Month: October 2011

Categories
Kids/Parenting

Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

We almost didn’t do a family costume this year, since initially Rebecca wanted to be a princess and Hayden wanted to be a ghost. After flirting with the idea of pirates, finally Hayden settled on . . . KING, “for Princess Becca.” (Becca, however, insisted she was “Princess Beyya” and also from Princess and the Frog. Got me.)

Rachel’s sticky gem tiara lasted longer than half her earrings—but still not very long.

I made Rebecca’s dress, and you can read more about that over on Wayward Girls’ Crafts (if that doesn’t work, I’ll be along to fix it soon!).

Here’s the royal family. If Hayden’s the king, I guess I’m the Regent. No way I’m letting my five year old rule the country. And I just realized our royal orders are worn opposite. Oh well.

At the end of the night, we handed down our tiaras for a little while:

And where was Ryan? Well, mostly he was running the church Halloween party, but when you caught a glimpse of him, he was part of the entourage, too.

Head of royal security, of course. (And yes, it was his idea.)

What are you doing for Halloween?

Categories
Kids/Parenting

Hayden: cool boy, school boy

I’d post a video of Hayden reading, but I still don’t have a way to upload videos from my video camera to our newer desktop. Barring that, here is a list of words Hayden read (yes, READ) one evening last week:

Sounding out
bat
black cat
block cut                
pin
pen
pan
cob
cap
cub
cup
pup
up
yup
nap		 Sight words
like
see
can
no
go
am
he
and
at
it
yes
I
love
you

challenge word: pumpkin

Sentence: I can see like you.

(The sight words came from a school list, and from words I know he knows already; everything else I made up. They’re working on sight words at school, which mystifies me to some extent. When I hear “sight words,” I assume you’d focus on words that aren’t phonetic, and then focus on phonics for the rest of the words. The first sight words Hayden learned [I, am, can, see, like] follow regular phonetic rules. While there’s definitely something to be said for the feeling of accomplishment at reading a whole word, it seems more worthwhile to focus on teaching broadly applicable phonetic rules. I mean, the only reason the kid can read is because I’ve been teaching him his vowel sounds. </rant>)

I’m suitably proud of him. I might be praising him a bit too much. The other night, after he put together a toy, he sighed in satisfaction and said under his breath, “I’m always a genius.” He turned to me and added more loudly, “I’m always thinkin’, Mom!”

Yep.

Categories
Fulfillment Contests

October 2011 Group Writing Project Finale

(Happy birthday, Mom!)

This month’s group writing project was based around the theme of “Motherhood to me.” We had eight beautiful entries that cover a wide range of motherhood (and future motherhood) experiences:

All of these great entries explore motherhood in brilliant ways. I’ve found them all inspiring, and I hope you’ll read and comment on them too! (I’m a little behind in commenting, but I’m hoping to get to it today.)

Now, feel free (but, of course, not compelled) to spread the link love by copying the above list (instructions) and posting it to your own blog.

The Winna!
Chosen at random, the winner of our prize, a $30 Amazon.com gift certificate, is <drum roll>…

Motherhood to Me by Shelly Brown

Congratulations, Shelly, and thanks to everyone who participated!

Categories
Fulfillment Contests

GWP Entries So Far

This month, we’re doing a group writing project on “Motherhood to me.” It’s almost like a status update, a self-check, a note to yourself about where you are in our life as a mom right now.

So far, we’ve got three great entries:

Read, comment—and join in!

Categories
Fulfillment Contests

October 2011 Group Writing Project: Motherhood to me

It’s that time again—my sister’s birthday! And I totally know what I want to get her. Unfortunately, I should have clicked that “buy” button last week. Sigh.

Oh, wait. I think I wanted to tell you it was time for a MamaBlogga Group Writing Project! As I posted yesterday, the theme for the October Group Writing Project is “Motherhood to me.”

MamaBlogga Group Writing Project badgeAs always, feel free to go in any direction that appeals to you. Even if you don’t choose to participate, you can encourage others to participate!

  • Although the inspiration post is a fantastic essay-in-list-form, your post can take any form as long as it reflects this theme—this includes anything from serious to sarcastic, about your children, your future children, your pet, etc.
  • You can participate with a blog post, a podcast, a video, a page on your website, etc., etc. If you don’t have a website, contact me and I’ll be happy to publish your entry here on MamaBlogga.
  • Only NEW posts (i.e., posts have not been published prior to 10 October 2011) are eligible. Posts must be submitted through the submission form before Sunday, 16 October 2011.

Why participate?
There are lots of reasons to participate! All entries that meet the guidelines will be listed and linked to here on MamaBlogga. This an opportunity for you to discover new blogs (and for others to discover yours!). Also, see how you can get the most out of the GWP.

And, of course, there is one more incentive: one lucky post author, drawn at random, will receive a $30 gift certificate to Amazon.com (to be announced Monday, 17 October 2011).

Finally, we’d appreciate it if you linked to this post or to the guidelines/submission form on your entry post so that others can learn about the project and participate.

Get the badge!
Copy and paste this code to get the MamaBlogga GWP badge above (it includes a link back here, but I’d still appreciate a text link, too).

<a href="http://www.mamablogga.com/blogoversary-group-writing-project/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3513/3809317958_29e3f156e4_m.jpg" alt="MamaBlogga Group Writing Project" title="MamaBlogga Group Writing Project" /></a>

Previous Group Writing Projects:

Categories
MetaBlogging Fulfillment

Motherhood To Me…

I just love this post on “Motherhood To Me….” I think I originally bookmarked it planning to make a similar post, but as I sit down to write it, I think the sentiments deserve more than that.

I think this deserves a Group Writing Project (albeit a bit impromptu). I’ll post the full rules tomorrow, but for today, just go read “Motherhood To Me….” I hope it will inspire you, too!