Stay at Home Mom

It is the big romantic holiday of the year and that can put alot of pressure on our guys. TV and magazines are telling all of us that if he truly loved us he would sweep us off our feet, buy us diamonds and have chocolate covered strawberries chilled on ice ( even though we are trying to lose weight ).

But is that really love. This Valentines day we have a chance to really show our kids what love is all about and help them to build strong loving relationships when they grow up. Love isn’t the bump and grind seen on music videos – it’s paying attention in the quiet moments. It’s listening. It’s laughing. It is watching silly movies together ( and occassionally one with lots of explosions ). It is not getting irritated when one or the other of you slurps down their cornflakes in the morning or leaves toothpaste goo on the sink. It is the big picture of building a life together.

Kids rarely learn what we tell them – they learn what they see. So, this valentines day remember its not about whether he buys us the biggest diamond ( or any diamond at all ). It is about the little affections that we show to each other and share with each other every day that lets the other person know we care and we love them. We are teaching our kids how to love.

And we need to let them know that we shouldn’t just wait for one special day a year to treat each other with a little extra love.

So this is a big Stay at Home Mom Valentines Day Wish for every mom out their that they can look around and realize we already have everything we need right here.

(ok super sappy I know but I am feeling a little gushy today – I think I need some chocolate).

Thanksgiving weekend is a great time to go to the movies with the kiddos. We always love going to the matinee and taking advantage of the matinee prices.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox opened today and is getting great reviews. The voice talent is spectacular and the story is based off a book by Roald Dahl ( also wrote James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ). The stop action filming of the movies sounds really cool and I’m looking forward to getting out there and seeing this one. I love movies that are based on books. Last year the movie the Tale of Despereaux inspired my son to get into reading ( he read that book 3 times ).

The movie website has some fun games along with movie info.
CHECK IT OUT

READ Fantastic Mr. Fox CLICK HERE

What was your favorite book / movie tie-in?

We just received this information about a great way to celebrate Veterans day this year. If you know anyone with a Military family this is a great way to celebrate their dedication to our country. These bears would make great Christmas gifts too. I have the camo bear and he is sitting on the mantle of our fireplace in my living room right now. My baby is now 11 ( years… not months ) and there is really no good reason to go out and buy a bear but I have recently discovered that you are never too old for a new friend.

Build-A-Bear Workshop® Offers Discount to Military Families

WHO: Build-A-Bear Workshop…

WHAT: …is showing support for all military families in honor of Veterans Day. Members of the armed services including the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Reserve Officer Training Corps will receive a 20% discount on any one transaction at Build-A-Bear Workshop stores with the presentation of a government issued military identification card.

WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 11 through Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009

WHERE: Build-A-Bear Workshop stores in the United States

WHY: Build-A-Bear Workshop offers a variety ways for Guests to salute their favorite military heroes. The Camo Bear ($18) complete with a Build-A-Sound® ($8) for Guests recording a 10-second personal message, is great for servicemen and women and their families. Other products inspired by the armed forces available at Build-A-Bear Workshop include:
• Army Officer Uniform
• Marine Outfit
• Naval Outfit
• Air Service Uniform
• Coast Guard Work Uniform

About Build-A-Bear Workshop
Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. is the leading and only global company that offers an interactive make-your-own stuffed animal retail-entertainment experience. Founded in 1997, the Company and its franchisees currently operate more than 400 Build-A-Bear Workshop stores worldwide, including company-owned stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and France, and franchise stores in Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. In 2007, the interactive experience was enhanced – all the way to CyBEAR™ space – with the launch of buildabearville.com®, the company’s virtual world stuffed with fun. The company was named to the 2009 FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® list. Build-A-Bear Workshop (NYSE: BBW) posted total revenue of $468 million in fiscal 2008. For more information, call 888.560.BEAR (2327) or visit the company’s award-winning Web site at buildabear.com®.

To stay up to date on all the latest promotions at Build-A-Bear Workshop® follow them on twitter too! http://www.twitter.com/buildabear ( You should really follow them on twitter – I just read that BABW now has Star Wars gear for their bears…tooo cute! )

FULL DISCLOSURE: Build-a-Bear in support of Wired Safety’s (http://www.wiredsafety.org) Stop Cyberbullying Coalition donated bears to the event (which we attended) in support of Stop Cyberbullying month and we did bring home a bear from that event.

Here is a fun idea for Halloween Night. We used to have a Mystery Dinner every year at our church for all of the kids who volunteered over the year. We would be treated to a formal sit down dinner and the parents would serve us. The only thing was that we had to choose 5 menu items for each course and each menu item was in “code”.

On the menu you might order a SPEAR and you would end up with a fork. It was always funny when someone got spaghetti, pudding, soup, a cracker, and their drink for their first course (and no silverware).

My daughter is having a party this weekend and we were trying to think of something fun and different to do and I remembered the mystery dinner. So after several online searches we decided to customize our list to a Halloween theme. We started out with the menu items and then tried to give them Scary Code Names.

Here is what we came up with:

printable STAYATHOMEMOM’S HALLOWEEN MYSTERY DINNER (PDF) click here

Have you guessed what each item is?

Here is the PDF with the menu items and their corresponding true menu item

Have fun with this. Start with your menu then create your own “mystery dinner”. Let us know how it turns out. Send pics!

Happy Halloween!

Yes there is a theme – Motherhood -

It has been the theme here ever since we found out about the upcoming movie starring Uma Thurman. We have participated in teleconferences with the Director and stars of the film and have LOVED their perspective on making movies for families and on being parents themselves.

It is just before Halloween and the teenagers have taken over the movie screens bringing huge box office numbers to those scary movies that have been strategically released to coincide with Halloween.

It is time for us moms to get out there and let the world know that we want more family movies with a fair depiction of the Motherhood experience.

Go See the Movie Motherhood and take your picture with your friends at the theater! We’ll post your picture here and post any comments you have about the movie.

Every June we look optimistically forward to the upcoming lazy days of summer and, in what seems to be a blink of any eye, then rolls on into September and comes to an end.

Near the end of July it starts – hints of back to school specials and back to school shopping. It can be a little ugly and we try to ignore it as long as possible. But then it happens: Back to School.

Tomorrow we have to go in to register kids for school again and that means we are on the homestretch. Just a couple of weekends before we are back into the full swing of Fall / Winter activities.

But for today I am going to enjoy the sunshine and the teenagers outside helping our boys with their landscaping tasks. I’ll run to the store for Pizza and feed the crew in a few hours. Later tonight we may have a little campfire and sit out and watch the stars with the kids. And I’ll make a wish on a star that days like this will be preserved in my memory bank forever.