And the winner is...

Oh well, at least she is better than Barney! (And today I just saw the episode where her last name is revealed...drum roll please...it is Marquez. Dora Marquez. Go figure.) L did love the princesses though and I'm sure with time she will come to love them better than Dora. Unfortunately, the camera I'd painstakingly taken to a specialty shop to get cleaned died after our first 30 minutes there so we don't really have any pictures. :( Luckily our family took some that we should be able to download soon.

Which campaign will win?

I have a two year old who "yuvs" (loves) Dora the Explorer and everything to do with her. Thanks to the fancy marketing tricks of Dora's producers, we see here EVERYWHERE- on cereal, soup, band aids, cups, clothes, shoes, backpacks, kites, crayons, etc. and usually have to work on getting out of the store without any Dora material. Well, this weekend we are going on a much anticipated family trip to Disneyland. And I wonder, will the marketing schemes of the "happiest place on earth" be a match for those of Dora's creators? Will we come back with a girl who has forgotten about Dora completely in favor of Disney princesses? Or will Dora still win and Disney just be a memory of the past? I'm interested to see and will be back later with the results.

Fingerprint

We got a new camera a few months ago, but for the last little while it has been taking fuzzy pictures. We discovered that somehow there was a fingerprint on the lens that was causing the problem. I took it in today to a special camera shop and they cleaned it right off, so hopefully our pictures will lose their fuzzy edges.

But the point of my story is this: I am constantly amazed by how many different "worlds" there are within the world. I think that for whatever interest/hobby/talent you have there is a little world where people who share the same interest/hobby/talent get together and share through books, magazines, internet sites, specialty shops, classes, workshops, retreats, special events, and meetings. For example, when I was a runner in high school I sort of got into the "runners world." I loved to go to running shoe stores, read running magazines, sign up for road races, and generally associate with other runners. So when I was in the camera store today I felt like I was stepping into the camera/photography world for a minute. I am a stranger there, but thought it was cool to look around and see what kind of things a camera person might buy and think about.

So, my thought is this: what kind of worlds are you a part of or interested in? As of now, I definitely belong to the mommy of a baby and toddler, the blogging, the money-management, and the Primary worlds. But I am interested in the decorating, the political, the organizational, the sewing, and the running/getting in some sort of shape world. And in the future who knows, I might even get into the camera world so that I can use my own chemicals and linen free dust cloth to clean a fingerprint off of my camera lens.

She did it!

This song goes out to my sister who passed the fourth and final portion of the CPA exam!!! We are so proud of her that L and I created a song, in her honor, sung to the tune of "We did it!" from Dora the Explorer.

She did it, she did it, she did it! Yea! Lo hiciste, she did it! (da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da)
She studied three years for this stupid test. She did it, she did it, she did it! Horray!
She passed three parts and only had one left. She did it, she did it, she did it, she did it!
Today she found out she passed the last part, and now her life as a CPA will start!
Hooray! Yea! Woo! Hooray! She did it!!!



Since I don't know how to add a You Tube video to my blog yet, go here to get the tune of the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy0FbrGeQGU

PPD

When I was growing up our cousins, the Asletts, would come to visit us quite a lot. We loved having them stay with us and always had a great time together. Invariably, immediately after they left we would always have a day of just feeling kind of down and sad. We called what we were feeling "Post Aslett Depression" or PAD. I think it was my sister who came up with the term and it was then used to describe the letdown we experienced after having anyone come and stay with us. I don't know if this is a common experience, but we would all get so hyped to have company and love being together with visiting friends and family that when they left we would have a day of "Post (insert name here) Depression."

Well, this weekend my parents came to visit and we had a wonderful time!!! They played with my girls non-stop, brought easter a week early, helped me clean out and organize my house and yard, and were the best of company. So today, inevitably, I am experiencing PPD- "Post Parental Depression." In thinking about it though, I totally believe that having Post (insert name here) Depression is a great thing to experience because it shows you that you truly enjoyed your company and can't wait to see them again soon, rather than feeling relief after company leaves and freedom that you are alone again. I think anyone who visits us should take it as a compliment that I will ALWAYS (because I know that people who visit us will be great friends, family, or friends of friends) have Post (insert name here) Depression and want you to come again soon!!!



*Disclaimer: I know that from these last two posts I sound totally down in the dumps, but these were the ideas on my mind and the best things I could think of to write. No worries, I am happy and healthy! :)

Moving

So I need to vent my feelings and this is as good a place as any. My wonderful sister in law Sarah lives in a place where people come in and out. A lot. She has talked to me on several occasions about how sad it is when her close friends move and she has to go out and make new ones. I always felt bad for her and was sympathetic, but until the last 6 months I wasn't really empathetic. But now, as 4 of my favorite ward friends have moved in the last 5 months I can totally understand how she felt and it is not fun!!! I feel kind of hypocritical in being mad at my friends for moving, as we almost bought a house out of our ward boundaries, but now that I'm here I want everyone I love to stay here too. The hardest part of having close friends move is that you loose that level of comfort that allows you to call them at a minutes notice for a favor, to hang out, or just to chat. You lose the people who know about the happenings in your day to day adventures and have started learning the history of your life. You lose the people who you serve with and see at church and plan parties with and visit during the week. And you lose their kids who are friends with your kids and people you love to watch grow up. All in all you lose great friends and are sad about it. So that is that. I am going to allow myself a week of mourning to miss my good friends but still be grateful for the ones I have left.

Mi Casa

This goes out to Rebecs who has requested pics of our house since we moved here. Our computer is being totally dumb and I can't upload most of the photos I've taken, but here are a few from last week of the girl's rooms. Lauren's is the one with the bunks and Ellie's is the one with the crib.
(Although L's room still needs some decor and we have yet to move her to the big girl bed...any suggestions?)

A postscript

Well, things are definitely looking up in Primary thanks to all of your suggestions and help! We met together as a presidency and came up with a good battle plan and then met with all the teachers before church started. Basically we changed the seating arrangement, moved to closing exercises (rather than middle that were just not working), created a quiet signal if things are getting too crazy, and told them about our 3 step "discipline with love" plan- 1- a reminder 2- out in the hall 3- parent called in. I feel a lot better about things and hope that by being more reverent we can have a better spirit in our Primary.

Ayudame!

I need help. I solicit your ideas. I don't know what to do. I work in the Primary of our ward and things are going from bad to worse. The children are absolutely crazy during sharing time and middle exercises and I am at a loss of what to do. How do you keep the attention of 50 children ages 4-12 at the same time??? If you have any ideas, remember your Primary days, or are a Primary leader yourself please help. Luckily I have a great presidency and we're meeting tonight to talk about what to do, but any ideas would be appreciated.

*A note: I am not a reverence Nazi and completely understand that children have big spirits in little bodies and there must be an allowance for some wiggles, talking, and laughs. But we are way past the margin of allowable behavior.