Have a Lovely (Long) Weekend.

What are your plans for the weekend? After begging for years, the boys have finally worn us down and we are going to Chuck E. Cheese’s. Please wish us luck! :) Hope you have a good one, and here are a few fun links from around the web…

Homeland’s sixth season premieres this Sunday!

Three-ingredient macaroni and cheese.

“The one question I ask new entrepreneurs.”

This cartoon made me laugh.

A sweet mindfulness game for kids.

Michelle Obama’s got late night show hosting skills.

What life was like in 2007, haha.

Beyoncé and Solange on the value of being control freaks.

Four couples built tiny houses so they could live next to each other!

I read this book about autism on the plane last weekend, and it was fantastic.

One way to raise 12 kids. (Wow!)

Groomsmen goals.

A pretty shirt.

Also, for parents-to-be: I wish this awesome breast pump had existed when I had my babies. Developed by fed-up parents, the pump uses water instead of air to make pumping more comfortable, efficient and quiet. Bravo.

(Photo by Kendra Smoot. Entrepreneurs and 12 kids via Swissmiss. 2017 via Jocelyn Glei.)

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Robin

February 10, 2017 10:30 pm

I was kind of on board with the family of 12 (not how I would do things, starting with having 12 kids, omg, but okay, I get the value of learning to clean/fix cars etc) and then I got to the ‘vacations’. That poor long suffering woman. At least let her stay home with her bloody washing machine and hopefully some babysitting help! Camping BY HERSELF with AT LEAST three kids under 6?? Most likely also while pregnant/ caring for a newborn? Every year, for at least a decade? brutal. Ugh, I feel scarred just thinking about it.

Bonnie

February 2, 2017 3:45 pm

I am 40-some pages into “In a Different Key” and am hooked! Great writing and story-telling about a complex condition. I’m so taken with the book that I have convinced my husband to try getting the authors to speak at an autism symposium he is organizing.

Thank you for pointing out this book and posting your “weekend” entries; I look forward to them every Friday.

Joanna Goddard

Author

Reply to Bonnie

February 2, 2017 3:48 pm

i’m so glad you’re enjoying it! the whole book read like a new yorker article — i really enjoyed it.

Kristina B

January 17, 2017 3:41 pm

Loved the “one thing I ask new entrepreneurs” because I just opened my own stationery shop a few months ago and ALLLL the business books recommended spending some time working in a store (or whatever your “field”) before you opened your own AND I ALREADY HAD. I felt so much win! I worked full time in a local stationery chain for three years after college so my time was DONE. Done and dusted.

Lauren E.

January 17, 2017 11:38 am

Wow, that family of 12… Some of it makes a lot of sense to me, and some of it makes me a little sad. One rule that weirdly stood out was being forced to take AP classes. I was smart enough to test into AP but when it came down to it, I was so stressed out with the work load that I couldn’t sleep and ended up in tears at midnight trying to get my homework finished. I have a hard time believing every single one of their 12 kids was perfectly happy and not at all affected by being forced to take advanced placement classes.

heather

January 17, 2017 10:19 am

I can’t stop thinking about that family of 12.

We have three small children (oldest 4 years old), and at least once each day all three kids are crying about one thing or another at the exact same time and want to be held by mommy at the exact same time and will try to push each other off of my lap, scrabbling around like whining puppies, so that I’m trying to comfort them at the same time I’m scolding them for being unkind to one another. I can’t even imagine having nine more children lined up behind them, also wanting a turn on mommy’s lap. I suppose we’d probably get pretty disciplined, too, just out of sheer necessity, so that the house didn’t cave in around us and our hearts didn’t split apart. I’m so grateful that – stretched as I feel – I do not have to push my kids to be sufficiently independent not to need cuddles. (But also, I should probably make them clean up after themselves a little more. )

Hillary

January 16, 2017 9:08 pm

Oh. My. God. THAT BREAST PUMP. After lugging a hospital grade breast pump for 12 months with my first, I am starry-eyed over this beaut. Glad to be reading this post in my first trimester so I can start saving up :)

April

January 16, 2017 8:23 pm

I am an avid reader of Cup of Jo, and I have to say… some of the comments about the family of 12 make me sad. It says the father of the family works at the same aerospace engineering company as my husband. These engineers have to have incredible precision and order within their work as the slightest nuance could spell disaster for an airplane. As the wife of one of these individuals I can say that some of the ways my husband expresses love is through the order and thoughtfulness he brings (I would be lost without him!) Just because this family has a lot of rules doesn’t mean they are joyless or lacked love. If you read the comments of the article, one of the 12 kids was responding to reader questions and he seemed pretty happy with his parents approach.

Just a reminder to keep up the kindness and understanding this community is known for!

Reply to April

January 17, 2017 1:38 pm

Great reminder April!

January 16, 2017 7:33 pm

I haven’t watched Homeland in a while! There are a lot of TV shows right now I don’t know how I can possibly watch all of them.

Samantha

January 16, 2017 4:51 pm

Ah! Thanks for the reminder about Homeland. I totally forgot – have to catch up this week. :)
http://www.wonderlandsam.com

Marianne

January 16, 2017 3:45 pm

Someone commented that they know one of the 12 kids. Can we get an exclusive CofJ interview with her? Would be fascinating!

Christina

January 16, 2017 12:46 pm

For those looking at the price of the pump, look into what your health insurance does! I’m very fortunate that ours let’s me get a new pump with every baby up to $700 for reimbursement. Then your only out of pocket a couple hundred bucks.

It’s is expensive, but for someone who had to exclusively pump I’m all heart-eyes over those silicone flanges. AMAZING.

Hillary

Reply to Christina

January 16, 2017 9:10 pm

I know right?! I’m drooling over this thing like it’s a piece of meat.

Jean

January 16, 2017 12:20 pm

Not helping your kids through college when you could afford to do it seems a bit…mean. I get the importance of instilling independence but it’s hard to learn when you are panicking about how to pay your tuition/looking forward to years of postgraduate debt. Obviously this is the reality for many American students but it seems weird to me that the dad of 12 kids would see that as something to show off about.

That said I did like his car strategy, I’ve always said that if I had a kid I’d buy them a decommissioned sidewalk snow remover as their first vehicle :)

Carrie

January 16, 2017 11:51 am

I don’t see where it says the family hasn’t been together in 20 years (if so then yes, something’s off)…but I have mixed feelings about these parents! In some ways I wish my own parents had pushed me like this (school especially!) but to keep saying over and over how they had all this money but wouldn’t pay for college or weddings- I don’t know, seems kind of cold and weird to me. What about *their* duties and responsibilities? It’s like these kids were an experiment.

Larissa

January 16, 2017 11:21 am

Big fan of your blog and all of your tips! I’d like to give you my own… I always buy from this store in Brazil, they have handmade products made by craftsmen in small cities all over the country, all put together in one store. They also have a brick and mortar store in a beach city called Trancoso, this is their website: http://www.divinostrancoso.com.br. Hope you all like it just as much as I do! =)

Moonlight

January 15, 2017 7:21 pm

regarding the book, you could have a look at this, too.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6046352-the-way-things-look-to-me
it’s not easy for me to stay focused and read a book unless there’s some sort of mystery to be solved, but I though this was brilliant and so interesting!

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