Looking Grand in Pink at Devil's Backbone!

My dad gave me a great gift this month -his credits for a flight! I immediately knew I would go see my best friend Lisa in Colorado.

In our house Lisa is known at Aunt-Lisa-from-Colorado. She used to be Aunt-Lisa-from-California.  We use these names so we don’t get confused with Aunt-Lisa-who-is-married-to-Uncle-Jack (or now know more often as Aunt-Lisa-Nate-Isaac-and-Ali’s-mom).

Anyway…Aunt-Lisa-From-Colorado is my best friend from the seventh grade. We met on a cross-country team (yes, I used to run ) and have been friends ever since. We have seen each-other almost every year since my move from California to Ohio in high school. We have made it to weddings and baby-showers.   We have changed a lot, yet we still remain friends. Our friendship has even survived my voting for Obama in the last election!

We are now moms as well as adoptive moms.  We parent differently, yet appreciate each other’s ways.  We may go months without talking and then just pick up the conversation.  Seeing her again is as easy as breathing. Calling her a friend has been a privilege.  She is a great mom, wife, teacher and friend and her stories keep me laughing.

Thank you for a great weekend Lisa!  Thank you Daddy for giving me the opportunity to visit her and thank you Mom and Jackie for helping Hubby out with the kids!  Hubby, you are  the best and I so appreciate you.

Lisa and I at an Ethiopian place in Boulder.

A picture of us from when we were skinny and digital cameras weren't as great!

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Photo Credit Mandy W. 2010

My new favorite with my still-great old favorite!

My garage right now!

Yeah!  Our kitchen was nice before, but the several shades of green just weren’t for me.  I wanted Spice and lots of it!  Hubby delivered and not only painted the walls, but the cabinets.  He also bought matching rugs,  and wall decor, built a corner shelf and just all around did a fabulous job!

Hubby is the decorater in our relationship. I hate having to pick out colors and decorations.  It put way to much stress on me as I am freaked out about choosing wrong.  If it were up to me all my wall would be ecru and I’d  have no curtains, not because I dislike color and decoration, but picking things out paralizes me (a lot like crafts).  Hubby, however, does a great job with colors and I am content and very greatful that he is.

He said next year he is getting me flowers… maybe I’ll get him a twelve-pack…

Photo Credit Mandy W.

Why can't they stay little?

You may have noticed that I have four kids.  Four girls actually.  The oldest is ten and the youngest is five.  Social networking for kids ten and under? This question was a no-brain-er for me…at least until about six months ago.  My kiddos were happy playing on Webkinz and I was happy they were on the computer on a site I trusted (we don’t do the premium Webkinz, so I cannot say anything about that feature.).  Enter in the new school year with requests for IPOD touches and laptops computers as Christmas presents.  Even if we had not given a trip to Disney to the girls for Christmas, we knew that the girls would not get their requested gifts.  Why?  Am I cheap? Am I mean?  Yes and yes.  I also don’t want my kids to have unlimited access to the Internet.  When they are online it is on the family computer in the study that is open for all to see.  We also have the girls on their own desktop, so they cannot access our banking, pictures and anything else they could get on and ruin change.

So when I heard about YourSphere, I honestly didn’t pay much attention to it.  I thought I had a few years to worry about social networking and my kids.  Well, soon enough the girls started wondering what Twitter and Facebook was.  Then the founder of YourSphere, Mary Kay Hoal, contacted me with an offer that was to good to pass up.  A family membership for an year…free!  Okay why not!

So what is YourSphere?  It is a social networking site for kids (tweens through 19) that costs an annual fee, which gets rid of unwanted advertising  and provides a safer site to let your kids on.  Parents have control of their children’s activities. I can monitor comments, blogs, pictures and what Spheres they are hanging out it.  I can even block my child’s access if she is grounded from the computer!  I will not pretend to know all about YourSphere and I encourage you to check it out for yourself at YourSphere.com.

The Spheres are  groups with a theme.  There are a lot of them and the kids can start their own as well.  Meg started a sphere about Ethiopia and a lot of kids joined up and learned some things about Ethiopia. One kid said he had to look at a map to find it .  I was floored that a child actually looked up something educational while playing!

Meg has also entered a contest and won!  She got a $25 gift card to Best Buy and was able to get the sixth Harry Potter movie with it.  She was convinced after that!  The annual fees help buy prizes.

I like the fact that I can monitor my kiddos more and that they are learning “internet manners” under my supervision.  We have had many talks on internet safety since starting on YourSpere and talking to your kids is priceless!  I cannot tell you how many times I have told Mita not to change her username and password. She fought me on this and changed it anyway.  Then she promptly forgot both of them and I had to help her out.  I like that she is learning these things with me at an early age and not doing them at school or college!

The kids get more points the more they play and can buy things with the points they earn.  Of course my girls are after the IPOD touch to get…since it will take a few years to earn it, I’m okay with that!

Here are some things my girls have said about YourSphere :

Mita age 10,” YourSphere is really fun, I love listening to the music and watching videos.”

Meg age 10,”It is really fun talking with others and making new friends.  I love the contests especially!” ” The Spheres are the best!”

Enu age 7,” I like being able to design my own page, talking with friends and all the games!”

I have to emphasize that letting your kids on YourSphere does not mean you can let your child on line without checking on them.  This site is for teens and some teenage music and videos are not for a 10 year old.  Mita especially gets lost sometimes and ends up on a YouTube video that she doesn’t need to see.  My kids think  I have eyes on the back of my head and in the walls of the home, and I keep this theory alive and well with my supervision!

So check out YourSphere and see if it is right for your family.  There is a first month trial period that is FREE!

Do you want to win a year long membership for you kids?  (Great Valentines gift!) To enter please leave a comment on how you monitor your child’s internet usage or any comments you may have about your experience on YourSphere. Only one comment please.  You can get additional entries by Tweeting the following,

” Win a year  membership to YourSphere for your kiddo from YourSphere and @FourAgainstTwo”!

and post your tweet to the comments section. You can do this as often as you would like.

Contest ends Friday, February 12th at noon and the winner will be picked at Random.com.

Good luck  and have fun!

The New Toy Story Ride Was The Best!

We Had Princess Overload!

We Ate In Cinderella's Castle And Were Joined By Sleeping Beauty!

!

Disney Christmas, as we surprised the girls with a trip to the happiest place on earth!  I’m excited about the trip, but tired just thinking about the planning  I’m sure we will have even more great memories by the end of next week.

I highly doubt I will be blogging much over the next two weeks, but I will try and upload pictures regularly and when I get back and recover I’m sure to have stories (both bad and good) and tips to pass along to all my family and friends.

Happy New Year and God Bless us all!  Mandy

Next year your hair will be as long as you want it to be. Keep growing it out!

Dear Mandy,

Christmas 2009 was great and we made a lot of great memories.  I just wanted to let you know a few ways you can make 2010’s Christmas even better.  You need to stop stressing on the stupid things, let go and live in the moment.  This is easier said than done and you have done better this year (e-cards saved time and money!) but next year try and remember a few things:

1) Don’t buy matching Christmas outfits.  It was a miracle they all wore them ONCE this year, and that miracle won’t happen again until they are older and trying to make their geriatric mother happy.

2)Don’t ask them to be in the Church Christmas play.  Wait for them ask to be in it and then have them sign a contract swearing that they will go to all the practices without whining. They were so cute this year and I am very proud of them.

3) Bargain more.  Tell them they will get a bigger Christmas gift if we skip some of the Christmas “fluff” activities like Breakfast with Santa and Santa’s Secret shop (Sorry PTO).

4)Don’t expect them to love and cherish your favorite Christmas book, song or activity. It’s not worth the energy and they will like it better without your endorsement!

5)Don’t begrudge your Hubby to much for being right on more things than you would like to admit.  Maybe he has it right that matching hair bows just aren’t life and death and the fact that Elle wore snow-boots two years in a row to see Santa isn’t all that bad.

Mandy, I hope you remember to read this next year and do as I say.   If you don’t maybe someone will remind you and save the season.

Take care and drink a lot of Chai.  Enjoy the season while you can and remember that one day you’ll be asking to join them in their family’s celebrations someday.

Love,

You

We celebrated her birthday last Saturday, Spa Style, and had a great time. Tonight we will celebrate with ice cream cake and pizza sticks.  She will get her much-longed for DS so she can be like her big sissys!

Happy Birthday Bean.  I  have enjoyed the first five years more than you will ever know.  Thank you for being uniquely you.

We had a Pinkalicious party!

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