Star Students!

Ethan and his Star Student poster.

Drew and his Star Student poster.

I was so proud of the boys for picking out their very own pictures, gluing them and posting them on their poster boards! 

This is such a super fun age right now.

Laundry Room Makeover

Several weeks ago, I took on a project while the kiddos were at school... I wanted to go "Extreme Home Makeover" on my laundry room.


 The room before:

(Yep, that is a monstrous heap of clean clothes, now wrinkled, that had yet to be folded...don't judge)


 I worked all day, by myself, and finished just in time to pick the kids up from school:

It is a pretty grayish blue color~ very calming... and I love the little laundry sign that I picked up at World Market.

Next up, I need to have a wooden table made that will go right across the tops of my washer and dryer---to fold clothes as soon as they come out of the dryer. (wishful thinking)

So there you have it. One project down, about 44, 444 to go in our new house. ;)

Kindergarten Favorites

I absolutely LOVE Pinterest for this idea! It will be SO FUN to look at over the years and compare. I’m pretty sure I’ll make a book and give it to my kids at Graduation. (sniff, sniff)

 

 

 

 

 

~and just because I like to see how much they’ve grown… here is a comparison of preK to Kindergarten:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disney's The Little Mermaid

When I was a young girl, one of my absolute FAVORITE movies was (and still is) Disney’s The Little Mermaid.

Guess what!  It will be available for the first time on Blu-ray Combo Pack and HD Digital on October 1st! 

The Little Mermaid!!!

I was thrilled to be able to review an advance copy of the movie with my daughter (Savannah in the middle) and her best friends, Kinley and Madelyn. Notice Savannah’s Ariel dress? Yeah, she would give anything to be that little red headed mermaid princess.

Unironically, Ariel reminds me so much of my Sav: She is smart, independent, determined, curious, a dreamer, a good friend, a problem solver, and rebellious at times.

 

 

 

There are many valuable lessons that can be learned from Princess Ariel, such as:

- Always follow your dreams

- Stand up for what you believe in

- There is always a reward or consequence for every decision you make

- Every woman needs her own voice



However, watching this movie as a Mom has completely changed the character with whom I can most relate.  Enter, King Triton (Ariel’s father).

Important lessons I have learned from King Triton:

- As loving parents, we have a deep desire to protect our children from harm at all costs. The world can be a scary place! But as much as we may want to, we cannot keep our kids in a bubble. We must learn to let them go, to give them wings to fly (or in Ariel’s case, legs to run). This has been a particularly difficult task for me this week as ALL FOUR of my 6 year olds (quadruplets) have started kindergarten! YEEEOUCH! Sometimes a task that is easier said than done...

- We must let our kids make their own decisions (the good AND the bad). Hopefully, they will learn from their mistakes, pick themselves back up, and be stronger than before.

- We must always give our children our unwavering love and support, regardless of the *bonehead decisions* they may make at times…

- And my favorite lesson from King Triton: If you mess with my kid, I’m going to come after you.

Heh, heh.

I am constantly telling my kids that they are SOOOO talented. They can be anything and everything they want to be. At this very moment, Savannah wants to be a: nurse, veterinarian, ballerina, teacher, artist, Mommy, and of course...

mermaid.

“How do YOU encourage your children to follow their dreams?"  Leave me an answer in the comments below and you will automatically be entered for a chance to win a $50 Visa gift card and a Little Mermaid Diamond Edition Blu-ray Combo Pack! For more information or to pre-order your own copy, you can visit the Disney website here!

 

Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: ""#SweepstakesEntry""; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post"
c) Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 9/3/13 - 10/15/13.
Be sure to visit the Disney's Little Mermaid page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!