Piper Got Glasses

I remember, as a kid, wishing I could wear glasses. I guess I saw other kids, or perhaps adults, wearing them and thought it would be fun to wear them as well. Then in third grade, I actually had to go to the eye doctor and get glasses, for real. I only had to wear them when I needed to read things far away, such as the chalkboard. I was a shy kid. In fourth grade, I was actually embarrassed of my glasses and did not wear them at all in class. I found a way, by using my fingers, to slant my eyelids enough that I could read the chalkboard or overhead projector enough that I didn't have to wear my glasses to read it. (Yeah, go ahead and laugh at me, but that was a pretty smart way to get around wearing my glasses and it worked!) However, this backfired on me...in fifth grade, the eye doctor told me that I was legally blind and told me I had to wear my glasses all the time, not just when I wanted to see things far away. I was forced to get over the embarrassment of wearing my glasses. I got used to them, but realized they weren't as cool as I dreamed they were. Glasses were a pain..and when it rained, they were even more of a pain. I tried getting contacts, but couldn't get over the weirdness of touching my eye. So, I had to continue to wear glasses. Then my senior year of high school, I got over that and got brave enough to touch my eye and to this day still wear contacts.

All that to say, I can understand why Piper wanted to have fake glasses. She kept saying she wanted fake glasses. So, we eventually went to Claire's and let her pick out a pair of glasses. They were all kind of big on her. For one, she is small for her age. Two, they are probably made for teenagers and she is a second grader. After trying on several pairs of glasses, Piper finally settled on this pair...

Piper was cracking me up with her new glasses! We paid for them and left the store, with Piper wearing them. Claire's is in the mall. Piper walked around the whole mall wearing her new glasses. The next day was Sunday and she wore them to church. She decided she wanted to take the daisy off for a little while, so I took her picture, again. I guess she felt like making a face this time.

Piper even wore them to school on Monday. I was proud of her for wearing them. I didn't think she would actually wear them for all of church and for a whole day at school. She tends lean towards the shy side and doesn't like attention drawn to her. But she definitely surprised me this time!

Some parents would not have bought their seven-year-old fake glasses. Some would have bought them for her, but not let her wear them to church nor school. My thoughts? What harm is it causing? Absolutely none. I laugh because she is going to look back when she gets older and say, "Mom! Why did you let me wear those glasses?" I will say, because you wanted to and you loved them!

What would you have done?

Pinewood Derby

Finn joined Cub Scouts this year. If you don't know anything about Cub Scouts, they have a race called a Pinewood Derby. Each boy makes a car to race. He is responsible for actually designing the shape of the car and painting it. Then his car races with other Cub Scouts' cars to be the fastest!

Here is the metal track they raced on.

The finish line... 

Rilian is GREAT at pouting when he gets in trouble or doesn't get to do what he wants to. That boy should be an actor. I don't remember what happened, but here is his classic pouting pose...

Time for the races to begin! Finn's car is in the second lane. It is the black one with the Thunderbird on the hood. That is how he wanted to design his car.

Now all the cars that are going to race in this race are lined up and ready to go. There are several races. Each car races in each lane. This is to make it fair in case, for some odd reason, one of the lanes is faster than the other.

And they're off! Racing down the track!

Here is a video clip of this race...you can watch them in action cross the finish line.

The stats from Finn's very first race...On the very far right hand column is how fast the cars would have been driving if they were life size and on a real race track. Pretty fast, huh?

And they're off...again!

Stats from the race you just watched...Finn's car was a little faster this time.

3...2...1...Go!

A still shot of the race you just watched...Finn's car is right up there with the fastest ones!

Stats from Finn's pack...In his age group, there were five total cars...at least he didn't lose. His car's average speed was 197.2. 

You can't tell by this picture, but he was pretty upset that he didn't win. These are the members of his pack that participated in the race.

Rilian and Piper wanted to pose with Finn with his ribbon from the race. I'm not sure why Rilian didn't look too happy. Seven didn't want to be in the picture because he was ready to leave.

There's a happier picture of Rilian!

In the different age groups that participated in the race that day, there were 15 total Boy Scouts. These are the stats for overall. Finn placed 8 out of 15, with his speed at 199.6. Not bad for his very first Pinewood Derby! 

Finn showing off his car. It still had the #30 yellow sticker on it from the race.

And another shot of our proud Cub Scout and his car.

The Different Hats We Wear

Our kids like to go in Books-A-Million when we go to the mall. We were paying BAM a visit when Seven put on this Jester hat. He looked so cute, I just had to take a picture!

Not only was there a Jester hat, but there were several other hats. Seven enjoyed putting them all on one at at time and letting me take his picture.

We have a chicken hat...

A mad potter hat...I tried to get Seven to put it to where I could see his face, but he thought it was funny to wear it like this.

Seven recognized this hat as being from the movie Harry Potter. He also said this is the way it is worn in the movie...I have seen the movies, but I don't particular remember how the hat was worn. I'm sure he is right, though. He NEVER forgets anything!

A Cat in the Hat hat...

Arrrgh! A pirate's hat...

A birthday cake hat...

And another birthday cake hat...

This was a fun one...it is made to look like you have this wild hair coming out of your visor...well, Seven does have wild hair, at times...

And a Christmas Tree hat...

Seven is such a fun kid! He likes to perform. It doesn't take too much convincing to get him to do things. I'm glad he humored me and let me take his adorable picture wearing these hats, so I could make a blog post out of it!

Rilian's 3rd Birthday

Every year on Rilian's Birthday, it's a holiday! Not everyone is lucky enough to have their birthday as a holiday. February 2nd is Rilian's birthday. It is also Groundhog's Day. So, my little groundhog came out of his hole to see if he was able to see his shadow. He did see his shadow and he was not happy about it. Rilian didn't want six more weeks of winter...

We had his party the following Saturday...it took a few days to get over the disappointment of seeing his shadow. Every time we asked Rilian what kind of birthday cake he wanted, he never gave us a definite answer. All of our other kids have been easy, but this was not his year. Maybe if he hadn't have seen his shadow, he would have been able to decide on his cake a little more easily. We finally decided on star cookies and chocolate cupcakes. Jeremy decided to give the stars faces. He used candy eyes for their eyes. Rilian was holding one of the candy eyes up to his eye as Jeremy decorated the star cookies.

Finn looked HILARIOUS when he held the candy eyes up to his eyes!

Jeremy not only gave the stars smiles, but he also gave them other expressions. What's funny about this, is that after he had the stars set up on the cupcakes, the frowny face fell and hit the squiggly face right before it hit the table. You can see a little bit of the squiggly face's red icing on the yellow frowny face's icing. Then you see their expressions and it is perfect!

There was also a yellow star with its mouth open. And a red star with its tongue hanging out.

Once we got the stars situated again, it was time to set the candle on top and sing to the birthday boy!

Rilian picked the star with the sad face to eat.

He ate the icing off his cupcake and the eyes off his star first...

Time for presents!

And playing with the presents...

Nanny and Papa Bud got Rilian a puppy coloring book and some crayons.

Granny and Dadabe got Rilian an alphabet puzzle that says the letters when you put the right piece in. It also says something that starts with that letter. 

And there were MORE presents outside!

The sandbox has been without sand for quite some time. Since Rilian loves to dig so much, I thought sand was an excellent idea for a present.


Sand is so much more fun when you have sand toys. After Rilian unwrapped the shovels, rake, and strainer, he had to carefully place them in the sand.

He tested out the digger tractor before opening the last present.

Say "cheese!" That truck was what the other present was.

My baby boy is now three years old! Stay tuned to see if he sees his shadow next February 2nd!

Playing in the Tires

It was time to get the oil changed in our vehicle. I had a little shopping to do while I waited for them to change the oil. When I was done shopping, they weren't quite done changing the oil. Well, Rilian was with me, and he found something to keep himself entertained while we waited...

There were lots of tires by the register. Rilian decided he wanted to play in them and also wanted me to take his picture while he picked tires to pose in.

There was just one laying there...

Then he found a small stack of two tires and climbed in...

Rilian decided to drape himself across the stack of two tires. 

He didn't want the one lonely tire to feel left out, so he went and did the same thing with it. 

He found a really tall stack of tires and wanted to climb in them, but I wouldn't let him. I was afraid he would knock them over...so he wanted me to take his picture showing how tall the stack was.

Then he decided to stand beside them and have me take his picture.

What would we have done before our phones had cameras on them?

Book Review: How We Love Our Kids

How We Love Our Kids: The 5 Love Styles of Parenting, by Milan and Kay Yerkovich is a book about why we parent the way we do. Everything that happened or didn't happen to us while we were younger affects the way we parent our own children. Milan and Kay have given names to describe the 5 different kinds of parenting styles. They are The Avoider Parent, The Pleaser Parent, The Vacillator Parent, The Controller Parent, and The Victim Parent. 

Milan and Kay write in detail about what each of the 5 different parenting styles looks like. They also list ways that you can change your parenting style, if you are one "type" of parent or another. 

To me, the best part of the book was towards the end when Milan and Kay give helpful advice about how to talk to your child, how to let your child know that you want them to talk to you, and how to make it easier for your child to talk to you. 

 I had a hard time wanting to pick up the book to read the first part because it wasn't all that relevant to me and frankly, kinda boring. It almost seemed as if they were saying that every person comes from some sort of dysfunctional family. I agree that alot of families have dysfunction in them, but not all families.

I would still recommend this book to parents, or people who plan to become parents. I feel there is quite a bit of good advice included in the book. Just not all of it may be relevant to everyone. I'll let you pick and choose what you feel is relevant to you and your family.

Disclaimer: I received this book from Waterbrook Multnomah to review. I was not required to give any positive feedback. All the opinions expressed are my own.