Learning and Dabbling My Way to a Happy Life
My youngest daughter dances with a pre-professional company comprised of kids from ages 8 through 18. She spends at least 10-15 hours per week taking dance classes, but while in rehearsal she spends close to 20 hours per week dancing. For a 12 year old, this is an intense schedule. Even though it is intense, she has gained so much over the last three years with her participation in this company. The top 5 benefits of ballet for my daughter include the following:
My intention over the next couple of months is to begin writing in my blog again. I have been away for a long time and it’s hard to begin again, but I have missed writing. So here we go!
I’ve been reading a lot of blogs lately to help me get inspired to write more frequently. One of the games bloggers like to play is something called the “Thursday Thirteen” where a blogger will list thirteen things related to a topic. I decided to write about things I am not proud of. I have had people in my life comment on the fact that I seem to have it together and they are impressed by my self-discipline. They are fooled since they see such a small part of my life. There is actually much more bedlam in my life than there is order. Now, I want to set the record straight with these 13 things. Continue reading “Thursday Thirteen: Thirteen Things I Am not Proud Of”
I would like to make this a regular feature of this blog. I am addicted to Feedly and finding great articles to read. My house would be much cleaner if I would quit reading blogs. Here are some of my favorite finds for the week. Continue reading “Sunday Summary of Favorite Links”
For the last several weeks I have been thinking about this blog. I haven’t made it a priority in my life. Heck, the last time I posted was over Mother’s Day weekend. That was eight months ago! Embarrassingly, I set all these goals for 2016 which you can read about here and here. One of those goals included blogging twice a week. Shortly after I wrote that goal, I completely quit writing this blog. I’ve even wondered whether or not I should shut this blog down, but my husband convinced me to keep it out there in the blog world in case I change my mind. He knows me too well! Continue reading “Welcome Back: Why I’ve Been AWOL”
First, let me make it clear that I love my children with all of my heart. I have a wonderful family and I believe that I have been blessed with my two precious daughters. So, I am not writing this to complain. I just found this entire day to be amusing as it did not turn out to be the day I hoped it would be. And, next year, I think I would be happy not celebrating this special day as it would save me some grief. It’s the unfulfilled expectations of this day that I find disappointing. What I wish I could do is spend the day with my own mother hanging out in a hotel room somewhere sharing a bottle of wine and apologizing for all the strange Mother’s Day celebrations we must have had when I was a child. I appreciate my mother so much more since having my own children. I just wish I lived closer to her so I could really honor this woman who sacrificed so much for me.
On Mother’s Day, I enjoyed reading all of these Facebook posts of loving gestures: breakfasts in bed, chores completed, and the kids behaving like angels. My Mother’s Day wasn’t remotely like that, but I wouldn’t trade the amusement of my day for anything. Here is a rundown of my Mother’s Day experience this year. If you are a mom reading this, I am sure many of you can relate to how my day played out.
After some major stage performances for my kids and myself, I am finally back to blogging. I was hoping to get back sooner, but life got it in the way. I will resume posting tomorrow.
It’s been over a month since I posted my 2016 goals. You can see that post here: My Goals for 2016. In order to keep myself motivated and to see where I stand, I thought I would try to give a monthly update on how I am doing with these goals. One thing I realized is that I set way too many goals and I will keep this in mind for next year when I repeat this process.
(Disclaimer: Some of the links are my Amazon affiliate or referral links). Continue reading “My Goal Progress: Or, I Set Way Too Many Goals”
If you have been following along in my reading series (links contained at the bottom of this post), I mentioned introducing your children to rhyme through story books. One of the first steps to learning how to read is learning to enjoy and recognize rhymes. You can read that post about rhyming book suggestions here: Great Rhyming Books. Not only should you read rhyming books to your kids, but there are also some interactive activities you can do to teach them rhyming skills.
According to the chart located at Reading Rockets, the next step for building phonemic awareness skills is for kids to recognize rhymes and be able to play “odd word out” type games. An example of an “odd word out” game would be to ask which of these words do not belong? cat, boy, hat, mat. Continue reading “Rhyming Games and Activities: Playing with Rhymes”
