The Family Trifecta

Amy's bookshelf: 2024

The Weekend Away

by Sarah Alderson

So so good! Orla and Kate are long-time best friends off on a girls' weekend away. Kate is a bit of a player who is trying to get back at her soon-to-be-ex, causing her to spend frivolously and do drugs and hook-ups. Orla is a new mom ex...

tagged: 2024, audible-books, five-stars, thriller, and thoughtful

Written Off

by E.J. Copperman

tagged: 2024, cozy, easy, and four-stars

Maybe Next Time

by Cesca Major

Parts were a screaming 5 and parts were like “what?” And just irritated me. It is a Groundhog Day premise about a family of four - the mom is caught up in her own life and missing all that is going on around her with her kids and then he...

tagged: 2024, audible-books, fiction, four-stars, and thoughtful

book reviewsbook club

The Party

Jade loves to entertain and decorate. We will often find blankets, towels or stuffed animals hanging from different places is the house by ribbons or pipe cleaners. She’s actually pretty good about cleaning up her mess afterwards (well, days after).

This week the girls have been focused on having a PARTY. I’m not sure what sparked the idea, but every night we’ve had a little party. Tonight we are going to bake a cake for “the party”.

A couple of nights ago, Jade decorated for the party in her bedroom. Then when she was ready, she had us knock on her door and there she was, sitting on her chair with a book waiting to read to us. That night, she and Ivy slept in the “party bed” and the party continued until the next morning when she had dance class.

Two years ago, Jade decorated the entry way. So when I returned home from work, this is what I was greeted with…

She really does love to decorate and throw parties for her sister. I don’t know that I love that she keeps strangling her dolls by tying “leashes” around their necks and hanging them from her bed or the entry, but there is little to no harm done and she has a blast doing it.

If she goes to college and decorates her apartment with hanging dolls, then I just might worry a bit.

Be sure to join in the Photo Story Friday and Give Me Your Best Shot with Cecily and Lolli. Also visit Dumb Mom and join in her Old School Photo Friday.

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

My Blue Eyed Girl

Growing up, my family had brown-eyed girls and blue-eyed boys. To me, that was what was normal. Then I met Scott. He had brown eyes and his mom had blue. That was totally backwards. But, I always wished I had blue eyes so I figured I might end up with a blue-eyed girl – if I was lucky. Boy was I lucky.

Jade was born with the darkest blue eyes I had ever seen. I feel in love with her eyes and prayed they would stay blue. Over time, they got a little bit lighter.

And were obviously not going to turn brown. Her dark brown hair quickly started to turn blond and I had a beautiful little blond-haired blue-eyed girl on my hands.

She was full of spunk from day one, and has kept that energy going through out her 7 years.

But she noticed she was different than both me and Scott. After Ivy came along, she realized that she was the ONLY one in the family with blue eyes and blond hair. I’ve tried to help her know that she’s the lucky one to have such a beautiful combination, but I’ve learned that being different can be challenging to a little girl. Little girls some times want to just blend in and don’t want to be recognized for what makes them stand out. There have been times she has cried to me because she wishes she had brown hair and brown eyes like the rest of us.

Isn’t it funny how we always wish we had something different? I remember longing for my friends beautiful blond and straight hair. Or crumbling because my dad’s eyes were strikingly beautiful. I even tried contacts and highlights. But I never felt like me. Hopefully, Jade will learn that her beautiful blue eyes and blond hair are her and she’s beautiful.

I’m still trying to catch up on sleep…

I really really love New York. It really is my favorite city. I only wish I would have had more time to enjoy the actual city.

I had a wonderful time at BlogHer ’10 and really have no idea where to begin with my recap of an amazing 3 days. So, I guess I will just do it in the order it happened.

Once I made my way through the check in line and got my registration packet and bag of initial swag, I headed to my room that I shared with Lolli and Safire. I really lucked out when it comes to roommates. Neither of them were party animals and neither of them were home bodies. We had a great time getting to know one another and we got along great. (Even had similar bedtimes).

My first night was filled with a couple of great parties and my first ride on a rickshaw. The first party I got to go to because Lolli and Safire were given an award. They submitted an absolutely hilarious video of them washing their hair with Seed’s shampoo bar. The party was at this cool little bar and they did a very nice job of presenting their business plan and getting everyone excited about their product. By the way, their lotions smell amazing.

CraziBeautiful put on a great party. They had NuSkin doing galvanic spa facials and there was a make-up artist doing Luminess Air Brush make-overs. Oh, wait, that was me. Their make-up artist was only contracted until 6:30. Joanie taught me how to do it and the next thing you know, I was the make-up artist. Stephanie took a bunch of pictures, so I’ll need to get those from her at some point. It was a great time to visit with a bunch of other bloggers and get to know them. All of the ladies did an amazing job and gave an incredible swag bag that included some great NuSkin products and a Luminess Air Brush. I also loved getting to know all of the CB girls. If you ever get a chance to go to an event by CraziBeautiful, you should totally do it.

I headed over to the end of the People’s Party but actually totally missed it. Lolli was sweet and got me a tutu for the 5K since I forgot mine.

Friday morning started really early with the Tutu’s for Tanner 5k. Oh no, I so did NOT run. We had a great time walking and getting very interesting looks and comments from people on the street.

During the day we went to sessions and explored the expo center. The sessions were great and it was really fun hooking up with some cool companies that are very pro- bloggers. I was seriously amazed at the products that they were showing and giving to the bloggers.

During the expo I met Bruce Jenner, Mrs Potato Head, Ronald McDonald, Veronica Webb, and my photography hero – Susan Stripling. I spent about 20 minutes visiting with Susan about photographing her kids doing dance performances. We talked about life and her busy schedule. She was very very gracious and sweet.

The last night of BlogHer was spent at a very very cool party. E.L.F and XBox invited a group of bloggers to the new E.L.F. show room. We got to demo the new XBox dance game and the Adventure game. They are really great games that don’t even need a remote. I loved the dance game. Which was obvious because I danced a lot of dances. Oh, and I won a $500 gift card to Talbots!

After the party we went and figured out how to pack all of our stuff. (Which I ended up having to redo at the airport).

Then we went down to the CheeseburgHer party. I danced briefly with Alexis, Jenny and Carina. I’m glad I got to spend some time with a few of the local bloggers. My roomies and I hung out in the hall with Stephanie and Taunie for a while and just chatted. It made for a relaxing end of the conference.

I returned home from BlogHer feeling inspired and motivated and VERY tired.

A few collages…

They are just too young

I was 15 years old. It was the 29th of December. This was the first New Year’s Eve that I had any plans with friends. We were going to a dance at the Wilkinson Center. It was going to be the best New Year’s Eve ever.

I went to bed as a girl and when I went to the bathroom in the morning, I found I was no longer a girl, but a woman. I was absolutely crushed. I cried and cried that I had my first visit from “Aunt Flo” on New Years Eve. I was freaking out about how I was going to deal with it and still have fun at the dance.

My mom and my grandma took me do Castleton’s to find a dark skirt that I could wear to the dance. I ended up getting an adorable and very 1987 outfit. It was a long blue skirt and a cream gunny sack blouse with pearl buttons.

After the dance I went to my grandma’s house to spend the night. Just like I had for the past 11 years on New Year’s Eve.

The next morning, I woke up and was reminded of “my friend” and started to cry again.

Every month for the next 6-9 months, I would cry with each visit. I would pray hard every single day that it would just go away. I thought of all of the ways that I could possibly have it go away. I considered anorexia because I heard once that your period would go away. But I really enjoy food, so I decided that wasn’t an option. I thought about working out extra hard to see if that would make it go away. I was already dancing most days during the week and there was little time to add more activities.

For years (many years) I hated that time of the month.

I can’t believe that young girls are having to go through this at a much much younger age than I did. I couldn’t deal with it as a 15 year old. How can a 9 year old be expected to deal with this? How can a 10 year old be prepared every month to deal with “Aunt Flo”? 10 year olds are supposed to be playing Barbie. They aren’t supposed to look like Barbie. Skipper – that is how a 10 year old should look.

Is it the rise in obesity? Why are we not cracking down on our kids any more than we are about what they eat and how much they run and play? Or is it the hormones in food? Is it the estrogen that is apparently in plastics? Would living a “green” lifestyle slow things down or is it already too late?

10.4% of Caucasian girls, 23% of African-American girls and 15% of Hispanic girls will start having breast development by age 7.

Jade is 7. She’s still a child. I hope she can stay a child for many more years to come.

Why do you think girls are entering puberty so much earlier?

I Heart Faces – Surprise

I’m a bit delayed in submitting my entry for I Heart Faces, but I’m getting around to it.

I took this photo as my nephew stepped on the tramp. I love the joy and the surprise in his face from the spring.

There are some fantastic surprised faces over at I heart faces. Be sure and check them out and say hi.

The Family Trifecta

Meet Amy