The last game

Today was Cedar's last basketball game. It has been so fun watching him. The first game was better than any comedy show. The ball would come toward the kids and they would all back up and look like they would get hurt or in trouble if they touched the ball. Now, after two months of playing they finally started to "get" it. They run after the ball, try to catch it and even make a few baskets. Here are a few photo's from today.

p.s.
I know I haven't posted for a while, if you didn't see yesterday's bubble bath post, keep reading.

bubble bath

TGIF...If my kids actually knew what those four little letters stood for, they would be shouting them from the roof tops. They LOVE Fridays. Not so much because there is no school for two whole days, but Fridays are the day that they have "extra" fun! It's computer day on Friday and Saturday. Aspen and Cedar get to play games on the computer. (And Olive too if she wants, though she's about as interested in computer games as I am.) This is especially fun when Daddy gets home, because HE likes playing on the computer. Cedar asked me today why I didn't play computer games. He just didn't get that it's not really my thing. We tried letting the kids play a little bit each day. That was not so good.... Big fights over who gets to go first and who got to play the longest and then, when the game is over and time is up, Cedar cried like someone had died. So, now we wait until the wonderful weekend where he can actually finish a game in the time allotted and feel like he's had a good turn when it's time to get off. Ahh, much better!

So, now that the weekends were super fun for Aspen and Cedar, poor little Olive got left out. We finally found something that would be just as fun for her, something to shout TGIF for! Bubble bath! Last week, Olive found an old bottle of Bubble bath and asked what it was. As I was explaining, and she was of course wanting to try it out, we came up with the Friday night is bubble bath night if you don't want to stay up and play computer games. She LOVED it! And since she needs a bit more sleep than the others it worked out well to have her play in a nice long tub and then go to bed while the others finish up their games.

Here are some cute, almost identical pictures of the fun she is having.

So, I know what you are thinking...Why did it take me four years to put Olive in a bubble bath? I actually have a really good answer for that one. You see, bubble baths can give little girls a urinary tract infection. I didn't know this back when Aspen was 2 and she got in bubble baths all the time. Aspen had gone in for a checkup and our doctor had apparently seen several cases that day of UTI's in little girls so he was very forceful about informing us of the risks. Well, I was a young, first time mother and he successfully scared the #@$%^ out of me. So, away went the bubble bath and I just never bought it any more. But, now I'm not so scared and I figure that as long as every bath is not an hour long bubble bath, and I make sure to rinse them off well, what's wrong with a bubble bath?

give and get

My friend Katrina, crafty person extraordinaire is hosting a giveaway with a twist. This is what she said:
So my friend Meredith is doing a cute give away on her blog, but the catch is -- you in turn have to have a give away. Like I needed to add more to my "to do" list but I love love love the creative challenge! The first five people to comment on this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations: 1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! 2. What I create will be just for you. 3. It'll be done this year (hopefully sooner than later.) 4. You will have no clue what it is going to be. 5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. I did not make up the rules -- I SWEAR! These are the REAL rules. I'm not sayin' that I'll make you one of these eyeball pincushions, but I'm not NOT saying that I'll do it either... The catch? Oh the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me you did will win a marvelous homemade gift by me! Let the games begin!!

I am complying with the terms of her contest by posting here, on my blog. And I will also comply and have a giveaway, but I am not going to be making the items for giving away, for obvious reasons. And, I will only have 3 items up for grabs. The giveaway will be a drawing on Next Tuesday. So, what could you win?

First up is one of two Japanese fans. These are from Japan. (Although they say made in China for DAISO JAPAN on the back.)

Next is a handkerchief from Japan. Jonathon will have to correct me if I am wrong, but in Japan they will wrap a present in a handkerchief like this instead of gift wrap. This is also from Japan. You get the cute box with this one.

I don't want to add the catch part of this. You don't have to re-post this on your blog. Just leave a comment in my comment section and if I don't know how to get a hold of you make sure that you let me know how to do that.

Another "talk"

Today, just now actually, I came across an article that I clipped from "Parade" it looks like it's from way back in August of 2006. (Yes, I know, I am a total pack rat, I'm working on it!) It is titled "A conversation you can't put off." I really like this article and would like to tell you why. First, it's a lot like the sex talk. Something you don't really want to talk about, but it's important, because once it's too late, you will be kicking yourself for not talking about it sooner. Second, it gives the basics of what you should talk about, and third, it makes it pretty painless.

So, if you will, I would like to have the talk with YOU!

Well, not all of you. Just a few of you. Namely, Mom and Tony, Dad and John and Marie. The rest of you are welcome to come along and stage a "talk" of your own with your parents.

Well, everyone, this article is about what we, your children should do if anything should happen to you. I live really far away, so I couldn't be there in an hour, but if something were to happen, I would be there within 24 hours and someone needs to know what your wishes are, what you want done etc, etc, etc.

To be honest, I don't care if you choose to tell someone else. It really won't hurt my feelings. Just let me know who it is you have told so I know who to go to for answers.

Some of the things this article says someone needs to know are:

• Your bank, brokerage and mutual-fund accounts and insurance policies. I don't need to know what the numbers are, and I don't want to know what they are worth. Just where to find them. Or who to contact to find them.
• Where to find important documents like birth and marriage certificates, real estate deeds, and employment, military and tax records.
• The names and numbers of your doctors, lawyers, financial adviser, (tax accountant, broker, insurance agent or financial planner.)
• Where your will is and if you have a lawyer working with that, who that person is.

Some of the other things that the article talked about were durable power of attorney, health care agent directive or proxy, and a living will. I don't know so much about these three. None of you seem old enough to even think about that. To me, what would be more important to know is something more along the lines of, "If you ever become less independent, what would you like to have happen?" And, "If you couldn't speak for yourself, what would you want me to say for you?"

It's not really a fun thing to think about. Something happening to your parents. I think I would die! I don't know how straight of a head I would be able to keep, and if you had already answered these questions, I wouldn't have to try to figure out what you would want done. I would also like to think that my siblings and I as well as Jonathon and Allison could do something as difficult as dealing with something happening to our parents with out major rivalries, but it would be a lot easier if it were set out for us.

So, I am asking you to think about this. Probably not a good idea to post it in my comments section, but write it down and send it or call me. I will do the same. Jonathon and I will work on getting all of our information together and send it to you.

There. I feel like I did when we were done having the "talk" with Aspen. that wasn't too bad. I'm glad I said that. And, Yea! It's over and no one passed out! And one more thing. Now I can throw away this very old article!

Happy Valentines Day!

Just a note to let you know that we love you!

The "Talk"

Last night we had the "Talk" with Aspen. You know the one. Birds, bees everyone turns red and wishes they were anywhere else. Obviously, it wasn't a very detailed talk. Just some basics. Jonathon had been wanting to talk to her for a while and I wasn't sure what we should talk to her about. We searched and searched for a book to help us with correct body part names and stuff with out too much detail. There are actually quite a lot of them. There are some that remind me of a high school text book, some that are a bit too detailed and some that explore things we don't want to explore. We found this one at the library. It's what we used and I would recommend it for the 8 and under group. It was a little basic, but it gave the vital details. I liked that it said that a man and a woman get married before it introduces sex into the picture.


I am glad that we talked to Aspen. I think that Cedar is a little young still, he gets a big kick out of "potty talk" words and I don't want to introduce any new ones for him to shout out in the grocery store. But when he's old enough I will probably use this book.

Last week I read something that scared me into hurrying into the "talk." I don't remember the exact number, but something like 1/2 of all teens and pre-teens get their info about sex from porn sights on the internet! It made me want to make sure that I get there first. That Jonathon and I are the first place she hears about sex and all of the other great stuff that is lurking closer and closer to my little girl.

Would you like to know?

Would you like to know what the third (and a half) snow day in a row this week looks like?
The weather man says that right now it is:

Sunny

22°F
Feels Like
22°F

And right now, it looks like this:

Our week has looked like this:
Monday, really fun, snowmen, sledding, great snow! I'm so glad they are home to enjoy it!
Tuesday, Fun, sorta like an extra Saturday stuck in the middle of the week.
Wednesday, Lots of fun. Friends are over, the sledding is great!
Thursday, Ummm, I need to go to the store and because my friend is in New York for a funeral I have her daughter too, so, let's ALL go shopping. And the rumor mill has it that there will at leas be a 2 hour delay tomorrow. I think that this is funny because Jonathon is going CAMPING tomorrow with the young men. So, it's too cold for school, but not too cold for camping...
I wonder if I'll ever live here long enough to find all of these things normal, and not something to laugh at?

Come and get 'em.

I answered the phone this morning and it was the dad of the little girl I sometimes watch. He asked me if my kids were coming home? What? Why would they come home? It was only 11:00am. He said that they were canceling school at 11:30. What! Why? I looked outside, it was lightly raining. He said that it was for snow. If I were the snort laughing kind of girl, you could put a big SNORT right there! That's what I thought. It's getting a little ridiculous. I mean, it rains in Tennessee, ALL THE TIME! I checked the Internet, and sure enough, school's letting out at 11:30 because of snow. The kids and I had a great laugh on the way home. It did however start to snow and I was really glad that the kids came home. The snow was not the normal Tennessee snow. It was big and puffy and very wet. Perfect for snowman making. Little S came over since her mom was stuck in Knoxville in a blizzard and her school was canceled too. By the time I got S and myself ready Aspen had an amazingly big snow ball rolled up. It only took a few minutes to complete 2 snowmen! I guess I wasn't blogging last winter, but our usual snowmen consist of fist sized snowballs and Mr. Potato head pieces. So, these snowmen are quite something for us.

After our snowmen were done and everyone took a handful of raisins we headed over to sled. The snow was pretty wet, and not as fast as a dusting on frozen grass (our usual sledding) but very fun still! It was S's first time ever sledding and the kids showed her all the tricks.