Why Miss Janae is the best

Dash got lost while we were on vacation.

It's one of those scenarios that keeps me awake at night. We're walking along Downtown Disney, at night, with  maybe 500,000 other people and I stopped to check the park map. It probably took me 45 seconds. I looked up, reached for Dash's hand... no Dash.

I turned in circles for a minute looking for him but he was nowhere. Joe ran off in one direction, Braden and Grandpa in another. I closed my eyes, said a prayer and opened them. Still no Dash. But there WAS a Disney police guy. Good enough for me. He took a description and radioed in a lost child.

This is where Miss Janae comes in. Miss Janae was the kids' preschool teacher. We all love her. In addition to the normal preschool things that they learn (letters, numbers, sounds, etc) they also learn valuable life skills. Playground rules, mom's phone number and yes, What To Do If One Becomes Lost.

So when Dash realized he was lost, he knew what to do. He didn't keep walking. He didn't wander off looking for us on his own. He didn't hide. He just went up to someone working in one of the booths and said "excuse me, I'm lost." The shop girl called security. As soon as my security guy had put out his call, Dash was found. He had gotten about 100 yards away from me and was enjoying being fussed over and covered with stickers.

 So the dual morals of this story are:
1. teach your child what to do if they get separated from you and
2. Miss Janae is one of my favoritest people on the planet

Also we have Disneyland pictures on our family blog. You know, if you are invited to it.

To my Scrabble girls

For a while, I was doing really good at keeping up with a few Words With Friends games. And then this guy, Smitty McSmitten Mittens, discovered that he too, loves that iPod.

And if you think you're going to play a great word, or maybe toss an angry bird or two, you are confronted with this.

Oh! The iPod? Are we going to play Peekaboo Barn now for the maybe three millionth time?

Do you think it will be the sheep? Or the rooster? Or maybe even the dog! We must know!

And then you think to yourself how heart-meltingly cute his little giggle is when he hears the kid say "peekaboo barn" and you absolutely and completely give in to him, every single time.

And you lose all your Scrabble games.

Apps for kids

In the last week I've been on a quest to find good apps for the Smittens. He loves the iPod but how much Plants vs. Zombies does he need to play? So I've been browsing interactive games and books for little kids. What I've found is that a lot of them have
a. super annoying voices
b. lame graphics (this bothers me... a lot)
c. ways to make you (or the kids) "accidentally" buy more stuff

Grrrr, right?

So in the middle of my quest, guess what happened? My friend released an app.

How often do you get to say this? Let's say it again.

My friend just released an app.

I KNOW!!

And it's a totally great one for little kids - counting, letters, shapes, colors, all in these interactive little games. Love it.


Oh, and did I mention that it's totally beautiful?


So yes, totally check it out! Click here or search for Make it Pop in the app store.

Pretty cool

I'm totally loving crocheted things right now. Check out this gorgeous hat made by my friend Megan! Minnie was so excited about it, and even more thrilled about the flower.

The results

The official times aren't posted yet but I think Joe and I came in at around 35 minutes. We looked at the clock when we crossed the finish line but it was counting the 10K time and not ours and we didn't know exactly when we took off after the 10K start. Sad!

Anyway, I wanted to run the entire thing but I broke down and walked for 30 seconds a few times... especially up the last hill. We did pass a few people here and there and even ran hard on the last stretch and crossed the finish line strong. I really held Joe back but we kept a reasonable pace and I don't feel terribly sore. All in all it was a success. And I got this awesome t-shirt. Too bad it's a youth-large size instead of the size I ordered. Stupid Run13 did not have enough t-shirts for all the competitors. You can imagine that Joe was thrilled when they gave him the same extra-small size shirt as I got. He'll look awesome in it.

Joe is already training for a half-marathon in September. This cartoon (sent to me by Hannah who saw it on Pedalingfast) pretty much sums up how I feel about that.


Incidentally, if you're anxiously counting down the days to the release of "Breaking Dawn", idle your time away with this awesome quiz by my friend Jenny. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I have NOT read the Twilight books yet. I have nothing against fantasy (I waited cheerfully in line with hundreds of other nerds for Deathly Hallows last summer). I don't necessarily dislike vampires and I love me a good romance but... I just can't get going on this one. My mother-in-law warned me that the poor quality of the writing would make me insane. So I cheated and read the Wiki-summary of the first three books to see if I was missing out on anything fantastic. Result: I rolled my eyes so hard I think I dislodged one of them.

Update: the official results were posted today


Your chip time is from when your shoe crosses the start line (you tie a timing chip to your shoe) to when it crosses the finish line, so it's your totally accurate time. Sooooo close to my original goal, I can't believe it! I'm really excited.

The change a year can bring

One year ago Amy left for Chicago and I was best-friendless. It hit at a low point for me - I was having one of those "mom" identity crisis moments. You wake up one day and you realize that you don't have any hobbies, any spark or any fun. Instead of being a competent professional you spend your days dealing with diapers, tantrums and the demands of little imps who can barely speak, let alone form a rational desire. You're jealous of your husband and his job because even though he works hard, at least he gets to talk to adults! And you look in the mirror and you wonder "who am I?" Thank goodness for Joe who is and will always be the rational one. In spite of a lot of tears and yelling (me) his response was "then find something you like and do it."

I think Joe thought I would take up something a little more exciting - like running or longboarding or perhaps forming aspirations to be a roller derby girl. However, even though Amy was leaving, she did give me an excellent consolation prize - her spot in her cooking and book clubs! I may have been nervous and unsure but I should have had more faith in Amy. Nerdy yes, but twice a month I got to escape to good food, fun books and, most of all, wonderful friends.

So today I am grateful for these awesome girls. Amy, of course, who has stayed my best friend over hundreds of miles (did you really leave?) The crazy-talented Hannah, who always inspires serious shoe envy and was also braved the novice peach-canning night with me. Bethany, Scrabble champion of the world who shares my love for dinosaurs. Amanda, who would tempt me to stay in the parking lot talking for several hours in spite of some crazy lady yelling at us from the second floor. Cicada, who always makes me laugh and can bake a chocolate raspberry torte that will make you want to marry it and treasure it forever. And Jenny, who not only has single-handedly re-introduced the word "dude" into many vocabularies, but will selflessly help anyone in need and will one day save the world. Seriously, I love you all.