Wisdom of a Child

After a long and thoughtful moment of silence, Alli asked me, “Mom, how could we come from heaven without falling and breaking ourselves?” I should have known something profound was on its way, because the moments of silence are so rare. She loves to talk and talk and talk and talk and talk so that when she finally is quiet, I can almost hear the wheels turning in her head!

Another of her childhood musings was cloaked in innocent humor when she commented on her passing youth. She sighed when she said, “Perhaps I’m not a child anymore”. Apparently, she and her cousin, Landon, (also a preschooler) are done with being just a kid and are ready to move on to bigger and better things. Watch out world, these kiddos are sharp!!

I LOVE taking part in my sweet daughter’s innocence.

Family Mission Statement

Lately, I have been reminded of the need for mission statements—especially for our family. Nick and I talked about it several months ago and even listened to the good old Covey talk on tape about family mission statements.

Originally, I wanted to have a short statement that would roll off the tongue. However, after considering what is most important about our family (also owing to my tendency to be verbose), it has turned out to be much meatier. I want part of our morning devotional to include memorizing parts of this so that later in life all this conditioning can aid in easy recall in otherwise compromising situations. Basically it has morphed from a single “statement” into a “year’s supply” of them.

As we are still in the drafting stages of grasping the big picture of our mission statement, let me know:

***Does your family have a mission statement? How have you used it? Do you have it somewhere prominent in your home?

Here’s the Nick and Miriam Family Mission Statement (Take One):

We are a family that is blessed by God. We are obedient to Him and to leaders and parents who are guided by His Spirit. God has given us a compass of faith to guide our family to grow in strength, virtue, wisdom, and courage. We strive to daily improve our relationship with Deity as we kneel in family prayer and ponder the scriptures. We will worship together forever.

Our home is place of beauty, order, peace, and simplicity. Our home is a safe and protected sanctuary. Our home is a place of inspiration and nourishment. Our home is a place of preparation. Our home is a gathering place for family and friends.

We choose to be together and desire to always be unified. Time spent as a family is precious. Our bond is strengthened as we work hard and accomplish our goals cooperatively. We work daily to build our family of excellence. Our laughter is heard during work and play.

We treat others with gentleness, respect, and patience. We recognize the God-given desire to be kind to others. We are accountable for our choices. We are always honest and fiercely loyal. We stand up for what is right, no matter what. We are examples of leadership and dependability.

We have beautiful bodies with energy to use them to be creative and serve others. We study to fill our minds with priceless knowledge. We discover and develop our talents to bless our community.

We will fulfill our family mission in a way that enriches the quality of our family life and draws us closer to each other through Heaven’s Grace.

My Forever

If you have a sensitive gag reflex, before you proceed, grab a barf bag. Sometimes our outward demonstrations of marital bliss can drive people to porcelain, so I totally understand if you don’t read this! This post is dedicated to my wonderful husband. Nick is a phenomenal person and it is seemingly impossible to enumerate the vast qualities that he possesses. However, I’ll briefly cover the basics as I share a teeny peek into who he is as a son, father, and husband. My mother-in-law was down for the past several days recovering from a small, but painful, surgery and Nick concerned himself with her well-being the whole time she was here. Nick has always held his mother in such high regard and really works hard to make sure her needs are being met—I love hearing him talk about how he was such a momma’s boy as a kid. Any single ladies who are reading, take close note of how a man treats his mother! Nick is an amazing father to our little princess and makes it a priority to spend quality time with her. Alli adores Nick and will do anything to get a daddy-daughter date with him. We are best friends and can’t get enough of each other—I’m so glad he works at home because it’s like having a never-ending sleepover with your best friend. No matter what we are doing, he always makes me laugh—dancing, hiking, going to the rec center, ballets, symphonies, just sitting on the couch with a bowl of ice cream—from the big and elegant to the simple and mundane, my life is fun because we can laugh together doing anything. I love you, Lover. Thank you for giving me your life and eternities.

Your Honor, I Plead Guilty

There is so much guilt in life. It just comes to us, uninvited. And with all it glorious compounding nature, it just adds up, no matter how little it was when I discovered it had snuck in. Not only that, I’m a mom and with that comes a whole new world of feeling like I’ll never add up. Needless to say—I deliberately avoid unnecessary tasks that are notorious for creating guilt. Scrapbooking, for example (guilt, guilt, guilt!) or maybe setting a goal to quit eating chocolate for lent (guilt, guilt, guilt!). Blogging is like unto attempting to abstain from the cocoa bean bliss. I feel guilty. I know why I should keep my blog updated—so many people who are dear to me live so far away and I’d love to share my life with you. I have several dear friends and family who are faithful orthodox bloggers—I am not. Let’s just say that blogging (consistently) is a funsucker in my life. I love to live in the moment, take lots of pictures, laugh until I cry, talk for hours with my friends, read, snuggle, etc… Taking the time out to blog about it makes me want to poke my eyes out. Alright, so it’s not eye-poking worthy, I guess. But I don’t want to apologize and commit that I will be better because I know I will fall off the wagon. Why can’t we all just live next door to each other? Humph.

I’ll humor myself and just try to catch up. By the way, “catching up” is guilt-speak for “I haven’t been ‘good enough’ in the past and now I’ll try to rectify my actions by overloading this post with way too much content just so I can sleep more soundly”. Word of the day? Assuage. Can you use it in a sentence please? Let’s assuage Miriam’s guilt by quickly scrolling through the forthcoming pictures and skim the captions. The not-so-distant future may not hold another blog posting, so get it while the guilt is hot!

This was a "choice" Alli moment. She was helping me clean the banisters (note the pink rag) and she found a book and gt distracted. I'm such a softie for literacy that kids can get out of almost anything if they are reading!
This is Nick showcasing one of Alli's preschool games--scooba diving for words. He's hot stuff in skin tight plastic!

Alli wasn't actually too keen on wearing the "mask". It squished her eyes shut!

I try to take as many pictures to capture family work ethic. Here she is helping to clean up the toys in an efficient way. She comes up with so many creative ways to get stuff done!

Here's another golden moment. She's efficient, que no?

We didn't get to go sledding at our favorite park as much this winter...I guess we almost still could since it WON'T QUIT SNOWING around here!
Ahh... wintertime love! My life is wonderful, what else can I say?

Here is our Sunshine with her two best buds. I love when they all come over to play, they crack me up! I do trip on my tongue trying to get them straight, though (their names all rhyme and are only differ in one consonant).

Have I ever mentioned that Alli does NOT play with toys? If you are reading this and know that her birthday is coming up, please, please, please look closely at the picture above. These are typical items that entertain her. That's an old car we found buried in our garden patch (she doesn't use it as a "car"), a teeny mirror, a glittery fuzz ball, marbles and gem-like beads, and a keychain light that is broken. Hmmm...does she play with that expensive doll I got her for Christmas? Barely. What about the Potato Head? Nope. She doesn't want to play with all the food and dishes in her kitchen set? Not really. Save your money and bring pom-poms. Trust me on this one!

My mom made us matching aprons for Christmas with our names on them. She also included all kinds of goodies to bake together, including Alli's favorite, Rice Kirspy treats. She told me today, "I'm homesick for Mama and Papa's. Their house is so fun and they always have Rice Krispy treats and yummy breakfasts." She's a girl who knows what she wants...and is learning how to cook them!

Thanks for humoring me. I really do love reaching out across the web to all of you in these posts., I just wish I wasn't so prone to guilt trips. I've racked up a LOT of frequent flyer miles!

Artistic Outlet

One of the ways we try to make our together time special is to go on “Family Dates”. Last week we had so much fun at Color Me Mine, an open studio for painting ceramic pieces. We chose to paint teacups for yet-to-be-planned tea parties.

Nick was super meticulous to attain the drippy look along the rim of his cup.

Alli’s teacup went through several phases during our hour and a half session. She loved being there with just the three of us doing what she loves to do—paint. The final stages of her cup were completed using a mixed palette –as in she mixed all the colors on her palette.

I had fun experimenting with the different techniques they had displayed—mixing paint with soap and water and then blowing bubbles, combined with taping off sections to get a clean striped look.

We highly recommend this activity as it is appealing to such a wide audience and it allows for time spent with one another talking and creating something beautiful and memorable.

Being a Woman of God

Recently, I have seen the need to reassess where I am, spiritually speaking. This introspection resulted in a goal to define and become a Woman of God. Based on my study of what others have said, I will share what I believe a Woman of God to be. The following are ideals, mind you, and are by no means areas that I have perfected.

A Woman of God:

• Has knowledge that God blesses her each day with His love. She feels His love and identifies His hand in all things. She knows that she can turn to the Rock and Anchor of her faith when life seems anything but stable.


• Serves God, others, and self—in that order.


• Loves. She nurtures and finds opportunities to create an environment friendly for growth and views mistakes as part of the growing process.


• Cherishes the knowledge of the sanctity of marriage and family life. She supports honorable men—whether they are in her family, civic leaders, or church leaders—and she does all she can to uphold a decent society where men are free to excel in their capacities, free from the filth that so easily besets virtuous men.


• Is willing to sacrifice and not gloat about the perceived “loss”, thus becoming a martyr.


• Understands that no amount of time in front of the mirror will compensate for the inner beauty that radiates from a woman of God. She knows that her body is a wonderful gift and she will not be dissuaded to embrace the worldly belief that she does not “measure” up (or down).


• Is empowered with unshakable confidence in the gestalt (the smaller elements that are unified to make up a whole that cannot be understood by inspection of the individual parts) of God’s plan for her life.
  

In my quest to become this ethereal being, I want to know what my friends and family think of who a Woman of God is.

**What is an attribute that describes a Woman of God?
**Do you have a female role model that emulates these attributes? Who is she?

Update

I am a lackadaisical blogger (I love that word and all it's nuances). We have been busy living life and have failed to chronicle our adventures.

Here is a generic update on our goings-on:

1. Halloween was a blast with Alli living out her dream of being a witch and cackling the night away.

2. Miriam's birthday was spent in the company of her lovely parents who came all the way from The Land of Enchantment to spend time with us. Those birthday celebrations were in addition to a fun jaunt to a romantic getaway in Midway with Nick.

3. Miriam has not yet been summoned to Jury Duty (fingers crossed!)

4. Nick has started attending Toastmasters to improve his public speaking abilities--his constant drive to improve himself is inspiring!

5. We are getting ready for winter...and we still hold to the desire to have the ability to hibernate as the cold sets in.

All in all, we are happy and healthy and have a renewed goal to be a better blogger family!

Civic Hesitancy

I am proud to be an American, as goes the song which is in tune with my heartfelt sentiments. However, I’m NOT excited to serve time as a juror. The judicial branch of the U.S. government is a blessed operation and I fully support justice in all its forms. Let it be known that I dutifully sent in my acceptance form yesterday, but I dragged my feet all the way to the mailbox. My assigned dates are anywhere from October 1 through December 29. Wow.

"You said the loud part soft...

...and the soft part loud." That is a quote from Simpson's that used to crack my sister, Rachel and I up. What cracks me up now is how aptly it applies to having a four-year old whose social skills are all but absent. The odd timing and volume choice for many of Alli’s comments made in very public places gives me discreet hysteria for prolonged periods of time. Good golly, I can’t let her know how funny it is to laugh at something inappropriate like gas, burps, silly names…oh it all goes back to bodily functions! I guess I’m exposing myself as somewhat immature in confessing my mantra for coping in all situations I’ve been in, “Gas is ALWAYS funny”. I was a teacher of both first and sixth graders—gas had to be funny or I would have gagged all day long. I was a sister missionary surrounded by 180+ Elders—after sitting in Zone Conference all day after a starchy Mormon lunch, gas had to be funny. I’m married to a healthy male—need I say more?

I digress in overly focusing on flatulence.

Back to Alli’s awesome comments… She has this thing with Asia. We have a world map that we use occasionally when we try to pop our Happy Valley Bubble and think outside the box. Asia is the biggest and brightest on our map. For a while she thought our neighborhood was inside Asia. Now she wants to live in Asia after she’s married. So, when we went to the Storytelling Festival and she was delighted to listen to a talented Japanese woman (who btw was a guest on Mr. Rogers, may he RIP…he’s dead, right?). The next woman who got up was a vivacious Southern African-American woman. Right after the applause died down, she turned to me, and in a not-so-soft voice said, “She’s from Asia too, huh Mom?!” Wow, stifle those snickers, because it’s not funny! ;D


She was all too delighted to visit the Hogle Zoo and their new Asia interactive community!

This is an awesome first day of Preschool shot, aye? She's a doll!

I've been tagged!

My amazing, wonderful, and lucky-to-be-related friend, Samantha (my sis-in-law) tagged me in her latest post.

8 facts....
1. I am married to a man who makes it easy for people question if we are still on our honeymoon. We love to breathe the same air and we start to miss each other if one is gone away for several hours. I hold to the opinion that when we are made fun of, it's just jealousy because everyone wants to have someone the way Nick and I have each other.

2. Alli is my tangible sunshine. She is a daughter only God could give to me. My love for her grows even when I thought I reached the limit.

3. I am blessed to have frequent moments of quiet even in the middle of the day because God knows me and knows what I need. I am not ashamed that I get to take naps on days when I am too tired.

4. I read the last pages of books…but keep reading even knowing the end. I guess it’s my way of feeding my desire to know what life will be like for me in the future.

5. I buy fun paper and fabric from all over…and rarely use it. Everyone needs something to collect, right?

6. I have bare front room walls because my vision doesn’t fit our budget and I prefer visual sterility to bankruptcy. If only we relied on a barter-based economy, I could cook tasty food to pay a savvy interior decorator.

7. Speaking of tasty food…I could eat rice and beans everyday until I die.

8. I can’t replace sentimentality for practicality. I know that my scriptures are worn and torn and have no room to write anymore notes, but the new scriptures I bought remained closed and rarely read. I know that I could sleep with any small blanket that would scrunch up just right under my arm, but my Grammy made my baby blanket that I still sleep with. I know that I could completely clean my bathroom mirror, but that would mean erasing the love notes Nick has left for me in dry-erase marker.

***This “8 Facts” tag can be passed along to anyone waiting to create a post but lacking direction in what to blog about. Or, like myself, anyone who has fallen so far behind in summer blogging even thinking about chronicling the past couple months seems overwhelming and a simple and undirected “8” theme is sufficient.***

A hop, skip, and a jump

We’re teaching Alli to skip and despite the defective teacher (me) she has, she is surprisingly good. For whatever reason, I’ve never been a great hopper—jumping and bouncing around haven’t ever been super appealing to me. Today, whilst merrily watering the cucumbers in my garden, a teeny tiny garter snake quickly slithered inches from my Chaco exposed toes. I jumped and the height I reached in that air time might have qualified me for the China summer games. I HATE SNAKES. Loathe, despise, abhor, detest…there is nothing I like about them. Two distinct memories vividly flashed in my mind during that Michael Jordan “hang time” in the garden. Once, when I was seven, my mom and sister Rachel were at the cabin in AZ and went creek wading. A very harmless, very unknowing water snake made its way back home via the top of my immersed foot. I vaguely remember learning that snakes have ears and I’m sure he, regrettably, heard my unending screams. That’s the closest I’ve ever come to fainting. The second memory was of a trip to Santa Barbara, CA to learn to surf a couple years ago. In the quaint downtown of that seaside city there are “snake people” hanging out on the street with boxes (really, boxes) full of snakes. They let people see how many they can drape on their bodies and my friends really got into it. I sat on a bench on the street corner, trying to control my breathing. Am I just as abnormal as I’ve always joked I am?

***What are some of your phobias?

***Have you had any close encounters with unconsciousness in dealing with them?

PS I had a really hard time putting the picture of the snake up, it creeps me out!

The Land of Enchantment

New Mexico is called the land of enchantment for several obvious reasons. By unanimous approval it is the best state in the United States (yes, folks, New Mexico is a part of the USA) based solely on the fact that it is the home of green chile—no need to say more, but, no worries, I will say more. It is where you can find some of the best pizza and sandwiches (thanks, Dion’s), made even better because of green chile. And let’s not forget the best place for dining anytime of the day or night, Flying Star, who, by the way, also has some great green chile dishes.

Eating aside, New Mexico also offers some other really great attractions, like family. Alli loved playing with her cousin, Rachel, and the two were inseparable from the time we got there. Nick and I love spending time with my parents and brother, Matthew and his wife, Samantha and their adorable family. We really feel blessed to have such a wonderful extended family.

One of the highlights of our vacation was the time spent at my grandparents’ cabin in the White Mountains of Alpine, Arizona (on the NM/AZ border). The real perk (for me) was no internet and no cell phone reception (since I got more Nick time). Activities there included hiking, relaxing to the big band tunes played on the 8 Track, hiking, fishing, and hiking. We even got to hike Chapache Peak (a pretty rigorous hike close to the cabin) on our one year anniversary (never fear, I plan to create a post exclusively based on our one year of marital bliss later—prepare to vomit—we’re still head over heels!).



At the amazing Albuquerque Zoo....move over, Hogle, this is a REAL zoo! Alli is soaked from having played in the water park they have there.

It's not a vacation unless you go swimming with cousins! Alli wins the 180 degree award becasue last summer Nick and I used to have claw marks on our shoulders after going swimming, but now we can't keep up with her!

Carson and Landon celebrated thier birthdays cowboy style and the party was decked out with hats, bandanas, horse back riding, crafts, a BBQ........and 60 mph winds which honestly only dampened some of the party.
These two were best buds the whole time. Thanks to Rachel, Alli had the Barbie awakening. It was so fun to see them use "Barbie" voices and trade dresses and make Barbie houses.
At first, Carson wasn't so sure how he felt about being in a boat. Being as daring as he is, I was shoked to see him being so timid.

Hope Brightened by Pain

Yesterday I spent the majority of my evening reading a most remarkable blog that I had found while “blog hopping” (thanks, Force for Good for the link!). The author is a mother of four children. During the pregnancy of her fourth child, she found out that the baby would be born fatally ill and would not live beyond a few hours after birth. This woman, Angie, painfully and spiritually follows the grief journey of a mother losing her child. She is an adept writer whose talent is amplified by her experience as a psychologist. Her husband sings in the Christian group, Selah, which adds a very meaningful gospel perspective into gaining wisdom despite the hardships of life. The bitter pain of Angie’s loss is eased by her deep and ongoing relationship with the One who knows all our pains and a Father who also watched life being taken from His Son.

Angie’s anguish and unfathomable strength mirrors another mother who admirably has dealt with countless trials that have helped her become who she is today. My amazing mother has taught me about the Gospel in many ways. It has been through my mother's example of enduring a life of hardships (accompanied with countless blessings, of course) where others might crumple, she has risen above. Nephi explained best what my mother busies herself doing, “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life” (2N 31:20).

This coming weekend will mark seven years since my sister, Rachel, passed away in a car accident. I have never felt as close to my Father in Heaven with such a clear understanding of the Plan of Happiness as during the weeks and months following her passing. My greatest understanding that led to peace in continuing on with life, despite having lost my best friend, was my need to keep up with her progression. She has the advantage of being relieved of many of the cares and burdens we carry in mortality. Her spiritual journey will continue and surpass my own if I am not diligent in daily communicating with my Maker and studying His Word through the scriptures and living prophets.

Rachel is a bright example of love, joy, beauty and side-splitting humor. Do I miss her? Yes. Am I disappointed at the way life sometimes turns out? Yes. Do I believe in a God whose understanding can turn my nighttime sorrows into an eternity of joys? Yes.

My heart right now is reaching in prayer to mothers and fathers who have lost their children. I believe that Christ “…will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces…” (Isaiah 25:8)

Discovery in the Deluge

With all the nostalgia associated with rainy days, it is darling to see that Alli loves them as much as I did as a child. The Eyre’s tell me to foster her creativity and imagination that are innate gears built into a child’s mental engine. So, when she devised a way to keep her eyes dry while playing in the rain, I didn’t comment on the perceived “waste” of two circular Band-Aids (what use are those things, anyways?) but praised her on her adept use of her resources. The result was one happy child who successfully performed her first hands-on science experiment.

The Making of a Triathlete

So it was in St. George that I learned even more about the dexterity and fortitude of the human body and soul. Wow, triathlons are awesome. Wow, Nick is awesome. He ended up finishing 26th out of 128 in his age group.

We left Friday morning so we could get into town soon enough for Nick to do a trial swim at the reservoir and a run on the course. Meanwhile, Alli Jean (our newest nickname), Nene, Drew, and I spent some hard working time at the hotel pool sweating to the oldies. Nick returned donned in Sharpie pronouncing his number 1423 placed conspicuously on arms, legs, and hands. The cool thing about the marking is that they put the participant’s age on the left calf—which feeds the voyeur in me and engenders admiration for the amazing stuff that 65 year-olds can do. We attended the Tri-Club carb dinner at the park and returned to the hotel to service Nick’s bike and dowse all his gear in baby powder (to improve transition times).

Despite the horrid temperature battles we all face while sleeping in hotels (why can’t those dang box fans accommodate us through the night!?), all three of us were up at 5 a.m. slathered in sunscreen and wearing our finest to suit the predicted 84 degree sunnyness in Dixie. Ummm, did someone forget to tell us that 5 a.m. temperatures are far below the daily high? That was my airhead moment for the trip. Brrrr! Nick’s age group put him in about the fourth wave to start the swim. He was out in the water waiting for about forty minutes freezing in his slick looking wetsuit before they called off the swim since they had to rescue about forty people from the previous waves. So, we dashed to the starting lines and watched him begin his bike ride and return to complete a record breaking run (based on his personal best). Nick did better than his last St. George tri and we are very proud of him.

I wonder what Alli really thought of the race. Maybe in her head were thoughts like these, “My mommy woke me up when it’s still nighttime, put me in shorts, and drove me to a place where we sit on lava rocks by a lake and freeze while eating raisins. We move around a lot looking at all these people who look just like my daddy when all I want to do is ‘Go back to the hotel!’ At least my mommy keeps me entertained while I watch her jump up and down and sing songs!”

Self-Appointed Hiatus

Lest the cybershpere deem us boring, I would like to assert that we have indeed been living a fruitful life. Occasionally, I think it is healthy to just fall off the face of technology. So, we did! But, we have had several fun happenings recently.

1. It has finally stopped snowing and we have christened the BBQ and eat outdoors twice a day (if not more!). The routine of several mile-long walks have started up again and Alli was glad to be stroller-free on our last outing.

2. Alli turned four and had a successful book party full of family and new books. She has found a new passion in the recreation center gymnastics class she is attending.

3. Nick is prepping for the first triathlon of the year that will take place this weekend in St. George.

4. Miriam is loving stay-at-home mommyhood and felt spoiled to be able to attend BYU Women’s Conference

Loving Literacy

We are book nerds. I’m not ashamed to admit that. Nor am I abashed to say that we have no TV. The truth is we prefer to read. This love of literacy applies especially to Alli. We have even decided to have Alli’s fourth birthday be a Birthday Book Bash (with her resounding approval, of course) where the guests who choose to bring a gift will bring a book rather than the traditional present pick. This is particularly useful since of late she favors feathers, movie ticket stubs, and stuffed animal innards as her “treasures”. We still have several unopened Christmas and birthday (yes, they’re almost a year old now) presents that she does not care to open and play with.


I digress…

My objective for this post is to share some of the really keen ideas for imbuing the love of literacy in little ones. Disclaimer: do not attribute any of these ideas to my own intelligence; mostly I have gleaned them from my ever-enthusiastic pseudo-sister, Shauna. She is a powerhouse of a woman and actually wrote an article for our Church magazine last spring that helped to substantiate the spiritual affirmations surrounding my impending marriage and stay-home-motherhood with Nick and Alli. So, here’s a shout out for fellow book nerds:

1. The “Book Fairy”

This is one of my favorites since I get to dress up in my wedding dress and tiara (what newly married bride doesn’t seek for that opportunity?!) Also, I made my own wand which was surprisingly gratifying. The idea is that when I catch Alli reading on her own—I quick make the Clark Kent change and come down the stairs carrying a lavishly wrapped box. By the way, the box is reusable so I don’t have to wrap each for each fairy visit—and as Shauna says, “It’s all in the presentation. It could be a D.I. (Salvation Army or Goodwill) book and it still looks appealing to them”. In my “fairy” voice I ask Alli what kinds of books she’s been reading lately, which are her recent favorites, why she likes reading, etc. and then she gets to open the box and the Book Fairy reads them to her. Alli still doesn’t know it’s me but says, “The Book Fairy had your lips” so I think she’s on to me! Also, the Book Fairy only visits once or twice a month, so it's really low pressure and enforces the pleasure of independant reading with a sporadic, big reward.

2. Book Clubs

Since I am currently a multiple book club groupie I thought it only fair that Alli gets to share in the joys of sharing a good book. Alli’s book club took place on a Saturday afternoon and lasted about an hour, so it really is not too hefty of a commitment on my part or participating mothers. The agenda went something like this: we read several books on birds (The Magpie’s Nest, Stellaluna, selected poems from Wings on the Wind, and talking about pictures from a reference guide), interspersed with finger plays and songs, we built paper bag nests with pompom birds inside plastic Easter eggs, and we ended with making edible nests from yogurt, All Bran, shredded fruits and veggies, and grapes for eggs.

Shauna’s most recent book club for her daughter, Coco (Alli’s peer), was not thematic but rather based on the fabulous author and illustrator Kevin Henkes. Really, I encourage any mother of children as young as preschoolers and every age on up to create a book club. This comes from the tremendously profound writings of….

3. Jim Trelease

His book, The Read Aloud Handbook (aka “The Literacy Bible”), has not only changed my life but helped to solidify many of the methods I was already involved in with Alli. I am inadequate in my writing to sufficiently shed light on this remarkable book. It is jam packed with reasons to READ READ READ READ. Please buy this book. You will want to write in it, take it with you to bookstores and libraries, take it to the restroom (what better place is there to ponder on the betterment of mankind?), sleep with it under your pillow….

**What are some of the things you do with kids to boost book lovin’?

The Buzz

Every third bite of food we eat is bee dependant, that’s over $15 billion worth of crops. But, where are the bees going? Scientists and beekeepers are stumped at the mysterious disappearance of the nation’s bees. There have been other declines in the bee population before now, but they have all been regional as opposed to this widespread absence. The cause is unknown since the bees are not returning to the colony to die. However, scientists have several hypothesis—diminished number of beekeepers (and consequently less bees) but still more crops to pollinate, stress (a little bee has a lot of work, you know!), a virus, pesticides, or mites. Something I never knew is that most of our honey is imported from…guess? Yeah, China—what isn’t these days? It is also sent to us from Argentina. Because of this outsourcing, the US honey market is depressed which has led beekeepers to create “pollinating contracts” where they actually pack up the colonies (hives) into 18 wheeler trucks and travel to agricultural sites. So, we will keep seeing the amber colored Sue Bee bears at Wal-Mart for the same price because of our idiocy in saving a penny while in return endangering the nation’s crops.

So, less doom and gloom and more proactivity always helps me to sleep better. What can we do to help our little fuzzy friends? Start locally by planting bee friendly flowers: lavender, glory bushes, jasmine, rosemary, coreopsis, violets, thyme, wisteria, bluebells, trumpet vines, sunflowers, cosmos, and cone flowers. Another way is to support the beekeepers by buying local honey and bee products (i.e. honeycomb, beeswax candles) and by using natural honey instead of sugar at home and in restaurants. Also, you can EAT ICE CREAM to help keep the buzz alive—twist my arm! Haagen Dazs is donating to the bee cause anytime we buy “bee-dependant flavors” such as almond, fruit, or honey flavored.

Many view the disappearing bees as a sign of things to come. I’m not a bee expert, and maybe I’m being paranoid, but I love fruit more than I love any other food and it makes me scared to think of arriving at a grocery store to find empty produce aisles. Let’s help the little striped guys!

Kiting

Costco writes my shopping lists for me. I had no idea I "needed" a seahorse kite, but I'm glad that despite the overwhelming snow drifts, I had the foresight in January to buy it. "Kiting", or the act of flying a kite, was a wonderful way to begin the routine of sunny family outings. Have we mentioned yet that we pracically shed tears of joy that winter has finally ended?

"Seriphina" is the newest addition to the family. The Easter Bunny purchased it as an impulse buy--but the rabbit was obviously inspired. It will not be long before the white kitty is dingy-the cat goes EVERYWHERE with Alli since the arrival of the basket. Seriphina is a perfect fit since Alli's alter personality is a cat.

Nick is a hottie while handling the kite. And of course, no picture taking would be complete without some mack action!