Please Mom I Need Quiet.

Okay well this morning started off a little shaky. My oldest daughter was tired and cranky and didn't want to wear the jacket I handed her. She said the arms were too baggy. This is the same jacket she tried on about a month ago and really loved. Anyway she grabbed her sweatshirt instead and said that would be fine. She hopped in the car leaving me to wonder why I bought the jacket and if it would ever get worn.

I picked her up after school along with her sister who can't stop talking. I got the full run down of what happened in third grade today. Then there's the older one who said nothing. More often than not I find this is how she comes out of school. I ask her how her day was and she replied it was fine and then stared out the window. I asked another question and pretty much got no response so I stopped asking. We dropped her sister at her activity and got back in the car to head home. I asked her again about her day and finally I couldn't get her to stop talking. Which I love. I want to hear all about her day and how things are going.

Bottom line is she needs a good 15 to 30 minutes of quiet to recover from school. She loves to tell me about the stuff from school, but only when she's ready. I have come to accept it, but I always wonder if something is wrong. I need to have patience .Patience is something that a mom with tweens must have for so many different reasons. This is just one of them.

Oh by the way she said she was sorry about the jacket and she really did like it and thankfully will wear. I tell you it isn't easy.

Adorable Christmas Gift Idea for Tweens.

Yesterday was Columbus Day so my girls had the day off and of course they want to do one of their favorite activities. Go to the mall. We did all the usual mall stuff, but there was one thing they could not stop talking about. We went into Sephora, the cosmetic store. They were looking all over at all the stuff that makes tween girls go crazy. You know nail polish and eye shadow in every color you can imagine and probably a few you can't. Then we reached the perfumes. Oh so many to smell, but there was this one display that caught their attention. They were perfume bottles that had these cute little dolls on top of the bottles. They were so cute or kawaii because they looked like little Japanese Dolls. Now I personally love Japanese dolls. I collect Jenny Dolls so these little bottles had my attention as well. They were dressed in these cute wintery outfits and the sales girl told us they were a limited edition and she just put them out. They were called Harajuku Lovers Snow Bunnies . I guess they are a perfume line created by Gwen Stefanie.

The girls smelled all the different scents and the favorites were the one called G and Love though they really liked all of them. Each bottle was $30. My thought was these would make awesome Christmas gifts. They thought so as well because as we were leaving the store they asked if maybe they could get one as a Christmas present.

11/17/09 Update - Check out my Tweens Christmas Wish List
My Tweens Christmas Wish List
My 8 Year Old's Christmas Wish List

What is Harumika?

I'll tell you what it is. It's my 8 year olds favorite new activity. When she first told me she wanted one I had no idea what she was talking about. Finally one day she screamed for me to come to the TV. I came running not knowing what the problem would be. You never know. I've learned early on to come running and ask questions after I've assessed the damage. This time it was only to catch a commercial which was over by the time I reached her. Thankfully we have a DVR so I rewound it. After I scolded her for screaming bloody murder for me to watch a commercial I finally knew what Harumika was.

It's this wonderful way for young girls to design fashions with out having to use sewing machines. The set comes with one or two dress forms and pretty material and trims. I didn't really get how it worked, but then my daughter saved her allowance and off we went to Toysrus. She got the wedding set and couldn't wait to rip open the package. Her new thing is she wants to be a fashion designer. She loves watching Project Runway They come up with some cool stuff on that show. I like watching it as well. It's one of my guilty pleasures.

We got it home and she took out all the pieces. It took just a couple of minutes to figure it out. You take the fabric that comes with it and you wrap it around the dress form. There is a place on the back of the dress form where you tuck in the fabric using the stick that comes with the set. It hold it in place well. Then you dress it up with the trims. She plays with this for hours and not only that her sister who is 12 got in on the action. She loves it to. They set up a little fashion show for us. Seriously a great toy. I really wasn't sure from the commercial. You really never know if these things are going to work until you get them at home, but I'll tell you no worries here. It works.

She took it to school to use at snack and recess and it was a huge hit. All the girls love it and her teacher even comes over to give it a try. This is a great, fun and creative toy for girls and it's very easy to use so if you have an aspiring fashion designer in your home you may want to think about getting it as a Christmas gift. It's so worth the money and you can add your own fabrics and trims so your little fashion designer can come up with new ideas.

Update: Win a FREE Harumika Starter Set!

My Tween and Her iPod Touch

Let me begin by saying I love ipods. I personally think they are the greatest invention since chocolate. A few years ago my husband got me one for Christmas. They were pretty new and I wanted one so badly. See what a great guy he is. Anyway I love it. How can you not? I took all my cds and put them on this tiny iPod Nano. All my music with me all the time. I hook it up to my car and again I have my music to listen to while I drive. Nothing better right? Wrong.

They came out with the iTouch. This is the coolest thing since chocolate. Now let me say this I don't have one of my own, but my daughter does. She saved all her money for over a year and finally was able to get one. She loves it and takes it everywhere exept school that is. If you get caught with one it becomes the principals. She's not willing to chance it. A few of her friends have them as well. They are just as attached.

She has all her music, a few movies (twilight of course), games and of course all those wonderful Apps. It really is a lot of fun. I find myself using it and wanting one of my own. The games I have to say are one of the best parts. After she finishes her homework she breaks it out and has a great time with some game she has downloaded. You can also hook it up to the net if you have wifi available where you are. Not to mention the fact that you don't have to have a headset on to hear it. It has little speakers which is nice because my daughter really doesn't like the earbuds. I'm not a big fan myself. Bottom line this is a great little gadget that my daughter is definitly using to the fullest. I basically have to pry it out of her hand when it's time to go to bed. I need to start saving up for my own.

UPDATE: Also check out my Tween Apps Post

Depressed and Tired Sox Fan

Okay I usually love it when the Red Sox make it to the playoffs and this year is no different. When I say I love the Red Sox I mean that I love them. I watch all the games I can or listen on the radio. I even listen to the sports radio station in Boston to hear what the latest news is. My girls sometimes get aggravated because I always have to check what's going on. If they get in the car and I have sports radio I get the groans. I usually put it on their station, Kiss 108 because I like it too, but I need my sports fix. My family always laughs at how much I love them. If they want to know the time of the game, they call me. What to know who's pitching, they call me. It's just the way it is.

Last night was so depressing. I got all settled in ready for the playoffs. Beckett was pitching and he was awesome. We got a 1 to 0 lead and then everything blew up in our face. We fell into a 1 to 4 deficit. This game started very late because the Sox are playing the Angels in California. It started at around 9:40. That means it's going to get really late. Well I don't mind staying up if they win. I also can't go to sleep because I need to see if they can make a comeback. Well it was 1:00 AM by the time the game was ending and we couldn't do it. We got a couple of guys on base in the bottom of the ninth, but couldn't get them home so we are losers again. This means that we are coming home to Boston in a huge hole.

Bottom line today I'm tired, cranky and depressed. I need chocolate and possibly a Dunkin Donuts coffee coolatta if I'm going to make it through this day.

Cell Phones, Tweens and Texting

Last year when my daughter entered the 6th grade. She asked me for a cell phone and I said no without blinking. I thought what does she need one for I pick her up from school and the activities she does after school are all very short. I never leave her at a mall or the movies by herself. Not to mention I barely use the one I have. Most of the time I forget it at home or if I do have it, it's dead because I forgot to charge it. The bottom line is I just don't get cell phones.

Well Christmas came last year and again she asked for one and my husband and I said no. I know we're mean, but as I said I just didn't get the point. She went back to school after the Christmas break and she was so grumpy and I asked what was wrong. She said everyone got a cell phone for Christmas and that's all they're talking about. Well that's a typical tween answer for anything they want. You know "everyone has one, but me." I wasn't believing it and so we went on. Then one day when I was waiting for her to come out I started to see one after another flipping out the phones as they walked out of school. I was shocked. I couldn't believe they really did all have cell phones. Then she went to a friends birthday party and all they did was play with their phones and talk about them. Well I hated that she felt like such an outsider for not having one. Yes, I know it's peer pressure and I shouldn't feed into it, but I felt badly. I started to ask the other parents and yes they had gotten them cell phones for Christmas. I guess it was the new cool toy.

Lucky for my daughter I'm not unreasonable and her birthday was coming up so. My husband and I revisited the idea and we thought she could get one so we caved. We got her a cell phone. We're not the first parents to cave and I'm sure we won't be the last. Not only did we get her a phone we got her a cool cell phone which is probably outdated by now, but it's better than mine. We have Verizon so we got her the ENV2 which is a texting phone. I figured if she's going to have one she might as well get a good one that has a GPS locator and all the other cool stuff. She was so surprised and so happy to receive one. We made her year and her life apparently. Did we do the right thing by caving? I don't know, but my daughters a good kid she works hard in school and helps around the house so if we have the ability to give her something she really wants I don't see anything wrong with it.

Now onto texting. I think it's important for any parents to know if they're getting their child a phone they should know that they are going to want to text with it. You should always get the unlimited texting. If you don't get the unlimited texting you're going to end up with the biggest phone bill of your life. Luckily when we got her phone we immediately signed her up for unlimited texting so it wouldn't be an issue. Some of her friends parents weren't so lucky. One of her friends told me she got in big trouble because the bill came and she had run it up to $350 from texting. Now that's not even that bad. I've heard of other bills that go well over $1,000. Bottom line you either pay an extra $5.00 a month or a ridiculous amount. Tweens love to text. I've seen some of my daughters messages because I keep an eye on what she's up to. Most of them are 3 words or less. So please if you are thinking about getting your tween a cell phone get unlimited texting. Save yourself the aggravation.

Charm Bracelet Memories

I've been thinking about getting my girls charm bracelets for Christmas. I thought it would be a special gift and one that could be added to by others. I spoke to my mother about it and she reminded me that she had one. That brought back such wonderful memories. When I was a little girl I remember sitting on my mothers bed and she let me look through her jewelery box.

I loved her charm bracelet. I always thought it was magical. I used to play with all the charms. She had a little typewriter and a nurse charm and I would pretend the nurse was typing on the typewriter and then I'd have her hop in the convertible charm she had. My favorite charm was the mailbox it really opened and I thought it was so cool. I would write little letters and put them inside the mailbox.

She reminded me that my dad gave her the bracelet and the charms. That made the memories even more special. My dad died when I was 10 of cancer. He was awesome. I still miss him very much. He died so young and it still seems so unfair. My mom was lucky enough to find another awesome guy though. I'm lucky that when I was growing up I had my dad and then my step dad who is just so great to my mom and is always great to me and my girls. They love him to pieces. When grandpa comes in the room their faces always light up. My girls know all about my dad though. I think it's important for them to know they had another grandfather. Seriously how lucky are they to have one watching them from heaven and one here on Earth.

Yesterday my mom surprised me by giving me the charm bracelet. I was so happy. I wore it all day and told my girls all about it and the different charms. They loved it and the favorite one was the mailbox just like me. So thanks mom. I love you.