Education in an Entitlement Culture

I have been reading and thinking a lot over the past few months about education. What is a good education? How has our society shaped our education system? I thought this article in the NY Times was interesting, and made me think of a book I read recently: The Price of Privilege by: Madeline Levine, Ph.D. What are your thoughts? Do you see a change since you were in school? What are we really teaching our youth? Are we teaching them what, when or how to think?

Happy Birthday Candice!

Devoted Mother, Wife, Daughter and Friend....We love you Candice! To quote Luke: "Candice you're so beautiful, you could
be in the Christmas Pageant!"


I love this photo of Candi looking down at baby Jennie, Jed took it
from a distance, without her knowing.

Temple Open House

We took the boys to the Draper Temple open house yesterday. What a great experience this was for them. It was a great follow-up to a lesson we had about temples on Sunday. If you have a chance get tickets and go!

A Tender Heart

I have a tender heart as I write this. Yesterday, we popped into IKEA for a quick meatball run. As Jed and I were walking around I saw Mr. Nielsen and Stephanie of the Nie Nie Dialogues. Of course I mentally noted who they were and mentioned it to Jed. Jed asked me later how I knew it was them. Good question- I recognized his face, I just knew. I kept walking. I couldn't shake the feeling that I should go talk to them, which is not "like me". I finally caved and went and said "hi". I felt awkward and a bit "stockerish". What a special experience. They are two of the most gracious people I have met. She was so friendly to me and Claire. Stephanie and her husband were in a near fatal plane crash in AZ this past August. You can explore the rest of the story on your own.
If you aren't familiar with Nie Nie, check it out. You will laugh, you may cry. Getting to "know" this beautiful woman will cause you to stop and reflect on your own life; to be grateful for your daily mishaps and think about what is most important in this life.

It's Date Night!

At the beginning of January, Jed and I started taking a once a week class together at the boy's school. I had heard great things about the Love and Logic Program by: Jim Fay and so when the flier came home about a free 6 week class I jumped on the opportunity. We have not been disappointed. As with any parenting program or book there are a few things that may not work with your family or wording that doesn't "sit right" with you. We have found that in this program too. But over all it is a down to earth basic approach that you can use from birth-18, which I appreciate. It has also been fun to take a class with Jed too. Jed's angel sis and bro in law have watched the kids for us also which has been great. Thanks guys! So, not only is it date night but it is a free date night! Wahoo!

Hot, Hot, Hot!

A conversation between two cousins on the ride home from school today:
Luke:" Do you know what hot means?"
Jennie: "Uh, ya."
Luke: "It means you are SO beautiful!"
Jennie: "Ya, you are hot!"
Luke: "No, YOU are HOOOOT !"
Jennie:"No, Luke we are both hot!"
Luke: "That's it!"

My Baby is 11 !

Happy Birthday Jared! We love you!

Longing....

As many of you know, we were rear-ended over the Christmas holidays. Our van did not suffer serious damage and none of us were hurt. But it did need some repair and while it was in the shop, I got to drive around a brand new 2008 loaded Toyota Sequoia. (sigh) It was heavenly. Today while driving home from school Luke saw a silver SUV and said: "Mama, that's our truck!" Which the boys did for the first week after we had to surrender our $60,000 object of affection. It even smelled heavenly. You know that "new car smell"? Our van used to have that smell. That being said, our van used to have payments every month that loomed over our heads too. So even though I may cringe every time I think about the fact that I drive a mini-van and it is not so heavenly and that "new car smell" has been replaced by some odor that is not quite yet identifiable; I remind myself that it is ours. All ours......fragrance included.
image via: toyota.com

Listen Up Kids!

So, my computer crashed a little over a week ago. When it crashed, I lost all of our photos from Sept.28th of this past year until Dec. 24th. (sigh) Of course there were files and various other things that are now gone but the photos are the greatest lost to me. Do not be dumb like me. Do not learn this the hard way. Back up all of your photos all of the time!!! Nuff said.

Snacks and Recipes

I forgot to add two snacks that we have been eating the last week or so. The first are these "healthy"blueberry banana muffins from Everyday Food. They are great snacks and good supplements to cold cereal in the morning. The second snack is almond butter with honey on a tortilla. My boys have also had these in their lunchboxes as the "sandwich" item. To those that are interested in recipes I will add these in each post. Just click on the item and it should take you to the recipe. If it does not have a link that means that it is of my own concoction and you can just send me an email at goldilocksandthe3bears@live.com and I will explain how to throw it together. Happy snacking!
image via: everyday food

Au Naturale

What's Cookin' this Week:
Pasta with Winter Pesto
Chicken Stir-Fry W/ Noodles
Roasted Chicken W/ Roasted Veggies
Black Bean Tostadas
Gingerbread Waffles
I was talking to someone recently and I asked them what they thought of my menu on the sidebar. They replied:"What menu?" So I thought I would try and do a post every week or so listing what I plan on cooking for the week. I love reading what others are cooking and trying out new recipes. Sometimes I get caught in a rut and can't figure out what to make that is easy, cheap and somewhat healthy. Then I'll talk to someone and have an instant idea that can be as simple as chili; which I might not have made in a while. For the most part I have our "go to"meals. We eat a lot of pasta and Mexican"ish" food.
This year I am recommitted to a natural food diet for the whole family. We have done this before and here I am again. We are trying not to eat anything with high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils, sticking to natural sweeteners and colorings. This can be hard. Virtually all processed food/snacks contain some or all of these things. But it is a good way to force yourself to eat whole foods or food that is food. What are you cooking these days?
photo via Whole Foods Market

Flying Into the New Year...

Whew, it has been a long time! Christmas Break for the kids went by way too fast and of course I didn't get anything done on that "to do" list that I had scribbled down at the beginning of Dec. You know the list that says we will clean out this and organize that over the break? Instead we spent the time baking, eating, hanging out with family and all of the usual Christmas time things we do. My Christmas wish came true and we had a white Christmas. And it still keeps coming! We had a lot of fun sledding on New Year's "weekend". I love this shot I got of my nephew and bro-in-law. We had visitors from CO over New Year's and it was fun to hang out/go out/and belt out the tunes on the new Karaoke machine that the Christmas elf gave to the Briscoe clan. (video forthcoming)
I have been reading a lot of New Year's resolutions this past week. "One word" challenges to define what you want for 2009. 2008 was a great year for us. Not because it was an easy year, not because it was hard. We experienced many ups and downs, new chapters in our family life, and closed a few chapters. (sigh of relief as I think about Jed being done with school!) It was a great year for us because it was ours. We had it to experience together and I am grateful for that. Thanks for all the cards and emails over the holidays. It was so fun to hear from everyone and see how big the kids are getting.
What do I want for this next year? So many things, that I am still trying to narrow it down and make it doable. One goal that I had during December was SIMPLIFY. It worked wonderfully. I plan on carrying that over into 2009. I figure that's a good start!

Merry Christmas!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! That's what the boys keep saying at least. We have gotten a lot of snow over the last few days and it has been great. The boys have been outside building snowmen and forts and now I don't feel as homesick for Alaska. This weekend was a bit blah. We got rear-ended on Friday and Claire and I had a bit of the stomach flu. But we seem to be doing good now. I love this time of year when you go into stores and see gobs of men shopping. It cracks me up. Today we made an early morning trip to Walmart (suicide, I know) and the only people I saw were men. 'Tis the Season!
Merry Christmas to all! Look for our cards it the mail. Yes, I waited too long again this year to get them out. We have loved hearing from all of you and will be thinking of you tomorrow!

Scrooged

Allow me to rant for just a minute. (sigh) I am very sad as I write this. For the first year EVER my kids will not be having any sort of Christmas party or play or recital or program of any sort. We have lived in many places and my boys have gone to a number of schools. Some schools where Christmas was considered a "winter celebration" and the boys even had fellow students who did not celebrate Christmas. This is not the case this year. We live in a VERY stereotypical Utah neighborhood. I have caught teachers at the school reminding the kids to "Choose the Right". Still we are not going to acknowledge Christmas? I asked someone about it today and the response I got was: "We have never had Christmas parties." What?!
The thing that really gets me is that Halloween was practically and all week party in one of my boy's classroom. Halloween! (My least favorite holiday.)
Ok, I am done now. Forgive me. I just couldn't help myself.

It's All About Birthdays...

What is it about little ones and birthdays? At church on Sunday every time we sang a hymn, Claire broke out in; "Happy Birthday to you...." her own dialect of course. It was hilarious except during the Sacrament. Now she has taken to randomly breaking out in song and it is always the birthday song. I tried to get her to sing with a Jared in there since his birthday in coming up in January. But she insists that it is always "Seff eee." (meaning Stephanie) It is too funny!

Christmas Ideas

So, my friend Liz does this really great tradition. She counts down to Christmas with books. Every year she wraps 25 books and places them under the tree. Everyday they read a book and with some there is an activity that goes with it. I love this idea! I have seen versions of it around the net. The Crafty Crow does one. I like this because it is about doing something together vs. getting something. I am compiling my own list and going to start tonight. The library has been a great resource for this.
Also, we are trying something new this year. Jared taught a FHE lesson on Monday about serving others. Everyday we are drawing names and providing secret acts of service to family members. For each act we get to put a piece of hay in the manger to fill it up for Christmas Eve. The boys are having a great time with this and it is cute to see what things they sneakily come up with. I saw this idea on someone's blog, but can't remember where, so I can give them proper credit if you see it let me know or if I find it I will put the link here.

Wedding Weekend

We have had a full weekend around here. Jed's brother Josh got married and we had fun visiting with family all weekend long. It was the first time all the siblings have been together since last Thanksgiving. The kids are still recovering from the late nights and constant fun!

The Season is Upon Us- Tagged!

I was tagged to do this holiday quiz so here goes:
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper for the kids, bags for the rest
2. Real tree or Artificial? artificial, still trying to talk Jed into the real deal
3. When do you put up the tree? it varies each year
4. When do you take the tree down? 30th or 31st of Dec
5. Do you like eggnog? blech!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Santa once put a block of Tillamook cheese in my stocking
7. Hardest person to buy for? Jed and My Mom
8. Easiest person to buy for? Claire
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yep, I like ones that the kids can touch
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? can't think of one....
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? This one is hard but it isn't Christmas until we have watched the claymation flicks w/ Burl Ives
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Depends on who I am shopping for...
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? no!
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? fudge and Russian tea cakes
17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home but then over to Parent's House
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? yes, and I once saw Santa's sleigh when I was five
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? star
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? PJ's on Christmas Eve the rest on Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? all the commercial crap
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I like the ones the kids have made or those that have survived from our first Christmas
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Fondue or Rachlette
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A White Christmas(cheesy, I know.)
I tag: Candi, Jenn S., Charity

Creative Inspiration

This is an advent calendar Asia made from a muffin tin- this is a great idea for using stuff you already have around the house!

Creative Hiatus (ie: The Candy Cane Sweat Shop)

Well, about the most creative thing we did this week was decorating the Christmas Tree on Sunday. If you look at the tree you can see that it truly was a creative effort by all the kids as Jed and I handed out the ornaments and the kids went crazy. Claire has been having a lot of fun un-decorating the tree ever since.I am planning on not doing as many projects this season and just enjoy doing our usual family traditions around Christmas. For the most part "Creative Tuesdays" will be withheld until the new year. You can still submit ideas, inspiration and your projects and I will post them, as I receive them.
Last night we did have the cloth candy cane sweatshop working overtime, as Isaac's economics project was due today. They didn't turn out too bad and I think he enjoyed doing it. We will see how the fair goes on Thursday.