A hectic summer schedule has provided ample time for weeds to take over the garden.
Despite some attempts at control, a busy travel itinerary leaves much to be desired in the ‘finding edible items in the garden’ category. Is everything growing? Yes! All experiments and plant combinations are thriving with unbridled passion.
But alas, the weeds have accepted the challenge and are rising to the top, willy-nilly.
Enter gardening goal: Fill to overflowing one wheelbarrow full of weeds each day I am home. At this rate, the garden will look spectacular by October 1.
Gardening gone bad, you lose!
Until then, we play garden hide-and-seek for prized veg and fruit.
If you know me from my teaching days, or kid-caring days, or church days, you know I’m all about books, language, and literacy. Not too long ago, a friend introduced me to Barefoot Books. My grands LOVE the little videos and songs that go with the different stories.
Barefoot Books is coming out with another great tool for story building, language, and literature: Build-a-Story Cards. I love these! Characters, settings, and objects cover wordless adorable colorful cards. Some characters show emotions to help create story conflict. Playing with these will be loads of fun!
Head on over to Tara Lazar’s blog to see photos and more explanation of these new literacy tools. The first set is a fairy tale theme. Fun times ahead!
Thanks, Tara, for giving us the heads-up on these Build-a-Story Cards!
Today’s Monday Mouthful is brought to you by Thai Naan in Snohomish, Washington.
Last week I was house sitting for a college roomie. She was off gallivanting around Europe (and beyond) with her hubby while I was enjoying her kitty and having myself a writing retreat. Perfect location! Easy walk to reach downtown, gorgeous and historic neighborhood, lots of room and space to spread out my junk (I mean writing supplies). I recently read that creative people are messy. That explains it, honey. My creativity is definitely based on the area around me covered in chaotic bits and pieces.
Back to the story.
Immediately upon arrival, my stomach started thinking back to a previous trip where said roomie, plus one more roomie, headed out for Thai dinner in Snohomish. Food memory drove me to hoof it down the hill and check out lunch.
Lunch special favorite discovered and documented. I ordered green chicken curry, which came with sweet and sour soup, brown rice, and phad Thai. So much deliciousness and food for such a great price! This lunch special called me back one more time, plus a separate dinner trip with above mentioned roomie (not the Europe explorer).
If you are in Snohomish, give Thai Naan a try. Eat some food memories.
One can’t be all work and no play, especially on a writing retreat.
First, there is the cat. Cosmo is quite happy to give me as many breaks a day as I can handle (and then some). Plus he delivers wrap-his-paws-around-my-neck loves, a warm kitty neck warmer, and blankets of kitty fur.
Then there are the windows. Such delightful windows, with a garden full of butterflies, hummingbirds, blue jays, finches, bees, bumblebees, squirrels, other cats, flowers, trees. Not to mention passers-by of uncounted numbers.
Meals and snacks come in handy. As do walks in the historic neighborhood and nearby downtown Snohomish.
And if you know me, rubber stamping provides mental breaks and opportunities for creativity.
This mermaid card was made with rubber cling stamps, watercolor paints, patterned paper, and a bit of glitter glue. She’s pretty cute, isn’t she?
From me to you. You are MER-MAZING! And don’t forget it.
Now, mamas, I’m not going to tell you, “Don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys,” but I will say, “Seize those moments!” I’d love to go back to this moment and enjoy that face-smashing hug a few more times!
Circa 1992, this photo shows my (our) daughter, Chelsie, loving her mama, right there in the middle of the floor. Sometimes you have to just be on the floor. Or the couch, the bed, the dirt, the tub, even, eh-hem, the potty. Wherever and whenever the moments present themselves, go for it! Abandon the to-do’s and not-right-now’s and seize the moment.
Lesson to me, the Nana. I need to remember this when my grands are all over the place. They are growing up so fast! Nothing is more important than those sweet hugs and kisses. I’d pass on the germs they share, but that goes with the territory of young children building up their immunities.
Seize a moment today.
P.S. Comment below and let me know which moment you captured!
DIY Circus Lab for Kids, A Family-Friendly Guide for Juggling, Balancing, Clowning, and Show-Making
By Jackie Leigh Davis
Photography by Scot Langdon
(Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc., 2018)
Once upon a time, I did some clowning. Really! Just last week I ran across a picture from my “Bubbles” the clown days. A more thoughtful person would have grabbed it up and used it for this post, but I didn’t put two and two together. Now that photo is nearly 200 miles away lost in a box in a storage unit. Oops!
Circus fun – for kids! How cool is that? Jackie Leigh Davis has penned an informative, easy to read, step-by-step book that helps kids (and families) enjoy many circus activities. Great photographs demonstrate what she is describing and will help the visual learners. There is so much information about learning circus skills and putting together a show, DIY Circus Lab should be a resource – for any circus hobbyist or serious performer. Additional resources at the back of the book provides even more details.
Juggling sticks, hoops, poi, juggling scarves, armpit juggling (LOL), stilts, tight-rope walking, acrobatics, pyramids, clowning, and putting together a show: those are just a few of the various topics covered in DIY Circus Lab. This book makes me want to gather a group of kids and get circusing!
Well done, Jackie Leigh Davis and Scot Langdon.
P. S. Thanks, Vivian Kirkfield, for introducing me to this great circus book and sending a free copy. Excellent resource!
Taylor and Chelsie enjoy a sticky treat while lounging in a plastic baby bathtub.
A tub can be . . .
Actually, a child’s plastic bathtub can be:
a snacking spot
a boat
a water table
a push car
a chair
a sink for washing
an actual bathtub
a container for small animals
a storage unit
a reading nook
a garden box
an art project
a doll bed
a watering tub (for animals or kids)
a pond
a fairy garden
a mud pie factory
sand box
a cat box (if one is not careful)
Taylor and Chelsie (circa @1992) are enjoying some good old sticky lollipops as they sit in the baby bathtub. It was no longer a bathtub at this point, but instead became the object of many imaginative games.
How about you? What other uses have you found for a plastic baby bathtub?
Love, Laughter, and Life 