Mama Kat's Writer Workshop Archives

Valentine’s Day Activity- Looking for Love

February 8, 2012 By Deirdre

Love can be a tricky thing to find. Sometimes it doesn’t look like it is present but, if you hunt for it truly can be found.

You may have to look past the treasures you have gathered to see that love it there.

You may find that you have to stand on your tiptoes and stretch to find it.

You may find that it is just outside your window waiting to be seen.

You may find that love grows when you reach out and help others.

You may find that it is waiting right beneath where you usually set your gaze.

You may find that love is sent to you from people far away.

You may also find love is waiting for you to sit down beside it on a warm winter’s day.

Is this part of some for JDaniel?

These pictures were taken while I set up for a heart scavenger hunt for JDaniel. He loves to hunt for things in the yard. He will have a wonderful time seeking and finding these tokens of love.

The plastic hearts were found at Dollar Tree and held chocolate hearts as their treasures.

This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday and Mama Kat’s Writing Workshop.

Behold The Joy Of Leaves

November 10, 2011 By Deirdre

JDaniel and the boys next door have been waiting and waiting for the leaves from the birch trees in our backyard to fall.

When there was finally enough on the ground, they had a wonderful time playing in them and with them. I loved getting to take pictures of the boys enjoying the leaves at the end of last week.

My maternal grandmother loved to quote the poem Trees by Joyce Kilmer when I was little. She would recite it word by word. When tried to decide how to share pictures of their joyous leaf play, I decided to use part of that poem.

The first stanza and last stanza of this poem are Joyce Kilmer’s. The rest of the stanzas are my words.

I think that I shall never see
Boys more happy playing beside a tree.

The leaves it shed
won’t be left for dead.
They will be raked into a pile
And jumped into preschool style.
The leaves will be thrown into the air
to descend inside clothes and onto hair. They will be loaded in a boy’s car
and driven, but not very far. Those leaves will become a brand new heap
They will be jumped into again and again by boys who leap. Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

This post is linked to Mama Kat’s Writing Workshop and Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday.

P.S. JDaniel is wearing his yellow Thankfulness Tree leaf that says “Dad”. He said he wanted his dad close to him.

The History of Halloween at Our House

October 27, 2011 By Deirdre

Mama Kat lists several topics to write about in her Writer’s Workshop each week. One of the ideas for this week was 22 things you have done.

My list of things we have done is going to focus on things we have done for Halloween at our house or the history of Halloween at our house. I am going to tell you a few things have done each year since JDaniel was born.

First Year

Dressed my 7 month old son in a pumpkin costume.

Had my husband and I dress like farmers.

Left my mom at my house to pass out candy while we wheeled JDaniel in his stroller around the neighborhood.

Read the book Redeeming Halloween by Kim Wier and Pam McCune to start thinking about how we wanted to celebrate the holiday.

Decided to pass out baked goods and/or candy to neighbors whose homes we trick or treated to as a way to reach out to neighbors. We passed out cookies with the a message wishing them a blessed Halloween attached to the bag.

Second Year

Had two cute costumes and had JDaniel wear both to different events.

Took JDaniel to a nursing home to attend a Halloween party for seniors and toddlers dressed as a lion’

Started the tradition of carving JDaniel’s pumpkins the day before Halloween.

Learned that he doesn’t like to touch pumpkin pulp.

Dressed him as a dinosaur for a library event and for trick or treating.

Bought a reusable Halloween bag with Frankenstein on it to use as a trick or treat bag.

Started trick or treating with the family next door

Ran from the front of our subdivision with a wet dinosaur when it started pouring.

Third Year

Had JDaniel decide that he didn’t want to wear the costume I bought at a consignment sale.

Decided that his choice of a Dalmatian costume was a great choice.

Coveted the ability one of my friends had to make super cute Halloween cupcakes.

Took JDaniel to Nevin’s farm to go on a hay ride and select a pumpkin.

Discovered my husband could eat as much of JDaniel’s Halloween candy as I could. If I was going to sneak Snickers, I was going to have to do it when we came home from trick or treating.

Fourth Year

Let JDaniel pick out his own robot costume.

Paid full price for a Halloween costume.

Had a robot running around the house in early October when the costume came in.

Tried to make pumpkin soup my family would eat twice.

I hope you enjoyed our family history of Halloween.

What are some of you traditions?

This post is linked to my Halloween Traditions linkup, Mrs. Matlock, and Mama Kat’s Writing Workshop.

Things JDaniel Does That I Don’t

October 20, 2011 By Deirdre

Mama Kat lists several topics to write about in her Writer’s Workshop each week. One of the ideas for this week was 22 things you have never done.

I have never …

Wanted to be R2D2 for Halloween.

Wanted to be told robot stories several times a day while traveling in a car.

Desired to wear my red rain boots on the wrong feet, because I like the fit better.

Slept in a bed surrounded by zillions of my favorite stuffed friends.

Jumped and out of bed with the desire to grab a front loader and pretend to dig up the blue carpet in my room.

Finger painted with toothpaste on the bathroom mirror.

Squirreled away television remotes, shoes, and other assorted items under couches and behind loveseats.

Been obsessed with recycling so much that I check the bottles abandoned on the beach to see if they have triangles on them.

Been thrilled to gather sticks for hours on a Saturday to build a beaver home.

Wanted to spend hours on Youtube watching C3PO.

Crawled on the floor and pretended to be a cat.

Wondered why R2D2 and C3PO don’t have parents.

Loved to sit in the bathroom with an iPad because I might have to go to the bathroom sometime in the next few hours watching PBSKids.org.

Made a play area out of bed sheets because they were fun to lie in. ( I have laid in a pre-made play area.)

Picked up a broken piece of sidewalk outside of church and then run to the curb every Sunday like clockwork.

Told my mom I hated her and then kissed her face all over.

Danced with a broom while sweeping and listening to Old McDonald.

Relished the samples at Trader Joe’s, Williams- Sonoma, and Publix so much that I can’t stop talking about them.

Said that I loved everything so I didn’t have to remember specific things I loved about school.

Named almost every stuffed animal and sleepy time item what it is + y. We have Rabbity, Liony, Bluey ( The blue blanket), Greeny ( The green blanket) and so on.

Found joy in rolling down the back passenger window with my foot to see if my mom would noticed.

Pretended to fix my car with plastic tools.

I have done some of these things, but never in the way my son chooses to. Maybe I need to before I turn fifty. Living like my three year old in many of these ways sure sounds like fun.

This post is linked to Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop.

Passing Down Costumes Cousin to Cousin

October 13, 2011 By Deirdre

This cute fuzzy dog suit has had a long run.

It was worn by the first born boy in my family. His mother thought it was fun.

He decided to be a fireman the next year and it passed to his brother.

“I think you two will look cute!” said his mother.

One will put fires to an end

And the other will be a fireman’s friend.

After each in that family has worn it, it was sent to New York by mail.

It was hoped cousins there would want to scamper and wiggle their tail.

It sat in a box waiting year after year.

No one wanted to be a dog there it feared.

The cousins there chose to be other creatures.

They never wore the suit and doned dog features.

It traveled with other costumes cousins has used to Carolina, it hoped it would be selected and worn

Despite its frizzy fuzz and that it was now a tiny bit torn.

The frugal mom bought a different costume at a consignment sale.

But her Carolina boy fell instead for the Dalmatian costume and its stubby tail.

This year it headed to the sale for others to wear.

They will love it too. It needn’t despair.

This post is linked to Mama Kat’s Writer Workshop.

Halloween Party Ideas- Crafting a Pumpkin Salad

October 6, 2011 By Deirdre

I thought it would be fun to do a Halloween craft with food. JDaniel and I headed to the Fresh Market salad bar and I had him select foods he would like to try. We would use those foods to create a Halloween salad.

We ended up with a variety of foods. Some were brand new and others were old favorites.

I placed all the ingredients in an ice cube tray and showed him how to create a pumpkin face using some of the ingredients in orange pepper slices with celery stems.

The tray contains edamame, chickpeas, pumpkin seeds, red cabbage, yellow squash, fried wonton strips, mushrooms, celery, uncooked corn, carrot shavings, cauliflower, pineapple, raisins, and cheerios. This Halloween salad was a fun way for JDaniel to try new foods.

Then he started to create faces of his own while taste-testing the ingredients. JDaniel said that the wanton was filled with many holes that looked like many eyes. I thought that was a great idea.

He didn’t finish everything. We ended up wrapping the tray with the remaining food up with plastic. JDaniel said he wanted to do it again at dinner time.

I was happy to see that he tried many of the new foods. The chickpeas and wantons have become a new favorite.

This post is linked to Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop, It’s Playtime, Adventures-In-Mommyland and will be linked to my Halloween Traditions link upon October 27th when it starts.

P.S. The Halloween Traditions link up event will include four link-ups. They are Halloween Costumes, Halloween Foods, Halloween Crafts, and Traditions or Memories. I look forward to seeing what you come up with for this link-up that begins Oct. 24^th and ends Nov. 2^nd.

If you like this Halloween activity, here are some more Halloween activities to explore with your children.

Halloween Bat Craft

Halloween Number Puzzles

A Teacher Remembers 9/11

September 8, 2011 By Deirdre

Due you remember where you were on 9/11 ten years ago?

I do. I was in the computer lab working as a technology integration teacher at a school in Northern Virginia right near Dulles Airport.

The library aide came to the door of the lab and asked me to come see something that was on television in the library. I couldn’t imagine what she wanted me to see. There weren’t any new videos in the library I needed to preview. There couldn’t be anything I needed to see.

She remained silent as we walked down the hall and then to the left towards the library. Once she made it into the backroom away from the library filled with children, she finally uttered the words that would change the rest of the school year. She said, “ The Twin Towers have been hit in New York by planes.”

That didn’t make sense. I had landed in all three airports near New York and hadn’t gone near the Twin Towers.

“They think it was done unpurpose!” she said.

I watched the footage on the television in the backroom and it just didn’t look real. It looked like it was from a movie.

After watching the news for a few minutes, I made my way back to the computer lab. It was empty of students, but there were teachers waiting to use the phone I had near my desk. Each wanted to check on a spouse. Some has spouses that were working downtown and others had spouses in airports around the country. The lab was filled with panicked tension.

The school quickly went into lockdown as the school system weighed what should be done. Ultimately they decided that the children would be released to parents that came to the school. Each parent would have to show an I.D. before they would be allowed to go home.

Teachers were encouraged to go home as soon was school was over. I think many of us did just that. I know I went straight home.

Aside from phone calls to my parents and siblings to make sure they were okay, I sat glued to the television watching the story unfold that afternoon

My church had prayer vigil that night, but I didn’t go. I felt safe at home and just wanted to stay there. Instead I spent the evening talking with a friend. We talked for hours about all kinds of things. Some things were random like the fact that I had stayed in the hotel at the base of the Twin Towers and they had worked in the Pentagon. Other things were more serious like what we thought would happen next or how much the world had changed in a day. I lived alone and was so grateful to have someone to connect with that night.

Things did change where I lived.

A check in person was hired for each school to watch the main door and sign all visitors in and out for the rest of the year.

For days there was silence in the air. I lived right under the flight landing path for Dulles Airport. I was eerie to have an empty sky.

Things seemed to move slower as people tried to figure out how to live life in this new world.

This post is linked to Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop and A Dollap of My Life’s Remember 911.

Starting School and Apple Turnovers with Mary Lee

August 24, 2011 By Deirdre

This is the second Mary Lee story I have shared. Over By the Tree Sits a Memory was the first. It features a lovely older lady named Mary Lee and her thoughts on how quickly children grow up.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Sarah sat in a rocking chair beside her mom cradling a tall glass of sweet tea as she rocked. Her crying had left her breathless and she was now taking deep breathes as her mother had advised her to do. Mary Lee rocked beside her on the porch that summer morning waiting for Sarah’s emotions to settle. She had known Sarah would probably been stopping by this morning.

Sarah had arrived at her house in tears with a frantic look on her face. She had just dropped two of her children including Davey her youngest at Simpsonville United Methodist Preschool moments earlier. Mary Lee was grateful that she and Frank lived only minutes from the school. Sarah hadn’t looked like she would have been able to drive much further.

After hugging Sarah for ten minutes or so, Mary Lee had guided her oldest daughter to the porch and given her a wad of tissue and glass of tea. She had encouraged to take deep breathes and sip the sweet tea to help her calm down.

Sarah didn’t remember being this upset when she had dropped Lydia and William of a preschool. She remember them crying, but she had been excited for them.

When Sarah’s emotions seemed to have calmed, Mary Lee had asked her to share what the morning had been like so far.

Sarah ran through the getting ready for school routine.

Each child had special pancake waiting at their place at the table. Sarah always made smiley face pancakes with blueberry eyes, a chocolate chip nose, and a bacon mouth for the first day of school.

Lydia and William had headed off to their rooms to put on their first day of school clothes and new shoes. Lydia had tan Mary Jane’s with rhinestones and William had new sneakers with blinking lights.

Sarah had guided her three year old Davey to the room he shared with William to help him put on his new robot t-shirt, khaki shorts, and sneakers with racing stripes. William could put his arms in his shirt after it was pulled over his head and was able to pull up his shorts after your helped him put the right leg in the correct leg hole. Shoes on the other hand were difficult. Even his slip on sneakers seemed to frustrate him. Sarah still had to help him put them on.

After everyone was dressed and had their hair had been brushed ,the backpacks and lunch boxes were gathered up. Davey and Lydia really didn’t need a lunch boxes, but Mama you had bought them one anyway. You had told them that they could come to your house to celebrate Davey’s his first day of preschool with lunch with you under the big tree in the front yard and share about their day.

John, Sarah’s husband, took a picture of each of the children dressed for school on their own and individually. John needed to head off to work in a few minutes, but he loved getting to be a part of the first day by taking pictures.

After the pictures were done, the children were piled into the car and strapped in. When Sarah had looked into the backseat via the rear view mirror, her children looked excited and ready to go. Tears had threatened to start as she back out of the driveway, but she was able to contain them.

The first stop was William’s elementary school. It was less than a ten minute drive from their house. As soon as the car had pulled up to the unloading zone. William had jumped out of the car and headed to the door. It had only been just as he went through the door that he turned and blew his mom a kiss and waved good-bye.

Then it was off to Simpsonville United Methodist where Lydia would be in the K4 class and Davey would be in the K3. Sarah a hoped there would be a number of red lights on the way that would delay the inevitable, but they had been all green.

Sarah was able to find a parking spot in the crowded lot. Every parent was required to escort their children in during the first week of school. That meant every parent had to find a place to park during the morning drop off. If the lot had been full, Sarah would have had to circle until a spot had opened up, but she had had no such luck.

Lydia was ready to leap out of the car as soon as Sarah had come around to open her door. Davey had been more tentative. He had been to the preschool many times to drop of his siblings and to attend various family events, but he had never stayed behind on his own.

Despite her desire to keep Davey strapped in and take him home, she had unbuckled him and helped him leap down from his car seat. “Everything is going to be wonderful!” she had reassured him. “You have wonderful teachers and your friend Joe will be in your class.”

“I know,” Davey had said in a whisper. “Are you going to be okay?” he had asked her. “I can start on Thursday if you need me to stay home today,” he had commented after grabbing her hand.

“No, I think I will be okay,” she had said forcing herself to smile and walk towards the entrance of the preschool.

They had first gone to Lydia’s room and helped her hang up her backpack. She was thrilled to see many of the same children from her class last year. She had given Sarah a hug and then bounded to a work table where the teachers had set out puzzles.

Davey had started slowly down the hall with Sarah stopping to point out the bathroom, the office, and the library. Each time Sarah had commended him for remembering where each of the rooms were.

Their pace slowed to a creep as they neared his door. It was like they were both walking in slow motion. It was like they both were putting off getting there.

When they finally arrived, Sarah had helped Davey take his backpack off and hang it on the right peg. Mrs. Robinson, one of Davey’s teachers, had welcomed them to class and offered to introduce Davey to some of the students that had already arrived. Sarah had bent down to hug her youngest and wipe away a small tear.

“Mama, Mrs. Robinson had take Davey‘s hand a guide him to a table with small blocks on it“ Sarah said rocking in her chair. “I’m not sure either one of us would have let go.”

I blew him a kiss and watched him place it in this pocket before I turned to walk away to walk into the hall.

“I tried Mama. I really tried to hold back the tears, but they forced their way out and tumbled from my eyes before I made it out of the building,” Sarah sighed.

“It is totally normal,” Mary Lee assured her daughter as she reached out to stroke her arm. “Many mamas go through this. I bet there were mamas all over the parking lot sitting in their mini vans in tears.

“I am so glad you were home,” Sarah sighed again. “ I just don’t think I could go home to an empty house today. I am not sure I could have driven through my tears much further than your house.”

“ I glad I was here too,” Mary Lee replied. “ I love that I can be here for you. You know I went through a similar challenge when your little sister Martha started school. I think I spent the whole morning crying.

“Really?”Sarah had questioned.

“Yes, I did and I think we need to do what I did that day once you finish your glass of tea. So, take your time finishing and we will go into the kitchen and make apple turnovers to have with Lydia and Davey when they came for lunch.

“Cooking always helps me feel better,” Martha said finally feel a little better. “Me too,” said Mary Lee rocking back and forth slowly in her chair.

Sarah sat in a rocking chair beside her mom cradling a tall glass of sweet tea as she rocked.

This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday and Mama Kat’s Writing Workshop. It contains many back to school traditions. They are special pancakes, new clothes and shoes, blowing a kiss and having your child keep it in their pocket, crying moms, needing a place to go that isn’t home, and a special lunch with people you love to share your day with.

I am hosting a Back to School Traditions Link Up. If you have a post on Back to School pictures and/or traditions. I would love for you to link it up!