Deirdre, Author at JDaniel4s Mom

Deirdre Smith writes/owns JDaniel4’s Mom. After twenty years as a elementary school and technology resource teacher in Northern Virginia, she became a stay at home mom in upstate South Carolina. Her blog features ways she and her 5 year old are exploring learning, crafting, creating healthy meals and living life to its fullest. Deirdre can also be found on twitter as @jdaniel4smom and on her blog's FB page. You can also check her out on Google+.

Why Deciding to Sleep at the Airport was a Bad Idea!

December 1, 2011 By Deirdre

When flew home from your family reunion on Saturday, we had a layover in Chicago. We had done the same thing when we headed to the reunion last Tuesday. In fact we had to take a shuttle from one terminal to another on Saturday just as we had last Tuesday.
When we boarded the shuttle on Saturday, JDaniel was really upset. He clung to my side and said, “If you get on this bus, you have to sleep at the airport!” I pointed out that it wasn’t the shuttle that forced us too sleep there and that everything would be okay.Thank goodness it was.
What had happened on Tuesday?
Last Tuesday we tried to make to our family reunion in Arkansas knowing that our flight in Chicago might leave without us due to a short layover time. The ticket agent in South Carolina where we live said all the flights were booked for Wednesday and if we didn’t leave on Tuesday we won’t make it to Arkansas for Thanksgiving. We decided to take the risk.
Our flight left South Carolina an hour and a half late. That meant the connecting flight left forty minutes before we landed.
After talking to an airline employee at the help desk, my husband decided we would stay at the airport instead of looking for a hotel. My husband said it couldn’t be that bad and that is what the employee said he would do.
Here are things that made it bad:
We were sent to a very busy gate area to wait for our flight out the next morning that turned out not to be the right place.
Christmas music was turned on at midnight. It played over all the other airport noises.
The air temperature is set at chilly at night.
We were reminded all night long to remember not to bring in bottles containing more than 3 ounces.
The cleaning lady assigned to our area vacuumed under the benches we were trying to sleep on and then said, “ I’m sorry!”
The television monitors replayed the Republican debate until after midnight.
A flight left for Mexico City from the gate right beside the one our three year old was sleeping in and passengers were be invited to get on the plane by sections.
Bright lights shone down on us.
A security lady decided to chat with the cleaning lady in Russian.
The rain that delayed your flight continued pound on the windows.
The thin blanket the airline gave us was better than nothing, but I did try steal a corner of my three year olds lovey and he tugged it back. My husband “borrowed” JDaniel’s teddy to use as a pillow and got away with it.
The Starbucks across from your gate opened at 4:00 a.m. to be ready for the red eye flight from San Diego to arrive at 4:30 a.m.

We hope that we never have to stay in an airport overnight again.
Have you ever spent the night at an airport?

This post is linked to Mama Kat’s Writing Workshop!

Delightfully Living in the Clouds

November 30, 2011 By Deirdre

We spent Thanksgiving at Mount Magazine State Park in Arkansas. Each family was assigned a cabin overlooking the valley below to stay in.

When I looked out the glass doors that lead to the deck our first morning there, here is what I saw. It truly looked like we would be walking on clouds if we stepped a few yards away from the cabin.

When I looked just to the left of our cabin, this glorious sight came into view. The clouds truly looked like they were glowing in the early morning light.

Looking back off the deck an hour later the sky continued to lighten up and the clouds appeared to have lost some of their puffiness. If you look carefully at the back of the picture, you can see the flat top of a neighboring ridge.

As the day went on the clouds lifted off from their perch over the valley and took flight. There were strong winds that pushed them away and kept my hair fluttering around me as I took this shot.

Even as the sky became a deeper blue the clouds stayed with us. The wind died down some and the day became warmer.

By the time we started our walk to the Mount Magazine Lodge for Thanksgiving dinner, we could look across the landscape. Our cabin is on the left-hand side of the picture.

JDaniel loved searching out bugs and other wildlife under this now vivid blue sky as we walked. We came across a dozen flying grasshoppers on our way to lunch as well as a walking stick.

Mount Magazine was a truly wonderful place to hold our family reunion over the Thanksgiving holiday. I have more pictures I will share with you later as well as the adventure we had sleeping in the airport on our way to Mount Magazine. It will be up tomorrow.

This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday and several Wordful Wednesday link-ups!

Pause Life for a Moment-Katydid and Kid

November 29, 2011 By Deirdre

I have been reading Katydid and Kid since I started blogging. I love her honest and heartwarming posts about family, her wonderful reviews, and fantastic giveaways. I am so honored to have her visiting here today.

Hi! I’m Kathleen from Katydid and Kid, and I’m flattered to have been asked by JDaniel4’s Mom to share my thoughts on her Pause Life for a Moment feature. As mama to two boys, aged 3 and 5 months, I certainly wish their was an actual “pause” button for my time with them; not just because they grow up so fast, but because there are times when I feel like things are spinning out of control and I need to slow down or stop.

When I’m feeling overwhelmed, I try my hardest to practice mindfulness. Following my breath, paying attention to the moment (whether good or bad), and really making an effort to participate in life helps things slow down and give me a sense of calm.

Breathing in the delicious, fleeting scent of a baby,

or delighting the joy of a preschooler

seems to make time stand still and make me forget about everything except for that moment.

Practicing mindful living sounds easy, but it’s one of the hardest things in the world; allowing your thoughts to arise and gently letting go of them is a lot more difficult than it sounds, particularly in the thick of parenting wee ones.

But when all things fail, pull out the camera!
>
Now that’s a great way to pause time. 🙂 And a way to enjoy capturing a moment.

Welcome to Read.Explore.Learn.! This meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie into children’s books. I look forward to seeing the ways you have learned with and explored books.

Steps:

- Link your activity below.

- Please place the Read.Explore.Learn. badge on your post or create a link back to this meme.

- Please try to visit at least three of the other people that have placed links below and leave a comment. I will visit each of you and leave a kind comment.

- If you are not linking up an activity and are just visiting, please try to stop by a few of the links below.

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

The Firefighters’ Thanksgiving by Maribeth Boelts is a wonderful story about firefighters that try to make a Thanksgiving meal on a day when they get many, many calls for help.

Lou volunteers to cook the meal if the others will pick up the food on the grocery list. By the time they get the food at 9:00 a.m. they get their first call.

They return to melted ice cream and a messy floor apparently they didn’t have time to put the food away.

Each time they seem to get ahead on the meal the alarm sounds and they are off again.

When they return, they get their equipment ready for the next emergency and try to work on the meal again.

During one of the fires, Lou is hurt and is taken to the hospital. The firefighters return to the station without Lou and to an unfinished meal. They call their families and get ready for the next emergency without hope of a Thanksgiving meal.

Something amazing happens while the firefighters answer the last call. Friends, neighbors and people they have helped arrive and set up a meal for them. They leave them a note saying they are thankful for all they do!

Some of that wonderful meal goes to the hospital to be shared with Lou.

This is an amazing book. Much of the story is told in vivid illustrations by Terry Widener. Terry does a wonderful job complementing Marybeth Boelt’s words by drawing you into the action and events.

The message of giving back to those that have helped you is truly inspirational. It left us wanting to help people that have helped us and our community.

What did we do?

Made Cookies

I am not much of a baker, but JDaniel loves to bake. We went to the store and selected the frozen sugar cookie dough for the firemen that work at the fire station near JDaniel’s house.

Created a Turkey Treat Bag

We worked together to make turkey treat bags to deliver the cookies in.

Delivered the Cookies

Our local fireman was excited about receiving the cookies.

This post is linked to Serving Others Thanksgiving a link up on this post and Feed Me Books Friday, Link and Learn, Let’s BEE Friends, La La Home Daycare and It’s Playtime .