Leprechaun tricks were very popular in our house as the kids were growing up. You never knew quite what they would do from year to year. This post was originally written in 2008 (gosh the kids look so young). I wanted to re-post it for those of you looking for some leprechaun tricks to step up your game. My kiddos still talk about this one 5 years later. Those tricky leprechauns somehow turned all the water in our faucets green this AM! The toilets flushed green water, too! It was a big mystery for a while but then the boys started to figure bits and pieces of it out. They guessed that the Leprechauns must have put green paint or something in the faucets. After a lot of fun and teasing I brought out the fizzy tablets from Steve Spangler that does this. They had fun mixing the colors...Carter did not know that yellow and blue make green...I just assumed he learned that in Kindergarten (maybe he was absent that day, lol). Connor remembered back to 4th grade where I taught him chromatography and made black with the primary colors. Thank you Leprechauns for the fun color reminder and for leaving us extra fizzy tabs to play with! ;) Leprechaun Tricks: New ...
Sometimes Being a Mom Sucks
If you have teens, or have had them, you may be able to relate to why I am up at midnight unable to sleep, no grown up in my life to share this moment with right now so I instead will turn my thoughts to the random abyss I call cyberspace. Teens suck. Teens suck because no matter how many times we assure them that we have been there, right there in their shoes, they feel the need to argue about the differences in our time/space realities. How we could not possibly have experiences similar to theirs when we grew up pre-Internet, pre cell phones, in a time and place where kids got warnings for things instead of adult consequences. And that part is true. Things were different for us but there are still basic adolescent experiences that transcend most time/space warps. They suck because they refuse to believe that when we say no to things or put limitations around things, it isn't because we don't trust them or we are strict or we just want to keep them from growing up. And they suck because, really? That last part IS true. But mostly it's because we want to protect them. Becoming an adult is not all its cracked up to be. It brings harsh realities and tough choices and ...
My Holiday Wish For You
I wish for you a 2013 full of the harmony, peace, love, joy and amazement at the possibilities that each and every ordinary day holds for us. I wish for you 365 days of amazing examples of what we are capable of accomplishing just like this. Thanks for sharing this Kristin. It is exactly what I needed! ...
A Lesson in Letting Go
If you saw me tonight you probably didn't know we had to put our beloved, old smelly gas bag of a doggy, Buddy, to sleep hours before. I wasn't ready to process it just yet. I will never forget the day Buddy came into our lives. We had just moved to Vegas and Connor was in first grade. We were walking past a Petsmart and they were having one of their adoption days. As I quickly tried moving my little boy along, this massive ape of a dog jumped over the portable cage, knocking it over, to get to Connor. He was wagging his tail and seemed to be saying, "Wanna play ball?" It was a forgone conclusion that he would be joining our family when my little blond hair boy said "Mom, please! I have NO friends here." Moving guilt kicked in and Buddy was soon in the back of our car. Buddy was a pain in the butt. He barked. A LOT. He would open doors and let himself in the house using the lever handles. He once stole an apple pie off the back of the counter and made it look like the pie just disappeared from the untouched plate. But we loved him. While the barking annoyed our HOA, the way he followed me when Bob traveled constantly was reassuring. Connor spent hours throwing the ball up our ...
On Being Happy at 40
In the first surreal moments of my over 40 existence I found myself waking up here in a room fit for a princess. I made my way to this perfectly pink little room in our Orlando vacation home because as it turns out, after close to 19 years of marriage I have discovered my prince charming sleeps more like Shrek. I reverted to my inner child and sought solace from the sleeping ogre. And then I just laid here in bed and stared at the pretty princesses on the wall, thinking about all the dreams I had as a young girl to be one. Well, wake up sister. Cause 40 just reared it's ugly head. I am laughing to myself about all the blog posts I read "40 is the New 30" and even better, "40 is the New 20". Maybe Tinkerbell sprinkled them with some extra special magic fairy dust on them but I am going to get real and say "40 is the New 40". I don't know, maybe it is the end of whirlwind 12 days I have been gone. First on a preview cruise for the new Disney Fantasy Cruise or the ensuing days of theme parking but I am about ready to return home to reality. An over 40 reality. Its really just one day that has passed. But if I said it wasn't a big deal, I would be lying. I am ...