Nurturing

I am a good nurterer. REALLY.
Okay, fine I'll present two sides and you decide.

Side One: So, it's that time of year again--REFLECTIONS. The PTA forum for kids to express their artistic creativity based on a theme. Mara wanted to do a song again; Asher wasn't interested in it at all. Maybe it was that the theme was "Beauty is . . ." which to boys, is a little girly. Once again, we did it the night before. I have a good excuse for my, oops I mean Mara's, procrastination. We were going to do it over fall break but unfortunately we all got the stomach flu. So, reflection's eve. I liked Mara's song last year better. It definitely took a little toning down from me before this song sounded more little-girlish and less "Hannah Montana-Teeny bopperish". (totally real words) Luckily, not many kids do it so she won first place again. She was really nervous at the awards ceremony and kept asking me-- is it me yet? I was really happy for her. Especially since last year we missed the ceremony. We won't go into that drama. Anyway, it was a great experience for her.But this was all her- the words, the melody, the piano accompaniment. Let me tell you- helping a 7 year old write a song is not easy. They sing one melody. And then the next time they sing it different. Here are the lyrics:

Beauty is a melody
Beauty is the sun
Beauty is a tree
Beauty is a butterfly
When the sun is shining
I shine as well
When it happens
I feel love
And beauty is always love
All of us together we feel beauty
And we create music and that’s beauty
And we feel the love and beauty
So try it.
And the world is beauty
If we all fall down that’s okay
It always happens, I don’t really care you see
I just think of beauty
But if death comes, that’s just the end.

If you listen to the song, you'll see that I managed to talk Mara into not doing the end of the song. You know, the death part. We just end it before that. Good call, right? I'm just helping her to hone her skills. Really. It's not about me, it's about her.

The recording isn't great but hey, it was the night before and we were very tired.

Side two:

Every night as a family as part of our bedtime routine we do our "blessing basket". We state one blessing that we had in our metaphorical "basket" of the day. I went to a parenting seminar ONCE (that's all I needed) that talked about teaching our kids gratitude- that it's a concept you have to literally teach them because they come to earth and grow up being fed, dressed, taken care of etc. They assume that's just how life is. So, I'm trying to teach my children gratitude. It's really working. Yesterday as part of his homework Asher had to "sound-spell" a list of 5 things he was grateful for. Here it is in all it's glory.

At least Eden made the list.

So, you decide, how's the nurturing?

The year of 3 costumes

Maybe, just maybe we went a little overboard with Halloween this year. You see, Jason had 1 costume for work, 1 for an adult party, and 1 for trick-or-treating with the family. By comparison, I only had 2 costumes. One for the party and one for family trick-or-treating. I don't think of myself as the kind of over-the-top person but maybe, just maybe, with Halloween I am. I like doing a theme. While my kids are young, I can get away with it. They also know, that's how we do things. So we decide together what the theme should be. This year's theme was decided a year ago. Star Wars. Everything in our house is Star Wars. Star Wars computer game, toys, make-believe, etc. So of course, that's the route we went. Mara chose to be Padme and I was Leia so for one night, she was my mother. She loved the role reversal! If only I could really give her a taste of her own medicine. Anyway, we had lots of fun. We won the best couple award at the party and a $25 gift card to Outback although I partially credit that to the fact that my friend and her husband left and he has an amazing Star Wars costume b/c he does Star Wars charity work as a hobby. So, thanks to her, we won. Trick-or-treating was a blast and for the 2nd year in a row, it was relatively warm. Eden walked around all evening saying "I Ewok, trick-or-treat" and was well-rewarded for her cuteness. All in all, an enjoyable holiday. Now onto Thanksgiving!

Popeye and Olive Oil

Star Wars clan at home getting ready to head out trick-or-treating.
The whole group out on the town: Jango Fett, Padme, "Vanilla" Mace Windu, Ewok, Leia

More pictures to be coming later of Jason in his "Captain Canuck" Costume.