11 Ways Your Child Loses When You Rush Him Through Life

This is a great list! See: 11 Ways Your Child Loses When You Rush Him Through Life  

 I have to constantly tell myself to slow down; especially after having so many kids I have realized that there was a time that I was more patient, and a time where I was less patient. And then a time I was more again... and then less again. It goes in cycles. I have to remind myself to not rush everyone. Their life is new and not passing them by. There are one thousand little ways I could/have/do rush my children.

 Having so many little people demanding so much from me and so many mouths to feed can be overwhelming. I actually use emotional recall at least once a week to remember the days when I had an abundance of patience and time to enjoy the little things. Then I take a step back and try to implement those things into our life. When Charlotte (now 17) was two we used to have picnics almost every day in a school bus pop up Play-Hut. If it was bad weather then we'd eat lunch, mostly together, inside.

 I would make a beautifully laid out lunch for us and take blankets and the bus outside and we'd look at the sky, sing songs, laugh, play... and simply just be. I taught her all kinds of things. Too be kind, to love, to not go into the road, anything I could think of to fill her growing brain with goodness. We did flashcards. We made pictures and put paint on our feet and walked on paper. Back then there were a million hours in the day.

 During holiday time we'd paint the front windows of the house with the holiday theme. On hot days we'd play in the sprinkler. We'd use sidewalk chalk all the time, we had pet mice, we danced like fairies under a 30 year old willow tree as the thin branches full of wispy leaves brushed our faces. Multiple children are amazing... but that one where you do everything for the first time is a moment frozen in time.

 I try to recall those times when I find myself rushing Everett from the hen house or through the grocery store. I try to remember to slow down when fetching meat from the basement freezer so a preschooler can ask me four questions about whatever they see before we get back upstairs. I have to work on sighing at the sight of spilled milk because it's the 7th kid and one billionth time it's happened... but to them it seems like only the 5th time they'd ever spilled anything (lol). If find myself frustrated over chores (theirs and mine) taking too long (they probably aren't taking too long I'm probably impatient) I then try to ask myself 'what does it matter?' 

 See, I'm a part of a rush along through life society and I have to make a conscious effort to slow down. I find myself rushing children who should get to enjoy the cycles of the day and childhood. Plus, what will *I* miss out if I rush them... I miss out on them. I only have them a short time.

 So the above link is a great list and a reminder of why and how slowing down helps grow really great and happy kids. I want to cut and paste the text of it below for my future use as well:

From: http://www.ahaparenting.com/_blog/Parenting_Blog/post/11_Ways_Your_Child_Loses_When_You_Rush_Him/

Rushing our children through life: 1. Influences the developing brain. Your child's brain is being built every day, and the shape it takes depends on his daily experience. Some neurologists hypothesize that reinforcing neural pathways in a daily context of stressful hyper-stimulation creates a brain with a life-long tendency to anxiety.
2. Increases the levels of stress hormones in kids' bodies, which contributes to crankiness, difficulty falling asleep, weight gain, and immune suppression.
3. Makes them feel pushed and controlled, which triggers power struggles. Studies show this feeling--in adults who work at jobs where they're at someone else's beck and call--sends stress hormones sky-rocketing.
4. Overstimulates them so they can't process everything coming at them, which undermines learning.
5. Habituates them to busyness, so they become easily bored, craving electronic stimulation.
6. Keeps them from discovering and pursuing their own passions, which is necessarily a slow, organic process of experimentation and dabbling.
7. Creates a chronic feeling of incompleteness, which steals the joy of mastery.
8. Keeps children from attending to their emotions throughout the day, so in the evening they have a full backpack of feelings pressing for escape. That triggers meltdowns and can eventually lead to addictions like food, media consumption and shopping, which distract us from our emotional baggage.
9. Constantly interrupts their developmental work of exploring the world, so they lose their curiosity.
10. Forces them out of the groundedness of the present moment, into the breathlessness of scrambling to keep up, which undermines their authenticity and connection to deeper meaning.
11. Overrides their natural inclination to "do it myself," sabotaging the development of competence.
Not to mention, rushing makes us less patient and less nurturing with our children, so it's impossible to parent well.  A mom wrote me the other day that she realized her son wasn't dressing himself partly because she was always in such a hurry that she just dressed him, rather than helping him learn how to do it himself. Another mom wrote that after she got into a fight with her daughter, she realized she had been “too distracted, too busy, to slow down and just be kind.”
This week, notice how often you rush yourself and your child.  Notice the price you both pay. 

• What can you change to slow life down?
• How can you build more time into transitions so you aren't always rushing?
• What small daily rituals can your family use so that everyone has a chance to connect to deeper meaning, rather than just hustling through each day? Think deep breaths, gratitude practices, moments of quiet cuddling.

And maybe even stopping to watch the sunset.

Bowling Kids, I Spelled my Kids Name Wrong *LOL*, Niceness at the Grocery Store (and quick tangent about how this week I'm full of awesome...) Also... our baby is such a sweetie!

I took the crew bowling. The older kids had fun at the homeschool bowling morning we are trying out near us. The younger kids had fun when they weren't complaining about it not being their turn (Sebastian and Everett are still pretty young, impatient and WILD little boys). On an out-with-kids-adventure scale of 1-5 (one being mild and five being bat-shit crazy) it was probably a 2.

 At first the kids couldn't get ANY dang momentum from rolling their ball (and me helping them one handed because I'm holding Beatrice was not helping much). The guy at the alley saw us and gave us a ramp thingy for the kids to push their ball down. It was amazing and really saved us!

 Everett got a bit squirrely towards the end, but we made it through all 10 frames. And Everett won without any help from me!

After playing for a while I noticed I spelled Everett "Everette" on the bowling computer which was funny. I got to spend a good 10 minutes pondering if his name had an E at the end or not (because I'm losing my mind lol), and then pondered why we chose no E. Since both are correct spellings how did we chose which one to use? I don't remember that conversation. ~~~Wait now I kinda do.

After bowling we went grocery shopping which was a 3 on the 1-5 adventure scale. At the store we got a lot of attention and an older lady commented that the kids were so beautiful and asked a bit about them, then I told her I had 4 more kids not with me. She said, "Oh good for you! God Bless your heart." She was adorable. Then the cashiers helped me load my groceries on to the conveyor belt. I was like a celebrity in Aldi's today. Go me! Everywhere I went people cooed over our baby today! And I can't blame them, cause she's like the best thing ever. 

 I feel like the super-est mom and wife this week. The flow is going well, the homeschool stuff is rockin', we are getting out of the house a bunch, laundry is churning along (I'm supposed to be folding right now but I'm being totally bad and writing instead). Husband's clothes are mostly caught up. I made lunch for my dear husband everyday except one and tomorrow lunch is already done! I've been to the store (I'd almost rather starve than go shopping). I've been creatively cooking all week. Lentil soup one day and navy bean soup with seasoned pork the other--my own made up recipes even! I'm working hard to balance it all and keep on schedule...

 I LOVE when I can cook meals all week without effort. I love when ideas come naturally and I make time to get dinner done early in the day instead of stressing out over it at dusk, and I LOVEEEE when one meal can lead into the next. Slow cooked pork one night ...then use juices and leftover tender pork pieces for navy bean soup for lunch or dinner-side the next day. I even made chicken fried steak this week with mashed taters and gravy. Sometimes I'm so darn sick of figuring out what's for dinner and I'm like: 'here have some cereal or PB&J, leave me alone now'. Other times I'm like a kitchen ninja! 

And don't get me wrong I still wonder how I'm going to get a bazillion other pertinent things done this week and next, and next...but for now *shrug* I'm hanging tough.

Uncle Neal Died

My stomach was gnawing away at me, it told me to expect the worst. So I prepared myself. After as much medical intervention and treatment that was humanly possible my Uncle Neal died.

I never knew how awful waiting at the hospital was until we did it with Penelope last year. It's surreal. It's: uncomfortable, hard, cold, bright... and sanitized still feels dirty. Last week I escaped the hours and hours of pacing, sitting, and upright-sleeping because Uncle Neal had enough family there and I had to take care of the kids. The plan was that I/we would visit when he had healed for a few days and was up for a visit. I had cleared our schedule over the next two weeks and imagined Ricky and I taking 8 kids to visit the hospital in shifts. His recovery would be long and he'd be in the hospital for a minimum of 8 days. But he never got better. Nothing worked out like we imagined or planned as everything that could go wrong did. I carried my cell phone around with me for 3 days and each time it rang it was worse news. Mini heart attack, pneumonia, intubation, an unexpected second surgery. Every phone call I prepared the kids for what seemed like the the inevitable; he very well may die. On the morning of September 7th he died. We told the kids and we were all pretty numb. Some of us cried, some did not. Some have tears yet to come. I was numb until nightfall and then I cried. I sobbed harder when I remembered the last thing he ever said to me. Because he loved us so much and he loved the kids so much, his last words to me were "absolutely beautiful" and it was about photos of my family and new baby on facebook.

I don't know why it makes me cry so hard. They are gorgeous last words and a treasured memory I can keep... but it just makes me sob. Why do we have to love people so much, so that it then hurts so bad when they leave?

We are busy preparing for the memorial. I always notice how hard it is to deal with anything else besides our normal routine. It can be fun stuff or bad stuff, doesn't matter, but it's hard doing anything else but taking care of house or kids. Everyday is FULL of chores, cooking, cleaning, laundry, caring for kids, changing diapers, school, breaking up fights or fits, feeding animals, Etc, Etc, Etc... it's not that I'm complaining but it makes me realize how different and time consuming life is with so many kids. It's SO time consuming. I am constantly telling myself to take one-step-at-a-time because it's overwhelming. Like right now, I do not have time to finish this blog post... 

I'm at that place where it feels like the world is spinning all around me and I'm yelling for it to stop because *I* lost someone. It hurts and I want everything to go away. I don't want to go out and buy chicken feed. I don't want to deal with bills and a dental billing/insurance mistake that I made that we now owe a ton of money for. I don't want to deal with toddler meltdowns. I don't want to look at the calendar. I don't want to deal with a 9 year old who is angry and defiant and hiding every feeling she possibly could about her great uncle's death. I do not want to deal with the fact that we have fleas and now obvious flea resistant medications for the animals (dogs now treated with meds that are working, cats still not though). I have too much to do, too much to think about and school is supposed to have started for us. We're supposed to be having piano lessons and bowling and enjoying our new Science Center membership. I'm supposed to be planning Penelope's birthday party. And this week were were supposed to be bringing cheer and hand drawn artwork from kids to Uncle Neal's hospital bedside. So in other words: everyone and everything should stop everything and clear the floor for me so I can be woefully sad and profoundly grouchy. During the day I'm numb but okay as we all are going through the motions of life and prep for Wednesday, by each nightfall I want to use the F word and I get so mad at nearly everything. Then I cry.

Layla and I have been at each others throats since Uncle Neal died and I now realize it's because she's hurting too. She's not crying, she's angry and she's being defiant and mean and hiding her pain. :(  To make things more painful she didn't get to go on her annual float trip with Uncle Neal this year because he was too sick. She also missed the last trip out to see him because she was in school. Horrible. She seems a little more at peace today. It's all going to hit us harder when we get to the family resort tomorrow.

 Poor, poor sweet Charlotte has to try not to cry because her wisdom teeth are still healing and she has a ear ache because of it. We are afraid her ears will clog up from crying.


 On the morning I told Penelope that Uncle Neal died I didn't know what to expect. She blinked her little blue eyes and I thought she was going to cry -and she almost did. She stared blankly at me and optimistically and ever so sweetly said said, "Well, you have to get to Heaven somehow. Right mom?"

Finding Peace

I knew a Lincoln Log was down the bathroom drain, it's been there for weeks!
(the drain stopper broke and was discarded a year ago, sure we need to buy another one but it's obviously been put on the 2014 to do list lol)
I knew a small toothbrush got dropped down there too. The sink still drained normally though! That left two busy parents very little incentive to fix it. Finally the sink was stopped up and Ricky fixed it. I asked him what else was down there. He said, "Oh, all kinds of gross things...like a carrot." LOL.

The weekend was rough.  Nah, not because of the sink. That's baby stuff.

Trying to regain balance in the home (or life?), cracking down on little kids who are talking unkind to us, a noisy house, and a stressed out mom and dad with more on their plate than they thought. Everett is a handful. This place is familiar.

 I'm trying to find peace and learn to let go. I'm trying to find happiness and let go of things that don't matter.

I've embarked on a soul searching quest for contentment. Contentment is a worn path for me to follow; there's a fight between the fire within me that can't sit still... and contentment. Fire tends to win.

Ricky's swamped at work, he's working on a mountain of projects and there is no end in sight. The stress is starting to show. It goes unnoticeable for a long time but then I can tell after a while. It's times like this I realize how he feels when I'm at a breaking point. We can't stand to see one another unsettled.

We found ourselves cranky and snappy over a beautiful holiday weekend (Labor Day). It was at first unfortunate and sad, but then it was okay and uplifting because while we were cranky at each other and easily irritated we were also understanding and forgiving of each other too. We never fought, we just went with it.

It reminded me of this picture. Especially when he made me a fancy breakfast on Sunday morning.

 We growled and grumbled at each other but we gave each other the permission and space to do so. 

Our Marriage Mantra

What was that I was saying about shoes?

Everett ran and fell into a prickly pear cactus bush today. Our dogs got out of the fenced part of the yard and while rounding them up some kids followed me out. Everett was barefoot of course. We didn't know it but the neighbors apparently have what appears to be ornamental cactus in the middle of nowhere. It's a huge weird, low lying cluster. I was at a distance when Everett didn't listen to me and ran away from me. I saw him fall on grass and cry but I didn't know he was hurt or that there was any cactus under him. I thought he was just throwing a fit. :(

 Layla was the one who carried him all the way back home and met up with me informing us that he was hurt. We all rushed around him at the kitchen table grabbing pillows and giving him chocolate to distract him. He had huge, huge clusters of the orange glochids which I thought we could remove in large clumps with tweezers, nope. They came out one by one sometimes in broken pieces. I almost gave up and went to the hospital. Ricky took over the big clumps and I did the scattered invisible ones. Ricky luckily had better and faster luck with the large clusters than I did, but it was still slow going. So many of his little plump toddler toes were just covered in clumps!! It was awful to see. He had a bunch of them scattered across his legs and feet too. They are SO much like fiber glass, pretty much exactly like that. We of course got some of them in us as we worked on him.

The good that came out of this is team work. I ordered each kid a job: grab the light in the basement, get pillows, hold this leg, get wet paper towels, get the laptop for a movie, give him a chocolate. When he had finished two chocolates Layla offered him a sucker she had saved for herself from school. What a sweetie!

Charlotte is recovering from wisdom teeth removal surgery (and is doing well!) and she hopped up to help with the baby; when Beatrice wouldn't stop crying I nursed her and continued to work on Everett's foot. Charlotte went right to Everett's head to soothe and distract him and we powered on through.

What a morning that was! Many hours later I'm happy to report he is walking around and doing great! We also did a glue trick we read online. Spread white glue over affected area after you pluck what you can, wait to dry, peel glue off. We told him we were making him have snake skin. Three other kids did it with him too. lol. :)

When do babies eat? Whenever they want!

surface of prickly pear

magnified, look how beastly and sharp! Like shards of glass.

Third Grade ... Summer Fades... we're back at this place again

Layla started 3rd grade.

I want her back. I don't want her to go away every day. She's nine and learning a lot about herself and others. She's full of wit and wonder, she's fabulously smart, and she's nearing that glorious stage where she's a young lady but also a kid. She likes jump-roping, play dough, Lalaloopsies, Legos, and dolls --just the way she should. She's playing Batman and Robin with her baby brother Everett (almost 3) right now. She dressed him in a skirt of hers and a hair bow and told him he was Batman. When I asked her why she dressed him like that she said, "Because he doesn't know any better." They are running and playing all over the house. It's great. Imagination is awesome.

All week we talked about how excited she was for school, but sad too because she'll miss me. She hardly ever tells me things like that. I just hug her and tell her I understand that feeling. I'm excited for her but I'll miss her too. Sometimes we have to do things we like and don't like, or that we are excited about but have mixed feelings about.

It's hard knowing we have so many things we'll be doing without her. We have a lot of homeschool fun planned this fall. 

This summer we played, laughed, and made new routines. We danced in the backyard; we sang songs in the car. We added a new baby to our family and got lost in the magic of a newborn and the wonder of life. Layla learned to change a diaper. I can’t fully explain it but just her smile makes me a better mom.

She graduated from little kid to big kid all in one expeditious summer.

We also had tiffs and squabbles, she'd roll her eyes and I'd say, "oh you did not just do that!" She had her birthday party taken away five times. Turns out it was an empty threat, but she was being so "bad" so "defiant" and she....*sarcastic gasp* rolled her eyes at us. The desire to have an "obedient" child didn't override a birthday party. We can find common ground, we can learn many lessons together, and we can all cool off and talk about things later. And we all did.

 In the thicket of various problems, bad attitudes, and complaining I'd ask myself if I was glad she was going back to school in August. I said no every time.

 And here we are the first day; smiles, giggles, tummy butterflies and all. The sisters say goodbye after a summer together, and pieces of my heart tried to hold it together. A stuffed brand new backpack is ready to endure nine months of being tossed around and carried back and forth. We waited for Mr. Dan to pull the bus up to our house (and hoped so much he'd be our bus driver again). Layla and Penelope laughed and giggled and wrestled like little girls while we waited. (Little girl wrestling = grabbing and hanging on each other, giggling and being goofy)

  I love when Layla tells me the things Mr. Dan says. He thinks we are funny... he finds it hilarious when Sebastian and Everett fight. One day they rolled out the front door in a pile screeching at each other as Layla got on the bus. Mr. Dan got the biggest kick out of it.

 So, the first day of 3^rd grade the bus pulled up and Everett jumped onto the fence wearing his batman costume, Sebastian waved manically and yelled bye to Layla over and over, Penelope and I shouted HAVE A GOOD DAY!! We made an enthusiastic ruckus at 8am. A man of few expressions, Mr. Dan waved at us and cracked a smile. And off they went. 

Summer Fun, KOV, Siblings, Ketchup, Doing Good

7/29/13
 The kids look forward to this week all year long. This is our third year at this very special VBS. It's a high energy, fast paced time of competition, biblical learning, field trips, team building, and fun. I had no idea what an experience it was until family night rolled around the first year. Family night is filled with energy, excitement, competition, dessert, prayer, an amazing slide show of the week, and a walk through (literally) of what they experienced camp that week. I realized quickly that this wasn't just a VBS. I couldn't believe how much activity and leadership could all be packed into a week. (So many activities: Bowling, sports, crafts, ropes course, water games, sponge wars, silliness, swimming, and a ton more!!) After their first week of camp in 2011 it was all they could talk about for a long time. They could not wait until the next year. Charlotte's been a teen leader since we started going, this is Sage and Ethan's first year of teen leadership, and this is Layla's second year as a camper. Besides fun focus is on being kind and helpful to others, to Do Good, and to put God first, others second, and yourself third. It's encouraged to have team spirit in the form of hair color spray, face paint, Etc., and for this you get extra points for your team. (Spirit points!) Charlotte painted her nails her team color in the car, I can’t believe I let her.

Our very first year I heard the dean saying “do good” to the children; I also saw him say it on Facebook and in camp letters, too. That is something we have been telling our kids for years; be kind and don’t just be good…do good! I liked him right away for that and other reasons.

Back to family night: I was stunned at the excitement and fun! The chants, songs, and cheers that came from all the kids were instrumental in team building. For two years in a row our kids' voices were hoarse after day two, nearly gone at day four and seriously gone by the end of family night. Screaming, cheering and showing enthusiasm is part of the whole experience! Even the kids that are reserved at first seem to warm up to the idea that this is a time to really let loose and be part of something good. The kids really feel part of something bigger than themselves, and why wouldn't they with the faith and character building exercises they get to be a part of. 

From the very beginning I was absolutely thrilled that all ages were mixed together on teams. This was a welcome surprise. The big kids help the little kids and the teen leaders are instrumental in creating balance, enthusiasm and fun.

Our home life works the same way...we help each other. There is no choice, it's just the way it is. It's expected, it's healthy, and it’s natural. 

Habitually segregating children by age is a huge pet peeve of mine (and is of many homeschooling families). We have so much to learn from each other. In a society where children are constantly pushed aside and treated as inconveniences, it's super important to teach kids of all ages how to interact with people younger than them. I can't tell you how often I see other siblings treating each other horribly; hitting each other, telling each other to shut up, refusing to help one another. I think it's a real problem and I think it's very sad. I've recently seen it in a public school setting, the park, and the grocery store. I saw a 12 year old boy literally shove his little six year old sister in the grocery store. I saw a 10 year old boy scare his little six year old brother in the grocery store by purposefully hiding so the six year old would think he was lost. It's gross. Kids and teens need adult supervision, guidance, role models (in the community and at home), and they need to understand how respect works.

That first year, after driving the kids for a week back and forth to the church, I hadn't expected a family night event to close out the week. It wasn't a convenient night for us so I told the kids I wasn't sure if we were going. They explained to me that it was super important they go and that the winning team was going to be announced. Clearly we couldn't miss that. So off we went with their exhausted and reluctant dad who had worked late all week, and I with a baby and toddler glued to me. We found ourselves in a packed church with hundreds of kids who lit the place up, all full of life and hearts full of love. They had bonded together and they were really, really having fun together, even with the adults.

Parents got to meet and interact with the amazing staff and leaders and we got a real sense of what an amazing positive experience our kids got to be a part of. 

On the way to the first day of the third year of camp this morning I looked at my four oldest kids in the car and they were beaming. Smiles ear to ear, chattering about the things they were looking forward to. Charlotte talked about campers from last year, a little girl named Charlotte was on her team last year and she hoped to see her again. The kids spoke of other kids, teen leaders, interns, staff, and the Dean; all of whom that made lasting impressions on them in different ways.

When I picked them all up they were happy and we talked about who was on what team. They asked me for face paint so I stopped at Wal-Mart and took everybody in…all  nine of us, what a sight to see. I held baby Beatrice (5 weeks old) and Charlotte pushed Sebastian (4) and Everett (2) in a cart. We picked out beads, hair spray and face paint in the colors that we needed. (orange, purple, blue) I remembered we needed dog food so we went to the pet section. Of course we had to stop and see the fish. Then I spotted some Betta fish and thought what a fun close to the day it would be if we got a fish. So we got a fish…and a fish bowl. Then Charlotte reminded me we needed to feed it (I laughed because I had not considered that). So she picked out food and treats for the fish. (Fish treats!?) We chattered rather loudly about what to name it as we also picked out fake plants for it to hide behind. It's a bright red fish so Layla liked the name fire. Charlotte suggested Roy. I announced that we can all call it different names like we have done with our cats in the past, "Since it doesn't answer to its name we can all name it something different if we want." Everyone agreed to that. Sebastian became less interested and ran away because he got upset; I wouldn't let him buy something with the 35 cents he was carrying around. I told him gently that this wasn't the dollar store and he took it really hard and was angry, so he ran away. Sage, Ethan, and Layla went after him four isles over and when I finally caught up he came willingly back to the fish isle but was still cranky.

People in the store probably thought we were NUTS. But it's the fun kind of nuts, at least we think so. Everett's face was covered in dirt and strawberries from the day. Sebastian had no shoes on. We looked wild, we were post KOV excitement, and we were probably a little louder than I remember. We checked out and I decided to take the kids to 5 Guys Burgers and Fries for dinner. Ricky and I wanted to take them there for a long time as a special outing. (It's a fat chunk of money to take everyone there!) While nursing the baby in the parking lot and trying to write down everyone's order on a piece of paper somebody let Everett out of his car seat and he climbed on the van dash and laid down. Then he harassed me until I yelled that we were going to go home if he didn't stop being insane. Under my breath I said, "I have lost control. I am defeated." Somehow I finally felt brave enough to get everyone out of the van and we went in. People stared. I guess they never saw a woman, 8 kids, and a betta fish walk into a restaurant before. My reinforcement (AKA the love of my life) showed up and the kids promptly greeted him and exclaimed, “WE GOT A FISH!” The fish sat in its plastic cup on our table while we ate outside in the beautiful 75 degree weather. The kiddos all said what I thought they would about 5 Guys ... best burger they've ever had!

The kids all named their Betta fish Ketchup as we inhaled hot, fresh french fries dipped in ketchup.

Okay so this is a body double pic, but I don't have time to take a picture of the real Ketchup right now and this post is better with a picture of a fish!

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7/30/13 and 7/31/13

This morning on the way to camp we had an uproarious time of songs, silliness, jokes and laughter. Layla said the car ride is more fun than camp. I took that as a high compliment knowing what I was contending with. We make up words (like blob-sticle-course ...don’t ask) and laugh at each other. I’m not sure what I said but Charlotte cracked up at something goofy I got wrong or said wrong. I told her I was going to crash if we kept laughing. I love that we all sing in the car together. Somehow, for some weird reason, we took turns fake sneezing how we think Micheal Jackson would sound like sneezing. I don't know how we think of this stuff. 
 We recently had a 20 minute conversation about mean people, people who bully, kids learning meanness from adults, celebrities being shamed and bullied, and also body shaming and fat shaming in our society and how wrong it is. 

I just love our time together!