"Ish" Parenting

Hi. For those of you who hang out around here on a regular basis, I think I'd better issue a warning..... When the girls go back to school on Monday, I'm going to launch in to High Gear 3-Day-wise.

As of Monday, we'll be 74 days out from the 3-Day. That's 73 days before we leave for the event in Dallas. Beginning Monday, I'm going to do my best to do a "Princess Guide" post every day. For those of you who are "in the Pink," this will be a good thing. I'm afraid, though, some of you may not be quite as excited.

Please hang with me. I'll do some regular posts as well -- but I've really got to kick it up a notch on the 3-Day, in more ways than one.

So... Back to our regularly scheduled programming (for now.)


I'm a big fan of "ish" parenting.

I'd never realized this was a whole parenting style until Suzi said something about a friend who "doesn't believe in ishes." Oh yeah. I do.

"Ish" parenting rocks. Low-stress, low-key. If you're not familiar with this, here are a few examples from my day...

We get up about 8-ish in the summer.
We eat lunch when the kiddos are hungry -- sometimes 2-ish.
Bedtime is 9-ish.

But it gets better. We went to the Children's Museum the other day with 8-ish kids. Came home with 8 or so. ("Or so" being another form of "ish.")

Really, it works.

You should try it.

Here's a recap of the last week in "ish" terms.

Last Friday, the girls and I went to welcome the troops coming home from Iraq. They were supposed to drive up Fry Road about 9:30-ish. After the two buses rolled by, Abs asked it that was "it." I explained that while it might not seem like a big deal to her, I bet it was a really big deal to those guys -- to see families strung out along Fry Road to welcome them home.

Here are the 8-ish kids we took to Children's Museum.

Banking is one area where my "ish" factor reigns supreme. Hoping the kids learn better in Kidtropolis.

Now.... Amber and her kids came down this week for 48-ish hours. Forget "ish" -- "Squish" is now my buzzword. As in.... You've just gotta squish those cheeks.

So you have a $40,000 swimming pool, and it's the $5-ish water hose that the kids love the most??

Squish.

Squish.

Squish.

Can't pass up the nose-picking shot...

Squish.

Squish.

Squish.

LOVE Abbie's look here!

Double Squish.