Our Week in Pictures: Vacation Edition!

Hi friends!

Wow! It's been a really long time since I've done one of these! I promise, I'm not about to bombard you with a month's worth of Instagram. Just the last week or so!

So, here it is. Our Week (and a half) in Pictures: Vacation Edition!

We took our feisty red-head to see the movie about a feisty red-head. It was fantastic, if you're wondering.

We had a little pre-vacation GNO with my friend Emilie.

Beach vacations require pretty toes. It's the law.

Stocking up on snacks for the trip. God bless Trader Joe's and their mini carts!

How cute is this house?! For real.

This could be my favorite thing in life.

Some storms rolled in and did a whole lot of...nothing! We need RAIN!

[insert lame blogger moment]

We had Matt's 10 year HS reunion, and I got exactly 1 IG pic...that's too dark to see. Lame.

This is what toddlers look like after days spent playing with new friends. This was about 2 minutes after we got into the car.

Homework on vacation: lame

FINISHED homework on vacation: less lame

Running errands with my Sis-in-law

All dressed up and patriotic-like. 

p.s. I think everyone who owns this skirt, wore it on Wednesday! I know Chrissy did!

Also a favorite thing to do. Are we noticing a pattern?

We made some fireworks of the paint variety

and the pipe-cleaner variety!

long, late afternoon, good-thing-because-the-fireworks-will-keep-you-up-til-11 naps were taken

The best thing about not being the driver? Back seat scrapbooking. Woot!

Ugh...post vacation laundry. Where's the laundry fairy when you need her?

Next on WIWW: Monkey towels and ladybug boots. It's the next big thing.

My little Merida

OK, that's all the fun! If you're on Instagram and want to follow me go right ahead! @heather_kate

Be blessed!

Heather

I'm linking up with Jeannett (who's having a baby on Wednesday! woohoo!)

Character Building with #readforgood

Hi friends!

Did you all have a great holiday? Well, all you Americans and Canadians, anyway. Do I have any international readers??

Are you guys following along with the Read For Good Readathon at MeMeTales? We are and we are loving it! This is probably Abbey's favorite app on my phone.

This week's theme is Character Building, and the books are, as always, wonderful. Our favorite is Good Habits to Have.

It talks about all sorts of good character traits like honesty, kindness, and perserverence.

Another great one is Ditto the Butterfly, which is about eating a variety of foods. 

Yeah....we're going to be reading that one a LOT!

One character trait we've been working hard on here in the Long household is obedience. Abbey turned 3, realized that she forgot the Terrible Two's and is making up for lost time. "No" is way too popular right now over here!

One thing we've been talking about a lot lately is being part of the household. This comes with things like chores and helping around the house. Abbey has had a few jobs for a while now, but I decided to make them a bit more official. 

So, I made her this:

Her very own chore chart! It's simple, she can understand the pictures, and it lives right on our fridge. 

What are Abbey's Jobs?

1) Feed the dog. We fill the bowl, she sets it out

2) Silverware. We give her the basket of clean silverware from the dishwasher and sorts it into the silverware caddy

3) Laundry. Old clothes go in the hamper whenever she gets dressed. She helps put laundry away when it's clean.

We're running low on ink, so I think I might send it out to be printed at Kinko's, but for now this one works. 

It's amazing how motivating a smiley face can be! Now, for these jobs at least, a smiley is probably all she will get. I'm a firm believer in the idea that some jobs you just do because you are a member of the household and that's how things work. As she gets older there will be other things she can do to earn rewards/money/allowance.

Want to make your own super cute chore chart? Here's what I used. All of these products can be used in Photoshop programs, as well as other digital scrapbooking software!

The chart itself is from Chore Templates by Scrapping with Liz

Then I filled in in with A Life Expressed....Colorfully by SuzyQ Scraps

The chore felties come from these kits by Chelle's Creations

Spic n Span

Fetch

Sunnyside Up

Be blessed!

Heather

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July!

Free printable available at Landee See, Landee Do

Oh say, can you see?

Hi friends!

My sweet friend, Kate, is here to share a story with you today. Enjoy!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two Julys ago, shortly after we moved to rural Alabama (#thingsIneverthoughtI’dsay) we took our daughter Madeline to see the fireworks.  She was two years old at the time.

Madeline is special for a lot of reasons, but one of them is that she was born blind.

We found out when she was four months old.

(Our story starts here, and continues here and here .)

Since we received Madeline’s diagnosis in 2008, we’ve been waiting for the day that she can tell us what she can see.  Light? Shadows? Shapes? Colors? Big things? Bright things? Close things?

These were questions that only Madeline could answer.  You would think that with all the advances in modern medicine that there would be some kind of test to run – but there isn’t.  The only way to know what the world looks like to Madeline is to ask her.

(I now know that this is the case for every child.  Vision loss simply served to make it very prominent and literal for us.  One of the lessons we’ve learned through this adventure is: ask your children how they see the world – then listen to them.)

On the Fourth of July, 2010, we took a very chatty, verbal (read: never shuts up!) two-year-old Madeline to see the fireworks.  We underestimated traffic in the most serious way and ended up watching from the side of a highway, next to some fellow Alabamians who were coolin’ it in the bed of their pickup truck on the exit ramp.  We keep it classy down here, folks.

We shot a video that has become one of my family favorites (that’s saying a lot, because it’s hard to beat the face my cat made when he hung himself in our living room curtains).  In this little 2 minute video, Madeline tells us about fireworks in her own words.  PRE-CIOUS.

Take a look:

My favorite part is when she says they’re going off and on, like clapping.  She had no experience with lights going off and on, or TVs going off and on, but she understood sound.  When you clap, there is a sound – then it’s gone –a sound – then it’s gone – a sound – then it’s gone.   Just like fireworks.  Watching her mind work; it’s amazing.

Wishing you all a magical 4^th!
much love,
Kate

(For any of you know kids with special needs: fireworks are a great multi-sensory experience!  You can hear them, smell them, feel them, and see them!  There is super high-contrast (bright lights in the pitch-black sky) - so even people with low vision can enjoy them in a lot of ways.  If your child has sensory issues, don’t forget the earplugs!)

Kate Elizabeth Conner is a writer, speaker, and first generation southerner who spends her days learning braille, counseling teenagers via text message, and adjusting to life in rural Alabama. Kate writes at http://kateelizabethconner.com/ about surviving parenthood, teenagers, and her twenties with her faith and sense of humor intact. She believes in music and coffee and prose–and in all the world, nothing has taken hold of her like Christ.