Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a blessed one!

"Turkey" by B, November 2008

The Easter Bunny Seat

It was all very thoughtfully planned ...

the Easter Bunny might want to sit for a while, so they spread out the quilt my mother made for me two Christmases ago;

then they thought about what a bunny might like to eat ... and decided on an apple and 5 dark chocolate pomegranate pieces;

then came the discussion of a drink ... we're not talking Santa here, so no milk ... plain water should be fine;

and two notes ... one instructing that this spot they had created was the 'Easter Bunny Seat', and the other cheerfully wishing him/her a great Easter.

And, all of it flanked by their Easter baskets ... with the hope of good things to come.

It made me smile.

My Easter Wish for You via Magic Beans

One of my favorite respites, Al's Garden Center, holds an Al's Kids Club event every month. For March, and in preparation for Easter, they had the kids plant 'Magic Beans'.

Here is one of the beans ... with a message of "Hope" on one side, and a picture of a butterfly on the other:

Just in time for Easter, here are the results ... no magic fairy dust required:

"Peace" ...

"Family" ...

A view of the other side ... flowers and a peace sign ...











Hope, peace, and family ... that is my Easter wish for you!

A Christmas Picture Book Must-Read!

As I've mentioned before, our household is a big fan of Karma Wilson and her 'Bear...' books. And, this is the very book that started the 'Bear...' craze in our household.

In "Bear Stays Up for Christmas", Bear's friends make a valiant effort to keep him awake for Christmas. Their efforts are successful ... but all that hard work keeping Bear awake makes Mouse, Hare, Badger, and the rest of the friends VERY tired. That's OK ... Bear's got them covered, and he works through the night to ensure a special Christmas for all of them.

The rhyming text is perfection, and the illustrations are so warm and cozy, it makes you want to snuggle up with Bear and his friends in his lair.

It's targeted to 4-8 year olds, but the pictures, lively characters, and catchy rhymes make it perfect for younger children as well.

If you're looking for a warm and fun holiday picture book classic for your family, "Bear Stays Up for Christmas" is guaranteed to please ... even when it's not the holidays (this is one we do NOT pack away after Christmas is over!).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a blessed one!

Oh ... and if you get an opportunity to see a movie over the holiday weekend, RUN, RUN, RUN to see 'The Blindside' ... one of the most perfect movies ever (according to moi!). :-) Loved it!

Enjoy! See you next week!

"Turkey" by B, November 2008

Calming Water

I must admit, when I first packed up my apartment and headed south from Seattle, WA to Portland, OR ten years ago, I was reluctant and a bit teary-eyed. My bonus was going to be living with my hubby ... we'd been commuting between Seattle, where I worked, and Portland, where he worked, for four or five months. The I-5 corridor is lovely, but quickly gets old when you're driving it so very often! My company had an office in Portland ... thus, the reason for me making the move rather than hubby.

Anyone who has experienced the loveliness of Oregon might wonder why I was hesitant to make such a move. Both states are green and beautiful and filled with mountains and valleys and all sorts of natural wonders. And, Oregon is less ... drizzly!

It was the water. And, no ... not the variety of water descending from the sky.

Seattle sits between two major bodies of water ... the stunning Puget Sound to the west, and beautiful Lake Washington to the east. And, in and amongst those major bodies of water are more bays, rivers, lakes, and creeks than you can imagine. I had become accustomed to seeing crisp, blue water everywhere I went ... I biked along Lake Washington, and ran and walked along the Puget Sound. It was not only beautiful ... I found it completely calming.

And, here I was ... headed to a city with a river ... a single, not-always-so-blue river. Secretly, I wasn't pleased. Yes, there were lakes and creeks and all that stuff too ... but it just didn't seem as expansive ... as accessible.

But ... I quickly realized that I had increased my accessibility to the mother of all bodies of water ... the gorgeous Pacific Ocean. This made me quite happy. In under two hours, we could be at the beautiful Oregon Coast, playing on the soft-sand beaches. The roar of the ocean and the warmth of the sand - even when the air is chilly - tops my ultimate relaxation list!

We headed there this past Memorial Day weekend. It was perfect! Technically, the picture at the top of this post isn't from our most recent trip ... it's from last August, when it was a bit warmer and the water a bit sparklier from the sun's rays.

This breezy beach weekend, however, proved to be perfect for kite-flying! So, the stunt kite finally got a good workout!

And, as an added bonus ... we arrived home to find this beautiful first bloom on the clematis ... a perfect ending to a relaxing weekend!

A Mother's Day Must-Listen

Amy Grant, one of my very favorite singing, songwriting artists, has released a song for Mother's Day that I absolutely LOVE! If you have two minutes, please click 'play', sit back, and listen ... it's so worth it, whether you're a mother, daughter, sister, grandmother, father ... well, you get the idea!

"She Colors My Day" has an awesome melody and the most perfect words (which, despite the song's upbeatness, still managed to bring tears to my eyes!).

The music video (which I didn't think was supposed to be out until mid-May!) is below:



Could this song be any cooler? Well ... if you consider that Amy Grant and songwriters Cristina Carlino (Philosophy founder and creator) and Stuart Mathis are donating all artist and publishing royalties generated by the sale of the song "She Colors My Day" to the Entertainment Industry Foundation's Women's Cancer Research Fund ... then, yes!

Enjoy ... and a very Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since I won't have access to my computer over the holiday, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, by sharing an Autumn-ish/Thanksgiving-ish picture, created by my 6-year old son, Braden, that is bright, cheery, and makes me smile.

The idea for the picture came from a single acorn ... he found one, and decided he wanted to collect enough acorns to give one to each of his classmates. Our only problem ... we are surrounded by maples, not oaks!

But, in a stroke of luck, we were visiting his grandparents up in Washington a couple weeks ago, who just happen to have an oak tree on their property. So ... the collecting of acorns began ... and a few oak leaves came along for the ride as well.

When we returned home, Braden created this picture using the oak leaf he'd collected. I then took a picture of his creation and - thank you technology - created a card for each of his classmates. He then stuck a real, live acorn onto the front of each card, as if it was hanging on his colorful, little oak tree. So cute.

It makes me thankful for my budding Picasso and his 3-year old sister ... quite the artist in her own right (she has skipped the whole 'stick people' phase, and gone straight into drawing people that look like ... ahem ... a certain boy part! It makes us giggle ... and she is so proud of her work!).

I hope your Thanksgiving is filled with all things bright, colorful, and happy as well!

A Veterans' Day Tribute

... by one of my all-time favorite artists - Steven Curtis Chapman. So very talented ... he wrote and recorded this song in just two weeks, in time for a release today, Veterans' Day, via this link: http://stevencurtischapman.com/thomasmcbride.htm?roi=farm-15950977-116699-caa0b537b54a32e086af4c64c39fd86c.

I believe the link is only good through November 15th. SCC wrote the song after meeting Corpsman Thomas McBride, the subject of the song, after he was critically wounded while fighting for our country in Afghanistan.

Thanks to all Veterans ... including my Grandpa Don, and my brother-in-law, George, who is currently on his second tour in Iraq ... so far away from my sister and their son. Be safe.