2008 October — We are THAT Family

I Left a Shelter for This?

4:00 pm Bykristen

Does my hair make me look fat?

Don’t forget to join my {BYOP} party going on RIGHT NOW. There are some pretty awesome pumpkins linked up. So, go visit! Be safe tonight and don’t each too much candy. Someone told me the calories actually count! Ugh.

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{BYOP} Party is Here!

7:00 am Bykristen

I‘m interrupting this pumpkin party to announce the winner of the $100 Sweet Tea gift card from the Bloggy Carnival Giveaways & my Blogoversary! Congrats PastorMac’s Ann! Email me!

thanks to Living Locurto for the fun pumpkin download!

Welcome to our impromptu PuMPkiN party!

My kids love to mistreat a pumpkin….

My nearly 9 yr old, created a silly fellow….

Meet: HaPPy

My 6 yr old son, with the help of Dad, used a pattern:

Meet: Scooby Doo!

And my toddler, who will be 2 in 47 days and is acting the part, went with the non-surgical approach. Because knives and almost 2 yr olds, are not a great partnership.

Meet: Diva

{BYOP} Link up:

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Sincerely ‘Fro Me to You-Themed Edition: Scary

7:00 am Bykristen

Welcome to the first themed edition of Sincerely ‘Fro Me to You! {You can read the nitty gritty carnival details here}.

I thought it would be fun to share our scary pictures this week.

Now, if you didn’t post a scary picture, it’s okay. I’m pretty flexible and I don’t always follow all the rules exactly, you can still link up.

But be forewarned: If you link a picture of your mother-in-law, someone might call her scary in the comments.

Which could pose a problem for you and the hubby.

I’m just saying.

As I dug thru my organized (I use that term loosely) box o pictures, I decided to go with a grouping of pictures that made me very afraid. I had some costumed shots, but they just made my laugh. These following shots made me want to RUN & HIDE. And that felt right, for some strange reason!

It’s very scary, so prepare: the Engagement Photo Shoot

“Look Mom, I’m marrying a druggie!”

“Or is something just wrong with her eye?”

“Whatever it is, it’s obviously contagious!”

See what I mean?

We aren’t exactly photogenic. We look like certified drunks in plaid and a sweater vest.

I think out of twenty shots, we got one where all four eyes were open.

A little story behind this photo shoot: My future-hubby-to-be and I had a long distance relationship. I was teaching school and he was working on his Master’s degree.

We got engaged on Sept 16 (about two hours after he got into town to see me).

These photos were taken on Sept 17 (the very next day).

Because my Mom had a hunch and made the appointment before we got engaged.

Too bad she didn’t buy us coordinating outfits.

We married December 17 (just 3 short months later during my school break).

Scary, huh?

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Not Exactly the Fifteen Minutes of Fame I’d Hoped For…

7:01 am Bykristen

This is a popular week to Google Halloween costumes.

Specifically, Jane Fonda costumes in the Google image search.

I should know because too many new readers have found my blog this week by doing just that.

Go, ahead, try it. (the link)

You won’t be disappointed.

Because out of 46,000 matching images, I, my friends, am number 6.

I am so sorry, Mom.

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The Room Fairy

7:00 am Bykristen

As I crammed my adult body into my son’s tiny first grade school desk and chair, I put my listening ears on for Parent Night.

My son’s teacher thoroughly discussed curriculum, the classroom rules, lunchroom procedures and we met the class hamster, Chululah.

But she got my attention, when she mentioned the desk fairy. The little invisible creature makes surprise visits to sprinkle fairy dust on clean desks and to leave a tiny treat. If the desks aren’t tidy, she leaves a little note, It reads “oops.”

Now, I don’t know about y’all, but my kids struggle a bit in the tidy room department. And according to Dr. Kimmel of Grace-Based parenting, it’s not all their fault. He encourages parent’s to pick their battles and lay off the room wars.

At family camp, he told us that we expect our kids to keep their plethora of toys organized in small bedrooms. In his opinion, it’s overwhelming and we should help them! They have more toys and smaller rooms than we did when we were kids.

Sitting at my son’s desk, I must have inhaled the fairy dust because when I got home, I emailed the room fairy, distant cousin to the desk fairy.

And guess what I discovered? She makes house calls.

I told my kids that she would visit the last day of every month and she might even throw in a surprise visit every now and then.

I have never seen my kids so excited to keep tidy rooms. My hubby and I help them, of course, but we are hearing less complaints. And if a pile begins to grow, I hear my kids encouraging each other, “she might be coming…”

And she did. She came and sprinkled her special glitter and delighted my kids. It was easy and fun! And such a positive way to reinforce taking care of our things.

(My almost 9 year old may be smarter than we think, but since glitter and treats are her love language, she cleans her room like the best of them).

(Sidenote bonus: If you don’t believe in fairies, Santa, bunny, small leprechauns, you can just lie. Oh, I’m kidding, just call it a surprise room inspection with a prize!)

Oh, the end of the month is almost here.

Now, where did I put those wings?

For more great tips, visit Works for Me Wednesday!

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