our morning ride

Each day on the way to school my big girl asks to use my phone to take pictures.  I happily hand it to her and let her snap away while we sit in traffic as we make our way up the road.  Most of the time she photographs many artful things such as flowers along side the road, a neat colored car or a little detail on her shoe.  Recently, when I scrolled through the photos of our morning ride I found a funny series of herself.  I am not sure if these little shots were reactions to my driving or what was going on at school that day.  When I showed them to my husband, he was thrilled to know that she figured out how to change the orientation of what the camera was photographing -- I didn't even realize the phone camera did that.  She figured out how to make the phone into a mirror of sorts.

Nevertheless, here is our morning ride from her perspective last week...

tickling ivory

Your little fingers slowly find their way down the keys to the right notes.  You try very hard to keep that "egg" in the palm of your hand while you are playing.  

Remember, just use the tips of your fingers to play.  

Half note

Quarter note

Whole note

Now, how many counts do they get?

Don't forget the rests.

Treble clef is your right hand

Bass is your left hand

I am amazed at how much you take in and remember during your lessons.  I love to watch your love for music bloom!  Keep up the great work!

Something Green: Baked Kale Chips

I love chips!  I could eat a bag in one sitting easily.  The crunch and salt are something I crave even more than sweets.  

I recently found a recipe for baked kale chips.  I decided to give them a try and to my surprise, they are wonderful!  This is definitely a snack I will be making for a long time.  The kids even ate them too!  

Give them a try.  I know you will like them!

Baked Kale Chips

Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 bunch kale
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt 

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 300 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. With a knife or kitchen shears carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale with a salad spinner. Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt.
3. Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, about 20 minutes.

preserving a memory

After travelling with my kids I can't help but wonder, will they remember anything about this trip?  Will they remember how significant it was for our family?  Will they remember little snapshots in their mind?

I usually make some type of photobook to remember our trips but I also wanted something they could directly remember...something more tangible.  

We collected sand at each of the beaches we visited while we were away.  When we got home we funneled the sand from the different places into little glass bottles.  We wrote on a little slip of paper the date we were there and location of the beach and inserted it into the bottles.   My big girl has her little sand bottles on the dresser in her room and loves to look at the differences in the sand and talk about her memories of the places we visited.  Maybe, just maybe, she will recall this trip in her mind longer with something to jog her memory. 

princess for an evening...

I recently had the opportunity to take my big girl to an evening tea with some very special princesses.  It was an event put on by the high school girls choir.  Little princesses arrived dressed like their favorite princess and were pleasantly entertained (along with their mommas) by songs, dances and an evening tea.  The adored princesses even signed autographs for many excited little girls after the tea.  It was fun to be a part of this special evening and support the local high school choir.  

somewhere new

I love going somewhere new.  Such excitement awaits in these unexplored places.  The unfamiliarity around each bend peeks my curiosity.  What little pots of gold will we discover today?

Watching my children share in this excitement is such a treat.  Discovering tastes, sounds and sights that they never knew existed is delightful for a parent to watch.

I love to watch the light illuminate something so ordinary and make everything so beautiful.

I am amazed at how clear water can actually naturally be.

I love the way the sailboats sit silent and still in the harbor.

While travelling with children isn't really relaxing, it is wonderful to spend time together away from the distractions of home.

I love to stand back and watch -- watch the beauty of the people and their homes.

I am amazed at how the earth can entertain a toddler for many hours.

It is humbling to see how different we live but how similar we are.

But merely having the time to sit and watch your preschooler pretend is priceless.

And these happy faces never cease to make me smile!

early February rain

We love the rain!  Especially, when it is mild enough outside to enjoy it with an umbrella, rain-boots and pajamas on an early February morning.  I love the peace it brings to everything.  The calmness on a drizzly morning with light rain falling even seems to calm rowdy children.  I do hope we get lots more!