Wednesday's Words

Words With Jared

Setting: Janalynn sitting in her favorite chair reading a book. Jared walks in and suddenly stops.

Jared: "Stop doing that, you're turning me on."

(Janalynn looks up with a confused look on her face)

Janalynn: (replies with annoyance in her voice) "I'm not doing anything!"

Jared: (in a serious voice) "I know, and it's working!"

(Jared then leaves the room. Janalynn goes back to reading, smiling inwardly.)

Yes! Really, this is how Jared is. I think one of his goals in life is to make me laugh or at least smile. He is seldom in a bad mood, and is always quick witted, with sharp, funny or make you think, come backs. For example if he happens to call me on his way home from work, he'll ask me how my day was. If I say it was awful and I'm in a bad mood, his typical response would be, "YES! I can't Wait to get home!" (in a serious and excited voice). If I ask him if if he loves me, he'll sometimes respond, "For the moment." or something along those lines. People who don't know him, don't know how to take his humor. But those who do, either avoid his sarcasm, or try to out wit him. You would never guess that he was very Romantic and writes the best love poems and letters. Of course I'm the only one who knows that!!!

It's Great Being "8"

"It's Great Being A Girl"

Natalie Turned 8 this month. What an exciting age! She is at an age where dressing up, doing hair, and dreaming about make-up is always happening. So I decided to throw her a "Make-Over" party. First the girls ate pizza, then decorated make-up bags with hearts, flowers, jewels and their names.

Afterwards the mirrors were brought out, curling irons plugged in, make-up was divided up and the show was on. When all the girls hair done, nails and faces, painted, a game was played like musical chairs. If you were left without a star, you chose a number, and dressed up according to that number. (The dress-ups were bagged with numbers).

Their final number was was a fashion show, lip-sinc, dance performance all in one, to the song "So What, I'm a Rock Star" by pink. What a sight to behold. I was proud and entertained at the same time. It was a fairly easy party to do, and I think the girls enjoyed it!!

(special thanks to Linda Ford for providing the props!)

You Say It's Your Birthday....

It's My Birthday Too!

Jared sent me on a wild scavenger hunt for my Birthday! He loves surprises and making me work for them. Too be honest it's really frustrating, not to mention I'm not too good at puzzles. I scanned his clues. If you could figure them out without help, I'll consider you a genus. All I can say is that I'm grateful for cell phones. I had to call Jared at every clue, except #4.

Clue #1 was the library
Clue #2 was the Book title "flower children"
Clue #3 was Jared's Aunt Lorna
Clue #4 was Smith's Grocery Store Customer Service Booth
Clue #5 was the home of our good friend's the Turners.

It was a fun and eventful night. First, because I took so long figuring out the clues, we had to RUSH to Pei Wei to eat. We snarfed our food down only to run out to the car and find out that we had locked our keys in the car!! We had to call Kailey to come bring the extra set to us. Afterwards we drove to Hale Theater to watch the 2nd half of "Cash on Delivery". Last but not least. We stopped at Leatherbys for Ice cream. All in all it was a fun Birthday! Too bad we locked the keys in the car and missed the first half of the play, however, memorable night and great company made it all worth another Birthday!!!
(side note: I told Biffy NOT to let Jared throw me a Surprise Party...she did her best!)

Super, and Not So Super!

Super Bowl Sunday (Church got out at 5:30, so we DVR-ed the game)

Super Friends (2nd annual party, I think it will be now a tradition)

Super Dinner and Snacks (Biffy made dinner, the rest brought snacks.)

Super Games (gals played board games, stopped for commercials, while the men watched the Football Game)

Not-So- Super Bowl Game (we were all rooting for the underdog, the Cardinals. By the last quarter, we were all on pins and needles!! Congrats to the Steeler Team and Fans.)

100 Days of School

This year in 2nd grade at Heritage Elementary they celebrated the 100 days of school, not by bringing 100 items to count during math (thank you! I always stress over finding something for the kids to bring that was unique, yet wouldn't be eaten by the time they needed it at school). They celebrated it by dressing up as if they were 100 years old. I thought this was a fun and different way. Kids love to dress up and Natalie really got into it. Hat's off to the 2nd grade teachers at Heritage!!

(Side note to all parents: This means that the school year is more than half over. School is only 180 days a year! YIKES!!!)

Thursday Thought and Theory

Thought: How many things do our children learn from us through example, or simpling by telling them?

This thought came to me the other day. This time of year, we all hear coughing and sneezing on a regular bases. My son Porter is no exception. I noticed a while back that whenever he sneezed, he would bless himself. "Bless me"., he would say. I of course thought that it was a cute response and never corrected him that someone else should be the one blessing him. However, like I said the other day I got thinking, how come he blesses himself? He didn't learn that through example of anyone I knew. The more I thought about it, I soon realized that young children not only learn from our example, but also by what we tell them to say or do. Often they don't know why we tell them to do things, they just do it. For example I have seen parents, myself included, tell a child to "wave good-bye" or "Say your sorry." And other small demands that will teach children. So I can't help wonder if that is why Porter says "Bless me." whenever he sneezes. Instead of me teaching through example which was intended, he was taught through a demand. "A-choo!" From Porter, I would then respond, "Bless You!" Porter's young mind then formed what I had just said as a demand. Therefore he soon learned that whenever he sneezed he should bless himself because that was what he was taught to do.

So I wonder...Why is it so hard for a teenager to learn the same way? Why can't they just take your small demands and just do what we say without asking questions, and just do it?