Good Luck Red Sox!

I love the Red Sox. More than I should, but I can't help myself. When I was a little girl I used to watch the Sox with my dad and that's a memory that I will never forget. I love them because I love him. For those who don't know the Sox just barely made the playoffs. They've been making me sweat it out for 5 days now, but it's fine they're in the playoffs and they will win the World Series. There is not a doubt in my mind. My girls love the Sox too. It's not like they had a choice in this regard. We've taken them to a few games and it was great. They ask to go every year. In fact the first time we took them I think they were 5 and 9. They sat through the whole game and loved every inch of the experience. The man behind us told us at the end of the game that they were the best behaved kids he had ever seen at a baseball game. I'll tell you why Fenway Park is magical. They were good because they wanted to be there. Beckett threw a shut out and Manny Ramirez hit a home run for a 1 to nothing win. This was appreciated because it can be a bummer to got to a game and have the team lose. Luckily this was not the case. I love the Red Sox and my girls do too. So Go Sox go get us another World Series victory. We believe in you.

Laundry the Endless Nightmare

Well calling it a nightmare may be a little extreme, but it's definitely never ending. I start the day by throwing in a wash followed by another. Have to separate the lights and darks after all. When it's finished I have to fold it put it away and then iron anything that may need to be ironed. My husband's work shirts and my daughter's uniforms all need to be ironed. I get all that taken care of well for the most part sometimes I don't always get all the laundry put away immediately. I feel pretty good about myself getting all that done and then the girls come home from school. The uniforms go in the hamper and play clothes or casual clothes go on. If they have dance they have to change clothes again. Time for bed clothes in hamper PJs on. Wake up the next morning PJs in hamper uniforms on. Great they head off to school I look at the hamper and it's overflowing. The vicious cycle starts all over again. Oh and lets not forget about the day that there is another load of wash do to on "clean sheet night" which I do have to say is one of my favorite days of the week. I love getting into bed when it's "clean sheet night." The sheets smell wonderful and they're all neat and perfect. Even my girls love "clean sheet night" because they destroy their beds when they sleep at night. I go in to wake them in the morning and the sheet is on one side, blanket on the other and the comforter is pulled up over their heads. Honestly I have no idea what they do during the night. It's crazy. They are in charge of making their own beds except on "clean sheet night" when I go in and put them back together. So all hail "clean sheet night". However that means another load of laundry. Oh and let us not forget if I happen to not do laundry for a day for whatever reason then it all piles up into an endless mountain that even the best climber would be afraid to attempt. That mountain won't go away unless I make it go away. Bottom line I don't like laundry and it doesn't like me. It is an endless, endless night mare. Yeah, I changed my mind calling it a nightmare is right on the money.

Picking Out Your First Bra.

Okay here's the deal. My daughter who is now 12 has been wearing these sports bra's for the past 2 years. It's really all she's needed up to this point. She has suddenly grown over night at least it seems that way. So we had a talk about going to the mall and getting some real bra's. I was a little stressed out and I have to say she wasn't to happy about it either. We went to Aerie at the mall. I told the girl I wanted to have her measured so I could be sure we were getting the right size. She took us to the dressing room and very discretely measured her. It was definitely time for a cup sized bra. The sales girl gave us a tray of all the different styles of bras they carried at the store. It made things so easy. She tried on all the different types and there were 2 that she liked the best. I believe they were the Hannah and the Katie. The girl had said that those were the most comfortable for girls my daughters age. We then went out and she picked out the ones that she wanted. I send out my thanks to the sales girl who helped us. She was great. I would tell any mom out there that this is a great place to take young girls to get their first real bra. All and all it was a no stress experience and after all isn't that what we want. My daughter was very grown up about the whole thing. Of course she wanted one of the ribbons that they hook on the bag when you leave. They're one of her favorite things about going to Aerie. My younger daughter was given one as well and we left with smiles. I was pretty sure I was going to leave with a child telling me I'm not going to wear them but she didn't say that at all. Sometimes they surprise you and sometimes that surprise makes me realize that my little girl is growing up and I have no choice but to let her. No one ever told me how hard that would be.

Twilight Barbies!

Yes, it's true they are releasing Barbies of Bella and Edward from Twilight. I know for a fact that my tween who is 12 and really has no interest in Barbies anymore is going to want these for Christmas. She would consider these collector dolls. Two years ago she asked for a Barbie of Rose from Titanic. She is a beautiful doll and it still sits on her desk today. Honestly though who wouldn't want a miniature of Edward. I'm thinking this is going to be big around Christmas time. Many tweens still love Barbies and I know most of them are obsessed with Twilight so it's a win win in my book. They are available for preorder at Amazon.com. They're only $24.99. I'm all over this.

Fame is Great For Tweens.

I took both of my girls to see Fame last night and they loved it and so did I. I remember the original movie Fame from 1980 and even though it was rated R I saw the edited version on TV and I loved it. The music, the dancing, the characters I loved it all. I wanted to be a student at the School For Performing Arts. When I was younger I took dance class and I loved it for the most part. Dancing made me feel free and alive. I never did care for performing in front of a crowd, but I did love to dance. In fact I would go to my room and crank up the music and dance till I couldn't move. There was nothing better except maybe when my family would go out and I was by myself and could use the larger family room to let loose. Occasionally I still do it. Both of my girls take dance now and my youngest in particular was thrilled with Fame. She asked me when it was over. Mom could I be one of those kids. I said if that's really what you want, but you can see how hard it is. The movie really brought back memories. I don't think I liked it as much as the original, but never the less it was still wonderful. It showed the ups and downs of striving for your dreams. There were funny scenes and there were scenes that brought tears to my eyes. One scene in particular was a little scary. I hate to put a spoiler about the movie here but I think if you're a mom and taking your younger daughter you may want to be aware. The character Kevin who wants nothing more than to be a ballet dancer is told that he just doesn't have what it takes and in a moment of complete depression he almost jumped in front of a train. Luckily his friends were there and pulled him back in time. I was very nervous because I could see it coming so I told my 8 year old to look away. My friend who was with me looked at me like oh no. Thankfully it was only a scare because honestly I wasn't expecting anything like that with a PG rating.

The music in the movie was wonderful. The kids in it were really talented. I particularly loved Marco who was played by Asher Book. He was adorable too. My oldest daughter seemed to really relate to the Jenny character as she was shy and quiet just like her. My girls will most likely want the Fame soundtrack. I actually want to get the original Fame Soundtrack I bet they will like the music just as much as I did. Only 2 songs were the same. I have to say I was disappointed that the song Fame was only played in the credits. I was hoping someone would perform it during the movie but no such luck. The music for the most part was updated but in a good way. When looking for the soundtracks I was also thrilled to find that they now have both Fame Seasons 1 & 2 as a set on DVD. I didn't think I would ever see that show again. That may be something my girls might like to check out. All in all a great show and if you have girls that are dreamers this is the movie to take them to.

One final note. The movie starts with the best line ever by Debbie Allen. She said it in the opening credits of the 80's TV show. "You got big dreams. You want fame. Well fame costs and right here's were you start paying with sweat." I love that quote. Now I can only hope they will start a new TV series. Fingers crossed.

Is IM Okay For Tweens?

Honestly, I wrestled with this question for several months before I let my daughter use it. She was 11 at the time and I honestly didn't get the point. My thought was if you want to talk to your friend call them on the phone. A few of her friends were using it and they said it was fun but I wasn't convinced. I had been warned by a mother to stay away from it as long as possible her daughter had a very bad experience with it. Someone was saying terrible things about her daughter and caused her terrible stress. I have heard this from a few other mothers as well. The problem is that kids feel like they can say anything they want through IM. It's easy when you aren't speaking to anyone face to face. They may even be kidding but you really can't tell unless you hear someones voice or they come out and say it was a joke. Bottom line you can't take back what you type and send. I really want to protect my daughters from everything but in this case it was easily figured out. I allowed her to join with the knowledge that I would keep an eye on what was going on and if anyone said anything inappropriate to her to tell me immediately. She agreed and to be honest now that she can use it she really doesn't use it all that much. So my advice for anyone who is wrestling with this as well is just like anything else if you keep an eye on what they're doing and saying on the IM it's fine. Otherwise things can get out of hand. My daughter has heard from a few friends that girls who they thought were their friends suddenly started to say very cruel things to them on the IM. It's just better safe than sorry.

New Moon!

Unless you're living under a rock you've heard about Twilight. This series of books written by Stephanie Myers has captivated tweens to adults. There are 4 books total in the series. I picked the first book up on a whim. I was looking for something interesting and ended up geting hooked on the story. I quickly read through the first 3. The last one wasn't out yet. It was a series that just sucks you in. I would not call myself a "twilightmom" as I'm not obsessed, but I do like the story and my daughters do as well. My oldest is a huge Edward fan and has a poster in her room. She is all about Romeo and Juliet type stories and this fits the bill a vampire and a regular girl fall in love. Her favorite movie of all time is Titanic. She is such a romantic it's cute. My youngest has seen the movie and thought it was cool. Now we are getting closer and closer to the opening of the New Moon movie and I have to say I'm really looking forward to it. The Volturi scene is one of my favorites in the books and from the trailors it looks amazing. Bring on the evil vampires. My daughter and all her friends want to go and I will be more than happy to take them. It's a tough task. I honestly don't know how I'll make it through a 2 hour movie with hot vampires. Whatever shall I do?

I found this trailor on Youtube Please enjoy! I thank Youtube user clevverTV for sharing this.