A few months ago, I went to pick my girls up from preschool and was stopped at a road block. Police cars and firetrucks surrounded my daughters’ school, and all I could do was pray, “Please, don’t let it be another mass shooting!”

I managed to park my car and run closer to the scene. Fortunately the incident was only a structure fire across the street from the school. No one was harmed and after not too long, I was able to pick up my daughters. However, when I reflect on that day, I can still taste the panic of not knowing whether or not my children were safe.

My deepest sympathy goes out to the Orlando victims and their friends and family.

In the wake of this tragedy, I had a dream. It’s not as beautiful or poetic as MLK’s, but it’s a dream nonetheless.

I dream of a world where children play in peace: a world where we don’t need Lock Down Drills in elementary school. I have a dream that semi-automatic weapon won’t be easier to purchase inside the United States than chocolate eggs.*

I dream that children can be children for as long as possible, and that they grow up to respect people of different faiths and beliefs. I dream of a world where Republicans and Democrats can put aside their differences to pass sensible gun legislation.

So how can laws be changed? I created a paper doll with some very basic information:

Here is the pdf.

When I feel overwhelmed about the problems in the world, I think about what I can do. I can vote. I can let my elected official know what is important to me, and I can put as much beauty out there as possible. Possibly the best thing I can do is to hold my children close and teach them to be kind. Hopefully their strength and kindness will lead to a better, safer, and more compassionate world tomorrow.

*(Kinder Surprise are chocolates with toys on the inside. In the US, they are illegal because they are considered too dangerous.)

As I wrote on my Facebook Page, my husband broke his back this winter. Fortunately there wasn’t any nerve damage, but having a broken back still isn’t much fun. It will be a few more months before he can do certain things (like running or heavy lifting), but for the most part life is back to normal. He’s is doing much better. Thanks for your thoughts and well wishes!

I’m glad I took the time off to take care of him and my family, but I’ve missed blogging. So hello again! I’m super excited for summer. Are you?

I’m kicking off summer with a simple and healthy end of the year teacher gift.

Garden Seeds Teacher Gift

Supply list:

• a piece of card stock
• paint: green, red, yellow (I used acrylic)
• a paint brush
• a seed packet
• tape or staples

Instructions:

1. Paint the message, “Thanks for helping me grow!” or “Thanks for growing with me!” and the flower stem on the paper. Older kids can do this themselves, but younger kids might need a parent’s help.
2. Let the children finger paint the leaves of the flower and the petals.

3. Staple or tape the seed packet to the paper, and have the child sign their name.

1. Read at least five recently published books by that publisher and at least fifty books in the genre (recent means—in the last five years).

Stephen King says, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write.” Reading gives you a sense of the market. Is your book a good fit for the publisher’s list? Is it too similar to something they’ve already published? While you should never write to the market, you should have a basic idea of where you book fits in the market. It’s okay to write something out-of-the-box, but be self-aware about it. At the end of the day, all books need to fit into some type of box…preferably one that can be mailed to customers, libraries, and retailers.

2. Read at least five books on the craft of writing or take five classes.

However, you learn best (auditory, visual, kinetic?), invest in some of that for your craft. Get to know your genre from an academic standing. Examine word count, pacing, character arc, and plotting. Know when and when not to break the rules. For example, a story 7,000 words long will not sell as a picture book. I don’t care how brilliant it is. It’s no longer a picture book at this length. Now, a picture book 1,000 words might sell, but it will probably be difficult. How do I know this? Experience. Take advantage of someone’s hard-earned experience the easy way—through a book or class.

3. Have at least five writing peers (aka: not family members) read your story and give you objective feedback.

Does your mom love your story? Great. Now get someone else to read it. Critique groups are a great way to get free feedback on you stories. You may or may not agree with their advice but at least hear your partners out. Fresh eyes catch things that might surprise you. Did you changed your main character’s name in every chapter but Chapter 3? Did you switch your verb tense halfway through Chapter 6? Did you use the word “pretty” fifteen times on the first page. Does your side character feel like a one-dimensional stereotype? These are just some of the things an objective reader can help identify.

4. Write at least five drafts of your story.

No one writes his or her best draft the first time through. No one. Dig deeper. Think beyond your first thoughts. Rephrase. Refresh. Re-see. That’s what revision means: re-vision. Even if you end up liking an earlier draft better (and I recommend saving each draft as a separate version for this reason), you’ll have confidence knowing you have explored every option. Revise. A lot.

5. Let you story rest in the drawer for at least five weeks before submitting it.

Hooray! It’s finished! Now put it away.

Let the enthusiasm cool. Let the revision epiphany stand the test of time. Here’s how my revision roller coaster usually goes:

Week 1: This is brilliant! Ha! I’m so clever.

Week 2: Oh no! It’s terrible—the worst thing I’ve ever written.

Week 3: Hmm. It’s not as bad as I thought.

Week 4: If I did X, Y, and Z, it might be salvageable.

Week 5: I’m ready to rewrite with a fresh perspective.

If after five weeks you look back on your story and still love it—congratulations! You are ready to go on submission.

My son turned ten last week.

That went quick! Around ten years ago, my boss called during  my maternity leave and told me I needed to return to work full-time or find a new job. Three months earlier, we had agreed I would return to work half-time, so this was a drastically new plan. It would require me to find a different child care provider for starters. Add to this, I was hormonal and sleep deprived. Suddenly, I didn’t feel super motivated to return.

So I took a part-time, work-from-home editing job and left the world of engineering. Within a matter of weeks, I went from a go-go-go career to having my days almost completely unplanned. It was slightly terrifying for a Type A personality like myself.

It was also the middle of winter, and the weather was terrible. We needed things to do together, so I started creating “go lists.”

Fast forward ten years, now I have four kids and still work from home. I can’t remember the engineering height requirements for a bridge over a railway, but can I entertain a toddler in the winter? You betcha!

So when my sister-in-law asked me for a list of things to do with her toddler, I was like–YES! Yes, I have a list of things to do. In fact, I have many lists! And because there’s nothing worse than planning something expensive and having a toddler melt down in the middle of it, I keep everything free or cheap.

Here’s my giant list of 101 Things To DO With A Two-year-old In The Winter:

Craft

1. Make paper chains
2. Finger paint
3. Roll out clay snakes
4. Make a chunky pasta necklace (rotini is a good size for little fingers). If you want to be FANCY about it, here’s how to dye pasta.
5. Collect a few large cardboard boxes and cut out doors and windows. You have a play house! Ta da!
6. Make animal masks out of paper plates and string
7. Cut out paper snowflakes
8. Glue cotton balls on paper to make snowmen

9. Using two cups and a string, make a telephone

10. Check out the “Kid Craft” category of this blog for more ideas

Move

11. Have a dance party

12. Splash in the bathtub

13. Jump on the bed…you know you want to

14. Build a blanket fort

15. Create an indoor obstacle course

16. Have a tickle fight

17. Ask the child twirl in a circle ten times and then have her run across the room (remove any furniture with hard edges first)

18. Sing simple action songs, like a) Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, b) The Wheels on the Bus, c) Ring Around the Rosie, d) The Noble Duke of York, e) Baby Bumble Bee, f) The Itsy-bitsy Spider, g) Where is Thumbkin

19. Do yoga together

20. Have a strength and flexibilty competition: see who touch their toes the best, jump the highest, etc.

Pretend

21. Make up a puppet show

22. Dress up like your favorite movie characters

23. Pretend to be community helpers and rescue the stuffed animals

24. Pull out a bunch of pots and pans and make a drum set

25. Get out dolls and play house

26. Write your own theatrical play and perform it

27. Go camping in your living room

28. Set up a teddy vet clinic

29. Decorate the laundry baskets like race cars and push them around the house

30. Listen to Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals and dance like you are the different animals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBGEf4urGNo

(or just pretend to be your favorite animal)

Relax

31. Read stories

32. Listen to music

33. Play The Sleeping Lion (Mom lies on the floor with her eyes closed, and the child tries to get as close as possible before Mom grabs her)

34. Brush Daddy’s hair/Brush child’s hair

35. Watch a movie

36. Make a nest out of pillows and pretend to be birds

37. Sing gentle songs: Hush Little Baby, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, All the Pretty Little Horses

38. Hang up Christmas lights and turn off the overhead ones

39. Sip hot cocoa or herbal tea together

40. Paint each others nails and have a spa day (just be sure to put down lots of newspaper first)

Learn

41. Play I Spy

42. Become “Shape Detectives” and go on a shape hunt

43. Sing Old MacDonald to practice animal sounds. If this becomes too easy for your child, sing the sounds wrong on purpose and watch for the righteous indignation of a two-year-old correcting you!

43. As you read books together, search for specific letters or objects on each page.

44. Practice counting by placing mini pom-poms in cupcake pans

45. You can also sort mini pom-poms in a cupcake pan by color

46. Say Mother Goose poems and have your child guess the rhyming word, “Jack be nimble. Jack be quick. Jack jump over the candle____.”

47. Play the Preposition Game. Ready, set, get ON the couch. Ready, set, get UNDER the couch. Now run AROUND the couch, etc.

48. Practice the alphabet song

49. Trace the first letter of your child’s name on paper and have them try to place beans on the lines

50. Teach your child a new gymnastic move, like how to tumble, twirl, do a cartwheel, or jump on one foot

Cook

51. Make your own playdough

52. Bake cookies. Everybody likes cookies!

53. Put a little flour into a cake pan and let the child play with it while you make dinner

54. Pull out the dried rice and beans and some measuring cups to create a sensory tub

55. Fill a shallow pan with baking soda and give the child droppers fill with food coloring tinted vinegar

56. Have the child fetch items you need as you are cooking, “Can you find an egg for me?” “Where are those tomatoes?”

57. Pop some popcorn using this trick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mFtCDKU7As

58. Make a smiley faces in yogurt with raisins

59. Build robots out of everyday kitchen items

60. Check out the “Kid Kitchen” category of this blog for more ideas, or see this post: 20 Kitchen Ideas for a Rainy Day

Clean

61. Have the child help with simple clean up tasks like putting socks in a drawer or placing blocks back in a box

62. Hand the child a colorful feather duster and let her have at it

63. Give the child a piggy-back ride while you vacuum

64. Have the child fetch toys from under beds

65. Give the child a broom and let her “sweep” (just don’t have high expectations)

66. Give the child a cloth and let her wipe the baseboards (just don’t expect her to stay on task for too long)

67. Let the child unload the dishwasher by handing you plates and cups

68. Let the child put rinsed spoons and plates into the dishwasher when it’s time to load

69. Help the child clear the table

70. Fill up the sink with soapy water and let the child “wash” some toys

Play

71. Pull out toy cars and make a race track with masking tape

72. Play tag

73. Play hide-and-seek

74. Play peek-a-boo

75. Try simple card games like Snap and Go Fish

76. Hide the Object (you can play Hot and Cold or just give hints)

77. Tint shaving cream with washable food coloring and paint in the bath

78. Set up ten plastic water bottles at the end of a hallway, grab a rubber ball, and go bowling

79. Build a city out of wooden blocks or Duplos

80. Blow bubbles and chase them. These no-spill containers are my favorite.

Trick

81. Cut out little construction paper hearts and hide them all over someone’s room

82. Create a crepe paper maze in the hallway

83. Place balloons over someone’s doorway, so that the balloons will fall when the door opens

84. Hide a plastic mouse in the silverware drawer

85. Draw a love note for someone on the bathroom mirror with dry erase markers

86. Put a plate of cookies on a friend’s front steps (attach a string to the plate). Ring the door bell and hide around the corner. When your friend reaches for the cookies, pull the string and make the plate move.

87. Using a toothpick, leave a message in the top of a freshly opened jar of peanut butter

88. Hide all of someone’s clothes while they are away at school or work

89. Blow up a balloon (but don’t tie it) and release it in a room when someone least expects it

90. Switch the ingredients in the sugar and salt shakers. See if your child notices a difference.

Go

91. To the library for story hour

92. To the store and let the toddler pick out the fruits and vegetables for the week

93. To the children’s museum (I think a membership to at least one museum is an investment in your sanity. I have one membership and rotate it annually so I don’t get too tired of any one place.

94. To a fast food restaurant with a play place

95. To a friend’s house

96. To city hall or a fire station (you might need to plan ahead for this)

97. To the mall to run around

98. To do some touristy thing local to you, like touring the Federal Mint in Denver or Temple Square in Salt Lake City or Powell’s Books in Portland

99. To the pet store to watch the fish and puppies

100. To a toy store with a play area

101. Bundle up and GO OUTSIDE!

This attention grabbing Halloween cake is deceptively delicious. If you’re brave enough to serve yourself a scoop, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Kitty Litter Cake

2 5.1 oz packages instant vanilla pudding 

12 oz vanilla wafer cookies, crushed (a blender works well)

6 to 10 Tootsie Rolls

1 kitty litter pan (new!)

1 plastic pooper scooper (new, too!)

green food coloring

1. Prepare the cake and pudding according to package directions. Add a few drops of green food coloring to 1 cup of the cookie crumbs and set the rest of the cookie crumbs aside.

2. Crumble half of the baked cake into the kitty litter pan. Spread half of the pudding over this layer.

3. Add the rest of the cake on top of the pudding and cover with the remaining pudding.

4. Sprinkle the non-colored cookie crumbs into the pan with the cake/pudding mix.

5. Soften the Tootsie Rolls by placing in the microwave for 10 seconds on high and shape to resemble cat scat. Arrange the Tootsie Rolls on the cookie-pudding cake mixture.

6. Sprinkle all with the green cookie crumbs. Serve with pooper scooper.

Caramel corn is one of our favorite fall snacks. It’s crunchy and oh so delicious! It’s easy to make, too, as long as you have a Cup of Truth nearby.

What’s a Cup of Truth?

It’s simple. I keep a cup of ice water on the counter next to my caramel pot. When I think the caramel is finished I take a small spoonful of syrup and drop it into the ice water (aka: Cup of Truth). The water cools the molten caramel quickly, so I can test to see if it’s reached the perfect hardness.

Removing the caramel from the heat too soon turns it into a sticky mess. This type of caramel corn will dislodge dental fillings!

Removing the caramel too late will burn it. YUCK.

There’s a small window of caramel perfection. Hence the need for a Cup of Truth.

My kids all hang out around the Cup-o-Truth because they like sneaking cool bits of caramel before the full batch is ready. While they linger for sweet snitches, I talk to them about feelings and stuff. I say, feelings can be like a pot of boiling caramel.

Sometimes someone does something so mean it makes you bubble with rage. You might even want to spill your thoughts right then and there.

But friendships can been ruined unnecessarily that way…and dental fillings, too.

How do you know if feelings are truth or just heat-of-the-moment steam?

Put them in the Cup of Truth.

• take a breath
• take a walk
• sleep on it
• put it on ice

Once feelings have cooled, it’s easier to see what (if anything) needs to be discussed. Then you can speak with confidence, knowing the words will be the right words. (And not a sticky mess.)

Okay, now who’s hungry?

Carmel Popcorn

2 cups brown sugar

½ cup light corn syrup

1 tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

5 quarts popped popcorn

1. Melt butter in a thick bottomed pot on low heat.

2. Add the sugar, corn syrup, and salt to the pot. Then increase the heat to medium and stir until boiling.

3. Boil for about four minutes without stirring. The caramel will resemble the color of a brown paper bag when finished. Check for hard crack readiness by spooning small amounts into a cup of ice water. The caramel should be crunchy (not squishy).

4. Remove from heat and add the vanilla and soda. Mix well.

5. Use a spoon to drizzle the popcorn with the hot caramel. Stir the popcorn with a spoon every few minutes until completely cool. This will keep it from clumping together.

6. Enjoy!

Six backpacks hang in our garage. They have food, water, clothing, and other supplies so our family could make it through 72-hours. You know….in case stores are closed and we need to leave fast and the earth is falling down all around us.

Most of the time the packs just sit there, but every six months, I rotate the water/food/etc. I was going through the packs last week and in a moment of laziness decided we didn’t need them anymore. Then media outlets exploded with this news: the entire Pacific Northwest is going to suffer a devastating earthquake ANY FREAKING DAY.

The hype is a little overrated. I’ve lived in the northwest for almost 30 years, and I remember them predicting the same thing about 25 years ago. We’ll have a huge earthquake some day. There’s no doubt about that, but “any freaking day” could be tomorrow or–300 years from now.

In any case, I decided I’d at least keep the backpacks in rotation.

Here’s what makes up a typical 72-hour “go bag”:

• a change of clothes
  • my kids are growing so this needs to be updated annually
• personal hygiene items
  • toothpaste, contact solution, and medicines will expire, so check the dates
• matches and a fuel source for cooking
• a mess kit and/or a container for boiling water
• an emergency blanket
• a rain poncho
• a flashlight
  • make sure the batteries aren’t connected to avoid slow drain
• cash
  • we keep about $20
• a first aid kit
• a sharp knife
• water
• food

Rotating the food takes the most time for me. I’m slowly working in a rotation of longer term storage (freeze dried meals). But prepackaged emergency meals are pricey, so I also make some of my own.

{Enough food to feed a family of six for three days. FYI, the fruit in the background isn’t part of the plan.}

Every six months, I have my family eat the food from their packs. This is because I don’t want to waste food and also the food needs to be something they’d actually eat. So before I planned a menu, I let my family sample a variety of different meal options.

{Re-hydrated Pad Thai, right. Pho rice, left.}

Then everyone voted for their favorite meals.

For each homemade recipe you’ll need a quart sized freezer bag. You can add boiling water right into freezer bags. Then stir and let rest until finished cooking.

Here are three of our favorite home-prepared emergency meals.

Breakfast:

Rice Porridge

• 1 cup minute rice
• 1 Tb powdered milk
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 ¼ cup boiling water
• optional: add raisins, nuts, and/or dehydrated apple slices

Lunch:

Mexi Rice

• 1 cup minute rice
• ½ cup tortilla soup mix
• 1 ¼ cups boiling water

Dinner:

Sweet and Sour Rice

• 1 cup rice
• 1 ½ Tb sweet and sour seasoning
• ½ cup peanuts
• 1 ¼ cups boiling water

You’ll notice my kids seemed to prefer the minute rice meals, but other good options for a starch base could be: couscous, instant oats, or potato flakes.

When I was making these meals, I went through the bulk foods aisle of my local grocery store and mixed and matched food that I thought might blend well together. My kids also liked instant potatoes with ranch dressing mix, and anything with cheese powder.

I was looking for high calorie/low cost options. Each meal I created averaged about 400-500 calories. At three meals a day or 1,200 calories, that’s enough to keep an adult going but probably not satisfied. Still, for an kit that needs to fit in a backpack, it’s just perfect.

Here’s what three days of food looks like for one person:

A few weeks ago, I offered to substitute for my son’s Sunday school class. Of course, I forgot all about it until I pulled into the church parking lot.

Summer brain strikes again!

In the short while before class, I skimmed the lesson on tithes and offerings. The material was thin. I needed something to fill more time, so I sketched up a quick money management game. It evolved into this.

{Note this version doesn’t have a charitable contribution option, but that could easily be added.}

Basically, the game follows a two-week pay cycle.

You roll a single die to advance through the days. Every two weeks you collect a $1000 paycheck. That’s simple enough, but here are the variables:

• The players choose all expenses and have to pay up with each paycheck. At the beginning, no one will be able to afford the best everything, so…
  • Are you willing to live in a smaller house?
  • Give up eating meat?
  • Only have one pair of clothes?

• Along the way there are also a few random risks and rewards.
  • Need to visit the doctor? That will be $100.
  • Have a car? You’ll need to pay insurance on that.
  • Oh, look it’s your birthday. Grandma gives you $100! Yay.
• You win by saving $1000 (after all expenses are paid). In the game, this is the amount of each paycheck. So winning means you’ve graduated from living paycheck-to-paycheck.

To play you’ll need:

1. An instruction card
2. A game board
3. A decision sheet
4. Play money
5. Risk/Reward cards
6. An expense tracker
7. A die to roll
8. A game token

Feel free to make copies for personal and/or school use. I just ask that you don’t distribute commercially. I recommend printing the risk/reward cards on card stock and gluing the game board to a piece of cardboard for better durability. When you’re all done playing, everything can be trimmed and folded to fit into a gallon bag.

If you want to make the game even more complex you could add features, like:

• taxes
• more bills (cell phone plans?)
• charitable contributions
• add risk/reward cards that include salary increases and decreases

So far it’s been a big hit with my kids. I hope yours enjoy it, too!

Forts are my favorite.

I loved building elaborate blanket forts as a kid, and I still like hiding away in nooks to read a book–when my kids let me.

This year we’ve been visiting historic forts in the Pacific NW, like Fort Stevens

and Fort Vancouver.

While we were at Fort Vancouver this weekend, I noticed something cool in their vegetable garden. They grow their beans on birch tepees.

Wouldn’t that make the perfect summer fort for a four-year-old?

In May, I started a corn fort:

It’s basically the world’s easiest corn maze: the corn is laid out in a rectangle with one end open for a door. By August, the plants should be high enough to create a nice little hiding place. I’m thinking about putting a chair in the closed off end.

I also tied together some sticks and made a mini-cucumber fort in my garden boxes. But this one is more of a fort for lettuce than children. I’m hoping when the summer gets nice and hot for cucumbers, it doesn’t scorch my lettuce.

Forts could also be made by planting tall flowers like sunflowers or hollyhocks in a circle. Just make sure you leave room for a door.

Plant forts are the perfect summer escape–right in your backyard!

When I see a waffle, sometimes all I see is a buttery breakfast treat.

But then I add a few blueberries and voilà! An equation!

 f(x)=x

I don’t need a formal proof to show me math can be delicious…

f(x)=-(x-1.5)^2+2

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was one of my favorite books growing up. I loved cheering for Charlie as he came out ahead of the obnoxious Varuca Salt (et al). But most of all, I wanted to float down that chocolate river.

Unfortunately, I grew up and realized a chocolate river would lead to all kinds of trouble: ants, carpet cleaning nightmares, a happy but untimely death…

In lieu of the chocolate river, I’ve opted for the highly snackible yard. Wherever possible, I plant edible bushes and flowers. It’s more healthful than my childhood dream but still delicious. Here’s how it came about.

Last year we moved to a house with almost zero landscaping:

That green you see is astro-turf. Pretty sweet. Right?

Okay. No.

I live in a temperate rain forest for crying out loud. I knew we could do better.

Flowers

I started with flowers because they are relatively easy and beautiful. I chose…

• cone flowers
• lavender
• sage
• parsley
• day lilies (Warning: many types of lilies are poisonous. Always research plants thoroughly before eating. FYI, day lilies taste like cucumbers and make a colorful addition to salads.)

Trees

• apple
• fig

(Note: many fruiting trees and bushes require more than one variety to produce fruit. However, some are self-fertile.)

Bushes

• blueberry
• rosemary
• honeyberry

Honeyberry is a new bush for us. They are ripening now and should be ready by June. Fingers crossed that we don’t hate them.

Vines

• raspberries
• kiwi

We haven’t planted the kiwis yet because it involves building a rather large trellis system. Last year our huge project was this rock wall:

Building it made us very tired. One big thing at a time–kiwis are my wish list for next year.

Ground Cover

• creeping thyme
• strawberries

We also have a wood chip and grass play areas for the kids, and a vegetable garden plot. Not every section of our yard was completely guided by the plant-to-eat philosophy. However, it’s possible to make landscaping choices that are decorative and delectable.

All this on one-tenth of an acre.

(This picture is from last summer before most of the perennials had grown in. I’ll try to update later this year with the second year’s growth.)

We spent spring break in Pacific Northwest camping bliss.

Coming back to homework today was hard. It seems like I’m always starting the kids on a new homework routine. We do great for a while. However, gradually, we always slide into after school chaos.

Here’s our homework help evolution over the year.

1) The super-organized & colorful homework board.

We started the year with a complex system with rewards for positive behavior. It worked great, until I decided everyone was fine and I wanted to use the poster board for something else.

2) With the board re-purposed (darn false confidence), we resorted to a fancy timer.

It worked…until the timer ran out of batteries. It takes a special kind of batteries, and I keep forgetting to reorder them. Right now the timer is sitting in a drawer somewhere.

3) That led to our current system: outright bribery.

If my kids finish their homework by 3pm, they get three M&Ms. If their homework is neatly done, they earn a bonus.

It’s working for us for now. I’m sure we’ll be doing something different next year.

I don’t seem capable of sticking to one homework program, and one child has a really hard time staying focused without one. This post isn’t to say, I’ve figured it all out. Obviously, I haven’t. But I keep trying, my kids keep trying, and for us that’s no small victory.

Weeding my strawberry patch this week, I found someone hibernating among the leaves.

A few days later, I saw this guy getting ready to take flight.

Beautiful, aren’t they? The waking of ladybugs makes me feel spring is really here.

Did you know ladybugs have four stages to their life cycle just like butterflies? I think the ladybug looks like an alien in its larva stage. What is your favorite phase?

Click here to download the ladybug coloring page.

And just for cuteness, here’s a ladybug my daughter drew.

Last week we talked about frogs and self acceptance. This week let’s talk about something totally different. Change.

Change happens. It comes whether we want it to or not.

In this picture book by Ame Dyckman and Zachariah OHora, a family of rabbits wakes to discover a foundling wolf on their doorstep. The parents immediately fall for this sweet little charmer. However, the little sister isn’t so smitten. HE’S GOING TO EAT US ALL UP, she keeps reminding them.

Despite her persuasive and logical arguments, the parents keep the baby wolf. What’s a girl to do?

I like this book because…

1) So many times we don’t ask for the change life brings. It just–poof–appears on our doorstep. WHAT WE DO about it determines who we become so much more than WHAT IT IS that happened.

2) The little girl-bunny in the story is totally passionate, and totally ignored, and totally right. Or is she right? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

3) Family love triumphs over all right in the middle of the vegetable aisle.

4) That pink suit. I want one.

5) Buster. The little girl uses words like buster. I love her.

Activity Time

While we have wolves and rabbits on the brain, here are a few games and activities to go along with this book.

• Wolf, Wolf, Rabbit (Duck, Duck, Goose)
• Bowling for Bunnies

• Hopscotch
• I love Wolfie’s suit. I want one for my girls. (I kinda want one for myself.) Anyway, here’s a coloring template for the bunny suit so kids can draw in their own Wolfie The Bunny. Or maybe it’ll be Kitty The Bunny. Pig The Bunny? I’ll let you decide…

Okay. This book makes me laugh so much.

First, it’s a really clever look at accepting and embracing the parts of ourselves that we might find lumpy, bumpy, or filled with flies. But also our family just happens to own this odd little puppet (pictured above), which my children named Green Cheetah.

Green Cheetah is a troubled puppet. He looks like a frog, hops like a frog, but always wants to play at gazelle hunting.

Thank goodness Dev Petty and Mike Boldt’s book arrived to help with this crisis!

It’s not that we want to change Green Cheetah. No, sir. We love him just the way he is, googly eyes and all. He’s still welcome on gazelle hunts, but deep down he’s a frog. And we want him to love the frog in himself, too. After several reads of this delightful book, I think we’re making progress.

Now for a very froggy craft…

What you’ll need:

• an index card (any rectangle size will work)
• markers (optional)

I WANT TO BE A FROG (jumping frog origami) 

I colored my card two different colors of green to make it easier to see, but coloring the cards is totally optional. You could also get green index cards if that makes life easier. Here’s how to fold it.

1. Top triangle fold down to the left.

2. Top triangle fold to the right.

3. The top will now be divided into four parts. Pinch the two side sections inward and squash fold down.

4. Bring the top right and left pleats up at a 45 degree angle.

(It’ll look like this without my fingers in the way.)

5. Fold the bottom sides inward until they meet in the middle.

6. From Line A fold upwards.

Like so:

Step 7. Bend the top fold back about halfway to form the frog’s legs.

Fold it all the way and press hard…

8. Turn him over and you have a frog.

By the way, if you bow out the folds in step 4 above…

…and reverse the fold in Step 6 (bend Line A backwards)…

…you get a rabbit instead of a frog.

The other night I ate dinner with a group of professional soccer players. Over grilled vegetables, one of them made the comment, “I’m not that athletic.”

Me: Um, you’re a professional soccer player. What do you mean you aren’t athletic?

Her: Well, for a professional soccer player…

Just to be clear here, this individual is a starter for one of the nation’s top teams. If she’s not athletic, I’m a pudding pop.

This exchange reminded me of an interview I heard on NPR with classical pianist Emanual Ax. Of his schooling, he said, “I was just a normal piano student.”

Peter Sagal: Normal piano students tend not to end up at Julliard has been my experience.

Emanual Ax: Well, maybe normal for Julliard.

Normal is a tricky beast. It’s a lie but also a gift. The lie part says, “You’re not that good, sucker.” But there’s a biological reason for self doubt and deprecation. That’s gift part: sensory gating.

{My daughter in a University of Colorado study on infant sensory gating.}

Gating is how the brain filters out unimportant information. It’s why people living next to hospitals will eventually learn to sleep through ambulance sirens. But it’s also why professional pianists aren’t continually thinking, “OMG! I’m playing Rachmaninoff! Do you see my fingers? They’re like lightning!”

When the brain receives a signal it makes a snap decision: Is this new? Is it important? Is it dangerous? If the answer is no, the signal probably won’t get our conscious attention. Gating is good. People who can’t gate have trouble tuning out unimportant sights and/or sounds in their environment. They might also have trouble distinguishing between thoughts and reality.

Just imagine if every time we drove down the freeway all we could think was, “Holy! I’m sitting in a chair and travelling 65 MPH!!!”

It’d be impossible to drive. So the brain filters out the miracle of modern travel for most of us, and suddenly we are home without any recollection of driving there.

But sometimes gating goes too far. There is no joy in driving life on autopilot.

Lately, I’ve been working through a creative funk. Trying to break out of normal, I’ve been testing boundaries and trying new things. I wrote a novel in a new genre. I also started several new art projects using only canvas and embossing powder.

I wish I could say the results of these new projects are extraordinary. They aren’t. My new manuscript kinda stinks. And the embossing projects have been a lot of trial and error (mostly error).

But.

Every time I work, I pick up new ways to improve. Expanding normal is a messy process. Sometimes I feel like I’m flying down the highway at 65 miles and hour. Other times, I’m stuck on the side of the road with a flat. However, I hope to come out of this funk with a stronger and bigger creative tool set.

The line between ordinary and extraordinary might not be as far as it feels.

After all, if my professional soccer player friend feels “not athletic” and Emanual Ax considers himself “average,” maybe all of us are unknowingly living über cool lives. Maybe the only thing standing in the way of us and this alternate universe of awesome is opening the gates and trying something new.

With the holidays and my grandpa’s funeral, I’ve had trouble starting up the blog again. I needed an extra push to get me going, so I was delighted when Carrie Finison tagged me in her Book Love tour. What a lovely way to start to start the year.

Here’s how the blog hop works:

1. Pick some books you love (any genre) that you think deserve more attention than they are getting. (As much as I love The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle does not need my help to sell more copies!)

2. Post reviews for the books you chose on Amazon/social media. The reviews can be brief – even a short review on Amazon helps. Posting on Goodreads or Shelfari is great, too, or Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. The more places you can publicly proclaim your love, the better!

3. If you want, you can also post the reviews on your own blog, or link your blog back to your reviews on social media.

4. Feel free to display the BOOK LOVE badge on your blog – and if you want, link it back to this post so your visitors know what it’s all about.

5. Tag some friends to do the same! Tag friends through their blogs, or on Facebook. That’s it! If you don’t want to wait to be tagged, you can jump right in and start reviewing and tagging yourself.

With that in mind, I’d like to shine the spotlight on a few non-fiction books my children and I have enjoyed this week.

Review #1: The Open Ocean by Francesco Pittau and Bernadette Gervais

The coast is hands down my family’s favorite place to be. We go in swim suits and snowsuits.

Any day we can make it to the beach is a good day. But on those days when we can’t, we have another way to explore the ocean.

This luscious, over-sized picture book by Francesco Pittau and Bernadette Gervais is a sensory experience. It’s like diving into the ocean.

{My girls on the mix-and-match bodies page.}

The book has silhouettes, pop-ups, flaps, and more.

A few facts you’ll learn from this book, include:

• the difference between skates and sting rays
• how far a sand hopper can jump
• what sea urchins and hedgehogs have in common

The artwork is gorgeous and produced lots of oohs and ahhs from my children. It’s been an instant favorite. We’re looking forward to reading more books in this series.

Book Review #2: The Wild Cat Book by Fiona Sunquist and Mel Sunquist

My children are wild about their wild cat facts. Here’s a convo from yesterday.

4 year old: Cheetahs are black.

7 year old: Cheetah’s aren’t black! They aren’t even a member of the panther family!

4 year old: They are black when they are babies.

7 year old: Okay, but only sort of and only for a little bit.

After reading dozens of books about these powerful predators over the last six months, my children have finally discovered the Bible of wild cats.

Gorgeous photos accompany this 280 page in-depth discussion of these fascinating creatures. If you have a child who is ready to make the jump from wild cat fan to major enthusiast, this is the book.

Book Review #3: Help Your Kids With Computer Coding, Dk books

Despite its adult centered title (and the fact it was published by Dk Adult), this is a great book for kids interested in computers and programming.* Our eight-year-old needed help getting started, but after that he was up and running independently.

As parents, we could see our son was drawn towards technology and computers. Rather than let all that energy go into passive technology (watching and surfing), we wanted to encourage a creative experience. This book has really helped with that. Now when he requests “tech time,” he usually wants to play with code.

*There is a separate companion book specifically designed for kids, but this book has worked great for us. Check out Helping Your Kids With Computer Coding: For Kids if you want an even more child centered book.

I’m tagging Erin Bylund of Chicken Babies to continue the blog hop! Happy 2015 everyone. Now that I’m rolling again, I should be checking in more often. Cheers!

It’s been a while since I did a coloring page, and I’ve had rain on the brain lately:

For a pdf copy of the coloring page click here. Enjoy!

I keep buying huge crates of apples. I can’t help it. They are super cheap this time of year and absolutely delicious! How can I resist?

Well, I’ve processed over one hundred pounds of apples over the last few weeks. I’d like to share some of my favorite recipes!

1. Apples chips

What you need:

Directions: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. De-stem and core the apples. Slices them about the width of a quarter. (You can cut them thicker but it’ll take more time to dry that way.) Lay them in a single layer on a greased cookie sheet or one lined with parchment paper. Place them in the preheated oven for 4-6 hours, or until dry and crisp.

Tip: don’t have 4-6 hours to hang around the house while they dry? Cook them for 2-3 hours during an evening and then turn the heat off and let them rest in the oven over night. If they aren’t quite dry in the morning, cook them for another hour of so.

2. Slow-Cooker Applesauce

What you need:

Directions: Peal the apples, core them, and slice them into pieces. (Some people prefer to leave the skin on…that’s fine, but I recommend at least removing the cores and stems. Because unless you have a Victorio Strainer you will have a lot of “texture” in your apples sauce. Crunch, crunch). Cook the apples on low for 8-10 hours. You might want to stir them occasionally the last few hours to keep them from sticking, but that’s pretty much it. The apples will be so soft that you can stir them into a mush pretty easily. Add cinnamon for more YUM!

—

I’ve used up most of my apples on the healthier fare above, but no apple post would be complete without diving into dessert!

Here’s a round up of some of our favorite apples desserts…

These cinnamon apple rings look divine.

You can’t go wrong with apple crumb cake.

If the words easy apple cream cheese pastry sound good, try this recipe.

Of course, apple pie has to make the list! Here’s a great crust recipe. And here’s for the pie filling.

As the German’s say, “Mahl zeit!”

Let’s make some noise! Well, okay not too much noise. We all want our ear drums to last a good long time.

These three musical crafts will keep little fingers entertained, and they won’t be too hard on your ears either.

#1 Rubber-Band Band

Take and empty sandwich, tissue, or cracker box. Any small box will do. If the box doesn’t already have a hole on one side, you might need to cut one. Then place a pencil on one edge of the hole, and wrap a few rubber bands around the box. The pencil acts like a bridge so you can more easily pluck the “strings.” You can glue the pencil in place if you want to be more permanent about the instrument, but the pressure from the rubber bands will also keep it in place. It’s fun to use a few different sized rubber bands because this will produce different pitches.

#2 Paper Plate Tambourine

You’ll need two paper plates, a handful of small noodles (like macaroni), and something to attach the plates together. I used hot glue, but staples or tape would work, too. We drew on our plates before putting them together. It extends the craft and adds that personal touch. Shake, shake, shake it!

#3 Plastic Pan Flute

You’ll need about twenty plastic straws, two flat wooden sticks, and hot glue. Lineup all the straws and put hot glue on one of the stick. Press the stick with glue into the straws and let cool. Then glue the second stick on the other side of the straws. Once the glue is dry, cut the straws at an angle, so that they are all different lengths. You play the pan flute by blowing across the tops of the straws. It will make very soft and windy notes as you blow.

These patriotic paper doll are to honor the women and men serving our country. I have so much respect for those in uniform and their families–hats off to you!

I know, I know…I could have done more to explore all the branches of service (maybe someday I will), but I had to chose one for now. My choice of navy is for my neighbor.

By the way, the naval ceremonial wear for women comes in several options, both pants and skirt. In the full-color version, I display the pants and in the black-and-white version I drew the skirt. You can choose which version you like best.

I hope you enjoy!

For a pdf of the color version click here.

For a pdf of the coloring page click here.

Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day…

We can wish all we want, but it looks like the rain is here to stay. We’re keeping cabin fever at bay on these rainy, rainy days by staying busy. I have two three-year-olds, so we need to stay really busy if I don’t want the laundry dumped all over the house or Vaseline smeared on the walls. Here’s how we create, engineer, grow, and explore in our kitchen.

Part I – Create

1. Grease cake pans and dust with flour. Instant finger painting.

2.  Cut a round oatmeal container in half. Using a strip of thick construction paper of thin cardboard, create a handle for the top. You now have a basket to decorate.

3. Using markers, crayons, and string, make a paper plate mask.

4.  Glue dried beans and pasta to a paper plate to create an artistic mosaic.

5. String penne, macaroni, or rigatoni noodles together to make a necklace. The fatter the noodle hole the easier it will be for little fingers.

Part II – Engineer

6. Use toothpicks and marshmallows to create shapes, structures, and more.

7. Build a tower out of clean food storage containers.

8. Hand your child a straws and have them blow feathers or small strips of paper across the floor.

9. Race canned foods on an incline. Try different sizes and weighs of containers. Guess which can will win.

10. Turn coffee filters into parachutes. Will the parachute still work if you attach a toy?

Part III – Grow

11. Place a handful of dried beans in a ziplock bag with a slightly damp paper towel. Over the next week, watch them sprout.

12. Cut a bunch of celery down to its base. Place it in a bowl of shallow water. It will regrow. This also works with lettuce heads and green onions.

13. Open a bell pepper and plant some of the seeds in cup with potting soil. Keep the seeds moist and place by a window with sunlight.

14. Cut a potato in half and place the cut side down in a mason jar with water (you will need to suspend it part way in the water with tooth picks). Make sure at least one of the potato’s eyes is below the water level. Place in a sunny spot and watch it grow.

15. Place a piece of white bread in a plastic bag with small helping of mud. Watch the mold grow.

Part IV – Explore

16. Using a pencil, punch holes in a Styrofoam cup. Let the kids splash in the sink and watch the water drain out the holes.

17. Empty a cupboard, and turn it into a child’s hideout for the day.

18. Give children a cupcake pan and an assortment of colored beads. Have them count, sort, and arrange the beads.

19. Freeze toys in ice. Place the ice blocks in a big storage bin and have children chip away at the ice until the toys are free.

20. Create a masking tape grid on the floor. Have the kids jump from square to square. They can also make their own roads with the tape and design a city.

I hope all your rainy days are happy days!

Yesterday, after washing out a couple of milk jugs, we were tapping the jugs together. I thought, this is a pretty good drum, but do you know what would make it even better? PAINT!

We took off the lids and added some cheap acrylic paint. Then we put the lids back on and kept banging and shaking the jugs.

That was fun, but we decided we needed MORE paint and MORE colors.

Much better!

In the end we had two beautiful and unique drums.

My girls loved playing their “rainbow drums.”

If you try it here are a couple of tips:

-This craft will probably work with other types of paints. Just make sure the paint is runny enough to slop around, but not so thin that it won’t stick to the milk jug sides. The cheapest brand of acrylic paint seemed to work perfectly.

-Watch that the kids don’t unscrew the lids. My girls kept trying to add more paint by themselves. If you do this with a group of children, you might want to fill the jugs with paint right before the activity. Then screw the lids on really tight or glue them shut.

-Don’t add so much paint that the colors blend together too quickly. I recommend about 1/8 cup of paint per color. For a more vibrant display of colors, shake in one color at a time and allow drying between.

You know you’ve been away from blogging for a while when you have trouble remembering your password. Yikes. Has it really been that long?

This was an intense summer for me—mostly in a good way. But having all four kids home all day was a whirlwind of busy. With my two oldest children starting school today, I feel like I can finally sit down and check in again.

So, hi. Hello. Thanks for hanging with me. I have many fun crafts and activities planned for this fall, but first I want to take one last look at summer.

1. Our (mostly) finished backyard

2. Swimming at Sauvie Island

3. Summer randomness…I walked in to my room to find a rocking horse and two desk lamps in my bed. Everyday there was something like this in multiple places around the house.

4. These beautiful little sea creatures called Velella velella washed up on the Oregon Coast in droves this year.

5. Lion-dog from the Portland Japanese Gardens

6. Camping in the rain

7. These berries aren’t ripe, but we went berry picking. A lot.

8. Big boat, little boat on the Columbia River

{Today, I’m turning this blog over to my six-year-old science correspondent. Take it away E-Man.}

Visiting the sun isn’t a bright idea. You shouldn’t visit the sun because:

1. You should never look right at the sun. Looking around on the sun would be like, “Ow! Ow, my eyes!”

2. There is no water on the sun. After about three days you would die, or be really really really really thirsty.

3. There is a lot of gravity on the sun.* It would probably squish you.

4. There is no air on the sun. Breathing without air is hard.

5. Also, it would burn you up.

{There you have it folks. Don’t visit the sun this summer.}

*You can find our your weight on other planets by visiting: http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/weight/