Commitment to write, again

Recently I've said to my kids and Chuck that "Wow, I wish I could write about this".  Funny enough, I can.  I have just been avoiding it.  Maybe not avoiding as much as not making time to do so.  As it turns out, I do miss writing on a blog format.  It's stress relieving.  

On that note, I won't guarantee that every post will deal with the kids.  Some may, but more will deal with what's on my mind.  Sometimes it's the kids.  Other times, it's life in general.  

What's all this rambling about?  Well, I've made a commitment to write 3 days a week for the next month.  Yup, when I write it down, I typically stick to it.  Typically.  

Some posts may be retroactive.  As the school year let out and summer began, we did a lot of fun things.  I really want to share some of those.  

Today being Friday, this adventure will start on Monday.  Hopefully a few people will read what's up in my corner of the world.  If not, at least I will feel better for writing some of this down.

See you soon!
K.

Restarting...

If you look at this blog you're probably thinking "wow, never updates".  You'd be right.  I started this blog years ago and then merged with my pal Andrea.  We began Mommy Confessions blog and had a 4 plus year run.  We had great stats, contacts and had a lot of fun.  However, it was also a lot of work.  Too much at times.  So, at the end of last year, we officially called it quits.  We fulfilled obligations and walked away.  It's been easy and difficult all rolled into one.

For me, I've missed having a place to write.  A place to vent my frustrations.  A place to write silly stories about the kids.  A place to just...write.

That being said, I went through and cleaned up this blog.  Deleting a lot.  I mean, who wants to read about what my family was eating in 2008?  Not me!  I kept a few posts mostly for posterity.  They are reminders of my kids when they were little.

I hope you have fun reading the *new* old blog.  I can't promise to post daily because that's just too much for me and my busy life.  However, I will post.

Thanks!
K.

Kandi's Confessions

I know it's been a while since I've posted.  I'll be honest, I've been on serious burn out mode for a while.  When we started blogging, I had lots to post about.  It was fun.  However, as time has passed it was becoming more of an obligation.  A job without a paycheck, so to speak.  While that's fine for most of the time, I got a serious case of burn out.  I've had nothing to say or exciting for a while.  My apologies for not being here, but I hope you all understand.  It was nice to not have to think about what I/we were posting for a while.  It made my schedule a little more flexible and I liked that.

Anyway, here are my confessions for the week.

• I've been pretty busy this week.  Except yesterday.  Yesterday CS and I took a 3 1/2 hour nap.  That hasn't happened for a long time!


• I have had a friend on my mind a lot this week.  She is about to experience a loss and will need strength to get through it.


• I've been having pregnancy dreams.  You know, the ones that are really vivid but make no sense whatsoever?  Yeah, those.  No, I'm not pregnant.


• Chuck and I have been spending the last 6 months or so really focusing on ourselves.  Not the kind of focus where we change our hair or diet or anything like that.  The kind where we are spending time together just talking.  We were both very tired of the "living in the same house but not really communicating" thing.  I can say without a doubt that this is the closest we've been in a long time.  The best part, it trickles down.  The kids are behaving better.  The house is in decent order.  We actually have time to do things.  We've become the team we used to be, but had allowed to slip by the wayside.  Not happening again.  We are back on equal footing and it's going to stay this way.


• We're trying to decide whether to get a XBox Kinect or Wii for the 'family gift' this holiday season.  I see the pros and cons of each but it's really going to come down to money.  I can't see spending oodles of money on something that we are going to limit to a couple of hours per week.  That just seems wasteful.  While we love our electronics, we aren't attached to them.  No playing on games for hours on end in our house.  Feel free to share your opinion!


• We will be putting up the Christmas decorations this weekend.  Call me crazy, but I don't rush this holiday.  There is an actual reason for it, not just gifts and shopping.  Nothing goes up in our house until December 1.  Until then, we are focused on fall and giving thanks.  A month of thankfulness doesn't end just because Thanksgiving is over.


• Since my "break" from blogging, I've been spending more time with people one on one.  It's been really great and I've even added a few new organizations and causes to spend time on.  I have to something for me.  I can't spend all my time cleaning, cooking, shuttling and taking care of the kids.  I need time to do things that I enjoy.  After all, this is showing my girls that Mommy has a life outside of "Mom-land".  It's important for me to show them that.


• We've had all 3 of the kids conferences recently.  All are above average and excelling.  I'm so thankful for terrific teachers and the ability to be involved in the kids schools.

Well, I think that's it.  If you have an opinion on the whole XBox/Wii thing, let me know!  Have a super weekend everyone!

Kandi's Confessions

As I'm sitting down to write these my house is full of laughter and silliness.  I'm watching a sweet friends two little boys.  They are the sweetest, most polite little men I know!  I love having them over to play!

Here's my confessions:

• I am thinking of getting my hair colored today.  I want to add some auburn highlights.  Since I was outside so much this summer my hair was highlighted by the sun.  My natural highlights are auburn and a little golden blonde.  Sadly, they are growing out and I want them to stay.  So, off to the stylist I will go!


• We just found out this morning that hubs boss is leaving her job for a new one.


• I have been a total house bound person this week.  I got a lot of cleaning done though.  That's a good thing!


• I cleaned out the garage last Sunday.  Yes, I said I did it.  Chuck was cleaning out the gutters and preparing the yard and such for winter.  I think I may actually be able to fit the van in there once we hang all the bikes up.  That. would. rock.


• I bought myself a pair of 5 inch heels for our date night this weekend.  Yes, I realize I may break my ankle.  I've been 'breaking them in' all week long.  Which is why I cleaned the house.  Things look a LOT different from 5 inches higher.  :)


• I'm going to be very honest here.  Writing just isn't as easy to do anymore.  I used to love to write little stories about the kids or life.  However, as the kids are getting older, my life is getting busier.  It's hard to sit and write.


• The two year old that's hanging out at my house today is hilarious!  I mean it.  He's the funniest kid ever and he doesn't even realize it.  I just spent the last 10 minutes playing "this little piggy" with him.  I haven't laughed that hard in a while!

Well, I think that's it.  I wish you all a good weekend and if you're local, go check out Family Friendly Cincinnati.  They have all sorts of holiday fun posts right now!

My kids are readers.

We have this 'issue' in our house.  Well, technically it's not an issue.  It's just what we do.  We read.  We read a lot.  Each of kids has their own, rather big, collection of books.  There are bookshelves in every room, including the playroom.  We have a reading issue.  :)

All this reading has led to some success for our family.  We recently found out that A has the highest reading score in the entire 2nd grade (at her school).  You should have seen her beam when her teacher told us about it.  Out of our three kids, she is the avid reader.  She loves Junie B. Jones, the Rainbow Magic Fairies and is really getting into the Magic Treehouse series of books.  Non-fiction is a big hit with her as well.  Right now she's reading about the American Revolution.  Books (and soccer) are her things.

Our little man is a great reader as well.  I'm especially happy for this.  He has been able to read since he was about 3 1/2 or 4, but he never really liked to do it.  He would rather have a book read to him than to read it himself.  Now, he's found a couple of book series that he really likes.  Bad Kitty is his new favorite followed closely by the George Brown series.  He loves both of these series because they are funny!  He reads some pages to us each night before bed and, I can't lie, I have laughed at more than I probably should have.  There is just something hilarious about a 6 year old reading about a 'super burp'.

Then there's CS.  She loves anything Barbie or Princess related.  Go figure right?  Although, she did get to do something super special recently.  A while back I wrote about the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and what it meant to our family (read about that here).  Sadly, CS graduated out of the program last month when she turned 5.  She was sad that she wouldn't be getting any more books in the mail.  Then we got a call from our local community foundation.  They are the ones responsible for bringing the library to local kids.  Anyway, they were calling families who had kids that were just graduating out of the program.  We happened to be home and answered the phone.  Cool!

The foundation invited us to join them in celebrating the distribution of the 50,000 book to area children.  They ask if we would allow CS to be the honorary 50,000 book recipient.  Excited and humbled were what I was feeling.  The night of the event, CS turned on the charm.  They ask for her to come onto the stage and receive a few gifts.  One of which was the cutest books shelf with train bookends.  It is adorable (I still need to find a permanent place for it).  She also received autographed copies of two of our families favorite books (btw, I'm not just saying that, we actually LOVE these two books and I was elated when she was presented them).  LadyBug Girl and Bumblebee Boy by Jacky Davis and David Soman and Otis by Loren Long were the books she was given.  There were other gifts as well, like a bag to carry books to and from the library and a Shakespurr stuffed animal.  Shakespurr, a lion, is our local library's mascot.

The thing is, other than encourage and read to the kids, we haven't really been too strict on what they can and can't read.  We have allowed them to find their own way into the love of reading.  In my opinion, as long as they are reading, it doesn't matter if it's a comic book, classic, or a book about a super burp.  Reading is reading and reading is great!  Now, if I could just get those Kindles that A and I want......LOL.  Christmas is coming correct?

Do you encourage reading in your house?  How do you do so?