Now is the time of year to empty your vacuum cleaners onto your lawns. Okay, maybe not ALL of it….
Birds love the stuff to make their nests and it’s compostable!
Yes, I’m serious. It’s late at night as I write this…but I’m serious.

To start, I’d like to give a big shout out to all the mothers and other caregivers on the site. Once a year is not the only time you deserve thanks for what you do.

Preparing for Mother’s Day is big in our home, not for me…though that wouldn’t be so bad…but for all the Grandmas. Max has four, and we always try to do something special that will provide that little “awwww” moment. This year, we came up with a couple ideas that I think should get just the response we’re looking for.

Max has one Grandma that he sees often and adores, so we did something a little extra special for her. We created a book, titled “I Love My Grandma Because…”. Inside, I wrote four captions- on four pages of oak tag- that we came up with together, like the one in the photo below that reads, “She walks with me on the beach.” Max took care of the illustrations…though you might have guessed that already.

For the other Grandmas, Max picked out some packets of flower seeds and we incorporated them into sweet little Mother’s Day cards.

Enjoy the day and do something special!

I found this piece that appeared in a local newspaper back in 1868. Pretty funny stuff…but amazingly similar to the parenting advice being offered today…

Advice to Parents

1. From your children’s earliest infancy, inculcate the necessity of instant obedience, but remember it is always better to put your desires in the form of a request rather than a command.

2. Unite firmness with gentleness. Let your children always understand that you mean what you say.

3. Never promise them anything unless you are quite sure you can give them what you say.

4. If you tell a little child to do something, show him how to do it, and see that it is done.

5. Always let some proper penalty (never the whip) follow willful disobedience, but let it not flow from anger. The parent who cannot govern his children without the rod has made some serious mistake in their earliest education.

6. Never let them perceive that they vex you, or make you lose your self-command.

7. If they give away to petulance or ill-temper, wait till they are calm, and then gently reason with them on the impropriety of their conduct.

8. Remember that a little present punishment, when the occasion arises, is much more effectual then the threatening of a greater punishment, should the fault be renewed.

9. Never give your children anything that they cry for.

10. On no account allow them to do at one time what you have forbidden, under the same circumstances, at another.

11. Teach them that the only sure and easy way to appear is to be good.

12. Teach them to make their little recitals perfectly true.

(?? Can anyone explain that one??)

13. Never allow tale-bearing.

14. Teach them self-denial, not self-indulgence of an angry and resentful spirit.

It’s the end of April and I’ve now transplanted a 7 ft. tree, planted five new saplings, and started a wild flower garden.

You know how you love and adore your children but sometimes just need a little space? I think this is the relationship I am developing with my yard.

With two more garden islands to dig and plant, I’m already wondering when the first snowflakes will fall. But before I am accused of some kind of blasphemy, let me assure you that I do love this time of year. I’m keeping my chiropractor employed ’cause I know this is all gonna pay off in a big way with a yard that requires little maintenance, in the form of mowing, watering, and fertilizing.

When I see Max running toward me on our organic, clover-filled lawn, I know I’m doing this all for him. And when he asks, for the three-hundredth time, when we’re going to start building his clubhouse, I give him a great big hug and… head inside for a little space.