Little Red Barn

Little Red Barn March 2011 9x13

Mommy's Mermaid March 2011- 11x14"

March 2011- 11x14"

Fall Birch Forest 16"x20"

Fall Birch Forest 16"x 20"March 2011- Heather Ross

Suffering from Spring fever? PLEASE AVERT YOUR EYES

Trees through snow

Saturday Afternoon

Walk in the trees - March 12, 2011

From Guilt to Gratitude

I am feeling guilty. A Mommy died last night. She did what single Moms do all over the world. She dropped the kids off at daycare, kissed them goodbye for a little while… but… then she died.

I pray that she doesn’t know she left. I pray that she didn’t or doesn’t hurt. I pray for those two little people who will grow up without their Mommy. How their hearts must ache for her.  Mommy is the one who explains the hard stuff, who helps you through the rough things and kisses all your hurts. I wonder who will help them through the toughest thing they will ever do, who will explain that Mommy is never coming back and who will kiss their hurts? 

I feel guilty for having my children here safe and sound, family intact and she does not.

I feel guilty for being upset with the piles of laundry because she will never again do their laundry. She won’t ever again look at each t-shirt or little sock marveling at how much her babies have grown.

I feel guilty for grumbling at the unmade beds when she will never again make their beds. She will never again see the little divot their little bodies made in the bed or smell that sweet baby smell on their sheets.

Feeling guilty for wishing they would play a little quieter because she will never again hear them play. See them play, smell them, feel them … be with them, watch them grow, watch them graduate, see them become adults and maybe even Mommies themselves. 

I feel guilty for having these possibilities and not appreciating everything. Not just the cute things they say or how sweet they look when they sleep… but EVERYTHING… even the laundry, the mess and the noise because I know that if it was all taken from me… even those things would be precious.

In honor of the Mommy that died…. I will pledge gratitude for all that I am blessed. May I never need reminding!

Today I am grateful for ... snuggles on the couch, an extra chatty little girl, a clean closet, fresh baked bread, a kiss (a little too wet), mud in the front hall 

and pee on the seat.  

Today I am grateful for life.

Snow Day in Daycareville

Snow Way Home. by Heather Ross

What do I do when my day suddenly has four more children than expected, the yard is like a lake and there is a whole day to fill?

Well today we rearranged our regular schedule. Normally we go outside later in the day. Today we went out early. We got absolutely soaked (which I knew would happen) and this was fine. We had a BLAST slipping, sliding and sloshing around and you know what? None of us melted.

Our Snowy tracks... Look how wet.

After we were done outside all of our wet things went into the dryer so they will be nice and dry when our Mom’s and Dad’s came and get us. 

There was a definite separation of the sexes today. 

The boys where into the trucks they brought and the girls were talking fairies. 

 

Normally we all do the same things but I knew each group would love what I pulled out for them.

Dinosaur eggs

I started the boys on a Dinosaur adventure.

These are these little caplets with a sponge type thing inside. The caplet is meant to melt in the water and "hatch" a dinosaur. It is a fun and easy experiment. Each boy got their own jar (baby food jars) with a growing dinosaur inside to take home. The rest of the dinosaurs went into a large clear plastic peanut butter jar so we could watch them.

The boys then went on to stamping dino’s on a big sheet of paper I rolled out.

They were also completely happy to clean up the stampers. I filled the sink with soapy water and they washed away the paint.

fairy workshop

The ladies made fairies with close pegs, plastic flower petals and feathers.

Finished Fairies

Today I was thankful for the organizing I had done. I had bagged up all the little crafty things and lined them up in a large container. Everything imaginable is in there; googly eyes, water balloons, marbles, sparkely plastic gems, shells, and foamy cut outs. There are other containers of coloured paper, felt and foamy sheets, stickers and pipcleaners.

activity storage bin

 So today when I needed a quick plan, I just went shopping in the container and found all the stuff we needed for a fun day. 

Well everything but our imaginations. Thank goodness for those!