When is it a good time to let them have a Facebook page

See this girl. She is my oldest and is 11 going on 25. She is like me in so many ways that it scares me. She is very independent, headstrong, and so stubborn (she gets that from both me and her dad, double trouble). Those attributes can be good and bad. She is a great leader but her sisters would call that bossy. She is my extra set of hands but sometimes she tries to take over my job as the mommy. She is so ready to grow up. I was the same way.

All of last year she begged for her own cell phone. At first I didn't really see the need for her to have one. We homeschool so when she did go out she was usually with an adult that had one. Then she started going to friends houses and I needed an easier way to get up with her. So for Christmas she got a phone.

Then she wanted her own email. She does have friends that live out of state that she only sees during the summer and email would be a great way to keep in touch. So we set one up and she rarely uses it lol.

Now she wants her own Facebook page. Many of her friends have Facebook pages and she wants to play some of the games. At first I was totally against it. Why does she need a Facebook page? She begged me to talk to my husband about it and so I did. As we were discussing it I can see many advantages to setting up one now. The main reason is that right now she is more compliant then she might be later on. The rules that we want to set up might seem to restricting to a teenager, , but if we set up those rules now they will already be in place and would be harder to question.

Some of the rules that would be in place would be

1. We have to approve any friends she wants to add
2. Her father and I must also be friends with anyone she is friends with
3. I must know her password
4. I can and will check her page whenever I feel the need
5. Any games or applications she wants to add have to be approved first

This is all I have so far. Am I missing anything?

It scares me to think of all of the things out there on the internet, but if we can hold her hand through it maybe she will be more responsible about it. What do you think? What would you do?

SYTYC auditions

I am stepping out of my comfort zone. I'm auditioning to be in "Season 3" of So You Think You're Crafty. It's the blogging world's version of Reality TV. So, if you'd like to see me compete, you need to head over there and vote. The only catch is, the voting is anonymous. Which means you're gonna to have to guess which craft is mine from a line up of other amazing crafters! Yikes! Can you do it? Can you guess which one is mine? I sure hope so! The top 10 with the highest votes will move on, so go cast your vote in the SYTYC auditions, click here.

Happy Thanksgiving

Give a little Whistle

Here is a song that has been on my mind lately. We all could use a little help from Jiminy Cricket from time to time.

Oreck Halo Giveaway on Momdot

Over on momdot, she is doing a giveaway for a Oreck Halo. I really, really need a new vacuum. The one that I have is the same one that my husband and I got as a wedding gift over 10 yrs ago. The poor thing doesn't have good suction anymore and when you turn it on it makes the room smell like wet dog. So I'll say it again I really need a new vacuum.

So back to the giveaway. To enter I am supposed to post pictures of my messiest room. Well, you could really take your pick of any room in my house and I would give anyone a run for their money, but I choose one of the kids rooms.This is the room where they play the most and right now it is the messiest it has ever been (just in time too).

Here is what the room looks like right as you walk in.

Here we are rounding the corner.

 The main play area

Under the bed is what the kids call "the cave" I bet there is a good two feet of toys piled up there.

The closet.

There you have it our messiest room. Barely enough room to walk and you can't see the floor. Hope this is messy enough to win because I couldn't stand it if it was any messier.

Happy Halloween

Made some changes

I thought it was time for a change. I am not a designer. I wanted my blog to have a simpler but colorful feel. I really like my header but I don't know if having the white background helps it or hurts it. I don't know what I think about it yet. How about you? Should I keep the background white? Does anyone have any suggestions.

Lose sleep or lose a post?

Ok, so last night as I was laying in bed trying to go to sleep I came up with an idea for a post. I got so caught up with it I couldn't go to sleep. I had it over half way written in my head. I finally had to push it away so that I could finally go to sleep.

When I got up this morning and thought about writing the post, it was gone. No matter how hard I try I can not remember what I was all excited about.

The only way to stop the words in my head keeping me awake is to write them down but if I had gotten up at 3 in the morning to do a post I would have woken up my husband and not only would he have been upset because he had to get up really early this morning, he would have thought I was nuts.

Has this ever happened to you or am I the only one? What do you do to remember the thoughts that pop into your head when you are not able to write about them the right away?

High Five

If you read my post yesterday here is another one for you to enjoy. I forgot to mention in my last post that I found these at Color Me Kate.

I just love seeing things like this

For those of you who saw my post here of the people dancing at a train station to a song from the sound of music here is something that you might enjoy. I just love this kind of stuff.

Do you have any cool videos that you can share. Just leave a link in a comment.

Spectacular light show while driving home

As my husband and I were driving home tonight this is what we saw



and

for 2 whole hours.

It was simply beautiful and a little frightening. Talk about God-given entertainment

(these are not actual pictures of what we saw tonight but are very close)

Happy 4th of July

Thank you to all who have loved and served our country.

"I thank God for my life,
And for the stars and stripes,
May freedom forever fly, let it ring.
Salute the ones who died,
And the ones that give their lives, so we don`t have to sacrifice,
All the things we love."
-Chicken Fried by Zac Brown Band

Going to go pick up my girls

Today I am heading back up to Virginia to go pick up my girls and bring them home. My husband and I have been missing them terribly and are ready for them to be home. I know that they have been spoiled rotten these past few weeks and when we get home I will probably be ready to send them back (just kidding).

It usually takes a week to "detox" them from the grandparents and it is the hardest. But we will be back in the groove of things before long.

Are your kids extra rotten after spending time with their grandparents?

Just getting started

So here I am. Starting out on my blogging journey.

I am going to start out by participating with Small Talk Six with momdot.com where each Saturday has a topic and you can respond to each topic with a list of 6 words, 6 phrases, 6 sentences, 6 paragraphs, or 6 photos.
Today's topic 6 things you love or hate about the ocean.

I defiantly have a love/hate relationship with the ocean. So here is my list in no particular order

1. Love the feeling of getting away from it all.

2. Hate, hate, hate, the sand. How hot it is to walk on. How it gets into everything. I just hate the sand.

3. Love hunting for Seashells with my kids. To them they are all special.

4. Love the sound. The waves, The seagulls.

5. Hate how much work it is to get to the ocean. Living 2 hours away and having 4 kids to prepare for is so much work.

6. Love how my husband just lights up when we go. Growing up he spent the summers with his grandfather (who has pass away) living as a beach bum and he has such fond memories.

I probably could list a few more but will stop there. So how do you feel about the ocean. Just leave me a comment or visit momdot.com to join in the fun.