I can’t believe that the summer is almost over! How did that happen?
I remember when I was little it seemed like summer dragged on forever, and now as an adult it just seems to fly by in a haze. Maybe I need to do a bit more tree house building, reading, and exploring the field like I use to do 🙂
One of the highlights of my summer was my sister-in-law’s wedding. Weddings are just so much fun, and I think are even more fun when you have little kids involved in them.
Rose spent most of the time climbing the railing, along with all the other yahoos.
Abe was tired but a trooper and looked so cute in his little tie!
These two are just handsome. Oh, be still my heart.
light bulb and then swish sugar around inside it dissolves the white
coating and makes them clear. I am making the picture really big so that you can get a better idea about what they are. They were stunning.
future it will be harder to find these type of light bulbs, and I don’t
think the twisty type would give the same effect!
I haven’t seen the new Pixar movie “Brave” yet (so I really can’t say anything either way) but I found this post about the movie fascinating. I was especially interested this part of what the authors had to say,
“Merida may not have been a particularly brave new kind of princess,
but we believe that “Brave” presented the newest and bravest fairytale world in
Disney princess history. Castles and tiaras notwithstanding, this brave
new world is actually a lot more like ours, for two reasons.For one thing, this fairytale kingdom is not a medieval patriarchy: It’s a modern matriarchy. Despite
whatever clichés and tropes you might have been expecting (as we were),
this is not actually another story about a progressive, free-spirited
heroine kicking against old fogey men’s ideas about woman’s role. It’s a
story of 3rd wave feminism kicking against 2nd wave feminism: the
daughter’s rebellious, no-cause-but-myself girl-power versus her
mother’s more self-sacrificing, cause-driven, authoritative woman-power;
a girl who would rather be a bohemian than undergo training to be an
educated, powerful future ruler.The second reason is the realistic outgrowth of the first. True to a real feminist society, there are no real men in this movie.
Merida’s father and the rest of the clan leaders are rowdy,
buffoonish children who have to be shushed, scolded, and dragged around
by the ears by the queen. The suitors are all such that Merida’s clearly
better off without one. And that makes her the first Disney princess
who doesn’t want a prince, and who doesn’t get one.” Read the rest
Like I said I haven’t seen the movie yet but when I saw the previews several months ago I was really disappointed. The story looks fun and engaging but I could tell that they were going to miss, by a long shot, creating the type of “princess” who will really be empowering to little girls and to women. I hope I am wrong (that would be great) and I’d encourage you to read the rest of the post, it is fascinating!
Speaking of empowering women, I have really been struggling with Rose lately. She is super, super jealous of Abraham and is constantly acting out. She is always hitting him and trying to sit on him. She is always pulling his legs and telling me, ” I don’t like my baby.” When I nurse him she comes up and tells me “I want to punch the baby in the face” and then “I punch mommy in the face”.
Yikes! My sweet little girl, what has happened?
She has also been acting like a baby constantly lately. She crawls around on the floor and talks in baby talk all the time. She is always telling me that she “is the baby.” I know that this is her way of telling me she is feeling left out and that she is jealous of all the attention that Abe gets from me. My mother-in-law suggested I find ways to include her in taking care of Abe and give her “big girl” jobs to do. I’ve been trying but I am still really struggling with her.
Any ideas!?
Our neighbors are Chinese and are just about some of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. Their little girl comes over to play at our house a lot and has been really patient with the fact that my kids call her “Yoshi”, which is not even close to her real name! I guess it is the only Asian sounding word they know?
Anyway.
This family owns a Chinese Restaurant in Woods Cross (just north of SLC) called Boba World. They are from Shanghai and so the cuisine is traditional Shanghai food. They invited Jon and I to come eat there a few weeks ago, and so to be polite we went. I am usually not a big fan of Chinese food, especially if the restaurant is in a strip mall like this one is, but this food was fantastic. Really fantastic, and I’m not just saying that because I know them. It was some of the best ethnic food I’ve ever had. We ordered a traditional dish called “Potatoes and Green Beans” and don’t be deceived by that simple name. It was so good and has been added to my top 20 favorite dishes. Oh just thinking about it makes me hungry!
I just wanted to put a plug out there for their restaurant, because it is so good, and because they are some of the hardest working people I’ve ever met in my life. I’d love for their business to be successful and with such a good food I think it probably will be. I wouldn’t be surprised if in several years he has a big beautiful restaurant– if you read the reviews online they are are even more glowing than I am about this place. If you live near Bountiful go check it out:
Ste 3
Woods Cross, UT 84010
You won’t regret it!
The kids and I went to Temple Square this week and we really had such a beautiful day. It was amazed at how many opportunities I had to bear my testimony to them of the temple and of the restoration of the gospel. I took lots of pictures because everywhere we went Rose said, “Take a picture of me here mommy.”
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I have to say that I *loved* Brave! I greatly appreciated that it was less about the standard boy-meets-girl trope and more about the relationship between a mother and daughter and how they each come to understand the other better, recognize their own responsibility for the state of the relationship, and work to improve it.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the relationship between the king and queen. They were respectful and kind with each other, both affectionately flirting and having discussions about important topics. I disagree with the review you linked to that the queen was truly running the kingdom; it seemed very much a partnership to me, as I think it should be.
None of the three suitors, it's true, were a good match for Merida, but the suitors recognized this fact as well and were (eventually) supportive of her decision to marry none of them. There was learning and growth going on for just about every major character.
I strongly encourage you to see the movie; it's one of my new favorites (and my three children – all boys – loved it too!).
One idea for your little girl while you are nursing your baby. I would find or get her something "special" that she is only allowed to play with while you are nursing, that way it is a special time for her. So whether you get a new toy or find some fun quiet activity to make from somewhere online, try to make sure she knows it is just for her!
Ooh, I'm so jealous you get to go to the Brigham City temple! We got laid off from a job up there and had to leave our friends, family and home and our new temple! We would have had a temple just down the road and now it's several hours away. Boo. I hope we get to travel out there to see it some day.
With Rose, maybe you could have a little chart listing some fun things she would like to do with you for 15-20 minutes. When she's acting out remind her that if she can wait patiently while you care for the baby, then she could have special time with you.
The post you linked had some good points about Brave that I hadn't thought of. I thought that for an audience of young girls, having a heroine who doesn't end the movie with a marriage was kind of more appropriate than all the princess movies that focus on romance. I thought the focus of the movie on mending a troubled mother-daughter relationship was beautiful, and more relevant to the target audience. I thought it was a good movie, though scary for some young kids, and it also had one kind of inappropriate scene involving (animated) adult male rear nudity.
My husband and daughter are going to be in Utah during the time the temple open house! I wish I knew about this earlier, because it looks like there are no tickets left. Maybe if I call them up, they will take pity on the foreigners and give them tickets?! That would be an amazing experience for my daughter (she's 9).
My third child suffered from a lot of jealousy when the baby was born, two years ago. She was three and a half at the time, and even now at age 5 1/2 she often wishes she was a baby again and could drink "mummy milk"!
One really good tip I was given was to leave the baby to cry for a minute, if I have to. The baby won't remember being left for a minute, but the toddler/older child will remember you paying more attention to her.
I also try to do something special just with my five year old…. at the moment, she joins me at church choir practice, because singing is her thing. (seriously, she sings about everything in her life – she lives in her own real-life musical)
i had this trouble with my oldest for quite a while and it really interfered with potty training because he was SO insistent that he was still a baby! i wasn't even nursing any more. it was really frustrating to me because i felt like i didn't spend any extra time or attention on my younger son. we just had to be really patient and keep encouraging and praising all the things that he was getting better at and how he was getting "so big"! i also tried emphasize the cool things his slightly older male relatives could now do because they were getting bigger, like ride bikes and run SO FAST, etc. there was no bribing or tricking with him, either, just patience and endless positive reinforcement. he is so much better now and potty trained, etc, but every so often, if he has had a rough day or some other crisis, he will still revert, mildly, to his "baby" act. sigh. i just try to act natural and encourage him back towards 4-year-old-ness!
its funny that you mentioned how those light bulbs will be hard to find soon because hubby and i just watched a video that talks about how dangerous those CFL's are and how they really don't save you much money or last as long as they say they should (they don't! ours burn out all the time!) and now i want to get rid of all of ours and just get good old fashioned light bulbs!
I want to tell you how much I love reading your blog and what a blessing it has been to me. Were defiantly going to put Boba World to our go to for a date night. My hubby is working in Bountiful right now helping my brother in law on a restaurant that is going to open up at the end of August! I love that you're kinda local for me (Im right outside of SLC). I don't know anyone in the area so its nice. I wish I could give you some steller advice about your lil one being jealous. Maybe give her big girl jobs to do. Maybe you can hide a toy somewhere in the house (thats safe of course) and send her on a hunt while you're feeding the new guy. 🙂
Crissy
Hey I'm not much one for all the online social networking sites, but I feel an undeniable need to urge you to link that photo of the lightbulb vases to Pinterest! I don't have an account, and I don't even know how you do it (upload or link photos to Pinterest- or even a blog, for that matter) but I know that many people/women out there would love to find that beautiful, unique, resourceful, magical idea and try it for themselves. I considered sharing it on Facebook (copy/paste is my friend), but I didn't want to 'steal' it in case you or your mother-in-law would rather not share it so widespread. But seriously, you should, because it's such an amazing idea!
Done! I just pinned it. So if you wanted to see it you could go to "Heather Farrell" on pinterest under "fantastic ideas." Thanks for the suggestion.