Monday, February 16, 2009

One of those Mondays that feels like a Saturday

Happy President's Day!

Here is my list of thankfuls for the week:

1. flying kites and playing outdoors on the warm days
2. my children's laughter
3. an interesting, but nonetheless GOOD report from the doctor!
4. more clothes than we need so that I can consign some of them (I don't know HOW in the world I still have clothes from when the kids were babies...didn't I give all of those away??)
5. coupons
6. friendships within our neighborhood (I love being able to walk around the corner to hang out with friends)
7. the anticipation of a tax return (yahhoo!)
8. the "bug man" as we call him..aka the pest control guy who came and eradicated a big nest of nasty bugs alongside our house
9. going on walks
10. getting a whole week's worth of a good night's sleep

There you have it. Here's hoping you have a fun-filled, blessed week!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

No-no words

When I was growing up, our family had certain words or phrases that we, as children, were not allowed to say. Curse words, naturally, were out of the question. However, other words also banned in our home were 'stupid' and 'shut up' (my parents took this very seriously!). For some reason, my mother also used the lovely term, "stinky" for all yucky smells. If she smelled something suspicious, she would look at one of us and ask, "did you let out a stinky?" to which we would innocently reply that it must have been the dog or the other person in the room.

Jamie and I have instituted the no-no words thing in our house, too. I do this mainly because you know if we allow the kids to say bad words at home, they inevitably will say them to perfect strangers when we're at Target. And that's just not kosher.

Alright, that's really only part of the reason. I take offense to certain words and want my children to develop a healthy vocabulary devoid of offensive language. Jamie questions sometimes if I take it a bit too far, but I have a valid reason behind every word that I ban from our home. One example is the word Butt. We've always called it a bottom with our kids, and I just personally don't like the sound of the word Butt coming out of a 3-year-olds mouth. It sounds terribly offensive to me. Jamie wondered about that one, but I told him that one day when I was lunchroom helper at Mel's school, one child from her 1st grade class raised his hand to beckon me. When I asked him what he needed, he pointed at a classmate and stated, "he said the word b-u-t-t." He actually spelled the word but would not repeat it! Thereby, it confirmed my hypothesis that little children do take offense to the word Butt. Or at least we're not alone in the whole Butt debate.

I remember early on in my dating relationship with Jamie, we had gone to visit my parents and I had forgotten to warn Jamie of the whole No-No word thing in my house (granted, I was 20ish and as an adult, it's probably okay to be your own language monitor). We were having a casual conversation with my parents, and Jamie said the word stupid. I am sure I looked quite as horror-struck as I felt, because the room got quite silent. I glanced nervously at my parents, waiting for them to correct him, as they had done to me so many times as a child. However, Jamie (oblivious) kept right on talking until I couldn't take it any more and I blurted out, "you can't say that word in our house!" My parents laughed and it was no big deal, but to this day, I still do not say the words stupid or shut up in front of my parents.


So this has turned into one of those things you tell yourself you'll never do, because your parents did it, but I've carried on this tradition in my family. As a result, we do a some "cleaning up" after we hang out with other people every now and then, because maybe a word slips out that we don't like. Then I have to explain to the kids that while WE don't say those words, other families have different rules, etc.


Melody is entering the age where she is getting exposed to more and more bad language, and so we deal with it much more than we used to. She seems fairly accepting of the fact that she can't say certain words. We monitor our own language quite a bit around the house, so we know that if she does pick up a word, that it didn't come from us! However, Gannon isn't always on board with the concept of not saying bad words. He has issues with using what we call "potty words" in daily language. So, if he walks up to you and calls you a "poopy head", please know that we are still working on it! Jamie has tried explaining to me that boys just think that is funny.
Ok, so I'm laughing on the inside. :-)

More to come on WHY DOES A MOVIE THAT'S RATED G OR PG HAVE BAD WORDS IN IT?????

Friday, February 6, 2009

Highlights from the week

I've decided to start posting my highlights from the week, in an attempt to blog more often and also in an attempt to remind myself weekly of my many blessings.

Highlights:
1. attending a beautiful and FUN wedding. It's so refreshing to see a couple in the "new love" stage, if you know what I mean. I'd SOOO get married again..to Jamie, of course, but I'd love to re-do my wedding. I think my vows would be taken on a much deeper level now that I've been married for nearly 10 years. If you're married, would you change anything about your wedding day?

2. attending a FUN Super Bowl party with our Sunday School Home Group (I'll have to give more details later about what a Home Group is..).

3. a warm afternoon spent playing outdoors and getting spring fever

4. intelligent children who continually amaze me with the things they bring home from school

5. good health (the kids have somehow escaped strep, a stomach virus, and a variety of other nasties which are floating around Hsv right now).

6. reconnecting with old friends...I had lunch this week with a guy I knew when I was in college, and I also lunched with a friend from high school. It was so wonderful just to catch up and realize that, despite not seeing each other for 5-10 years, it was so easy to pick right back up and be buddies again

7. fellowship with girl friends..it seems like every time I've spent some girl time with friends, I come away with a better understanding and appreciation of myself. Strange, but true.

8. playing games (specifically one of our new fave games, MarioKart on the Wii) with the kids and watching them laugh (our other recent favorite is Pass the Pigs...not a Wii game)

9. the willingness of my husband to sit and listen to me talk (sometimes) aimlessly every night after the kids are in bed

10. the prospect of warm weather this weekend, and the anticipation of going for a hike and picnic on the mountain

Happy Weekend, everyone!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Recipe Yumminess--Oreo Truffles


After I took the picture of these, I realized how un-appetizing they look, but trust me, they are GOOD!!! I can't resist most things chocolate, and these are right up my alley. Oreos, cream cheese and chocolate sauce....YUM-O!