Raising A Princess

This could also be titled "Raising A Middle Child", "A Diva", "A Spirited Child"....you get the picture. I don't claim to know much about raising a girl even though I am one myself. I have come to realize that raising girls is MUCH different than raising boys. While neither one is easy, girls are most definitely more difficult. Of course one needs to factor in personality and temperament and I'm sure some mothers of girls reading this may disagree, but I digress. (I've wanted to use that in a sentence for a long time) That poem comes to mind....sugar and spice and all things nice, that's what girls are made of. That's the fairytale version. This is how I see it:


More often than not, girls are dirtier than boys.


Girls can wear clothing that says princess and yet act the exact opposite. Hands on hips and rubber boots automatically add sass.


Girls develop strange eating habits at a young age. Snacks taste better when eaten in roasting pans.


Cake pans work well too.


A girl's creativity has it's own set of rules.


Girls are always pretty in pink.


Girls are born to nurture. Babies are their best friends.


A girl has MANY moods. This is Saige's angry face.


Sunglasses often hide these many moods. The bigger the better.


Girls like to do things their own way. Saige wore this garden glove for a week. She even slept in it.


The middle child often likes to pretend she is the youngest child. Who says you can't be swaddled at 3?


Girls love chocolate.


They like to style their own hair.


Girls love babies of all types. These babies were given cookies for being good.


Girls sometimes have double standards. Babies must have naps but not big girls?


Girls can be fiercely independent.


Girls love presents of all sizes. The more presents the bigger the smile. This does not change as a girl ages.


Girls are not always so graceful or coordinated.


Every girl must own a pettiskirt and tutu. It is a wardrobe essential.


Girls also love jewelry.


A girl is never too young to have a spa day.


Accessories are also an important component of a girls wardrobe.


Girls are natural multitaskers.


Girls love flowers. This also does not change as a girl ages.


When a girl has confidence, she can pull off any look.


When given the option to dress oneself, a girl will always choose princess garb.


The more sparkles the better.


Ballerina garb is also loved.


It is important to a girl to look stylish at all times, even sunbathing.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Raising A Boy

Plenty of my friends are moms to all boys, my sister included. I have 1 boy and 2 girls and thus have the unique perspective that raising different genders is.... well, different. There is much to be said for that famous phrase "boys will be boys". Here are a few of my old iPhone photo "boy moments".


They like to experiment.


They think little sisters are bugs for catching.


They like to climb and flip and roll and have no regard for consequences like hard cabinets.


They learn differently.


They are good at finding alternate uses for sisters' belongings.


They are clowns.


They learn how to be cool at a young age.


They see things differently.


They idolize their daddy's.


Bad hair days don't bother them.


They like to be pampered.


Competitive by nature and never to young to take pride in ones accomplishments!

And just to be fair of course, a post will follow about raising a princess.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Old iPhone Memories

Here are a couple pictures from when we first moved here. Dayton was a few months shy of 2 and Saige was 10 weeks old. Hard to believe Dayton will be starting 1st grade in August and Saige will be turning 4 this summer!!





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Keeping Up With The Times

I decided that it might be worthwhile to learn the ins and outs of blogging from my iPhone. You see, I have thousands of photos on my iPhone and no way to document them. I mean, what is the point of having all these pictures stored on my phone if I never use them? My blog is meant to document our lives so that one day the children will be able to have a book of memories from their childhood. Call it a modern day baby book of sorts. While my photos usually make it to Facebook for people to look at and comment on, that doesn't do my children any good. Besides, I have tons of photos on my phone that predate my Facebook account activation. I often sift through them when I need a good laugh. Since my phone is always with me, I am more frequently able to document those moments that the children one day will hate me for. Stay tuned....I'm going on a hunt.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Where Did My Baby Go?

Addley is 20 months, soon to be 21 months, but really going on 2.  Today she woke up saying "eat [pause] now" (I need to add the pause because that is how she speaks...with giant pauses between words).  When we got downstairs she proceeded to get out the box of cereal, reach on her tippy toes to get a spoon out of the drawer, open the box of cereal (actually a rubbermaid container), get a bowl out and use her cute little fists to fill her bowl!  Then she said "milk [pause] pease".  Seriously, when did my little baby grow up?  And why donʻt I have any recent pictures of her?  A project I must add to next weeks spring break list!

The TsuMommy

Who knew that before falling asleep last night we would be under a tsunami warning?  Who knew that there would be so much devastation in so many places following that horrific earthquake in Japan?  The sirens started sounding off at 10pm last night and the news said to expect a significant tsunami about 3am.  While I knew that we would be under no immediate threat (we live about a mile in from the coast but we are WAY up high) I still was unable to sleep last night.  After seeing some of the aftermath footage in Japan, sleep was the last thing on my mind.  They said that from the time of the quake until the 23+ foot tsunami hit Japanʻs shores, the people only had about 15 minutes.  How scary.  Hawaii had plenty of warning.  On an island, you cannot help but be close to the ocean....unless you live in the middle.  I couldnʻt imagine being out somewhere with the children and experiencing an earthquake of 8.9 magnitude nevermind a tsunami 15 minutes later.  As much as I LOVE the beach and love the ocean, I am almost always on edge when there (if I have the kids with me).  Perhaps it is the pessimist in me, or the worry wart or perhaps it is just that "mama gene".  I am always wondering what my escape route would be if I had the 3 kids with me.  15 minutes given the right circumstances, can seem like an eternity...during a natural disaster that is nothing.

Fortunately, the kids slept through the hourly sirens.  Well, not Addley, but she doesnʻt sleep much anyhow.  Unfortunately for Scott and I, the sirens and the constant cell phone vibrations from worried friends and family kept us up.  It reminded me of hurricane Katrina days.  Statewide, schools were closed today.  Most kids would be excited, mine were disappointed.  They were supposed to be participating in Jump For Heart Day.  Dayton was asking a bunch of questions about the tsumommy.  He watched some of the news, and for a 5 year old, he was pretty stunned by the damage the ocean caused.  He kept saying "wow, that wave took over the whole town."  For any of our friends that may have friends or family affected by this disaster, our thoughts are with you and for any of our friends and family thinking of us, we thank you.

Making Time and Taking Time

We say it all the time, "I need to make time for this or for that..."  How does one actually do that though?  It is impossible to make time, to have more hours in a day...it seems like a nice concept, a luxury even.  I am always behind in my blogging, in my picture uploading, in my picture taking even and I cannot figure out why.  We live in a day and age with so much technology that is supposed to help us stay organized and "make time" (so to speak) and yet somehow it complicates things.  For instance, back in the day (actually not all that long ago) we used film in cameras and took them in to get developed and voila, a stack of pictures to put in a photo album.  Now we can take literally hundreds of photos and save them on this tiny piece of plastic.  Am I the only one that is literally years behind in having pictures printed?  Like right now for instance, I have a huge list of things to do and yet Iʻve decided to "take time" for myself to blog.  It is a beautiful sunny day outside and I can think of a million better things to do than sit in front of a computer, but the only way to get one thing accomplished is to let other things slide.  If any of you out there have found some method to keep your life balanced, please share...I have yet to figure it out.  I wanted to share some pictures that need sharing.  Some special ones from Christmas that have not yet found their way into a photo album (but one day will).

This is a picture of Grammie, YaYa, Dayton & Saige.  The kids LOVED their time with Great-Grammie and I know she equally loved her time spent with them.

My beach babies are getting too big!

This is a good example of why I am literally years behind in printing pictures - I take too many!  I LOVE sibling pictures; especially when they donʻt know Iʻm taking their picture.

Great Grammie taking it all in!  This was her first trip to Hawaii.