How do you say no to that?

BigBrother brought out his journal, his crayon and pencil bag and sat down at the table while I busied myself with post-dinner and general evening clean up chores. LittleBrother saw what was going on and ran to get his notebook and writing utensils. They sat together, writing in their separate spaces and chattering at loud volumes.

I took a load of laundry downstairs. I laid out clothes for tomorrow. I finished the dishes. No one bothered me or pulled on my pant leg or whined or argued or even got out of a chair. I turned around to find them still at the table, crayons and pencils all over the all ready cluttered table. But instead of writing in two separate notebooks, they were writing in one.

“I know, I’ll write BOOM! here, next to the man.” Then he sounded out the word, helping himself as he went along. “Oo. The oo sound comes from two o’s. Boom!”

“Yeah! Now we need to draw a big circle thingy over here!” LittleBrother pointed and BigBrother obliged.

I stood in silence, taking in the moment before reaching for my camera.

“We’re drawing our own comic book, Mommy. Like George and Harold in Captain Underpants!”

“That’s fantastic.”

They continued on for much longer than I expected, even after we had an explosion of pencil shavings right after I finished cleaning up the floor. They were entranced with their story, with their drawings, with helping each other.

As we got ready for bed, they continued to talk about their masterpiece, the book that they were going to write.

“I can be the illustrator. And the writer. I can be both, right Mommy?”

I told him that he could; that he could be anything he wanted to be.

“I’ll let LittleBrother be both too, of course.”

Of course.

We finished our evening activities reading another chapter of Captain Underpants together. It’s the second book with the talking toilets. Yum yum, eat ‘em up and all that jazz. Toilet, poop and fart jokes are apparently going to be a part of my life for a long time to come, and quite possibly I’m raising my own little George and Harold. Which, if you think about it, is better than raising Harold and Kumar, right?

So thank you, George, Harold, Mr. Krupp, Captain Underpants, the Turbo Toilet 2000 and the Robo-Plunger for the hour that my boys spent creating and laughing and BOOM!-ing and dreaming of writing their own book. Don’t tell me that nothing good ever came out of toilet humor.

Because this? This is good.

I didn’t even want to try on the wedding dress I wore as I walked down the aisle. My mom picked it out, which knocked it completely out of my desire-range. I tried on the other four that I had picked out in our first pass of Henri’s, and they weren’t right. I put on the dress my Mom had grabbed. And it was the one.

I have fun memories of picking out my wedding dress with my Mom. I remember teasing my husband that he would need to stop drinking at our reception a few hours before he wanted to get me out of it, as it was rather complicated. I remember seeing his face. I remember feeling like a princess.

But I was aware, even then, that our marriage was more than my wedding dress. Or even the wedding.

We didn’t have an expensive wedding. We did have a big wedding because my family is rather large. But we didn’t go into debt to host our own wedding. We had a lovely day, I promise you that. We were just aware that we wanted more than just one day. We wanted a lifetime.

A few people made jokes this year, as we celebrated our seventh anniversary, that we should beware that old “seven year itch.” I was pleased when The Magic Room let me know that the largest number of divorces now occur in the fourth year. We’re safe! Not that we’ll stop trying, working on things and through things, as the book states.

I did not appreciate the commentary and underlying judgment that those women who want a white dress, even though they already have a child, are somehow in the wrong. Considering the Munchkin was at my wedding, and I was most certainly wearing white, I felt this part of the book and the discussions about what is and is not right when it comes to marriage and family and children was just way too off base.

When it comes down to it, The Magic Room might be a great gift to hand to a woman who is just recently engaged and is looking for a dress. But, as a note, there is a love that mothers also wish for their sons, and it’s more than what’s in a dress or a wedding celebration.

And, oh, do I love the book. It’s on my Top 10. (I don’t know where in my Top 10 as they fluctuate with season, but it’s there.)

I laughed at so many of the “tips” from the (fictional though fact-based) “How to Be an American Housewife guidebook” that Shoko was given after she married an American GI and left Japan. For example, my husband has type A blood, but I am type O. Apparently we should not have married. One line that made me snort water out my nose was this one, “In the majority of instances, working outside the home is frowned upon. If your husband wanted to have an independent, working woman, he would have married an American.” I told my husband that’s where he went wrong; he didn’t go far enough away to get a “good” wife. He then gave me “the look.” Oh well.

Other things made me catch my breath or feel any number of emotions. When Shoko yelled at her daughter (Sue) when Sue spilled something as Shoko taught her how to cook… I felt kind of guilty. Have I done that? Have I not been patient enough? Maybe. Maybe not. But my heart broke even more when Shoko showed up with Sue at the science fair and realized that they didn’t have the “right kind” of display. How was she supposed to know without being told? It made me realize how much we take for granted, having been born and raised in this country. We understand the idiosyncrasies of school — even if those same idiosyncrasies drive us crazy.

There’s just so much more I love about this book. I won’t bore you with all of it as I could gush for hours, but the underlying story is one that shouldn’t be skipped. It’s a must-read.

You can learn more at the BlogHer Book Club and join in some great discussions. And yes, if you live near me, you can borrow my copy. Just give it back. It’s honestly a top fave!

PS: I would have failed the guidebook had I been assimilating after marrying and moving. Like whoa. I’m a bit too … me.

There. I said it. I feel better.

Except that I don’t feel better. Not really.

The most recent menu that my oldest son brought home from his elementary school is somewhat appalling. I’m thankful for two things: 1) That our family is financially secure enough that we can send BigBrother to school with a packed lunch every day, and 2) That peer pressure hasn’t yet stepped in and caused him to want to buy his lunch. (Also, with his texture issues and food aversions he has informed me that he has absolutely no desire to eat any of what he has seen thus far. Not even the school pizza. Whew.)

But being able to avoid the problem doesn’t mean that the problem doesn’t exist. We’re fortunate… and not every family is as fortunate as we are. I know that, and it makes me sad that we — as a society, not just my local and surrounding school districts — don’t seem to care more about the nutrition our kids are getting in our schools. I feel ill-equipped to fight this fight myself as I’m fighting issues on other fronts, but I do appreciate the sentiment and challenges brought forth by those who do have the time to take this issue head on.

Read an excerpt from Lunch Wars at the BlogHer Book Club right now. This is probably my favorite point in general (and makes me feel better about what we’re doing at home as well!).

[Myth] Kids need choices so they can learn to make good choices. Offering children unhealthy foods and drinks at school contradicts what they are taught about good nutrition and sends a mixed message. Why shouldn’t all the choices be good choices? We don’t ask kids if they’d rather have recess or math! Limiting choices, especially in the younger grades, helps kids develop a taste for good food, and good eating habits. When kids choose soda, candy, and junk food instead of eating a meal, they don’t get the nourishment they need to learn properly.

And feel free to join in the discussions even if you haven’t read the book. Talk about your school lunches, your kids’ school lunches and other important topics.

I’m not that great with change. It makes my anxiety sky rocket. But since 2006, my professional life has been all about change. The initial change of leaving the broadcasting newsroom to work and write from home was big and scary. In 2009, I went back to a newspaper newsroom and in early 2011, I left again. All of these decisions were right for me, for my family, each and every time I made them. I was also slow (sometimes too slow) and deliberate (sometimes too deliberate) in my decision making. But even though they were right, they were still ridiculously scary.

I panicked about what would happen if my leaving any given job would result in financial hardship for my family. I didn’t (and don’t) have the resources that Dominique Browning had when she was let go from Conde Nast. I don’t have a second home that I can sell. But like Dominique, I have to imagine that if the worst case employment scenario ever landed in our laps, we’d be smart too. We made the budget changes when I made that initial decision to come home and have lived well within our means since.

But I can’t help that feel this book would have made the transition a lot less scary back then.

For more about Slow Love check out the BlogHer Book Club.

This was a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.

“Yeah, you don’t want to get burned by the llama!”

Huh.

“Oh, save me from the llama!”

Interesting.

I mean, camels can bite your hair and I have heard that llamas can be feisty, but I didn’t really know they had blipped onto the radar of my kids in a super hero (or villain) fashion. We have the Llama, Llama books, of course. And I hate Llama, Lama Red Pajama because that little snot teaches my kids bad things about bedtime routines. But again, they didn’t seem all that drawn to the books, barely ranking in their Occasionally Ask for But Ignore You When You Read It book list.

So, I bit. I asked.

“Hey guys, what’s llama?”

BigBrother paused and turned to look up at me. “You know. It’s hot.”

“Uh, no. You’re going to have to explain a bit more.”

“It’s kind of like fire. And if you fall in it, you die.”

Light bulb.

“Oh! You mean lava!”

“Yes! Lava!”

LittleBrother, having just watched this exchange, shook his head. “No, it’s llama. Burning hot llama.”

I didn’t correct him. Though his brother did for the rest of the afternoon, thus causing arguments all day. I wish I had listened for just a little bit longer to realize on my own that llama meant lava. Then I could have let it go for quite some time and played along when we play Super Mario Bros. Wii together.

All the same, I think Anna Dewdney should write a new Llama book. Llama, Llama, Burning Hot Llama. Hopefully she makes this one less whiny and annoying and more crazy llama in your face. I’d like that book much better.

Probably not, but let’s go!

– __ — __ –

Project 365 Favorites — So, I’ve failed the Project 365 in which you take one photo every day for a year for the past four years. I made it through a few tough days in 2010, but lost it at some point. I’ve also found that due to my job, sometimes I simply don’t want to pick up the camera on any given day. I do need time off. And that’s okay. So, Project 365 Favorites simply requires you to end up with 365 photos that you like/love at the end of the year. That I can do. I’ll be starting a special set on my flickr, though I’ll post favorites either here or the photography blog as time/space allows. Also: I reserve the right to trade photos in and out over the year. Hat tip to Burgh Baby and moosh in indy for this particular idea.

Reading Challenges — I already wrote about the challenges I’m participating in and other goals. But basically, my main goal is to outread myself in 2011. I read 64 in 2010, so even 64.5 would be welcome. Quite honestly, I feel like that number is somewhere around my personal threshold with the boys being so young. I know others with young children can read more, but I seem to get around the same number every year. I’m really okay with that, so if I only read one more book, I’ll be pleased. (Plus, you know, completing challenges which are just fun.)

Healthy Me Project — In 2010, I had lofty weight loss goals. And I met them because I did great things for my health, not my weight. I made great food choices. I picked up yoga — which I fell in love with! I started running again — and ran a 5K! And then we went on vacation at the end of August… and I fell off the wagon. Well, I didn’t fall off. I willingly jumped off. And I never willingly climbed back on. I did stupid things like consume way too much fast food (and not the healthy fast food options either). I drank pop (soda, if you will). I stopped running (though, to be fair to me, I had an ankle injury). I even stopped doing yoga for which I have no good reason. As you might imagine, I gained all of the weight back. Plus a small bit more. Swell. And so my Healthy Me Project is mostly about getting back on track with food choices, water consumption, exercise and positive body recognition. (See also: Own Your Beauty.) If I don’t lose the 20 pounds that would put me back in healthy range, well, I’ll be okay with it — as long as I’m still making healthy choices at the end of the year. (Minus holiday food allowances, of course.) Tune in tomorrow when I tell you about something cool I’m participating in to help me with this project.

– __ — __ –

So, I’m basically doing the same things that I always do, but just calling them projects. I also have some house projects (base boards, new doors, possibly a painting project) but those involve participation from FireDad so I won’t commit until we discuss what we can/cannot do together. I’m sure I’ll come up with other things over the year.

And, of course, there’s that whole possibility thing. 2011 is going to be great!

Do you have any goals, resolutions or projects for 2011?

1) I’d like to read more than this year, which topped out at 64. Not my best reading year but not my worst either (both worst years coming in at the year after each boy was born).

2) Keep my Goodreads account updated. No. Really. I say it every year. Maybe I’ll do it this year! Basically I get to mid-year/mid-summer, find myself without Internet access while camping and forget that Goodreads exists until about October. I’m awesome. But, feel free to add me and help me stay accountable.

3) Participate in a few actual challenges. Those being:

• The 2011 Young Adult Reading Challenge. I read more YA last year than the year before and decided that I really liked where YA authors nowadays are going with things. So this challenge is a natural extension of my reading. I’m only going for the 20 book challenge as I’m participating in other challenges as well. I think 20 YA books would make me happy. If you have any must-read suggestions in this category, let me know!
• The Memorable Memoirs Challenge. Mmm, I love memoirs, so it’s likely a cheat to join this challenge, but the number of memoirs I read in 2010 dropped. I want the number to go up this year, hence the challenge. What’s your favorite memoir?
• And, of course, the Adoption Reading Challenge. I’m hosting that over at Chronicles. I’m going for the 20 level, which means I’m reading 10 non-fiction and 10 fiction books that revolve around adoption. I’m most excited to read Jessica Lost: A Story of Birth, Adoption & The Meaning of Motherhood by Bunny Crumpacker and Jil Picariello, but it doesn’t come out until May 3. I’m pre-ordering though!

4) Be smarter about requesting books from the library. Like sassymonkey said, it’s not that I want to avoid requesting books, but sometimes I get request happy and everything comes in at once and I PANIC! Sometimes it’s not my fault: It can takes weeks or months for books to come in if they’re overly popular. But sometimes it’s just my happy-request-finger.

5) Read the books that I bought in 2010 and didn’t read. Whoops.

6) I have other interests that I want to make sure make their way into my reading (adoption, firefighting, photography, writing, bloggers’ books — especially bloggers’ books and why isn’t there a bloggers’ book challenge?, and so on). This is not a specific “challenge” but more of a mental note to keep my own personal interests above the interests of, say, best seller lists and, you know, Oprah.

7) I’ll also be participating in the BlogHer book club which will give me a book a month to read and think about and generally enjoy with other book-loving people. Hooray!

8 ) As per usual, I want to add to the boys’ ever-growing library. BigBrother has made a decisive trend toward science related books this year, so I hope to get him some great children’s non-fiction as well as some fiction that talks about science. Have you learned about the Dr. Seuss Learning Library yet? I’m in love, as is BigBrother. LittleBrother is still in a big fire truck phase, so we’ll be adding more of those as well. Of course.

9) Try to read some more books written by… uh… men. It’s never been a conscious thing. I’ve never purposefully engaged in penis embargo readership. But as I gravitate toward books about women, pregnancy, adoption, fertility and the like, I don’t always catch male writers. I’ll make a better effort this year.

10) And lastly, enjoy reading. Sometimes I get bogged down with reading because of the pressure I place on myself to read, read, read. That’s ridiculous. I’m tossing that aside this year.

What are your reading goals for 2011? Are you joining any reading challenges? If you’d like to join my Adoption Reading Challenge, that would be swell!

I’m giving away a copy of:

• Firefighter Ted – Read my review.
• Miss Mingo and the Fire Drill – Read my review.
• Firebears – The Rescue Team – Read my review.

All three books! Delivered straight to your house! Hooray!

Here’s how to enter.

Mandatory entry: Leave a comment on this post and tell me something you plan on teaching your kids about fire safety this month. While I can’t make sure that you actually did it, don’t you think it would be a good idea to do it? So, comment and then go talk to your kids about smoke detectors, 9-1-1 and how to stop, drop and roll.

And I also have some extra entries:

• Tweet this giveaway by copy/pasting this into your twitter stream: Win 3 #firesafety books from @FireMom http://wp.me/pjFZD-OZ Live thru 10/31.
• Post about it on Facebook.
• Blog about it on your public blog with a link to this post.

You can tweet and Facebook as much as you so desire. But only do one blog post, because it would be silly to do more. Comment with each of your entries in a separate comment so that they count multiple times! This giveaway will be live through midnight on October 31, 2010. I’ll pick a winner via the random winner plugin on November 1st and contact the winner via email. Winner has 48 hours to respond before I choose a new winner. Books will be shipped direct from Amazon to the winner’s home!

Last but not least, strong>please discuss fire safety with your children. Books are great and fun. And, yes, schools teach these things, too. But you need to be in charge of your household’s fire safety. Please talk about this important issue with your children. It’s honestly one of those life-and-death type conversations. Have it regularly.

Important Note: To copy/paste on my blog, simply highlight the text you want to copy, do not right click but go up to your edit button and click copy. Do the same to paste, but select paste instead. This plugin was installed because people steal my photos.

Firebears – The Rescue Team

The absolute best part about this book is the rhyming scheme. When reading to younger readers, rhyming helps keep interest. Of course, my boys are always interested in firefighter books, but the rhyme helps me stay interested as well.

The book follows the firebears through the typical work day of non-bear-firefighters. It talks about their day at the station — chores and their bunk room. Then they rush off to a false alarm. Then, of course, there’s a real fire. But they put it out. And then, in true fire fashion form, there’s another fire, because that’s how it happens. The firebears then rescue a mom and baby. And, once again, the fire is out. Hooray!

My favorite line is near the end of the book, which also holds a line from the dedication at the beginning, no doubt on purpose.

Weary bears
Smile and wave,
Humble heroes, bold and brave.

Love it.

I also love the illustrations in this book. The old school fire truck, the smiling bears, the general colors used. I am really glad this book is a part of our fire library.

This completes my three-book review for Fire Prevention Week. Come back tomorrow when I will start the giveaway for this book, Firefighter Ted and Miss Mingo and the Fire Drill. The giveaway will last all month long, but you will be able to have multiple entries!