Naturally Optimistic

Last autumn a friend of mine posted on Facebook that he was looking for people, parents in particular, who were willing to read Karen Le Billon's books about getting your kids to eat & have a healthy attitude about doing so. Not just to "eat" but to eat things that are GOOD for you; that have layers of tastes & textures. Having a well-rounded palette and not being expected to be catered to. Hi, my name is Carrie and I have two small children. ONE who is particularly challenging when it comes to eating anything other than "Creamy Macaroni" or frozen nuggets & fries. *sigh* The other one isn't far from that mark either but at least gives an effort and occasionally finds something new that he loves. YES! I want to take this challenge. I want to read these books, implement ideas, try new things, blog about it - perhaps correspond with the author? Sure! Sign me up. And then...the holidays. And then....randomly, suddenly and unexpectedly w...

We had a school carnival at Dahlia's school tonight. It is put on every fall by an education "club" from UMD. A very busy evening of activities & dinner put on by bright-faced, energetic, future teachers. It's a lot of fun. We skipped the dinner (spaghetti) in favor of doing all the activities. Last year we ran out of time. The kids participated in an inter-active "funhouse" (they were training to be clowns - had to stretch, do jumping jacks, hula hoop, jump rope & do crunches); They played charades; they made a bouncy ball at the science table, an optical illusion at the optical illusion table; did some math & spelling & played a "musical chairs" type game featuring different world cultures. They also got to make a cotton candy art project & eat REAL cotton candy (they both like it for about 3 bites & they are done). The made masks & got a free book too. It's a little crazy & hectic, but they really had fun ...

Of course I voted. I vote in all the elections. Even the primaries. I feel it's important. I read up on candidates (although sometimes not enough - who in the heck are all these judges?!?). I try to come up with my own feelings about whose running - regardless of what party they are affiliated with. I don't watch TV so I've been saved from the bevy of political mud-slinging and search out alternate sources for researching the candidates online. It's not perfect, they're not perfect. I am NOT perfect in my research, but it works for me. I voted for several different parties tonight....I sometimes feel like I'm "wasting" my vote by voting for some of the "littler guys/gals" but at the same time, if enough people step back & look at whose running & what they're running for, maybe things will change. I think a 2-party system is arcane & is not representational of the citizens of our country. I put up my flag this morning, I voted,...

I slept in. I could end the post there. But I won't. Steve & I went for a hike. The two of us. At a brisk pace. Neither one of us whined, cried or threw a fit. It was quite wonderful. We glittered up leaves that we collected & pressed the week before. I love doing such messy crafts with the kiddos outside. Our garbage can is full of lots of sparkles this week!  And we took in the view from Hawk Ridge (see new banner pic). The sun was starting it's dip into evening so the colors under the canopy were not as bright as they would've been earlier in the day, but that's okay. It was still lovely.

Ahhhhh.... Saturday! I have been looking forward to you since Monday. This week I really REALLY REALLY felt the need for you. Bad. Thank God you happened. The breakfast thing worked out okay - the kids actually slept til about 7:15 which is about an hour 15 longer than I thought they would. I hooked them up with a DVD & their breakfast boxes & went back to bed. IT WAS AMAZING. I was sort of in that hazy in between sleep & awakeness for about another hour which was fantastic. Loved it. August relaxing in the "Pillow Pit" from the night before. Love his repose.  We had some "hometime" which consisted of dragging most toys out of their homes & spreading them throughout the house. It also included multiple snacks & requests to play PBS kids on the computer & watch more movie (I said no...such a terrible Mom....) A little jammie-painting time before moving on to anything else.  By lunchtime I wanted to get out for a bit. I bought a SU...

I've been getting a little carried away on Pinterest looking at all the fabulous ideas for school lunches (amongst other things...of course). I am totally hooked on the BENTO style of packing lunches! I have to admit, I didn't know what it was & had to look it up on Wikipedia but there ya go. You learn something new every day. Basically it's a style/concept from Japan about takeaway food or packed lunches that are in one container, look aesthetically pleasing and well...you can read the rest . I love the concept of a) no waste...no plastic bags or things to throw away (although I have purchased fruit cups for Dahlia. I would gladly reuse them, but she keeps throwing them away!) and b) making lunch a little *fun* or *cute* for my sweet girl. I LOVE making her lunches. I love tucking a surprise or two in there. Granted, we've only just completed day 5 so I'll let you know if the passion still exists in April. Most of the Bentos I've seen online are WAY way...

Wow - Yesterday was a big day in the Boberg household.  At long last & after much anticipation Dahlia started KINDERGARTEN! Last spring I was so worried about which school she'd be going to. Would there be enough to challenge her? Would there be a lot of kids with behavioral & emotional problems (there's a long story behind that...I don't just randomly worry about such things)? Would she slip through the cracks because she's not the 'squeaky wheel?' I set those worries aside earlier this summer & decided to embrace our neighborhood school. We'll see how it goes! I do know that this school has become one of the most sought after schools in the city! It's a "new" school - well, a combination of two of the more 'urban' schools in the district. It's in an OLD building, but is very much renovated & added on to. it's beautiful. We saw it for the first time last Friday. They've done a great job. BUT...enough a...

Dahlia is off with Grandma & Grandpa R this evening in their hotel as we prepare for her 'Tinkerbell' Party tomorrow. By "prepare" I mean sitting here having a glass of wine & reading blogs. I have been working all day - cleaning the house, making goodies (not that you can really TELL), the presents are wrapped, the toys are mostly picked up. *sigh* I mostly want to be relaxing while watching an episode of The X-Files but I feel guilty when there's so much to do. Ah, I work better in the daylight. Maybe I should just go to bed. Look forward to Tinkerbell party pics tomorrow! I hope it'll be a fun day! (ps - by "party" I mean Grandparents & one aunt, uncle & 3 cousins...we haven't ventured into the land of "friend parties" yet!!). Maybe for the big "5!"

My baby is 4! How is that even possible? She began her life like this and this - what a trip to have everything documented so that I can revisit it! What a crazy 4 years it has been. My sweet peanut is becoming such her own whole PERSON. She is very independent - wanting to do (or at least try doing) everything herself. She is 100% into Princesses and anything PINK. She could play Princess (with her little dolls) for hours upon hours a day. Which is great, but she wants ME to also play the whole time, which gets tiresome, at best. I try to remember these times are fleeting, but some days it's rough! She is an 'artiste' through & through. I am so happy about that! She is so happy when she's coloring, drawing, CREATING - it's pretty awesome. And I think she's quite talented. Her drawings are awesome. Her people, rainbows, spiders, trees, whatever melt my heart. It's hard to throw her creations away (and we are really running out of space!)....

Today marked Dahlia's "stage" debut. I must admit, I took a photo of her name in the program. The first of many I'm sure (I hope?). She was an Angel in the Christmas program at our church. And oh - my - goodness, she was edible she was so cute & sweet - if I do say so myself. The Littlest Angel She has been really good at the music for weeks now. We have a CD of the songs & I'm about ready to bash my head in from listening to the simplistic, repetitive tunes & lyrics, but she eats it up. She walks around the house talking about laying the baby in the manager & the stars sparkling & shining. Yesterday she had rehearsal & although she was bored to tears (well, bored enough to lean, sit, yawn, play with her tongue, etc) she did great. This morning, however, I was worried. She threw a MAJOR fit before going out the door about being "scared" and not wanting to sing, not liking to sing (yeah, right) and she didn't want to ...