Thursday, February 20, 2020

7 Questions



Y'all never cease to surprise me with your awesome questions.  Will we ever run out?!?!  Here we go with seven more today!



I've thought about this many many times BUT I just never feel like myself without bangs.  I  blame this on having bangs since I was a toddler...


My hair was SUPER curly as a baby/toddler and then as it straightened out my mom gave me bangs and I have just never looked back :)  Also, if I didn't have bangs I'd have to be more concerned with my eyebrows and forehead which is a perfect segway into the next question...


Botox!  hahaha  

I've never had botox or ever really even thought about getting Botox.  If Botox is for you - GREAT!  But I like smile lines and have never ever felt the need to try and look like my skin/face is any younger or less wrinkly than it is.  I feel like I can thank my mom for this perspective... I'm 36, I'm going to have wrinkles and THAT'S OK!  The number of wrinkles that someone has (or doesn't have!) doesn't affect how I feel about them, doesn't make them any less kind, generous, awesome, etc. and I don't foresee any Botox in my future :)  

I found these lamps at Homegoods YEARS ago and they're one of my very favorite things in our home.  They're leaded glass and so pretty but unfortunately I can't find a brand or anything on them ;(


I do have  these lamps in our office which are similar...



From a really young age we've encouraged and fostered a lot of creative and "building" play.  It helps that Luke had TONS of interest in this from a very young age but we've always had a lot of Legos, Duplos, wooden blocks, magna tiles, etc. because we've felt like those are toys that are great for all ages and will last forever.


 As far as art goes - that's always something that's been fun for me and I started doing "crafts" with Luke when he was a toddler because I enjoyed it and it was a fun way to work on fine motor skills...


.... as the kids have gotten older I've tried to keep a variety of different art supplies on hand and given them the freedom to use them for unstructured play (as in "make whatever you want" instead of "here's a craft to do") obviously within reason.  I feel like this whole post is a shoutout to my parents - but we always had craft stuff out at my house growing up and were able to be create and explore pretty much as we wanted to.


All the art projects can often mean all the mess BUT messes can be cleaned up and we've always felt like it's worth the mess :)  You can find a few more ideas of how we've encouraged non-screen play on my "boredom buster post"  HERE.  





My kids don't have phones and we have zero plans of getting any of them phones until they're driving.  And yes... I know that's super easy for me to say as a mom to kids 11 and under :) 

My kids DO have iPads and they get about 30 minutes a day on them during the week (usually after  dinner but before reading/game time) and a little bit more time on the weekends.  Some days they may get more than 30 minutes, some days we may be too busy and they get no time and some days they lose the screen privilege and don't get them at all for that reason.  We don't have strict time rules with them and so far "playing it by ear" has worked well for us.

A couple of notes about restrictions on their iPads since this is a question I get asked about often as well...

- No Safari on their iPads

- No YouTube or YouTube kids

- No access to Siri

- All app downloads have to get approved through Dave or I (it's a setting in Family Sharing and their requests pop up on our phones and we have to approve/decline before it'll download to their iPads)

- They do have iMessage and this year Luke does have friends who he can message back and forth with.  That said, he can only do that during his iPad time and we monitor those messages

I feel like as a middle school teacher I've seen A LOT of what can "go wrong" with technology use and my kids will probably be the last ones to get phones ;)   But we can touch base about this again as they get older - hahaha


I like it A LOT!   I feel less "tethered" to my phone and I like that I can still see/send texts and answer and make calls without having to have my phone.  I like the activity monitors and being able to listen to podcasts on my airpods without having my phone.  It's been well worth it to me thus far and I'll keep y'all posted!



Griffin and Luke are our largest age gap (5 years) and they're far enough apart that they don't play together a ton.  That said, Luke has always been incredibly patient with her and she absolutely adores him and loves it when they do play.  

Luke loves to read and when he was learning (and practicing what he was working on in Speech therapy) he would read to Griffin every day.  It was great for both of them.  Now she reads to him and he's great with helping her without rushing her or telling her the words.

When they do play together it's typically a building project like Legos.  Often times all three of my kids will work on a "town" or something like that together and then put it together to make a larger project. 

Other activities that they enjoy are doing puzzles, playing games and playing outside on the trampoline, etc. 



Happy Thursday, friends!!!

PS - this post contained an affiliate link... thank you so much for reading and supporting my blog!

12 comments :

  1. Awe! I always love your answers!!! That Apple Watch is like my favorite thing ever!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fun post! I'm always impressed with your kids creative plan and their imaginations!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stick to your guns with the "no phones until they are driving". My girls are now 31 and 26. They did not get a phone until they were driving (and that was without text for the first year or so). They are very appreciative of that now. They didn't complain then, but now that they are older they are so thankful that we didn't get them phones when they were younger. The 26 year old really saw the negative impact that having phones had on some of her peers that had them at an earlier age. Let me add that I am in no way judging parents that allow their kids to have phones earlier than driving age. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Would you please consider doing a post about how you set up ipads with multiple children? Do they each have their own apple ID or do you use your own? I've been struggling with how to set up the old ipads we have for our 3 and 5 year old. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I admire you so much. You do what's best for you and your family and don't feel the need to be a follower of everyone else. I agree with you on the botox. I think a woman who lets her self age (AS WE ARE SUPPOSED TO!!) and is confident in who she is, is a beautiful thing. My mother has been such a great example in that and many other areas. I wish women knew how beautiful they really are without all that junk. Anyways, I adore you Andrea. You are wise beyond your years.

    ReplyDelete
  6. OH my goodness, that picture of little you is SO Griffin!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Appreciate your take on kids and cell phones we have a 10 year old and zero plans of getting her a phone anytime in the next several years.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love your approach to screen time and as a middle school teacher I am sure you know way more than you need to know about the negative phone abuse!

    ReplyDelete
  9. We have the same "no cell phones until driving" policy. My seventh grader is the only one in his friend group without a phone, and it hasn't been a problem! We made the policy very clear early on, and he's never even asked. The few times he has needed to get in touch with us he just borrows one of the 100 cell phones that are around him.

    ReplyDelete
  10. My son is 16 and a junior in high school. He got a phone in 8th grade. Mainly because he was involved in more sports/extra curricular activities and he needed a way to get ahold of me so I could pick him up. It's great now because I can communicate with him no matter where he is.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love these posts. I was 16 when I got my first phone. My fiance and I have already had this discussion and we both believe in creative play and no phones (we even limit phone use while we are home) We don't have kids yet, but I don't forsee us giving them phones until they are driving. Stick to your guns! Also thanks for your views on Botox. My Mom raised me with similar views on appearance, and it was a shock for me when I moved to Los Angeles (originally from Illinois) and all my new friends were getting Botox at 27 and were surprised that I hadn't even thought about it or envision myself getting it haha

    ReplyDelete

Blog design by Get Polished | Copyright 2016