A New Memorial Day Tradition

I've never done anything for Memorial Day with my kids, other than the family barbecue. I live an hour away from any cemeteries with family members, and we've never taken the time to drive there and visit their graves, which I feel bad about and should do. When I was little, every Sunday before Memorial Day we'd go visit my Grandmas' graves and other family, and I miss that.

This year, spur of the moment, I decided we needed to go to the local cemetery and teach Noah what the holiday is about. It's a big, old cemetery that I've always wanted to visit, so I decided that today was the day. I wasn't sure what my kids would think, but I was pleasantly surprised. Clara just stayed in the stroller, but she liked looking around. Noah loved it! He saw all the flowers and flags and wanted to know what they were for. It was a wonderful teaching opportunity. After learning that a flag meant that person had been a soldier, he was very excited about finding all the flagged marked graves. He also enjoyed looking at the different gravestones and monuments and learning from Mom and Dad that some of the graves were over one hundred years old.

My very favorite, though, was being able to teach Noah the proper respect needed at a cemetery. He's never been to a funeral or a cemetery before, so this was all very new. A few times he accidentally stepped on some of the graves, but after a quick reprimand from Mom and Dad, he was very careful to treat them more respectfully. That's when he started fixing any flower pots that had fallen over. If any grave's flowers needing straightening, he ran over there and lovingly put them upright. We also encouraged him to put a stray flower lying on the grass on a lonely grave that needed some love. It was very sweet, and I even enjoyed helping him. It brought such a special spirit into my heart, and I'm pretty sure Noah could feel it too.

Noah could have stayed there much longer than we did, but Clara was ready to go. Tonight I've been thinking that maybe this needs to be a tradition. It doesn't matter if we don't know any of the people buried in the cemetery. They are still our brothers and sisters, and it's important to show our respect for the lives they lived.

I thought maybe next year we could actually take our own flowers and place them on graves that are empty. Then we can walk around like we did today and fix the flowers that have fallen down. I think it would be a lovely thing to continue to do. What do you think?

Christmas Shopping

I haven't bee a very good blogger lately. My thoughts and hands have been filled with lots of other things that are so not as much fun (no, I'm not talking about my kids). However, this morning I was thinking about Christmas (is it really already time to think about that?!). Every year I have a goal to be done with my shopping by a certain time, and it never happens. But this year I'm determined to meet my goal, and I have a great way to help me do it and I wanted to share it with you.

This is a trick my sister-in-law taught me. Not only does it help you get your shopping done, but it also prevents you from over-spoiling your kids. That's something I actually struggle with. It's so easy to want to give them all the things we know they'd love, but I just have to constantly remind myself that they're better off without everything. I feel like the less they have, the more likely they are to appreciate what they do have. Anyway, here's the trick:

My sister-in-law only gets her kids 5 things:

1. something from Santa
2. something they want
3. something they need
4. something to wear
5. something to read
   

Obviously you don't have to stick with that exactly. You could change it around a little or add something, like "something to watch" or "something to listen to."

This year I am determined to stick to this guideline and not be tempted to get just one extra thing that I know my kids will love. The past five Christmases have taught me that kids don't need much. They're happy with the simplest things. I don't want to ruin that by spoiling them too much.

Good luck being Santa this year. I hope you like this shopping trick. As always, feel free to add your tid-bits of wisdom.

National Tap Dance Day

Did you know that yesterday (May 25th) was National Tap Dance Day? I didn't until today. I took the kids to the library and had picked out a bag full of books. When I thought I had enough, the title of one more book caught my eye. It was "Rap A Tap Tap Here's Bojangles- Think of That!" by Leo and Diane Dillon. I grabbed it and on thumbing through the pages decided it would be a fun one to take home. I'm so glad I did! I sat down with Clara to read it and loved the short, rhythmic lines of each page, but I also loved the fun artwork.

When I came to the last page I found a biography of the real "Bojangles." I learned his real name was Bill Robinson (1878-1949) and he is known as the greatest tap dancer of all time; it was said "he talked with his feet"; his rhythms were so complex and fast it was impossible for other dancers to mimic some of them; he shared his wealth with less fortunate friends during the Great Depression; he performed on Broadway and several films, including four with Shirley Temple.

At the end of the biography I learned that on May 25, 1989, Congress declared that day (which was his birthday) as National Tap Dance Day in Bill Robinson's honor.

When I realized the special day was only just yesterday, I got to my feet and excitedly told the kids. They didn't find it near as exciting as I did, but I didn't care. I turned on a fun song so I could "tap dance" (in my flip flops) in the kitchen. Both the kids kinda looked at me like I was crazy, but I didn't let it get me down. I am no dancer, but I've always had great aspirations to be one. I know I looked silly but I was having fun. Eventually, however, Clara wanted to join in too. But Noah was still embarrassed to know me. I knew he'd love seeing real tap dancing, so I rummaged through our old videos to find my copy of "Singin' in the Rain". It would have been nice to have it on DVD because it took me forever to fast-forward and rewind my way through the movie to try and find some tap dancing. But, finally I found some really good dancing in "Good Mornin.'" Watching that kind of stuff can't help but make you smile. Noah was finally convinced that tap dancing was fun. He really enjoyed it and wanted to watch other fun dances. He LOVED "Make em' Laugh!" He probably would have loved Gene Kelly in "Singin' in the Rain," but he conked out from a fully day of playing, not out of boredom.

Anyway, it was a really fun, spontaneous moment (possibly more for me than the kids). I'll have to rent one of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson's movies so I can see the master in action. You can honor his special day too, and you could probably have even more fun with it than I did with a little more planning. Go check out this book and show your kids real tap dancing by him or any of the other masters like Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire (I really wanted to show Noah Fred Astaire dancing with firecrackers in "Holiday Inn" but I don't have that one). Then turn on some old music and be silly with your kids by showing off your own tap dancing skills.

Happy Mother's Day

I just wanted to wish all you mothers out there a very Happy Mother's Day! I am in awe of you and are always learning from you. Thanks for what you do, and remember that it's the most important thing you could ever do!

My Jesus Book

There are some nice religious children's books about Jesus, but I haven't seen one that I absolutely love. So, I decided to make my own. I bought the mini pictures at Deseret Book, took them home and wrote a simple book about His life and what His life means to us. When it was done I had it laminated and spiral bound so it would last a long time. It's really simple, but that's what I wanted.

Here are some of the pages and what they say (sorry the pictures aren't very good):

"Jesus once was a little child like me."

"Mary is his mother.

God is his father."

"Jesus loves little children."

"He loves me."
"Jesus suffered and died for us because he loves us."

"Jesus lives! He was resurrected that we might live again too."

"Jesus gave us temples.

Inside temples we make promises to Him, and he blesses us."

"Because of Jesus I can live with my family forever."

"Someday Jesus will come again!"

"I love Jesus. And I know He loves me."

I didn't make this right before Easter on purpose. It just worked out that way, but it was great timing. I read this to my kids for our Easter FHE. They loved it, and I think it's going to be a great book for sacrament meeting.

It was fun making it and really easy too. Try one of your own.

Christmas Time Ideas

Here are a couple things to do at Christmas time with your kids. Sorry I didn't post this earlier. I guess if you like the ideas you can do them next year. Or, if you already thought of these ideas, which you probably did being the wonderful mothers you are, then just say, "Duh, Marianne. We already thought of that like forever ago."

Teaching the Nativity Story

There are two primary songs that make life so simple for parents. They are "Picture A Christmas" and "The Nativity Song." You can use actual nativity pieces for visual aids or you can draw pictures of each nativity piece.

Family Activity

This was fun. For family night last week, after going to see the lights downtown, we came home and had hot chocolate to warm our frozen bodies. The, we all got ready for bed- Mom and Dad included- snuggled up on the couch with warm blankets and watched a movie. The movie we watched was "The Muppet Christmas Carol." I made popcorn, which is a rare treat for N. After the movie was over we made up beds on the floor, read some Christmas stories, and went to bed on the living room floor by the lit Christmas tree. N went straight to sleep because he was exhausted from staying up much later than usual. It was very fun, and N has since requested to sleep in the living room again. I've told him we only do that once because if we do it all the time it isn't as fun anymore. If you decided to do it I would recommend maybe turning off the Christmas tree. While it was fun to have it on, it made it hard for Mom and Dad to sleep because it was so bright.

What fun things did you do with your families this year?

Merry Christmas everyone!