Today is the last day that you can take advantage of the awesome $8.97 price for the Supermarket Savings 101 program. Don’t miss it–it’s a really valuable skill to learn that has the potential to help your family SO much!
Hi everybody!
As gas and food prices are climbing daily all over the world, many of us are wondering when it will stop, and how we will be able to keep up. One of the best resources I know of for lowering grocery costs is a wonderful program written by Crystal Paine. It’s called Supermarket Savings 101, and it will teach you how to significantly cut your grocery costs without spending tons of time!
Crystal is a wife and mother of two who has just about perfected the art of getting her groceries for pennies on the dollar. For a couple years now I’ve read her blogs and been amazed when she featured photos of big bunches of groceries that she got for free or close to it. Obviously, this is a skill that most of us could stand to learn, and Crystal has made it so easy.
Since I know how badly we can all use this kind of help, Crystal has agreed to not only let me tell you about this program, but she is selling it for only $8.97, which is 50% off the normal price! I have no doubt at all that even if you just apply a few of Crystal’s strategies that your $8.97 investment would be paid back to you many times over.
In addition to the awesome price, Crystal has sweetened the deal with six additional bonus items, including ebooks on menu planning, gardening, making homemade bread, and some recipe books!
I strongly encourage you to go check out the program information so you can understand how beneficial it will be to you. Feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends and family as well. I think this is a wonderful deal for something that can truly help everyone, particularly when times are so tough right now. I hope this is a blessing to you!
I’ve never had the time to go to a homeschool convention, and now with the way gas prices are rising, driving anywhere comes under some scrutiny at my house. Do we really need to go there? Is it worth the price to drive there?
The Ultimate Homeschool Expo is starting soon, and it’s an excellent (actually, superior!) alternative to the typical homeschool convention. For a super low price you can attend a homeschool convention from the comforts of home. You get to listen to a HUGE amount of speakers (and you can even listen more than once)–way more than you would get to see at an in-person convention.
You also get a large amount of freebies and bonus goodies that are worth way, way more than the cost of a ticket to the event.
You can even hear ME as a speaker, which I know you are dying to do! 
I would say that even for someone who is not homeschooling but is thinking about it, this would be a great opportunity to learn a lot without getting overwhelmed trying to fit everything into one weekend.
You can check the whole thing out here.
Where has my lil baby gone? Sadie is becoming more and more independent and mobile everyday.
She is still tiny and my lil baby girl but she has started trying to walk now and it just puts me in shock
at how fast ten months went. She pushes behind her lil push toy hippo and walks all over the apartment now..
she also loves to hold onto our hands and walk around. I believe she is determined to figure out this walking thing
since she will cry sometimes and just get mad at crawling so we will help her stand up and then ta da laughing
Sadie once again
We also just recently moved to a two bedroom apartment…that was a crazy move and we are still unpacking bits
here and there…but the most exciting of all about moving is Sadie has her own big room now and she sleeps through
the night now!!! I was so use to get up with her 6-7 times at most through out the night so it took me awhile to get use to
either getting up just once to nurse her or not at all!! Now I just sleep though It is so nice to sleep again….Friday night
she slept from 8:30-6:30 then slept in till 10am!!! Threw both my husband and I off since Sadie is usually our trusty alarm
clock between 7-8:30. And last night she slept from 9-7 so a full nights rest again I am just so thankful to God that she is
sleeping much better now and not demanding to be nursed every hour. She obviously needed her own space to rest better..she
even is taking naps better. Granted this might change due to teething or what not…(she is on her third tooth..getting them
all at once) but for now I am just so happy to finally get some goodnight sleep
The pictures are of Sadie playing at the Sciencenter…she loves going there and hanging out with her friends and all the new toys
and fun stuff to explore. Sadie has this one friend who is almost two years old..his name is Aden…and they just lvoe each other
so much its so cute…Aden will look around at nursery (church) for Sadie and when he sees her he yells out Sa Sa !! They hug each other, play together, and one day Aden decided to even carry Sadie around!!! that was a little scary turning around and seeing him holding her and carrying her…she was fine but it made both his mom and I hold our breath and run for the babies :)…Its so so cute
watching her interact with other babies and toddlers She loves other kids…as long as mommy isnt holding them we discovered she has a jealousy about sharing her mommy I was trying to help out a friend and hold her baby for a few minutes and Sadie acted like I had betrayed her for life…it was quite devastating for her…I quickly ran to her to let her know everything was alright…and I hope that she will learn to be okay with it. But for now Sadie has all of Mommy to herself
The other night my daughter Punka, went down (surprisingly) peacefully for her bedtime. Within an hour, she erupted in a bloodcurdling scream that sent me running for her door. I had never heard her scream like that before, so of course my mind involuntarily ran through worse case scenarios. Had she fallen out of bed and broken her arm? Was there an intruder in the house? What could possibly make her scream like that?
I reached her room to find the culprit was a wolf. Yes, a wolf. Apparently in the haze of her dimly lit room, my imaginative 2 year old had found the wolf’s eyes (which had been featured in Aesop’s Fables at Library Story Time that afternoon). I calmed her and asked her to show me the wolf, and she franticly pointed to the tiny lights on the smoke/carbon monoxide detector. I tried to soothe her fears with logic (not a toddler’s strong point), but that didn’t work. In the end, after retrieving Daddy (appropriately still dressed in cammo uniform and hunting make believe wolfs), turning on the light, and rearranging anything that might cast a shadow, she finally settle down to sleep.
The next night she saw birds in her closet – a small pile of clothes that cast a shadow. The night after that, a snake – the skinny outline of her lamp’s electrical cord. My husband and I were both baffled. We’ve never had this problem with my daughter before. You always hear about children being afraid of undescript monsters in the closet or under the bed. But that would be too easy…My daughter thinks monsters are funny. Monsters can be explained away. “Oh, monsters are just pretend. They don’t exist.”
How do you explain away a wolf? Or a bird? Or a snake? They’re all real animals she reads about or sees everyday. It’s not like I can censor them from her life like I could monsters and horror movies. Once again, I’m stumped by a two year old.
DebD, MilitaryMomma
www.DunkDesigns.com
So the owner of the gardening toolkit site decided to offer a one day sale to celebrate the first day of spring. You can get the whole set marked down from $27 to $14. Check it out here. This sale ends at midnight!
Happy Spring!
I just found out that Jim is going to make a better price on the gardening toolkit for One Day Only. That will be tomorrow–to celebrate the first day of spring! Come by tomorrow and I’ll have the info for you. (He’s still putting it together right now)
It’s springtime and those tempting seed
catalogs are filling our mailboxes, inspiring
us to do some gardening! My husband and I
started gardening with our children when they
were young and it was such a fun experience.
We all learned alongside each other and got
to experience the wonder of actual food
growing in our own back yard.
If you have been thinking about doing some
gardening this year, you are going to love
this! My friend Jim Erskine has put together
a fabulous collection of gardening resources
at a super price.
This “tool kit” has 14 resources that will
instruct and inspire you in your gardening
pursuits this spring. For this week you can
get them at a great discounted price.
Go on over and check out all these great
resources. They have stuff for organic
gardening, growing potatoes the easy way (I’ll be trying this one!),
ideas for including your children in
gardening, and lots more.
If there’s one thing that I’ve found most of us have in common, we all love a bargain! Well, this week I have an incredible offer for you that I know you’re going to love.
My friend Tawra Kellam runs Living on a Dime, one of the internet’s most popular web sites dedicated to helping all of us live well on less.
This week Tawra is allowing me to share a fabulous offer with you folks. To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day you can get **17** wonderful eBooks for just $17!! This collection of books includes
I have most of Tawra’s books and can tell you that they are chock-full of practical and helpful ideas that really WILL help you save money!
Stop by Tawra’s site to check out this offer. I think you will be very pleased with what you see there, and that this ebook package will be really valuable to you.
This special sale ends SOON so don’t miss it!
Come back tomorrow for another great GREEN deal that you’ll LOVE!
This gal is the winner of the Ultimate Blog Party giveaway. Congratulations!
Ladies and gents, May I call your attention to the center ring as I attempt the impossible. I, Momma the Magnificient, will attempt fly alone with my toddler, and arrive at my destination sane! “Can’t be done!” You say?…
…I agree, but hey I have to keep the dream alive right? So, back to reality. Me being me, I set off to prepare for this fated trip back to the East Coast by researching and planning. We’re not new to long hauls and traveling by car for days, being an Army family, but planes are different. You can’t stop for potty breaks and the occasional “my butt’s asleep” pitstop. Add to that Mommy’s huge fear of flying, and the general chaos of going anywhere alone with a very active and antsy toddler, and it seems like an all but impossible feat.
However, I am determined to try to make the best of it. After all, at the end of that very long plane ride is HOME. Grandma. Grampa. Cousins, Aunts and Uncles. I just have to make it through 8 hours on a plane and a short layover to gain 6 full days of the comforts of home. I can do this! (Or so I tell myself.)
In order to make this trip as smooth as possible, I’ve compiled quite the Traveling Toolkit chocked full of fun little activities and, well, bribes. My secret weapon: snacks and a portable DVD player. I’ve also bought a toddler book about first plane rides, a coloring book about airplanes, and toddler sized headphones shaped like teddy bears.
I added a GoGo Kidz TravelMate (an attachment for your child’s carseat that converts it into a stroller of sorts, for an easier terminal to terminal dash!) to my arsenal, and I hope that it holds up to my expectations. Most of all I just hope beyond hope that the Tantrum Gods are good to us that day. Be sure I’ll be giving a full report of the effectiveness of my battle plan after we return. Wish me luck!
DebD, MilitaryMomma
www.DunkDesigns.com
It’s time for another blog party! Welcome to the fun!
I’m Erica, and this blog is where I focus on everything that moms of little ones are interested in. In addition to my own writing, we have several contributing bloggers here, including a young first-time mom, a mom with a child with Down Syndrome, and a military mom.
Some fun things I have going on right now:
Get a free ebook: The No-Cry Parenting Guide. Yours when you sign up for my free newsletter here.
I am also hosting a great sale on my two healthy eating books right now, with 50% of the proceeds going to Zoe Children’s Homes, which is an organization that rescues children from the evils of human trafficking. You can read more about this here.
In celebration of The Ultimate Blog Party, I will be giving away a sweet pair of crib shoes in newborn size. Here’s what they look like:
All you have to do to be entered into the drawing is to leave a comment here and tell me who you would give the crib shoes to. Please be sure that I have your email address so I can notify you if you’re the winner.
You can visit my Health and Wellness blog here, and my Supermom’s No-Lice Advice blog here. I have giveaways going on at both sites.
Enjoy the party!!
ZOE Children’s Homes is an international Christian organization that rescues children who are sold, or at risk of being sold, into prostitution slavery; orphaned, or victims of other heinous crimes and abuse. You all have heard me talk about this organization before. The work that this organization does is amazing because they literally save the lives of children. We can’t even imagine the evils that await the children that fall into the trap of human trafficking, and it’s amazing what a small amount of money is enough for the ZOE team to take in one more child that they will love, feed, clothe, educate, and care for…until adulthood! ZOE is committed to their children for life. They are simply amazing.
I have looked forward to the day when I would have an opportunity to make a sizable donation to this organization, and now it’s here. I am offering my two books as a fundraiser for ZOE Children’s Homes. I will be donating 50% of the proceeds of this sale directly to ZOE Children’s Homes on March 15. Feel free to spread the word on your blogs and egroups so that we can make a huge impact in helping these children.
If you would like to make an additional donation to ZOE, please follow this link to do so. Every little bit helps. I have a personal friend that works with this organization and she has told me that many times ZOE has a list of children waiting to be rescued, but they have to wait for one. more. donation. before they can get that child. YOUR DONATIONS WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Sadie has gotten her first tooth…and it has made her very cranky so far. It is poking out more and more each day
and just the other day her Aunt Sophia found that she has another tooth coming in right next to the other one.
So Sadie is getting both her front bottom teeth all in one week! Poor Baby…
She also entered the phase of I don’t want to sit still for any bit of time… She does not like her stroller anymore
and wants to crawl all over the stores we go into. At church she just recently started going to the nursery which
she loves a lot more than I thought she would. I was all worried the first time and came to get her early and she did
not want to leave the other kids or toys. Sadie is a very social baby…she loves other toddlers and kids..she will follow them
around everywhere and look at them with those pleading eyes and laugh as if she is saying “hey lets play” in her own
little baby language. So know she plays in the nursery while we actually get sit and listen to the sermon.
It is amazing to watch how she interacts with others and how she approaches situations. She has just started to try to walk
behind this little push toy. She gets very nervous though and tries to signal to me to come help. So finally she decided
to walk on her knees to get around lol….it is pretty funny but works fine for her I guess. She also loves waving at everyone ..
at moving cars, when people leave, and just for fun she waves and blows kisses its adorable!
Her Daddy has also gotten her attached to music thats upbeat and fun. When we play her favorite song she will bounce up and down
and dance all goofy like…then when the song goes off Sadie signs more more frantically. Silly Sadie
I have been dreaming of going on a cruise for a long time now. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to make that happen this year. I love the idea of the all-inclusive vacation, where you can just go eat, hang around, sleep, and check things out without constantly having to worry about how much it all costs. My husband and I would love to go on an Alaska cruise tour and hopefully do some whale watching. My mom, sister, and sister-in-law have been talking about a girls-only cruise for about a year. We would probably aim for something warm and tropical.
I found a helpful site today. TravelStoreUSA.com has all the info you need about flights, car rentals, and of course cruises. I like it that you aren’t stuck looking at just one cruise line. Plus they have a cool search area where you can find cruises for particular interests, age groups, etc. They also have experts that are available to help you find what you’re looking for and get the best deal available. There is info to help you navigate passport issues, too.
Have you ever been on a cruise? Do you have any suggestions for me?
~Erica
Hey gals,
This week you can get a free ebook called Organizing 101 by going here. I love to organizing, and I love to pretend that I’m going to get more organized. ;) At least with this book there won’t be any clutter coming into the house, right?
~Erica
This article highlights a disturbing discovery that all parents should be concerned about. Take a minute to check it out.
This year, March is the month for Easter! Religiously it is celebrated as the resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion, and secularly, it is celebrated with colored eggs, chocolate candies and stuffed bunnies. Easter is called a “moveable” Holiday because it is unfixed in relation to the civil calendar and follows the cycle of the moon. In the West, Easter always falls on a Sunday anytime from March 22nd – April 25,th and the rule since the Middle Ages has been that Easter is observed on the Sunday after the first full moon. Whether celebrating in the religious manner with the traditions of the church, or by decorating eggs and hiding them throughout the house, most families in the United States, as well as other countries around the world celebrate the Easter Holiday in some way or another.
· In Canada, eggs and other treats are distributed by the Easter Bunny. The modern belief that eggs are delivered by a rabbit known as the Easter Bunny comes from the legend of the Goddess Eostre. So much did a lowly rabbit want to please the Goddess that he laid the sacred eggs in her honor, gaily decorated them, and humbly presented them to her. She was so pleased at the gift that she wished all humankind to share in her joy. In honor of her wishes, the rabbit went through the entire world and distributed these little decorated gifts of life.
· In the UK, families exchange chocolate eggs on Easter Sunday. They also enjoy a traditional Sunday Roast Dinner and eat foods like Simnel cake, a fruit cake with eleven marzipan balls representing the eleven faithful apostles. Hot cross buns are also eaten through Holy Week and the Easter period. In Northern England and Ireland, families gather together and roll decorated eggs down steep hills.
· Norway has a more contemporary Easter tradition that involves the solving of murder mysteries that are broadcast on television and printed in the local newspapers and magazines.
· In Finland, Sweden and Denmark, small children dressed up as witches and collect candy and treats door-to-door, in exchange for decorated pussy willows. This mixture comes from the old Orthodox tradition in which houses are blessed with willow branches, and the Scandinavian Easter witch tradition.
· People in Germany and the Netherlands light Easter fires on Easter Sunday at sunset.
· In Hungary, perfume or perfumed water is sprinkled in exchange for an Easter egg.
No matter our religious denomination, ethnicity or culture, we can broaden our horizons and add some new experiences to our own family traditions. Whether we try some new foods for Easter dinner, roll our eggs down the steepest hill in our neighborhood, or read a mystery story aloud as a family, experiencing different and unique things together can lead to some treasured family memories.
Lisa Smith is the Owner/
A mother’s intuition is pretty valuable. With my first four children, I learned more about listening to myself as I experienced all kinds of different situations with the kids. When my little guy was born, I had to learn anew the importance of listening to intuition, but this time, with the added complications that Down syndrome brought to the table.
When he was diagnosed with an ear infection at six months, I did what I had done for my older children, who had almost no ear infections. I treated his infection homeopathically. However, even though I had heard that children with DS have small Eustachian tubes, I didn’t really see how that might impact my choice. Well, when I went back for the re-check, the infection was not gone, and the doctor geared up to order a stronger antibiotic. I told her I had not given the antibiotic she first prescribed. She asked me why I had come to her in the first place if I wasn’t going to do what she recommended. I told her honestly that I just wanted to know if he had an ear infection. But, since my homeopathic treatment had not worked, I was completely willing to give him the antibiotic. The infection cleared up, but we did eventually go the “tubes” route as he was having trouble with fluid in his ears, and I was easily convinced that his speech and language development might be significantly impacted if he could not hear clearly. The tubes were an excellent choice, looking back and seeing how his ears have been since that time.
More recently, one of my older children got a bad cold, and although my little one fought it off for quite awhile, it wasn’t too long before he woke me up with that croupy cough. We have an arrangement whereby anytime croup crops up, we administer oral steroids and take him to the doctor the next day to make sure his breathing is ok. I chose not to take him this time, after faithfully driving him the 17 miles to the office the other 4 times he has had croup, only to be told that his breathing was fine. So now it was the weekend and he didn’t seem to be getting over it as normal. By Sunday night, I knew he needed to be seen by the doc, so I took him in on Monday morning. Turns out he had pneumonia. Even while I was second-guessing myself for not bringing him to the doctor on Friday, my gracious doctor said, “You should always trust your gut. If you had brought him in on Friday, this probably wouldn’t have even shown up.”
I don’t always make the right decisions. There have been some things I’ve missed with my kids at different times, but I’m sure there is something to be said for that certainty that comes sometimes when I am trying to decide how best to address a situation. 
My daughter seems determined to make sure she takes full advantage of the Army’s Tricare medical system. In the past year she’s done so by developing tonsillitis, the croup, countless ear infections, and even a few crayons up the nose. Yesterday, after fighting a fever all weekend and coughing up ungodly amounts of green goop, she went to the doctor’s again. We suspected a double ear infection and possibly sinus infection, which is now the norm for her, but scarier yet is the possibility of pneumonia.
When we arrived, her fever had peaked to 105.3, all the while on fever-reducer medication. The doctor and nurses had to wrap her in cool wet towels and put icepacks on her head and chest to get it to come down. Not fun. My poor baby screamed bloody murder for me the whole time, and I cried a little myself. It’s horrible to see your baby in pain and not be able to help.
When I was finally allowed to rescue her from her chilly cocoon, I had to turn around and hold her down for a chest xray and get the same heartbreaking plea, “Help Momma!!”. It’s a wonder the child doesn’t hate me. With Daddy being gone a lot, or unable to leave work, I am always the one having to hold her down for shots, xrays, and exams. Thankfully, I think on some level she knows I am helping and trying to make it all better. But it never gets any easier.
DebD, Military Momma
Graphic Design & VA Services
I’m just in love with these gorgeous hair clips! I discovered them kind of by accident, got some samples, and knew that we had to offer them at the boutique.
Each pair of clips is hand embroidered by a talented mom in the USA. They are really, really nice and very well done. We have six designs to choose from right now, with more to come in the future. You can check out all of the designs here.
At some point in the life of a parent, it becomes necessary to talk with your child about discrimination, prejudice or more simply, the things that make people different from one another. Whether its race, religion, culture or skin color, children are naturally curious and will ask questions. The important thing, if you are a parent, is to know what to say and how to answer their questions when the time comes.
The age of the child is one of the most important things to consider when talking to children about racial differences. Children from ages 2-3 begin to notice physical aspects of identity and gender. This is followed by curiosity about skin color, hair color and texture, eye shape and color. They may also begin to recognize cultural differences and they may show signs of “pre-prejudice” such as acting afraid, uncomfortable or avoiding or ignoring other children they perceive to be different. Three-and 4-year-olds begin to seek answers to their questions about differences. They show a greater awareness of appearances and they ask questions about where they got their own skin, hair, and eye color. Five-year-olds begin to build a group ethnic identity, as well as an individual identity within that group. They are more capable of exploring the differences and similarities between groups. They accept the use of categories and begin to look to see where they fit in. Six-to 8-year-olds begin to realize that their ethnicity is not changeable. They begin to become aware of attitudes for and against racial, religious, and cultural groups and they are highly influenced by significant adults, peers, and the media. Cultural pride may also begin to develop at this age. Nine- to 12-year-olds become more aware of the attitudes and behaviors within institutional settings and they also begin to get a clear understanding of the struggles against bias and are more willing to discuss culture, race, and differences.
Once we understand the capabilities of our children to understand our answers, we must then decide what to tell them! There is no perfect script and ultimately your discussion will probably not be perfect, but opening the door to communication is the first step to stopping hate, prejudice and inequality and to opening your child’s eyes to the diversity around them. Regardless of your child’s age, you can use the following pointers to help you discuss this difficult topic.
Do not pretend everyone is the same: Children are not blind to the fact that people look, dress and speak differently from them. They need simple, truthful and accurate information that addresses those differences and helps to reduce their fearfulness or hesitation.
Talking about prejudice does not increase its prevalence: Children do not learn prejudice from having open, honest discussions about physical differences. They learn prejudice from the media, peers and influential figures in their lives. If you are accurate with your information and you help your child to be consistent with their actions regarding discrimination then your child will be more likely to know what to do and how to behave when confronted with a situation that requires them to act appropriately.
Discuss what is different as well as what is the same: It is important that children understand that what makes us different, makes us who we are. Although it is important that we focus on inner qualities more often than outer, we should not ignore the differences; rather we should attempt to explain that often customs, manner of dress or culture can be expressed in many ways.
Treat all questions with respect: Despite being awkward, embarrassing and at times, even humorous, you should try not to silence your child or to make them feel that they asked a forbidden question. This may keep them from discussing it with you in the future.
Answer questions clearly and honestly: Try to understand what they are really asking and give short, simple answers that children can understand. Try not to over explain and if you don’t know an answer, say so. If you give a wrong answer, correct yourself. Give children simple, factual answers to questions rather than general “all-encompassing’ statements.
Despite being a challenging conversation, it is an accomplishment as a parent just to start a dialogue about such an important and controversial topic. The more we know about how to talk to our children about the differences in our world, the better we can equip them to become open-minded, unbiased adults. We as parents can give our children the tools to make their world a more loving, accepting place just by providing them a comfortable place to voice their questions and concerns, and an ear to listen to what they have to say.
Lisa Smith is the Owner/
Sadie has started to copy us now..which is both cute and a little scary. She saw me goofing around
the other day and I hit my head with a macaroni box while laughing about what to do for dinner. She saw this
and has not yet stopped hitting her heads on objects and laughing about it.
Also the other day we were waving goodbye to Dustin (Daddy) as he left for school…she copied us blowing kisses
to one another so super cute!! Then she gave Daddy a big wet kiss and me too…it was one of those adorable moments. She now crawls everywhere blowing kisses at everything…it is the cutest thing.
We had a little special mommy and Sadie time the other afternoon and did each other’s hair. She learned how to brush hers…mostly hits her ear and then tries to brush mine too..we also put lil barrettes in our hair and laugh at the mirror and wave at the other baby in the mirror. It was so cute watching how quietly she sat there waiting to brush her hair our play with the clips and look at all the pretty colors. I mean of course I would never leave her alone with all those small objects but she loved being a big girl and playing with them with mommy. It was very sweet.
We went outside last week while we had a good amount of snow and made snow angels too. Sadie was laughing hysterically when I would move her arms all goofy in the snow to make the wings for her baby angel. She loved playing in the snow even if she couldn’t move in her big snowsuit very well. Ahh mommy always overdresses her. But she has not gotten a single sickness since she has been born!! thank goodness.
Sadie is napping now and I think Mommy (me) is going to copy her and take a lil nap too. Take Care
I happen to have a high-spirited two year old who hardly ever sleeps through the night without a peep. She will put up a fight when you put her in the room for the night that sometimes lasts hours. Her favorite torture is the scream “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!” continuously for an hour, only interrupting her chant when she breathes in. When she does fall asleep she will wake up an average of twice a night, sometimes as much as 6 times a night depending how restless she is.
She is a very light sleeper so even the wind outside her window is a potential opening for an hour long scream season in the wee hours. After such a restless night, you’d think she’d sleep in but NO! she’s up at the crack of dawn, sometimes before dawn, off and running. She’s been this way since the day she was born, and I can count on one hand the number of restful nights sleep I’ve gotten in the past 2 and a half years. It wears on you.
Enter my husband. He is great at thinking up romantic presents, or gifts that are so me but this Valentines Day he out did himself. He gave me the best gift ever: a restful nights sleep. He gave me earplugs. Not just any earplugs, the industrial grade ear plugs soldiers use while on the firing range! To anyone else, this would seem like a stupid valentines day gift. To me, it was an acknowledgment that he understood I work hard, and I’m exhausted. Best present ever!
DebD, Military Momma
Things from a child’s perspective that will crack you up:
1. NUDITY
I was driving with my three young children one warm summer evening when a woman in the convertible ahead of us stood up and waved. She was stark naked! As I was reeling from the shock, I heard my 5-year-old shout from the back seat, ‘Mom, that lady isn’t wearing a seat belt!’
2. OPINIONS
On the first day of school, a first-grader handed his teacher a note from his mother. The note read, ‘The opinions expressed by this child are not necessarily those of his parents.’
3. KETCHUP
A woman was trying hard to get the ketchup out of the jar. During her struggle the phone rang so she asked her 4-year-old daughter to answer the phone. ’Mommy can’t come to the phone to talk to you right now. She’s hitting the bottle.’
4. MORE NUDITY
A little boy got lost at the YMCA and found himself in the women’s locker room. When he was spotted, the room burst into shrieks, with ladies grabbing towels and running for cover. The little boy watched in amazement and then asked, ‘What’s the matter, haven’t you ever seen a little boy before?’
5. POLICE # 1
While taking a routine vandalism report at an elementary school, I was interrupted by a little girl about 6 years old. Looking up and down at my uniform, she asked, ‘Are you a cop?’
‘Yes,’ I answered and continued writing the report.
‘My mother said if I ever needed help I should ask the police. Is that right?’
‘Yes, that’s right,’ I told her.
‘Well, then,’ she said as she extended her foot toward me, ‘would you please tie my shoe?’
6. POLICE # 2
It was the end of the day when I parked my police van in front of the station. As I gathered my equipment, my K-9 partner, Jake, was barking, and I saw a little boy staring in at me. ’Is that a dog you got back there?’ he asked.
‘It sure is,’ I replied.
Puzzled, the boy looked at me and then towards the back of the van. Finally he said, ‘What’d he do?’
7. ELDERLY
While working for an organization that delivers lunches to elderly shut-ins, I used to take my 4-year-old daughter on my afternoon rounds. She was unfailingly intrigued by the various appliances of old age, particularly the canes, walkers and wheelchairs. One day I found her staring at a pair of false teeth soaking in a glass. As I braced myself for the inevitable barrage of questions, she merely turned and whispered, ‘The tooth fairy will never believe this!’
8. DRESS-UP
A little girl was watching her parents dress for a party. When she saw her dad donning his tuxedo, she warned, ‘Daddy, you shouldn’t wear that suit.’
‘And why not, darling?’
‘You know that it always gives you a headache the next morning. ‘
9. DEATH
While walking along the sidewalk in front of his church, our minister heard the intoning of a prayer that nearly made his collar wilt. Apparently, his 5-year-old son and his playmates had found a dead robin. Feeling that proper burial should be performed, they had secured a small box and cotton batting, then dug a hole and made ready for the disposal of the deceased.
The minister’s son was chosen to say the appropriate prayers and with sonorous dignity intoned his version of what he thought his father always said: ’Glory be unto the Faaather, and unto the Sonnn, and into the hole he goooes.’ (I want this line used at my funeral!)
10. SCHOOL
A little girl had just finished her first week of school; ‘I’m just wasting my time,’ she said to her mother. ’I can’t read, I can’t write, and they won’t let me talk!’
11. BIBLE
A little boy opened the big family Bible. He was fascinated as he fingered through the old pages. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible. He picked up the object and looked at it. What he saw was an old leaf that had been pressed in between the pages.
‘Mama, look what I found,’ the boy called out.
‘What have you got there, dear?’
With astonishment in the young boy’s voice, he answered, ‘I think it’s Adam’s underwear!’