Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Four Years of Blogging

As I sat down to create a blog entry this morning, for some reason it dawned on me that today is my 4th blogiversary.  Yes, my brain really works that way.  Yes, I really remember the date!






And as I reflect over the years of keeping up with my blog, I know without a doubt that it was a great thing to have started writing and posting. I keep thinking that someday I will get back to writing about my thoughts on issues: parenting, politics, relationships, religion...you name it.  My thoughts have even changed on things I've written about in the past.  It's interesting to even see how I've changed over the years.



Right now it's used to watch my family grow.




And we certainly have.

Friday, January 11, 2013

A Different Spelling - A Teachable Moment (For Mom)

Depending on what I'm doing with Sarah's hair, our routine for fixing it is often with her sitting in one of our bar stools in front of the tv.  She watches a show on Disney Junior or something while I do two braids or a braid across the front with a pigtail or whatever.  It just makes it more fun for her and hopefully less painful if she's distracted when I'm pulling her hair!

This morning she saw a commercial for a show that is particularlly cute.  You may have seen it, too.




Making conversation with me, she said, "I have a girl with that name in my class, but she doesn't spell it the same."

I replied, "Oh, I'm sure she does, Sarah.  That's how you spell it."

"No, Mom.  Really.  Her's is longer." she continued.

Not wanting to argue but feeling sure she must have just not realized how the girl spelled it, I said, "I'm pretty sure it's the same, Sarah."

Josh was in the kitchen, and he heard this exchange.  I guess he looked over at the tv, and then looked at me and said, "Chrissy, maybe the girl in the class uses a PH in her name..."




And then I realized...Sarah was right.

I didn't even know that the show used an F in Sofia.  I thought Sophia was always with a PH!

I told Sarah I was sorry and that she was very good at observing the difference!

She thought nothing of it, I could tell.  But it did make me feel bad.

I hope I'm better at listening/observing in these circumstances in the future.  If I had just looked at the title a little closer, I may have realized the difference.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Misc. Monday - Sister's Engagement, Our Dog, Fortune Cookie

Well, hello first Monday of 2013.




Miscellany Monday @ lowercase letters


1.  This is the 735th post on my blog.  It was January of 2009 when I began this writing journey, and I've had blogging blitzes and blogging droughts, that's for sure.  Every year I usually tell myself to be consistent with it, and last year I did pretty good through May.  The times I want to give it up, I remind myself that it's often a blog entry that reminds me of something that happened in our lives.  When I'm good at documenting what we do, this basically becomes a family journal.  I sure miss writing more opinionated things, but I haven't had the gumption to do it lately! :)


2.  My sister sent me a text message on December 31st...



My mouth dropped open, and before I had a chance to yell at Josh to come look, she called me.  I'm so excited I can hardly stand it...MY LITTLE SISTER IS GETTING MARRIED!


Chris and Sonja on Christmas Day.


My kids love him to pieces...

Gabriel and Caleb with Chris on 12/23




And I do, too...

Me and Chris before the Rams vs. Chiefs game :)


3.  This weekend, I got the wild and crazy idea to bring our sweet dog, Abby, into the house and let her be an inside dog.  She is 10-years-old, and when we first had her, she was inside.  For three years she was in our apartment(s), but when we bought our home in 2005, I just didn't feel like she should be inside anymore.  I guess just seeing the massive amounts of hair we had to clean up each time we moved was just enough for me to send her out.  But I had a change of heart for some reason, and she has been the absolute best.


She loves to sit next to Leah in her jumpy thingy or in the swing.

It's funny how much I remember her puppy years.  She is part lab, but that's the part that she is the most!  They are puppies for a very long time it seems.  She has been so sweet, though.  Never barks, never goes where she's  not supposed to, and only once or twice has motioned like the wanted to go up on the couch.  We told her no, and she just backed down and layed down on the floor.


4.  When it snowed last week, the kids just had to go outside of course!  I stayed inside with Leah, but that didn't keep them from throwing snow balls at me...





5.  Oh...did I mentioned my little sister is getting married? :) Do you know that means I must take losing weight much more seriously?  Must look good for the big event you know.


6.  I went to see Les Miserables with Josh...we went to our favorite Chinese restaurant afterwards, and I had this in my fortune cookie...



Those fortune cookie writers are pretty smart.