One on One

I read this article and immediately sent it to Matt to read (By the way, the Simple Mom website is one of my favorite blogs to read). I know that I tend to "herd" my kids around, and I've only got two. So we tried some one-on-one time. Matt took Bear to a baseball game and I took Chipmunk out for pottery painting and yogurt eating.

Bear was a bit hesitant when she heard "baseball game" as the destination for her daddy-daughter night. It turns out she had a great time. She came home chattering about how good the garlic fries were (which happens to be the only reason I go to ballgames) and how far the balls got hit.



Chipmunk, on the other hand, couldn't contain his excitement and was bouncing nonstop from the moment we decided to go paint pottery. He talked endlessly on the way out to our destination. He chattered on an on as we painted pottery. He chattered more as we walked around from store to store (we were at a mall). His constant questioning only stopped so he could shove frozen yogurt into his mouth. I was amazed at how much he had to say...



Later, I asked Chipmunk, "Would you like to do this again sometime? Except perhaps next time you can have a date with Daddy and I'll take your sister out?"

He smiled excitedly and said, "You mean have a boys night?!"

Before I knew it he was up out of his seat, jumping up and down, yelling, "YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!"

Perhaps there is something to this one-on-one thing...

A Garden of Memories

I like cool weather. I would rather have a chill wind and have to wear a jacket than deal with feeling sticky and sweaty in hot weather. Although winter is not my favorite season...mostly because winter seems lonely and stark. Even the trees that I look upon during those times are empty and gray.

When Spring comes along, the flowers start to bloom and in some ways it invigorates me as well, reviving me from my winter slump.

The plants grow, the fruits appear, and the greenery is divine.



This year our backyard sprang to life all of a sudden.



We had a bumper crop of apricots this year although we're still waiting for the peaches to ripen. We even found a couple cherries hiding out in the trees...

The kids planted all sorts of things...beans (purple, yellow and green), cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, corn, radishes and sunflowers. I have green onions, peppermint and snow peas.





Every time I'm in the backyard trimming trees or picking off bugs, I'm taken back to my childhood where I remember my halmoni (paternal grandmother) sneaking fish bones into the dirt below her sesame plants, picking rocks out from among the carrots, and caring for an apple tree that only produced the sourest of apples. I remember my mother picking off worms from her tomato plants with chopsticks, feeding her rose bushes each year, and her delight when they bloomed and could adorn our home. I even remember my grandma (maternal) pulling meyer lemons from her bushes near the bright orange nasturtiums, and complaining about the deer who liked to sneak into her backyard and eat the plants.

It's a garden...but it's also a place to build memories. So as our plants grow, I hope my children will also take away some vivid memories of their own, warmly carrying them into the next generation.