Tea (With Homey)
Jenny was having fun actually hanging out with us last night. Especially after her bedtime when she was feeling all giggly. I took this picture – or really she took this picture with my phone – when she was hanging out in our bed beside me:
Doesn’t she look happy? She followed that up with a note she brought into our room while I was trying to sleep. I read it with my flashlight app on my phone:
She was so proud of her efforts with her cursive handwriting. And all I could think about was her n’s that clearly look like m’s so she repeatedly referred to “tea (with homey)” instead of honey. I laughed and tried to go to sleep. She came back a few minutes later to let me know that she was expecting a response (and I was just thinking about blogging that note). So I wrote one:
She didn’t even notice that I called her homey. And she wrote back one last time for the night:
I’m pretty sure that last word is promise. So I guess she’ll be having some tea tonight. If she remembers. One of the most amusing things about this whole exchange is that she’s never even liked tea in the past.
Happy Friday!
The Elusive Jenny #iPPP
I mentioned in my Project 365 post this week that Jenny’s a hard girl to track down these days. Actually, that’s not true. She’s here, in the house, reading. But ever since she turned 11 and started middle school, she’s decided she no longer likes being photographed. This girl, who used to always be willing to pose for the camera:
Last night I decided I was going to sneak a picture of her without her noticing. I pulled out my phone, all casual like, figuring she wouldn’t even notice. This is what happened.
A very attractive Reagan photobomb. And I actually think I would have caught Jenny that time. But she was on to me.
Reagan blocked her again in what appears to be a very uncomfortable position, to me.
There’s a Jenny blur behind Reagan.
My last attempt of last night. Jenny pulled out a blanket to block the camera – and ended up covering Reagan’s head up with it.
This afternoon I was sitting at the kitchen table with Jenny after school and decided to try sneaking another picture. She was diligently working on her homework.
Victory. Sort of. She didn’t notice me taking the picture because my phone was practically under the table. But it wasn’t a good picture either. I decided to get greedy and try again when she got up to put her jacket on.
And she actively tried to block the camera. Oh well. It was a good effort. Sort of. I’ll catch her on film again one day.
Linking up with Greta and Sarah for #iPPP:
New Year, New Habits: Mother Daughter Journals
I posted in one of my pre-Christmas gift ideas posts about my plan to get Mother Daughter journals for my girls for Christmas. They were honestly one of the gifts I was most excited about this year once I settled on ordering from Minted. Here’s what we ended up with:
Aren’t they cute? They’re similar, but a little different. And I loved being able to customize them for my girls so easily. I also ordered sketch journals for each of the girls with unlined pages. I had so many fun ideas with all the choices available on Minted!
Jenny’s is a Mother/Daughter journal since she’s all grown up (in her opinion).
And Reagan’s is Mommy/Daughter.
On both I chose to put the date started in the lower right-hand corner in case we manage to save these for the future (it would be a miracle).
I wrote an initial note to each of them before I wrapped the journals and gave them to the girls for Christmas explaining that we could write anything we like to each other in these journals – even things that might be hard to talk about out loud.
Or, you know, they can write about the Percy Jackson books, which they’re also willing to discuss out loud.
I’m hoping this is another new habit we stick with! So far, we haven’t lost them, and we have written back and forth twice. Pretty good for a week into the new year!
If you’d like to look at other journals available from Minted, check them out here. Disclosure: this is an affiliate link, but these are products I ordered myself and am using and love!
School Pictures #iPPP
It’s school picture time of year! I got both girls’ pictures back last week. And I realized I hadn’t updated the framed pictures in my office in at least 2 years, so I did.
Aren’t they cute? Jenny’s first middle school picture, looking more grown up. Reagan’s third grade picture. She still has a little trouble figuring out how to smile naturally, but it’s very her and very cute.
And my favorite part of replacing pictures is looking at the old pictures that are still in the frame – such fun memories!
Do you leave old pictures in frames or do you take them out when you replace them?
A Little Help with Growing Up (Papersalt Books Review)
About a month ago, I received a couple items from Papersalt to use and review. While Jenny’s only 11, she’s at that age where she’s maturing and aging, so Being a Teenage Girl seemed perfect to me. I looked through the book myself first. Sometimes it’s hard for me to find the right words to tell her my thoughts on some of what she’s experiencing as she grows up.
I found that this book does a great job of expressing things the way I wish I could – some of the lessons are about things you may not even think of. Obviously I don’t think a book can replace actually talking to her, but I like that I agree with everything expressed in the book and that it can inspire conversations that we might not have had otherwise.
A couple of my favorite pages:
This one first in perfectly with the Rachel’s Challenge event we went to recently and our family discussions about how to stop bullying.
I love this. And I still read whenever I can. Jenny does too – here’s how I caught her this weekend.
Something else I love about this book is its format and size and the fact that it’s supposed to be a “living book.” The Papersalt website says that means it is for “teenage girls to reference, write in, and refer back to often.” When I pulled the book out to write this review, I found that Jenny had done just that on a few pages, and it reinforced the value of the book for me.
Though I’m not sure how I should feel about her underlining of “You may not like your parents all of the time.”
We also received Being a Girl for Reagan, and she’s enjoying it, but I wanted to focus on how perfect Being a Teenage Girl is for Jenny right now in this review!
One other Papersalt item I’m excited about trying is the book of Kid Coupons. The girls are not doing a great job with their chores lately (read: terrible), and we’ve been trying to think of new ways to motivate them. So I’m thinking about giving these coupons as incentives. Especially this one because it would be fun for me, too!
Take a minute to head over to the Papersalt website and check out all of their products. You may find a perfect gift – because can you believe Christmas is only two months away??
*Disclosure: I was provided with these books for review purposes. All opinions are my own.
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