Kid's art gone terribly and hilariously wrong..

Enjoy...




"Mommy I drew you and me. You have big boobies and I have little boobies" - Cass age 4


Some kid's shopping list...

um...why is Ken tied up?

Rants From Mommyland...

The playground. I love the playground. Because first of all, free fun. I am all about the free fun. If it's free and fun and near my house, you'd best believe we're going. A lot. And that includes every playground within a 20 minute drive. But lately, I've seen some really strange (and bad) behavior at the playground that got me thinking...does etiquitte go out the window at the playground?
Here are some of my playground observations:
Mulch Throwers. All children like to throw mulch. However, when mulch goes air-born it gets into hair that must then be washed, even if it was just washed the night before. Or into eyes which hurts like a mofo and is scary. Dont let your kids throw mulch...and this goes for woodchips too!
Outside Voice vs. Ear-Splitting Keening. All kids like to run and all kids like to make too much noise. If your child is just running around hollering gleefully, being a noisy little bugger, using his/her outside voice, I say rock on. That's what the playground is for. But it can cross a line. A line that starts with all the parents and dogs within a quarter mile involuntarily cringing and ends with them collapsed dead on the ground, with blood trickling out of their ears. From the high-pitched squeal of your child's unnecessary screaming. Don't act like you don't know exactly what I'm talking about. When it was my kid, I made her stop. When it's your kid - for the love of GOD, make. them. stop. screaming.
Sticks and Stones and Branches.. Why? If you really need to ask why then you might want to seek immediate medical attention because you have clearly suffered a traumatic brain injury. From being repeatedly whacked in the head with a tree branch. That you allow your child to play with.
Stop Texting Before Something Bad Happens.
 They can be mommies (sometimes even me - gasp!), but sometimes they're not.  Need some examples? On the weekends, you see lots of kids with their dads. It is often clear that this is Daddy's post-divorce custodial weekend and the playground seemed like a better idea than being trapped in his new, Ikea-furnished two bedroom apartment with completely wild children. I can certainly relate. Divorced Daddies fall into one of two categories* -  I will focus on the d-bag variety. He stands on the periphery, so absorbed in his Blackberry or iPhone, that he would not notice if his kids were abducted by a bad man in a scary clown suit. But he might just notice every skinny woman in spandex who jogs by.  Nice parenting, dude.

Then you have another useless sack of hair: mom's stupid boyfriend. This guy stands as far away as he can from the actual playground - clearly bored, sighing and rolling his eyes, and obviously wishing he were anywhere else, while chain smoking Newports. Then you have the over-entitled, surly, adolescent babysitter, who also stands as far away as she can from the actual playground - clearly bored, sighing and rolling her eyes, and obviously wishing she were anywhere else, while texting non-stop (and earning $10 an hour).
The Mommy Code. If I'm standing near the slide and a little guy gets scared and needs help down, I'll help him. You'd help him, too. If I see some big kids being rough or wild near a little kid, I'll say: "Hey dudes! Remember there are little guys around, OK?" So why is it there are some people who will see a kid fall off a swing and just stand there, dispassionately observing, like "Hmmm... Interesting... It fell down and now it cries..." Seriously? You're a mom. Do the right thing, woman.

Have you guys witnessed anything at the playground that has you stumped and wanted to offer (aka slap) some senseable advice? Do Share!

Ever Feel Discouraged?

I'm Human and that means I have emotions.

I am currently going through an experience that was daunting from the beginning. I chose my profession because I love it. I am not a person who can sit behind a desk all day. I gotta keep busy. And who keeps you busy more than kids? When people ask why I work with kids I tell them it's becasuse they keep me moving, thinking, and laughing.

I always had in mind what kind of teacher I wanted to be....and who I wanted to teach.

We all want to feel needed, and I wanted to work in a place that NEEDED me. Needed someone to care, to support, to be everything that child or family may need. I'm currently doing my internship at a place that is so discouraging. I feel bad talking down about a place that has welcomed me and let me into their class...but the day to day workings are a bummer. The children are not LEARNING. And the teacher in the room is a downer. We recently had words and I looked to this quote for inspiration...funny right.

So this qoute can be used anywhere that you feel someone is trying to kill your spirit. Keep your head up...I'm sure trying to.

Songs that make you cry

Cleaning my house the other day while listening to Last fm stream through my husband's xbox. Suddenly found myself in tears. No I wasn't hormonal and no i'm not psyco.....maybie a little...but I started to cry because Boyz II Men "So Hard To Say Goodbye" came on. I wept as I scrubbed and swept for no particular reason but that song just gets to me. There are alot of songs that just get to me like that. All of them are not sad either, some songs bring tears to my eyes simply because it may take me back to a time in my life where I was happy, or had a feeling, or just miss being a carefree teenager. Some make me think of long lost friends, or a wild summer I'll never forget. What songs hit home for you and turn on the waterworks?

and on the complete other end of the spectrum is Ludacris "What's Your Fantasy"...makes me think of being a sneaky teen sneaking out my window in the middle of the night to run rampid in the streets of surburbia...I was a bad teen...i got it coming back to me big time.

Pour out a lil' liquor for Suede...

I was going through the many stacks and stacks of magazines in my house and I came across something that made me gleam like I found a picture of myself when I was a size 4...An Issue of SUEDE Magazine!
 I cannot begin to tell you how much I miss this magazine. I loved how it was young, hip, informative, and the layouts gave me a mild headache but were so bomb. Here are some of the spreads to give you an idea if your eyes were never lucky enough to see them...

 

 They displayed real life success stories and women working toward their dreams.


They did a Mariah Carey collage out of makeup...  and an article about Barack Obama waaaayyy before he was president.
They let Tyra do what she does best...
.  

And showed us how to do makeup the right way for our skin tones...


 
So what happened to all this eye catching and inventive dopeness?...

"There is a frustration in what we do...In a sense, there is not a road, not a path, that we go down... We can't just sell the magazine. We have to sell the audience. We have to explain that our audience buys things, that they are valuable. It's just plain dollars and sense."-- Michelle Ebanks, group publisher at Essence Communications Group, in a New York Times article dated December 7th, 2004.

mmmm...Sounds to me like they were saying that their audience (AKA women of color) are not valuable??? We don't buy things? mmmmmmm   mmmmmmm  and mmmmm some more.

Regardless of the reason it closed it's doors, I'm sure I am not alone when I am banging on them begging for them to open them back up...Yall with me!?!

I made it through...

Kid's Birthdays. Who knew they could take so much out of you...and your wallet?
My daughter turned 2 this week and she celebrated every single minute of it and then some. It started out with a small celebration at her school with cupcakes for her friends. I was pleasantly surprised she knew just what to do after everyone sang happy birthday to her and she blew out her candles.

Next was the party...
I am a big planner. I like details down to the last naptkin to be perfectly planned and executed.
We decided to have her party at Wonderworks Children's Museum in Oak Park.
Cute place. It got alot of mixed reviews online but I really thought it wasn't so bad. There are no actual exibits but lots of themed areas, with hands on toys and activities for children to enjoy. There is a campout/tree house area, a stage area complete with dress up clothes and a camera "studio" for kids who want to be behind the scenes, an art room with basic art supplies, and many more traditional toys that young children show interest in and keep them pretty busy.  Here are some pics:
   
Overall I was pleased with the space and it was not overly crowded with people or toys so that it was too overstimulating for the kids.

On to the details.

The outfit came from Old Navy...probably my favorite kid shopping spot. Cute but casual and I dont know price of each individual item but I got shirt, skirt, shoes, tights, socks, and barrette set for less than $30!!! HOLLA!

Gift bags are so boring.

At Deals, I found bags of favors, candy, card cames (go fish, old maid), pencils, kazoos, AND Sesame Street birthday themed coloring books for under $5 each...I put them in drawstring backpacks purchased from Oriental Trading.

We had Pizza and instead of a cake we decided it would be easier (and less time consuming) to just pass out cupcakes.

My idea was to have the sesame street characters faces on the cupcakes...to make a long story short I almost turned into a "Momzilla" because after numerous phone calls going unanswered and having to call from random people's phones... the cupcakes arrived at the Last second! I was so upset, and I chose to take the high road and not blast this lady's company all over my blog but....yeah...never again will she get my business.

This is how the cupcakes came out...I was missing grouch, grover, bert and ernie, but I was just greatful to have them there.

They were a hit among the kids and guests so ;)

We spread out all her gifts at home and it was like Christmas in September, she had recieved so many gifts! There are outfits for weeks in that pile, we are so greatful!

Thank you to everybody who came!

But the celebration continued...turns out my husband had nabbed a Groupon for YO GABBA GABBA LIVE!

If you havent checked out my post on Yo Gabba Gabba's awesomeness, please do!

The outfit she wore was one of her gifts from the party, How adorable!?!

Between DJ Lance, Foofa, and Biz Markie, Taryn didn't know whether to be scared or starstruck!

LOVE them!

Freckle Luv...

I am growing freckles...freckles, along with dimples, glasses, and the ability to play beautiful music on a violin are things that I always wanted and never had...oh, and a sexy accent that no one could really pinpoint would make me the bomb...but I'll settle with freckles. I wont just settle, i will celerate them. I never really understood why people disliked them...
I've always loved freckles on black people because it is something that is so rare. So while embracing my own new friends on my face that are thankfully not pimples, i decided to share some freckle luv...
Enjoy!
  
 
 I say flaunt your freckles!!!