Outdoor Fun

He can’t wait to get home. To pull on his boots. No time to change out of the already stained and spotted school uniform. I get to slip his polo off occasionally. If I can even beat him to the door. Out he runs in his undershirt. “Mommy, let’s go!” he yells as he shoves his styrofoam sword down the back of his shirt. He runs to the backyard. The stray kitten that showed up under our porch this summer, Batman, tags along. There’s nothing else on his mind. No room to be an adult now. Only room to be a kid. Absolutely zero awareness (and that’s what’s wonderful) that the car is still loaded down with the morning’s breakfast, his...

In The Secret Place, behind the row of azalea bushes next to the property line fence and under the shade of the magnolia tree, anything can happen. Stuffed animals, favorite babies, small blankets, and toy food have all made their way outside to The Secret place, carried there by tiny dirty hands. Today the owners of The Secret Place are on a rescue mission. They bravely come out from behind the azalea bushes to save animals from the "dangerous giant storm that is going around the world". Each time one leaves to attempt a rescue, they hug each other. As one runs off barefoot through the grass, the other yells, "Be careful sister!" The owners have invited me to join...

Computer screens, Netflix, iPads and iPhones. It’s all too much! It’s too much for an adult, much less a small child. One day, I suggested the kids go outside to play and I was met with whining. “I’m working on my Minecraft World!” “I’m watching Little Mermaid!” “I don’t waaaaant to!” It’s happened. I tried my best for this day not to come. We haven’t had cable/satellite in our home for 6 years. I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn’t want my children to be screen zombies. We don’t have endless channels on our TV, I boasted. But I allowed them each to have their own computer. (In the family room, with strict filters; of course.) I allowed...

So, it’s the summer, and you want a new book to read.  Maybe you’re headed to the beach and you are imagining some quality reading time in between watching the kids and building sandcastles.  Maybe you are wanting a new literary journey during naptime.  Maybe you’re nursing at midnight and three in the morning and want a dreamy escape. Or maybe, you’re like me, and you squeeze in a little reading while the kids are wrestling with a movie on in the background.  (Please tell me some of you do that!)  If any of the above apply to you, perhaps I can help you out.  I have some suggestions for you to consider.  A little nonfiction, a little fiction,...

A few years ago, we bought some bell pepper plants. “It’ll be fun for the kids,” we said. We created a circular garden in the side yard for these plants, and we fell. Hard. For suburban homesteading. Five years later as you look down the row of backyards through the chain link fences on our street, it’s like playing the old Sesame Street segment called, “One of These Things is Not Like the Others.” Those innocent little bell peppers that we planted for fun led to raised cinder-block beds, several fruit trees, a compost, a bee feeder, and a portable chicken tractor complete with four lovely laying ladies. Our yard sticks out amongst the beautifully manicured lawns complete with yappy...