Last night I was chewing a piece of gum when my daughter asked for one. It’s the kind that has a hard outer shell. I gave her one, she sucked on it and handed it back to me. “I don’t like it,” she said. Like any relaxing mom who doesn’t want to get off the couch to throw it away, I just popped it in my mouth.

She came back a minute later and said, “Is it ready?” I didn’t understand at first. “Did you chew it?” Yes, I said. “Can I have it now?” So I took out a bit that I had chewed and gave it to her. She happily popped it in her mouth and went back to playing.

Yea. I guess some may see actions of mothers as gross. I can think of a few things I’ve done (chewing her food for her as an infant, drinking a cup after her as a toddler, and a few I won’t mention). Then add to that the time the kids have been sick… I don’t think as a young adult I thought about cleaning up vomit as a mom. Now, it just comes with the territory. Along with lots of hugs and kisses and the occasional gross, runny nose.

It’s amazing how kids transition from one toy to another, sometimes in the same five minutes. Sometimes in the same minute.

My 5-year-old son is “into” trading cards – the Pokemon type. He purchased with some Easter money a holder for them last week. He HAD to have it. And seeing as he’s already misplaced some of these cards, I thought it was a good buy. He held onto it all the day he got it (Friday) and put it in his backpack for our weekend trip up north.

 While he did look at it at times during the weekend, he also watched movies, ventured outside to play in the forest and read books.

 But since then (mind you this is only THREE DAYS from the MUST PURCHASE day), I don’t know if he knows where it is (I took it out of his backpack so he wouldn’t lose it at school). Sunday when we got back from the cabin, he got out all his Diego toys. Last night he rode his scooter around the park, did homework and colored. This morning he had the video game on and then, when looking for a different game, he saw the Little People toys in the drawers under the TV and pulled them out to play.

 In four days he’s played with just about every toy we have for at least a few minutes.

 It’ll be interesting to see when he asks where his Pokemon cards are again!

For all that she’s worth, come learn from Mother Earth!

Mesa, AZ.—On Saturday 4/26, get mooo-ving on over to Superstition Farm to spend the day getting back to your roots. Superstition Farm (www.superstitionfarm.com) welcomes families from all across the valley to a real, working dairy farm to learn about solar cooking, participate in building a Desert Open Space garden and to help plant an organic garden that will soon explode with fruits and vegetables.

Kids will enjoy performances of Charlotte’s Web and ‘Worm Drive’, the musical. Up-and-coming farmers of all ages will love the petting zoo, farm tours, a cornucopia of local foods and vendors, arts and crafts, a hay maze and ice cream from Udder Delights.

Help build the valley’s first Earthship-a self-contained and self-sufficient permanent structure at Superstition Farm that will demonstrate how a civilization can support itself through reducing, reusing and recycling. So, w-udder you waiting for? We’ll see you at Superstition Farm on Saturday, 4/26 from 10:00 am-5:00 pm.

I spent some time last week on a trip down memory lane… perhaps more of a distraction from the craziness of my week (my 5-year-old son broke his arm and I was a mess until the cast was put on it Friday afternoon for fear he would do more damage). I signed on to the Web, typed in the address for the farm my grandparents’ owned when I was growing up and took a peek at the satellite photo.

Much has changed from those years. The 80-acre farm in Indiana has been subdivided and where there was once just a home, a pool, a pond and a lot of land, there are now a few homes and what appears to be a very large barn. I didn’t grow up there, but we went to see my mom’s parents at least once a year. Sometimes, it was Christmas. Sometimes, it was summer vacation. I have nine cousins on that side of the family and I’m the second oldest. So we were always busy.

From the photo, I could see the pond where we would fish for bluegill (I never did like the smell of fish and still don’t, but I would eat it when we were there). Now, a large home sits by the pond that was once my grandfather’s joy. There is a large boulder on the property where we would play “king of the mountain.” It’s still there. And of course, acres and acres of land. I learned from talking to my mom that grandpa never farmed the land, but did plant walnut trees and other vegetation. I remember my grandmother made rhubarb pie from the rhubarb she grew in the garden. From the porch swing, you could see the garden, complete with large sunflowers. I don’t know that I ever entered the home from the front door, just the garage or the back patio door right by the laundry room and near the clotheslines where grandma hung everything. I remember watching the ’84 Olympics at their house, seeing my sister get her first robot at Christmas, and reading Dr. Seuss books and the Bobsey Twins books at night. Grandpa’s coffee filled the air each morning as he sat down to eat his Wheaties. They moved from the farm several years ago but still live in Indiana. But they still have a porch swing.

This coming Saturday, April 19th, Golfland Sunsplash is hosting a special Christian Family Fun Day as their first event of the summer!

TICKETS: Adults & Youth over 48″ - $28 Children under 48″- $25 2 yrs & under -FREE

Admission includes 6 hours unlimited attractions and 3 hours all-you-can-eat hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, potato chips, potato salad, cookies and soft drinks!

Advance tickets can be purchased and more information can be found online here.

Join us in welcoming a new summer for a great cause.

I must have missed the fact that when you do a home remodel, your life, not just your house, gets thrown into chaos. But that’s exactly what’s happened. I wrote four months ago that we were going to change the flooring downstairs. And the weekend of Easter, we finally started.

In the photo, that is my refrigerator in my dining room. Behind it, out of view of the camera, is the stove. The entire downstairs is down to concrete and the kids have enjoyed the new adventure of “picnic” dinners upstairs in the loft on a blanket.

It may take a few weeks (months?) to put this all back together, and that part I’m OK with. My husband - with help from his dad - is doing all the work himself, bless him. My job? Corral the children out of the way! I try to help when I can and the kids have helped a bit, but mostly, by the time we get home at night, we have our evening routine to fly into (dinner, play, bath, homework, bed). I didn’t do that last night, and my mistake smacked me in the head later in the evening.

The kids and I didn’t get upstairs for baths until nearly 8 and then I tried to do homework with my son (in kindergarten, it’s mainly reviewing letters and numbers and sounds). But he wanted nothing to do with it. I started to get frustrated and just said, “Fine. If you’re not going to do this, go to bed.” But then I remembered that he hadn’t gone to bed until the 10 p.m. the night before. He was exhausted and could barely keep his eyes open.

I cooled down, apologized and gently put the kids into bed (both were asleep in 15 minutes at about 8:30). This morning, we tackled the homework with fresh eyes. And yes, it got done. Note to self: Do the routine first. The dishes, laundry and pick up can wait.