Earth Day coloring "Recipe"

Age: 1-5 years
Energy Required: Medium
Skills: Fine motor, Color recognition, Nature/earth appreciation

Ingredients: Coffee filter
                     Blue and green markers
                     Spray bottle with water
                     Towel or newspaper
                    
Preparation: Pull a table up to the couch so your child can make planet Earth!  Gather your ingredients and set them beside you for access.

Directions: Cover your table with the towel or newspaper.  Spread the coffee filter flat on your craft table.  Give your child green and blue washable markers to make blobs of green and blue to resemble Earth (you might want to show them a picture of Earth if they aren't familiar with it yet!).  Give one or two sprays of water on your colored coffee filter and watch as the water dissipates and blends the colors.  Let dry.  Optional: glue onto black construction paper.

Mama Notes: While making the craft, teach your child about the beauty of our planet.  Talk about trees, water, wind, flowers, and how it is important for us to take care of our planet. Make up an Earth song! 

Mother Earth

Happy Earth Day!  I am so thankful to be feeling well on this gorgeous spring day!  Mother Earth is rocking it today here in NC.  The sun is perfect.  The wind is a lovely breeze, bringing me sweet smells of fresh blooms. 

I want to be like Mother Earth.  Isn't she amazing?  Talk about mother of the year award.  We (her children) continuously drain her of all her energy and resources, yet she continually forgives us and provides us with more fruit and nourishment.  What a mom.

I feel her pain some days.

My daughter and my disease are constantly demanding more of me each day.  Some days I can hardly keep my head afloat.  But I strive to be like you, Mother Earth.  I want to be strong and intuitive, and a never ending source of love for my children. 

I pray for your amazing instinct, Mother Earth- I want to know how to get rid of my weeds while feeding my flowers. 

Spring hope

This blog is supposed to be happy. Haha!  But we just found out our 2.5 year old daughter also tested positive for Lyme disease. Booooooo. Not happy.

BUT!  She is not sick. Yay. Happy. Therefore, we have decided to not treat her. I can't imagine having to treat both of us at once. My husband would lose his marbles. (And he doesn't have many marbles to spare).

So I'm going to be happy. This spring, I have decided to enjoy the life that I DO have in front of me, even if it is not exactly "as planned". My entire life has been a series of surprises- good and bad. Why should this period in my life be any different?  Every time I have an expectation, I am disappointed. Unless, of course, I am expecting the worst and then I'm pleased. But if I spend my life expecting the worst, then I have wasted all that time worrying, when I could be enjoying the present moment.

My present moment: spring. Sunshine. My healthy and happy daughter. My husband who hasn't lost ALL his marbles. My family. My friends. HOPE.

So what if my daughter has a positive lyme test. That is under her skin.

Should we live our lives afraid of things we can't see?  Instead, I choose to have faith in what I can't see. That is a much happier existence.  And that's what this blog is all about.