Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Writer's Workshop - 6/29/11

4.) Name a pet peeve you have about how other parents raise their kids. Go on…stir the pot.


Oh, man. Oh man oh man oh man. I could write a book based on this topic. So maybe I'll just narrow it down to my top five pet peeves. I see a lot of different parenting styles from working with families as a teacher. I get to see a lot. Honestly, seeing some examples of not-so-fine parenting has helped me as I parent Raegan. I have thought of specific children from my classroom and it motivates me to not let her get away with x-y-and-z because I know what can come from permissive parenting.
 
(1) It drives me craaaaaazy when I see people giving their small (I'm talking babies and toddlers here) children soda. I hate it! I have had so many children come through my class with the most horrible cavities, and it usually comes from a combination of sugary drinks and not enforcing brushing their teeth. Raegan to this day has not had a sip of soda (that I'm aware of, and she better not have!!!) and it's going to stay that way for awhile. I am a soda drinker. I drink a looooot of soda. I really need to cut down. But I'm an adult, and I am making that choice, knowing what it does to my teeth and my body (and I do brush my teeth - ha! - and I drink diet, so thats a smidge better). There are plenty of other much healthier alternatives for kids (even school aged kids) if they're thirsty. Raegan loves milk and water. She just doesn't need pop.
 
(2) Another parenting pet peeve of mine is parents who enroll their child in every activity under the sun, and don't allow their child any downtime. I've read several articles about how it's not healthy for children to play sports non-stop from a young age, because of the damage it can do to their joints and muscles. Sports aside, I think that children need to learn how to entertain themselves. I think that there is a lot of benefit to extracurricular activities and sports. I think children should try out their interests and be introduced to teamwork and fair play. But I don't think that they shoul be going, going, going all day every day. They need time to use their imaginations and learn to just be.
 
(3) One more would be letting your child stay up all night. I know a lot of parents who keep their child up late at night (11:00, midnight, sometimes even later) so that they will sleep in the next morning so the parent can sleep in too. Kids need sleep. It's how they grow! It's how their minds develop!!!! Raegan goes to bed at 8:00 (sometimes earlier in the school year if she doesn't get a good nap at child care) because (1) she needs her sleep, and (2) I need Mommy time. I think it makes me a better mom to get some time to myself. I can love her and not need to spend every moment of every day with her. And I can be unselfish and an adult and go to bed at a decent hour so that I can get up with her in the morning. Part of the decision to have children, I say.
 
(4) And my last one (I couldn't really think of a fifth one, at least not a major one). If you know me very well, you should know this one - excessive television. Turn off the dang television and send your child outside! Do you know that the average preschool aged child (meaning ages 2-6) has 32 hours of screen time a week? And the average school aged child is getting about 6 hours a day of screen time (including about an hour and a half daily at school!!!)? And about one fourth of children under the age of two have a television in their room!!!! IN. THEIR. ROOM!!!!!!!! Ludicrous! I think it's nice to watch cartoons all morning on Saturday morning. I certainly laid around in my pajamas doing that when I was a kid. But it wasn't an all day, every day marathon of television, video games and computer. Talk to your child! Read to your child! Have them entertain themselves with their imagination and toys! Ooooooh, it drives me crazy! Can you tell by my excessive use of exclamation points?!!!!!!!! :D
 
Ahhhh, that feels kind of good just to rant it all out. Good prompt this week!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Kelley Family BBQ

We went out to my parents' house for a late Father's Day barbeque. We decided to do it this weekend so that Zane, Khloe and Koen would all be there, and then it turned out Zane was sick and couldn't come anyways. :( It was a little windy, but that made it not too hot.


Raegan did a pretty good job of sharing with Deeanna's niece Phaydyn (you think I came anywhere close to spelling that right?!)




Are you talkin' to me?!


When Luke rewires it, that power wheel will be Raegan's. Yay!!






Zac, demonstrating his Father of the Year skills by spraying poor defenseless Khloe. (ha!)


Raegan and Ryan hanging out


He was getting pretty sleepy by this point.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Writer's Workshop - 6/24/11




A day late, but I still remembered! The prompt for this week that I chose is:
4.) A country you would like to visit.

This is a tough one. I had to really think about it, because there are so many places that I would like to go. Honestly, there are so many places just IN the United States that I would like to visit. I really want to go to Washington DC and see all of the historical monuments - the Lincoln Memorial, the Smithsonian (I think Zane would get a big kick out of that), etc etc. I want to go to California and see the ocean on the west coast. I want to go to New York City, and see just how big it is.

As for a country that I would like to visit some day, I'm going to have to go with Italy. I would love to go to all of the art museums and see some of the famous paintings up close and personal. I would love to see the Sistine Chapel and even the Vatican. I've read a couple different mystery books that are set in Italy, and every time I've read one I think how badly I would like to go someday. Add it to my bucket list, huh? And start saving my pennies!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Fun on the trampoline

Raegan loves jumping on the trampoline with Zane. It's hilarious to watch her run, because it's almost like her body gets ahead of her legs. She's getting pretty good at jumping too. :)

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Cooler Weather

We were blessed with a wonderfully cool day, so after lunch we went over to Jerry Ivey park to play for awhile. Actually, it's supposed to be in the 80's for the rest of the week. It makes swim lessons a little uncomfortable, but we will certainly be able to enjoy some play time outside.











Playdate

My friend Katie has a son named Greyson who will be 3 in August. We've gotten together for playdates before, but this was the first one where Raegan was really old enough to actually PLAY with Greyson. It was really funny, because he would just talk and talk and talk to her and she would just nod her head and say "yes" to everything he asked her. Katie and I joke that they're going to get married someday. :)


See her hanging on his every word?


Raegan had a blast playing with this elephant that shoots little butterflies up in the air. She was laughing hysterically!


Fun times!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Fried Chicken

I don't make fried chicken very often, even though it's something that my guys both really like. It seems like my crunchy coating never turns out very well. I didn't really do anything differently this time, but the cooking gods must have been smiling down on me that day, because this was the finished product:


Um, yeah. And it was F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C. If you're wondering what I use, I just put the chicken breast in egg, then a mixture of flour, pepper and seasoned salt. Fry it in oil in a pan until it's done. Pretty easy, although it's quite a mess to clean up because of all the oil that seems to spit onto my stove. 

More swim lessons

I enrolled Raegan in the parent/child swim lessons that our local pool offers. We did it last summer, but she's a little more hesitant about it this year. I think my mom's right - I don't think she's a big fan of not being able to touch. Which I can understand. Sometimes the lake freaks me out a little bit too!


Practicing our front "float"



Thinking, "Do I like this??"


Her favorite thing is still jumping in the water. It was her favorite last summer too!



See how happy she is about jumping? :)

Queen of Garage Sale finds

My mother has become the Queen of Garage Sale finds. :) She found this fantastic slide at a garage sale for only $8! Raegan absolutely adores it, and had a lot of fun sliding over and over when we went to visit Granny and Papa earlier this week.



Having Fun??

We are lucky to have several free splash parks here in Salina. We've been a couple times, and Raegan's not always sure what she thinks of them. On this day that we went, she was mostly hesitant, although she did run around and even (gasp!) smile a few times. :)

She was NOT too pleased when water came shooting up out of those holes right after I took this picture!


This is where she wasn't too sure about the whole splash park thing


Getting braver....


Running!


Raegan would say "ouchie" when water would splash on her head. Oh, child!


Is that a smile I see?!?!!

Father's Day Car Show

Man, I have a lot of catching up to do. I guess I'll start with the most recent pictures, then figure out where to go from there.

This morning we went to the annual car show at our local zoo. (Hello, free fun thanks to our zoo membership!) It was pretty hot and humid, even at 10:30 in the morning, but we still enjoyed ourselves.

This is how Raegan enjoys a car show! :)


Luke's favorite car there


Mommy and Raegan


I just took a picture of this car because it was the EXACT same color as my toenail polish. Silly!


It doesn't quite look the same in the picture because the car was partially in the shade, but it was. Trust me. lol


Bicycle with a steering wheel. The sign said they go for about $3000 now. Yikes!


Love that brother....


Zane liked this one with the spider web on the front


Ha! Picture of Luke!!


Raegan looking up at Zane


Inside the museum to cool off a little


Zane and Raegan

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Love that baby!

One of Raegan's favorite things to do after her bath is to give a kiss to that beautiful baby in the mirror!!!




Today while we were at the pool, Raegan was sitting in my lap facing me. She started pointing at my sunglasses and saying, "Baby! Baby!" She then laid a big smackaroo right now my sunglasses. lol Silly, silly girl.