[shanpine]

I was just downloading some older pictures to put on my blog when I came across a bunch from a spend the night party my 5 year old had this summer. I had TEN 5 and 6 year olds spend the night while dh was gone!! He had a blast....and I had way too much coffee!

What has everyone else done to make wonderful memories for their kids (while perhaps making grey hair for oneself?)


(Please include pics.....I would if I could but it's all I can technically do to get 'em on the blog!)

[robandjulie]

We went camping and there was a BEAR that kept wandering through our campsite area. We, of course, had to stay calm and casual about it or we'd terrify the kids but a BEAR! Thankfully we were staying in a little cabin with a big solid locking door in a pretty populated park so the bear wasn't too interested in doing anything that required work and was just looking for easy droppings, but a BEAR!

[SKL]

Last weekend we were supposed to go to a picnic to meet, among others, some volunteers who helped in Guatemala during the pickup trip. We got all excited and prettied up. Well, I didn't bother to check how far it was until it was time to go. It was a 1.5 hour drive, we were already late, it started to rain . . . in short, the trip was aborted soon after we started driving. The girls were clearly disappointed. What else could we do in the rain? On a whim, I drove to the nearest mall and we went to Claire's and bought a whole bag of hair bows and other pretties.

This is so NOT what I normally do, nor what I ever intended to teach my kids! But they loved it - and they will be enjoying the pretties for some time to come.

[sak9645]

A friend of mine lives in a less developed county in Maryland, where bears are not uncommon and there's even a "Bear Watch" column in the newspaper, detailing bear sightings. (It is so poorly written that I say it is written by the bears!)

My friend was sitting at his computer one day, with his back to the window. Suddenly, he saw a very clear reflection on his monitor; there was a bear right outside his window! Now, my friend is smart. He keeps his trash in a locked shed until time to haul it to the dump, doesn't put up bird feeders, and so on. So he doesn't usually get ursine visitors -- just deer looking in his windows.

However, he has one neighbor that puts out bird feeders. And every time, Mr. Bear comes along, knocks over the pole, opens the bird feeder, and has a tasty snack of birdseed. I guess, after one of his snacks, he decided to go roaming around and see what other tasty treats might be in the vicinity.

Or maybe he just knew that my friend's name is Ted, and thought that he might be a Teddy Bear, and thus, a relative.

Sharon

[sak9645]

I took my daughter and one of her girlfriends to Williamsburg for four days. We had a blast, even though we were all in one room at the Great Wolf Lodge

I had great hopes of getting some culture into them, by showing them life in the colonial period. However, they much preferred Busch Gardens and Water Country America. And even after a full day at Water Country America, they came back to the hotel and spent several hours in the indoor water park at the Great Wolf.

It was really funny having a Chinese daughter and a milk-white redheaded "daughter" for the trip. I was so worried about the redhead's skin sunburning that I was after her to put on more sunscreen about every five minutes. Luckily, neither girl got sunburned. The girl caught a cold, but that's about it.

But all in all, there were some distinct advantages to going with two girls. They never got bored, and I felt comfortable about letting them go on rides without me.

Becca's friend had a bit of a chaotic home life, and I wasn't sure how her manners and such would be on the road. But she was absolutely fantastic! She wasn't much good at packing and organizing her gear, but Becca was more than willing to help. And she was ALWAYS courteous and agreeable, even when her cold got pretty awful.

Sharon

[wvamom]

When our oldest daughter was small, my mother in law put a cardboard box with a cutout on her head, pretended it was a tv and she was Sheri Lewis, with Lamb Chop. After that, she had to do it every time we went to my in laws house!

[SKL]

Yesterday I had to go to an evening meeting in a suit. I usually wear longer skirts so I can wear knee-high nylons. My daughters are fascinated by "panty-hose" and couldn't get enough of the knee-highs.

So I stretched the elastic bands of a couple of knee-highs and put them over my kids' heads.

As far as my kids were concerned, that was the funniest thing they had ever seen in their lives. Toddler laughter is so darn delicious, I could have listened to it all night.

[LRA]

I once sat on the floor of the play-room with a football helmet on so Carlos could throw a ball at me and see how many times he could get it to stick in the face mask. It was a very soft ball thank goodness.

[Mommy K]

I always wear the "jewelry" that my children make and pick out. Last mother's day I had on a macaroni necklace, and a barbie bracelet.
Last Christmas day, I had on rudolph earrings and a light up snowman pin from the secret santa fundraiser that my son picked out-(all items $1.00)
I know they look tacky when others see them-but they are worth so much more to me than real jewelry.

[DeeVee]

Originally Posted by LRA

I once sat on the floor of the play-room with a football helmet on so Carlos could throw a ball at me and see how many times he could get it to stick in the face mask. It was a very soft ball thank goodness.

ROTFLMAO! Tish you crack me up!

[Pipercub]

This is not remotely unique, but I'm pretty sure I must have had a temporary loss of my senses when I bought that LOUD harmonica for my daughter. But boy is she happy when she plays it.

[devildogwife]

Originally Posted by LRA

I once sat on the floor of the play-room with a football helmet on so Carlos could throw a ball at me and see how many times he could get it to stick in the face mask. It was a very soft ball thank goodness.

How funny!

It's not necessarily a wonderful memory, but a memory nonetheless. When my son was going through withdrawal last summer, we'd lay him in a little wagon and walk laps for hours around the hospital floor, day after day for weeks. I also did that after Cameron's last cath because he felt so crappy coming off of the anesthesia. It makes him calmer and the movement soothes him, so we walk round and round all day long. I'll get to be doing it again on Wednesday and Thursday next week.

[jimanddarla]

Abe was sick recently and had to take some antibiotics. He wanted nothing to do with it even though it had lots of grape flavoring.

What we wound up doing is wrapping him up in his blanket (with arms down inside) and calling him cute little names like "Chico Burrito" to make him giggle. Then hold his nose and give him the meds. If he swallowed instead of spitting out we would pull the blanket off of him and begin jumping up and down yelling "good boy! Yeah!!" He would get VERY excited and join in the celebration.

Crazy but it works!

[JustBarbara]

On Saturday I took DS to the Day Out With Thomas 'event' - torrential downpours (remnants of hurricane Danny), our friends bailed on us but since we had already paid (rain or shine tix) we went. We were there from 9am - 1pm - rode Thomas once but went on three rides at least four times each - there were no lines, everything was wet, we were drenched but having so much fun. On walking to our car the ground was awash (pun intended) with puddles and I just let DS go wild - I have never seen such a happy, jumpy, laughing little guy in my life. The sheer joy of being wet, still pouring and Mama letting him jump in every single puddle - I mean we were already wet, right? He was so pumped by this day that later in the afternoon when I was talking with my sister he came up three times to say he wanted to talk to her. Oh my ... and then, and then, and then - what a chatterbox. I was so happy to see him so happy.

[JosieWales]

there is a GREAT Sesame Street CD called "For The Kids," w/famous mucisians and bands singing S.S. songs. Owen's FAVORITE (and now it's Ian's favorite, just when Owen FINALLY got over it) was the "La La" song sung by Bare Naked LAdies. We listened to La La over...and over..and over in the car till I felt quite insane. But O was so cute every time he sang it....I couldn't say no.