My friend Carissa and I first posted this video as part of our entry in the HP Magic Giveaway contest. I wanted to post it again for Mother's Day as a reminder of how amazing you mothers are. You give life. You comfort and take pride in your children. You lead the way, teach, share, and love. And you do all this on the good and the not-so-good days—while balancing your many roles and figuring out the secrets of motherhood success all without a guidebook. You rise above life's challenges with resiliency and determination, committed to do it all over again day in and day out because of an absolute love for your family. And, as evidenced by the many kind acts of service you've performed, you also take on your role of motherhood while serving others. In short, you are changing the world one mom at a time, starting with yourself, while focusing on your family, as well as extending your reach to your community and beyond.
When we think of magic, we think of something appearing out of "nothing." A rabbit from a hat. A bunch of flowers from a shirt sleeve. Or a quarter from an empty hand. We also think of women that give their all—even when their all feels like nothing or they have limited resources—to raise their children—our future leaders, teachers, and our children's future spouses.
This December, HP is redefining magic by making a very big something appear not out of nothing, but out of the goodness of its heart. It has bestowed its magic wand on these amazing bloggers—Firemom from Stop, Drop, and Blog (left), Sugar Jones from Living in Theory (below right) Merlot Mom (below left), and SlashGear (bottom)—for help in spreading a little HP fairy dust, if you will. More specifically, these folks are holding contests and will be awarding one lucky lass or lad each with $6000 worth of amazing HP product. Because this holiday season is all about sharing, Mommy Gossip—GNO would love to take a turn with the Magic wand to sprinkle a little HP fairy dust.
At Mommy Gossip—GNO, our goal is to change the world one mom at a time. Our mission is simple: to help moms improve their lives and achieve personal and professional success so they can, in turn, better their families, better the community around them, and ultimately, better the world. This change can start with just one mom. But why help just one mom when we could help four? Four women in our community—moms with generous hearts, giving spirits, but limited resources and/or significant challenges. Just imagine the ripple effect these women could produce if they had a little magic.
We are dazzled by the magical women in our online community. We see SAHMs, WAHMs, WMs, and every other mom-related acronym balance on the personal/professional tight rope. Many of these women have disabilities, are supporting children with disabilities, have little family and/or financial support, and are facing many other types of challenges. We hear of their struggles to gain an education; give their businesses a go; and do it all while battling infertility, raising their children, and keeping their chins up. We are humbled to watch them line up to volunteer for our fundraisers. We are overcome with their contagious positive attitudes. We are amazed to hear the random acts of kindness they are performing this season to spread holiday cheer. And, we are motivated as we watch them network to find solutions to their situations.
If Mommy Gossip—GNO got to take a turn with the Magic wand, we'd sprinkle a little HP fairy dust on four GNO Gals—women like those you see in the video or like those described above—women in our midst that need a little HP Magic to better themselves so they can, in turn, better their families, and ultimately better their communities and the world. We feel that generations of children impacted by a mother's success would be the most magical miracle of all.
Note: We have chosen not to divulge the names and situations of these women here, because if we win the contest, we'd love the gifts to be a surprise!
Red Rover and Chatter Box are two of my heroes that I am super grateful for!
Let me tell you a little bit about each of them.
Red Rover
redadj. The color of his hair. This 7-year-old tender-hearted child has red hair the color of his maternal grandmother's.
rovernoun A boy who roams and wanders. Without permission or fear, the young rover takes his sidekick the bike and roams the neighborhood, freaking out his parents on a weekly basis.
This is my favorite story of our very literal Red Rover:
Red Rover was dying for a treat from the vending machine. Must have sugar now! T-Daddy acquiesces, hands him a crisp $1 bill, and sends him off down the hall. When our oldest boy wonder doesn't return, T-Daddy begins his search and rescue operation. He quickly locates his firstborn son, standing smack dab in front of the vending machine, holding the dollar bill out, with his head back, chin lifted, and eyes fixed on the ceiling tiles.
"Nothing, dad. Just following the rules. It said 'face up'."
Chatter Box
chatteradj. The movement his mouth makes nearly 100% of the time. This 5-year-old creative, funny child loves to chatter on about anything and everything.
boxnoun A square container. This clever kid thinks outside the box, coming up with clever ways to make paper airplanes, rocket ships, and other gadgets.
This is my favorite story of our enthusiastic Chatter Box:
Sometime in the summer of 2007, Chatter Box determined he was no longer a boy. Green power flowed through his veins—or shell, or whatever turtles have—and he was transformed into a Ninja Turtle. Not only that, but his entire family—dog included, according to him—are now all powerful and committed in the fight against Shredder.
T-Daddy is worried that Leo—our son formerly known as Chatter Box—has taken his new identity one step too far. One day when I was putting on makeup, Leo asked me if he could put some on too. I told him boys don't normally wear makeup to which he replied: "Well, you are Donny (Donatello the Ninja Turtle) and you are a boy and you wear makeup, so why can't I?" How do you refuse that? But now, he has taken it to a new extreme. When we ask him to put on his pajamas and get ready for bed, his immediate reply is: "Ninja Turtles don't wear pajamas." Apparently, they don't have hair that needs cutting or rooms that need cleaning or a lot of other things that normal boys wouldn't really find fun.
Red Rover—who now goes by Raph (Raphael)—is totally on board and has even started correcting us when we slip up and call Leo by his given name. And, now that we have moved, people look at me weird if I say anything about Chatter Box. I actually had a neighbor who replied by asking, "Do you mean Leo?" I cracked up:).
Soooo... if you have any adversary in your life, please feel free to come to the source that will be your true protection—the Utah Ninja Turtles!
On with the Halloween-themed posts. I've already covered bats and vampires, both topics being a bit on the scary side (unless you are an Edward lover). So... I thought today's post could be about something more friendly—like pumpkins. So, enjoy a little orangey goodness from these pics!
Our garden produced 36 pumpkins this year. Remember, this is the garden we didn't plant, water, weed, or attend to whatsoever. So... the garden gets all the credit for these babies while we simply get to enjoy them in their many varieties of size, shape, and color!
Gardner Historic Village not only had a plethora of witches milling about. It also provided plenty o' pumpkins to snap pics in front of. Of course, my favorite variety were the pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies. But, didn't get a picture of those. I couldn't wait to eat 'em! Yummmmmmy!
And, here is Red Rover and Chatter Box, done with their sugar cookies and beyond tired of all the picture taking—beautiful pumpkins or not.
Happy Halloween!
Remember: Visit my sister site at Mommy Gossip—GNO where we are posting about all things Twilight this week. Sign up to have one of your Twilight-related blog posts featured.
While browsing around Twitter Moms, I noticed and later joined a group called Raising Kids With Conscience. The group's description states:
This is a group for moms who want to raise GIVING kids. We want to inspire our children to think outside themselves: give to their communities, the planet, and others.
How can we help our kids identify service/giving opportunities?
One idea I have is to keep a service journal/blog that records ideas for giving back, feelings about service opportunities and experiences, and the impact of that service.
What are your ideas?
Here are just a few from today's comments. In addition to giving great feedback, these gals have awesome blogs. Go check them out!
One thing we do, while teaching the value of money at the same time, is the three jars for money. Everytime they get money for chores, etc. they split it into three jars: save, spend, give. The give jar is usually given to church, but we allow them to give where they see fit.
we've decided to make Christmas cookies for all our neighboors this year, as well as the elderly people in their great-grandparent's apartment building
We bring items to our local SPCA once a month to donate to the kitties & doggies (my daughter's words). The love picking out little treats at the Dollar Store and then giving them to the animals at the shelter.
growing up my mom made us go at thanksgivng and christmas and work in homeless shelter and soup kitchens and church dining hall to help out people who were less fortunate that us. we served food, cleaned tables and helped people. also my parents took $ from our christmas budget every year and adopted a family. we always adopted a family with children our ages. so we got to go shopping and pick out toys, coats, socks, clotes etc. for needy families and children our own ages. it was very humbeling and you had better bet i will have my little man right there with me when he is old enough to help!
Each year for my daughter's birthday, we pick a charity of some sort to collect for in lieu of more gifts she doesn't really need. (We get her a few things & inevitably a few other relatives do too, but it's not a crazy gift-fest.) This year was collecting for Operation Christmas Child; last year was collecting for the pet rescue where we had recently adopted our dog.
I've joined Angie and crowd for Wordful Wednesday. Come and join in on the fun!
This gossiping gal dishes out the delights and the dysfunction of motherhood, chitting and chatting about everything from love to marriage to the baby carriage and beyond. Cozy up for some candid conversation about life's lemons as well as the lemonade. This is one journey that is both sweet and sour, baby! Hope you'll join me for the ride.
(Picture of me, my sisters, my son, and my neice)
My friend Carissa and I first posted this video as part of our entry in the HP Magic Giveaway contest. I wanted to post it again for Mother's Day as a reminder of how amazing you mothers are. You give life. You comfort and take pride in your children. You lead the way, teach, share, and love. And you do all this on the good and the not-so-good days—while balancing your many roles and figuring out the secrets of motherhood success all without a guidebook. You rise above life's challenges with resiliency and determination, committed to do it all over again day in and day out because of an absolute love for your family. And, as evidenced by the many kind acts of service you've performed, you also take on your role of motherhood while serving others. In short, you are changing the world one mom at a time, starting with yourself, while focusing on your family, as well as extending your reach to your community and beyond.
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