Really Big Hair

After having her hair in a half ponytail all day, Chloe took it down to find this 'do. She was super duper proud of her big funky hair.
That goofy look is her proud look. Let's hope it mellows a bit over the years!

A New Laundry Inductee

As you know, all the kids do chores. We've had to change up the chore system since Pedro left, so I recently sat the kids down and told them:
Chores are not just for big kids anymore! It's time Daniel and Lydia did their part! We're all grateful for all your dishwasher duties, but it's time you stepped up to more responsibility!! No more playing around while everyone else dusts and vacuums! No more sitting idly by while your laundry is folded and put away for you! You're 3 1/2 now! Act your age!
And as for you big kids, I know what you're up to! No doing their job for them because you feel sorry for them! No taking over because you want it done faster! These babies gotta learn and you're gonna help them! So stop helping them!

So, after the big girls had washed their clothes, Lydia took them out of the dryer.

Some things are way back there, but she's not afraid! She dove right in there to grab those orphan socks and unmentionables.

Did you get it all Lydia?
Wait I see one more! Go get it, girl!

Tada! No more runaway panties! Liddy's on laundry duty now.
She drug the basket to the den for folding. Which she supervised. Because she's too little to fold clothes.

But she did hang up all her clothes. So leave me alone! She's the baby. I'll teach her how to fold next week.

A Clark Christmas

We have a lot of Christmas traditions and memories as a family. There are lots of things we like to do together every Christmas, places we like to go (Who could forget the Christmas Parade incident??), special books we love to read, and songs we enjoy singing. One of our favorites is decorating the Christmas tree.

For us Clarks, it's all about the ornaments. The kids each get a new one every year and they are each sentimental. It's a very exciting and emotional time when we decorate the Christmas tree every Black Friday. (Who wants those early morning crowds? I'd much rather lounge around in our pajamas having fun.)
Here's how we do it (because you know there must be order in a "big" family): we set the big box of ornaments in the center of the rug and the kids line up in front of it.
They take turns picking out an ornament, unwrapping it, strolling down memory lane, and then adorning the tree.
As soon as that ornament is on the tree, the next kid jumps up. It goes pretty fast actually.

Lydia kept saying: I got a big one! I got a big one!

Of course, the biggest thrill was when a kid unwrapped more than one ornament. Sometimes 2 or even three are wrapped up in that precious bubble wrap. (Their momma's a real penny pincher.)
I must brag about Daniel's footed pajamas. Found these at my favorite thrift store, in new condition, and ya know footed pajamas in size 4T are kinda hard to find!

Remember I told you Maya's always cold? Thus the windbreaker in our living room.

After we got all the ornaments hung, we celebrated the accomplishment with some holiday dancing.
Look at that happy boy! He's just happy to have found someone willing to dance with an over-sized wearer of footed-pajamas. Partners like that are rare ya know?

You're Going to Ruin Them!

So, this Santa discussion led to a real-life talk about parents who think we're ruining our kids' lives by doing things differently than our parents did for us. If you go against the flow in any way in your parenting, what flack have you received for it?

I Gotta Know. . .

You know that I have strong opinions about homeschooling, and vaccines, and well, everything else. It's just my nature to be opinionated. But here's an area I have yet to delve into:

I want to know what you think about all these bailouts?

Ford Asks Congress for a $9 Billion Line of Credit
Ford Motor Co. is asking Congress for a $9 billion "stand-by line of credit" to stabilize its business, but says it doesn't expect to tap it.

Detroit's automakers, making a second bid for $25 billion in funding, are presenting Congress with plans Tuesday to restructure their ailing companies and provide assurances that the funding will help them survive and thrive.

General Motors Corp., Ford and Chrysler LLC said they would refinance their companies' debt, cut executive pay, seek concessions from workers and find other ways of reviving their staggering companies.

The Big Three executives also are offering a series of mostly symbolic moves to burnish their images, badly tattered after they arrived in Washington D.C. last month on three separate private jets to plead for a federal lifeline for their struggling companies.

More here.



Now I know a lot of my readers aren't even in America, but I bet you still have an opinion about our sour economy. Let's hear it!

The Cold Hard Truth

An old friend of mine posted on Facebook that he had the flu. I said: It's better than the nasty stuff in the vaccine, but that stinks. I'm so sorry! (As it turns out, not surprisingly, he had received the flu shot.)

That led to a discussion about vaccines. (I love being able to talk to people about vaccines, but I also know it's not at all fun to learn. Ignorance is definitely bliss.) I said: I don't encourage you to look into vaccine ingredients unless you're prepared to be grossed out. Apparently he was.

Incredulous, he asked: Why hasn't anybody told me this before?

If doctors really did offer informed consent, as they are ethically supposed to do, would any loving parent really sign up to inject those toxins into their kids? Does anybody who knows what vaccines are made from and how they're made still vaccinate their kids or themselves?

In my idealistic world, nobody would. Fear motivates a lot of people to do things without looking into them. Education is the enemy of fear.

Let's Talk Santa

When we were first married and I didn't know the Clarks very well, we got into a talk about Santa. (It was Thanksgiving and we were all together.) I jokingly said: We're gonna tell our kids Santa is the devil.

She didn't get it. And she also thought I was totally nuts. How in the world can you celebrate Christmas without Santa? She said something alluding to the fact that it was cruel and unusual punishment for a kid to have Christmas without Santa.

I said: But kids just want the gifts, they don't care where they come from.
She's now looking at me like I have a third eye.

So, I try to explain: I just don't want my kids to miss the real point of Christmas and think it's all about Santa.
She then calls over her 5 year old daughter. "Bobby Sue (name changed), why do we celebrate Christmas?"

For Santa Claus!

I was embarrassed for the mom at this point.

"No, Bobby Sue, what's the real reason we celebrate Christmas? Who is it about?"

Bobby Sue looks really confused now and says:

Santa Claus!

I wanted to go hide in a hole for her now! But Bobby Sue certainly proved my point. Just because you read the story of Jesus' birth every year doesn't mean your kids are going to look past all the Santa and reindeer and see the true meaning of Christmas.

What do you think?

(Oh and just fyi, I don't think that Santa is the devil. That was hyperbole. You got that right?)