Random Tid Bits

1. I've been thinking about movies, TV, and video games in connection to kids. We've never had cable. Any movie that we let the boys watch is under our control. About the only channel they watch is PBS at our house. I'm sure they watch other things at Grandma and Grandpa's house.
   
   I've let them watch old Lone Ranger episodes. There's shooting in those. They watch super hero movies. Some I don't mind, while others I do. We've had talks about what's real, and what's not. I don't feel like I should cover up all things with my kids. They are going to be exposed to stuff. They need to experience some things, so when they get older it's not all new to them.
   
   My kids are not big into video games. Their favorite game is Super Mario Bros and Monsters Vs. Aliens. I would never let them play anything that is for a mature audience only.
   
   In regards to movies I won't let my kids watch anything rated R. PG 13 has to be previewed by us first. The biggest thing I watch for is watching things that has a lot of sexual implications. I won't let them watch any Transformer movies because they flaunt the sexy girl a little too much. Mica in particular I have to watch. He notices girls. Sexy stuff is everywhere. In society we worry about girls, and what they think of their own bodies. I'm here to tell you that I worry about my own boys. I want them to respect girls. I don't want them to get hung up on what what looks good, or what feels good when they are teens. I'm not naive, I know they'll do some of that anyway. I just hope I can help them to understand that they should respect girls. They should not judge only on looks. I really hope that they don't become fathers before they are ready to be fathers. I don't want them to only go for a certain body type because it's what society flaunts. To me the biggest, best thing we can do with our kids is have a conversation. Discuss fiction and reality. Talk about respecting girls. Listen to them when they are telling us about their day.
   
   

   

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   Each kid is different, and every age group varies to. Do you let your kids watch whatever they want? How did, or do you gauge what your kids watch?


2. I feel like this weekend is going to be a waste. I seriously have no time to do anything I want to do. I don't even have time to clean my house. 


3. We're taking Grandpa out for for breakfast for Father's Day next weekend. I got him a book I know he'll enjoy. We spent a little more on him for birthday, so we're going a little lighter on Father's Day. For my husband I had the boys help me make playing cards for him on Shutterfly. I usually don't get my husband much, we just go out for breakfast. One year I did a mug with the kid's artwork, another year I did candy bar card.




What do you do for Father's Day?


4. On the last week of school this (*See picture below.) visited my kid's school. They've been talking about it every so often since then. It's the little, or in this case big things that matter.





5. Tomorrow I have the school (where I work) graduation ceremony. It's held in a different spot. I've never been there, everyone seems clueless about where it is, and I just hope I don't get lost getting there.

Happy Mothers Day!

I'm not crazy about Mothers Day and Fathers Day. I've always felt like birthdays and Christmas are more than enough for gift giving. We do however celebrate the holidays.

Daddy doesn't get me anything for Mother's Day. I don't get him anything for Father's Day. We just go out to breakfast. Then Daddy or I get to choose a game to play, or movie to watch (depending on who's day it is).

I wanted chocolate pancakes this morning, but opted for a fruit cup and a cheeseless, veggie omelet. While we waited for our food we played a name game. We had to think of a name we liked for every letter of the alphabet. Letters Q, X, Y and P were the hardest. Then this evening we played Rumikub.   

When asked if the boys made anything at school for Mother's Day? Mica said, "I started to, but never finished it." I said, "That's ok. I just want to be with you anyhow."

Isaak gave this to me:

I have twin Isaak's.

It says:

Mom
scole "school"
hoges "hugs"
nise "nice"
loves
likes
heps "helps"
wrse "works"
Love
Isaak

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. I hope you got to do at least one special, out of the ordinary thing today!

Happy Fathers Day

We don't make a huge deal out of Mother's or Father's Day. We make a bigger deal out of birthdays and Christmas.

Last week I had the boys write a card for Daddy. We used candy bars in the card to replace words. You've probably seen it done before. It's not original, but it's the first time we've given Daddy a card like that.

I had Mica write most of it on a scrap paper. I tried having both them write it on a big sheet of paper, but Isaak's handwriting is a little hard to figure out sometimes still. I ended up doing the writing. Then they signed it. We're thinking of going out to dinner; instead of breakfast like we usually do. Then Daddy's boss man gave him movie tickets. We may use them. The sad thing is that everyone was excited to see Man of Steel; I read the ratings and it's for ages 10 and up. It's mostly due to violence. We're trying to stay clear of movies with a lot of violence. I even bought Advengers, and sadly it sits on the shelf. We watched it once, and decided it's too much for our kids.

I don't know if we'll go see something, or not.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!

Birthday and Fathers Day

This weekend we went to a park to celebrate my birthday and Fathers Day. My birthday was on June 21st. Emerson's first birthday was that weekend. Then the next weekend we had a family get together at Great Aunt Marsha's house because my cousin was in town with their new baby. This weekend was the only weekend we could all swing getting together.

It was my idea to have a picnic. I thought it would work because the boys could play and run all they wanted to, no one would have to clean house and Grandpa Spiehs (for Father's Day) loves the outdoors.

The problem was is that it's been super hot out. Grandma Spiehs hates the heat and she was worried about the heat not being good for Emerson. This weekend we had a slight cool down. It was perfect!

I got a coffee grinder. I'm going to use it for grinding whole flaxseed as well. I walk during my lunch hour, so I've been wanting a pedometer. They got me one! I also got these cool decorating tools that almost look like dental tools. This should be fun to use around Christmas time and birthdays!

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We ate, we walked, we played and we talked.

I was mostly focused on taking pictures for a review/giveaway coming up. Here are a couple shots:

Cousin Emerson smiling at his Daddy.

The boys on a walk with Grandpa Spiehs.

There were two highlights of the event.

1. Mica explaining to me what Japanese Beatles are. *NOTE: He calls them creatures from China. He's been hanging out with Grandpa Spiehs too much. LOL You've got to watch the video because it's hilarious!

2. The next highlight was when cousin Elijah (age 4) pulled down his pants to pee in the middle of a sort of populated play area. Kids! LOL

Curly Hair

I didn't know that with boys I'd have so much drama this morning. 

Isaak didn't want to color Daddy a picture on white paper, he wanted colored paper from Mica. Mica only gave Isaak a scrap of red construction paper. Isaak knew it was a scrap and wouldn't stop pouting. I gave Isaak a special piece of scrap book paper that had robots on it. Isaak wouldn't cave his pout because the paper didn't come from Mica.

Isaak got dressed and Mica got annoyed that Isaak was dressed classier then he was. Mica decided to change clothes. He puts on a green plaid shirt with blue plaid bottoms and wanted to wear his black plaid bow tie. My eyes hurt looking at him. I helped him set out something more matching, yet dressier then I originally set out. Then Isaak wanted to put on crocs with his dressy clothes. It took a little bit of convincing that crocs wouldn't work with the outfit he had on.

That was the end of the drama.

I got dressed up today. It is Father's Day after all. I decided to do something new and curl my hair. It was loose curls. I asked Isaak, "What do you think of my hair?" Isaak said, "I love it! It reminds me of a tornado!" Somehow that brought a smile to my face. :) It's better then being annoyed like I was with all the previous stuff going on.

My hair looking like a tornado got pulled up into a pony tail. It wasn't bad. Daddy said he likes it when I use the straightener more so then when I curl it.

The whole conversation with Isaak reminded me of when Mica (at age 3) said to Great Grandma Kent, "Grandma I love your hair! How did you get all the bubbles in it?" It was very curly and silver/white.

We went out to brunch this morning, over to deliver a June Berry Pie to Grandpa Spiehs. Great Grandpa Kent and Great Aunt Becky were there visiting, so they got to enjoy the pie as well. Grandma Spiehs made homemade ice cream that went perfect with it!

Mica kept hugging all over Great Aunt Becky. He was very chatty! Isaak kept taking stuffed animals and put them in Great Grandpa Kent's lap, piling in his lap and covering them both up with a baby blanket. We left and Mica said to Great Aunt Becky, "Bye Great Grandma Becky." I said, "Don't you mean 'Great Aunt Becky'? He said, "Well she's like a Grandma." I guess being like a Grandma is a good thing; except for the age difference.

Then we went to see Madagascar 3. It was funny. Usually I'm ify about sequels. Madagascar is kind of like Toy Story, it keeps getting better with each one.

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The rest of the day was chores for me.

We came home and I made spinach salads and fruit smoothies for dinner. I cut up tons of oregano to wash a dry. I have pans of it underneath every living room window. It was flowering and bees were loving it! Then it was laundry. After that was dishes.

A busy day, full of fun!

Happy Father's Day

A little late I knew. I've been thinking it and saying it all day. My dad, Grandpa Spiehs got a plant from us. Daddy got a mug with the boy's artwork and an acupuncture mat by Spoonk.

We went out to breakfast this morning. I was a little bummed. For Mother's Day they had a huge buffet for free; for Father's Day they had just a regular breakfast. Not for free. Bummer! Dad's got gypped! I seriously think the media hypes Mother's Day up way more then Father's Day.