What the Game of Life Has Taught My Son

Last week we went shopping for some good old-fashioned family board games.  Winter is lasting forever and the kids, particularly Sammy, needed a deterrant from the Wii.  We came home with the Game of Life and Sorry Sliders. 

I never played the Game of Life as a kid and was shocked to find out that sprinkled throughout the game are squares that allow you to sue a player of your choice for $100,000.  There are also squares called "Spin to Win" that allow you to place a bet on the number of your choice and spin the wheel.  If it lands on the  number you bet on, you double your money. 

So there you have it, suing and gambling.  The only upside is that Sammy also learned that investing money in a house means that you have that asset later to sell when you want to retire.  Just what every 7-year-old needs to know about life, right?

P.S. Sorry Sliders is a fun game that preschoolers can play but is still entertaining for older kids and adults.

Memorial Day 2010---A Poem!

By Jeff Gish (my husband)

The doppler radar

forecasted rain

but we chose not to listen

...bring on the pain!

The rain came around

but we got a little sun

and finally our bikes' cranks

got pedaled, pushed & spun

We saw some wildlife...

an inquisitive chipmunk fellow

most interesting however,

was a spider clad in yellow

We enjoyed nature's beauty

we saw the towns & farms

we went coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs

we robbed mallows from "Junky Charms"

Bought some wet wood

from the ranger station

the billows of smoke at our camp

could have covered a small nation

Abby loved her bike trailer rides

and super book adventures

luckily her top bunk fall

didn't leave her with dentures

Sammy got to pee in the woods

as all boys like to do

as much as playing in the fire

or camping without shoes

Mom and Dad smiled more than not

slowing life down and grasping all we've got

It's one of our favorite getaways

to visit Heyburn Cabin

we hope you all relax and have

as much fun as we are havin'

------------------------------

Jeff wrote this poem in the cabin journal before we packed up and went home after our stay over the long weekend. I am a little late in getting it posted, but still wanted to share it. If you want to read more of Jeff's writing, you can visit his blog about the moving industry.

Mom Friends

Often I think that my friendships with other women depend not on whether we have things in common or enjoy eachother's company but on whether or not we have children that play compatibly. Most of my get-togethers with other women are playdates for our children. This isn't to say that I don't love my mom friends, I do, but I wonder about the other women I have missed the chance to get to know because our kids weren't the right ages to play together or didn't seem to hit it off.

I also worry about what will happen to my friendships with other moms as our kids grow and go in different directions. It has already happened with a few friends that had children in Sammy's preschool. Once our kids went to kindergarten at different schools and we didn't see each other every week, it became difficult to maintain those friendships. I suppose that is the natural way of things--life changes and people move on and new people come in to fill the gaps.

Jeff and I have two couples that we have been friends with for a long time, one set since college and the other since we were new parents together. We don't live near either couple anymore, but we still make an effort to stay in touch (and I mean more than just on facebook) and see each other when we can. Sometimes our kids get along with their kids and sometimes they don't, but that doesn't change the adults' friendships. Somehow I think we'll always be friends with those people--we'll be going on senior cruises with them and talking about our hip problems with each other. I hope some of my mom friends will make it into that category of forever friends--that our connections remain even when our circumstances change.

Overscheduled Mom

I heard on the news quite awhile back about a study that said parents are among the angriest people in America and I believe it. I bet it is especially true for moms like me that stupidly sign their kids up for every activity under the sun and spend their week ferrying their kids between school, soccer practice, Spanish class, swim lessons, etc. At least I don't have a mini-van or a pair of "Mom Jeans" because then I would truly have to admit that my life is all about my kids and not much else.

I know my anger comes not from the fact that I spend so much time in the car, but the effort it takes to get in the car. Abby hates transitions and if I don't plan it out just right, she will have a fit about getting her hair combed or her jacket on or about which snack I packed--anything you can think of. Sammy, who is getting close to 7-years-old, has to be told twenty-five times to get his shoes on, find a jacket, etc. He is always off setting up a lego scene or chasing the cat when it's time to be going out the door. And I am willing to bet that's where most parents' anger comes from--trying to get little people to do things that they don't necessarily want to do at that moment. It's the coersion that is so stressful and makes me yell and wish that I could use the f-word. I have discussed this with my husband and he says my job is not that different from his--the people are just bigger where he works (he oversees about 30 employees).

I could say screw all this running around and just throw them outside to play. I think that is what mothers in previous generations did most of the time, right? (Which reminds me to recommend Free Range Kids to anyone who is afraid to send their kids outside by themselves or allow them to do any number of things that we were allowed to do as kids.) The only problem is that my kids really do seem to enjoy the activities they are in and benefit from them a great deal, it's just the getting ready that's too dull for words in their minds. In fact there was a study done by Sandra Hoefferth of the University of Maryland Population Research Center that said that kids are not stressed by being involved in lots of activities, it's just the parents that are stressed. The study goes on to say that kids that are not in any extra-curricular activities are actually at the most risk for being withdrawn and not performing as well in school as their peers (the study was highlighted in the Washington Post awhile back but is unfortunately not available online for free).

Summer is just around the corner, so there is relief in sight. I can sit back and just enjoy lazy days at the pool or the park with the kids....except I will have to wrestle them both to the ground to apply sunscreen to their fair little bodies before we ever venture out of the house...at least crocs just slip on!

A Carnival, Science Night, 2 Fieldtrips, a Kitten...

...and a few other things we have been up to this spring:

The PTG at Sammy's school put on an awesome carnival. There were tons of games, face painting, snow cones, cotton candy...you name it, they had it.

Abby's school had another great Science Night with hands-on projects galore!

Sammy has an amazing kindergarten teacher that does tons of science with the kids. The class has been studying pond life, so they walked down to a pond near the school and met with a former high school and college biology teacher to do some real world research.

Abby's co-op preschool visited a farm after a unit about farm animals. Besides being home to lots of cute critters, this farm also has a dairy where they pasteurize and bottle their own milk to sell to local stores.

Meet Socks, the newest member of our family. Abby's teacher was a foster parent to a pregnant cat from the Humane Society. We adopted one of the kittens so the kids could have a pet of their own. Our other cat, Nilla, is quite old and has never been too enthused about playing with Sammy & Abby.

In April we made two trips--one to Seattle and one to Yakima. Unfortunately we did not have the memory card in the camera when we went to Seattle so we have no pictures of our trip to the top of the Space Needle. In Yakima Sammy got to ride the go-cart that my brother built for my nephew.

Return to the Blogosphere

So, I have been absent from blogland for awhile. I have been prompted to return mostly because I'm helping host another swap over at http://www.littlepeopleswap.blogspot.com/ with my friend Michelle (aka Meg). We always try to encourage participants to get to know eachother by visiting and commenting on one another's blogs, so I figure I better return to my blog, at least for the duration of the swap.

Also, I miss blogging. I gave it up because I wanted to focus on finishing some children's stories I have been working on and submit them to publishers. I still haven't finished them, so I can't blame it on blogging, considering it has been nine months since my last post and I am nowhere near submitting anything to publishers.

Maybe it would be best to re-enter blogland by giving a brief update on what I have been up to in the last nine months. My Family's Top 10 Highlights of the Last 9 Months:


1) We moved to a new house. We are still on Spokane's southill, but in a different neighborhood with what we feel are better schools. We rented out our other house, so now we get the joy of being landlords--not the funnest thing in the world, but not the worst either.

2) Abby started talking up storm! No speech therapy for her, but still doing the PT.

3) Sammy finished preschool and is gearing up for kindergarten. He is turning six in a few weeks and is busy planning his party. He wants it to include capture the flag.

4) We tore down our garage at our new house in preparation for building a new one (bigger and not leaning precariously to one side).


5) I got asked to be an officer on the board at Abby's (formerly Sammy's) co-op preschool next year. I will be the secretary and I feel honored to have my dedication recognized.

6) Jeff and I celebrated our 10th anniversary in May. We marked the occassion with our first ever weekend away from the kids.

7) I have a new nephew. My sister-in-law Joanna just gave birth to a beautiful little boy--Carter John. He is perfect! Yet I have no desire for more of my own. I am perfectly happy to look at him and hold him and let his parents do all the work!

8) I have read several great books with my book club and had lots of fun discussing them over wine. The Glass Castle tops the list.

9) Our business is surviving this economy! We launched a new website over the winter and I wrote most of the copy (another reason for not blogging). If you are moving anytime soon or just want to read some really captivating content on the moving industy, check it out: http://www.actionallied.com/.


10) Jeff and his team won the Portland Street Jam 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament for their division last weekend. I was very proud of him and his team.

If anyone is out there and reading this, leave me a comment and tell me your top items of the last 9 months. You would think I was pregnant with all the references to 9 months (see number 7 if you think I am hinting at anything).

Stay tuned, more to come soon........

Children's Book Review: My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Sock & Found Object Collage Art

The other day my son happened upon the book My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Socks at the library. It is told from the perspective of a little girl who is asked to draw a picture of her family but doesn't feel that pen and ink quite do her family members justice. Instead she decides to use found objects to create collage-like portraits of them that show their personalities. For example, she uses a small wooden spinning-top for her dad's nose because he is fun loving. The book inspired my kids and I to create our own collage faces from a bunch of miscellaneous stuff in our craft cabinet that I just knew we would have a use for SOMEDAY.

Sammy made this one--it's me!

I helped Abby create this self-portrait. Since she is only two, I spread glue for the hair and shirt and gave her sequins and old puzzle pieces to stick on. She also selected the googly eyes and stuck them on.

Sammy and I worked together to make this one of Jeff. It is the only one where we really concentrated on making the objects match the subject's personality. His eyes are number 40 because that was his number when he played high school basketball, and basketball is still one of his favorite hobbies. We used a map for his shirt because he used to be a social studies teacher and enjoys studying maps. The bell nose is because he is musical and is teaching himself to play the guitar.


I made this one of Sammy.

We really got in the collage making mood. The animal one was a collaboration between Sammy and me. Some of the cutouts are from an old calendar created by the same people who made How Are You Peeling, another really fun children's book. The final one was all Sammy's doing.