1) I still get Post BlissDom Depression and I’m just beginning to get over it.

It’s like LOST, but we all want to GO BACK to a really glittery biodome filled with smart friends, as opposed to a scary smoke-monster filled island. I hoped the sheer workload of the final stages of launching Picha would distract me from the Post BlissDom Blues, but no.

I’ve been working, but also in my yoga pants eating ice cream out of containers, for the past two weeks.

Blargh.

2) Mornings are less painful with coffee and mini-trampolines.

A few mini trampolines also make the days way more fun and the bedtime routine less tearful.

I bought four trampolines for the Picha Global Suite at BlissDom. By the way, trampolines and a wind machine are necessary for epic photobooth pictures. The Picha team will start sponsoring events with a fun photo set up. BlissDom was our way of dipping our toes in the water. The boys were thrilled that they can play on them between events.

My poor husband keeps thinking they are only a temporary part of the household. Heh.

3) There is such a thing as a kitchen cabinet mount for an iPad.

I mean seriously? This is a fabulously awesome iPad holder. This gravity held kitchen cabinet tablet called for me from the aisle at Target last week. “Alli, Come buy me. I will make you so happy.” You know what? It did.

Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy a sweet iPad holder that makes me happy while I make the boys’ lunches. Close enough.

Tangerines, roses, puffy trees, cocktails, and a giant Lorax sporting a yellow mustache. Yes, that was my Friday night.

I shopped for two months to find a perfect dress in pink and orange, but sanity finally returned and decided to let the decor be pink and orange. I decided on a safe navy dress to save myself a ton of embarrassment when I looked at pictures later.

As a little girl, I was an only child and dreamed of throwing big fancy parties. The kind of parties that Courtney throws. The kind of parties that fill people with happiness. The kind of party that celebrated the Lorax opening in theatres this week.

Aren’t Dawn‘s** pictures lovely? Here she is with Amber, Arianne, Lisa Jo, Sara Sophia & Jen

(**Dawn’s Post BlissDom Post is kinda perfect. She said it all perfectly.  Go visit and see her adorable pictures from the Lorax party, too!)

The Lorax party at BlissDom last weekend was a dream come true. If you weren’t partying Lorax style, you must see the adorable pictures.

How is it possible to be this cute?

I see Melissa, Bridget, Casey & Heather!

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Did you see Casey, Melissa, Heather, Shireen, Bridget and Emily.

Big thank you to Jana & Nancy for the gorgeous photos.

I’m taking all the boys to go see The Lorax this weekend. Who’s with me?

A big thanks to Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax for sponsoring this campaign.  Click here to see more of the discussion.

Before I had all these boys, I imagined parents could simply tell children things and kids would take it to heart and internalize it. My boys quickly taught me that I was not in touch with reality. Kids don’t listen to parents; kids watch parents. If I want my kids to love something, I can’t tell them they should love it. I have to love it myself and let them see that love in action.

Helmets are great gardening accessory if you are two

The great thing about having a family garden is that it becomes a place where the family gathers and works together in a fun way. It has allowed the boys to learn how to take care of the earth. The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, right? A food garden of any size will instantly have them hooked. Plus, what child doesn’t love to play in the dirt and water?  (I mean, you might have a mountain of laundry as a result, but that’s another story for another day.)

The concepts of stewardship of the Earth and protecting the environment came naturally to our family thanks to our garden. We can’t expect to abuse something and get good results.

A garden is the ultimate living classroom that teaches you to reap what you sow. Beautiful flowers and delicious fruit and veggies come only if you provide proper care to the environment. A garden doesn’t necessarily need a tractor and a haystack so don’t worry if you’re an urban dweller. Container gardens and vertical gardens are perfect for balconies when space is limited.

There is something magical about planting a seed, caring for it, and watching your little green shoot grow into something beautiful. The concepts of cause and effect, sowing and reaping, and love of the Earth come naturally to children who are lucky enough to experience gardening. Thanks to our love of the environment, the boys are appalled when they see examples of people not caring for the Earth. I hope my boys become men who teach their children to love the environment and be wonderful stewards of the Earth!

Seedlings

 

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Some times life hits a level of awesome that blows me away. The Lorax is now a movie and the movie actually was a big part of my conference, BlissDom, last weekend. All of this just blows my mind. Hello? Dr. Seuss at my party? Oh yes!

I’ll update y’all with fun pictures from the Lorax party soon, I wanted this check in to focus on my love of gardening and caring for the Earth. And, yes, it’s ok to laugh at me and my dorky dress and boots combination.

I would love to hear from you. Here are some ideas for things to talk to me about in the comments. Have fun!

• Do you garden? (By garden, I mean everything from needing a tractor to containers on a patio in a highrise!)
• Have you been able to instill a love of gardening in your kids’ hearts?
• Why do you feel gardening is important?
• Have you found gardening has helped your kids to have a love for the Earth and be better stewards?

A big thanks to Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax for sponsoring this campaign.  Click here to see more of the discussion.

Somewhere over Colorado

I have been questioned by worried friends, relatives and strangers that I overshare online. I’ve grappled with this issue quite a bit. As my sweet friend said at BlissDom years ago, “I err on the side of forgiving myself when it comes to oversharing my life.”

For me, sharing who I am and my life is just part of my job and I am mindful to guard the privacy of my family. I share my work online, obviously. I share my life as a businesswoman, a woman just trying to figure out life, a mother of a small army and a wife to a man I adore and who exasperates me. The interesting part of all of this is, because I do share my photos and thoughts, it has enabled different parts of my life – the work part and the home part to see each other.

There is an interesting bonus to sharing so much of my life online for my relationship with my children. I notice my oldest son sees me in a more multidimensional way. Less of a rule enforcer and stressed out mom, and more of a whole person with different roles. He is 13 and follows me on Instagram. When I am out of town, especially when I am on longer trips, he knows exactly what I am doing because he keeps up with the pictures I post constantly.

Late Saturday night I came home from the airport, returning from Boulder, and he said, “I love that shot you took out of the airplane window” and “you looked really happy when you met that man*” or “that was a really cool light you took a picture of”.  My son loves following little notes about my daily life.

*I realized that that sounds bad, but I really was thrilled to meet and interview Jim Collins.

It's great when your hero is as nice as he is brilliant. Look for the Jim Collins interview at BlissDom this month!"

As mothers of children who are a bit older, when we do share these different parts of ourselves they have a window into who we are that otherwise wouldn’t be there. I think my son has a better understanding of who his mother is outside of my ‘mother’ role. My mother role is the enforcer, I am very loving, but I am also very strict. The majority of the time I am laying down the law and telling my sons what they need to do, what they need to do better, and how to shape up. That is what the boys need from me. It’s a group of 5 boys, they need me to be tough and loving and to keep everyone in line.

Thanks to Instagram, the boys have a window to see their mother from a different lens. They need me to be ‘Mom’ but they love seeing more of who their mom is as an individual.

I'm not just the grumpy rule enforcer.

For those of you who share online (blogging, Facebook, twitter, etc..) have you found that it helps give others a more full picture of who you are?

Am I a bad parent to admit that I like to travel?

I love this.

Maybe.

But you know what, it’s true.

I love my family, I love my kids but I also love to take a couple of days away. I’m not sure if mothers admit that as much as they should. maybe I am one of the only mothers who actually enjoys taking a break. Sure I miss them but it is easy for me to compartmentalize. When I am on a business trip I am Alli the person, business woman. However, if I am walking on a sidewalk or on an airplane and there is a small child or boy who is one of my boy’s ages, I do get a little misty and I have to refocus.

There has been many times when I’ve seen a little child out in public say 2 or 3 and my heart just aches to be home with my children. And not two minutes later that same kid is flipping out about something, crying, screaming, doing that thing where you hold your parents hand and your knees drop out, snot coming out of the nose, head spinning around kind of tantrum and then I think, “Wow I’m really glad to be on a business trip right now. I’ll see my kids soon but I’m just going to enjoy being a grown up.”

So I take showers, I take baths and no one knocks on the door, yells my name or no one throws toys in the bathtub while I’m trying to take a bath. Kinda nice.

Maybe I’m the only one but I kinda like traveling. Don’t tell anyone, okay. It’ll be our secret. How about you? Are you a woman with young kids, or a parent with young kids who really likes the occasional business trip? Let me know. Maybe I’m not the only one.

A year ago, I discovered the joys of having a female dog who apparently is not fixed. We thought she was. She was a rescue. But to our surprise she wasn’t.

So, in between conference calls one day, I retrofitted some Loony Tunes underwear with a Maxi-Pad and cut out a little hole for the dog’s tail. You really haven’t lived until you MacGuyver-ed tidy whiteys and a maxipad to put on your dog.
That started the process of my younger children learning about the facts of life in an very interesting way.
Fast forward a few months and that dog isn’t fixed. I don’t know how time magically flew by and I forgot to make the Vet appointment. I’d always planned on having her fixed. Whoops.

Mollie is super sorry for leaking. Heh.

Well, she’s doing what my younger children call “leaking”.  They call from the house. When I was in out of town recently, my mother DM’ed me on Twitter – cause she knows how to get ahold of me, right? – and said “Yeah, uh, Molly’s in season again. Plan A: Put her in her kennel until I hear from you. Plan B: Keep her there.”

What do I do? So I told her where the doggie diapers I’d bought are kept and we’re muddling through.
What’s interesting about this is, well, there’s a lot interesting about this, but the most interesting is the kids ask questions. And it has forced us to be very matter of fact about what’s happening to Molly, about reproduction, it’s quite interesting.

My oldest son asked us specifically not to explain the bird and the bees to him. He said, “Can you guys please just buy a book from Amazon and give it to me to read myself?” Um, yeah! It worked beautifully.

So life, as imperfect as ever, has altered my plans on explaining the facts of life to the younger kids. Amazon can’t rescue us from the reality of a leaking doggie. :)

It’s no secret I love taking pictures. I take some great shots and lots of what professional photographers would call garbage shots. I love them all. They are the fun, blurry, sad, exciting, beautiful, sweet moments caught in time.

I was taking pictures of my orchids when I looked up and saw my children playing snow. Instead of thinking, “Oh No! The mess of cleaning up all those packing peanuts,” like I normally would. (What? I’m being honest here, OK?) I took this photo and smiled as they played and pretended to make snow angels.

My love of capturing magic moments is what was my catalyst to step outside of the stress of daily chaos and enjoy the magic of the moment. So, yes, sometimes my iPhone really does make me a better mom.

It is snowing in Tennessee!

I can’t be the only one who feels this way, right? How has photography (iPhone or DSLR) helped you to enjoy the little magical moments more?

The iPhone that wasn't

This strange thing happens as your kids get older.They show you that your illusions of control are just that- illusions. As parents we do all we can for our kids. We try to instill our values, provide an education that actually teaches them to think for themselves, and keep them healthy. One of the hardest things I have to do as a parent is be the bad guy.

The bad guy enforces the rules and enforces consequences. Life would be so simple if good parents didn’t have to ever be the bad guy. I wish I could coddle, excuse their failings and make life easy for my kids and they would magically become self reliant, responsible humans capable of making the world a better place.

Good parents are bad guys.

On December 23rd I found out our eldest son had been lying to us all week. He uses my old iPhone 3 as a touch (no service for kids in this house. I survived without a cell, so can they) and he told us for 3 days that he couldn’t find it. As it turned out, it was in his room and he was just tired of his little brothers running down the battery.

Dang, I thought, now I have to deal with this?

Good parents are bad guys when they have to be, right?  I knew I had to come up with some sort of memorable consequence because lying is serious. The more you get away with lying, the more you lie.

All the boy wanted for Christmas was the iPhone 4 when I had the 4S. He dreamed of using the new photo apps on the 4 and the cool video editing software. The iphone 3 mocked his dreams of new cooler apps.

I hid the fact that I had the 4S for days. I told Siri to hush and kept little hands away. I knew that Christmas morning would be the perfect time to teach him just why lying doesn’t pay off in the end.

I scribbled a short note in the 4S case and waited.

“If you had been honest you would have the 4 right now, you big doof!”

When he saw the case he knew I had the 4S and that would mean he would receive the 4 as his big gift.

Luckily, he took it like a man. He laughed and said, “Aw man, I blew it! Why did I ruin it?”

We let him know that when he builds up a trust level with us again, he can have the gift that had to be delayed. We aren’t sure when that will be, but we’ll all be relieved when we get there.

In the mean time, his 4 little brothers can be seen carrying the 4 around the house taking 900 pictures, tons of hipstamatics and hours of retro looking videos of absolutely nothing. Every single thing reminds him why lying doesn’t pay off.

When he isn’t frustrated about the whole thing, he admits that he deserves it and I did the right thing. “Yeah Mom, if you didn’t want me to be a man one day, you’d have let it slide” he says with a shrug.

I won the battle but I’m still fighting the war. Parenting is not for sissies!

How about you? Any stories from your childhood of tough love? How are you handling the pressure of keeping kids happy with beingthe bad guy for their own good? I would love to hear!

Before you go out and buy every gift known to mankind this holiday season, remember that simple is good.

The most well loved toys in our house are simple. We love punch balloons, art supplies, figurines (we have every figurine known to mankind) and implements of destruction (light sabers, toy guns, swords, tinker toys- you catch my drift).

The best toys don’t have to be expensive, or impress the neighbors, they just have to be fun. Punch balloons and regular balloons are the top toy in our house for 13 years running. Every age, from great grandparent to preschoolers) love to play keep away or catch with balloons.

When the relatives are visiting, keep an extra supply of balloons handy and your visit will be 10x better. Santa loves to leave balloons in stockings here, I guess Santa knows the best gifts are often the easiest.

When the digital world opened wide as a way to preserve our lives as an electronic time capsule, I was thrilled to capture our lives in this new way.

I actually posted a picture of my positive pregnancy test on my blog with my now 3.5yr old. That's a story for a different day...

Oh the cuteness of it all...

Back to memory preservation, I have over 50K images in my online photo-hosting account. Yes, you read that right,  fifty thousand pictures.

They are safe up in the cloud and backed up on a hard drive here in my home, but as I mentioned before, I forgot the importance of having pictures you can snuggle with. You know, you need photo albums that can be thumbed through lovingly on the couch, and everyone snuggles up to see the pictures together.

 

Ok, I'll admit it, I'm no fan of actually putting pictures in the photo album pages. I love to print them and watch them appear. I love to look at them, but putting them behind the plastic is like watching grass grow for some reason.

Want a tip to get around this? Offer your kid, niece, neighbor 5$ to place them all neatly in your albums for you. Yeah, it's that easy. Boom. Done.

I'm all about win-win solutions!

I can't tell you enough how much I needed this. I needed to get back in the habit of making my memories snugglable.

This all makes me so happy. All the boys love to see the pictures everyday after school. They may wrestle and fuss over who is breathing on whom or who is hogging the pages and fight later, but sharing these times where they relive memories? Priceless!

 

Once again, I'm challenging you to do the same.

I know my type-a friends will be short of breath at the thought of tackling a big job like liberating your memories from the digital wasteland.

Don't think it has to be done in a day. Just print a few out every week or every month. Keep it fun!

A big pile of happiness. Memories, love and magic captured all over my dinner table. Love it.

Many thanks again to Canon for sponsoring this post and for providing me with this wonderful PIXMA printer that has inspired me to make my memories beautifully snuggle-able.