure- that all stories have a beginning, middle and end, which they will be expected to understand in Kindergarten.
After a few tries at it, pick cards for your child. Let them create a story for you. Wesley has never disappointed, she has come up with the most creative plot lines, I thought she would just regurgitate our stories or known stories for a while-- no way. She even does character voices, it is hilarious! In fact we all get so tickled some nights it actually turns into a bad bedtime habit because she can't calm down! Whoops...
These card sets run about $10 on....wait for it....Amazon.
These are the things we are reading/doing to keep bedtime fun and creative.
What are your favorites? Anything calming...cause that's were we are lacking!
I leave you with what she actually does at bedtime, in case you thought from this post we picturesquely sat and read and grew smarter every evening.
Norfork Lake that is. This Labor day weekend, that's what we did. And it was Wesley and I's first time ever. For her that makes sense, being that she's 4 and we don't live near a lake. But for me it was a little bit of a bigger deal.
See I'm not the bravest of people. I don't do heights, planes, open water, falling, roller coasters, or roaches to name a few things that send me over the edge. So jumping off a boat into open water that you cannot see through....a murky 100ft abyss that possibly had roaches.....Ok maybe I didn't think there were roaches, but still.
But here's the other side of it. I don't enjoy being a fearful person. I don't choose to lose control of the volume of my voice when I fly somewhere. I don't like having heart palpitations when swimming a few extra feet out at the beach. And therefore I certainly don't want Wee to get that from me. I want her to be safe, but not anxious. Anxiety is no fun.
And so I vowed to try new things at the lake and not be {openly} fearful.
Saturday morning we loaded up the boat and headed out. See how excited I am.
I actually did really enjoy being in the boat. Norfork Lake and the surrounding forrest and mountains are gorgeous. I could lay on the boat all day long. But about 30 mins in, the boat stopped and we dropped anchor and it was time to jump in. Moment of truth. The kids jumped right in. My sweet angel baby girl was in deep water without a care in the world.
And that was what inspired me to jump. Not a conscious choice to just "stop being scared" which is what my husband wants me to do all the time. Nope, I just transferred my fear. I was more afraid of having my 4 year old in the water without me, then me being in the water. And so I jumped.
The day continued. Everyone swam, and tubed and lived. And the weekend was a success. I am currently scouring websites for cabin deals, and craigslist for boats. So I say, "go jump in a lake!" You just may have the time of your life.
What did you do for Labor Day? Have you ever tried something you were terrified of, just to fall in love with it? What will you do for your kids even though you hate it?
Well it the day finally came. Wesley has started big school! Granted, she is in the preK room, so I tried not to get too sentimental because it's not kindergarten yet.... but it's still school. She is at my school this year and we have made a whole week. Which is a miracle, let me tell ya! I barely make it out the door with all I need everyday, and now there's two of us! Matt may have driven to Bartlett twice this week, already, to bring things for us. Thank goodness we have the most organized and patient husband/daddy ever!
Here are a few shots from our first day as a Singerella Sea Turtle (Class mascot).
First time she has ever been up and dressed by 6:50am!
Already sick of pictures and mommy just started.
Showing off her sea turtle necklace from Gamma.
Daddy drove her and walked her in the first day.
The eyes say make it stop people.
We're here!
Looking for our name.
Already busy, no tears, no big deal.
Schools out! The backpack is bigger than she is!
One more grin for Mom!
When we got home we realized the back to school fairy had visited! You know she only comes on the first day of school each year. The picture is really blurry because someone was just too excited to play with her princess present, and she was also D-O-N-E complying with the photographer.
How were your first days back? Everyone liking their new schools/teachers?
So this happened back on June 11th, so I'm officially a month behind on blogging. But I still wanted to post about it for our memories.
Wesley started begging for a haircut at the beginning of June but as someone that is way too emotionally attached to her hair, I kept putting her off. I love her long hair. And I know the feeling when you want a change but then when it's all gone your sad and I didn't want to deal with that for her. But she persisted. And finally I said yes.
I mean if we were going to do it this was the best possible time, before it got really hot, before we went to the beach and in time for it to grow back for school pictures in the fall if it was awful (J/K, kinda).
So here she is getting ready for the big cut at Mrs. Jen's!
First cut! She looks like she regrets it already, but I swear she was never sad for a moment. We were just so serious about her being still I think she got nervous.
All done! That is one excited little girl, who LOVED her haircut immediately.
Have to admit, when she woke up the next morning and it perfectly feel into place with now tangle battles, Mommy started to love it too!
A couple of weeks ago my sweet Penguin graduated from daycare! This is exciting on so many levels not least of which is the payment that stops coming out the first of every month.
I will admit I got a bit emotional the last day I picked her up. It was sad to think I would never bring her in to the place she had been for 3 1/2 years. I love Idlewild Children's Center. They have been excellent for us and so loving to my sweet girl. So yeah, I got a little verklempt.
You already know we are big Grizzlies fans. And you are also aware we have the prissiest little girly girl ever. Well, sometimes being a sports fan and a princess is hard. In a world of oversized t-shirts and jerseys sometimes you just need a good ruffle, am I right? So Mommy intervened.
I started with an XL Grizzlies playoff shirt from last season that a sweet friend donated to the cause.
Then I sliced off the sleeves. (sorry I forgot to do step by step pictures, but you can find this idea on Pinterest OR just picture it in your head, it really is too easy to do.)
Then I cut a straight line across the top directly below the neck hole.
Then I hemmed the arm holes and sewed them together a bit to make the opening smaller. I folded the top over and sewed straight across to make two columns to feed the ribbon through that became her straps.
I also got a coordinating piece of Grizzlies blue fabric and made a ruffle that I added around the bottom
And, Ta-Da!
Look how happy she is, the picture is blurry because she wouldn't stop twirling in it!
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