Links & Things: An Unintended Hiatus Edition

I apologize for my unintended hiatus from writing. I just hit the wall and needed a break. Each day I would tell myself that tomorrow things would be better I’d get back on track…and then tomorrow became 10 days later. Has that ever happened to you?

The good news is that I found myself taking a week off of homeschooling and just enjoying hanging out with my kids without an educational plan. Sometimes it’s hard for me to turn off Teacher Mom and just be Fun Mom. One of the things that I did was surprise them with a trip to Lego Land Orlando. It felt great to just play together…and forget about school for a week. To say that we had a great time would be an understatement.

Around the web:

Did you see that Instagram now was profile pages? I haven’t decided how I feel about that yet.

My homeschool blog, Passport Academy, was nominated in the Homeschool Blog Awards for Best Homeschool Blog Design.

I’m planning my step-daughter’s wedding…so of course I made a Wedding Pinterest Board to inspire myself. It’s been exactly nine and a half years since I wore the Event Planner/Invitation Designer Hat. A lot has changed. There are even wedding apps! The wedding will be in the Caribbean and we are all truly excited. However, and I say this with all the love in the world, I hope it’s a few more years before the next family wedding. I’m exhausted!

Links

Although I haven’t written a post about it (and I’m not sure I’m up to going there) I cannot stop thinking about and praying for the Krim Family and following the latest developments in the news. It is so frightening and truthfully I am both horrified and saddened by some of the things that have come out about the case. Like the fact that Yoselyn Ortega (the nanny) had some sort of beef with the Mother and is trying to justify her heinous actions by calling the victims’ mother’s character into question, or the resentment she felt towards her employers both from their economic status and the fact they would “tell her what to do”…seriously? This justifies killing 2 innocent children in such a brutal way? My dear friend said it best. Who of us has never left our child, even for a few minutes, with someone else? This isn’t about who has a nanny, housekeeper, babysitter, aupair or works or stays home…this is about the lives of 2 children, cut short in a horribly savage way…and a mother who has lost her anchor and her world. I am devastated for her and frightened for the rest of us.

The Election is over and sadly apparently so are many friendships. I think it really shows how divided our country has become. Read: Why it’s okay to end a friendship over political differences. Do you agree? I prefer the Thomas Jefferson quote myself. And if your party lost, you aren’t alone. Here are some reasons for Republicans to be cheerful.

Have you read, The Mom Stays in the Picture, Perfectly their Mother {Ivy League Insecurities} or The Mom Avoids the Picture {Her Bad Mother}? Read them. It will make you see the importance of being in the picture.

I remember when I was preparing our adoption book. A (very mean) social worker commented, “Do you have any pictures from when you were with them? It looks like they are being raised by a nanny or something.” Of course, leaving aside her own false perceptions of my family and the fact that I wasn’t in the picture because: who the heck did she think was taking all of the pictures? Oh yeah, the nanny we don’t have. She was WRONG. I wasn’t in the picture because I don’t like how my hair looks, I don’t have any make-up on, I feel ugly today, I didn’t get enough sleep, my outfit looks weird, blah blah blah blah blah. The truth is, so what? And aren’t we more beautiful through our children’s eyes? My children see me every day. I want them to have pictures to remember our moments by. I don’t want my great grand children asking “Why wasn’t Grandma’s Mom ever around?” Do you?