2T Blue Jeans and a Size 6 Shirt...

Yes, that is what Molly Katherine is wearing right now. How wrong is that?

And, no, my daughter does not have a freakishly long torso. She is just your average about to be three years old little girl. This combination has more to say about what our society tells us about modesty than it says about an abnormally shaped girl.

You see, we got this cutie shirt as a hand-me-down when Molly was born. I saw it and thought, "Oh -- how cute!" with it's bright pinkness and design of three purses on the front. And, then I saw, "What??? THIS is a size 6? There is NO way this is a size six!" So, I stuck it in with her clothes by the 2T and 3T shirts instead. And, sure enough, that is where it belongs, in my opinion.

Today was the first time she has worn it. I had forgotten about it, but a room re-do meant that I saw some clothes I hadn't seen in a while. It looks too cute on her, and it fits perfectly (as far as I'm concerned). Our Jack wears a size six, and it boggles my mind to imagine what this shirt would fit like on a girl of his size. Blech! (For the record, I would have to imagine it being way too tight, showing off a midriff, and the sleeves that are even short on Molly would be pretty much non-existant, which is probably the reason that they are designed with a slit and then a ribbon on top of the slit.)

Why does society want to strip away at the modesty of children at such a young age? It is just wrong and down right frightening, in my opinion.

And what does that mean for us? We will shop at places with more modest styles. And, if we're receiving hand-me-downs or buying second hand, it just may mean that the occasional size 6 shirt will get worn by a not quite three year old with a size 2T jeans. How sad.

Works for Me Wednesday: Starting My Day Off Right

Be sure to check out Works for Me Wednesday on Rocks in My Dryer for great tips on every aspect of life!

My tip for this week is how I attempt to start my day on most days -- with music!

I get up and get the boys out the door for school, and I usually have at least 10 minutes after they are gone before Molly is up. And, honestly, even if she is up by the time I get back into the house, I still usually take 10 minutes, since she is a gal who likes to just play in bed and doesn't mind at all.

Anyway, I use that time to put on my iPod (but keep her monitor on so I can still hear her, of course), and I listen to some music to get me jazzed up for the day. Music is something that is a very powerful thing for me, so this works for me.

Most mornings, I usually listen to something that helps me to center my day -- things like "Awesome God," "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High," "Hail, Holy Queen," just about anything by Jars of Clay and from dc talk's Jesus Freak Album, etc. But, if I know I have more time than to just listen to a couple of songs, I might just listen to anything that is on my iPod that I think is something that will get me going -- anything from Pearl Jam to James to U2 to Barenaked Ladies to...well...whatever! I have just about 800 songs on my iPod, so I have lots of choices from just about every genre.

So, next time you think you need to pep up in the morning (or I also do it when I am on my way somewhere alone in the car or van, and need to pep up), try some music to get you going!

It wouldn't be cool to be toliet paper

Today, Jack said to me (after going to the bathroom): It wouldn't be cool to be toliet paper. Toliet paper can't talk.

Yes, only a chatterbox like our Jack would decide that one of the most offensive things about being toliet paper would be the inability to talk.

Sometimes, I must admit, I just don't know how to answer the great musings of these children. "Yes, Jack, you're right. I don't think it would be very cool to be toliet paper." Hmmm...

I'm kinda cool?

I was really expecting to be a loser.

h/t to Becca -- I saw it on her blog

Chores and Allowance...Oh My!

We have toyed around with what to do about chores and allowances for a while now. Since Chili put together a Carnival about Chores and Allowances (last week, so I am a little late), I thought I would post about what we have *finally* decided to do.

Well...actually...let me interject with -- we don't know what we're doing about chores yet. But, I just read on An Iowa Mom's blog about her chore chart, and I think that just might be the way to go, with a few modifications for our family.

But, we did come up with some decisions about allowance.

1. Allowance and chores have nothing to do with one another. The children should/do/will do chores because they are part of our family and live in our home. This means, also, that there shouldn't come a time where they will skip chores because they don't need the money and also that they shouldn't end up asking me, "How much will you give me to do that?"

2. Now...that last part may backfire a bit, since I have told the children that from time to time, I may offer them a small amount of money ($.25 or $.50 or the like) to do a special job. I told them that they are not to ask me how much I will give them to do a job. If it is a job that can earn them extra money, I will tell them that up front. If I don't mention it, it's not a "special job." With special jobs, it is totally their right to say, "No, I don't really want to do that, but thanks for asking." With chores, that response is not an option.

3. Friday is "payday" for the children.

4. Allowance will be equal to 1/2 of the child's age, and will therefore change each year on their birthday. This, sadly (for the younger children), will mean that as long as Noah's in the house, he will always get more allowance than anyone else. Fair does not always mean equal.

5. Because of number four, we hope to stop requests for "an increase in allowance." That will just naturally occur each year on its own.

6. Each week, the boys must take a quarter from their money to Mass to put in the offering. (This amount will increase in future years as they get more allowance.) Previously, we gave them a dollar during the Mass just to put in. Although they enjoyed putting money in, that was not really all that meaningful to them. When they put in their own quarter, they seemed to show a real sense of pride that they had put in their very own money. Eric originally thought more than a quarter, but I thought it was good for now. It is pretty darn close to 10% for Jack, and a bit farther from 10% for Noah. I told Eric that as soon as we gave 10% of our income to the church, then we could expect it from the children.

7. We have not set the amount yet, but a small amount each week will also need to be put in their savings account. This will probably also be a quarter. It's not like they will be building up their savings accounts with $1.00/month, but it is more the practice of saving that we are trying to instill.

8. Their money is mostly for games or toys. We will still give them money for things like ice cream and popcorn that they can get at school each once a week (fundraisers by various grades). We will not tell them that they can't use their money for something (unless it is obviously something that we would not allow in the house). This will be their chance to learn about money management, which is done through both successes and failures.

Okay...I think that covers allowance for now. Hopefully I'll be able to write about chores when we get around to formally setting them.

Maybe you'd like to be a priest when you grow up...

Last night during RCIA, my boys ended up being brought over to me. (Noah got scared and declared that "the church is creepy at night," since they had gone to play outside with Jim (one of the RCIA organizers). I felt bad that Jim looked like he felt bad that Noah cried, but I tried to tell him that sometimes it's just hard to know what will upset Noah, and to not feel bad.

Anyway, we were listening to Father do a walk through the Mass. I sometimes whispered things to the boys that I wanted them to pay attention to. At one point, I whispered to Jack, "Maybe you'd like to be a priest when you grow up."

He thought for a moment and tilted his head all the way to one side, "Hmmm...no, I don't think so, Mom. But, that would be nice, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, it would be nice."

And, then his eyes got wide, and he added, "Because it would be really great if we got to own our own church."

I stiffled my laughter, and decided that I would wait to explain it until afterwards that the priests do not, in fact, own the churches they are at.

WFMW: Amuse Your Kids, Amaze Your Friends and Family

Be sure to check out Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer for lots of great tips!

Want a fun way to amuse your kids and amaze family and friends? Visit jibjab.com and create one of their Starring You videos!

One of mine is in a posting two below this one (or you can click right here).

Funny stuff!

My Kids Sure Are Growing Up

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!A little funny, even if it is an older picture of Molly

Laundry Night Is No Longer Date Night

Back in "the day," Eric and I enjoyed a certain activity each Friday or Saturday night -- laundry. He worked night shift at that time, and those were his nights he was off. So, before we had a washer and dryer in our apartment (when we lived in a one bedroom apartment in my university's family housing), we would save up all of our laundry for a week, get a roll of quarters, and pick up dinner to eat at the laundromat.

I can still picture the laundromat just as it looked then (I don't even think it is there anymore), and can remember generally where we would sit. We would eat and chit chat as all of our clothes/towels/etc for the week washes and dried, all at the same time. It is a marvel for me to think now that we only took up about four or five machines at a time for each week (or sometimes two weeks!), and that was even with Eric having work clothes and regular clothes.

We called it our date night.

We stopped having that date night when we moved in to our two bedroom apartment in family housing, since it had a washer and dryer. It certainly was more convenient (especially with a baby on the way), but it did take the fun out of laundry night, since it did't just happen on one big night anymore.

And, of course, as any mother of several children can attest to, the very thought, now, of letting the laundry go a whole week without doing it is down right frightening. Laundry is now a never ending battle. The minute the basket is empty, it is filled again -- often even before the loads in the washer and dryer are done.

Darn it...it sometimes makes me more than a little nostalgic for our old date nights. (Or, perhaps just a jumbo sized washer and dryer are in order!)

A little hello to anyone from our RCIA group

In case anyone drops by from the RCIA group at our parish -- Hello!

Everyone going through RCIA is asked to keep a journal, and so at our first meeting, I talked about journaling and the importance of it. But, I told them also that I preferred blogging to keeping an actual paper notebook, and then also gave them information about blogging (and then felt it only right to give them my blog address). I don't know that anyone will start blogging instead of keeping a notebook, but at least they have an option now. :)

A new little handy thing...

My current blog address will continue to work, but, now you can also type in http://www.manylittleblessings.com and you'll get me too!

I suppose this means that I actually need to get back to writing though, huh?

I will note though...I did work on my blog for a while last week, but it was just not a noticeable thing (maybe). I cleaned up all of my "labels" so that there wasn't overlap, combined some labels, and totally got rid of others. And, now I have a listing of all my labels on the sidebar. I am keeping this like this, and then changed the archives to just a drop down listing.

WFMW: Motivation to Clean

Be sure to check out Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks In My Dryer for links to all kinds of tips and ideas!

Here is my fast and easy motivation to clean the whole house. It's relatively simple to start, but then does involve a lot of work.

So...here it is...

THROW A PARTY!

It doesn't have to be big, but should include people for whom you would want to do serious cleaning for.

I have been bad lately, and haven't been keeping up with cleaning like I should since school started. But, I know that in the next day or so, I will be doing some SERIOUS house cleaning. I don't have time to clean, nor do I really have the inclination to do it. But, darn it -- when my guests come over on Friday, my house *WILL* be clean, whether I like it or not.

So, don't let your messy house keep guests away. Instead, let your messy house invite people in, just so you know you will go into a mad cleaning frenzy before everyone arrives.

Life Can Sure Keep a Girl Busy!

I know that I must be busy when I finally get a comment asking me if I'm still here. LOL

Yes, I'm here. Here is what I have been up to lately, in a lazy list format:

• The boys have gone back to school (a few weeks ago), and while I thought that would free up time for me...it hasn't
• I have been working a bit more. As a matter-of-fact, I am pretty much working a bit every weekday for right now. For those of you that don't know, I work as an independent contractor (e.g. self employed) through our state in the Early Intervention program. This targets children birth to the day before their third birthday, and is for any child with a delay or disability. I go out to kids' homes who have qualified (and whose parents have requested me as a therapist). Most of the kids I see have qualified for me to go out to their homes for one session (60 minutes) per week. I do most of my sessions in the evening, other than once a week when my parents watch the kids for a few hours during one morning. I thought I was seeing as many kids as I wanted, but then had a family that I used to see request me for another of their children, and I just couldn't turn them down. So, now I'm seeing one more child than I had intended. But, Eric is changing his work schedule one day per week to make that work out a little bit better. What a doll!
• My Mom just had a complete hysterectomy this past week and then got out of the hospital yesterday. I spent a lot of my weekend (plus some) up at the hospital.
• I had some RCIA commitments at church. On Saturday, we had a team retreat. (Did I mention that I'm on the team this year? Apparently I just couldn't get enough of it! LOL) That was really great! I got to meet some other new team members better, and also got to know our new priest better as well. (I asked him when he graduated from high school, and everyone said they didn't even want to hear the date. Ha! I had already figured we were close to the same age, while everyone else there has children our age. He finally got up and whispered it to me, and I found out that I graduated three years before him, which was kind of what I figured.) He is really nice and pretty funny, plus he has a great outlook on things and lots of good insight. I will look forward to learning more from him while he is at our parish.
• Eric and I committed to being on our parish's Why Catholic? committee. This is an adult education program that meets for a particular number of weeks each semester for four years (eight semesters total). When I told my Mom about the program, she (the Episcopalian) quipped, "Yeah -- why Catholic?"
• I have been busy working on things for my new online store -- Autumn Daisy Studio. If you haven't visited, please stop by. Just look -- don't think I am pressuring you into shopping! I'm just very pleased with how it came out, that's all. I will be keeping my shop on Etsy for now, and will decide whether to keep it or close it later. (But I have met so many great people on Etsy that it's hard to think of leaving there.)
• Okay...I'm sure I have been keeping busy with several other things too, but this is long enough as it is. LOL
  
  

Menu Plan for the Week: Week of September 10th

I'm a day late for Menu Plan Monday, so I'll just list everything out and not link.

Monday: Teriyaki Chicken and Fried Rice (both purchased from Market Day)

Tuesday: Creamy Rice, Chicken, and Spinach Dinner

Wednesday: Frozen Pizza

Thursday: Taco Salads

Friday: Having a party here for "the girls"

Saturday: lunch ----> From Out; dinner ---->Crockpot Chicken and Rice

Sunday: lunch ----> Club Quesadillas; dinner ---->Chicken & Rice-a-Roni (baked in the oven)

I wasn't even sure how to respond

Today, I asked two-year-old Molly, "Are you poopie?"

She answered, "No, I'm not poopie. I'm just purple."

Ummm...okay then.

I have an affiliate program now!

Sorry -- one more plug for my online store -- Autumn Daisy Studio...

We have an affiliate program set up now! If you put an Autumn Daisy Studio button (or a link) on your blog (or other website) as an affiliate, you can earn 10% from sales made through your link! Plus, then an additional 3% on the sales from anyone who would join as an affiliate through your referral. You can read more about it by clicking on the affiliate button.

The Nice Matters Award -- Wow!

I was nominated for a Nice Matters award not once, but twice! Once by Elizabeth at The Divine Gift of Motherhood and then about a week later by Rosemary at A Catholic Mother's Thoughts.



Now...I do have one tiny problem with Rosemary nominating me. You see...I was going to nominate her, but just hadn't gotten to my blog to post about it. So...darn it...Rosemary, you are too nice, and so I have to send it right back.

Here is what the Nice Matters Award is all about: “This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Once you’ve been awarded please pass on to seven others whom you feel are deserving of this award."

Here are my seven:

Rosemary at A Catholic Mother's Thoughts -- http://joyfulmomathome.blogspot.com/

Sharon at The Bird's Nest -- http://nesthome.blogspot.com/

Becca at Becca's Blank Slate -- http://beccasblankslate.blogspot.com/

Mimi at Bigger than a Breadbox -- http://mimisbooks.blogspot.com/

Heather at With a Little Luck -- http://www.hgrims.blogspot.com/

Stephanie at Finding My Way... -- http://worldtraveler.typepad.com/

Arlyn at My Wordz -- http://scrapperal.blogspot.com/

Thanks to all of your for being part of the blogosphere! :)

Menu Plan Monday: September 3rd Edition

Monday: lunch ---> Pancakes; dinner ---> Cobb Salads

Tuesday: Steak and Vegetable Stir Fry with Rice

Wednesday: Pick up food from out

Thursday: Lasagna

Friday - Sunday: Kind of up in the air...Eric will be home with the kids, and I'll be up at the hospital with my Mom who is having a hysterectomy on Friday (and I'll also be going to an RCIA team retreat on Saturday, since I'm going to help with RCIA this year).

Wow! Check it out! I still have some work to do (and want to add an Affiliate Program -- so watch for that), but here is my grand unveiling of my new online store! I'm so excited, and just wanted to share it with all of you! Wish me luck!

You can view the Studio by clicking on the banner above.

To celebrate the opening, there is a 15% off coupon that is good through September 10, 2007. Just use the code ADS15 at checkout.