Perfectly Messy Painting!

Late Night Brainstorm

Last night, after we got home from a long trip there and back to Frankfort in the snow, the kids were kind of restless. They were playing catch and Disney Infinity and then all of a sudden they weren't. It was a moment of realizing we were going to have to figure out what to do and quick. I had just heard a presentation at work about letting kids play and explore and learn to really navigate the world. I've been thinking about painting at home because we haven't done it in a long time and I realized the time was now.

As soon as I said paints, the boys were upstairs and trying to grab paints off of the shelf. We grabbed paints, brushes, paper and carried everything downstairs to the kitchen table. 

First things first - shirts off! My friend Krystie taught me that. It's much easier to clean paint off of skin than off of clothes. I barely had the words out of my mouth and they had their shirts off. I was happy, they were happy. Total win.

Getting Messy

In my experience, most kids love to get messy and these two dudes are not the exception. It didn't take long before Danny had his hands in the paint and Jordan wanted to follow suit. These kids just crack me up. They are such a blast! In the end, we had fun, we learned about not touching anything on the way to the bathroom, we practiced scrubbing with soap to get paint off of our bodies, and we made some great art. I love to see them concentrating and creating.

Danner D

Jordan a

The Brothers

Adding a Background to His Snake

A Mess!

Hooray for Art

I'm so glad we got the paints out! It was so nice that they could spend time being creative together. They were focused and engaged and it was probably the easiest night we've had in a while. Wrangling two boys, keeping them busy and happy with each other, isn't easy at this age. But last night was awesome. Jordan said, "We don't get to paint much at home." And he was so right. Since we got new floors and Danny was born, we don't paint nearly as much as we used to. It's time to change that. I love arts and crafts and being creative. I'm going to plan more painting and more other types of art and craft activities. Just like coming back to blogging feels great, so does the idea of doing more art with the kids. I've always loved being creative and making things. I look around our house and see the photos we have up, the collages I have made, our Color Me Mine painted pottery, our Knufflebunny inspired photo-drawings and it all makes me smile. Our house definitely feels like a home because of all of these pieces and I'm so looking forward to adding more of our personalities to our home.

Take care and talk soon!

It's Time for a Come Back!

Back To Blogging
It's been a little over a year since I last posted anything here at From My Front Porch Looking In! With my new job, things have been busier than ever...and somewhat overwhelming lately as we try to manage all the things. What that also means is that I've been thinking even more about life and celebrating how awesome my life is. All this thinking has reminded me how much I loved sharing personal stories and revelations when I blogged here.

Life is truly amazing. It's this wonderful gift that we have been given to make the most of. I go to bed every night thankful for all the wonderful people in my life and all the great opportunities I have to be the best me, to help others, to make a contribution to this wildly spinning world. I wake up every morning thankful for another chance to make this new day better than the last. It's not always easy but I know I've got it better than a lot of people and for that I'm very thankful.

Capturing life through pictures and sharing stories for myself and with others is what I really love about blogging. I have a pretty great record of Jordan's first few years of life but not so much since Danny was born. Ugh, I can't go back in time but I can go back to blogging here going forward. It's so nice that this little space has been waiting for me. While I don't have much time for blogging but I do have some time blogging. And that will have to be enough. We always make time for what's important, right? And this is important. It doesn't mean I won't need a little nudge here and again, so if you don't see me here, feel free to nag me!

That Was Then
Yup, this picture was from 2008 and one of my first posts here when Jordan wasn't even 1 year old yet! Look at our little family! I remember those little slipper-type shoes he used to wear. We were at Chad's school for a roller-skating party and we pushed Jordan around in his stroller.

This Is Now

So...today! Today we set off for Frankfort, Illinois, a place none of us had ever been, to meet Jordan Lynch, former quarterback for the NIU Huskies. Chad and I met when we lived across the hall from each other in the residence halls at Northern Illinois University. It's crazy to think it's been almost 15 years since we first met there in the fall of 1999. Sheesh. Look at our family now? Jordan is 6 1/2 and Danny is 3 1/2. Our little guys are so much fun.

I have to say, it's good to be back! Sharing stories of my family is a great way of celebrating and it feels great. It seems like a blogging goal or commitment would make sense about now. I think I'll shoot for once a week. If I can at least get here once a week and share a reflection of the week, I think that would be great. Who knows, maybe it'll be more, but once a week sounds good for now. 

Take care and talk soon!

2012 Un-Boring Revisited

I'm revisiting my 2012 Un-Boring List so I can reveal my 2013 Un-Boring List! I loved so much about 2012! Looking back at these pictures and the fun we had is nice...but it only captures some of the adventures of this year. Which makes me realize I need to get back to blogging here...making a note to add that at the top of my 2013 Un-Boring List.

What s the Un-Boring list all about? Here's a review: My friend, Alison, declared 2011 a year of fun and created an un-boring list for herself. When I visited her in August of 2011 in Boston, I got to witness her cross off glassblowing from her list. There is something really cool about actively deciding to take hold of your life and make it fun. Since high school, I have been a very reflective person. Everyday, I take time to think about what I love about life and what I am so grateful for. I decided  to take Alison's lead and to make an Un-Boring List of my own for 2012

Alison and I in Boston, August 2011

Here's a recap of my 2012 list:

#1 - Go on a cruise *check*

#2 - Take French lessons - not accomplished

#3 - Go on a Segway tour *check*

#4 - Visit a butterfly garden *check*

#5 - Host a book swap
*kind of accomplished - we did a holiday book swap at work - although it wasn't really my idea - not accomplished after all*

#6 – Go to Mall of America *check*

#7 – Go to a Bulls game *check*

#8 – Picnic and play at Michigan Dunes - not accomplished
*but we did go to Kids Read Comics in Michigan...*

#9 – Makeover an old bridesmaid dress *check*
I fancied up my Maid of Honor dress from my sister's wedding...totally forgot to take pictures though!

#10 – Make a pie *check*

 

#11 – Grow herbs and a tomato plant *check*
(well...some little critter ate my herbs but hooray tomatoes!*

#12 – Volunteer for Sophia’s Heart - not accomplished

Yay for a year of fun! I'm looking forward to more fun in 2013!

Slice of Life - My New and Improved Writing Life

Slice of Life is sponsored every Tuesday by Stacey and Ruth from Two Writing Teachers. 

It has only been two days, but I feel so much rejuvenated when it comes to writing! I am excited to write!

I vowed after the month-long Slice of Life Challenge to keep writing but to change my writing. Instead of spending my Slice of Life posts writing, I'm going to write for myself and work on my book but here write about how it's going in my life as a writer.

To be honest, I haven't written much in the last few days. Today what I did do was some planning. During my lunch, I grabbed my folder with all of my notes for my book. I have a lot of ideas but I haven't been able to figure out how to really plan things so it will come together right. I have a few different storylines going and I needed to get things straight in my head. Before I was just writing and writing and not worrying about things were going to come together eventually.

I already had a bunch of mini-sticky notes with little events written on them on a piece of paper. I decided I needed a bigger piece of paper. This is where it would be awesome to have an awesome or even a little space just for writing. A space where I could lay things out or slap things on the wall and not have to pack it up. I taped two pieces of paper together and then had more space to spread out my sticky notes. I noticed where I needed to add in a few events and some I decided not to include. I was able to see how things might go in order and actually move from beginning to end.

Seriously, I feel so much better about my writing. I am really excited now to write. Now I feel like I can  set little goals for myself and feel like I am moving towards something. I can tell myself to write one of the sticky notes by a certain day, and go on like that for a while and then worry about fitting them all together later. Even though I didn't write anything, I feel like I really accomplished something today.

When I opened my WIP, I saw that I have 55 pages...I have no idea what I was able to write 55 pages about since I don't really know what I'm writing. I'll have to worry about it being too much or not enough later. Right now, I'm just going to write! I'll check back in next week and let you know how I'm doing!

What does your writing life look like now that the March Slice of Life is over?

Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic For The Win!

There has been an insane amount of buzz this week about Hunger Games now that the movie is out. Can I please say that I read Hunger Games in November of 2009 so I read it a long time ago. Before talk of a movie, thank you very much. (I have seen the movie twice already and loved it both times, by the way!)

Kellee has been talking about the difference between the genres of dystopian and post-apocalyptic over at our teacher blog. There have been all sorts of guest posts about this genre and today bloggers can share their own views and link up. Since I haven't had a chance to share my own thoughts yet, I thought I would share it here and then link up myself! (Is it weird to link up to my own blog...oh well!)

The genre of dystopian seems to have taken over in books and in movies. I'm not sure it has truly taken over but it has become more and more prevalent in both formats. I love reading The Giver by Lois Lowry with students and talking to them about Jonah and the world he lives in. I love asking them about what they think about his world and sharing how horrible their world is. Most of the time, when students read that book, it is their first foray into the world of dystopian. The students I have read it with don't seem to be outraged at how Jonah is controlled and how people are controlled. I find myself having to be outraged and asking them if they would like that and coaxing them into realizing his world is not all it's cracked up to be.

I think these kind of worlds that authors create that have some semblance of the world we live in fall into the genre of dystopian. For kids it's sometimes tricky to see what differences there are from our world to the world in the book because so much overlaps. Once they do realize what is different though, I think this genre has the ability to let readers see how close we might be to changing laws and making decisions that could ultimately lead us to these dystopic worlds. They seem farfetched but at the same time plausible. It freaks me out sometimes when a dystopic book makes me look closely at the world we are currently living in and how things are far from perfect.

Before spring break I was talking about slang with a student of mine and told him about the book A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. I haven't heard people talk about this book recently but it's a book I read in my British Literature class in high school and it has stuck with me since then. This book is a classic case of dystopia in my mind. It's such a perfect example of someone somewhere thinking an idea might actually work out great and then seeing the repercussions of this grand thought. I read it my senior year in high school and it is a super graphic book so I would recommend it to mature teens or adults. It is amazing what Anthony Burgess does with words and how he causes the reader to really assess the world we live in and the decisions we make.

I think I saw Oprah interview Cormac McCarthy and discuss The Road....but I don't remember them really talking about what the book was about. So, of course, the book lover that I am, who wants to read books others people are talking about, apparently, even Oprah, read the book. This book is so haunting and so incredibly sad and scary and spooky and gloomy. It's really depressing. It's definitely hardcore post-apocalyptic if you ask me. Something has happened to the world, we have no idea what. There's a guy and a boy walking. They just walk and walk and try to make it to where they are walking to even though we have no idea where they are going and they really have no idea where they are going. And they encounter lots of sad and scary things along the way. If it wasn't bad enough, the ending doesn't really redeem the whole book even. By the end, I felt like I read the whole book just to feel maybe a teeny tiny hint of hope but you really get no answers. This book is what I would consider textbook post-apocalyptic because it's after the almost-end of the world and there is really little hope of survival, but the human spirit will not give up! I'm glad it's not really a happy ending and I'm glad it is all gloom and doom because that's the essence of the genre after all. It kind of has to be that way. It's not the type of book I enjoy reading at all. McCarthy did an amazing job of writing this book. If I were him, I think I would need therapy after throwing myself into trying to write the world his character's live in. It really made me stop and think about what I can do to be more green in hopes of not seeing the world come to this in my lifetime...or any soon-to-be lifetimes even. You don't want our world to come to this, it sucks.

In our world, I do seem to notice more and more that people take things for granted. Especially, people who have jobs and access to toys and gadgets. Have you noticed the #firstworldproblems hashtag on Twitter? It's a joke but it's also pretty depressing. People will complain about something - usually a problem with their technology not working - and then add the hashtag. At least they realize that the problem they are having is a luxury to some people around the world, but at the same time, it's sad that there is such discrepancy in the lives that people are living around the world.

I'm glad the genres of dystopian and post-apocalyptic books seem to be expanding. I hope it makes readers - especially young adult readers - stop and look at the world they live in and live more consciously. I hope they think about the actions they are taking: the things they buy, the places they go, the thing they eat, how they treat others. Maybe they'll start to realize they need to pay attention to voting and who is making decisions in government for them. If anything, these books show us that one person can make a difference. Lots of people supporting that one person hoping to make a difference can truly make a difference. Our world isn't perfect but there are some great things worth standing up for.