A Neighborhood Lemonade Stand

Have I mentioned before how fabulously fabulous our neighborhood is? We live on the greatest street in all the land, with five very close families with young children within mere feet of each other. I know that the value of this kind of community in the growth of my children is beyond measure. Today, one of these families called us and reminded us of an idea--and just a few hours later, five families came together to host a neighborhood lemonade stand.

Our children collectively decided that The Humane Society would be the lucky recipient of their earnings.
One family brought cookies, several brought lemonade, one brought paper goods, one brought ice, and many painted signs. We mostly just had a very sweet afternoon, pausing at the parental shout of "CAR!" to grab signs and entice passing motorists.When all was said and done, our amazing children raised $96 and change for their chosen cause. All of us agreed that we should do this more often! It has so many benefits: us mamas and papas truly enjoy each others' company, our children simply love each other, and they are learning valuable life lessons in the process.
We are so lucky.

A Late Mother's Day Gift

A belated Happy Mother's Day to you! Yesterday was spent in the loving company of my family, who treated me like a queen. No time for blogging when there is all of that resting and eating to be done. I did snap the above photo of this statue, my Mother's Day muse, tucked in a sea of similar statues in my grandmother-in-law's mobile home park. I like her. She has Big B and little b sized children.

This morning little b and I experienced a true Mother's Day gift, one day late. We took a walk to our local park with our sweet friends (one amazing mother and one insanely cute little boy). I had just been observing that in the almost six years I had been taking my boys to this park, I had noticed a steady decline in spring ducklings. Just moments later, I heard my friend say, "babies!" and little b and I followed. Doesn't this mama look so proud? She was almost smiling at our praises.We sat and watched this mother and her five fuzzy babies for a good ten minutes. She had led them to the pond bank to show them to dig into the shallow water for food. I was surprised and grateful at how long she let us stay and how close she let us get. We watched her quack away ibis birds and turtles with fierce protection. She did give little b a warning quack after he threw a stick in the water, but I do declare it was a gentler quack, as if she knew he was just a duckling himself.
We will be visiting the pond much more frequently now. We will watch these five grow and learn from their proud and protective mama. We will learn to identify each of them and know who their father is. We will hope they stay strong in number and grow into fine young ducks this fall. As we finally watched the mama lead them away, soundlessly and powerfully, I was reminded that all mothers are united by the same feelings we saw her display: protection, pride, responsibility and love. Some of us may just quack a little louder than others.

Happy Mother's Day!

New Traditions: Earth Day Nature Devotionals

Happy Earth Day! We were inspired by a display of nature devotionals we saw while viewing the sand mandala this week. This afternoon, in honor of Mother Earth, we recreated the activity. We collected stones, feathers, ferns, flowers, sticks, moss, leaves and fruit. The kids in my wonderful neighborhood joined us as we symbolically gave thanks to the Earth by creating beauty from her objects. The kids really just enjoyed being outside together, fulfilling Big B's New Moon intention. In the process, many lovely arrangements were made.
Little b could not be trusted to keep the creations intact. This prompted a conversation, also aided by the teachings of the mandala, about the impermanence of all things. Little b finally complied with the big kids and instead found joy in squishier sensations. Toes in rocks......and fingers in loquats, ripening one by one on our tree.
The fallen fruit became the inspiration for a series of faces. Mother Nature has a sense of humor!
I think I have found our family's new Earth Day tradition. What is yours?

Happy Christmas to All...

...and to all, a Good Night!

Kid-Made Block Printed Gift Bags

Our oven has seen a lot of cookies in the past 48 hours, and we're not even close to being finished with our holiday baking. We did manage to make enough treats to bring to our wonderful neighbors yesterday. We needed a quick way to package up the cookies, so we grabbed some brown paper lunch bags, foam shapes, glue and glitter, and this was the result! Making the stamps was so much fun! Big B did all of the stamping and gluing and glittering while little b made our dining room table look like a snowstorm. After some silver names were added, we had some sweet little bags for our sweet friends. We'll use the stamps again (with paint) for our homemade wrapping paper, but this little batch was lovingly stuffed with our favorite fresh ginger cookies. Enjoy!

Letter Walk :: L

Big L and little l were in town for the weekend! We had a great time. As we embarked on a leaf collecting expedition this morning, it was unanimously decided that we'd also search for all things 'L.' I love this collection!

Makin' Mudpies in the Morning

Oh, what a beautiful morning! The weather in our neck of the woods couldn't be finer, and this morning I was privileged to witness three very happy children enjoying the sunshine, the cool breeze, and a classic activity that immediately took me back thirty years: making mudpies.

Using a beginning reading book as their guide, Big B, little b, and little e from next door worked for a solid hour, showing exceptional teamwork and creativity.I was supremely impressed with little b's ability to contribute, and with the big kids' patience and carefulness to include him.Such culinary delights!

“Mud-pies gratify one of our first and best instincts.
So long as we are dirty, we are pure.”
--Charles Dudley Warner

A Breath of Fresh Air

Yesterday was the culmination of weeks and weeks of planning a very special event in our community. When so much time and energy is spent on one goal, and it is achieved, the exhale is LOUD. I was grateful for all of it, every single minute; and I was equally grateful this morning to wake up, realize what day it is, embrace the extra hour of early dark and j u s t B R E A T H E.

Somehow, the universe climatically agreed with me. This morning our neighborhood was slightly cool, slightly breezy, and just warm enough. To walk outside was to feel very fresh November air on my skin.

When we picked Big B up from school and returned to our special street, we saw each of our neighbors drawn to breathe the fresh air as well. We stayed in the street for nearly two hours, enjoying playing, breathing, being.
It almost brought me to tears to watch my boys catching lizards and knowing I didn't have to answer the phone or race inside to check my email.
I am experiencing a seemingly dichotomous gratitude for the busy-ness of achieving a high-set goal, and the still-ness of having it behind me.

"The sound of 'gentle stillness'
after all the thunder and wind have passed
will be the ultimate Word from God."
-- Jim Elliot

The Last Beach Day

I now know why every single person I meet that has grown children feels the need to impart something like, "it goes so fast," or "you'll blink and they'll be gone." I've always believed that must be true, but now I am living it. We are becoming acclimated to these days of missing our Big B, then quickly seeing him through homework-dinner-bath-books-bed routine, only to wake up and do it all again. I am realizing that time is literally flying past me.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a real autumnal day, complete with a chilly morning. This is the beginning of so many wonderful opportunities for our family's outdoor living, but it also signals the end of the year's beach days. In a spontaneous effort to slow time down this afternoon, we put the now familiar post-school routine on hold, and headed to the sea.
The spontaneity of the day continued as we met our sweet neighbors in the driveway, and spent the rest of the early evening playing at their house and dining at their table. And somehow, at 8:00, the homework was finished, the children were bathed and in bed, and we will still do it all again tomorrow. But we'll have the memory of a salty, sandy, sweet afternoon, one that I hope to conjure up after I blink, and they're gone.

Letter Walk :: G

There was actually a touch of fall in the air this morning. Big B chose the letter G to hunt for as we ventured out for our first healthy Sunday since August. What a glorious way to start the day!

Letter Walk :: B

This morning was beautiful, and we all felt the urge to get outside immediately. Little b walked to the door and said "GO!" just moments after he woke up. So we decided to take a walk. News of our color walks has spread, and a neighbor suggested we take it to a new level with shape walks. This adaptation inspired a new idea, vocalized almost simultaneously by Big B and me: letter walks. And of course, the first letter he chose was B!

Yard Sale Score: Friendship

We headed a few blocks eastward yesterday for the yard sale of a good friend. She is moving to Hawaii in less than a month. It was bittersweet to watch her sell her worldly possessions to move across the country, but she is happy and excited for the journey to join her husband and bring her two sweet babies to a gorgeous oasis.

We felt fortunate to have our selection of toys from her daughter's stash. Our score du jour was a trampoline, which now sits in the center of the boys' room. We also came home with a dozen vintage kids' books in great condition.This one, commercial as it may be, was one of my favorites when I was a child.As soon as I saw this one I knew I'd scored. It was a great surprise for Big B upon his return from his first week at Kindergarten.
The yard sale was not without serendipity. Last week our little chair broke, and we found this absolutely perfect replacement.And it was only yesterday that I decided to seek out a Lite Brite at a consignment store, as it was my very favorite quiet time toy when I was Big B's age.
It is tricky to make a new friend, really really like her and her family, and then watch her move far away. But I am a better person for having known her, and isn't that a great feeling?