Martin Luther King from a 5 year old perspective

As an adult, I know his story, I’ve heard his famous speeches, and I would say I have a very good idea his importance to our culture and history. This past week my 5 year old twins had been learning about MLK and we’ve had interesting conversations as they have brought home their daily projects.
Here are some of their answers:
-According to Jack, “He was a boy who wanted to play with his friends but their mom and dad said no. When I asked why he couldn’t play Clara said “it’s because his skin was tanned, and my skin is tan too and it would be rude if I couldn’t play with my friends because of my tan.”

-From Jack, “it’s not nice to not like kids because of how they look.”

-From Clara “God made us all and we are different and if we aren’t nice to others, we are not being nice to God.”

Very simple answers from the perspective of 5 year olds. But sometimes the simplest answers are the best.

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Hello out there!

Thank you so much for your kind comments and emails. I appreciate all of your support!

Summer came and went. I finished my thesis final draft and now am doing a few corrections, taking a few classes, teaching, coach cheerleading, and chasing the kids.
Here’s where we’ve been:

Made a trip to the farm, kids got to feed cows

rescue a cotton tail bunny from the farm cat,
play a fiddle with my dad’s blue grass group

play golf with my brother

went to a sweet little cabin in Oregon the kids ran and played with the dog, I worked on my thesis

And, my babies started kindergarten this year!

The boy was happy to go, but really didn’t want his picture taken!

I’ve been painting a little bit, packing my watercolor kit and sketching where I end up. I’ll have to share those next!

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I’m still here

Wow! It’s been a while since I’ve been here! And now, summer is nearly over and I go back to work in a week! My big camera did not get used once, all photos are with my iphone, most with the Hipstamtic app which I adore!

We went to a hot rod show, saw the cutest pink car!

And this turquoise wagon!

Swim Lessons

I took mobile computing to new heights

We went to a horse parade

Took the cutest girl to a lavender festival

Played tourist locally with the kids, visiting an old train depot

Harvested from hubby’s garden

I went to Madison, WI (the farthest east I’ve been) for a conference

I have more to say and share but, I also have a paper due Monday and a thesis to revise.
Hugs to all of you! Hope you’re summer is going great!!
Em

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First Ballet Recital

Hello, I’m slowly emerging from the hole I feel into. We’ve been busy here, between dance practice, speech for the little guy, me doing my crazy classes, dog training, and a trip to the farm. And I have the photos and laundry piles to prove it!

Miss Clara had her first ballet recital. And she was a natural. She may not be a natural dancer but she is a performer and she LOVED being on stage. So much so that her teacher had to help her leave the stage! lol
The day before we had rehearsals. It involved two costume changes and a bunch of moms trying to enertain bored little girls.

I loved the site of all these little dancers playing together.
The room we had for dressing in had nearly 30 moms and kids and smelled like girls. I wish I could bottle that smell. It was a combination of aqua net, make up, powder, and little girl sweat. Reminded me of being the locker oom after gym with the girls primping and spraying.

While waiting our turn backstage we watched the big girls dance. Loved the costumes, the shoes, the way they held themselves. Amazing to see such confidence in teen girls. Very empowering!

Had to do the sponge rollers in the girl’s hair to get it nice and curly. Our teacher recommended a little make up. My girl was all for that. Although I had a little twist in my stomach when I put mascara on her.

And here is my little dancer, all dolled up. So cute, and getting so big.

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Meet Molly

Memorial Weekend my little family went to a sunday market. It had the usual offerings of plants, flowers, food, handmade things, and the Humane Society. The HS had a few dogs they were walking around the market looking for new homes. And it was half price adoption day.
We have a wiener dog who is 15 with failing health. We had talked about getting another one but after careful thought decided that 1) we didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a new dog and 2) we wanted to be dog free for a while. Who has the time right?

And yet I met Molly.

Her breed is described as “border-collie mixed”. Kind of a gangly, scrawny dog with one ear up and one down. And a broken tail that healed very badly.
I was pretty adamant that I did not have time for a dog. And yet I found myself walking her to my husband asking “please can I have her”? I have no idea, really I don’t know what I was thinking.
But there was something about her that I fell in love with.

She is very patient with the kids who insisted on being in the kennel with her to cuddle her.

She is about a year and a half, rarely barks, and is a pretty good walking partner. I have been walking her in the early morning before getting ready for the day and love having a walking buddy. And she’s a fetcher! I’ve never had a dog who fetched. She loves fetching her balls and will do it until your arm hurts.

She is good with the kids- a must at our house and lets them walk her without pulling them down.

She is still a bit of a youngster so she needs training, and it’s been a while for us so we need training too.
Her and I have started obedience classes, she responds well to the training.
I, on the other hand, am still not trained well

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Preschool Graduation

Last night my babies graduated from preschool. The program was a patriotic themed program and they sang some of the older songs such as “Your a grand old flag”. All of the little people looked so cute and did a great job.
Before the program I had to have a couple of pictures.

Whoa! Who are these big kids? Some times I still pinch myself that these interesting little people came from me, how lucky am I to be their momma?

As I was doing my girl’s hair she looked in the mirror and told me she doesn’t look like a little girl she looks like a “woman”. Oh, no where did my baby girl go?

And my little guy who is such a independent little man, he knows what he wants and doesn’t want and is not afraid to share it! And according to him this is “nice” smile!

Mr. Jack, who got the imagination award because he is always telling stories.

Miss Clara, who got the happy face award because she is always smiling!

My boys, complete with chocolate frosting.

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our daily life from a different point of view

Our little guy Jack loves to take photos. I keep my nikon d40 handy to help me take more photos. And Jack will pack the camera around the house and take photos. I have the strap on all the time and have taught him to always have it around his neck if he’s taking photos. I know it may seem a little absurd to allow a 5 yr old to pack my camera, but he’s pretty careful with it so we let him take a few pics.
So when I upload photos I never know what I’ll find.

lots of self portraits

always love his point of view

sister posing

me

things he’s interested in

sister

his trucks

lots of wiener dog butts!

love seeing his point of view, looking at things that interest him.

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“the best mommy ever”

So declared my sweet girl after I finished “fancying” her room.
For Christmas she recieved two Fancy Nancy books and since then she’s been pestering me to make her room “fancy”. I’ve been putting her off, sorry mommy has homework, sorry mommy needs to grade papers, sorry mommy’s busy.
(Insert guilty-worst-mother-ever-feelings)

Yesterday after a frustrating few hours of statistics homework I decided to start folding the mountain of laundry piled on my bed. And then I went in the kids’ rooms to put clothes away and had to bite back the urge to scream. Disaster isn’t a big enough word to cover how bad their rooms looked. Instead of blowing my top I got my girl and said let’s organize your room! And if ever there was a doubt that she’s my kid: she’s a total hoarder and pack-rat! She saves everything, and has little “treasure boxes filled with her finds.

Later we stopped by Goodwill, and since I had placed myself on a 12-step program to avoid thrift stores for a while, I was excited.
Kids were told no toys, at all. They could play with them but nothing could go home with us. As I wandered where the curtains were hung, my eye was caught by the largest mass of bright pink tule I’d ever seen.
I couldn’t tell what it was, a curtain, a canopy bed or just a lot of pink tule. I grabbed it, and when my girl saw it in my arms she just knew it had to be something to make her room “fancy”!

5 bucks later, I had it on the swing set to air it out. I’m sure my neighbors wondered what that mass of pink was flowing in the breeze!

As I looked at it, I could see it had a top and sides, and loops on the corners. Perfect for a canopy bed!
After some serious rigging with pony tail holders and a few sparkly butterfly barrettes. I had it set up. I gathered a bunch of ribbon to tie the tops and corners. Then I took the girl’s “wedding bouquet” she found at another thrift store and added flowers to the top and corners. I kept adding ribbon, and stuff. Really like a bird making a nest out of found materials.
And here you have why my girl told me that I was “the best mommy in the world even when you’re cranky and not nice”.
(ouch)

Wow! That’s a lot of pink! The pink of her walls almost matches the tule! yikes!
But she’s very happy and the boy was invited to play and read as long as he is good.

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Picking Blueberries, making pie

On Monday the kiddies were going stir crazy and I was getting cranky trying to occupy them. So I went online to pickyourown.org, a great way to find what’s available in your area to pick or buy fresh. We ended up going to the Berry Ranch, just 10 miles from home. The first time we went there was on a pumpkin trip with the local twins club when the kids where babies.
(Insert cute baby pic here!)

This is a great little farm with some farm animals and all the farm stuff you’d want to do.

we picked, and ate as we picked.

made wishes by blowing on dandelions

looked for lady bugs

boy found a stick, girl found a tree swing

We brought home 2 lbs of berries, made a pie and a dozen muffins
My girl grabbed the big camera to document the process.

Then the boy wanted her to take pictures of the tomatoes he had picked from garden. Of course I had to grab my phone and take a of pic them!

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chasing butterflies

A few days ago while driving, I noticed something yellow caught on my anteanna.
I realized it was a Swallow Tail Butterfly.
So I stopped, I picked it up off the ground seeing that most of it’s abdomen was missing so it wouldn’t be flying home, but I carried it back to the truck anyway to let me son hold it.

This is what I want my kids to learn
an understanding and appreciation of the natural world
have a sense of awe when they see a big butterfly fluttering by in the back yard
and to never be in such a hurry that they can’t stop to admire the little things in the world.

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