Oops.

I have kinda forgot I have a blog the last few months.  It isn’t that I don’t LOVE it here, it is just that I have been a little busy doing some super exciting things.

One of the cool things about being online in 2013 is that if I want to run a LIVE talk show from my living room, I can.

Oh, and I do!

The Parenting Lounge airs each Tuesday evening at 9 pm CDT.

It is simultaneously broadcasted on G+ and my YouTube channel as a live show.

Last week was Part II of our Favorite Things…don’t worry, you can jump right into part II because the plot isn’t very complicated.

The Parenting Lounge panelists are some of my favorite people in the world:

• Jamie Harrington from Totally the Bomb
• Jenny Ingram from Jenny on the Spot
• Shauna Callaghan from See My Designs by Shauna {and JCN blog designer}
• Brittany Gibbons from Brittany Herself

Previous episodes have been a ton of fun as well.  It has become my favorite evening of the week because I end up laughing the entire time.

• Parenting Lounge:  Favorite Things Part I
• Parenting Lounge:  Special Episode for Education
• Parenting Lounge:  Episode II
• Parenting Lounge:  Episode I

So, exactly what IS the Parenting Lounge?

I promise you it is not a parenting expert show, but there are many years of parenting experience between all of us.

It is more about moms supporting moms and sharing in the laughter of the ridiculous situations we all end up in on a daily basis.

I hope you will tune in.  This Tuesday evening I will embed the live show here at JCN so you can watch along from the comfort of here.

If you know me, you know I am not a resolutions-type gal.  It just requires so much planning…and follow through.

*sigh*

But, I have been getting older every year.

*gasp*

And every year that happens, things just seem to start falling apart.

The thing that is hard for me to accept is that despite getting older, I have control over how I feel.  It kinda takes the excuses away.

All this self-realization and emotional group hugging has brought me to..

5 Healthy Things that Wouldn’t Kill Me to Improve

1. Make a list- I am not a list maker, but that means I am a wake up in the middle of the night and worrier.  Waking up in the middle of the night decreases sleep.  Decreased sleep makes me grumpy.  I have found that if something is on a list that I am actively crossing items off of, it decreases my worry over it.
2. Drink water in the morning- I notice that I consume 90% of the water I drink after 2 pm.  That coincides with my “no more caffeine after 2 pm or I won’t sleep {see #1 above}” rule.  Coincidence?  I love a few cups of coffee in the morning and a soda at lunch.  Instead of banning the things I love, when I dilute it with a glass of water first thing in the morning it seems like I end up drinking less coffee and soda because I am not as thirsty.
3. Take a walk- My husband and I have been taking a walk nearly every evening for 30 minutes.  It is good exercise, but it is also a really good time just to chat uninterrupted.  Win-win.
4. Eat more fancy salads- I love a fancy salad.  Pile nuts, fruit and a lovely dressing on anything green and I am in heaven.  I eat them in restaurants all the time, but hadn’t been doing it at home.  AND it is easy!  So 2013 is the year of the fancy DIY salad for me.
5. Go to Yoga- I just feel better when I am regularly going to yoga, yet it is something I let slip when I got busy.  The first thing I cut from my schedule.  I need to go back.  I want to go back.  I will call and get a class schedule today.

What is on your 5 Things to improve list?

When I was contacted to write about these things for Quaker® Popped, my boys were so excited to go to the grocery store and try all the flavors that we don’t regularly buy.  I love when they throw themselves fully into my blog research!

We had been buying the cheddar cheese and kettle corn flavors, but grabbed the ranch, caramel corn and cracked black pepper and sea salt.  The response in my house was overwhelmingly positive and all my “research” was devoured within the first 24 hours.

It appears we will be trying all the flavors we can find...in the name of continued “research”.

Quaker® Quakes® are now Quaker® PoppedTM – a new name for the snack made with the delicious goodness of whole grain brown rice and corn and a great snacking solution.

Reply below for your chance to win a sample of all 14 flavors of Quaker Popped Rice Snacks and $1,000 gift card to help you achieve your New Year’s resolutions.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Quaker. I received product in conjunction with this post. The opinions and text are all mine. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.  See Official Sweepstakes Rules

Santa arrived early this year due to the time sensitive nature of the packages that he carried.

Well, the packages weren’t necessarily time sensitive, but the fact that we were about to embark on a 14 hour road trip made Santa’s helpers decide that Christmas was going to be celebrated in mid-December.

Santa brought the boys iPad minis.

{Santa’s helpers had stayed up late on the date of iPad mini release and logged in multiple times to assure that the sleigh held 3 iPad minis because 1 or 2 would never do.}

It also might be noted that Santa’s helpers were tired of their iPads being cooped by 3 boys, so really in the end it was a gift for Santa’s helpers as well.

For the last month, there has been a flurry of app purchases.  The boys have been diligent in the quest for the best apps for kids {yep, we even made a list and checked it twice}.

The one thing I didn’t allow them to download was a YouTube app.

There are just a lot of things on YouTube that I don’t want them to see.  The majority of comments left on YouTube should NEVER be read.  By anyone.

Then I learned about LEGO videos which goes nicely with their LEGO® obsession around here.

There is now an Official LEGO® Channel on YouTube.  It has a target audience of kids ages 6-11 {wow, I have three of those} and over 500 LEGO® videos to chose from.

What I hadn’t realized is that you can set up a LEGO® YouTube playlist that will ONLY recommend additional videos that are on the Official LEGO® Channel.  No more questionable videos.  No more questionable comments.

To set up a playlist from The Official LEGO® Channel:

1. Go to your YouTube account and create a “new playlist”.  I named mine LEGO® Channel so the boys would recognize which channel to watch.
2. Visit Youtube.com/LEGO and watch a video.
3. Click “video options”.
4. Select “Add to Playlist”.
5. Sign in using your YouTube login.
6. Add selected video to your new playlist.*

*To keep non-LEGO® videos from being recommended in this playlist, simply build the list with ONLY Official LEGO® Channel videos.

This whole thing was a complete mom victory.

The boys were impressed that I KNEW about the LEGO® Channel, they were thrilled that I set it up on their iPads, and they LOVE watching the videos.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of LEGO. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules.

Last month I underwent a personal journey…

The Great Snowboarding Experiment of 2012.

I have skied most of my life – at some points more than others based on what is going on.

It started in 6th grade when my dad took my brother and I to a ski hill not far from where we lived in Washington state.  Looking back I have no idea where that could have been since we lived in the Southeast corner.  I recall that day making my list of The Top 10 Worst Days Ever.

Learning to ski sucks.

But magically the next time I went, I was a skier.

Throughout high school I was the first one to sign up for the annual ski trip.  The bus ride there was a ton of fun – 15 straight hours of playing cards with my friends OVERNIGHT.  We would leave the school in Nebraska on Saturday evening and arrive in Colorado the next day just in time to buy a lift ticket.

25 years later thinking about it just makes me want a nap.

And then there was the first winter break I spent as the official girlfriend of Blog-Stedman.  We traveled with his parents to their condo in Colorado and spent the entire time on the slopes.

He really does know the way to a girl’s heart.

That was repeated for years until life got in the way of skiing fun.

10 years ago we started regular trips back to Colorado.  I skied on years I wasn’t pregnant and on the two I was, I sulked.

Each of the boys started hitting the slopes at age 3 and by 4 years old they were coming down the big hill with a little direction from me.

On the slopes this year, I realized that I had to ski at full speed to keep up with all three boys.  No more stopping to rest and wait.  No more bunny hill.  We spent a week skiing all together.  Sending someone who knew the trail ahead, one after another, while I brought up the rear.

It was fabulous.

Which is why I decided that I needed to learn to snowboard.

Let’s mess with fabulous!  Why take the easy skiing route now that everyone know how?

It has always been a given that Reid(9) will be a snowboarder.  His personality is just that.  We required him to learn to ski first, but always promised that when he got older he could switch.

Let’s learn to snowboard!

The Great Snowboarding Experiment of 2012 – Day 1

We decided to take a private lesson.  It was Reid, Andrea {my 19 year old niece} and myself.

We rented the equipment.  We headed to the smallest hill with our teacher.  We were ready.

The first day went great.  Reid seemed to catch on pretty quickly.  Andrea was having fun.  I wasn’t on the ground as much as I expected.

Our teacher was really good at breaking down the coordination required into small little steps that we could practice over and over on the bunny hill.  The sun was shining and the snow was perfect.

The Great Snowboarding Experiment of 2012 was starting out as a great success!

The Great Snowboarding Experiment of 2012 – Day 2

My snowboarding partners decided to stay home and bake cookies with Mimi.  No problem!  I was up for the quest for snowboarding knowledge on my own.

I got to the mountain, rented equipment and signed up for group lessons.

The second day went great.  There was only one other woman in my group lesson and my teacher was excellent.  He was skilled at watching what we were doing and showing us how to change the weight shift pattern.  We spent most of the day on the bunny hill, but several runs down a larger hill which was a little daunting.

Whenever I would get nervous, he would snowboard opposite me, grab my hands and guide me through the challenging situation.

Whew.  The sun was shining and the snow was perfect.  The Great Snowboarding Experiment of 2012 was continuing as a great success!

The Great Snowboarding Experiment of 2012 – Day 3

My snowboarding partners decided to stay home and bake cookies with Mimi.  No problem!  I was up for the quest for snowboarding knowledge on my own.

I got to the mountain, rented equipment and signed up for group lessons.

There was only one other woman in my group less and my teacher was a little less than excellent.  He was more snowboarder than teacher {but very nice}.  We spent the entire day on the bunny hill.

Again.

I was easily linking my turns on a nearly flat surface.

At the end of the day lesson, he suggested we RIDE THE LIFT to the bottom of the hill.

Not me.

Nope!  I have spent the last 3 days of my life learning to snowboard.  I BETTER be able to get to the bottom of the hill actually snowboarding.

I told them I would meet them at the bottom of the hill.

The teacher looked a little concerned, but nodded.

I started off.  The top was relatively flat and in one part I even had to take my back binding off and scoot myself along.  Finally I got to a hill-ish area where I could snowboard.  I popped my back foot back into the binding and continued on my way.

It was going fine.  I stopped occasionally to let groups of people pass. I was in no hurry.

Then came a steeper part.  I took a deep breath and went forward despite an intense desire for my skis.  It was steeper, but still a very easy hill.  A very easy hill that I would have skied without a thought.

The first two turns went well.

I was feeling good.

And then out of nowhere, I caught an edge and was thrown onto my tailbone.  I laid on the hill for a few minutes assessing the damage.  My tailbone hurt badly, but it was my pride that was crying.

I was mad.

How could 3 days of lessons on a snowboard not even get me to the bottom of a simple hill?

I got back up and through tears continued down the hill.  I made it down to the top of the last challenging part.

I stood at the top just staring down.

My tailbone hurt.

My vision obscured.

My snowboarding spirit broken.

I sat down.  Removed the board from feet.  Walked to the bottom of the hill.

My teacher sat at the bottom and asked, “Are you done for the day?”

I am done for life.

And so The Great Snowboarding Experiment of 2012 ended not with dreams of finding a discounted snowboard next summer, but…

…with confidence in the fact that I am truly a skier.

Welcome to the Sixth Annual Posting of the Christmas Quilt Picture Story.

This quilt was given to me at my first baby shower. Each year my children are subjected to posing with it for holiday photographs.

In 2007, I again dragged the kids down to a large department store portrait studio.  It was the same studio chain that had taken each previous Christmas quilt picture.  Thankfully, this year I had my mom with me to help contain the boy chaos that was about to ensue.

We walked into the studio and it was deserted.   I sighed in relief.

The one photographer on duty did not seem pleased that we had made it to our appointment.  Uh-oh.

I explained to her that I brought a quilt to use for background. I went on to explain how previous photographers had attached it to the portrait studio equipment for the last 6 years. I told her that I would be purchasing ONE portrait 5 x 7 to match the 6 I have at home from previous years.

The photographer took the quilt into the studio and started what turned out to be a 15 minute process of quilt arrangement. She made it clear through eye contact avoidance and heavy sighing that she was not going to be hanging it the way I suggested.

Finally, she called that she was ready.

She arranged the older boys (ages 4 & 6) kneeling behind a chair where the baby (almost 2) was to sit.

The baby freaked and we spent 5 minutes bribing, cajoling and tricking the him into the chair. It finally worked.

We are picture ready!

1, 2, 3…POP! I pop the binky out of the baby’s mouth for the picture…
AND
*silence*
Nothing.
No picture.
No series of flashes.
Nothing captured on film.

I turned to the photographer and said, “I am going to pull the binky out so you can get a picture.”
Instead of listening to me, she starts fussing at the older boys for moving (they have been little statues for the last 8 minutes in a kneeling position).

Recap:  24 minutes/0 pictures

1, 2, 3…POP! I pop the binky out of the baby’s mouth for the picture…
AND
*silence*
I yell, “OK, we are ready!”
ONE FLASH:

A flurry of post-picture movement ensues.
The photographer yells to get everyone settled down.

1, 2, 3…POP!
*pause*
*crickets*
*silence*
and finally as if in slow motion…
ONE FLASH:

By this point the older boys are legitimately complaining and needing to move.

I ask if we can switch poses.

No.

NO?

No. This is the ONLY way she can get the portrait 5 x 7 I requested.

That is weird. I guess all portrait 5×7 pictures in the entire universe of 3 boys have two on their knees and a baby in a small, white wicker chair in front of them.

I calmly suggest that they all sit.

That won’t work!

At this point she is saved by a phone call.

While she is out of the room answering the phone I arrange the boys on several red blocks I find in the room.

She returns.

I announce, “we are ready!”

1, 2, 3…POP!
*silence*
*more silence*
*continued silence*
*yep, more silence*
ONE FLASH:

After that flash, the boys scatter in 3 different directions.

I say, “OK, we are finished”.

She says, “I have to get individual pictures”.

“I am not going to buy individual pictures”.

She sets up for individual pictures.

Boy #1: Sitting by himself. Almost in tears.

She is yelling, “Smile! I can’t take the picture until you smile!”

It was ugly.

So ugly that grandma stepped in and said, “here lets take a picture on grandma’s lap” so she got positioned.

ONE FLASH:

Whew. One down.

Boy #2: Sitting on grandma’s lap. Traumatized by recent photographic events. Fidgeting. Grandma gently rocks to calm him.

She yells, “Stop moving! I can’t take the picture if you move like that!”

The rocking continues because boy #2 is upset.

“Stop moving!”

“Take the picture!” I scream.

ONE FLASH:

That is enough!

I say, “we are done”.

Grandma gathers the boys and heads to the mall play area.

The photographer starts to chase them into the department store.

The photographer starts to chase them into the department store!

I say, “what are you doing?”

She says, “MA’AM, I CAN’T EVEN SHOW YOU THESE PICTURES UNTIL I HAVE 6″.

We have been there for 37 minutes and she only has 5 shots.

“TAKE MY PICTURE NOW!”

And then she poses me.
Sideways to the camera, looking over my shoulder and with both thumbs in the back pocket of my mommy jean capris.

ONE FLASH:

And that is how I ended up with a picture of myself with a pleasant “mommy about to make the 6 o’clock news with violent attack on photographer at local department store” expression on my face.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Thanks so much for reading June Cleaver Nirvana.

I love writing a mom blog.  Here are some of my very favorite mom blogs posts:

Mom blogs about how size matters.

Mom blogs about buying jeans.

Mom blogs about mommy blogging.

First grade has a daily journaling assignment.

Yes, first grade.

I have nothing against daily writing.  In fact, I wish I wrote that often, BUT my first grader barely reads and prefers NOT to write.

So, I have him draw a picture and then dictate to me 3-4 sentences about the picture and we call that journaling.  I also have given him free reign over the journaling topic.

There isn’t anything traditional about Rhett’s journal.

You won’t learn what he did, ate or thought that day.  What you will learn about is the latest adventures of two fictional spherical characters {one blue and one red} that go by the names of Bully and El Toro.

It appears that Bully is good and El Toro is filled with evil.

Bully can handle himself in a difficult situation, but El Toro is doomed for failure.

Rhett is VERY specific in his dictation.  He speaks slowly so that I can print his words exactly.  He pauses when we are at the end of a sentence.  Occasionally he will look over my shoulder to make sure I am writing the right thing.

The other day we were mid-story.  Rhett was trying to increase my writing speed because we were getting to the good part…

Write:  El Toro did it again.

I wrote El Toro did it again.

Write: and

I paused waiting for the next word.

Write:  AND!

What are you going to say next?  I am just waiting for your next sentence.

WRITE:  AND!!

I am waiting for your next sentence because you won’t need the word “and”.  We can’t START a sentence with “and” and if we add it to the last sentence, it will make the sentence too long.

I said to write the word “and”.

Trust me.  When we are done, I will read it back and you will see that you don’t need the word “and”.

Mom.  I said to write the word “and”!

OK, it is YOUR journal.

Yes, write “and”.

I relented and erased the period at the end of the sentence and wrote the word “and”.

Write:  When El Toro did it again, Bully walked away.

I wrote the additional words on the journal entry.

Now read it back to me.

El Toro did it again and when El Toro did it again, Bully walked away.

Mom, erase the “and”.

A few weeks ago I was invited by my dear friends at Nintendo to come out to a Wii U party held in San Francisco.

What is a Wii U?

I have been a Nintendo Ambassador for several years now and have the full support of my three boys {and husband} to visit the land o’ Nintendo anytime the opportunity arises and I NEEDED to find out What is a Wii U?

I was excited to go for several reasons:

• I hadn’t a CLUE what a Wii U was or looked like.
• I haven’t been to San Francisco in forever.
• I was likely going to be seeing other bloggers.

So, YES!

The trip was really fun.  I ran into Jill from Baby Rabies in the airport on the plane to quickly exchange how-can-the-security-lines-at-DFW-take-over-an-hour stories {thankfully we both arrived at the airport with over an hour to spare}.  Once we arrived in SF, Jill and I caught up with Jennie from She Likes Purple to head to our hotel through the kajillion bikes that were part of the statement associated with the 20th Anniversary of Critical Mass.

Organizers say Critical Mass is not only a time to enjoy urban spaces via bicycle, but also to “challenge the use of city streets and the domination of cars and oil in our transportation system.”  - Mercury News Sept. 28, 2012

I had a few hours to relax.  The streets of the city were very crowded due to traffic plus cyclists.  My view was crazy amazing from the room.  I did something that I haven’t done in a very long time.  I laid down on my bed and rented a mindless movie.

That evening we went to First Crush for dinner.  I got to hug one of my very favorite people in the whole world {and sit across from her at the meal}, Rachel from A Southern Fairytale.

Yay!

Oh, and more bloggers to meet and finally greet in person:  Heather from Poliogue, Katie from Katie Sweeney, Jenny Grace, Kimberly from Tippy Toes and Tantrums {who I previously battled unsuccessfully}, Leah from A Girl and A Boy, Christie from Sweet on Scents, and Becca.

The next day I had a quiet breakfast overlooking the city.  Did I mention that streetcars just passed by regularly?

We loaded up the limo and headed to Fort Mason Center Festival Pavilion.

*deep sigh*

I have been having difficulty with allergies and congestion for nearly a trillion days and ONE minute in the sea air completely cleared my head.  I felt human again…if only for a few hours.

The Wii U Party was awesome.  There were stations around the event floor and in small rooms adjacent to the party where we could try out a variety of new games on the system.

I am now going to attempt to explain:  What is the Wii U.  Please remember that I am not a technical person, do not know the language of all things video gaming, and was NOT provided this information by Nintendo {who has no responsibility for my lack of knowledge}…

What is the Wii U?

The Wii U is a new gaming system that looks similar to the old Wii, but it comes with one major difference – a small handheld screen.  How the handheld screen interacts with the system is game dependent.  On some games it is an extension of the menu and on other games it acts as an additional controller.  It is where it acts as an additional controller that things get really interesting.

Because it is a screen, it has the ability to mirror what is on the big screen or display something complimentary to the game.  On one game I played, the person with the handheld screen was playing AGAINST the four players with traditional Wii controllers.  They were able to use the screen to hide and react to those of us hunting them down.

They won.

The new Wii U also has a Wii U Fit version which also integrates the handheld screen into sporting, fitness and balance activities.

It is all pretty cool.

The Wii U will be released on November 18, 2012.  There will be 23 games coming out on that day as well:  Assassin’s Creed III, Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Darksiders II, Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, ESPN Sports Connection, FIFA Soccer 13, Game Party Champions, Just Dance 4, New Super Mario Bros. U, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, Nintendo Land, Rabbids Land, Scribblenauts Unlimited, Sing Party, Skylanders: Giants, Sonic & All-Starts Racing Transformed, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Transformers Prime, Warrior’s Orochi 3 Hyper, Wipeout 3, Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2013, and ZombiU.

There are another 29 Wii U games that will be arriving before spring 2013:  007 Legends, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Ben 10 Omniverse, Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2013, Chasing Aurora, Cloudberry Kingdom, Family Party: 30 Great Games: Obstacle Arcade, Funky Barn, Game & Wario, Jeopardy!, Lego City Undercover, Little Inferno, Madden NFL 13, Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth, Mass Effect 3, Mighty Switch Force HD, Nano Assault Neo, NBA 2K13, Pikmin 3, Rapala Pro Bass Fishing, Rayman Legends, Rise of the Guardians: The Video Game, Runner 2: future Legend of Rhythm Alien, Tank! Tank! Tank!, The Wonderful 101, Toki Tori 2, Trine 2: Director’s Cut, Wheel of Fortune, and Wii Fit U.

My boys are looking forward to the Lego City game and I am sure that they will enjoy Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros. which I played at the Wii U Party.

Thanks so much! I can’t wait to have a Wii U at home…

Upstairs or outside.

It isn’t just a frequent phrase in my house.  It is a frequent request on my part.  Ok, it really is a command.

Three boys together seem incapable if keeping to themselves in a quiet and orderly manner.

The best non-straight jacket solution is to keep the chaos upstairs or outside leaving downstairs to the civilized.

The phrase is never met with enthusiasm.  It is usually accompanied with a hint of the results of non-compliance.

I prefer outside.

They usually choose upstairs.

And then my home design choices come into play.  When we built the house 8 years ago, it was my intention that we create a home that was indestructible.  Meaning I wouldn’t always be worried about someone breaking something.  We chose solid surfaces for floors, counter tops and bars.  There are no glass vases or fancy accessories.  It is a house built for 3 boys who don laser tag gear, turn off the lights and battle their parents in a pre-bedtime war.  No one wants to stop mid-game to clean up shattered glass.

The downside of kid-proof interior design is that it is not sound proof.  Or even sound deadening.

It is sound amplifying.

{sigh}

So upstairs they go…clunk, clunk, clunk.

Across the upstairs floor…bump, clunk, bonk, shuffle, shuffle, clunk.

This is followed by 2.3 minutes of relative quiet while organization of the next group activity ensues.

Then there is a ceiling buffalo stampede.

Except buffaloes don’t accompany their hoofsteps with screams of heated debate and flying toy missiles.

Thump, thump, thump I tread up the stairs and take away their right of choice with one word:

Outside.

There are times in the moments of motherhood that cluelessness prevails.

I admit {to myself} that I don’t know what I am doing.

I pick a plan of action pretending to the outside world that the plan was intentional.

The truth is that I am playing the odds.  These moments of clueless decisions are plentiful and at some point I will hit the parenting plan lottery.  The parenting plan lottery isn’t about a big payoff.  There are no illusions that these fleeting {and rare} brilliant sparks of parenting will be noticed by my children.  It is unlikely that they will ever utter the words, “my mom is SO smart”.

The payoff is more of an internal patting on the back.

I did good.

I won’t lie.  It has been a rough couple of weeks.  Getting into a schedule that makes sense for three boys in three different grades with three different agendas, has been a challenge.  It isn’t just the classes that they are getting used to, but figuring out what the teacher wants and how to negotiate within the social structure of their new and returning classmates.

They aren’t verbal about any of this.  Most of the time I don’t know anything about what is going on at school {even though they study at home two days a week on our home school days}, until there are pieces to be picked up.

On top of all of this, Ryan(11) started 6th grade.

Oh, 6th grade…how I hated you.

I have kept my 6th grade opinions to myself and tried to not let it filter his experience.  I just remember 365 consecutive days of feeling ridiculously awkward.

He IS a 6th grader.  It is all about friends.  HIS friends.  The friends that hang the moon.  The friends that he ALWAYS needs to be around or the world is coming to an end.

The friends that don’t need to even KNOW he has a mom.  Let alone a mommy.

He has been pushing the boundaries of attitude exhibition.

What will we as a family tolerate from him. 

It is his 6th grade job to figure out exactly how far he can push all of us away without breaking.  He is doing it well.

I am not especially fond of this stage of development.  I like happiness.  I like to get along.

A few days ago, I picked him up from school at the curb of the middle school.  He came reluctantly walking towing his backpack and waving to his friends.

He stopped and talked to several people on the way over.

It was like watching life in slow motion.

Slow, grumpy motion.

When he finally got to the car he said something grumpily negative and half-heartedly dumped his bag into the back of the car and turned to me with a sour expression.

And RIGHT there I hit the parenting moment lottery.  I gave him a BIG mommy hug on the curb of the middle school in front of his peer audience.

He was shocked.

He ran around to the other side of the car horrified.

He sat in the front seat and looked at me, “WHY did you DO that?”

You were acting like you needed a hug.

It is probably not the best blogging practice, but I have neglected my blog to the point where it is necessary to mention that I AM still alive.

I am, I promise….see?

Part of the reason why I haven’t been HERE is that I am getting out of the house in REAL LIFE.

Yep, I even bought a new outfit.

The new outfit goes with my super cute cowboy boots.

It had been so long since I had been shopping that my credit card company put my card on hold…thinking that any clothing purchase MUST be fraudulent.

Now if it would only stop raining, I could straighten my hair.

ANYWAY, if you happen to be out of the house yourself, here is where I will be:

• Bloggy Bootcamp in Dallas {Sat} – I am speaking on local blogging and anything else you want to chat about.
• Social Media Club of Dallas {Thursday, Sept. 20} – I will be on the panel, Bloggers – Truth, Lies and How to Work with Them.
• I Heart Faces Photography Conference {Oct. 6} – I will be on a social media for photographers panel.

And if leaving the house is just more than you can handle and you still aren’t sure that I really do exist, then check out my weekly G+ Hangout each Wednesday morning at 10:30 CST on my G+ page:  Holly Homer

At some point after telling other people to blog, it probably would be best to come back here and do a little myself.