Childhood Treasures Rediscovered

Today we spent some time outside, weeding our flower bed, mowing the lawn, grilling our dinner, and cleaning off the deck. As part of this last venture, we discussed getting rid of our daughter's little make shift sand box.

It started out as a great idea when we moved into our house. I bought play sand and a plastic storage box and filled it up. She could play with it any time she wanted, and we could put a lid on it after she was finished so that our wonderful cat would not use it as a potty.

Well after several years in the blaring Arkansas summer sun, the box had disintegrated, and the sand had been used as a litter box. We told our now seven year old that it was time for it to go. She agreed and it was slowly dismantled. However, in the midst of the dismantling, we found some hidden treasures, some pleasant and some not. She found her beloved shell collection that had been forgotten. It consisted of 20 shells, it would have been 21, but one fell through the cracks of our deck. Some of these shells were collected on the beach in Gulf Shores when we took a family vacation with my sister and her family. The other shells, were remnants of snails that lived in our family salt water fish tank that we got when our daughter was 2. She was too young to remember the trip to the beach, but she has seen pictures so she feels she remembers. She remembers the salt water tank, with our fishes Foxy and Scout, but that has since disappeared.

She was so excited to find these shells, because she had forgotten that they existed. She laid them on the deck railing to let them dry out after their good hose soaking. It is so wonderful to be able to share the excitement of a child. The simplest and littlest things can make them so happy. It is a lesson that I need to remember, a lesson that I need to hang on to so that I too can be happy with the smallest discoveries.

Chicken Dance Marathon

On Friday, all seven of the Conway Elementary Schools participated in a community service learning project sponsored by Chick-Fil-A. Every school danced the chicken dance for 1 hour and 30 minutes to raise funds for the Chicks for Children Foundation, Inc. Money raised will be used to buy chickens for orphanages in Africa. The children had a great kick off at the beginning of the week, with a presentation from the founder of the foundation. It was here that they learned what the money would be going to, and most were motivated to participate. Parents could either donate money or the child could collect pledges for the amount of time that they danced. It was warm, but all of our kids had a great time. I was surprised that Jessie was able to dance the whole time with just a few water breaks provided by the school. I danced for most of the time, since I was cowsitter for the Chick-Fil-A cow. My legs and my arms hurt this morning, but it was a fun time overall. I did happen to catch a few shots of the dancing. Jessie was caught flapping her wings, and her teacher Mr. Raup was a great motivator to the children that danced for his class. The cow had a great time, but had to take a few breaks to walk into the school's cooler.

A Happy Blue

Today I celebrate. I have worked long and steadfast this past year as PTO President and I am glad that it is over. I went into the year saying I was doing it for my daughter, but soon found that it took me away from her. She was proud of what I was doing, and never complained, but I missed doing the fun stuff with her. Next school year I will be hers.

So I want to celebrate with things that I love and I chose blue today because it is my favorite color. It has been since I was a child. I even made my parents paint the bookcase in my room blue. If I remember it was a horrible navy to royal blue, but I loved it anyway.

So here are some images of blue things that have been around me lately. I picked up a bouquet of beautiful bachelor buttons at my local co-op this past Friday. They have been sitting on the kitchen table amidst the clutter that needs to be put away. Looking at them everyday as I cook, they bring a smile to my face. I also cut a few out to put in my sister vase, another blue thing. You can see this picture at sistervases.blogspot.com.

My second blue thing is a bowl containing black bean couscous salad. I made this for a teacher treat at school, and it was a big hit. I only got to taste a bite, and decided to make it for myself. I have been eating it for lunch all week. The blue bowl was bought at a Christmas Fair at Hendrix in the 90's. It has survived all these years and is one of my favorite serving dishes. I use it for everything.

I look forward to blogging again. It is such a great way to keep up with the little things that make us happy in life, like my daughters beautiful blue eyes.