National No-TV week

Noah brought home a flyer last week from school, informing us that THIS week is National turn-off-the TV week. Or National No-TV Week. Whatever the correct title is, you get the idea. I haven't been able to find any information about this (is this really a national thing or something his school just made up?) but regardless, we've decided to try it. Um, except for any Suns playoff games that might be on. And I'm not sure if I can miss 24 Monday night either. The blackout also includes video games & computer games but certainly they can't mean blogging can they?

At least as for the kids, whose minds are more impressionable and in whose lives the TV or lack thereof makes a bigger difference, I've decided to make an effort at coming up with some great, fun things for them/us to do during the times of day they might normally be watching the tube. Any ideas?

Car Music

What do you listen to in the car? When Aaron & I were first married he had an old Honda Accord whose trunk was chock full o' subwoofers, he had installed own his custom stereo (or maybe his brother had?), and we rocked out. By that, I mean cranked it... whatever "it" was; the collection was vast & varied. It helped that we both worked at a CD store and had over 10,000 CDs at our disposal (they were used so we didn't feel bad about borrowing them; we also bought a lot of them since they were cheap).

When I first had babies in the car I decided to try the classical music route to stimulate their brains. When that got boring I'd listen to the more mellow stuff in my collection and keep the volume low. Eventually we began acquiring some children's music, and although it really does the trick of keeping my kids happy in the car, I must admit that I looked forward to those precious car rides by myself when the kids were with a babysitter. But then something truly frightening happened, when I was alone in the car I found myself turning the dial to TALK RADIO!! (gasp! How old am I anyway! If this question were asked on that "age quiz," the talk radio factor would certainly bump me up by 10 years!) I think this started happening around the time of the 2004 presidential primaries & general election, which I was quite interested in.

Anyway, I'm here to tell you about a CD that Molly just got for her birthday last week:

If you haven't seen the Backyardigans on Nick Jr., you're missing out. When they first went on the air I thought they looked dumb, but once I watched it with the kids I realized that it's a cute show with a cute premise and absolutely awesome music! So, this CD features 18 tracks from several episodes... the songs will make more sense if you've seen the show but they are perfectly enjoyable without having seen it too. What makes it so enjoyable is the myriad of musical styles that the songs are done in: rock, disco, irish jig, rockabilly, big band, hip hop, swing, waltz, general folk, etc. So each song sounds quite different from the next which is a refreshing change to many children's music CDs. It also works great when we have Dance Party USA in our family room.

To complete the Sara/music/car saga, the kids and I branch out more lately and listen to some "real" music, although they most often request "their" music. When I'm alone I do often listen to talk radio if there's a show/host currently on that I can tolerate. And when Aaron & I are in the car together we most often rock out (although the Accord & subwoofers have been long since replaced by a newer car and, um, trunk space).

Another quiz... because I'm a "music person"

This one tells your greatest influences in popular music. I thought it was interesting!

And it's **here** (You may have to scroll down a little ways to get to "How's your taste in music?"

Warning: you may be doing these blogthings quizzes all day, now that you've found them!

Act Your Age

Here's a fun quiz to figure out how OLD we ACT. I've taken it twice and my results were 32 and 33... I'll be 32 in a month so I guess I'm right on!

Take the quiz **here**
(Hey! I just figured out how to imbed a link!)

PS -- I know my sisters have already taken this quiz; you don't have to do it again!

A couple of Hip Grannies!

This is a shout out to my two wonderful Grandmas, both of whom have looked at this blog at least once! And I mean, I didn't sit down and show it to them; they both did it on their own, with their own computers, in their own homes. Yep, they both have, in recent years, taken the plunge... decided to learn how to use computers, the internet and email! I am really proud of them both for taking this step; it's not easy to learn something new like that. Way to go, and welcome to the world wide web, my two sweet and terrific Grandmas!!

Paradise

Sorry for the long delay in posts but as many of you know, we were on vacation last week. We're counting it as our 10-yr-anniversary trip; close enough anyway (our anniversary's in September).

Aaron's brother Jake & his wife Tiffany came with us -- great travel companions!

I would like to take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about Kauai, the "garden island" of Hawaii, and share a few pictures as well.Kauai is the oldest on the Hawaiian islands chain, so it has experienced the most erosion, which means steep, spectacular cliffs and deep valleys. The wettest spot on earth is at the top of Mount Wai’ale’ale on Kauai. The top of this mountain is almost always shrouded in clouds and receives over 460 inches of rain every year! There are several major rivers and hundreds of waterfalls on this island, making it the most green of all the Hawaiian islands. There is plenty of sunshine along the coasts though; the normal daily forecast being “mostly sunny with a chance of passing showers.”

Kauai has a more rural feeling than the other major islands… there are about 60,000 residents spread among several small towns (in stark contrast to Oahu's 875,000). Although I would never want to permanently live in such a rural place, it is nice to visit. Everyone is friendly & strangers actually talk to each other... there is a definite sense of community, where people are aware & concerned about the people around them, instead of being absorbed with their laptops & ipods. The locals on Kauai have a lot of local pride and although they enjoy the tourism dollars we bring to their island, they make it clear (through bumper stickers -- all the locals seem to have bumper stickers) that they don’t want you to move there and are adamantly against any further commercial development of their paradise. But they are very friendly as long as you’re only there to visit.
It's a great place for snorkeling!

We spent a week on Kauai four years ago too, and feel that we're pretty familiar with that island now. Seeing many of the same sights twice is okay though, when they are as spectacular as these.

I highly recommend that any married couple, especially if you have kids, make the effort to get away and take a trip with just the two of you every now and then. It doesn't have to be as exotic as Hawaii, but just getting away somewhere together is great for any relationship. I feel like we've rediscovered how much fun we have together, like when we were dating & newlyweds. That being said though, we would like to take the kids with us next time we go to Hawaii. In a few years they will be old enough to help carry their own bags, not need carseats, and be able to enjoy & appreciate a fun trip like that more than they would now. We're already talking about the things we'd like to do next time, and what credit card mileage program we should sign up for!

Happiness Pt. 2

A topic worth revisiting...

My sister saw this on Oprah the other day; a psychiatrist who came up with the following "Happiness Quiz."

Rate these from 1 - 7: 1 = Not at all true. 4 = Moderately true. 7 = Absolutely true.

1. In most ways, my life is close to ideal.

2. The conditions of my life are excellent.

3. I am satisfied with my life.

4. So far, I have gotten the important things I want in life.

5. If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing.

So rate those 1 - 7. Add up your score. The highest possible score is 35. If you score 31 or higher, you are extremely satisfied with your life. If it is below 15, you are dissatisfied with your life. Obviously, everyone else just falls in the middle.

It's interesting to read those statements and really reflect on how you feel about them. On the show the psychiatrist offered way to help improve your score if you scored low. I didn't see the show but my sister summarized the advice as follows: Stop worrying about what other people have and comparing your material things to other people's; start surrounding yourself with more positive people/influences; make more time for yourself (especially moms) because if you are happy, your family will be happy; give up the past and more forward; be kinder to others and yourself.

Thanks Jame for the post idea!

P.S. I do NOT expect to read your score in the comments :)

Concert-goer

Me and the Mr. are going to a concert in a couple weeks and I'm SO excited. There aren't very many bands I like well enough to spend that kind of money on; the cost of the cd is usually the most they'll get out of me. But there are few I don't mind forking out a little more cash for, and I've never regretted it. (My only regrets are the shows I haven't gone to but could/should have!) On April 28 we're going to see Air, who I've never seen live but love their music and am right now listening to their latest, Pocket Symphony (pictured).

Coincidentally (because we married-with-children types rarely bother to go to concerts anymore), I happen to have tickets to another show, this one MUCH bigger, in June... that would be the Police. I loved listening to the Police when I was about 15 and I saw Sting in concert that year... it was a good show but I like the old Police tunes much better than any of Sting's solo stuff. So, when I heard they were doing a reunion tour, I had to buy tickets, even if they cost an arm and a leg... and even if it's just going to be a hit-singles playlist and even if my seats are... terrible. My cool little brother is going too; he's been to more concerts than anyone I know, and although he isn't a gigantic Police fan, he knows history in the making when he sees it!

(3 posts in one day; yikes! I had to keep going while I was on a roll...)

Egg Decorating

I just wanted to share an egg-decorating tip that works great for my kids. This year I didn't buy anything special for egg-dyeing; just used the regular dyes I already had around the house. I always like to let the eggs soak forever in regular cups of dye, so they turn nice deep shades. The kids prefer to have more artistic license. This year I did make 6 cups of the regular shades for soaking, but I also made tiny cups of concentrated dyes that the kids used to color the eggs with q-tips. This works great! I used my cake-decorating gels and thinned out a little dab with water. I only made four of those colors this year, one for each child, but next year I will make several since that's the only thing the kids wanted to use on their eggs. They made some very lovely, psychedelic eggs this year, and it's not much more messy than any other method. A little dye on the fingers but it wears off after a day or so. Once I find my camera (I think it got left in Aaron's car) I will upload a picture of this year's creations.

Snaggletoothiness

One reason why first-graders are fun...

He's got permanent teeth coming in behind the still-there baby teeth, loose teeth, tight teeth, overlapping teeth... I'm trying to hook him up with a sweat shop so he can start saving for braces. They have sweat shops here, right?

PonyParty

Molly's turning 5 tomorrow! I can't believe my second-born will be in Kinder-garten in just a few short months.

Ever since last year, when Molly had her Hello Kitty party, she's been saying she wants her next one to be a My Little Pony party. Anyone who knows me knows I go all out on the kids' birthday cakes, but I haven't been able to come up with a good idea for this one yet. Any thoughts? Her party (family party) will be this weekend. So far I've only found unimpressive examples online. I might use the same technique as her Hello Kitty cake (pictured) but Hello Kitty has a much simpler shape than a My Little Pony. Maybe once I go to Party City to buy all the matching plates, cups, etc, I'll be inspired?

No sleep

I was all ready to write something pleasant about our delightful Easter weekend, when I remembered something Lucy said yesterday. We were looking at each other's eyes, discussing what color they are (her lovely blue eyes are pictured) and instead of telling me that my eyes are green, the correct answer, she said, "Mom, your eyes are red. And cracked." I looked in the mirror and didn't think they looked THAT bad, but you know, 3-yr-olds don't lie about this kind of stuff! I attribute the new bloodshot look to 2 nights of being up with Molly & Zoe (stomach flu), followed by staying up too late Saturday night to get ready for Easter, and waking up too early on Sunday morning (I had to be at church at 7:45am). Lucy thought she'd contribute to my eye condition further by waking me up this morning at 4:45am with her own case of stomach flu. Gotta keep mom's eyes red!

And cracked.

Eggs

Tonight we will be doing traditionally dyed hard-boiled eggs with the kids, but this afternoon Noah & worked on these little numbers... decopaged, blown eggs. I was experimenting with different materials so that's why most of them don't "match" but once I select a theme, or scheme, then I will make many more. They will either hang with ribbons from a little tree, or be displayed in a little basket as a centerpiece. An option we haven't tried is starting with dyed eggs so the background is a color other than white. So, these aren't my proudest accomplishment but a fun afternoon activity during Easter time. Kinda cute, no?

P.S. I know I'm showing up back from my hiatus a little early... apparently I cannot predict myself and should have made no announcement at all!

Important Update!

I neglected to give MAD PROPS to my sista Kate who"came up" with this fab idea... actually Martha Stewart came up with it but Kate SAW it on her show.

PS Kate have you done more of yours? If so please post a pic! I'm sure they'll look way better than mine! :)

B.B.H. (Brief Blogging Hiatus)

I'd written this whole list of reasons why I haven't come up with any great blog contributions the past couple days, and while it's true that I have a busy week, I re-read it and realized that I do NOT want to come across as one of those "I'm-too-busy;-way-too-busy-and-I-really-don't-have-time-for-you" people... they drive me crazy. Suffice it to say, Easter's upon us and although I do have a few post ideas, they will have to wait until I have more time to spend on them (don't hold your breath; nothing spectacular).

My apologies for not contributing more to Mrs. Dub's Ultimate Springtime Scavenger Hunt Extravaganza 2007. I jazzed up the name for ya there. Happy Easter everyone!!

The one that started it all...

This is the famous red paper clip that one man began with, and traded up until he had a house. It's an interesting story, if you haven't heard it before. Read it here: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jul2006/tc20060712_072545.htm

Reasons I don't want them to grow up

Here they are way back in the summer of 2004 Lucy calls Rice Krispies “Ricepies”

Zoe still sucks her thumb and cuddles.

Molly can climb a tree like nobody’s business, and isn’t afraid to.

Noah still loves to learn and still thinks his parents are cool.

They think “dumb” is a REALLY bad word and they’ve never heard any of the real ones.

They go to bed at 7:30 or 8:00.

They love the fancy birthday cakes I make.

They all need me.

Christmas Eve 2006

Reasons I am okay with them growing up... a little bit

They can get dressed almost all by themselves.

Potty training: 3 down, 1 to go!

They can get in the car by themselves.

All are adept at spoon & fork usage.

All are big enough to walk through the store w/o a stroller.

The youngest are old enough to enjoy Disneyland.

In August, Z & L will be in preschool and I will actually have a few hours by myself each week!

They will still need me for a while.