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It'll make your hair curl, but go on and read this article...

Preteens Trading Fairy Wands for Fishnets
Halloween Trend Toward Racy Get-Ups Vexes Parents
By Brigid Schulte
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 30, 2007; A01
**Here*

When I was a girl, we almost always made our own costumes. I look around with amazement as I watch a very minor children's fun day become a major decorated holiday. I find the push to se*ualize little girls extremely horrifying and destructive. And sad.

and when did parents lose the important piece of anatomy known as a backbone??

I was at the grocery store the other night, picking up some salad fixings (that part kind of becomes relevant to my story later on, who knew?!) and I don't know what else for all the bible college boys coming to dinner. The cashier was very obviously new to the job, -envision long line and lots of questions thrown about.

At one point he held up a bag of squash into the air and asked the next cashier to tell him what it was. "squash". Minutes later he held up another bag and asked for help, the customer informed him it was "yellow squash".

It's not unheard of really, to think that one could grow up in the United States and not be able to identify many common vegetables. In a land where french fries make up our vegetable serving for the day and ketchup is considered a vegetable in school lunches, it's not too surprising.

*The Fall Y'all giveaway* wow, my cyber mailbox is groaning from under all these comments.
I think I am seeing more visits than from the last giveaway.

Now, go out there and win some free stuff!!

This weekend I went along with Meg for Jr. High girl's camp. We went to a place called Glen Oak, or Oak Glen...something like that. The trees were all changing, it was so beautiful- and this is apple country, lots of apple farms...just something we don't see any of in So. California. I drove my van, bringing along 4 other girls and one other chaperon. With traffic it took us about 3 hrs. on our way up, the way home is was a little over 1 hr. (lovely, lovely So. Ca traffic!)

Jr. High really is a rough age. I know that, and yet it caught me by surprise. The whole experience was one of shifting from one extreme to the other end of the spectrum. The girls would sometimes take my breath away with their brashness, rudeness and general lack of care that an adult was present....and then the next moment dazzle me as 5 girls in a van pull out their hymnals spontaneously and spend 40 minutes singing their favorite hymns. While I would sit pondering and marveling at the drastic extremes of light and shadow in them, smiling at the "light", I would have to roll my eyes heavenward as they launched into 20 minutes of "highschool musical" songs.

It was a good experience, I was very blessed to see more than 100 young girls lifting up song to the Lord, praying out loud and sharing their enjoyment of His word. I was blessed to see the teaching and testimony being poured out into these girls' hearts by the serving ones. I was blessed to pray for them, and blessed to see what hymns they loved to sing, blessed to ponder why- and to reflect on what I was like at that age. And yet it was very hard. My goodness, I don't like to be uncomfortable, and I hate being cold, and I like my routine and comfortable bed and shower...it was definitely an uncomfortable breaking of my soul-life.

One of the speakers stopped to talk to me at the dining hall, commenting on how good it was to see some of the "moms" at the camp. He asked if I would come again.

I think my face started twitching.

Okay people, the Fall, Y'all bloggy give-away is up and running over at Shannon's place, click *here* to go to her page listing all the different give-aways- there are hundreds listed, oh so much fun!

I will be hosting two different give-aways here on my blog,
the first is for a *Jurassic Park Explorer DVD game*.

I did a review of the game *here* (it was a huge hit with all my kids, to sum it up) and the nice people at Brighter Minds media were so very kind to send me a game just for this bloggy give-away! (so I don't have to give away my copy....) So, to enter this contest just leave me a comment and leave a way for me to contact you, either by having your name linked to an email or blog, or by leaving me your email in the comment. I will use a number generator to pick a winner at the close of the contest. This prize is only open to continental United States residents. Please indicate if you are entering for prize #1, #2 or both.

My next give-away prize is for a $20 gift card for Barnes & Nobles bookstore. This contest is open to anyone. Again, just leave me a comment and a way to contact you. Please indicate if you are entering for prize #1, #2, or both.

Contest ends Sunday, November 4th at 11pm PST. I will post the winner sometime Monday.

good luck, thanks for playing!

Labels: Carnivals

So, what did you do Tuesday?

My Tuesday looked like this; get up and dressed, start school, decide that guinea pig is sick and needs to see a vet- call around trying to find one that will see a guinea pig. Find one in Newport Beach, if you can get there in 30 minutes- before lunch, they will see you- or take an appointment later in the day (note: when your day becomes hopelessly complicated).
We rushed on down.
On the way home, turn van around and drive back because son left his stuffed toy in the waiting room.

Too much money later, I am force-feeding a guinea pig and administering 4 kinds of medicine twice a day. Party on..

Next: throw the kids some late lunch and launch off to art lessons. While olders at lesson, take youngers and do some frantic shopping for nice dinner you were planning for Grandmother's Birthday dinner. Note to self: no good plan ever goes unpunished when you are a mom. Got it? Good.

Go to store for expensive pre-made chicken cordon blue (because I'm smart like that and I knew my day would be busy) and to Trader Joe's for pre-packaged yummy salad. Put them in cooler I brought, cause I'm smart like that....
Pick up older girls and get home and actually eat my lunch after getting taken down several pegs for the guinea pig thing...yeah.

Remember!!! oh- forgot about Amie's Irish dance lesson! Jet on down to that. While waiting go get gas for the van.
Come home and start making homemade present that I dreamed up a week and a half ago, but didn't get the ingredients for until the day before.
Start dinner.
Congratulate self that even though I spent a good chunk of change for the chicken, it will be a nice, yummy dinner and pretty easy to prepare- I simply place the chicken into the oven to bake, toss salad and make some rice. Breath. Tell self, things are going to be o.k., you can finally take everything down a notch....
Mix cake and place in pan to pop into oven as soon as chicken comes out.
Wrap presents and have kids sign cards.
Bless husband for cleaning up house while you were at dance lesson. (when this all began at 11 something this morning- you left the usual disorder plus a huge, gigantic couch-pillow/ blanket fort in the front room ala the two youngers...

You'll love this part: 30 minutes before dinner is supposed to be ready, power goes out.
My oven is electric.

take 4 kids and Grandparents out to dinner.

Planning is it's own punishment.
Dinner out would have been easier, you think I would have learned by now and just gone with the obviously easier route.

I learn my lessons the hard way.

Sushi, anyone?

Labels: Jen's world

As always, so much is happening around here.

On the drive back from Solvang, we listened to
Artemis Fowl on audio. My older girls were looking for a good series to get into, I had heard good things about it and heard that the audio was very engaging. (plus, it was an easy way for me to read it and make sure it would pass parental approval- the way they blaze through books these days it is hard to keep up!)

The Meg Cabot book I devoured on the trip is *this one*, and while I enjoyed it- I did figure out "who did it" fairly early on...and I am not sure how much I like the heroine. I liked her, and yet her obsession with food was starting to get to me. Not that I don't like food, I mention it often here on the blog- but looking forward to rare treats like a truffle or two once or twice a year and a filet mignon is not the same as thinking often about the kit-kats stuffed in your purse to tide you over, etc. I was having a hard time admiring her, I think is what I am trying to say.

I picked up Lies my teacher told me- everything your American History textbook got wrong tonight at Barnes & Nobles. It looks very, very interesting. History is my favorite subject.

I have been toying with the idea of dusting off my French and maybe taking a course to re-learn it, such as this one- which is on sale right now *here*, and with free shipping it is a good deal...
I find that when teaching Spanish to my kids, or er- rather, facilitating Spanish lessons with my kids- because I cannot speak it... My mind scurries to answer in French mostly, sometimes Spanish ( I know a very little) or even more often- my mind comes up with two words and cannot remember which is Spanish, which is French. I've decided that my brain is just not that elastic anymore...if I am going to learn a language, I think it will have to be one I had some success with in my youth. This all does spin into more questioning if I should add French to my younger's learning- since I am working on it...or just worry about Spanish since we live in So. Ca. (so little time, so many teaching possibilities!!) (Gracefulmom is laughing out her kidney right now- I am running amok again, aren't I??)

Most of So. California seems to be on fire. We are not affected at our house, but one of our parkday friends was waiting to see if they would be evacuated. It's all very eerie and scary and makes you think about what it would feel like to lose your home. We are praying tonight for all those in peril, for all of those displaced. Tonight has been very windy, we will go to bed tonight wondering what we will find tomorrow morning.

Even without horrible, awful wildfires, we don't enjoy the windy season here. It plays havoc with our allergies (the box of lotion tissue is suddenly the most coveted item in the house, drat!- I forgot to go out and buy more...!!)

And, you have not seen anything as grouchy as a wind-swept hen! My-o-my, the girls waxed eloquent this morning when let out of the coop- much "fowlish" language bandied about. They were not happy and let us all know it! It is actually a sorry sight right now, since 4 of them are molting- they look pretty rakish already, without being so disheveled!

Amy over at Amy's humble musings has been writing lately about 'being there' for your kids.
I liked this post *here*-"All needing something"

I really liked how she said this;

"I fill up their cups so that they are free to pour themselves into one another: my olders reading to the babies, my athletic nine-year-old content with a wild toddler as an afternoon playmate, my five-year-old singing the alphabet to the three-year-old. I give as much as I can and then trust God for the rest."

sometimes in the midst of all the schooling, driving to an fro', the cleaning and care taking,
it's good to stop and remember the uncomplicated calling we have to simply fill them up, and trust God.

Can you guess where we took the kids last week?
Um, no...not Denmark, that would be way expensive.

We chose a much closer substitute, only 3 hours away, much
more easy on the budget...
-we went to Solvang, Ca!




We pretty much ate our way thru Solvang, it's
just what we do best...

First on the snack agenda were aebleskivers, yum!

Our second night in town we went to A.J. Spurs for some
serious steak and ribs. You know when your filet mignon slices
like warm butter?? ...yeah, just like that....

We walked around the very cute Danish town, visited shops, relaxed
at the timeshare... Animal Planet 24/7- oh my!!! Seriously, a very big
treat for kids who do not watch t.v.

We took a very gentle, beautiful 10 minute hike to visit this waterfall.












Sky took some great pics of the kids at the lake, they had
several adventures...





I have an awesome husband!! You all are going to agree when I tell you what he did. He took all 4 kids out camping at a near-by lake and left me home alone to hold the fort down at the
time-share/condo-type place. Did I mention it had cable? And that he paid extra for an internet connection for me?

I wish I could say I did some serious, thoughtful blogging- uh, but I didn't.
I did do some serious girl-type unwinding.

First, I wandered the cutesy shops...then I ordered a nice sandwich for dinner ( I love a good sandwich) and then I spent a very long time browsing the corner bookstore, picked up a
Meg Cabot novel..then went and bought some *truffles*, oh my!!

I realized what a walking cliche I was as I set my book on the counter to pay for my truffles...
and paused to savor the ridiculous moment...
Dignity is really only a form or vain-glory, now- isn't it?? I stayed up way too late watching
a few sitcoms and HGTV, catching up on all my blog reading, and sad to say, I just about polished off the novel in one sitting. I finally went to bed, leaving 3 chapters to enjoy in
the morning. ...the gloriously late, un-rushed morning.

I welcomed my seasoned, ripe campers back late the next
afternoon. And, what else? Started some laundry!
I missed my guys... and yet, I was glad to miss out on the freezing-my- tootsie- off -sleeping- on- the- floor-experience...
didn't miss that part a bit! Oh, and the skunks and raccoons that kept trying to get into the tent, nope, didn't regret that part either!


Our last day in town we visited a miniature horse farm.
QuickSilver miniature horse Ranch link *here*
Meg has wanted one of these for her very own for so long. We just are not zoned for it. They are miniature *horses*, not *ponies*..about the size of a large dog. Just the cutest things you have ever laid eyes on.

It was a nice trip, a little bit of something for everyone, I would say.
We are always so glad to come home, though.

Labels: family, trips

isn't youtube fun?

Labels: family

Labels: devotional

Last night I took Amie to visit an Irish dance class, to see if she would be interested in learning. Let me re-phrase that- she was very interested in any kind of dancing, I just thought it was the responsible-mom role to visit first and make sure she would like the whole set-up.

Amie loves to dance, she is for sure our princess/ballerina girl. Lately, though, I've noticed some Elaine-ish technique creeping into her act. *click here* to see what I mean... I figure now is the time to direct her enthusiasm into artistic avenues. It was the cutest class, Irish dancing is very genteel looking, and very athletic. And the music is great. Amie ended up actually being in the class this visit.
I decided we need to work this week on "right" and "left" before we go back.
I noticed the lack of boys in the class, only one and a new 5 year old having his first class. There seems to be less boys in general in dance, like *this Irish clip*...I immediately thought of our boy, he'd be so cute in such a class and would be something special, right away, just for showing up! I don't think husband will see it that way, I think he is thinking more in the lines of roller hockey... gosh, it would be so cute though.

She is now in the class, I will post a video sometime after she gets beyond normal skipping- and the whole "right foot", "left foot" thing.

Labels: family

These interesting fruits are Tiger Melons from our garden. Hubby planted them from seed. They are small, about the size of a large pomegranate and are sweet like a honeydew, but yet different. Meg says they have a pear texture.

We took down the netting from around the garden, the hens are blissfully happy..in a hen-ish sort of way. They love, love, love scratching around in the garden area that was before this very off limits to them.

Conversation at our house late Saturday night:

Me: "o.k., put another disk in..."

Sky: " what time is it?"

Me: "you really don't want to know, ...start the next episode... oh, o.k. it's 12:30 a.m."

Sky: " you know, we have to serve tomorrow morning in the children's meeting..."

Me: "alright, alright...be the sensible one".

we were discussing our Heroes addiction (clip here). We have to know what is going to happen next, it's hard to stop watching. It is on the gory side, just past my comfort zone, really- I wish they would tone that down some..we have to wait till the kids are in bed to watch it, as a result we have been pulling some late nights.

Conversation at our house

The boy (age 7): "When I grow up, I'm going to get a job and have a house, make movies, be a dragon hunter, get married and have kids...and I'm going to take them to Costco, just like you do,
Daddy- and get them good snacks.."

Amie (age 5) "you'll be already dead then, Daddy."

Dad (one foot in the grave, it seems) "uh, thanks sweetie".

Labels: family

This weekend I went to a scrapbook retreat up in Big Bear, Ca. The photo above is of the fall turning of leaves- which we missed in Boston, but I found here on the mountain. Scrapbooking has been my only hobby really since having children- even then it is hard to fit in, I hadn't done any scrapbooking this year since going to the same retreat last fall. This weekend I relaxed, enjoyed the company of Sky's mom and sisters, and worked on our Boston trip photos- very satisfying to get it all down.

Amie brought home the class 'buddy' from her reading corner class at the learning center. When I picked them up last week, Amie was so very excited- she very animatedly told me as soon as I walked in that she had " wuuffy"- at least that was what I thought she might have said. What followed was 3 minutes of me trying to repeat back to her the correct word, Amie getting increasingly frustrated, and Demi-Sly jumping in to "help out". I guess the lisp didn't really go away! I finally apologized and admitted I just didn't know what they were saying. The whole exchange was a wet blanket on Amie's enthusiasm... Finally inspiration hit me and I said, " you have Lucky?!" Yes, the stuffed dog's name is Lucky.
They couldn't name him spot or something...

Amie brought him home for the week and also his special notebook to record special things they did together this week. I looked through the instructions and saw that she needed to complete one page with drawings for her week. Amie has already done 10 pages of drawings. Not real sure how to handle that.


I had fun shopping the Apple itunes store before leaving for my trip to Big Bear. I remarked to Sky that the kids really loved the Christian country music by Paul Overstreet I had on my ipod. I thought we should add some really country music to my ipod for the kids to enjoy. Way, way back in the early 90's, we had been in a country music stage. We were trying to come up with the creme de la creme of country that was, um...sanitized? um, more sanctified? um, safe for little minds? We agreed the top examples of the genre would have to include, hands-down- "I've got friends in low places", "All my exes live in Texas" and "I like my women a little on the trashy side.." and yet we cringe to imagine our offspring singing along to those with zeal.
I guess we have to think longer on our greatest hits list.


My sister-in-law, "D" was at the scrapbook getaway. She is the baby of the family and quite a bit younger than all the rest. I have to say that she is such a lovely young woman. She spent much of her time this trip on her laptop working on a project for a Christian writing course she signed up for. She has always wanted to be a writer and so she has jumped in feet first into doing just that. I watched her, so happily busy- and thought of how proud her Dad would be of her. I know he was already proud of how lovely she is, inside and out- you could see it on his face when he looked at her. She is truly Emma Woodhouse, without the flaws. I hope my girls grow up to be like her.

Heroes. Anybody know what I am talking about? My word. Sky found the series on free download last month and was immersed in it. I waited to order it from netflix, wanting to enjoy it on our big monitor. We watched two episodes last night and I think I am addicted now. We don't watch t.v. - one of the reasons is because we are really too busy to watch stuff. I can see that I am going to be spending lots of time watching this series....it's really, really a good show. I guess something to keep us busy until the new Monk season is out can't be such a bad thing? Did I mention it is available for instant view on netflix? ...we just figured that out last night. Yes, like I have lots of free time anyways....

Last, I am reading this book. I knew I would find more fiction to add to my
fall into reading challenge. Have to say that this is really, really good. Again, not that I have lots of free time...!