Funnies



......May be this is next on the phone when you call the tax department.

.......Make someones day and be grateful.

.....Have a day with a child they will make you feel young again. 

.......Be a kid today!

.......And rememebr what it was like when you were a kid.

My daughter leaves this week to university.  She is going to be 6 hours away by car and I am going to miss her so much.  I just hope that I have taught her enough and given her enough skills so she can survive. 

It is a funny feeling to let a child leave the nest.  So much time is invested in this amazing person  My life has been so much part of hers for 18 years  and now within 1 day she will be more independent and not in my life each day.  Part of me is celebrating her Independence and part of me wants to go back to when she was 2 and I was the centre of her world.  Life is like that though.  Life moves on whether I want to too or even if I am ready too.  It sometimes seems to to go so fast and other times slower that I think it can be possible. 

What do I want her to do?

• Eat well
• Wash your clothes
• Clean up after yourself so you don't get swamped down.
• Love
• Laugh
• Have fun
• Look after yourself first so you can give to others
• Be nice
• Serve others
• Work hard
• Go to church

If I could tell her anything I would say

• Be kind and thoughtful
• Be patient
• Have good integrity
• Remember you are a child of God
• Remember God is always there for you and he loves you
• Be proud of your name and wear it well
• Always stand up for what you believe in
• Be careful and give trust away when it has been earned
• Enjoy being you

In reality I will probably just tell her that I love her and hope all those lessons I have taught her in the last 18 years will already be cemented in her heart.  I need to trust that she already knows these things and will do herself proud.  Boy this is such a hard thing to do but I know I will survive.  I have done it once already and I made it to the next day in one piece.

Time flies

I am sitting here contemplating where this year has gone.  It seems only yesterday that it was last Christmas and it is here again.  The last 2 weeks have gone by in a blur too.  We have had so much happening, a few dramas and very little blogging.

 I spent last week at school camp.  It was fantastic and I had a blast but it meant very little time doing anything to do with art. The kids were amazing and we had a lot of fun.  I did an art group on one of the days.  I had the kids make a bridge they could stand on out of newspaper and string.  It was a great activity and they did very well.  Most of them got the bridges to work. 

I left a long list of things to do at home while I was away as I had 25 people to dinner on Sunday. When I got home I had a wonderful surprise to find it was mostly completed. They had worked so hard.  I felt so supported and loved.  It was such a relief to know that I had only minor stuff to prepare for Sunday night.  The evening was wonderful.  We had a beautiful meal, shared gifts,  sang carols and spent sometime sharing the wonderful things that had happened to each of us during the year.  I was touched to hear some of the children's expressions of gratitude.  Simple and profound....I am grateful for family,  my friends,  that I have a mum who loves me and that I achieved my highest grades this year.  It was a really special family moment that I wish I had recorded in someway. 

My Beautiful Treasures



They all grow up so fast and these moments seem to melt away into far distance memories.  I found this song by Taylor swift on YouTube about this.  It bought many tears to my eyes as I lose a child to University next year and have another one only home from university for a short time until she finds work. When my children where small it felt like they would never grow out of nappies now it feels like the time has just disappeared into a puff of smoke. I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ZDbFxAtNNnU

I am trying to value every moment more so this means sometimes that I have to re prioritise my life to make sure I give value to these important moments in my life.  My art will always still be a huge part of my life but for the past 2 weeks it has had to take a back seat to my family and there special and precious moments. 

Literature and movie review

Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

Written by Anne Frank

This is one of those books that changed my life forever.  I read this first when I was a child just going into double digits.  I have re read this book another few times since and watched a film on this story and a documentary and it even after all that time I still bawl at the end.  

This story is about a young Jewish girl who lived during World War 2.  Her and her family hide in a secret part of a house so they will not be found by the Nazi's.  This book is Anne's diary,  her memories and thoughts during this terrible ordeal.  It is beautifully written and reminds the reader that there are wonderful people in this world who love and look after each other through terrible times and that the human spirit can conquer all. 

I found this review written by a 9 year old which describes this story better than any adult could.  I would like to share this with you today.



Reviewed by Gabriel (age 9)

Have you ever felt scared out of your mind? If you have, you’ll understand how Anne Frank felt living a life in hiding. This book is about a 13 year old girl who is hiding from the Nazis. Anne and her family live in a secret Annex. She lives in there because she is a Jew and does not want to get caught by the Nazis. You find your way into the attic by pulling a book out of a book shelf which leads to a secret passage way. The Dutch police find out that Anne and her family are hiding. The Dutch police go to the office building and force one of the workers to tell them where Anne's family is hiding. They are caught and are sent to concentration camps. Do you think Anne’s family survives? You need to read this book to find out.

I felt sad reading this book, but I am glad I read it. I did not like that Anne was sent to the concentration camp. I felt nervous and frightened when she was caught. I really liked the characters who helped Anne in the secret Annex, it made me feel hopeful that people can be kind. My favorite part is when Anne Frank’s Diary is published in 1947, because now I have a window into the life of a real person who lived through this period of time during WWII.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes to read biographies, history and about heroes like Anne Frank. Without her diary we would not know what life was like for a Jewish family in hiding during the holocaust.

Gabriel is a student in Mrs. Diglio's 3rd Grade Class
2009-2010

Spaghetti^® Book Club

I would like to add my recommendation to Gabriel C's too.  A wonderful story well worth finding and reading.  Appropriate fro 10 years and up.

Inspiration Saturday

This wonderful story has really helped me see my life in a different way.  I hope you love it as much as me

One Grocery Store's Most Important Employee....Boy With Down Syndrome

• --by Barbara Glanz I always leave my telephone number and e-mail address with audiences, encouraging them to call me if they have questions or want to share a success story they experienced by adding a personal signature to their work. About a month after I had spoken to the supermarket folks I received a call from a front-line customer contact person, a nineteen-year-old baggerThe caller, who proudly informed me that he was a Down syndrome youngster, told me his story. "Barbara, I liked what you talked about!" Johnny said excitedly, "but I didn't think I could do anything special for our customers... After all, I'm just a bagger. He decided that every night when he came home from work, he would find a thought for the day. "If I can't find a saying I like," Johnny said proudly, "I think one up!" With the help of his dad, he copied and cut out each quote of the day. "When I finished bagging someone's groceries, I put my thought for the day in their bag and say, 'Thanks for shopping with us.'"

  A month later the store manager called me. He told me... "When I was making my rounds, I found the line at Johnny's checkout was three times longer than anyone else's! It went all the way down the frozen food isle. I was concerned, so I announced 'Get more cashiers out here; get more lanes open!' all the while trying to get these people to change lanes. But no one would move. They all said, "No, it's okay - we want to be in Johnny's lane - we want his 'Thought for the Day.'"

  Johnny's spirit of service transformed that store. The manager later called and told me how each of his departments was coming up with their own personal touch and all because of one young man with Down syndrome who decided he could make a difference!
  http://kleerstreem.posterous.com/one-grocery-stores-most-important-employeeboy

I have chosen to find at least one person at the supermarket each week and to tell them they look beautiful.  My children have started to copy me too.  I can make a difference in this one small way.

How can you make a difference today!!

Literature and movie review

The most treasured of all our families pictures books in our home are the Hairy Maclary series written and illustrated by New Zealand author Lynley Dodd.  She is a master of rhyme and humor and brilliant artist.   My children know many of books off by heart and truly love the books.  Childhood reading is so important because it feeds imagination and shapes our lives.  Dodd captures the child's imagination beautifully through the written language and gorgeous pictures.

12 book have been written about this wee little dog and 9 about his friends.  The first book Hairy Maclary at Donadlson's Dairy introduces the reader to a group of dogs who feature in a lot of her books.  This book is  all about their romps and play.  The other books build on this.  They are witty and are a pleasure to read for adults too.

I would recommend them for children 3 years and older.  Even my pre teens love them, although they they wouldn't want any one to know.  Zachary quack is my favourite one.  It is all about and annoying little baby bird that follows Hairy Maclary every where.  He tries really hard to get rid of the bird but can't succeed.  Finally Hairy maclary goes into a pond but he gets stuck and who saves him?.....the little bird.  It ends with the two of them tucked up in bed fast asleep. 

Just magical books and lovely books.

Stages of life

Life goes around in stages.  Our children have stages and so do adults.  I think this is one of the reasons our house has so many clashes in it.  Friction is bound to arise when you have a mother with PMT and a 3 year old on the scene. 

At one point we had 2 teenage girls at 14 and 16,  a preen teen girl, (all hormonal!)  6 year old and a 3 year old all at the same time.  It was not good planning on our behalf!!.  All 5 children all went through very challenging stages all at the same time.  Add to this me with PMT and depression and dad with long working hours you can just imagine the strain that created in our home.  It was hard work but I made it though the other end alive and an added bonus was all the children were alive too : )

A few things helped

• Believing in myself.  Realising I could do this.
• Prioritising time for me.
• Seeking medical help for my depression
• Remembering these stages would pass and change.  
• That I couldn't do everything on my own.  It takes a village to raise a child!
• That stages in life are part of how we learn and grow

And remembering if all else fails a chocolate bar fixes everything : )

Pressure

When I look around me there is so much pressure to be something no one actually can be.  There is  falseness in advertising,  photos and the front people put on for show.  So many women end up feeling like they don't measure up to anything. 

One of my 'favourites' is an advertising campaign by a nappy/diaper company  There is this beautiful, slim, tall, well groomed woman crawling around on a perfectly clean floor with her baby. The baby is clean,  cute,  has no rashes and giggling delightfully at everything the woman does.  The woman has no marks on her knees when she stands,  no bags under her eyes and no greys in the hair.  She is only about 20 and never had a baby. You get the picture. 

I have had a few moments like this with the baby giggling cutely but it usually followed by a drained looking mother with bags under eyes,  stains down her t-shirt, and hair combed 7 hours ago in thin strands around the face.   For many years I felt I never measured up.  Then the light bulb dropped for me.  We can't be like this all the time (or none of the time)  because this isn't real.  I was measuring myself up to an ideal that was non existent.  I couldn't look like that with a baby and my babies could never look like that as they all had reflux and were permanently in bibs and rashy from being wet all the time.  I wasn't a failure I was a normal mum just like all the other normal mums out there.  I was doing my best.  My best was a happy baby and a mum that slept when baby slept (but still looked tired)  I never could achieve a perfectly clean house (actually getting the dishes done some days was a miracle)  or be perfectly groomed everyday as that was completely unrealistic and this was totally O.K. 

My best is all that I need to worry about.  Not someone elses best and that is all that really matters.

Hello and welcome

This is a start of a new blog one that values families,  mothers and their children. 

So to introduce myself .... My name is Catherine Parkinson and I am a stay at home mum of 5 wonderful children.  I have 3 daughters aged 19, 17 and 14 and 2 boys aged 10 and 7.  They are all wonderful and beautiful and very unique.  I have been married for 20 years to Philip, an amazing father and husband.  I am a fabric artist (see my blog at http://catherineparkinson.blogspot.com/ for work that I create)  a primary teacher (elementary school-I only do occasional relieving)  and a general maid :)  to all those who live with me.  Life is hectic,  tiring,  exhausting and sometimes fun! 

So welcome and come on in.  Please feel free to comment on posts, discuss topics of interest and invite others to join us. The more input we have the more we can get out of our discussions.

Let us value our important jobs and love the lives we lead.