Typical Suburban Family

I’m curious how many of you are active in Blogfrog discussions?  Do you have your own community or do you just participate in the discussions in others communities?

If you have your own community, how do you gain followers and active participants in your discussions?

I am fairly active in other Blogfrog communities, but I’m not that great about posting in my own community.  Mainly because I don’t have much activity in there yet. Probably because I don’t participate in my own myself.  You see the vicious cycle going on here?

So how do you get people active?  I’d love for some of my readers to join my Typical Suburban Family Blogfrog Community.  And I’d love for you to help me make it an active community!!

By the way – for any of you who are not active in the Blogfrog communities you’re missing out.  It’s so fun and there are a lot of great conversations, ideas, suggestions and resources.  It’s free (and easy) to join.

Ryan is smart.  I will give him that.  And he’s also pretty darn sneaky.  I’m not sure this is a good combination.

Why you ask?

Well let me share a little story….

Each night we tuck the boys into bed around 7:30pm – 8:00pm and we head downstairs for the rest of the evening.  After the kitchen is cleaned and toys are picked up, we typically have the television on and we’re each on our laptop just hanging out with the Christmas tree lights on and a fire in the fireplace.  It’s peaceful and quiet.

But so is Ryan.  Quiet that is.

The last few nights Ryan has been sneaking out of his room and watching TV with us.  But we don’t know it.

How do we not know it? Well, I did mention he’s sneaky didn’t I?

He knows that if he opens his bedroom door we will hear his noise machine or music.  Or that we’ll see the light coming from his room.  So to ensure we don’t know he has left his room, he turns off all lights, all music, all fans, all things that make noise or light.  He opens his door very quietly and then closes it behind him.  If he doesn’t close it he knows that we’ll notice the open door and call him out on leaving his room.

So he does all of the above and then he hides behind this little wall on the left side of the photo and peers over the edge between the spindles to the TV below.

This picture was taken with my phone sitting on the couch so you can see that I can’t see him sitting behind that little wall.  And this hidden spot he has found is a perfect sight line to the television down below.

Sneaky, sneaky little four year old (well, almost four).  But he’s not only sneaky, he’s smart.  He has it figured out to a tee on how not to get caught.  And he’s good at it. I should be worried for the years yet to come, don’t you think?

So now I’m trying to figure out ways to outsmart him.  Because he’s obviously succeeded at outsmarting us the last few nights. And trust me when I say it’s hard not to laugh when we find him all hidden behind that wall watching TV.  I know it’s naughty, but I give him a lot of credit for figuring this all out on his own.  He’s so darn cute!  And when he’s busted he always jumps and says “Momma.  You scared me.  That wasn’t nice.”

Like my mom said to me once “You wouldn’t have been scared if you weren’t doing something you weren’t supposed to.”  True dat mom!  True dat!

But now I must outsmart him. I’m thinking jingle bells on his doorknob.  Think it will work?

Any other suggestions on how to do this?  Because I can’t do it alone……

If you haven’t been to the Portable North Pole yet, you need to go. Fast.

It is one of the cutest things I have seen this holiday season.  Or any holiday season for that matter.  You can send a personalized message to your kids, a friend, a parent or a spouse.

The boys were absolutely amazed when I showed them each of theirs.  Ryan was so excited to see his picture and name in Santa’s big book.  And then when Santa showed a picture of Ryan on summer vacation at Grandma’s cabin, Ryan exclaimed “Momma!!  How did Santa know I went to Grandma’s house?” to which I responded calmly “Ryan, mommy told you that Santa knows everything.  He’s always watching you.”

He really had to think about this one.  The look on his face said it all.

So if you’re still reading this blog post and you still haven’t created your personal message for someone you love, then watch the ones I created for Ryan and for Owen.  I promise you’ll head right over and create one of your own!

And remember that Santa is watching you!

I admit it.  I want one.  I really, really, REALLY want one.  Wouldn’t you want this thin, sleek and brilliant product?

Here’s the deal though.  I can’t justify buying an Apple ipad.  It’s not horribly expensive and I’d be perfectly happy with the smallest size and least expensive one, but it’s still an expense that we don’t need right now.  I know that our backyard landscaping ranks above this purchase.  And new brakes on my minivan. Oh, and diapers.

Isn’t it fun to have responsibilities that do not include me items.  I can’t remember the last time there was a totally foolish, selfish and irresponsible me purchase.  Well, one that didn’t include a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks!  Which I’m addicted to now by the way!

So instead I like to dream.  I like to wish and hope that it will magically appear on my doorstep one day.  I enter every contest I come across that is giving away an ipad.  I even have a coworker entering contests on my behalf (since she already has one of these fabulous ipads!).

Yep, jealous.  I’m totally jealous of her fun leather case and wi-fi keyboard accessories.  But really, I’d be happy with just the ipad.

There was a time when I had the latest technology.  A time when I didn’t think about where my money was going.  A time when I probably would have already had an ipad.

But it’s different now.  And don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade it even for a second. Not even at 3am when Owen has woken up for the 2nd time after Ryan already being up 3 times.  Even then on very little, interrupted sleep.  I still wouldn’t trade my priorities and where my money is spent.

But still, I can’t help but wish and hope and dream that I’ll win one of the millions of giveaways that I’ve entered and I too will have a sleek, shiny new ipad for myself.  Without the guilt.

The short answer is YES!!  And the long answer is YES, ABSOLUTELY!

I love all the apps for the Droid Incredible and how easy it is to update my blog from it; upload photos and status updates to facebook; tweet; read and respond to emails. I also love that I can view the weather in all my favorite cities where we have friends, family and loved ones. The cities that I regularly follow are Atlanta, GA; Denver, CO; Minneapolis, MN; Duluth, MN; and Philadelphia, PA. So now, I know at a moments notice what the weather is in each place and whether or not I’d rather be there are here. I have to admit that Duluth, MN hasn’t been at the top of my list lately. I mean, really? Snow in May?!

But I digress….

The Incredible is awesome. It has multiple home screens that you can customize however you wish. I still have 2 that are empty and am not sure what to place there yet. I don’t have a lot of technical things to report on. That would be more for my techie hubby to write a post about. But then again, I’m still trying to convince him to post about his experience at The Masters this year and to share a few of his favorite 800+ photos. So now he has two blogs to write on his to-do list.

While I think the Incredible is pretty cool, I came from a Blackberry Pearl so I don’t have much to compare it against. What do you think?  What type of phone do you have?