Truly, Truly, Truly Outrageous

Does this ring a bell for anyone?

Sweet Child of Mine

If you tell me that my middle boy is sweet, I won't argue with you. He is so well mannered and not in a hurry to go anywhere. He is good to the core and I don't know how to prepare him for a world that will surely eat him alive.

The other day after a long grocery shopping experience, little Sully had had it and was ready for his morning nap. Rory asked me if I would like some help carrying the groceries in.

"Sure!", I said. I proceeded to hand him a fairly light bag.

"Too heavy." he said with a sweet smile

So I handed him the bread and we headed inside. I took Sully upstairs to change him and put him to bed and when I returned about 5 minutes later, I noticed little Rory working so hard and the pantry looked like this...

Mind you, the pantry was 70% empty which is why I went to the grocery store in the first place. He had shoved the contents of those bags in whatever nook or cranny he could find. You may notice the butter and frozen waffles but what you don't see is the bag of frozen chicken and baby wipes that also found a home in our pantry (that's not typically where I keep those items ;o)

What a precious gesture it was. What a great helper!

Song and Dance Man

Among his other many newly discovered talents (I'll post a walking video soon), Sully has discovered rhythm. If there's music on....that boy is bopping to it! It's so funny to watch him listen and then start tapping his foot, swinging his arm or bouncing to the beat. He's partial to funk (ie Stevie Wonder) but even the most random commercials will get him in the groove. I love it.

Free stuff!!!

Have you heard about this?

As part of a class action settlement, $175 million worth of free cosmetics products will be distributed for a maximum of seven days, while supplies last, on a first come, first served basis beginning on January 20, 2009.

The stores owned by the Retailer Defendants that will be participating in the settlement product distribution are the following: Bergdorf Goodman, Bergner’s, Bloomingdale’s, Boston Store, Carson Pirie Scott, Dillard's, Gottschalks, Herberger’s, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Parisian, Saks Fifth Avenue, Younkers

A class member will be eligible to receive, while supplies last, a maximum of ONE free cosmetics product. The following is a list of the Manufacturer Defendants and their products that will be distributed, while supplies last, through the stores listed above:

• Boucheron (USA) Ltd.:
  Femme Eau de Toilette (1 ounce/30 ml)
  
• Chanel, Inc.:
  Coco Mademoiselle body lotion (3.4 fluid oz)
  
• Christian Dior Perfumes, Inc.:
  J’Adore Eau de Parfum (15 ml)
  
• Clarins U.S.A., Inc. (customers will have a choice of ONE of two products, while supplies last):
  Clarins Energizing Morning Cream (30 ml) OR Clarins Beauty Flash Bomb (30 ml)
  
• Conopco, Inc. (distributed by Coty, Inc. on behalf of Conopco, Inc.) (customers will have a choice of ONE of three products, while supplies last):
  Calvin Klein Euphoria Bath and Shower Crème (6.7 oz) OR Vera Wang Princess Body Polish (5 oz)
  OR Lovely Sarah Jessica Parker Shower Gel (6.7 oz)
  
• The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (customers will have a choice of ONE of two products, while supplies last):
  Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair (15 ml/0.5 oz) OR Clinique Moisture Surge (30 ml/1 oz)
  
• Guerlain, Inc.:
  My Insolence Eau de Toilette (15 ml)
  
• L’Oréal USA, Inc. (customers will have a choice of ONE of eight products, while supplies last):
  Lancôme UV Expert 20, Lancôme Cils Design Pro Mascara, Lancôme Fatale Mascara, Lancôme Courbe Virtuose Mascara, Lancôme Primordial Skin Defense, Ralph Lauren Romance Shower Gel (6.7 oz). Giorgio Armani ACM Shower Gel (6.7 oz), Lancôme Hypnôse Shower Gel
  
• Parfums Givenchy, Inc.:
  Very Irresistible Givenchy Eau de Toilette (15 ml)

Go here to see all of the details.

Music Monday

It's been a while.

Here's one I can't get out of my head.

Ben Lee - Catch My Disease

Kids work...revisited

I got a bit of a tongue lashing today from my ex-kindergarten teacher mom. Apparently, throwing away her granddaughter's hard work hit a nerve with the teacher in her so she called me to tell me just how to handle this situation.

I'll share it with all of you because in this case, like so many others, mom knows best.

She recalled working with kids throughout the years and her encouraging them to do their best so they could show their moms when they got home..."No, my mom just throws my papers away." they said.

Ouch. That hurts.

She went on to reiterate that at this age, they aren't trying to better themselves or advance their education. They are simply looking for praise from the teacher and their parents and seeing me throw her hard work away only gives her a reason not to work hard. If I don't value the effort she put into it, then why should she bother staying inside the lines the next time?

Can you feel the guilt?

Okay, but she did give me a great suggestion. Here it is...

Get an expandable file for each child. When paperwork comes home, go through it with them, praise them for their efforts and congratulate them on a job well done. Put all of it away in the folder. When summer roles around tell them how proud you are for all they learned the year before and how excited you are for all of the new and more challenging things they will learn next year and go through all of the papers and tell them that you would LOVE to keep the 5 papers of their choosing. She pointed out to me that they know what they put the most effort into or are most proud of. 5 papers a year isn't bad.

Thanks, Mom for the wonderful advice!

She did say that there was a time or two where she would hang her students artwork and the next day they would ask what had happened to it. "I took it home to share it with my family!" when actually, she made sure that she took it into another teacher's classroom. The moral being, throw it where they won't see it. Got it. :o)

Kid's work

If your family is anything like mine, you just try and get through the week and save the re-grouping and organization for the weekends. As I was cleaning off the counter today, I came across a giant stack of Maggie's school work. Worksheets, drawings, craft projects, etc. I consider myself a sentimental person who likes to hold on to meaningful things and typically, I pull out the things that showcase her personality or great strides and acheivements in education but for the most part, I just toss the stuff that seems to me to be busy-work.

Well today, she went to put something in the garbage can and spotted a giant stack of her hard work and time laying among the other household refuse and got upset with me.

What do you do with your child's work? My refrigerator is only so big and after that, aren't you just adding to clutter by piling it up somewhere? Casey says (of a lot of the things that I save) "What, so you're going to pull it out and look at it in ten years and then what? We have an attic full of stuff just so one day you can look at it for five minutes and then store it again?"

Now that Rory's in school I've got double the paperwork coming in and you can only save so many finger paintings, right?! I'd love to get some suggestions.

Finally toothless

It's been a week of firsts in our house. First steps, first day of school and now the first tooth lost. Maggie has had a wiggly tooth since Christmas as was determined that it would fall out of natural causes and not because she yanked it out. We told her that if she didn't pull it out, her dentist would on Monday at her check-up. She was giddy with anticipation when it popped and ran to the mirror so she could see it.

This was not far from the typical chaos in our house at around 6:30/7 every night. Maggie's loosing a tooth, Sully's screeching because he wants to take a bath and go to bed, and Rory has a sudden burst of energy in spite of the fact that he hasn't actually eaten a morsel since breakfast!

Show me the money, Tooth Fairy!
***The tooth pillow was made by a sweet friend of my mother-in-laws who does a fabulous job of personalizing any and everything I can think of!...thanks again, Devonne ;) ***

First day of school

Traditionally this day comes in August but my little buddy has been on preschool waiting lists since we moved and finally got into one mid-year. Today was his first ever day of school and he did so great. You never know how your kids are going to react to new situations and all you can hope is that you've prepared them for it and given them the confidence and reassurance that even though you're not there, they'll be okay. Rory was apprehensive this morning...he told me that "school made his tummy a little nervous".

After a pep-talk from his big sis and a friendly smile at the door of his classroom, he did spectacular. I am so proud of him today. There was this unsettled feeling in my stomach all day...like I was missing or forgetting something. It's going to take some getting used to but I'm so glad to see him developing his independence.

Playing by the pond

My new favorite thing

I am loving one of my Christmas gifts SO much, I had to post about it. It is one of my new favorite things and has made my life just a tad bit more organized.

While visiting my dear friends in Nashville, Corrie and Sara introduced me to this cute canvas market basket. I guess I blabbed so much about it to Lindsay that she knew I must need one in my life as well and gave it to me for Christmas (...thanks, again, Lindz).

I go back and forth between my folks' house so much and am always toting Wal-Mart plastic sacks full of junk and what-nots and now, I have a way to do it in style. It collapses if you need to store it but mine has become a trunk to house and back again staple that I cannot live without.

iPhone Photo of the Day

Happy New Year!

Frist iPhone photo of the year... I will try to make it a regular thing.

- Casey