Creative Kids

We had a craft party tonight, courtesy of Mommy Parties and Faber Castell. We invited 9 kids besides my own three and only 2 others showed up. So yeah, I love it when I put time into things like this and almost no one comes.

But the 2 friends that did join us had a good time and I was able to give an extra take-home kit for one of the younger sisters to alleviate some of the jealousy that happens when one kid gets to do something and a sibling doesn't. (Not that I know anything about that.)

My son is so in to crafting he didn't even seem to care that he was making a headband. Then he went outside to play while the rest of the girls made bracelets. It was fun for us girls! Even my 4-year-old had fun.

I had necklaces ready to go, but one hour was obviously not enough time to get all of our crafting goals finished. I'll probably take the necklaces to a Girl Scout meeting and let my troop be creative.

Thanks to Mommy Parties and Faber Castell for the really awesome crafting kits. We'll give the rest of our books and trinket boxes to friends and family that we know love crafts as well!

Culture Brats

I wrote a review of Bad Co.'s new live concert show at Culture Brats. Go read it here: Bad Co. Live at Wembley

Another review I wrote for Culture Brats will appear on Thursday!

Questioning Haikus

Why does the baby
scream like I am killing her
when I cut her nails?

And for that matter
why do my older children
act much the same way?


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I have a review for the Parent Blogger’s Network on a new milk storage and feeding solution called MilkBank over at the Zoo Review. I'm even giving a starter set away so if you're pregnant or have a new little one at home you'll want to check it out!

It's Got To Be Up Hill From Here

I was beginning to feel all smug, listening to all these people talk about how they were so sick and blah blah blah. I haven't been sick in quite a while, not since, well. The last time I was really sick I was pregnant and needed an inhaler and pretty much thought I was going to cough up a lung.

While I am most definitely NOT pregnant, last night after tucking in a feverish Miss M in anticipation of yet another at home sickie day today, I started feeling that vaguely familiar ache. It starts in the back and travels up behind my ears and into my eyes. It radiates down the arms. It messes with my ability to correctly place punctuation.

Miss M had the day off from school on Monday and felt mostly fine other than the usual choking feeling of her enlarged tonsils. Monday night brought the beginning of the cough which rolled into Tuesday and the start of a mild fever. Tuesday night she was awake and moaning/screaming for much of the night. Last night her temp spiked to 101.4 which bought her a pass to stay home again and a trip to the doctor's office later today.

I'd already called the ENT department and moved her surgery closer. We can't keep going on like this. She's drained physically and emotionally and obviously it's starting to take its toll on me as well. They said she needs to be pretty much healthy in order for them to do the surgery so they scheduled it 2 weeks out to give her time to get over this latest bug. So March 4th it is.

I'm scared for her, but also hopeful. I'm hopeful that she will recover from the surgery and be so much better--sleep better, feel better, live better. I think she's been miserable for some time now, and just thought it was normal to feel how she did.

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On the positive side, I have a review of a new kids' math learning website called Dreambox over at the Zoo Review today. (Brought to you by PBN.) Come see what it's all about!

More Memories

It's summertime. The grass is green and smells of earth worms. The scent of cut-grass tickles my nose but makes me want to inhale deeply. The tree frogs buzz and hum in their jovial banter. In the distance a Blue Jay releases an angry tirade.

My brother and I are at the curb, kneeling on the concrete gutter between the boulevard and the tarred street. We make car sounds with our mouths, sputtering and tooting as we push Matchbox along intricate streets.

We have carved roads in the boulevard grass, long and winding topsoil paths that we cover with leftover sand from the previous winter. The roads arch into thinning avenues that abruptly end at a parking space--that "person's" home.

We can play like that for hours, barely registering the pebbles digging into our already skinned knees. The business of life goes on around us as we create lives in the dirt.

Heather!

I jump a little, so engrossed as I am in my game. I look up and smile as my grandfather saunters toward me.

Wanna go for a ride?

I'm up in an instant taking only a brief second to brush the gravel from my knees. I clamor into the front seat of the mammoth brown LTD and grin eagerly at this man who always has a twinkle in his eye. He tweaks my cheek and makes a goofy noise with his lips as he turns the key in the ignition.

The engine fires and he pulls the car into gear. The car eases into motion, the wheels carrying us on our ride.

A moment later the car stops. We are in the garage. The ride is over and hearing grandpa's merry laugh is worth the price of being the butt of the joke.



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If you've ever wondered how to do anything from re pot a plant to wrestle an alligator I know just the book for you! I have a review up at the Zoo Review. And thanks to Harper Collins you can win your very own copy!
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Aweigh post below!

Math and Munchies

I spent an hour and a half at my bigger little girl’s school a few weeks ago. It was only the second time that I’d left my baby for more than an hour or so. (For the record, she was fine. Again.)

I arrived at M’s school and checked in at the office. I made myself comfortable and put my coat in her locker, which, I was amused to note, was open, because it could not be closed.

The locker is not very wide; I’ll give her that. It takes some creativity to fit a foot-wide (at least) backpack in a 4- to 5-inch wide space.

I found her lunch box at the bottom, with her backpack stuffed on top. Her P.E. shoes were stashed above those. Her coat, interestingly enough, was shoved in the small shelf at the top of the locker. How she manages to cram the puffy winter coat into approximately 4 square inches is a mystery to me.

Since the hooks of the locker (from which coats and backpacks are designed to hang) were completely devoid of hanging objects, I removed my coat and hung it from one of the hooks.

Looking up, I noted that the first-graders were starting to gather in the hallway for the program. Seconds after my brain registered the kids in the hall, I noted the blonde-haired, blue-dressed jumping bean in the hall waving to me.

I wondered if my child might be a little excited.

I attempted to corral my wild horse while trying to listen to the instructions of the faculty.

M and I began our math escapades in the computer lab. It wasn’t a great beginning because neither of us knew what we were supposed to be doing. I mostly sat while my daughter played games on the computer. I’ll be honest. I contemplated why I was there.

The rest of the math games they’d set up were fun, however. They were interactive, we had instructions that us (dumb) parents could read, and I had a chance to see my intelligent little girl in action.

M, the social being that she is, took at least 20 minutes to stop looking around to see what the other kids were doing. It reminded me of watching the video of my college graduation. I’m there in my graduation gown, my family is there, and instead of enjoying them, I’m looking around for my public relations professor, who, incidentally, never shows up.

I tried to share with M the knowledge I’d learned: Hey! I’m here for you! Let’s not worry about what everyone else is doing!

Naturally, she didn’t care and didn’t see my point because she’s six and I was twenty-three and didn’t get it.

By the end of the scant hour and a half, though, Miss M was there, and protective of her time with me. Which, honestly, I’m surprised she wasn’t more demanding of my exclusive attention. However, she’s been through having a younger sibling and shone in the role of big sister before. So maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised that my little BIG girl is so smart, and socially intelligent, and beautiful on the inside too.

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Hey, I've got a new review at the Zoo Review and there's another opportunity to win!

You don't see me

No really.

I'm not here.

Well, I am but I'm not.

Have you updated your links to me? It's www.coolzebras.com now. No blogspot anymore. I would be so appreciative if you'd update...or just link to my new address if you haven't before. I put my Technorati rank in the toilet when I bought my new domain. It is sort of important to have a good rank. Sort of. I mean, not as important as healthy kids or world peace, but still. Important.

So anyway. This is me, not being here because I'm over there, at the Zoo Review. There might be a giveaway or two involved.

Also I'm writing another embarrassing story about me in the past. Stay tuned.

One Step Back

I have come to the conclusion that Baby D has a mild food allergy to the rice cereal that she's tried this week.

I first noticed some redness in her diaper area last Monday morning (the day after she had her first taste of cereal). I didn't think much about it but did think "wow, she's getting her first diaper rash." Yes. She's 6 months old and had never had a diaper rash. This is notable since my other two had it off and on from about 2 months through 18 months or so.

Anyway, Monday was tree set-up day for the Festival of Trees, so I didn't have time to give her cereal and I just skipped it. Tuesday I tried to give her cereal and she didn't eat much of it. She nursed and took a nap, then ate the rest of the cereal. Same story on Wednesday.

Thanksgiving day I brought the cereal with us to Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt and Uncle's house. D ate it up and wanted more but I didn't have any more to give her.

I noticed her girlie parts and rear end were getting redder instead of better despite the fact that I'd been applying Boudreaux's Butt Paste and changing her immediately when she pooped (which I try to do anyway, obviously).

However, I'm slow and didn't connect the cereal to the diaper rash. She's also been fussier than normal (which normally isn't that fussy) and she's had a runny nose. I bet it's all connected to the cereal.

So, my plan, after conferring with my followers on Twitter, is to discontinue the rice cereal and nurse exclusively until D's butt and girlie parts heal. Then I'm going to try oatmeal cereal and see if she tolerates that better. If she breaks out again, then we'll re-assess.

Poor little peanut.

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I have a PBN review of Eebies Adventures over at the Zoo Review today. Come on by!

Christmas in November and I've Been GOOD

Have I mentioned that I have the best husband? If I haven't it's only because I don't want a bunch of women trying to snatch him away. But that wouldn't be possible anyway because he loves me. Me, me, me!

And because he loves me and he knows how much I love to take 6382 photos a day, he bought me my Christmas present and gave it to me last night.

It's a fancy pants new camera that I have to dig into my sort of distant photography classes to understand how to use, but given a little time I will figure out. And just in time for Ms. D's 6 month photo session!

And because I don't have enough irons in the fire, I may just start doing portrait sessions for friends and family. Yes, the camera is that good.

So book your sessions!

And thank you Craig! I love you!

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I'm reviewing Hot Wheels Trick Tracks for PBN at the Zoo Review today.

Smiles are Contagious

Wordless Wednesday.

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Psst. I'm also over reviewing Amazing Baby for PBN at the Zoo Review. Come on over and read!

New Stuff

Last week I launched a new line of cards in my Etsy shop featuring original photography by moi.

I think the cards look pretty and I love the photos that I've made the cards from. I'm hoping others will love them as much.

And today is the last day for donating to the Mission Soldier Support Christmas card drive. Please consider donating a card for our troops. If you've been away from your family for any length of time you know how precious a card with a letter can be.

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I'm also reviewing My Baby A to Z – Come Explore Shapes With Me, over at The Zoo Review for PBN. Visit for a chance to win!

Random Thoughts #26

My baby will be 5 months old tomorrow. Sniff sniff. She's rolling around and starting to pull herself along the floor to get to things. I don't think my other two were quite so mobile by this age. Darn it for her wanting to be like the big kids.

She's both happy and serious at the same time. It takes some effort to get a laugh from her. She's a little more giving of the smiles. She certainly makes me smile.

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M got her first report card for 1st grade. She's doing well, which makes me so proud even though I know it really has nothing to do with me.

She also makes me smile. She's quite fond of crawling into bed with D and I in the mornings and sighing happily. "Just us girls," she'll say.

She's back in school and tired out when she comes home which only increases the laments over how unfair everything is. It's hard to be six.

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K is learning to write his name (finally!) and talking my ear off. As usual. I thought perhaps he would tire, or his voice would tire, but alas, no. When he's not talking he's making a variety of other noises with his mouth. Silence is rare around these parts.

He still makes me smile.

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Craig makes me smile too.

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I bought my domain so now I'm officially a dot com. http://www.coolzebras.com/ . Much shorter without the blogspot, although my fingers automatically start typing blogspot after the coolzebras.

I'm working on some business cards for my blog. I get sidetracked on the 7863 other things I want to do too. If only I didn't need to sleep.

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I'm having fun doing reviews so far. I have 6 that I'm in the process of writing right now. Most are for PBN, but others are for books from Harper Collins and one other product that I was contacted about. There are definitely some giveaways coming up.

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I've sold a few more things in my etsy shop (http://sentimentaljourney.etsy.com/) which makes me smile too. I'm told that the Mission Soldier Support is not going as well as was hoped. This economy really needs to turn around. Why did I have to wait for the economy to tank to start an online business?
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Archer Farms Belgian Chocolate ice cream is quite yummy.

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Norm Coleman and Al Franken are suddenly running "feel good" commercials instead of attack ads. I can't decide which I hate more.

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My cat is old and arthritic, yet I still find it hilarious when any movement by the baby makes her jump 3 feet in the air.

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I'm tackling a cleaning job over at the Zoo Review today.

To Cover or Not To Cover

I bought one of those nursing cover-ups today. I don't know why. It's still in the package sitting on the counter in the kitchen.

The truth is, I'm still not that comfortable nursing in public. Yeah, I know it's not fashionable to admit it.

The first weeks I've nursed my babies I've felt so bumbling trying to get the baby to latch on and I've needed to see what I was doing. Usually the baby would be crying because he or she wanted to eat now and I just couldn't get the latch right the first time.

Once those first weeks have rolled into months I get slightly more comfortable and will attempt to nurse in certain situations. I'll still try to cover up somehow, usually with a cloth diaper that I use as a burp cloth most of the time. Or I'll find a family restroom or nursing station. Or I'll sit in the car.

I'm most uncomfortable trying to nurse when there are men in the room. Usually if it's a group of all women I don't have much of an issue. I know the men aren't trying to catch a peek or anything, but I figure they're probably a little uncomfortable.

I know when I'm with a woman who starts nursing her baby I never know where to look. Can I acknowledge that the baby is going to nurse or should I just keep my gaze on the woman's face constantly? Or should I look away?

I have no idea what other people do when I'm nursing, because I'm looking at my baby.

I was recently in a group setting with all women who all had babies younger than 5 months old. At some point during the meeting almost all of the babies needed to be fed. All mothers there happened to be breastfeeding. All of them except me hauled out a nursing cover up. I felt a little uncomfortable then.

Most of the time I've needed to nurse the baby though, I've been able to find someplace quiet, out of the way, and mostly out of the majority of people's vision. Not because I think it's dirty or should be hidden, but because I'm more comfortable that way. And it's hard for the baby to nurse when there is a lot going on that she'd like to look at as well.

So I think I'm going to return that cover up. I don't really need it anyway.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

My second PBN review!


When the UPS man rang our doorbell and left the package it was like Christmas come early to our house. Even though there was only one Vsmile Cyber Pocket in the package, the kids immediately insisted they would take turns using it and wouldn’t fight. I hoped the game and the kids would live up to their promises.


Hop over to the Zoo Review to find out!

Once Upon a Review

I decided to start yet another blog to house the reviews that I'll be doing now for PBN and other reviews that come along.

Today is the big day of the Zoo Review launch and I'm reviewing an old potty training classic. Go check it out so I don't feel too lonely over there by myself, m'kay?

You'll want to keep visiting, you never know when I'll be giving stuff away!!

Win a book!!

As a preteen, I read The Diary of Anne Frank and before I’d read the last page I started a diary. I think I even named it Kitty because I was so original in thought. By the end of that first (red plaid with a hard cover) diary I had grown from writing about dolls to writing about feelings and cute boys. The seventh grade through high school graduation was the height of my journal writing. Puberty and figuring out how to be me were cause for much introspection and I filled many pages with my teenage angst.

As a teen, the thought of someone else reading my words was appalling. These were my private thoughts. As I grew older, however, I wanted to know if other people thought like I did. I wanted people to identify with me. By the time I stumbled upon the thing they call blogging I was ready and craving an audience.

I sometimes wonder what percentage of bloggers kept a journal or a diary before (or during) writing their blogs. I’d guess that it’s quite high. That’s why I thought the book Note to Self : On Keeping a Journal and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Samara O’Shea would be an interesting read from the blogger perspective.

O’Shea examines the motivation of journal-writers and the benefits that such writing can offer.

She uses excerpts from her own journals to illustrate her points, often quoting other literature and drawing comparisons between her life and published work. Her excerpts range from embarrassingly funny stories to painful heartbreak. She also offers writing suggestions for those who are intimidated by the blank page.

In perhaps my favorite chapter, O’Shea brings up the idea of being able to talk to yourself through your writing. Years later, you can see the person you once were. It reminded me of the book The Time Traveler’s Wife in which the main character could literally visit his younger self. This, in particular, I identified with because I re-read old blog posts from when I first started blogging and remember who I was then and see how I’ve changed (and how I’ve stayed the same).

O’Shea also touches on blogging in one chapter of her book. She, herself, is also a blogger as well as a diarist. (Which goes back to my original query.)

I found her insights and suggestions for logging one’s life to be interesting. Not earth-shattering or particularly unique ideas, but still a good read. It’s one of those books that is put together in such a way that it makes it easier for busy people who can’t sit and read in long stretches to read a bit at a time and still enjoy the book.

You can win your very own copy of Note to Self and check it out for yourself. Just leave me a comment and I’ll get one of my kids to pick a winner from the comments on September 13th.

With Love...another book review!

The wonderful Felicia at HarperCollins once again gave me the opportunity to review one of their latest offerings. This time it’s a compilation: With Love: Artists’ Letters and Illustrated Notes.

To be honest, I had no idea who most of the artists were whose letters are featured in this volume. I didn’t take Art Appreciation class in college (or, if I did, I don’t remember any of it!) I recognized Frida Kahlo and Jackson Pollock and that was about it. But it didn’t really matter that I didn’t know the artists or their work. Reading the love letters (some of them with illustrations) of people, just people who happened to be artists, was interesting.

The love letter is a dying (if not already dead) art form in itself. These letters, compiled from the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art by Liza Kirwin and Joan Lord, offer a voyeuristic view into mostly ordinary lives at different periods in American history.

They are, in effect, a history lesson delving into the innocence (or not) of times past. They offer a snapshot of how each writer was feeling at one given time. The letters speak of longing, of passion. Some border on pleading.

The authors offer short background information about the writer and recipient of each letter, and in most cases, includes notes about what became of their relationship.

Each letter and accompanying information offer a unique story so the book can be read over a period of time without worrying about forgetting integral plot. It is the perfect book to have in your car while waiting to pick up your child at school.

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Next book review: Just Tell Me What to Say: Sensible Tips and Scripts for Perplexed Parents by Betsy Brown Braun.

Glamour, Interrupted

I was given the opportunity to review another book from HarperCollins so I jumped at it. This time, I chose something that I would probably never have read otherwise. I chose Steven Cojocaru’s book Glamour, Interrupted: How I Became the Best-Dressed Patient in Hollywood.

I remember watching Cojo on the Today Show. I confess that I don’t remember when he stopped appearing on the show. I also don’t remember hearing about his illness (probably because he was diagnosed in July 2004 while I was in the newborn blur of having two kids 2 and younger. Watching Cojo on the Today Show was a strange sort of fascination for me I think. I couldn’t decide if I thought he was funny or irritating.

His book is a quick read at a mere 155 pages. It is a memoir of his journey with polycystic kidney disease from his diagnosis in 2004 through his second transplant (a kidney received from his 70-year-old mother) in late 2005.

The book kept my attention and I finished it in 2 nights. Cojo’s dry sense of humor and clear vanity put a unique perspective on a depressing subject. Cojo is one of the lucky ones though. He found TWO live donors so that he didn’t have to spend years on dialysis like so many others with kidney disease are fated to do.

Is it bad that I found a part of me happy to read about a spoiled “celebrity” having problems that money could not solve? Maybe I liked reading how Cojo’s vanity suffered because of weight gain (caused mainly by steroids and anti-rejection medications). I enjoyed it a bit that he was the “fat” one that he used to insult.

If you’re in to the Hollywood scene, or are a Cojo fan I recommend the book. It’s a peek into the medical field, and their patients, Hollywood-style.

Daring

I confess, I received a free copy of The Daring Book for Girls from HarperCollins for the express purpose of writing a review on my blog. If you read some of the same blogs as I do, you've probably read a few reviews of this book already...but if not, read on.

The book arrived and both of my children jumped up and down excitedly. You see, it doesn't matter what's inside the box that came to our house. It doesn't even matter who the package is for. It's excitement at the highest level.

With that kind of welcome for a book I hoped it would live up to the hype.

First impressions of the book? It's pretty. But not too girly. It has a nice, soft-blue cover with glittery silver writing. Miss M, of course, found the book beautiful. And she assumed it was hers, because it was glittery. Apparently glittery things cannot possibly be for MOM.

But the real treasure is inside the book. It's technically for pre-teens and teenagers I suppose, but I found some things in there that I didn't know. Okay, a lot of things that I didn't know.

I never learned how to make those friendship bracelets as a girl. Now, I have instructions. Do you know how to put your hair up using only a pencil? Well, I do now. How about the real rules for hopscotch and four-square? Yep, they're in the book. Remember those paper "fortune tellers" we used to make? You had to pick a number and you'd move the triangle pieces back and forth that number, pick again and open the flap to read the fortune. Turns out they're called "Cootie Catchers" or Origami fortune tellers. I'd forgotten about them. But how much fun will it be to make one of these and try it with my kids?

But it's not only filled with these sort of frivolous things (which are still important, because, after all, you should still be frivolous as long as you can) but it's also filled with more substantial information. How to negotiate a salary, how to change a tire, important women in history, Robert's Rules, the Bill of Rights and more are included.

I'd like to give a copy of it to my best friend's daughter, who is almost eight, but I don't want to part with my copy!

The book reminded me of my old Girl Scout handbook, the one that had all the badges in it with instructions of how to earn the badge. I had such a great time going through that book as a kid and learning all the stuff in there.

The Daring Book for Girls is the modern girl equivalent. And that is high praise from me.

Miss M is going to love it when she's older and can read it herself. For now, her mom is going to enjoy trying some of the things in there...and re-living a bit of childhood--the daring way of course.

Deceptively Delicious

If you're like most of us moms, getting your kids to eat vegetables is a never-ending battle. When M was a baby I dutifully fed her each type of vegetable to expand her palate. She grimaced at each spoonful of peas. She tolerated the green beans. She loved the apple-sweet potato. In fact, she was an orange vegetable-eater only. Carrots? Fine. Spinach? No way. Try to sneak even a single green bean on the spoon with some other food? She'd swish the food around in her mouth, eating the "good" stuff and hand me the solitary green bean. She has gotten better as she gets older. She loves to eat frozen peas (still frozen) as a snack. But if you even put a green bean on her plate she will act like you are trying to feed her poison.

K has been a better eater of vegetables. As a baby, he happily devoured any flavor I fed him. He's still more willing to try something new than his sister. Given a choice of meat or grapes (or olives, mashed potatoes, etc) he'll pick the fruit or vegetable every time. Unless it's chicken nuggets.

So when the ladies at 5 Minutes for Mom told their readers about the opportunity to review some books from HarperCollins I jumped at the chance to try Jessica Seinfeld's new cookbook Deceptively Delicious. I'd just read about it in one of my magazines and found the concept intriguing.




When the book arrived at my house I eagerly opened the package and began to skim the pages. Then I went back and actually read the introductory pages. The whole process of sneaking vegetables into my kids' (and my) food seems so simple from what I read. And supposedly the kids (and even Jerry) can't tell that the veggies are in there. Even in desserts.

Here's Jessica's method: she makes purees of various veggies. She spends a few hours a week preparing the purees for the week then freezes them in the amounts that she usually needs. Then, when she has a recipe that she sneaks some veggies in, she has her puree ready. She uses things like cauliflower because it is white and blends in easily with dishes like macaroni and cheese. Or she puts beets in brownies. (Okay, that one makes me feel a little nauseated.)

The cookbook is written for even the novice cook. She explains exactly how to prepare the purees. Each recipe tells up front what veggies you will be sneaking in. The recipes have cute little comments from her kids at the bottom of each page.

It's not "weird" food either. It's normal food that your kids will eat. And there won't be any visible chunks of green food to be handed back to you.

I confess I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but I am going to try it. You never know, we might actually really like macaroni and cheese and cauliflower.

Interview

Slouching Mom graciously offered to send interview questions to some of her readers last week. Since she is such an amazing writer I thought I'd like to see what kind of questions she'd come up with for me. And she sent me some questions even though I apparently can't read!

1. So, be honest. You already have a girl and a boy. And now there's a third on the way! Are you hoping for a boy or a girl, or don't you care? Would M. and K. do better with a brother or a sister, do you think?
   
   Hmmm. This is a tough one. I haven’t been pregnant for very long so I haven’t had a ton of time to think about it. If I was totally honest I’d say I hope for another girl just because there are already 4 boys to the 1 girl in the cousin area. And the girl clothes are just so darn cute. And I know how girl parts work. Boy parts, not so much. Hence, K is not potty-trained yet. I can’t demonstrate how that thing works. In fact, I don’t know how to even start to help him with that area.
   
   On the other hand, boys need their mommies more. And I like to be needed.
   
   So, I guess I just want a baby…boy or girl. It’s all good.
   
   I think M and K will do fine with either, as well. But I’m probably in a delusional state. Pregnancy-induced euphoria?
   
2. Minnesota often gets a bad rap because it's so cold and snowy. Tell me something you love about living in Minnesota.
   
   Honestly, if I were to move away from Minnesota I would most miss (besides my family, who all live here in Minnesota) the distinct changing of the seasons. Sure you get those fluky days that are warmer or colder than normal but for the most part you experience the true four seasons here.
   
   When the leaves change color in autumn it is one of the most breathtaking sights. I get to see it every year.
   
   The winter snow hanging on the bare trees and against the dark green pines makes me think of Christmas in days gone by. The soft ping of tiny snowflakes hitting the window while I cuddle, warm, inside with my kids inspires me to do Sally Homemaker-type stuff like bake cookies. The muted sounds of everything when you venture outdoors.
   
   Everything that is brown turning green again. The clean scent to the air. Fresh spring rain.
   
   And summer? The hot days that beg for a swim that cool into a comfortable night. Those days that don’t cool spark spectacular thunderstorms that, while they terrify my kids, I actually love to lay in bed and listen to the rain pelting the roof and the thunder rolling over and over.
   
3. K.'s alternate nickname is "Accident Prone Man, Jr."; describe his most spectacular accident thus far.
   
   When he was about 16 months and still not the steadiest on his feet, he was playing in the garage at my parents’ house with his sister and his cousins. They play in the garage sometimes in the winter time because it’s too cold to go outside but they start to go stir-crazy in the house all the time. K was attempting to keep up with the big kids, tripped and fell on his face. On the concrete. Which promptly chipped off half of one of his front teeth. Have you ever had a mouth injury? Yeah, the mouth bleeds. A lot. Anywho. Call to the dentist (whom he’d never been to but luckily I had just taken M to so they would take K as a patient) who told me to bring him in for an x-ray. Let me tell you it is not fun to hold a screaming toddler’s head so that people can get an x-ray. He didn’t damage the root, which is what they were concerned about, so they sealed up his tooth a week or so later and built the tooth up a bit so it doesn’t look so chipped.
4. Do you feel as if you've become a better parent with each child? If so, in what ways?
   
   In some ways I suppose I have relaxed more. The way the “experts” say to do things often aren’t the best ways for my family, which really threw me for a loop as a new mom. Now I just do things my own wrong way and don’t worry about it so much. Also, with more than one child you don’t focus so much on one child and become one of those annoying parents who think their child does absolutely nothing wrong ever. Because let me tell you, my kids screw up often. But then, so do I.
   
5. Name the book you most recently finished and then review it.
   
   4 Blondes by Candace Bushnell.
   
   It is essentially 4 short stories about 4 blonde women (hence the title) who are upper-class and egotistical. The women spend much of their time thinking that the world owes them a favor. Perhaps this is a book for a younger woman or something…or at least a woman without children, because I found the women insufferable. Why did I keep reading? Because I have to finish reading a book if I start it. It’s just a rule. But seriously, skip this book. You won't be sorry.

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Thank you to Slouching Mom for these great questions. It was fun to answer them!

I'd like to pass on the offer if anyone would like me to write some interview questions for them. Leave me a comment here, then shoot me an email so I know where to send the questions!