It has been awhile. I've been busy. Sick kids, sick me. Tobogganing, visiting, playing, visiting, celebrating, helping, sharing, loving... and all good things. But, now things are ramping up career-wise again.

It is ALMOST Literacy Week - which means a very busy time for me. I am excited this year, because I get to spend two days with an ENTIRE school, working on a very exciting project. I will be visiting The Marysville Public School on Wolfe Island for a book workshop. I am also visiting the Belleville and Napanee Early Years Centre's for stories and crafts.

Here is a bit of (AWESOME) news - In the Snow is in the January ELF Scholastic Book Club order. This is seriously something I have dreamed of my WHOLE life. Ever since I got my very first books from Scholastic - all new and shiny - just for me... I have wanted this. I am so excited, I hope it does well enough they will also sell In the Garden - we will see.

So much news to share, and no time to share it - just yet.
Wishing all of you the best Holiday ever, and a very happy New Year.

We believe that a lot of movies - particularly the more violent ones - are not for little kids. Just a personal feeling that they are not really appropriate - ie. the ratings. Today, Mo came home talking about how he was playing at recess with the boys and they were playing Batman and Star Wars and he had no idea what they were. He played along for awhile, but the jig was soon up. Then, once again - he played by himself. Let me preface this and say - he JUST turned five.

Are we hampering his social development by making him the 'different' kid on the playground? Is his childhood going to be like mine? Amazing at home and terrible in the school yard? What are we to do? We read Roahl Dahl books (dark indeed), do not filter information about death and sickness, but explain it when asked. He watches the news with us, and we tell him the truth. He knows where his food comes from and where babies come from... and yet I feel like maybe, maybe we SHOULD let him watch these movies.

Then, this past weekend, we were at a beautiful wedding at Camp Wanakita. My Tent Sisters were there - fellow wild women of the woods (one was getting married), and my friends little guy - well - he is JUST LIKE mine. They played non-stop, in the sand, in the creek, in the trees. Not one mention of movies or superheroes, they talked bird calls and cool rocks. Too bad he lives all the way in Nelson, BC. They performed their made-up songs on the stage and ran themselves ragged at the party. SO neat to see, Mo has great friends - better than great friends, but this connection is was a rare jewel.

Sooo...
drumroll please...

We mulled over the idea of a big boy birthday for Mo this year - you know the kind - where the parents drop off the kids, the kids go wild for a few hours and then get picked up.

The mull was short.

Thing is where we live, for one, is prohibitive. And well, we also really like his friends parents too. Most importantly, so does Mo. It is amazing when you have friends that you know are looking out for your kids if you can't for a second, hour or even a day. It is even more amazing when all these people are in the same place. He would be devastated if we had said no other mommas and poppas.

I looked around this afternoon at one point to see Mo and his buddy playing chess in the grass with one of the daddies, while I lay in the grass with Zaley and another momma and got tickles from little Glenny.

Almost all the moms got to enjoy a glass of wine sans kids - while the dads played outside.

I can't help but think of the old adage that it takes a village to raise a child. And in the age where this is no longer the norm - we have it. It is amazing.

I never thought this day would come. Or rather, I just never thought it would come so FAST. But, here it is and here we are on the eve of our Son's fifth birthday.

I'm not sure why five seems a much bigger deal than four, but it does.

It is an entry to boydom – no more little toddler remains, replaced by lanky, sometimes cranky, impossibly smart and inquisitive, jumping off playground equipment, funny and serious boy. All arms and legs. Smelly feet. A companion, a pal. A very opinionated and passionate person. A pusher of boundaries. A kissing bandit. A cuddly, but NOW can I PLEASE play the ipod kind of kid. A kid who will drop anything to play cars, lego, chess or to make his sister laugh. A kid who breaks down into fits of tears for the strangest of reasons. A kid who prides himself on putting on his own bandages and has a very defined sense of fashion. A kid who once dreamed of taping his sister to the wall or giving her away to firemen - who now will not let anything bad happen to her - EVER.

Our son, who is growing fast, no matter how much we want him to slow down. Our beautiful child, soon to be handsome young man...

Happy Birthday Mo, you light up our lives.

Yesterday I wrote a long and eloquent blog post... and it disappeared. So, here is the long and short of it - I am trying harder as a mom and a wife, finishing my deadlines on time as always and mourning the early death of a coworker and friend from breast cancer. My son, when finding out where ribs came from, refused to eat them and may well be on his way to becoming a vegetarian at age four. I've finished my fun job for Scholastic, but can't reveal it till October (which is too bad cause I am very proud of it). I am working on a whole new website for myself, as well as a very fun book for Fitzhenry and Whiteside and another book about Dinosaurs. My cousin had her beautiful baby girl. The summer is almost over and for the first time in my life I did not camp. Mostly due to the fact that our little girl was too little, but we ARE doing a canoe trip in September and I can't wait. Zaley is crawling, Mo is starting to read - albeit when he doesn't think he is. I have lived through my son's very first public tantrum and came out on top - not giving in AND remaining calm. I have also learned to save what I have written.

That's it. In a nutshell. Now I am off to bowl some zombies.

My husband sports a beard every winter, and used to full-time. He has always said there is the bearded man nod, a look, a glance, a tip of the head to another who understands. Well, I am now experiencing the Baby-wearing nod, the look from other mommas like me, wearing their kiddies in places that are not our typical places to be. Like, lets say - the Napanee Fair, the Demolition Derby to be exact. I saw three other mommas with their little ones asleep in slings/wraps and carriers. We all got the nod and a smile. Moms, who like me, have little boys who love things like cars and smashing. We circled the perimeter - all of us, proudly wearing and nursing our babes among the crowd.

Today Zaley is five months old, and she went for her very first paddle. It was lovely, we went to Sheffield conservation area and paddled for a bit, found some nice rocks to picnic on, saw lots of birds and ended the day with a swim. She was great - but her lifejacket did not allow for finger munching - which is necessary now since she is cutting tooth #2 as we speak, but after nursing in the canoe, and whining a bit she fell asleep.... Mo was awesome - he swam and swam at the end and did not want to leave ( a seemingly common occurrence when there is water involved these days) he was so funny trying to catch sunfish with his bare hands. And now we have no camera to capture any of these moments. You forget how much you depend on technology... I guess we will just have to remember it the old fashioned way!

I also got my five covers finished tonight - now on to book thumbs and a double page spread!

Not sure if I was asleep, or time just went by slowly the first time around, but our little Z is flying through these milestones and getting big WAY too fast. Today - at almost five months old she got her very first tooth. The bottom on the left. She is almost crawling, but can get around even without that ability, she is starting to make all sorts if different noises, the most prevalent being the Mumumumummmaamaa sound I get all the time.

I am sure she is saying momma, at least I hope so.

She is a happy little bean and I am so blessed to be her momma.

The summer is flying by and we now have high speed internet, so life is improving. Renovations are coming along and the nights are getting cooler. Life is good and busy, I could not ask for more

...are flying by. I am glad I made the decision to keep Mo home too, we've been having great fun. He has learned to swim, we've picked a googleplex (his words) of berries, beans and other treats, we've played with friends, visited with family and enjoyed many days of unstructured adventure.

He is an inventor - the latest invention being the AUTOMATIC BUG SWATTER. He sits down and draws a blueprint, then we use recycling, aluminum foil, old wires and random objects to make each one. Up until this point he hasn't minded that there is no 'real' motor, but now he is insistent that we build one. We have a lot of these 'inventions' around the house. You'll see this one has a ladybug dial so the machine knows not to swat those bugs.

SO, I have just found out BOTH In the Garden and In the Snow are listed in the TOP books for 2010 by the Canadian Children's Book Centre. This is a huge honour for me and I am so thrilled.

Things are so busy these days, with both kids home, visiting family, working into the wee hours of the morning - but it is also fulfilling. My wish is everyone could be so lucky - never a dull moment and lots of people to share those moments with. Z is sitting up and starting to crawl a bit, more of a slither - but she can move, Mo and I are finding our groove, slowly. Our renovations are looking awesome, Shawn has been working his butt off and it looks so great we may not want to leave here when he is done...

Spent the weekend with family and BABIES. I got to cuddle my wee niece - Clara, she is soo sweet, I got to meet my new nephew and spend time with my step sister and her super sweet daughter who entertained Mo the entire time they were there... got to see my cousin - who is also due very soon and we had a very matriarchal party with almost all the women in our family. It was great.

I remember my dad wanting to move to the Caymen Islands when we were kids... it was a lark, but it was fun to dream about living at the beach, and swimming with the turtles... so anyone who visits my site over 100 times should at least drop me a line - don't you think?

SO please say hi, or I am going to continue to be afraid that something strange is going on.

Cheers.

Today is a day to celebrate all things Canadian... and so we took to Sandbanks with our buds despite the crummy weather forecast - it was lovely! We had lots of fun, it was restful, slower-paced and just really nice. We started out the day at the Napanee car show - complete with fire trucks and at least 150 classic cars. Mo was in heaven. Z was great the whole day and now we can't wait to go back again... have a feeling we'll be there a lot this summer.

Some more very nice reviews I have stumbled across:

http://www.pbs.org/parents/booklights/archives/pam/2010/02/

http://booksforkidsblog.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html

http://blog.mawbooks.com/2010/06/07/in-the-garden-by-peggy-collins-plus-more-of-my-garden-photos/

just make me feel all warm and fuzzy.
Thanks.

Until Mo's last day of school. This year I have decided not to put him in daycare for the summer. Sometimes it feels foolhardy, but mostly it feels right. I am doing this for a variety of reasons - most of all though, is the fact that this may be the only time we get to do this - have the whole summer together, no camps, no 'work', no commitments, just open time for play and fun.

I have a few big contracts though, and this does concern me a bit. How will I get them done while looking after 2 kids full time? Well, Mo loves to paint and draw beside me. So the plan is to have him either do that with me for an allotted time every day - or have play time by himself in his room. The challenge will be to make sure this happens while Zaley is sleeping so I can actually work in this time. We shall see. I also have a lovely young woman up the road who is available to just come and play with mo for the afternoon if I need it. I also have great friends who happen to love my kid - and our kids get on so well together it is almost less work to have another around - so there may be some swapping happening. I always manage to get things done - so I am not too worried.

I am looking forward to it. I have plans, and I really happen to like my kids - and hey, my mom did it for YEARS, and so do lots of others. I will miss this quiet I have today though, sleeping baby, radio on - no chatter, just me and my cold coffee. It is only 8 weeks till Kindergarten starts - so I say YEAH for summer.

Bring it on.

Here is a character sketch for a new book I am working on... it is going to be FUN (and something Mo will be very happy to be drawing beside me!)

... that very same kid swallows a dime. Is really upset cause he swallowed a dime - so you call telehealth and they tell you it will either pass or will be stuck and to ask said Genius questions about how it feels. Genious then tell you it does in fact feel stuck. So you pack the whole family in the car and head to the emergency room and wait for 3 hours - finally get X-ray from very nice doctor saying there is nothing in there. Could have passed or was never there... Genius then says he swallowed it yesterday or maybe the day before but definitely swallowed the dime. Deciding whether to be a little bit angry, or just happy dime is gone.

Zaley rolled over today.