Haleyisms

So the other night we all stayed home and had movie night. We let the kids pick (always a dangerous thing) and we ended up with Underdog. Not exactly an Oscar award winner but the kids liked it so I guess it turned out okay. Avery sat with her little puppy in her lap and talked about the Doggies. Dylan loved the fact that it had something to do with superhero powers, so he was hooked, and well.... Haley just likes anything that isn't a for "little kids". You know, heaven forbid she be considered one. After all she is almost seven, and clearly not a "little kid" (or so I've been told). So at the end of the movie Haley asked so are beagle's called beagles because they are part bird? It took me a minute to figure out where this extremely strange comment came from. Then I couldn't help but laugh. She's always had problems with B's and D's and she thought that a Beagle was like an eagle with a b (for Dog I guess). Naturally this flying superhero dog was part bird, and....well when you think about it, who can argue with that?

Scarecrow Festival 08

So for Michael birthday this year we decided to head over to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. I'm not sure what he was thinking picking this as his birthday activity but I went along with it and off we went. We usually go to Cornbelly's but this year we decided to mix it up a little. I think I like the Cornbelly's better but this was fun too.

First thing... we rode these little pedal cars that looked really fun but turned out to be a little too advanced for our little kids they were too hard to pedal and had to be pushed which made the kids made since they wanted to do it themselves. Every kid that got off that ride told their parents that they didn't like it. So on to the next ride

Luckily our next spot was a HUGE hit! The kids made and decorated their own little rockets and then got to shot them off using this batter powered air compressor "thingy" as many times as they wanted. As you can probably guess we spent A LOT of time here. Dylan was the first up, he was so excited I thought he might "blast off" before his rocket.

Haley was pretty excited to launch her rocket too, however, for whatever reason we didn't get Avery one. This had to be fixed! One look from her while she said "where's mine mommy" and off we went. She was just as excited as Dylan was!

Here is the maiden launch. Look at the wonder on that little face. However, after the rocket launched she would get really mad. I'm not sure if she thought someone took the rocket or she was just mad she had to go and chase it down herself, either way after each time she would get mad and stomp off after the rocket. I just laughed and watched her go.

Next we were off for some rock climbing. This didn't go over very well. Haley and Dylan were excited while they were in line, but once they were about 6 ft off the ground they were considerably less excited! I never thought that heights would be my kids fear! Oh well... at least now we know. These are good things to know for the next climbing wall experience.

Check out this face. Did I mention she didn't like the heights?

Finally we tried out the haunted house and the inflatable stuff. After one time through the haunted house Avery was done! I took her over to the "toddler town" to play while Michael took the "big kids" out for the other stuff.

All in all it was pretty fun. It just seemed like we have more fun at the other carnival thing down there. Oh well.... live and learn . Happy Birthday Michael!

P.S. Michael's birthday wasn't totally a bust! We went out for a night on the town later and had fun so no worries (plus Michael always has a birthday "weekend" so we had many more chances for more daddy appropriate fun. )

Just Hangin' Around

So I feel like I have been not doing my blogging duties lately. We haven't really even been doing that much just kind of hanging around. We did carve pumpkins the other night which is always Huge hit. Dylan wanted me to take this picture of him with a pumpkin for his head. He thinks it's soooooo funny which I'd have to agree with him! This year we did the "funkins" which are the carvable fake pumpkins. Every other year we do these and then we can keep them around as decorations and they don't get rotten and stinky!

I still need to take a picture of all the finished products all-a-glow! : ) I've just been too busy or maybe too lazy. I'm not quite sure. Stayed tuned for an update

Excuse me.... Do you work here?

So I had to go to Walmart today. I usually try to avoid this... I really don't like going there. The lines are long and the service is hostile at best! But today I need a few things that just had to be bought there, and it was 11:30 in the afternoon so I took a risk.

I was ready to check out when the cashier asked me. "Do you work here", not wanting to be rude and make a snide remark I just smiled and said no. She looked me over and said, "oh, well your outfit is our exactly like our uniform." I was wearing a cute pair of cargo pants from AE and just a regular navy blue shirt.

For lack of anything better to say I said "oh, maybe I shouldn't wear this when I come to walmart." She proceeds to tell me "well, I wouldn't be caught dead wearing this if I wasn't working here."

Um..... okay thanks! I guess that I'll take my fashion advice from the workers at walmart with a grain of salt. Gotta love Walmart. : )

Hover or Free Range

So, I was watching this show (that shall remain nameless) they were talking about moms that hover over their kids all the time. They of course have the best intentions of keeping their kids safe and protecting them etc. etc. Some of the stories about these moms were pretty extreme. Then there are the moms that are hands off "free range". They feel that letting the kids figure it out all on their own is better. Supposedly by doing things wrong they figure out how to do it right. They also had their own extreme examples (like letting a 9 year old ride the subway around NYC alone with 20 bucks in his pocket)

This all got me thinking. Which am I? I wish I could say that I am a "free range" kind of a mom. Unfortunately I am not. I try to.... but this is really hard for me. I would love to say I'm a happy medium but I probably more like a 60 - 40 type of situation. I grew up with my parents throwing me out the door and expecting me back at meal times. I walked to school (which yes.... it was a long way! Even up hill both ways) Some of the things I did as a kid I would NEVER EVER..... EVER let my kids do. Maybe it's because the world isn't the same as it used to be, or maybe I just am more aware the dangers.

Here's the question. What do you think, 9 and 10 year old kids by themselves? Yes or NO.
When can you let your older kids baby sit. How far away should they ride there bikes without adult supervision? I know that you can't keep them safe all the time but it's pretty scary to set them loose and hope they come back in one piece. So what are you a Hover mom or a Free Range?

(I'm not the only cautious, and a little too protective mom out there am I?)