Pre-school Graduation

I slid in to the 4th pew at St. Mary's on Broadway at a little after 11am, and all around me were the smiling faces of the parents who had become our community this year, the same families that had sat in the church the week before when the children sang about God making the world while they wore paper ducks and frogs on their heads.  Logan's mom who was one of the other consistently early drop-off parents (that chatted with me about how boys are different from girls and how do you manage multiple children and will any of us ever make it through the winter without a virus that takes our family down again) waved at me from the other side of the aisle.  Amy played with the zoom lens of her camera and quieted Gavin's little sisters.  Becky smiled from the second pew, her recent happiness and healthiness seeping out of her pores.  Kate slid in beside me and I nervously touched on the subject of the night before when I'd actually gone on a date, and then the kids started filing in wearing little graduation caps made of blue construction paper.  These children and their parents had become a type of family for us, a group of predictable friends who would be there and help us out when we needed them, boys that Sam could play with and girls that could boss him around and fawn over his little sister.  Hamilton and Gavin and Gedion and Anthony and Logan and Elizabeth and Brooklynn and Luke.  Friends all.  And they were all truly blessed to have two extraordinary teachers in Mrs. Hefel and Mrs. Norton.  Is it any wonder that although I had sneered at the idea of a pre-school graduation I had tears in my eyes when it was all over?

And some pictures from last week's pre-school song program and social hour:

The Help

As the garden season begins and the amount of work around the house seems to quadruple, I've been fortunate to have a few extra helpers this year.

 

 

Thanks to all these helpers for making my Mother's Day so enjoyable this year.

Win-win-win

 

The thought was that I could handle anything for a mere 4 weeks so last week I impulsively signed Sammy up for the EFC Tiny Tots Soccer Camp, an opportunity to have fun and learn fundamentals from visiting Brazilian coaches. I figured the worst that could happen is that I'd have to spend four Wednesday evenings chasing a 2 1/2 year old around the boundaries of the soccer field while her brother ignored the coaches and got easily distracted with picking grass or making monster sounds at his teammates.  What we got instead was a wonderful spring evening in which it seemed much of our community was out enjoying the spring weather... kids actually engaged in the process of learning soccer, parents relaxing on the sidelines with their cell phone cameras or their knitting needles and their children's water bottles.  What a difference a few years make.  Sam was attentive and engaged and fun to watch for the 20 minutes Eva allowed me to sit before she dragged me off to the slides and swings.  In the car on the way home Sam asked if he has soccer again tomorrow night, why he has to wait a full week until the next lesson.  He loved it.  And so did Eva.  And so did Mommy.  Win-win-win!

MS Walk 2013

When we pulled in to the parking ramp, Sammy said "Go all the way to the top, Mommy!  I like the way top."  And we did.  And the kids were amazingly well behaved as I enlisted the help of a mother of two who had just put her kids into a stroller 3 cars away from us.  She squeezed the rails together and I pushed the pin through and the double stroller was ready.  Only after the kids were tucked in and I'd pushed it across the top floor of the ramp did we discover that the elevator was out of order.  It wasn't a big deal going down.  We were early and the sun was out and the kids were excited to see Bonnie and Sam and Sammy was insistent that he was going to have at least two donuts because he needed them for energy for his long walk, so we raced down the parking ramp and stood in line to get in to the registration area and found Sam and Bonnie just inside waiting for us.  Big hugs and big smiles and a little bit of chaos before we settled at a table where Big Sam was interviewed by Channel 19 and Little Sam ate three donuts and Eva caused general mayhem during the moments when she wasn't falling through the back of the fold-up chair she attempted to sit in.  By the time the Dobkoski's arrived we were all excited and anxious to get out in the sunshine as we did the last time the Klikas walked with us in La Crosse.

Aside from a few struggles to keep Eva in the stroller and to make sure that her new favorite toys Banana and Orange never left her side, the kids couldn't have been more fun.  Sammy did seem to think it was a race and he was determined to win, so the adults among us took turns keeping an eye on him, and Big Sam often raced after him with his motorized cart.  And Bonnie and I caught up on how our lives have changed over the last few years, and I remembered once again why we do this every year... for these very, very special people who are like extended family who I don't see often but am inspired by every time I do. 

Thanks for making the trip Bonnie and Sam, and thanks for always being full of love and generous spirit!

 

Delta Point

It was the day we've been hoping for since the sun moved north of the equator in March, one of those days where you need a jacket in the shade but out in the sun you toy with the idea of a short-sleeved t-shirt.  When we pulled in to the Marshland Access parking lot, a man got out of a white van with two big dogs and Sam asked if he was the dog catcher.  Eva, of course, screamed at the thought of dogs in her space but seemed to feel secure sitting in one side of the double stroller.  We loaded up with raspberries and pepperoni and sweet peppers and the all-important Lunchables, and we dusted off the nature scavenger hunt checklist and we set out on one of our favorite trails in the Trempealeau Wildlife Refuge.  Eva mostly rode in the stroller but Sammy and I raced and looked for flowers and big rocks and leaves and animal poop.  We spied a few small birds and several geese and wood ducks and a mating pair of Sand Hill cranes, and in the distance we could see a ballet of twelve migrating pelicans.  The trail was in good shape except the last little stretch before the picnic bench where the water was deep enough to soak our shoes and a few inches of Sammy's pants.  After tossing sticks in the water and and eating cheese and crackers and trying to identify the birds, we headed back.  Just one quick stop in which Eva learned how to pee outside, and the kids collapsed in the stroller and I thought about how much I loved having a dog on the trail and how much easier it all is when you're not outnumbered.

Migration

Over the last few weeks mating pairs of bald eagles have started circling in the sky and sand hill cranes have glided over us on the road, and the inevitable threesomes of geese that signal spring have arrived, but the weather has been just a tease.  Warm sweatshirt weather one day followed by icy wintry mix storms the next three days.  We woke up this morning to a light snow cover and a forecast for increasing winds as the day wore on, so we headed to Perrot State Park early to check out migrating canvasbacks and gadwalls and to see if we could find any green plants along the Black Walnut trail.