How It Should Have Ended

Ok, here’s a random post with a couple of funny videos. Credit goes to our friend, Heather from One Woman’s World, for first tipping us off to these. I thought they were really fun and had to post a couple of my favorites. There are more videos (and better resolution) at their website, HowItShouldHaveEnded.com. It’s amazing what you can do with a lot of talent and a lot of time on your hands. Enjoy!

Willy Wonka
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsE0UOz1uw4

Superman
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yavK0mnE3wI

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True Princesses

The other day Hannah was all dressed up in her purple princess outfit and just couldn’t wait to “play princess” with Sabrina. She grabbed a dress from the dress-ups and as she ran upstairs said, “I gonna play sisess wif Beena.” She ran into Sabrina’s room, where she was still enjoying an unusually long nap, all excited and started jumping up and down yelling, “wake up Beena, tine a play sisess!” When Sabrina finished waking up we got her dressed and they posed for these pictures.

The whole princess obsession has reminded me of one of my favorite stories about a feisty princess that isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. It’s The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch and Amazon summarizes it like this:

“Elizabeth, a beautiful princess, lives in a castle and wears fancy clothes. Just when she is about to marry Prince Ronald, a dragon smashes her castle, burns her clothes with his fiery breath, and prince-naps her dear Ronald. Undaunted and presumably unclad, she dons a large paper bag and sets off to find the dragon and her cherished prince. Once she’s tracked down the rascally reptile, she flatters him into performing all sorts of dragonly stunts that eventually exhaust him, allowing her to rescue Prince Ronald. But what does Prince Not-So-Charming say when he sees her? “You smell like ashes, your hair is all tangled and you are wearing a dirty old paper bag. Come back when you are dressed like a real princess.” In any case, let’s just say that Princess Elizabeth and Prince Ronald do not, under any circumstances, live happily ever after.”

My favorite part of the story is where Elizabeth tells Prince Ronald that he is a bum, and then happily runs off into the sunset. I like that the princess is smart and strong and won’t allow herself to settle for a loser of a prince… I know it’s a bit of a stretch using this as my Sunday Thought, but I always enjoy an empowering children’s story!

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Our Cousin Adriene

We had such a great time yesterday when Adriene came for a visit! Tracy’s sister Erin just moved near us and had her baby, Max, last Saturday. So Adriene and Tracy came up to visit the baby and help out. Tracy brought Adriene over to play with us for the afternoon while she helped Erin (and was jealous about baby Max’s arrival already- she’s due to deliver next week) and it was so fun. I’m trying to remember and I don’t think I’ve ever been able to have a cousin over for a visit without their parents around. I love their parents of course, but it’s so fun to see the kids interacting without them. It was such a treat to have her here, and we’re all getting more sad by the minute to know that they will be moving to Texas soon. Come back Adriene!

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A Bad Memory

I was reminded today of one of my weaknesses that I also consider a blessing. It is having a bad memory. I tend to forget stories and experiences that others can remember vividly. This is especially frustrating to me when people are reminiscing childhood stories that I wish I could join in on. The plus side though is that I can also forget when someone has done me wrong. Once I had a conversation where the person said to me, “don’t you remember how badly they treated you back then?” and I honestly answered, “no.” I was glad that my memory only held onto the positive interactions I’d had with that person.

One experience I do remember quite clearly that has shaped who I am today happened when I was about 16 years old. I was having a particularly hard time dealing with all of the social issues that come with high school, friendship, boyfriends etc. I was at one of my friend’s homes and talked a little about this with his mom Kim. I don’t know if she remembers doing this for me or not, but it has had a huge impact on my life. She was very understanding and comforting as I told her of my troubles. She wrote down a quote for me on a little piece of paper and I carried it with me in my wallet for years. It read:

“The way people treat me has more to do with them than me.”

This simple yet profound statement helped me keep perspective in many situations. Instead of being offended or carrying anger when someone treats me badly, I have memorized this line and repeat it to myself when I’m dealing with a tired toddler, a bad driver, a cranky postal worker, etc. In a way, it could be seen as a judgmental statement like “that’s your problem,” but I see it more as a way to bring empathy into the experience and try to see why the person is acting the way they do. I’m still working on getting forgiveness to be second nature, but this is a good start.

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Childproofing with Style

Recently I was at my friend Heidi’s house and noticed that she has a stairway similar to mine with railings quite far apart. This is an issue I have too because Sabrina and Hannah love to stand in the hall upstairs and lean through the rails and wave down to Mom and Dad in the living room. I didn’t know quite how to solve the problem until I saw Heidi’s stairway and was inspired. She had fabric weaved through the rails to keep the little kids from falling through! So I bought a bunch of blue fabric thinking that because we’re renting and can’t paint the walls, I would add some color on the stairs. I’m really happy with the way it turned out and need to decide if I should also do along the stairs as well.

Before

After

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