My Tip for Family Pictures

Here is my best tip for Family Pictures.


Mom's Birthday Present Trick


Traditionally- we take our family picture on my birthday, as a present for mommy. This really helps motivate my children (& husband) to be a patient and smiling participant. Because pictures are tedious.





But willing participants often get "cheese" results.









Co-ordinating Colors for Clothes


I pull the "Birthday Card" to even get them to wear what I want them to wear. My kids don't like to "match" each other. I'm okay if we aren't wearing the exact thing, this is my most matching photo, normally they are just complimenting colors.

For me- personally- just my preference- I'm able to really focus on the faces if the clothes aren't competiting for attention. I like it. Too Matching though is distracting too. For example- if all my kids were wearing the striped shirt- that would have been crazy.

We've had a picture every year on my birthday- as long as I can remember. This year we did our family picture in April. (my birthday is in November) I wanted a family beach picture but the last 3 years it has been raining or super windy on my birthday. So I told the gang we were going to do it early. OF COURSE the day I planned... it's super windy!

Here Hugh is complaining about sand in his mouth. Poor guy.

Heath- a not so willing participant....

My friend Debbie took our pictures and it helps having a patient photographer. One who understands kids... and who is willing to wait for a good shot. I mean- this is a nice pose- everyones looking.. .but HELLO- my hair! This was not going to be our Christmas card photo.

We've gone to the beach with a impatient friend to snap some pictures. CLICK-CLICK-CLICK okay.. there you go...

She suggested we turn around and take some shots in the other direction.. What a difference THAT made! This is one of the pictures we liked best. Debbie took over 100 pictures! Now that is a patient friend- with a super fast camera.

Thanks Debbie!

Off to hockey!

Laura

Frindle Book Club

Here are the pictures of our book club yesterday.
As boys slowly arrived, I sent them to the T-shirt table.
We were making our Book Club T-shirt for the year and the design is basically all their faces.
( I had prepared the shirts by washing and stamping circles using a cut potato for the shape of the face a few days ago. So they were dried and ready to have eyes, hair etc.. added.)

The time consuming part was... they had to paint on each other boys shirts too... so it was set up like an assembly line. To keep all the boys busy. I had about four boys painting shirts while four others were playing chess.
Boys like Chess. All the boys really liked learning and playing Chess. Some already knew the rules so that was helpful because I was bouncing back and forth between the two tables.

( A bonus for those of you who have boys in Cub Scouts too.... explaining the game of chess, learning all the pieces and how they move and then playing a game qualifies for a Cub Scout Academic belt loop!) Pretty cool.

So as the T-shirt boys finished up... they switched places with a Chess boy.

After everyone had finished painting the T-shirts and everyone had a chance to learn and play chess we chatted about the book. (check out http://www.bookclub4boys.com/ for the details. )

But then we talked about this author. Did they like the book? Would they want to read another book by the same author?

They liked the book. But wanted to try a new book/author for next month.
Oh- another confession. We have 8 kids in the book club and one is a girl! She really wanted to be in the club and she's friends with all the boys.. my son was okay with that. (It felt cruel to exclude her just because she's a girl. And she would prefer to be in a boys book club than a girls one anyway.) So here's Nan... our honorary Tomboy in the boys book club. (Actually Hunter is such a sweet kid. He asked if he could changed the name of his book club from Boys book club to "Book Friends". What a compassionate and kind son I have!)

okay
got to run
Laura

Monday Mornings

You know... I probably like Monday Mornings more than most people. Because I don't just like them- I love them. I love the start of a new week. I always feel so refreshed after a weekend of fun with my family. I'm ready to start the week off strong- get laundry done, pick up after a weekend of playing and resting. (I think most families work on the weekend 'Saturday chores' or something. We don't. We try to get our work done during the week so we can enjoy the weekend together. And I know working together is important but we live in Hawaii and sometimes you have to take advantage of that on weekends. We are too busy during the week.) Anyway- I am not sure why I felt I had to justify our playing on weekends. :0) It's fun.

But that leaves my job cut out for me on Mondays. Lots of rooms need to be re-claimed.

This Monday was no exception. I woke up early- started my day off right- reading scriptures, made breakfast for the fellas. I even ironed my husbands shirt for him! I mean- really. I was on a roll!

Then my oldest reminds me he is suppose to bring his "invention" to school today. He invented "cheese bacon" and of course we don't have any bacon. So I agree to run to the store while everyone has breakfast so we can make his cheese bacon to take to school.

When I get back- the house STINKS, my husband is hacking and baby is in the bathtub. (I hear the water running).

That can mean only one thing.....

HEATH- How can someone so cute cause so much mischief!

My suspicions are correct. Heath woke up with a poopy diaper- and while the boys & my husband were downstairs eating breakfast, he took care of the problem himself.

I figure- it is better if I don't even look. I don't want to ruin a good morning send off- by seeing the work that lies ahead of me once my family is off to school. So I hurry- make the cheese bacon, my husband who is already late- apologizes and gives me a peck on the cheek while he runs out the door. I drive the kids to school so they won't be late and I am left with a scavenger hunt of poop on my hands.

 

 

Poopy footprints lead me up the stairs to his bedroom

 

 

Poopy finger prints on his door.

 

 

 

To a plop of poop on his pillow.

After following my nose- I found more prints in the playroom, poop on our futon, in the living room, on our couch.... what a mess!

Guess whose renting the Carpet Doctor from the grocery store today.

Have you ever read this poem?

"Sometimes you get discouraged because I am so small...

and always leave my fingerprints on furniture and walls

But every day I'm growing

I'll be all grown some day

and all those tiny hand prints will surely fade away

so here's a little hand print

just so you can recall

Exactly how my fingers looked

when I was very small."

The first time I read that poem as a new mother- I didn't know the footprints and hand prints were going to be poop.

Laura

 

Can you tell?

Just some Hockey pictures... I've been trying to write.. trying to explain... describe what hockey means to my family... my sons... my husband. I can't seem to find the words. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here's some pictures.

Do you decorate with hockey equipment?

This is how we spend our Saturdays..( and our week day afternoons 4x a week.)

Relaxing in the shade... our home away from home.

My three older boys all play. Unfortunately- didn't get an action shot at Hatrick's game. I was chasing Heath around.

Heath can't wait until he's old enough.

We like hockey- just a little.

Laura

Al Capone Does My Shirts Book Club

So today was our first book club meeting for this school year. Here is the line-up. The boys had a great time.

You'll notice I'm following my own book club advice and limited the size to 6. (The number of boys who can sit at my table.) It's sometimes hard to stay within the limit. When parents hear about book club they are eager to have their son join. That is why I started sharing my ideas on www.bookclub4boys.com. It is a great idea.

Baby Steps

The first time I ever mentioned my idea of a book club to my eldest son- he just gave me that "look". You know the "look". In a single glance he clearly communicates that he thinks that's a lame idea, that I am the most "un-cool" mom, that I must be a real DORK to even think that THAT could possibly be fun. Then the protests. "None of my friends will come".
Oooooooooohhhh.... one thing he hasn't figured out yet is the power of a mother! I know perfectly well- his friends will come.(Because it is not up to "his friends". It is up to "his friends- MOM's!)

My point is... don't wait for your son to show interest in having a book club. (I doubt the day will come- on it's own. ) This is something that slowly g-r-o-w-s on them. My son was VERY skeptical....down to the few minutes after all the boys arrived. He was giving apologetic glances at his friends like, "Sorry guys- I know this is going to be painful- my Mom's a dork- what can I say?" And then I pulled out the SUPER Soaker and started asking them questions about the book. If they answered wrong- they got a big BLAST. If they answered right- they were spared.. for the moment.
We then played a game. (This is from the Alligator Free Book Outline). They were hot and sweaty and tired and we enjoyed pizza and drinks while I introduced the next book. The boys were so excited when I told them we were going to have book club every month. (I even heard in hushed whispers while the boys were leaving, "Hugh- your mom is so cool!")
Really- after that. No one has ever complained about book club. And even better is- they read the book. Those "incentive" games really help. They know they better read the book or suffer the consequence!
So don't make this complicated. Take a breath. It's not as hard as you might make it seem. (Especially if you are a perfectionist type of mom.) It doesn't have to be cute and color coordinated. Boys really are low maintenance that way.
So get started. Jump off the fence and start a book club!
I would love to hear any comments, questions and suggestions on how you are enjoying my website. Please email me at bookclub4boys@yahoo.com
Laura
(previously posted on Sept 2007)

Supervision needed for the SUPER NAUGHTY

You know, ever since I was a little girl I wanted to be a mom. (Along with being an artist, a writer, a sign language interpreter, a peacemaker, a nurse, a teacher, a ballerina, etc...)

In college I majored in most of these areas at one point or another but I settled down in the major of Early Childhood Education. I wanted to learn how to work with kids, nurture kids, be a kid and still play with kids and get paid. And I thought this would help me be a "good mom". I took child development classes, parenting classes, first aid, etc.. And I promised myself somethings I would NEVER never ever do as a mom.

"I'm not going to be one of those moms whose kid is on a leash." You know... those type of phrases.

Just when I thought, "I've got this parenting down"... I've had three boys. I'm a seasoned mom. I know what to expect. I can handle anything this baby is going to throw at me... let me introduce you to my youngest sporting his doggy/backpack leash.





He is a RASCAL! If I put him down anywhere- there is a 99.9% chance he is going to RUN... and not in the direction of other kids. He likes to explore, wander, go off by himself... down dark corridors, places where other kids would never venture without someone else. It's scary- so we bought a leash. Here we are at a Pinewood derby.





This is so typical of him. We are trying to take a picture of "All the Boys"- But he's off! No time for this.



Here is the picture we have hanging in our home. I am sure he will one day wonder- why he is standing off to the side....

We even bought him an ID tag with our home phone and cell phone numbers on it- in case he ever escapes from us. He's just so unpredictably predictable.



I mean... this is what they taught me in school.....



"The stages of development".. "the capricious nature of children"... I thought, "oh how sweet, what fun."


This is what my son looks like right now as I sit on the computer. He's tired! He's had a busy morning..

Earlier today, I was sitting on the couch- pulling pictures out of a magazine, preparing a lesson for church about places you can pray... ( I want to point out you can pray anywhere and anytime..) and Heath is playing on the floor with some Lego's, some cars, just random items.

Then he says, "uh oh".

That is never good from him. Because he's very independent. If he's spilled something- he'll get a towel and try to clean it up. If he's got a "poopy" he just pulls it out himself and keeps playing (adorable, no?) .. I mean... there isn't much in his small world that makes him think, 'uh oh'.

I look- he's found some rouge BB's and has stuck them in his ears. I can see one in each ear- but it turns out there was 2 in one ear and 1 in the other.

So we are off to the Health Center to get those removed.

We get those out and while I'm on campus I think- "Oh now is the perfect time to mail a package to my nephew Connor who wanted a shark tooth necklace and reserve the Game Room for Hunters Birthday next week...."

I thought Heath might be a little mellow- after having his ears scrapped out- maybe he would be content to run these few errands and just stay in the stroller.

No

I was mistaken.

He was in full- mischief mode.

So much so, that the lady helping me with the Game Room Reservation gave him a Hawaiian name. "Kalohe" . It means rascal. She said she has a grandson that just moved here from the mainland and they call him Kalohe too. (The woman helping me - was the Birthday girl from the luau- small world!)

By the time we walked home- he was all tuckered out- poor little guy!

What a sweet sleeping angel.