"I'm Never Going To Eat Again...

and I MEAN IT!", yelled Eve Taylor as she ran to her room, yesterday, during an early morning tantrum. This sent Aaron and me into peals of laughter, which made Eve even angrier. Aaron, eventually, coaxed Eve back downstairs to finish eating her waffles. Her little tirade started because I gave Aaron a second waffle before giving her the second waffle. He was finished with his first one and she was not, but in her mind it was still treason.

:::::::::::::::Gingerbread Girl:::::::::





_{Darcy Baldwin: DJB AndreaB, DJB SusanB1 at The Digichick
Shabby Miss Jenn: Cherrywood Farm, Uncle Patrick's Banquet, Trimmin' The Tree, Old Letters lil kit
Gina Cabrera: Kraft paper from Simply Irresistable
Michelle Coleman: Good Karma freebie
Amanda Rockwell: All Screwed Up
Emily Merritt: Wordtopper (modified)}

::::::::::::::::Peter and The Secret of Rundoon



The kids and I thoroughly enjoyed this installment of stories about Peter Pan as imagined by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. The mulitple sub-stories that culminate in the end are exciting. The irrepressible Tinker Bell adds such spark and sass to the book that the kids laugh every time Peter "mis-translates" her chimes. The relationship between Smee and Shining Pearl is endearing. Noah, literally, leapt to his feet when it came to the part of the clock, Hook and Mister Grin because he had figured out what was about to happen. Great writing, again!

Jim Dale does the audio version of the book. Michael and I keep joking about some of the characters by inserting Harry Potter references as Jim Dale reads. The kids think it's hilarious and do some themselves.


::::::::::::::::::::::::Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)



What a thought provoking book on so many levels. One of the topics brought up at the end of the book was the way mistakes are viewed in American and Japanese culture. Americans feel mistakes show that you are weak and stupid, while Japanese realize that mistakes are made, but figuring out how to get the answer is part of learning and getting the answer is ultimately very satisfying and rewarding. The authors state, "Most American school children, however, are denied the freedom to noodle around, experiment, and be wrong in ten ways, let alone ten thousand. The focus on constant testing, whcih grew out of the reasonable desire to measure and standardize children's accomplishments, has intensified their fear of failure.... When children or adults fear falure, they fear risk. They can't afford to be wrong." The authors explain that because Americans feel that certain abilities are innate and either can master something, or can't because of how they were born.
When Children are praised for their efforts, even when they don't get the answer right the first time, they perform better. "They are more likely to regard mistakes and criticism as useful information that will help them improve. In contrast, children praised for their natural ability learn to care more about how competent they look to others than about what they are actually learning". These findings were reported after 20 years of research by psychologist, Carol Dweck. These kids she found grow up to be the kind of adults who are afraid to make mistake or take responsibility. (p.234).

Carol Dweck has an approach that has changed childrens' behavior in a positive way with a simple intervention: "She teaches elementary-school children and college students alike that intelligence is not a fixed, inborn trait...but rater a skill...that can be honed by hard work.

"The moral of the story is easy to say, and difficult to execute. When you screw up, try saying this: 'I made a mistake. I need to understand what went wrong. I don't want to make the same mistake again.'"

What an eye-opening book and one I recommend for everyone.


::::::::::::::::::::::Recent downloads from Spiralfrog:::::::

The Georgia Peach album by Little Richard

::::::::::::::::::::::Cake Art:::::::::

I signed up for my Wilton Cake art class and will be starting in a couple of weeks...Thanks for the gift, MOM! I wish Michael could take the class with me, but he is watching the kids. I want to take all of the cake decorating classes and the marzipan class, eventually.

Smiles!