Rite of Passage

At my son's School, there is a tree. In that tree is a tree house. Now, you may think, "oh how cute and fun." Then you see the giant Oak.

Dangerous, you say? Well, let me preface this entry by saying that the methodology around these parts is, "If you can do it, then you CAN do it." No one should be doing this feat if they need help, a boost, and so on. It's all about you, your confidence and your upper body strength, of which it seems small kids have at a disproportionate rate. I cannot even haul myself across the monkey bars these days!

What I love about this treehouse is what it stands for. The kids try tirelessly to climb up the wrecking ball to reach "Stage one," gaining confidence as they contemplate stage two. Through their own creativity, they then find their way up a rope or inch up by using loose tree bark as foot-holds. Usually, we see 7th graders up at the top, while the younger kids struggle to just find a way up the wrecking ball. From the moment these children start school, this is the goal, a rite of passage, a must-archive moment prior to 8th grade graduation.

Today at Summer Camp, I watched as a bunch of soon-to-be first graders made it past stage one, stage two and so on. As I said, I love the tree, but not sure my blood-pressure is ready for this...

So.... I'll just keep reminding Ry to look down every now and then, and make it very clear that he is on his own getting himself out of the tree. He has made it to the first branch - which I will refer to as "Stage 2"- but I am not ready for the rest.

 

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Ch Ch Ch Ch Hah Hah Hah Hah - It's Friday the 13th!

It used to be, that when a Friday the 13th rolled around, the first thing my little 80s brain would envision was poor Jason Vorhees at Camp Crystal Lake...ch ch ch ch hah hah hah hah... Then, I would check under my bed for the Poltergeist Clown, lock my doors and windows and move on with my day. Also, I could continue to move slowly, because those mass murderers all chased you by walking. Seriously people...RUN! And really... that freaky clown still haunts me. One of the worst movie moments to NEVER LEAVE YOU! Super crappy Mr. Spielberg, Thanks.

Friday the 13th has a different meaning to me now, as it's the day that Andy & I were engaged. I came across this funny little photo collage this AM on my computer. This was the weekend we decided that this whole marriage, kids, craziness would be a good idea. You may be wondering about the snowboarding pics in July. We were engaged on February 13th, and mostly because Andy WOULD NEVER have popped the question on Valentine's Day. That's not his style...but Friday the 13th is.

Anyhow, I do not consider the 13th unlucky, although I will have to ask Andy how he feels about it. *wink*

Please Help My Kids

I need cooking lessons or a Sister Wife.

Note. I know. I know. I harp on this topic of meal creation being the bane of my existence. "It's not that hard." Easy for you to say...cooking for you is an innate skill. It's something that has been ingrained in your being that you were either taught, or picked up through some sort of June Cleaver osmosis. Whatever it is, I didn't get it.

Tonight, there was a special event at my son's school for Summer Camp participants. I wasn't planning on going, because I wasn't planning on spending the evening running after and corralling my overly adventurous 3 year old. I did, however, have a moment of pause when I heard there was going to be a Taco Truck.

Do you have any easy meal tips? I'd love to hear them. If not, I'll accept any and all leads on an amply skilled chef/potential sister wife.

 

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Super Monday

Okay, the tiedye outcome/experiment was in one word, a SUCCESS! Everybody (in my house), even my non tie-dye-wearing husband thought these were pretty cool. He even said he would sport his...around the house. I stressed all day about rinsing these bad boys out, but it wasn't so bad. I unwrapped and wrung them out in the kitchen sink and then proceeded to sprint to the washing machine for the final leg of their journey. I'm not sure we will do this again in the near future, but I can guarantee if we do, the youngest child will be of the package's recommended age.

Until then, I will be watching The Bachelorette. Unfortunately, this season is totally lackluster. I mean, I truly want the best for Emily, but I have to say it's been a little boring. The only reason I watch this trash tv is so I can follow this blog and laugh my $&@?! off. Ok... Back to my TiVo...

 

 

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Hip Hippie Hooray!

Daddy left for a photo excursion in SF, so I thought today was a great day to bust out the tie dye kit that Ry picked it out at Joanne's Fabrics. Note, I don't frequent this place, he was in tow for the recent Chili Cook Off shopping trip and some items mysteriously made their way into the cart. ;-)

 

The first thing you need to know about this endeavor...is that the age rating on the package is accurate. I'm sure if I were less Type A, my 6 year old could have been more involved, but the 3 year old basically becomes a vehicle for tracking dye around the yard, so we kept things more "contained." It wasn't too hard, as I found that all they were really interested in doing was choosing colors and shapes for their designs.

Oh, and gloves are fun...

 

Getting the shirts damp was a team effort. Done. Check!

We then decided on "bullseye shapes" and "swirls. They chose, while I broke rubber bands. But I have to say, from this pic alone, our operation was looking pretty legit. Hippie time! Yeah maaan! Time to get our Sugar Magnolia on!

There are no pics of me dying the shirts. Yes, I said ME. My nerves could not handle otherwise. I mean the dye, the iPad, the DYE! Again, choosing colors was more exciting than actually doing it yourself.

"Hey Casey Jones Ry, can you get me the... Nevermind."

In his defense, he was the MAN when it came to starting the Saran wrap roll for each item, while I stood dripping. He was also right there to help me with color choices as well as policing Hay from tracking dye into the house.

 

Now we will watch dye dry for 6-8 hours.

 

I'm not sure where I will be rinsing these out, but that's tomorrow's task. In the meantime, Ry is reading a Hanukkah book to Hay in his best New York accent...did I teach him that?

Happy Sunday, Man.

 

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Tired and Lazy Mommy

I have been lagging in the blogger department lately. Of course, it's not a for a lack of things to say, just a lack of time to say it. Between my job, my kids, my TiVo queue etc... you get the picture. BUT! Andy got me a handy dandy iPad for my *cough* 40th 39th birthday, and I found this awesome Blogsy app, so now I think I am back. Because, I'm 39, *wink* and too lazy to get my giant laptop out with the cord and the outlet and the....

I'm also trying to curb my children's media diet... How am I doing? Not great, but I have at least put the kibosh on some of the more questionable programming. Baby steps.

One serious post to come...something yucky happened and I have been laboring over talking about it on the interwebs...but I'm ready. Reminiscent of this...but worse. Obviously, we are all okay...so no cliffhanger.


Talk soon....



 

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