To maintain my teaching certificate, I must complete 15 credits every five years. It always feels good to get another few credits checked off, and yesterday I dropped in the mail my 35+ page coursework for a 5 credit class on dyslexia. Yahoo! I completed it in just over a month, but of course, have been doing the research since May. Reading Specialist—here I come!
Lisa Flam TODAY
Against the Cinderella culture, a Catholic high school in Kentucky has a blunt message for young girls.
“You’re not a princess,” Mercy Academy says in a new ad created by Louisville, Ky. agency Doe-Anderson.
“Don’t wait for a prince,” reads another. “Be able to rescue yourself.”
“This message empowers them to move beyond that whole fairy tale idea and to write their own story in life,” said Mercy principal Amy Elstone.
The Louisville girls’ school with 550 students launched the campaign last week, with ads on websites, billboards and bus shelters. Elstone knew it might raise eyebrows.
“We knew it was going to be risky going with this message,” Elstone told TODAY Moms. “Our girls are growing up in a society where they’re told by their parents that they’re a princess, and our message is that they’re not a princess, they’re so much more.”
The theme is also part of the school’s enrollment video.
Elstone doesn’t want students to think they need to wait for their Prince Charming.
“That’s what TV tells them and movies and Disney tell them,” she said. “We teach our girls to prepare for real life.”
That could include a prince, she said, as long as a student is writing him into the picture, Elstone said.
The campaign, Elstone said, is true to the school’s mission of preparing girls for the 21st century.
“And we think this holds true to the Catholic tradition and our ultimate goal is to produce women of mercy,” she said.
So far, she has received only positive feedback.
“It’s been amazing,” Elstone said. “We’ve been hearing people talking about it in the community. It’s all over Facebook. It gets people talking. People are debating our message and applying it to their own life.”
Mercy students enjoyed the campaign when the school ran it by them last year, she said.
“They all loved it,” Elstone said. “They said it is exactly what a 13- and 14-year old girl needs to hear.”
A few girls, she said, teared up, she recalled, and said, ‘Yes, I’m writing my own story.”
On TODAY, Natalie Morales credited the school with spreading a “great message.”
“You watch the Hollywood romance movies and you see the happy ending and the guy always comes in and saves everybody and everybody lives happily ever after and that’s not life,” Morales said.
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Hey, Mercy Academy, I get what you are saying and I love your message! Crowns get in the way of changing the world.
The problem with Kyla being in school full-day is we now have to go to fun places whenever everyone else does, so on Veteran’s Day, I packed up the kids, radioed in backup (my parents) and we went down to Seattle.
We are waiting for Grandpa to grow up. Maybe he just needs to find a smaller table.
This is Kyla’s look right before she gets so frustrated that she falls completely apart. We are doing a logic puzzle.
If a mirror can change my body this much, can it at least get rid of the zits on my face?
The butterfly pavilion is always a favorite. Who knew butterflies liked checks?
This is me wondering how long Piper will need to pout because Wesley got to put the ears on the bunny he was working on.
We needed a little fresh air and run around time before we drove back home. Kyla is being her usual OAN (Oldest Available Need) and helping her Wes climb.
Wesley had a 30 minute pout before going in to full-tantrum mode (Piper joined him in this as we went to the car).
While Wesley pouted, Kyla got to go down the fountain and get herself drenched. But she kept her spirits, even in November with no coat! You go, OAN!
Clothes bin, exercise ball, and a Piper. Well, at least she’s brushing her teeth.
Our good friend, M, came over to play with Wesley this morning (because two 3-year olds are easier than 1!). Wes was very excited to play doctor, but he’s 3, so this was a perfectly 3-year-old rated version. It didn’t even include the shots that he hates. And M thinks it tickles.
My dad and I have birthdays exactly 2 weeks apart, so a family birthday party between the two was perfect. It was also right after Halloween, so the kids and I dressed up. Wesley brought 3 costumes because he likes being a dragon/dinosaur, an astronaut, and Spiderman. The superhero won this time and Parker got to wear the dragon. (Yes, Wes is wearing underwear on his head.)
Wesley often refers to Parker as if he were his invisible friend. Parker is is best friend and brother when they are not together. When they are together, they become more like partners in crime.
Oh, yeah, this is trouble…
Cecily tries to get in on the love fest snuggle. There’s not room, honey!
Phew, what a day!
I got to be part of Piper’s Kindergarten party. (Pipes is the 3rd from the right in the front. She is a puppy dressed as a fairy princess. Yep, three layers over her regular clothes.)
Kyla is 3rd from left, front.
We’ve known this family for a two years and last year the parents made 5 matching Angry Birds costumes. This year, Mom is Gru and then her four minions. She made these herself. I am so impressed.
I managed not to have any pictures of myself. I have a purple dress that is a twin to Kyla’s and a crown that is identical to Piper’s. Wesley was both Spiderman and a dragon-dinosaur today.
It won’t be like this forever, but 3 kids meant 5 parties (5 different classrooms) and then I love our small town and our particular neighborhood so much that we trick-er-treated both places and meet up with many friends and acquaintances. But, phew, I’m glad the kids are asleep and costumes are off.
I think I will let the pictures speak for themselves.
We almost didn’t get out to a pumpkin patch this year, but the weather surprised us and we revisited the farm Kyla had gone to for her kindergarten field trip last spring.
I can’t recommend it enough.
We spent 4 hours (okay, and $18 for all-access bracelets for the kids ($6 each), dollars here and there for cocoa and snacks, and far too much for pumpkins we never carved), and it wasn’t enough time.
There were play sets and hay mazes (corn maze was extra),
a cow train and pedal go-karts,
swings, slides, slide, slides,
a giant corn “sand box”
baby animals, duck races, pig shows,
the giant bouncing pillow,
a hay ride,
beautiful grounds,
farm cats and dogs
and lots of family fun. There are dozens of pumpkin farms within a 30 minute drive, but this is the one we’ll go back to next year. Join us?
It had been 5 weeks since we had been to the cabin (and since I last held my camera, which I had left there), and I had strong cabin fever. In this case, it meant I wanted in, not out.
But once we got to the island (and I swear it was sunnier as soon as the ferry docked), we decided to delay heading to Heartsease and went Maxwelton Beach before the sun went down.
This late harvest light is golden—as precious as these childhood moments.
Driftwood fort + charcoal from beach fire = “let’s paint this house black” with remainder coal dust left on faces.
“Hey, kids, I found a jelly fish!”
“So cool!” “Can I touch it?” “I’m stepping on it!” “Look, you can poke a stick through it!” “Yeah!”
Ah, feels like home.
Needopedia 