Category Archives: Family

May 17 1 comments
Family

Working their way to our house…

My daughter’s tenth birthday is next week. I’ve already made her a few things like the knitted voodoo doll. The head, body and limbs are complete. I’ll put it together once she’s asleep.

Earlier this morning, I purchased a few items for her…

Monster High Collapsible Trunk

Monster High Collapsible Trunk

 

Such as this adorable Monster High Collapsible Trunk. Judging by the reviews… it’s large and will fit nicely at the foot of my daughters bed. I do think I’ll make it more sturdy by adding a liner inside the trunk and sewing it to the trunk. My daughter will love it since it features her much loved Monster High dolls. I like it since it neatly keeps her items in one place. The Monster High trunk will arrive on her birthday.

Monster High_Scaris Doll_Deuce Gorgon_16154096_01

My daughter loves the Monster High dolls and over the past few years I’ve purchased several for her. She doesn’t have any of the boy Monster High dolls. People snap them up quickly and sell them for well over $100! There’s no way I’m paying that much for a doll that cost a few dollars to make. But this morning I found a male doll, Monster High Deuce Gorgon for $30. I haven’t seen him that low in months and so I quickly bought him. Since he was only $10 more than I’d pay if I could find him in the store.

Wacam Splash Tablet

My daughter loves to draw and she likes computers and has been wanting to digitize some of her sketches and so I think the Wacom Splash Tablet is the perfect beginner tablet for her. Initially, I was going to purchase this for her at Christmas time, but I held off since I felt she had enough for Christmas. But, I added it to my Amazon Wish List knowing that one day I’d eventually purchase it for her. Well guess what? I checked this morning and the price had dropped by $10 since Christmas! I’m an Amazon Prime member and decided to go with next day delivery  for the Monster High doll and the Wacom tablet. They’ll be here tomorrow so I don’t have to worry about them arriving by her birthday.

My daughter doesn’t expect a lot for her birthday. She knows that what you receive isn’t really that important and she seems to be truly happy with whatever she gets which is nice.  The main way I show her how much she means to me is spending lots of time with her. But to make her birth date “extra special” I try to do additional things for her. I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she receives her gifts. She’s such a wonderful daughter smart, loving, and enjoys sharing with others. It’s nice when I can do extra special things for her throughout the year.

 

Apr 30 6 comments
Family

A bit busy; fun with family

Well, it’s been a busy weekend…

We had an unexpected (but much welcome visit) from my six year old nephew this weekend. He stayed with us while my brother and sister in law moved into their new home, which is just a few states away from us… much closer than Texas that’s for sure!

This meant, that the weekend of sewing and the mommy daughter fest that my daughter and I were both looking forward had to be put off until next weekend. The selfish part of me was a bit disappointed – my daughter and I had been planning this time for weeks. But you know what? Even with the change in plans we still had fun including my nephew/daughter’s cousin into our activities. Guess what?  He had a lot of fun too! I took lots of photos, so I’ll be sure to include a few here (within the next few days.) Since the weather was lovely, we stayed outside most of the time, soaking up the sun, breathing in the smog free air and being silly. By the end of each day my daughter and nephew were tired and fell asleep almost instantly after I read them a bedtime story.

Still looking forward to hanging out 1:1 with my daughter next weekend. My daughter was slightly disappointed that our extra special time was put on hold, she didn’t pout and welcomed her cousin into our adventures this past weekend.

Apr 17 4 comments
Family, Humor

Video: Protective Daddy

Amazing the things you’ll find on the internet, right?

Yesterday, I stumbled upon this video and I couldn’t help but chuckle. I wasn’t laughing at the child’s distress but laughed at how the bird reacted after it got some of the same treatment it dealt to the child! The big scary human (I’m guessing the father) who disciplined that bird, was obviously not fine with the bird doing that to his child. And do you blame him? I may be vegan, but I’m not about to put an animal above humans. Yes, I’d have done something similar.

As a child my parents raised birds for eating; chickens, geese, ducks, guinea fowl… A few of those birds were quite territorial! I must say it was interesting to see that a few of the animals could be just as mean spirited as some people! Who would have thought that was possible, right? Listening to some folks, you think that all animals are angels. Yeah right! <sarcasm> With our birds, occasionally paybacks happened to the feathered bully, and I always got a chuckle out of that when something larger or stronger came along and shut down the birds aggressive behavior. Cowards! Those bully birds would always run away when another bird stepped up to the challenge. I think this particular bird is a rhea, and it looks like it got a dose of it’s own behavior. Sure, they’re could have been a logical reason that caused the bird to react the way it did, getting to close to its nest, babies, etc., but to be honest I’m not going to be thinking about that if my daughter is getting attacked. Momma bear mode will be in full effect, everyone (including animals) better watch out! ;)

In other news..

It’s been a bit busy and so I haven’t been online that much. Thursday one of my bank cards was compromised, and so I received a call from the issuing cards fraud department. Nothing was charged to my account, instead the charges were denied since according to the fraud department they didn’t appear to be transactions I’d made. I’m not sure how they determined that. I must say that I’m pleased since it would have been over $3500 worth of charges. I use identify theft protection, it’s an additional fee I pay monthly that attempts to block account fraud.

Thursday evening, my daughter got the stomach flu. She was very sick until Monday but the great news is she started feeling better yesterday. I still kept her home from school though. She’s looking forward to going back to school today.

Apr 05 2 comments
Family

Honor Roll again…

My daughter made honor roll for the third quarter in a row. Of course we both are thrilled about that! I’ve mentioned before, I expect her to do well she has the ability she just needs to apply herself. I don’t accept excuses for poor behavior.

Throughout life, you’ll face numerous milestones and while there might be cases when one has a legitimate reason to feel sorry for themselves, life still continues so you might as well learn how to deal with the challenges that you face.  Currently the occasional challenges she faces are minor; not always wanting to do her homework because she might not understand something or teasing at school. I’m hoping that by showing her ways she can handle the challenges she faces now,  it will continue to be helpful to her as she gets older.

Train up a child in the way he should go, And even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6, American Standard Version

The Holy Bible has a lot of common sense teachings and can be applied to more than just the spiritual aspects of daily life. As her parent, I know it’s wise to prepare her for challenges now. As I told her, running away or pretending a problem doesn’t exist isn’t smart  since those problems will still be present when your forced to deal with them and in some cases they can get worse. I gave her examples from my own life both past and current challenges that she’s known that I’ve faced. I didn’t run away since I knew they’d be there, I dealt with them and moved on…

Ringling Bros.

 

This weekend, as a surprise for doing so well, I’m taking her to the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus. Saturday and Sunday are the last two days they’ll be in town and I know she’s been wanting to see the event. I haven’t been to a circus since I was a child, so I’m sure I’ll have a sense of nostalgia as I watch the show with my daughter and pay for overpriced popcorn and bottled water. ;)

Apr 01 4 comments
Family

Homemade crazy bread, fried rice and fruit pudding…

Last evening I gave my daughter two choices for today’s lunch/dinner; Chinese or Little Caesar’s. She chose Little Caesar’s.

Months can go by before we venture into a restaurant, and we rarely frequent fast food joints but I was making an exception today since I really just wanted to hang with her. Last month was the first time she ate Little Caesar. She disliked their pizza, still liking our homemade pizza better than any restaurant pizza we’ve tried thus far. She tried their Crazy Bread and liked the concept, but wasn’t thrilled with the undercooked bread we received.  I had to bake it when we arrived home since the dough was partially cook. Blech!

The more I thought about it the more I realized I could make it myself. Since it’s “her day” I asked her if she wanted me to make it or head to the restaurant. She was all over homemade Crazy Bread idea. I have a basic idea of what goes into Crazy Bread. It’s most likely pizza dough. A quick online search showed me what makes Little Caesar’s bread “crazy” and it was about what I’d expected. Garlic, Parmesan cheese, and corn meal are added to the mix. Thankfully, I had all those ingredients at home. My daughter helped me prepare our version.

Homemade pizza dough

Homemade pizza dough

 

For the dough, I used the recipe I’ve created for making pizza dough and added some finely minced roasted garlic and some other seasonings.

Homemade Crazy Bread: Raw dough cut into strips

Homemade Crazy Bread: Raw dough cut into strips

 

Once the dough had risen, we cut the raw dough into strips…

Homemade Crazy Bread

Homemade Crazy Bread

 

Then we placed the homemade Crazy Bread into the oven that was preheated to 415 F. The bread baked for 10 minutes. They were removed and brushed with a mixture of homemade roasted garlic oil and Parmesan cheese and placed back into the oven for about two minutes. Results? My daughter loved our homemade crazy bread and even though I made two batches it’s now all gone, she loved them and said it was better than Little Caesar’s version. I’ll definitely make these in the future and I’ll add a few extra ingredients.

Vegetable fried rice

Vegetable fried rice

 

This morning, I made vegetable fried rice and my daughter ate some of this afternoon. What did she have for breakfast? I made fruit pudding which was a simple blend of pureed strawberries, blueberries, and bananas. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of that since my daughter ate it before I could take pictures but I do have great memories of today spent hanging with my daughter and bonding. Life passes by so quickly, take the time to hang out with those you love.

Mar 26 6 comments
Family

Homemade Playdough

Yesterday, my daughter, nephew, and I had a lot of fun making playdough.

I gathered all the ingredients; flour, salt, cream of tarter, water, and a bit of oil. I then cooked everything in a large pot. My six year old nephew was excited, and helped me stir the playdough. My nephew is staying with us until this Friday. It works out perfectly, since my daughter is on Spring Break.

Homemade Playdough

Homemade Playdough

 

In the above photo, the dough started gathering around the spatula, that’s an excellent sign since it means that it’s almost ready. Of course, we had to wait for it to cool. Which was hard for them my daughter and nephew since they were ready to get creative.

 

We dyed our homemade playdough with food coloring.

We dyed our homemade playdough with food coloring.

 

After the playdough had cooled, we separated the playdough into sections and dyed it with food dye. This was a simple project, but we enjoyed it immensely and my daughter and nephew were entertained for a few hours while they worked on their creations. Towards the end, they decided to make Minecraft zombies, and let them dry. Once they’re dry, I’ll make sure I post a picture.

You can have fun without being glued to a technology gadget…

This week, my nephew is taking a break from his technology toys. I told him, you don’t need all those gadgets to have fun. I’m limiting their technology time And you know what? He’s still having fun! I always question the amount of time that some Children (and some adults too) spend with technology gadgets. They’re great, and I truly appreciate mine but I can’t help think that they can be a hindrance also since it can reduce social interaction — if you aren’t careful.

Interaction is very important in our household, and so I make that time. Yes, sacrifices have to be made on my part, but it’s worth the effort.

Mar 14 8 comments
Family

No excuses…

Not a quitterLast evening, around 8:00 p.m., my daughter decided to tell me she had a Math test today.

My immediate thought was…

Yeah, you could have told me this when I asked you six hours earlier!

What was hilarious was the fact that she thought she could tell me that and then slip into bed. I wasn’t having it! I made her stay up an additional 1.5 hours to quiz her on Math to ensure she was ready for her test today. She wasn’t liking that at all and really pouted when I told her tomorrow morning I’d be quizzing her again. I normally know about her tests in advance, but this one slipped right past me.
When I asked her why she didn’t tell me about the test? Her response was, I didn’t want to take the test.

Me: “The test was still going to take place, right?”

Daughter: Well, yeah…

Me: Well, doesn’t it make sense to be prepared so you do well? Poor grades are unacceptable in this house since I know your capabilities. You know this…

As I told her, childhood is a training manual… the habits you develop now can be beneficial to you as an adult. I also told her she might not always like the decisions I make for her and that’s fine, as she gets older I’ll step back and let her make more of her own decisions. My daughter and I are good friends, but I’m still her parent.  When it comes to schooling, as much as I’m involved with her education to ensure she does well, I don’t want to hear any excuses.

My daughter is nine years old, so I’m not going to expect her to approach each activity with the same amount of enthusiasm, but you know what? That’s when it’s my job as the parent to step up and give her the gentle nudge needed or on the rare occasion banning her from a much loved activity to ensure she always does her best.

Regarding schoolwork, my daughter’s grades are either A’s or a B+. I would say part of the reason she does so well is that I do make an effort to be there and help her if she does struggle with something. It’s not always easy, I’m busy but I always make time for her. Sometimes this means that I have to do extra work to make sure I understand what she needs help with. Yes, that takes additional time, but if I want her to continue to do well, it’s my responsibility to do what’s needed to make that happen.

Teacher’s aren’t always to blame…

I am not one of those parents who always find blame with the teachers. Teachers aren’t always the issue. Sometimes parents need to understand that their “little darlings” are the culprits. It’s personal responsibility folks, quit making excuses for them! You really aren’t helping the situation when you do that. And you know what? Sometimes parents/guardians are to blame also for not doing enough to ensure that their children do well.