Thursday, April 29, 2010
Savannah's 1 year B-day Photos
So, it has taken a while to get Savannah's one year photos back from the photographer, but they were worth the wait! Wow, she is TOO cute. If anyone wants one please comment on the post with the picture you want and the size. I am placing a big order so just let me know.
Top 5 Strengths
As part of the Bank of America Grant from last year I am attending a lot of conferences in 2010 for leadership training. As part of our 'homework' before the Atlanta trip we had to take a very long self reflection exam. The point of the assignment was to find out my top 5 strengths based on the way I answered the questions. I guess there are 30 different strengths and these were my top 5. These things always seems a little strange to me- almost like a horoscope. It seems like you an justify everything it says. I think it is a good match for me, but I never know how much is real compared to what I perceive is real. I am interested to see how this information will be incorporated in our leadership training next month.
My Top 5 Strengths
Competition
Achiever
Maximizer
Significance
Learner
Competition
Chances are good that you often unravel perplexing ideas, problems, processes, opportunities, or puzzles. You usually continue working until you discover how something operates. You think much faster when you know someone else is trying to understand how the same thing functions. This likely motivates you to finish first. Instinctively, you refuse to be content with your performance until you have been declared the most capable, successful, or accomplished person in the group. Just knowing you are being compared to others gives you the extra energy and determination you need to surpass everyone else’s performance. Because of your strengths, you have identified your talents and strengths. You know the things you do quite well. You waste very little time mulling over your limitations, shortcomings, or failures. Your strengths allow you to capture first-place honors again and again. You refuse to concentrate much energy on areas where you must struggle just to be average. “What’s the point?” you ask yourself. By nature, you usually know the right time to assist someone who is vying for top honors or the first-place prize. It’s very likely that you consistently aim to turn in the prize-winning performance. A second- or third-place finish can send you into an emotional
tailspin. Your ability to pull out of it depends on your other talents.
Achiever
Chances are good that you work for hours, days, weeks, or even months to produce
outstanding results. You impose demanding standards for excellence and productivity on
yourself. You probably cannot rest until each requirement is met. By nature, you think
intensely to conceive vivid mental images of the future. Many individuals lack your ability to envision what will be possible in the coming months, years, or decades. As a result, they regularly rely on you to do this visioning for them. It’s very likely that you spend hours unraveling the mysteries of complicated procedures, routines, or systems. Your step-by-step descriptions help numerous individuals understand how things operate. Because of your strengths, you typically immerse yourself in intense activities. Preferring a fast pace, you thrive on excitement. You appreciate being surrounded by like-minded individuals. They motivate you to expend even more energy accomplishing whatever needs to be done. You stay busy and work hard whenever it is necessary. Driven by your talents, you naturally concentrate your physical and mental energies on doing whatever needs to be done right now. You have a natural gift for living in the moment. This explains why you need to produce meaningful results each day.
Maximizer
Because of your strengths, you periodically inspire people by finding out what motivates
them. You may give individuals lots of recognition. Once in a while, you celebrate each
person’s uniqueness. Perhaps your acknowledgments or compliments energize particular
people. It’s very likely that you sense that you do a good job of streamlining processes and action plans. You study ways to efficiently perform mundane, tedious, or repetitious tasks. As insignificant as an activity seems, you help others appreciate its importance. Your orderly and easy-to-follow steps save people time and allow them to deliver consistent results on schedule and without hassles. Instinctively, you are quite determined to enhance your talents rather than waste time worrying about your limitations. You often experience bursts of rapid growth each time you can use your talents, knowledge, and/or skills. By nature, you recognize you help individuals feel part of gatherings, conversations, organizations, or events. Sensitive to subtle forms of discrimination, you strive to overcome it. Consciously excluding people is unacceptable, in your opinion. You probably distance yourself from people who despise people or things they regard as inferior. Driven by your talents, you may accept that no two people are exactly the same. This partially explains why you ask so many questions. Sometimes you are trying to figure out what makes an individual different from everyone else. Perhaps this knowledge allows you to inspire, coax, demand, challenge, or pressure various people to do their finest work.
Significance
It’s very likely that you attract people by noticing their accomplishments. You gain much
satisfaction from being liked. Your sense of importance is enhanced when many people say you are their friend. Driven by your talents, you may be a solo performer who wants to do important work. Perhaps you engage in activities that set you apart from the vast majority of people. You sometimes dedicate your time, effort, and energy to these pursuits. Chances are good that you provide the impetus — that is, the driving force or motivation — people need to reach their goals and excel. Because of your strengths, you urge and prod people to settle for nothing less than great accomplishments. You have a reputation for drawing out individuals’ finest work. When timid or risk-adverse people rise to your standards of excellence, you know they would not have performed as brilliantly if you had not been there to influence them. By nature, you gravitate to people whose work ethic is rock solid. You like to associate with individuals who are driven to excel and highly productive.
Learner
By nature, you acquire knowledge more easily when you can talk with others about ideas,
concepts, or theories. Thoughts come alive for you when questions are posed and answers are proposed. You have a delightful time thinking out loud and listening to intelligent people express themselves. You naturally document or store in your mind bits and pieces of discussions. You want to refer back to these insights or facts whenever the opportunity
presents itself. It’s very likely that you are attracted to difficult and challenging endeavors. You are not inclined to look for the easy way out. You are bold. You take risks. You dare to stretch your mind. You test the limits of your abilities in ways that timid individuals would not attempt. Because of your strengths, you normally dedicate yourself to acquiring knowledge and gaining skills. You probably devote many hours to mental labor. Instinctively, you typically enroll in demanding classes. You thrive in situations where you can test your talents as well as your endurance to discover how much you can accomplish. You need to prove yourself to yourself each day. Driven by your talents, you yearn to be inspired by your work. You want experience to be your teacher. You need to feel enthused by your work or studies. You constantly acquire knowledge and skills. Whenever you study facts, ponder concepts, test theories, or sharpen your skills, you feel most alive. You are inclined to avoid people and situations that prevent you from expanding your mind.
My Top 5 Strengths
Competition
Achiever
Maximizer
Significance
Learner
Competition
Chances are good that you often unravel perplexing ideas, problems, processes, opportunities, or puzzles. You usually continue working until you discover how something operates. You think much faster when you know someone else is trying to understand how the same thing functions. This likely motivates you to finish first. Instinctively, you refuse to be content with your performance until you have been declared the most capable, successful, or accomplished person in the group. Just knowing you are being compared to others gives you the extra energy and determination you need to surpass everyone else’s performance. Because of your strengths, you have identified your talents and strengths. You know the things you do quite well. You waste very little time mulling over your limitations, shortcomings, or failures. Your strengths allow you to capture first-place honors again and again. You refuse to concentrate much energy on areas where you must struggle just to be average. “What’s the point?” you ask yourself. By nature, you usually know the right time to assist someone who is vying for top honors or the first-place prize. It’s very likely that you consistently aim to turn in the prize-winning performance. A second- or third-place finish can send you into an emotional
tailspin. Your ability to pull out of it depends on your other talents.
Achiever
Chances are good that you work for hours, days, weeks, or even months to produce
outstanding results. You impose demanding standards for excellence and productivity on
yourself. You probably cannot rest until each requirement is met. By nature, you think
intensely to conceive vivid mental images of the future. Many individuals lack your ability to envision what will be possible in the coming months, years, or decades. As a result, they regularly rely on you to do this visioning for them. It’s very likely that you spend hours unraveling the mysteries of complicated procedures, routines, or systems. Your step-by-step descriptions help numerous individuals understand how things operate. Because of your strengths, you typically immerse yourself in intense activities. Preferring a fast pace, you thrive on excitement. You appreciate being surrounded by like-minded individuals. They motivate you to expend even more energy accomplishing whatever needs to be done. You stay busy and work hard whenever it is necessary. Driven by your talents, you naturally concentrate your physical and mental energies on doing whatever needs to be done right now. You have a natural gift for living in the moment. This explains why you need to produce meaningful results each day.
Maximizer
Because of your strengths, you periodically inspire people by finding out what motivates
them. You may give individuals lots of recognition. Once in a while, you celebrate each
person’s uniqueness. Perhaps your acknowledgments or compliments energize particular
people. It’s very likely that you sense that you do a good job of streamlining processes and action plans. You study ways to efficiently perform mundane, tedious, or repetitious tasks. As insignificant as an activity seems, you help others appreciate its importance. Your orderly and easy-to-follow steps save people time and allow them to deliver consistent results on schedule and without hassles. Instinctively, you are quite determined to enhance your talents rather than waste time worrying about your limitations. You often experience bursts of rapid growth each time you can use your talents, knowledge, and/or skills. By nature, you recognize you help individuals feel part of gatherings, conversations, organizations, or events. Sensitive to subtle forms of discrimination, you strive to overcome it. Consciously excluding people is unacceptable, in your opinion. You probably distance yourself from people who despise people or things they regard as inferior. Driven by your talents, you may accept that no two people are exactly the same. This partially explains why you ask so many questions. Sometimes you are trying to figure out what makes an individual different from everyone else. Perhaps this knowledge allows you to inspire, coax, demand, challenge, or pressure various people to do their finest work.
Significance
It’s very likely that you attract people by noticing their accomplishments. You gain much
satisfaction from being liked. Your sense of importance is enhanced when many people say you are their friend. Driven by your talents, you may be a solo performer who wants to do important work. Perhaps you engage in activities that set you apart from the vast majority of people. You sometimes dedicate your time, effort, and energy to these pursuits. Chances are good that you provide the impetus — that is, the driving force or motivation — people need to reach their goals and excel. Because of your strengths, you urge and prod people to settle for nothing less than great accomplishments. You have a reputation for drawing out individuals’ finest work. When timid or risk-adverse people rise to your standards of excellence, you know they would not have performed as brilliantly if you had not been there to influence them. By nature, you gravitate to people whose work ethic is rock solid. You like to associate with individuals who are driven to excel and highly productive.
Learner
By nature, you acquire knowledge more easily when you can talk with others about ideas,
concepts, or theories. Thoughts come alive for you when questions are posed and answers are proposed. You have a delightful time thinking out loud and listening to intelligent people express themselves. You naturally document or store in your mind bits and pieces of discussions. You want to refer back to these insights or facts whenever the opportunity
presents itself. It’s very likely that you are attracted to difficult and challenging endeavors. You are not inclined to look for the easy way out. You are bold. You take risks. You dare to stretch your mind. You test the limits of your abilities in ways that timid individuals would not attempt. Because of your strengths, you normally dedicate yourself to acquiring knowledge and gaining skills. You probably devote many hours to mental labor. Instinctively, you typically enroll in demanding classes. You thrive in situations where you can test your talents as well as your endurance to discover how much you can accomplish. You need to prove yourself to yourself each day. Driven by your talents, you yearn to be inspired by your work. You want experience to be your teacher. You need to feel enthused by your work or studies. You constantly acquire knowledge and skills. Whenever you study facts, ponder concepts, test theories, or sharpen your skills, you feel most alive. You are inclined to avoid people and situations that prevent you from expanding your mind.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
The Secret Project... Aron with one A
For the past couple months I have been working 18-20 hour days on a secret project. Not many people knew about it because I wanted to make sure it was really going to happen before I spread the word. As many people know my background is in personal finance. My BA was in consumer affairs, my Masters was in Business Administration and my Ph.D. is in curriculum development. All of this education is finally being put altogether for a Children's Financial Literacy Picture Book Series. My sister-in-law is co-authoring the books, but she really is the creative force behind all the characters and story lines. I add my personal finance influence to them.
The books are written to fit National Standards and Guidelines for Math, English Language Arts, Economics and Personal Finance. The purpose behind the book series is to have a book focus on personal finance that teachers could use in the classroom, but that parents can also purchase and take a proactive step to teach their children money management. Personal finance is only required to be taught in 3 states! Teachers do not have time to add in additional curriculum when they are being pressured to teach to the standardized tests. That's why the book series meets other standards, like reading and math, so teachers can use it for when they are teaching those subject but also squeeze in personal finance lessons at the same time. The books are not meant to look like curriculum/text books. They will be sold at numerous locations. At the end of each book there is a family/classroom activity. This was designed to be a family home evening activity, but is perfect for any group setting. On our website there is free worksheets for parents and teachers to print and use.
The book series is called "Aron with one A" and is about Aron and his HUGE family. Stephanie came up with the name after her brother Aron. Since Aaron is typically spelt with two a's he always has to correct people and say, "with one A".
The K-3 book series consists of 20 books with each book focusing on a different money management lesson. There are 7 kids in the family and each story focuses on one child and their experience learning the lessons. We will expand to curriculum at some point to include a grades 4-8 book series and a grades 9-12 series. The reasons it is separated into these grade groupings is based on the way the standards for personal financial literacy standards are set up.
A question that will most likely be asked is, "How do kindergartners learn about money? They are too young." Research shows that as soon as a child can count they can begin understanding the concepts of money. The hope is that if personal finance is taught earlier than maybe the scary statics such as, consumers have over 1 trillion dollars in credit card debt, bankruptcies are on the rise and mortgage defaults are at the highest levels ever, wouldn't exist anymore.
Here are just a couple images. This only shows 4 of the 12 characters.
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The books are written to fit National Standards and Guidelines for Math, English Language Arts, Economics and Personal Finance. The purpose behind the book series is to have a book focus on personal finance that teachers could use in the classroom, but that parents can also purchase and take a proactive step to teach their children money management. Personal finance is only required to be taught in 3 states! Teachers do not have time to add in additional curriculum when they are being pressured to teach to the standardized tests. That's why the book series meets other standards, like reading and math, so teachers can use it for when they are teaching those subject but also squeeze in personal finance lessons at the same time. The books are not meant to look like curriculum/text books. They will be sold at numerous locations. At the end of each book there is a family/classroom activity. This was designed to be a family home evening activity, but is perfect for any group setting. On our website there is free worksheets for parents and teachers to print and use.
The book series is called "Aron with one A" and is about Aron and his HUGE family. Stephanie came up with the name after her brother Aron. Since Aaron is typically spelt with two a's he always has to correct people and say, "with one A".
The K-3 book series consists of 20 books with each book focusing on a different money management lesson. There are 7 kids in the family and each story focuses on one child and their experience learning the lessons. We will expand to curriculum at some point to include a grades 4-8 book series and a grades 9-12 series. The reasons it is separated into these grade groupings is based on the way the standards for personal financial literacy standards are set up.
A question that will most likely be asked is, "How do kindergartners learn about money? They are too young." Research shows that as soon as a child can count they can begin understanding the concepts of money. The hope is that if personal finance is taught earlier than maybe the scary statics such as, consumers have over 1 trillion dollars in credit card debt, bankruptcies are on the rise and mortgage defaults are at the highest levels ever, wouldn't exist anymore.
Here are just a couple images. This only shows 4 of the 12 characters.
.png)
Our website will be up and running in the next couple days http://www.aron-with-one-a.com/. Our Twitter, Facebook and Financial Tips blog will be up and running within the week. We are having a HUGE book series unveiling and signing at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana on April 23rd. We will have a booth at the LA Festival of Books at UCLA on the 24th and 25th. I would love the support of seeing my family and friends at these events if possible! Our website lists all the details.
If there are ANY suggestions, comments or tips PLEASE let me know. This company would not have been created if it wasn't for the help I have received already, and I know that I don't know it all. It has been a huge learning curve to set up an publishing company, publish/print our first book and figure out distribution.
My cousin Lisa is setting up a blogging advertising campaign and I would love the support of my blog friend if you put a button on your pages. We will have the buttons ready soon!
THANKS!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Easter Day
The day before Easter we did Easter Egg decorating at the club house at my parent's place. Savannah like playing with the beach balls more than decorate the eggs.
Savannah wasn't a big fan of Easter egg decorating, but she also wasn't a fan of not Easter egg decorating.
We Spent Easter in Palm Springs. It was beautiful weather. Here is the video of Savannah seeing her Easter Basket. It was an Elmo basket. We thought she would love it, but it scared her a little. She loved this really soft pillow Grandma gave her. It's funny because her other Grandma gave her a bumble bee pillow just like it and she loves it too. It is something about the soft material it is made out of. She has a monkey that she can't let go of and he is made of the same material.
We walked down to the club house for a huge Easter Egg hunt. There were at least 150 kids. It was so much fun to see so many children dressed up in their cute little Easter outfits. My mom got Savannah this little car and she loves it. Every time my parents go to the clubhouse for lunch with Savannah they push her in this little car.
Savannah Update
Savannah just had a wellness check doctors appointment. No surprise... she is totally healthy. He is a crazy 33 inches long and 26 pounds. She grew 2 1/2 inches since her last appointment and didn't gain any weight. Her hemangioma is still on her arm. We thought it was getting smaller, but it was probably because her arm was getting bigger. They doctor does not want to remove to for as long as they can. Savannah just discovered it the other day and started to scratch it. I am trying to keep her in sleeves as much as possible to avoid the possibility of her scratching it since it will bleed really badly.
Milk time right before her nap. She gets to watch a little Sesame Street during this time. It winds her down for a nice long nap.
New shoes... I just love them.
Milk time right before her nap. She gets to watch a little Sesame Street during this time. It winds her down for a nice long nap.
New shoes... I just love them.
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