Monday, November 19, 2012

Bullying: to jump the gun or not

One night last week, when I was tucking Big M in for the night, he mentioned of an incident in the bus from that morning. He said a kid twisted his arm and that it hurt. The kid then started poking him around the neck while saying, "pressure point". It didn't bother me at first, but I did want to know more about it and the more I heard, the more it sounded like bullying to me. Big M said he had to put his jacked up to cover his face in hopes of shield himself from the pressure point attacks. Then another kid joined in with "meteorite" punches to his back.

Suffice it to say that tuck-in session lasted longer than it should. I also told him to never ever take being hurt without telling the person to stop. "You look the person in the eye, and with a big voice you say, 'Stop it or I will go to the bus driver and tell on you.'" As much as I want to tell him to defend himself, I don't want his first response to be to hurt the other person back, in case it's only rough play. I just don't ever want any of my kids to just hold up their hands to cover their heads and stay there and take the beating they were getting. No child of mine will ever get beaten up without putting up a fight.

As Daddy and I discussed the incident, I told him that I don't want to raise a fuss at school just in case this is just an isolated incident, but Daddy didn't feel comfortable about that course of action. I thought about it more in bed, and finally decided to go ahead and go to school the next day and talk to the principal. But before I did, I was going to write down all the details I could, so I talked to Big M again to get my fact straight. As it turned out, it sounded more and more like just a bunch of rough, high-energy kids so I decided to let it go, and that Daddy and I bought agreed with. We will keep a listen and check on Big M to see if it happens again, and if it does I will be marching to school, probably while exercising self-restraint from wanting to hop on the bus in the morning and meet the culprit eye to eye and give him the scare of his life.

I was bullied as a Kindergartener in the Philippines. A boy I ride to school with routinely dropped his bag on the ground and expected me to carry it around the school for him and the first few times that I refused, he pinched my arm just above the sleeve line. I remember having numerous pinch marks, but the boy has scared me so much I never told. Until one day, my grandmother saw my arm and asked what it was. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I do remember telling her about it. The next day, she rode with us to school and she sat in between the boy and I. I don't remember what my grandmother told the boy, but I do vividly remember my  her hand rising up and coming down to slap the boy's thigh. The boy was wearing shorts, so the smack sounded like a square slap. My grandmother's hand probably left a hand print. I don't ever recall associating with that boy after that day, until one day I saw him in the hallway in 1st grade. He was walking towards me and as soon as he saw me he turned right around and walked away. I never heard from and seen him again.

The mortal of the story? That day my grandmother taught me that she believed me no matter what. I don't want to run to the defense of my children every time they get hurt, I want them to learn to deal with different situations, but I will be there to listen and to step in whenever necessary.

I miss my Lola.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

2 different hair cut

We met a woman who works at the school cafeteria while the girls were waiting to get a haircut. The woman said she has seen both of them but had no idea there were 2 of them!

K and J may be in 2 different kindy classes but others still have a hard time telling them apart, even though they have never worn the same things to school. So this decision to have one with bangs is a totally awesome idea.

A family pile up

Unfortunately for me I was in the bottom.

Serious soccer

Big M is very busy with soccer; some weeks he has practice 3x a week. He is learning so many things we can't wait to see where he will be in spring!

Monday, November 12, 2012

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Christmas applique shirts


In a few weeks we are going to ride on the Polar Express to see Santa. The kids are going to wear PJs so I wanted to make them matching ones. With all the projects I have, I didn't want to sew a whole PJ outfit, so I decided to just saw them the PJ bottoms. Then, I thought, hey, what not make everyone one so that we can wear it for our family Christmas morning picture! How cool would that be? I bought a ton of the green horn fabric above, and that would be the PJ for the boys, and the blue snowman hat is going to be the PJ bottom for the girls. For the top, I bought red long sleeves for the boys, and navy blue for the girls. I had no idea what design to applique on the top until last night as I was doing them. I originally had 6 different designs and as I was doing them thought that would be way too complicated. To make things easier, it's reindeer for boys, snowman for the girls.

I still have to sew them and sew details on, but they are looking pretty good. I might get our family pictures taken wearing these. :)

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Facebook sale on glass pendant washi paper necklace, handmade

Facebook special sale on washi paper glass pendant necklace!


I just opened up the Stubborn Monkeys Store on Etsy a couple of days ago. In order to celebrate and get exposure, I am selling my items on Facebook to avoid Etsy fees. For a short time, these glass pendant japanese paper necklaces are $5 each, instead of $6 and shipping is only $2.50 whether you buy 1 or 5. BUT YOU CANNOT BUY IT THROUGH ETSY. You must message me through Facebook page, Stubborn Monkeys Store (on facebook)

Read the descriptions on Etsy for the the dimensions and what they are. They are Japanese washi paper bonded to the glass with clear varnish. They let the light through, which gives them a very translucent, romantic look.

Remember, buy by messaging me on Facebook and I will then send you a paypal invoice.


Monday, November 5, 2012

Welcome to my etsy store for handmade things for children and adults!

For the past couple of weeks, I've been very very busy creating things in order to open an Etsy shop and today, it's open!

Welcome to Stubborn Monkey's Store!

So what's the story? A year and a half go I started sewing dresses for my twin girls. I have never sewn before, so it was quite a challenge deciphering the patterns I picked up from the store. I persevered, and conquered! Since I had two make two everything, the first one was usually full of mistakes. Then I went on to make other things that I saw and wanted for my girls, but were too expensive.

Not all my creations for my kids, however. Some of them I did because I thought the craft would be interesting to learn. I have crocheted, knitted, cross-stitched, carved wood (this one I share with my hubby), and recently created hair bows, appliques and embroidered.

I don't know if I will ever sell anything, but they're great as gifts!

Please visit my Etsy shop, and please visit and like my Facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/StubbornMonkeys

If you have a Facebook account, please say hi and let me know how I know you! It would be super duper awesome! If I reach 50 likes, I will do a giveaway. That's a whole 50 fans! Imagine! :)

Thanks ya'll!