{girl rising}: go see it!

I never embed videos in the blog two days in a row, but the exception is worthwhile because this film is itself so exceptional:



I saw it a few nights ago at our town's tiny theater with girlfriends. Find a theater near you to see it for yourself. I recommend taking your daughters too, so long as they are 13 or older. There are stories of sexual violence and a child giving birth in the film, but they are handled with discretion for the sake of minors watching. A few moms and seventh graders were leaving the theater next to us, and I overheard one say to the other, "Oh thank goodness! I was worried about where we were headed for a moment, but I think it was just perfect." I couldn't have said it better myself. Powerful, inspiring, important.

If, like me, you leave the theater wondering how you can donate, check out this website. The issue of girls' education is one that is dear to my heart. When I left Kenya the second time, I tried to assist in the creation of a Kenya girls' education fund, and I learned much about the process of becoming a NGO, as well as other great life lessons. Now in my thirties, I'm happy to see there's an organization doing good work in this needed area. I hope that some day, girls won't have to live their lives on the street, selling their bodies to feed their hungry families.

I wrote about this girl in a post last year

this just in: adorable child sings adorable song, gives interview

Charlie is at that age where she'll answer questions and sing songs on demand. Thus, I spend most of my time asking questions and requesting songs. See for yourself...

Dancing!

roof permits are hard to come by...

Between the Lincoln logs, Duplos, and wood blocks, we've got lots of building going on 'round here. If only Charlie would let us put a roof on it...

The kids are enjoying their new holiday loot, and meanwhile Nate and I are dividing our time between college bowl games (nearly done! phew) and basement shuffling. New year, new stuff! Purging seems to be a disdained activity in many households, but I know I'm a broken record when I say I love rotating my belongings.

How are y'all holding up? Any resolutions? I'm going with the standard "more exercise, less sugar" routine. And maybe some L-glutamine to help my tummy along...

I'm also going to try to take some sage advice and keep my list of regrets down to a minimum. I love the "what is my legacy?" and "who will be there with me?" questions he poses in that HuffPo article. Thought provoking to be sure.

Hope you're having a splendid start to the new year!
xoxo
~J

happy holidays!

                                                Source: lifeinthenow.com via Maryann on Pinterest

Our house is already a mess even a day before the main event, but I am enjoying every moment to its fullest. We are waist-deep in presents and macaroons and chocolate moose. The fireplace is fixed now, so we reveled in our first living room blaze in the new house last night. I am also patiently waiting for my new oven, an unexpected gift (our last one broke last week) that will arrive the day after Christmas. I hope you're enjoying some great holidaying as well. I'll try to update again when I can, but for now here's a few videos of Charlie exuding holiday cheer.

{animoto}: family togetherness rocks!

My mom is coming today for Thanksgiving. We are so excited because it's been over a year since her last trip up to Beantown. I am really happy that I was given an opportunity to make a video where I could showcase our enthusiasm about the family togetherness that the holidays bring. Click here to see my video and learn more about how you can get a free video too! (No contest required!).

the decider

In doing some motherly introspection a few days ago, I mulled over a typical interaction that happens between me and Vivi lately. I'm starting from the middle of the story though, so I really should back up to what spurred the self-examination. I'm a Sunday school teacher for the first and second graders; I complain about this job probably too much to Nate and my mom, but secretly I love it. Six years old is IMHO clearly the best age next to eleven, and these kids are every bit as excited about life, potty/button/shoe-tying trained, affectionate, and not yet sarcastic as I had hoped. But I digress.

perfect is as perfect does

Don't bother telling me that title doesn't make any sense. Grammar is not my friend today. In any case, that modified Gumpism is the phrase that's been going through my head over the past few days.

It all started with an episode of NPR's On Point about perfectionism. Did you catch it? I enjoyed it because members of my immediate family--who will remain nameless--have perfectionist tendencies, and I've often wondered if striving for perfectionism is simultaneously a sort of strength and weakness. The radio program addressed this issue in a way that didn't point fingers but at the same time offered an impetus for perfectionists to be less perfect. It's worth a listen.

alligator song, part deux

I am home for a few hours of nap between session one and two with a laboring mom. I'm scarfing down a banana and peanut butter while the kids eat lunch, then planning to put on tele-nanny for Vivi while Charlie and I sleep. Some weeks are all about threading seconds together to make minutes, and it feels like there is a never-ending trail of stuff not being done along the way. But the kids are fed (even it is the eleventh day in a row of PB&H) and entertained. Sometimes that has to be enough.

I couldn't end the post without also providing you some entertainment, so here are videos of Vivi and Charlie singing the same song as two-year-olds. FYI, the lyrics are actually:

Five little monkeys swinging in the trees
Teasing Mr. Alligator
You can't catch me, you can't catch me
Along comes Mr. Alligator quietly as can be
And SNAP! that monkey out of the tree

I love how the kids butcher it. And whispering is the cutest.

we interrupt this program...

...to bring you a baby video of Charlotte (5 1/2 months old) I found when organizing the computer. Notice how I am barely able to keep Vivi from smothering her. That was the status quo for what seemed like forever. It's astounding how much daily life can change in two years.

parenting a "spirited" child

Picking a Halloween costume. Much to Mommy's dismay, Raggedy Ann is not the winner.

Although I realize I handily place myself into a parenting cliche with this next observation, I'm going to say it anyway: Vivi is a special kid. I know, I know, I went there. I even nerdily bolded the text. Go ahead and call me a trite mother. But it's true, she is special! Ever since she turned to me at eighteen months old after a lengthy car trip and said "Oh my goodness, that was long!," I knew I was in for a parenting experience I wasn't quite expecting. The child knew about 150 words (counting what she knew in Spanish too) and spoke in 5-word sentences by the time the doctor told me at her check-up that she should know "about three to five words."

I found my thrill...

Come climb the hill with me, baby

We'll see what we shall see

I'll bring my horn with me

I'll be wit' you where berries are blue

~From "Blueberry Hill" by Louie Armstrong

Thanks to Kerry for sharing a great location to pick blueberries. This was our best morning I can remember in a while. I made a video to share the memories!

I'm off to make some cobbler. Hope you're enjoying the July bounty!

homemade Mother's Day video & Animoto giveaway!

Happy May Day! I'm going to start off this month a bit differently on the blog and host my first giveaway. I'm not a giveaway girl usually. Maybe it's because I'm a book nerd, or because I'm frugal, but I don't often find myself getting excessively hyped up about any new product or electronic toy. I'm a simple chick. I have a dumb phone--you know, as opposed to a "smart" phone--and I prefer to scrub my floors on my hands and knees to the fancy steam mop that Nate bought and that, less than a year later, has just been donated to our church rummage sale.

Now that I'm past that little rant, I'll tell you about the electronic toy I love. When Clever Girls Collective offered me a chance to make videos from my pictures, I thought: how fun! It was perfect timing because I just scanned a bunch of pictures of my mom that my dad found and sent me. Since Mother's Day is coming, I decided to make a movie for mom of the pictures I scanned. Happy (early) Mother's Day Mom!



And guess what? I'm not the only one who gets a freebie. There's something in it for you too. Just go to Animoto and enter the code CleverFL to get a free video. AND one lucky reader will also get a free one-year subscription to Animoto Plus, which gives you unlimited full-length videos.

Here's how you can win the free year's subscription:

Leave a comment by midnight on Sunday, May 6th letting me know who you would make your free video for. Also sign into the Rafflecopter widget below and complete as many other entries as you'd like. The winner will be selected randomly by Rafflecopter and announced on Monday, May 7th. Good luck!

As they say on their website, making videos on Animoto is "shockingly easy." This is important because I have only a few minutes to spend on learning new things, due both to my post-baby brain power and hectic mommy schedule. But dudes, I'm serious when I say that if you already have the pictures and song, it will take you about five minutes to make your movie. So go for it!

{four}

Juice! Vivi's favorite birthday party treat.

Genevieve is four years old! We made a big birthday breakfast of hot cross buns (I froze some of the dough at Easter), pancakes, bacon, fried eggs, special candied fruits (pineapple and kiwi, yum!), and a coconut. I thought it would be a fun breakfast project to break it open and drink the juice in our morning smoothie.

an Easter full of peekaboo and buns

N.B.: This title is no doubt going to attract some p0rn searches, but whattaya gonna do? 

I know I've already posted once today, but I couldn't resist sharing the game of peekaboo we played while eating our special Easter snack, hot cross buns. As you're about to see, Charlotte kinda liked it.

Hope you had a splendid weekend! I'm off to make eggs and sausage for dinner, cuz that's the kind of day we're having.

xoxo,
~J

p.s. I didn't video Vivi because she's gotten a hair cut, and I'm talking more about it (and showing a picture!) on Tuesday.

at least my kids are cute

I am having one of those days where I am feeling overwhelmed by everything, which usually accompanies big changes in my life. Not only is Nate still on his work trip, but I am also making some general alterations on the homefront--stuff I want to write about soon, but not tonight. Tonight is for singing....and for banging lollipops on the table. Two of life's greatest pleasures.

p.s. I got these ginormous (local, organic, homemade) lollipops from the liquor lollipop store up the street. I think they will last for the rest of these girls' childhood. Is it a problem to keep them forever? Let's just pretend it's not.

behind the scenes

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! I hope you're doing something merry and preferably without ingesting too much artificial green dye. We are off to spend our morning on my favorite local farm, where we will see the farmers harvest maple syrup and eat loads of pancakes. It promises to be memorable and filling. And after a fruitless ransacking for green in Vivi's wardrobe, she is planning to wear her frog costume, which is apparently the only green thing she owns. There will be pictures.

Along the lines of the {a day in the life} post I wrote a while back, I thought I'd share some of what happens behind the scenes at our Home on the Range. I can typically be found in the kitchen, where we get lots of natural light. My basic life philosophy is that where the food resides, so do I. The girls like hanging out with me here, so the kitchen is also the location of impromptu dance parties and story hours on the floor.

(almost) wordless Wednesday: happiness is...

...bouncing your little sister in a giant spider web at the zoo...

the arc of a Saturday

My day began as a typical Saturday does. I sprung out of bed, stripped the sheets, did some laundry, dressed the kids and made them breakfast, and got ready for the gym. At this point in my day, I am hyped up about my productivity, feeling a lot like this...

Source: Hyperbole and a Half. But, you knew that already.

tomfoolery abounds

It's that time again when I report to you the horrible daytime TV shows I am catching while at the gym. Well, this will actually be the first report, but let's make it a regular thing, shall we? I have been catching more TV at the gym than usual lately because I can't seem to remember to charge my iPod shuffle. My routine has become music for a week, TV for a month, and so on.

I don't think I ever watched a moment of Regis and Blondie until last week, when it wasn't even Regis any more. But I've caught enough clips on The Soup over the years that I feel I have the gist. Have you seen it since Jerry Seinfeld has been filling in? Don't. Unwatchable! He is palpably uncomfortable in the roll and holds his cue cards like they are a pile of junk mail. "Nothing in here could possibly be interesting, but here goes!" Ick.

My second report comes from this new talk show called "The Chew," in which famous chefs and minor celebrities discuss and make food. Heard of it? I watched about 45 seconds of it last week, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that I want that minute of my life back. Melodrama aside, it's got an even bigger ick factor than Reeg-cum-Jerry. It stars Mario Batali, another chef I usually like, that Clinton guy from What Not To Wear, and a few others. The moment I witnessed was filmed from inside a refrigerator, with the hosts on the other side trying to decide what they were planning to cook. It was beyond patronizing, like something out of a twisted adult version of Sesame Street, only with no possible chance of learning anything new.

I was going to talk about the Rachael Ray show, but I really have nothing spectacular to say, and I don't want to become one of those mean, snarky girls who doesn't create anything but pokes fun of those who try. But seriously, try harder! Okay, on to some better video content: my kids! (Did that segue work? Let's pretend it did).

I'm sorry to say our Flip video camera, which has given us such great videos since Vivi was born, is on its last legs. You can hear its sad swan song (crackling noise, aka the "phlegm rattle") in some of these videos.

The first was supposed to be of Charlie being cute, but Vivi quickly stole the show as usual.

The next two are of the girls reading and playing in the tent we got forever ago at a sale and forgot all about. Great score!

The last video is of the kids dancing to "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." Cuteness overload!

the sibling effect

When I was growing up, I always wished I had a sister close in age to me with whom I could share secrets, make up games and worlds, and have fights but then make up later. I am thrilled to have two girls of my own, and it's important to me that as they mature, they know how special and unique their bond with each other is. I want to do what I can to ensure my girls have a close relationship based on love and mutual respect.

I may be especially in tune to this aspect of parenting because I often wonder whether it will matter that I didn't grow up with a sibling close in age to me. I have no personal experience from which to draw when helping my children fight their battles with each other. And while I have several girlfriends who are close with their sisters, I also have a few who are not. They typically chalk it up to personality differences, but I have to wonder if it's more complicated--if the rift runs deeper than it seems. How could quirks in personality type be the sole divider between two people with such an intense relationship?

One of my favorite courses in college was developmental psychology. I love watching children learn and grow, and it was fascinating to me to learn the science to accompany my years of experience as a camp counselor. I finally knew what those kids were thinking! I've gotten another huge dose of knowledge in the past few weeks from a book I'm reading.


NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I found Nurture Shock to be as eye-opening as Malcolm Gladwell's books and Freakonomics. In particular, I enjoyed the chapter on siblings. I find it interesting that the authors point to research showing children fight over their belongings, not over the affection of their parents. How egocentric of us to think otherwise! Then, at the end of the chapter they note the children who got along best with their siblings started out having good relationships with friends.

What frustrates me is that they don't provide specifics as to why these children had good relationships with friends; did their parents do something special or different to teach them to share toys or show respect? Perhaps they are gearing up to write a sequel or a workbook for parents. I hope so. I would snap it up in a heartbeat!

One of the mom bloggers I follow posted recently about the experience of actively managing her children's relationship. I hope parenting will come as naturally to me as it seems to for her.

I'll leave you with a video I took of the girls the other day. I turned away to read something on the computer for somewhere between 10 and 40 seconds, and this is how I found them when I looked back. Watching it again, I notice Charlie can't seem to get comfortable. Ever the naturalist filmmaker, I opted not to jump in and help. The best videos are the ones taken incognito.