"Come on, I've been waiting for you for hours. Even months."
-Amanda, waiting for me to come help her get her pajamas on.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Creative Genius?
Apparently Amanda has mad art skillz. That means she's really, really good. Well, according to one of her teachers anyway. I wouldn't know. All she draws at home are pictures of unicorns. Flying unicorns, not flying unicorns, unicorns standing under a rainbow, but there is always a unicorn. The only reason I know what they are is because she draws them ALL THE TIME, not because they are a perfect depiction of a unicorn. But at school they make her draw other things, so I guess they get to see more of what she can do. There are some artists on my mom's side of the family, so I guess it's a possibility, but I'm not so sure.
I picked her up at school today and Amanda was all excited to give me this:
It's cute, but it looks like your run of the mill pre-school picture to me. Something that I will throw away sooner than later. But her teacher starts telling me how amazing it is, all the while Amanda is dancing and singing on the carpet in her own little "artistic" world, because she didn't leave any white space and the lines are perfect and every section is a different color and she takes so much time and care to color everything. Huh? So this isn't what everybody else's whale looks like? I guess not.
Her teachers told me the same thing last year. That they would always show her art as an example to the class and how they would always put hers in the center of the board because it was so good. I don't see it. It honestly looks all the same to me. But, her teacher told me today that she has worked at that school for eight years and Amanda is one of the best artists to come out of there and that I need to hone her artistic abilities. Before I had a chance to even think she was pulling my leg her other teacher said the first teacher rarely gives compliments like that and pretty much tells it like she sees it so if she says Amanda is amazing than she is. Huh again.
I hope nobody comes back to me years from now and asks me for her pre-school art so they can say this is where it all started, because most of it's going to the recycling plant or the dump. I just can't keep it all and I don't care that much. But maybe I'll start a folder on the computer and take pictures of it just in case.
I picked her up at school today and Amanda was all excited to give me this:
It's cute, but it looks like your run of the mill pre-school picture to me. Something that I will throw away sooner than later. But her teacher starts telling me how amazing it is, all the while Amanda is dancing and singing on the carpet in her own little "artistic" world, because she didn't leave any white space and the lines are perfect and every section is a different color and she takes so much time and care to color everything. Huh? So this isn't what everybody else's whale looks like? I guess not.
Her teachers told me the same thing last year. That they would always show her art as an example to the class and how they would always put hers in the center of the board because it was so good. I don't see it. It honestly looks all the same to me. But, her teacher told me today that she has worked at that school for eight years and Amanda is one of the best artists to come out of there and that I need to hone her artistic abilities. Before I had a chance to even think she was pulling my leg her other teacher said the first teacher rarely gives compliments like that and pretty much tells it like she sees it so if she says Amanda is amazing than she is. Huh again.
I hope nobody comes back to me years from now and asks me for her pre-school art so they can say this is where it all started, because most of it's going to the recycling plant or the dump. I just can't keep it all and I don't care that much. But maybe I'll start a folder on the computer and take pictures of it just in case.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Family Game Night
My friend, Renee, posted about her kids having a game night with their grandparents. They were playing the game of Life and instead of the spinner they were using the iPad. They were still using the game board, just had the addition of the iPad which she thought was a little strange, yet doable, since they were still sitting and playing a game together. At our house we do it a little differently.
First of all, it's challenging to find a game that the whole family can play together when the youngest child can basically only play Chutes and Ladders or Candy Land and the oldest child can play games like Risk. Second, the girls love to get silly and crazy when playing games which makes them laugh out of control and makes everybody else want to quit long before we are even close to the end of the game. Or they cry because the rules are relentlessly unfair. You see our problem.
A few days ago Charlie declared that we were going to have a Family Game Night. We requested that the kids go downstairs to the basement to pick out a game several times but nobody did. They were either too lazy or too scared to go in the basement by themselves. I hate going in the basement by myself, so I totally get that. At this point you would think that Charlie or I would just go down and pick a game ourselves, except we are the band leaders when it comes to laziness and we didn't want to go down there to pick a game either.
So, we each grabbed our respective electronic device and sat on the couch and independently played together. I'm not really that proud of this moment, except that we did talk to each other for most of the evening, granted it was about what was going on in our games, and nobody got mad at each other or cried. We were all pretty much playing Hay Day, a game where you run and grow your own farm, except for Andy who thinks he's too cool for Hay Day. I like it for the kids because you are trying to run a business (your farm) and have to figure out how to use your time, money and resources wisely. Plus we can help each other out. A nice, educational, but fun and addictive game.
We will have to revisit to Family Game Night, and next time use an old fashioned board game. Hopefully we can find a game we can all agree on.
First of all, it's challenging to find a game that the whole family can play together when the youngest child can basically only play Chutes and Ladders or Candy Land and the oldest child can play games like Risk. Second, the girls love to get silly and crazy when playing games which makes them laugh out of control and makes everybody else want to quit long before we are even close to the end of the game. Or they cry because the rules are relentlessly unfair. You see our problem.
A few days ago Charlie declared that we were going to have a Family Game Night. We requested that the kids go downstairs to the basement to pick out a game several times but nobody did. They were either too lazy or too scared to go in the basement by themselves. I hate going in the basement by myself, so I totally get that. At this point you would think that Charlie or I would just go down and pick a game ourselves, except we are the band leaders when it comes to laziness and we didn't want to go down there to pick a game either.
So, we each grabbed our respective electronic device and sat on the couch and independently played together. I'm not really that proud of this moment, except that we did talk to each other for most of the evening, granted it was about what was going on in our games, and nobody got mad at each other or cried. We were all pretty much playing Hay Day, a game where you run and grow your own farm, except for Andy who thinks he's too cool for Hay Day. I like it for the kids because you are trying to run a business (your farm) and have to figure out how to use your time, money and resources wisely. Plus we can help each other out. A nice, educational, but fun and addictive game.
We will have to revisit to Family Game Night, and next time use an old fashioned board game. Hopefully we can find a game we can all agree on.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
The Happiest Place on Earth
Amanda has always been pretty obsessed with her birthday, so about a week after her fourth birthday she started planning her fifth. I was throwing out ideas of what she could do when Sarah said, "You know, for my 5th birthday Mommy took me to Disney World. You should do that instead of a party." That's all it took, and the idea was born. So basically we planned her 5th birthday party (a party of two) for about a year.
Since she finally turned five in August I scheduled her trip to Disney World the first week of September so it was still close to her birthday but after almost everybody was back to school. Best idea ever. The parks were empty, or at least empty for Disney standards. Originally we were going to fly in on Thursday night and go to the Magic Kingdom on Friday and Saturday and fly home Sunday. Then my wonderful friend, April from Winter Springs, called to see if we wanted to go to Frozen Disney on Ice that Sunday. Um, yeah, you don't have to ask me twice. So I changed our reservations to come home later on Sunday.
I had everything planned and ready to go when we came upon another schedule change. We had decided to go visit Charlie's mom in Miami for Labor Day weekend, and would be flying home on Labor Day. But then Amanda and I were going to fly right back to Florida (and it is a long flight), a few days later for her birthday trip. So Charlie and I decided it would be better if Amanda and I just stayed in Florida. So all of a sudden a four day trip turned into a 10 day trip. It sounds wonderful, and it was, but it was exhausting.
We had a very nice, calm, laid back visit with Charlie's mom over the weekend and then Amanda and I headed to the Orlando area on Monday to hang out with April and her family while Charlie flew home with Andy and Sarah. We just saw them a few weeks ago in Destin but I really can't see them enough so we stayed and had a really nice visit for a couple of days. I adjusted our Disney hotel and park passes by a day (or two) and Wednesday morning we headed in. We went to Downtown Disney to do a little shopping, checked into the hotel, returned our car and then were off to the Magic Kingdom. We got there around 5p. That was actually my plan on the first day. Just go hang out for a few hours, see the fireworks and then head back to the hotel. I would have skipped that day completely but there was a big Night of Joy (Christian Rock Concert) planned for Thursday and Friday nights, the other two days we were going to be at the Magic Kingdom, and they were kicking everybody out at 7p except those that had bought Night of Joy event tickets. Which meant no fireworks. So, if we wanted to see Disney fireworks it was Wednesday or not at all. I don't know if you've ever seen Disney's fireworks, but they are amazing so of course we had to see them.
Thursday we went to MGM, which they now call Hollywood Studios. I thought it was pretty fun but Amanda was a little miffed that they didn't have any rides. There were a few, but she either was too scared to ride them or not tall enough. Shows are nice and all, but not when you want to ride roller coasters.
Friday we got up and had breakfast with the princesses at Cinderella's castle and then she got to get all made up at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. They did her hair and nails and even put make up on her. She was in heaven. Saturday we had breakfast with Mickey Mouse and his friends and then went back to the Magic Kingdom. She still had her princess hair because they put about half a bottle of gel on her hair and it felt like cement. I washed it out when we got home on Sunday and I'm not sure that there still isn't some in there. Wow!
It was really a fabulous trip. It was great for her because she got to do whatever she wanted to do and eat (almost) whatever she wanted to eat and the focus was all on her. It was great for me because I only had one person to hang out with and because she was getting pretty much everything she wanted she was in a very agreeable mood. We had very little arguments or crying or issues. Unfortunately we did have rain, but she was even a good sport about that. The one thing that surprised Charlie and me was how much Amanda and Sarah missed each other. They fight, but they are still best friends, and we really want to nurture that so they stay that way for years and years to come. We Face Timed every night, which maybe made Sarah a little sad, but it was mostly so the girls could talk. Unfortunately they are both at the age where they really don't know how to talk on the phone (or over the iPad/iPhone screen), but it still made them very happy to see each other. While we were watching the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom Amanda told me she wished that we could Face Time Sarah so she could see the fireworks so I called her and she watched them from home. That was pretty cool!
I will say by the time we got to the airport on Sunday I was definitely ready to go. I was tired and ready to be home after 10 days away. But we made memories that she will always cherish and had an amazing time.
Since she finally turned five in August I scheduled her trip to Disney World the first week of September so it was still close to her birthday but after almost everybody was back to school. Best idea ever. The parks were empty, or at least empty for Disney standards. Originally we were going to fly in on Thursday night and go to the Magic Kingdom on Friday and Saturday and fly home Sunday. Then my wonderful friend, April from Winter Springs, called to see if we wanted to go to Frozen Disney on Ice that Sunday. Um, yeah, you don't have to ask me twice. So I changed our reservations to come home later on Sunday.
I had everything planned and ready to go when we came upon another schedule change. We had decided to go visit Charlie's mom in Miami for Labor Day weekend, and would be flying home on Labor Day. But then Amanda and I were going to fly right back to Florida (and it is a long flight), a few days later for her birthday trip. So Charlie and I decided it would be better if Amanda and I just stayed in Florida. So all of a sudden a four day trip turned into a 10 day trip. It sounds wonderful, and it was, but it was exhausting.
We had a very nice, calm, laid back visit with Charlie's mom over the weekend and then Amanda and I headed to the Orlando area on Monday to hang out with April and her family while Charlie flew home with Andy and Sarah. We just saw them a few weeks ago in Destin but I really can't see them enough so we stayed and had a really nice visit for a couple of days. I adjusted our Disney hotel and park passes by a day (or two) and Wednesday morning we headed in. We went to Downtown Disney to do a little shopping, checked into the hotel, returned our car and then were off to the Magic Kingdom. We got there around 5p. That was actually my plan on the first day. Just go hang out for a few hours, see the fireworks and then head back to the hotel. I would have skipped that day completely but there was a big Night of Joy (Christian Rock Concert) planned for Thursday and Friday nights, the other two days we were going to be at the Magic Kingdom, and they were kicking everybody out at 7p except those that had bought Night of Joy event tickets. Which meant no fireworks. So, if we wanted to see Disney fireworks it was Wednesday or not at all. I don't know if you've ever seen Disney's fireworks, but they are amazing so of course we had to see them.
Thursday we went to MGM, which they now call Hollywood Studios. I thought it was pretty fun but Amanda was a little miffed that they didn't have any rides. There were a few, but she either was too scared to ride them or not tall enough. Shows are nice and all, but not when you want to ride roller coasters.
Friday we got up and had breakfast with the princesses at Cinderella's castle and then she got to get all made up at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. They did her hair and nails and even put make up on her. She was in heaven. Saturday we had breakfast with Mickey Mouse and his friends and then went back to the Magic Kingdom. She still had her princess hair because they put about half a bottle of gel on her hair and it felt like cement. I washed it out when we got home on Sunday and I'm not sure that there still isn't some in there. Wow!
It was really a fabulous trip. It was great for her because she got to do whatever she wanted to do and eat (almost) whatever she wanted to eat and the focus was all on her. It was great for me because I only had one person to hang out with and because she was getting pretty much everything she wanted she was in a very agreeable mood. We had very little arguments or crying or issues. Unfortunately we did have rain, but she was even a good sport about that. The one thing that surprised Charlie and me was how much Amanda and Sarah missed each other. They fight, but they are still best friends, and we really want to nurture that so they stay that way for years and years to come. We Face Timed every night, which maybe made Sarah a little sad, but it was mostly so the girls could talk. Unfortunately they are both at the age where they really don't know how to talk on the phone (or over the iPad/iPhone screen), but it still made them very happy to see each other. While we were watching the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom Amanda told me she wished that we could Face Time Sarah so she could see the fireworks so I called her and she watched them from home. That was pretty cool!
I will say by the time we got to the airport on Sunday I was definitely ready to go. I was tired and ready to be home after 10 days away. But we made memories that she will always cherish and had an amazing time.
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