Mommin' It Up!

March 27, 2013

Girls Night Out

Saturday night I had the rare opportunity to go on a date with my daughter. We were both SO excited! It’s rare that I get to spend one-on-one time with either of my big kids. Joshua had a sleepover with a friend Friday night and so Saturday, I wanted to do something special with Sophie (she had a sitter Friday night while Bobby and I went out for our anniversary.)

Sophie got to pick our destinations, and the girl has good taste, so to eat, we went to Frisch’s Big Boy!

We took turns coloring her menu while we waited for our food. And we talked! It was great. Plus, I slurped down TWO vanilla cokes and a bacon cheeseburger with no bun (darn gluten) and sweet potato fries! Mmmm! Soph enjoyed a gourmet meal of chicken fingers and fries with chocolate milk.

She was so sweet the whole time. Sweet, and funny, and grateful.

Her next choice was THE MALL. Yes! Usually I don’t care for the mall on a Saturday night but I wanted to stop by Sears to check out some Lands’ End clothes (shocker, right?) and Sophie wanted to hit the play place and then get a cookie from the cookie place that is strategically located…right next to the play place.

The play place on Saturday night was equivalent to the 7th level of hell. But Sophie still loved it! I loved being able to watch her every move and only having to keep my eye on one kid at a time. She was so cute, making sure I was watching all her antics. She was beaming.

sophieplayplace — It was crazy crowded with hooligans whose parents were not watching them, I swear.

After Soph got her cookie, we wandered back down toward Sears to find a bench for her to eat it on. We stopped right in front of the Shoes 4 the Shoeless mural. You may remember that Shoes 4 the Shoeless is an organization that I volunteer for. I haven’t been able to for about two months because of my back injury (all better now!) and my kids being constantly sick, and I can’t wait to get back into it in April! While Sophie was eating, I was talking to her about the mural. Her school just had a sock drive for Shoes 4 the Shoeless two weeks ago and so it was fresh on her mind.

There’s a drop bin as part of the mural for people to drop shoes they have bought at the mall. “Sophie,” I said, “let’s go back into Sears and see if we can find some shoes to buy and put in the box for the kids who don’t have any.”

“Okay! That’s a great idea!” she said enthusiastically. So, we headed into Sears because I had seen a bunch of clearance signs there earlier.

sophieshoes — Shoes 4 the Shoeless mural and drop box at the Dayton Mall

Sophie carefully perused the section of markdowns. I explained to her that we were looking in this section because the shoes cost less here and that way we could buy more than one pair, so more than one child could get new shoes. I told her to pick out two pair. Happily, all the kids clearance was 60% off! Wheeee! You know I love a deal!

Right away, Sophie latched onto a pair of Skechers “Twinkle Toes” shoes. “Hmm, I don’t know if we’ll be able to afford those, I said. I wasn’t expecting them to be marked down that much, but they were only $9.99! “We can get them!” I told her. She was SO excited. Then, she picked out a super-shiny silver pair as well. What can I say, girl loves the bling! Those were marked down to $8.

We paid and the cashier said, “Are you getting some sparkly shoes?”

“We’re giving them to the girls who don’t have any.” she said. I explained she meant the Shoes 4 the Shoeless drop box.

Of course, the cashier was delighted by her cuteness and giving spirit. As was I.

Soph proudly put the shoes in the drop box and then we headed home. I was so proud of her because not only was she excited to give, she never once asked for anything for herself. She was totally content with her Frisch’s and her cookie, and her mom. Sophie is not by any means a perfect child, but her sweet spirit about the shoes really touched me. She was really into those Twinkle Toes, and she was really happy that another child was getting them.

After that, we arrived home and popped in the movie Annie, which I’d gotten from the library just for our special night. She’d never seen it and she loved it, which thrilled me because of course it was one of my favorites when I was a kid! She stayed up til 10:45 even though she was sooooo tired. I couldn’t believe she made it!

We had the best time together. It was such a gift! I love my little girl and I hope we can have another girls night really soon.

How do you “date your kids”? How often are you able to get in some one-on-one time?

March 25, 2013March 24, 2013

Anniversaries {raging waters and wedding bells}

Friday night Bobby and I got all dressed up and went out on a DATE. The occasion: our 13th wedding anniversary, and the 100th anniversary of the Great Dayton Flood of 1913. Our anniversary is today, March 25th, and that is also the day the city’s levees broke 100 years ago, after a wet winter and four punishing days of unprecedented rain. Being a history nerd, I’ve always thought that was kind of cool. The shared anniversary, I mean.

bobbyjenny — It’s our lucky 13th anniversary!

Because of the 100th anniversary of the flood, there are plenty of exhibits on the subject to be found around town. Bobby and I got dressed up Friday to celebrate our anniversary by going to the Dayton Art Institute’s social media preview night of their 1913 Flood exhibit. I was interested in seeing an artistic take on this momentous event in our city’s history. It did not disappoint! I’ll tell you all about it in just a sec. But first, a little background for you non-Daytonians.

Dayton sits on the Great Miami River, and downtown developed at a place where five rivers come together. Dayton had always had periodic flooding, and had some big old levees to protect the city. The levees had overflowed before, but never straight-out broken. Compounding the problem was the Miami & Erie canal, which ran right through downtown (where Patterson Boulevard is now). When the giant storm system moved in on Easter weekend in 1913, it dumped three months worth of rain on the region in four days – onto cold ground that was already saturated from a snowy, icy winter.

It was pretty much the perfect storm.

When the levees broke, water rushed into downtown and into low-lying areas just north of the river. Over 360 people died, 20,000 homes were destroyed (not to mention businesses), and 65,000 people were displaced. A lot more people would have perished if it weren’t for a lot of heroic actions by neighbors helping neighbors. The rescue stories are incredible!

The flood is one of my favorite subjects and I could go on and on, but I won’t. You can find more information and some great pictures here at Dayton History.

But back to the exhibit at the Dayton Art Institute. It’s actually three exhibits in one. The first part is Storm, beautiful, very large paintings of storms by artist April Gornik that are intense and energetic. I am hardly an art critic so forgive my inept descrition – but they are striking to say the least. We weren’t allowed to take photographs of Gornik’s paintings, but that’s ok, because you should go see them yourself if you can.

The second part of the exhibit is Watershed: 100 Years of Photography along the Great Miami River. This was my very favorite, and most historical part of the exhibit. There were many amazing old photographs of the flood and its aftermath, paired with new photographs of the same modern-day locations, taken by talented Dayton photographer Andy Snow.

Both sets of photographs were absolutely amazing, the older set because of the drama and devastation they portrayed, and the newer set because of the clarity and artistry involved in creating the modern-day portraits. You must go see it! The exhibit contained photographs not from just Dayton, but from towns all up and down the Great Miami river – an entire region was devastated, not just a city. There were pictures from Piqua, Troy, Miamisburg, West Carrollton, Hamilton, Franklin, and more. The destruction went for miles and miles.

Another component of the Watershed portion was a display of old hand-tinted lantern slides depicting the flood waters and aftermath. The curator explained to us that these slides equate to the Powerpoint presentation of today. After the flood, these slides were used in the campaign to raise funds for the Miami Conservancy District to build the system of dams we have today that protect us from another catastrophic flood event. The campaign, with the slogan “Remember the Promises You Made in the Attic” (many were marooned in attics and on rooftops for three to four days) was wildly successful and raised $2 million dollars – in 1913 money – in TEN DAYS. Mostly from plain old private citizens who were affected by the flood! Here are a few of those convincing images (I took these photographs of the lantern slides with my camera at the exhibit):

valleykeowee — This is fairly close to where I live today. But my house is on high ground and wasn’t built until 4 years after the flood.

westherman — Aftermath: This neighborhood is just north of downtown, right on the river

Can you even imagine? I surely cannot.

The final part of the exhibit is called Riverbank: Exploring our River-Centered Development. This is an interactive display with images of the city’s river development projects (some that happened, some that didn’t) over the years. It was really interesting, especially for those of us who are proponents of downtown. But it wasn’t nearly as eye-appealing as the other two components of the exhibit.

If you’re in Dayton, I hope you will go see this exhibit! If you buy a ticket to the DAI’s exhibit, you get 1/2 off the exhibit at Dayton History’s Carillon park – which is going to be my next stop on my flood tour. I can’t wait!

Oh, and happy anniversary to my husband of 13 years! Since they had a flood 100 years ago and we have a snow storm for today, I sure am glad we had beautiful weather in 2000! Love you, baby. In flood and in blizzard (and sunshine, too).

March 22, 2013February 20, 2014

A tisket, a tasket, what am I gonna put in their Easter basket?

Even though it’s still FISHING freezing up in here, Easter is upon us. We’ve got a little over a week until we celebrate Christ’s resurrection with our families. Personally, I am pretty excited because I L-O-V-E my weird family and our get togethers. And, my parents, having recently fled for the mountains of Virginia due to their retired state, will be home for the holiday. Woot!

But, I haven’t done one darn thing about getting an Easter basket together for the kids. Since I am typically under-prepared, I’m not stressed, but I DO want to get it done this week. I don’t want to do a lot of candy or spend a lot of money. Have you seen the giant pre-packaged Easter baskets they sell EVERYWHERE for $20 and up? That be cray-cray, people! Dial it down a notch! I want to give the kids a treat to look forward to but I still want to emphasize that this holiday is about something more – redemption, salvation, rejoicing, kept promises.

And seriously, the big kids both just finished off their VALENTINE candy stash. They don’t need much more! So, I’ve got some ideas!

Games, games, games! We are a GAME-loving family, and recently my kids discovered Mad Libs and we have been having SO much fun with them. So, methinks they’ll each be getting a Mad Libs set. We’ve already got LEGO Star Wars Mad Libs, but thankfully the selection on Amazon is endless so I know I can come up with something for each of them. Recently my pals at the Wonder Forge, who make the BEST GAMES EVER, sent me a couple to review as well. They have a cute Disney Easter matching game available at Target which is perfect for a preschooler’s Easter basket:

I love matching games, especially for speech and vocabulary. You know me! Always trying to make a game do more!

They also sent me a great new game for the big kids that has been a HUGE hit! Also available at Target, it’s a bit more pricey at $16.99 but your big kids will adore it. Both Joshua and Sophie LOVE it and it was a big help to us during all those SICK days we’ve had recently. It’s the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Clash Alley:

It is a little complicated at first, but my kids quickly got the hang of it. Sophie is only six and she even taught her favorite babysitter Krisha how to play:

Another game type by the Wonder Forge that would be perfect for Easter baskets are their game cubes. We’ve had the Busytown and Curious Georges ones for a long time and they are awesome! Four games in a cube and they’re just right for travel. They have several others, including Chugginton and Seuss:

Love ’em!!

So – my kids will definitely have a game of some sort for Easter.

Other ideas: I love these no-candy Easter basket ideas from my client Girls Crochet Headband’s blog (notice the Mad Libs, woot!). One features girls accessories and the other all manner of boyish items. Check out the post for more ideas (lots of dollar store ideas, too!)

Finally, I think my kiddos will get something to READ in their baskets! They both love books and the “I can read” and similar books are really reasonably priced- $3.99 or so – so I think we’ll do that. Like I said, I don’t want to spend a lot or distract too much from the real meaning of the holiday, so I think we’ll go with two items and one chocolate bunny or the like.

And a few Cadbury Creme eggs for the mama.

What are you putting in YOUR kids’ Easter baskets this year?

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The Wonder Forge sent me the Easter matching (which we’ll be gifting) and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games to review. All opinions are my own. And my opinion is that I LOVE THE WONDER FORGE!