Father's Day

Father's Day is this weekend. How do you celebrate?

My dad and step-dad get phone calls. However, if Dad is at the shore house this year he will be eating really great food. I have turkey burgers planned for supper on Saturday and a big breakfast of eggs, fried potatoes, bacon and toast for Sunday morning.

For a few years, the kids and I took Hubby to Philly to go to Wizard World, but after the third time, I told him we needed to find something else to do.

This year, we are going to the beach. Hubby and I are HUGE beach bums and luckily the kids are too.

I'll let you all know how the weekend goes!

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's, step-dad's, and grandfathers out there!!!

Broken nose, again

Both of the kids have managed to break my nose over the last year.

The first time happened when Bubba and I were watching TV in our king-size waterbed. I didn't have my glasses on...and I have very little depth perception without them...and we rolled toward each other.

He caught me on the side of my nose. I bled for a bit and really hurt for a few weeks, but my nose was just slightly off so there was no need to get it fixed.

I was so worried that when Hubby called the doctor about it there would be a domestic violence officer over at the house.

Thankfully, this doctor is not only my doctor, but also Hubby's, Bubba's and Diva's so he knows Hubby isn't violent and the kids can be rowdy.

Then, a few weeks ago, I'm sitting on the grass playing with Diva and WHAM she runs head first into my face. CRUNCH goes my nose!

I bled and had a slight black eye, but that was it. It still hurts but I think that has more to do with the fact that my glasses sit right on what I believe is the break (thanks to the lump I can feel).

I have found that I can't sew a straight line yet, but hopefully in a few days I'll be able to :*) (That's the broken nose smiley face, my sister said I needed a new one until it heals)

Free Range Kids

I remember hearing about Lenore Skenzy on the news one morning. She's the woman who let her 9 year old son find his way home, alone, with no cell phone and no one following him...in Manhattan! (insert big gasp here) She was dubbed “America's Worst Mom”.

You know what I call her? Normal.

Really, “America's Worst Mom”?!?!? I love this woman. I mean, I didn't really know that there was a term for how Hubby and I were raising our kids. We were just parenting the way our parents did.

Bubba is only 4 and Diva is 2, but we still try to give them freedom. We don't follow them around when they are at the park. We encourage them to talk to the other kids and invite them to play. We (gasp) encourage them to talk to people...strangers!

For example, one nice spring day the 3 of us walked up to the store that is only a few blocks away. As we were leaving we almost bumped into an older man (I have a huge double stroller, it drives like a boat). I apologized and he and I started chatting. We wound up walking and talking together for most of our walk home. I encouraged the kids to join in the conversation.

This nice man and I parted ways only a block from our house, but I hope the lesson will stick with my kids. I mean, the more people you know, the less strangers there are, right?

You know what else?

We let the kids drink from the hose today. We also let them play in the dirt and get each other wet with the same hose they were drinking out of. Oh, and we did this in the front yard.

I remember doing that as a kid. While watching Hubby and the kids play in the front yard today, I wasn't worrying about who might be waiting to take my kids...I was committing the evening to memory, hoping the kids were doing the same.

Lenore, I love your blog (found at http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/) and I love your views. If you are ever in my area, I want to shake your hand.