When Time Moves as Fast as a Turtle

If you know us, you know we go to Walt Disney World often. We've visited seven times in the past ten years. Almost seven years ago, we began a tradition of visiting Disney for our children's first birthdays. Our youngest was born last December, so we have one last first birthday to celebrate.

Of course, our kids know that we always go for birthdays; there's no surprise there. But the two middle ones can't quite comprehend "in X months," or "we'll go in December." It had gotten to the point that every time we got in the car, the three year old would say, "Us going Dizzy World?"

I've been pinning ideas on Pinterest for awhile now, and I came across a few ideas for countdown chains that looked like the characters. I looked them over, but realized my kids' favorite characters hadn't been made (or pictured, at least), other than Mickey. So I put a little thought into it, and I asked them their favorites (just for confirmation; they haven't changed in two years), and we pulled out the construction paper, scissors, and stapler.

We're still four months out, but I have three kids that are old enough to understand, so I needed to make four months into six chains. Easy enough; I made three month-long chains, and three "third-of-a-month" long chains.

The oldest's favorite princess is Rapunzel, as she looks a lot like her.

Number two daughter had to make a tough choice between Ariel and Tiana, but Ariel seems to have the slight lead this year.

And my boy loves his Mickey, so that was an easy choice.

But, as with most of the little Disney fans right now, their favorites are the Frozen characters. My oldest daughters look like the sisters, and my son follows them everywhere, like Olaf. So it was a no-brainer to make the smaller chains the Frozen gang.The kids are excited to begin tearing strips, and I'm happy to not have to constantly answer the "how much longer" question.

Do you have a trip to Disney coming up soon? This was an easy project for my kids to work on patterns, major color choices, counting, and motor skills. It will also be a test of their patience in whether or not they can refrain from tearing them too soon. If you've got young kids and a trip coming up, this is a quick, easy project, and it's not difficult to make up a chain for favorite characters. (Pinterest has multiple pins for the old-school princesses).

Happy crafting, and I hope your next trip isn't too far off!

A girl after my own shell

This blog was supposed to be about homeschooling and working full time. But as I barely have time to do those two things, I definitely don't have time to blog about it. What I do have are lots of thoughts running through my head late at night while I should be sleeping. So for now, this is just a place to collect those.

This afternoon, I was sitting at the park, watching the girls play, and I found myself thinking about how much Sammie is like me. She doesn't particularly like being alone, yet she absolutely can't stand being in a crowd. She's very friendly, but takes her time making friends, and once she does, she holds onto them tightly. She longs to "go" and "do," yet she wants to be with her family more than anywhere in the world. She's most definitely intelligent, but will shut down if she's told to learn (I always read my book report books and wrote my college papers the night before they were due). Though she's loud and outspoken at home, she's typically quiet in a group setting. And tonight, when she'd disappeared from the living room after most of the family had dozed off, I found her organizing the filing drawers, just because.
And yet...

She has David's sense of adventure.
Her favorite thing at the park is the monkey bars, and she zooms across them. I was always afraid to let go. She climbs to the top of multiple story waterfalls without assistance from anyone. I always stayed at the bottom, too unsure of my footing. She learns with her hands and often gets in trouble for touching everything. I would rather sit back and read a book.

It's amazing how God blends children; making a mixture of their parents' genes that not only secures their physical features but also determines the beginnings of their personalities. He knew exactly the right amounts of each of us to pour into the mold to make Sammie perfectly herself. I can't wait to see the end result!

Flying solo

It's been a while since I've posted, but this has been on my mind a lot lately, and well, it's a little too long for a Facebook post.


"Whoa. Kill the motor, dude. Let us see what Squirt does flying solo." - Crush (Finding Nemo)

I really wish someone could explain to me how parenting has changed so much these days. When I was a child, not so very long ago, my parents left us home alone at the ages of 12 and 8. We rode our bikes to the end of the road (a mile) and back. We hiked through the woods and came home hours later. We sat in the car while they ran into the store. We had our own keys and went completely unsupervised for 10 hours a day.

Now, parents are arrested for leaving a 9 year old in the car while they go into the gas station for 2 minutes. CPS is called when latch-key kids forget their key and (gasp!) play outside until their parents get home from work. Delivery men peak in the window if they hear kids inside but no parent answers the door.
*All real (recent) cases.

Why is it that an 8 year old in Chicago can ride the subway alone to and from school, but an 8 year old in Nashville can't play in the yard without mom or dad sitting on the porch? Why can't kids sit in a car for 2 minutes while mom walks to the ATM and back?

Call me old-school. Call me free-range. I want my kids to learn independence. I want them to test their boundaries and learn their lessons. I want them to have the freedom to explore without my hovering over them every minute. And I don't want to live in fear that Nosy McNeighbor is going to call the law because I send my kids outside to play so the baby can sleep longer than 15 minutes at a time.

I know the world is full of predators. I know there are more cars on the roads now. And I know that too many kids die in locked cars on a sunny day. But at what point does it go too far? Can we label our kids "fragile" so many times, that as an adult, they shatter the first time we wander away? When do we give up our freedom as parents to the government and let Nosy McNeighbor decide our future? 

I'm all for keeping our kids safe, but I want to raise my kids the way my parents raised me. I don't need someone else to dictate my house rules. And I'm tired of constantly being worried about Nosy seeing my kids playing alone. 

Disclaimer: Yes, I did let my child wear his shoes on the wrong feet. I don't think that's against the law... Yet.