Spring is in the air…the flowers are blooming, kids are outside riding their bikes and coaches are calling and sending home notes to let us know it is team picture time again. Seems like just yesterday I spent my $15 for the basic package for the yellow jackets and fire ants. Hard to believe it is time to open my check book again!

The Beginning...tball for Jake in 2006

I thought I lucked out this spring. Both boys decided against soccer and went with tennis and lacrosse instead. With only one team in their age group for lacrosse, pictures never entered my mind. We meet once each week for practice/scrimmage. I should have known that would not stop the photo train from stopping by. With just four kids in their tennis lesson class, I think we are safe there, but who knows!

Don’t get me wrong. I love that they are playing lacrosse and I love that they tried soccer. I just feel like I could do with sports photos just once each year and a package that would just let me get one photo. As all of you know, things like this start to add up. Fifteen dollars here and $10 more there…before you know it you have spent $200 each year on photos! I know we just had family portraits taken a few weeks ago and I don’t feel the need to spend anymore on film.

Like any proud parent, I ordered the cheapest package (for EACH boy) and I will share and display them proudly. I just know I would have been OK if they had never been offered in the first place.

Have you ever said no to the photos? Any regrets?

Last week we celebrated the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.  Earth Day was instituted by former U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970 to create awareness and appreciation for the world we live in.  It is now celebrated globally.  There are many ways we can keep the message of Earth Day alive throughout the year for our kids.

Here are a few things we can do to reinforce Earth Day in our community and within our family:

1. Reduce, reuse and recycle- The 3 R’s

2. Gardening- planting a garden and teaching our children the value is not only for us but the environment.

3. Beautifying our surroundings- planting trees and flowers, picking up litter, etc.

4. Going Green

Many may not realize it, but North Carolina has recycling laws.  It is currently illegal to throw away aluminum cans and plastic.  Although it is hard to enforce, it takes concerned citizens and our children to change the future.  We have already asked our garbage carrier to supply separate containers for recycling.  The more we advocate, the more change we may see.  Recycling actually reduces the waste going into landfills.

Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh has a section devoted to recycling and reusing common household items.  It was amazing to see people’s creations from what is considered “trash.”  We made a bird feeder, a sucker tree, and a pen holder out of common household items we once would’ve thrown away.

As a family we have tried to do a few more activities that led to beautifying our surroundings, talked more about our environment and gardened a bit.

What are some of the things you do to promote a cleaner environment with your children?  Do you believe in the “going green?”   Suggestions?

As I have said in my earlier post this week, we are currently doing some traveling out west.  I have had the opportunity to be a witness to a beautiful and inspirational story.

My sister-in-law recently married a young man from Boston.  We were able to be there to celebrate their marriage.  My husband and I have been knocked off our feet by what a wonderful person he is!

Here is the story: He grew up with a single mother in Boston, a mom who worked two jobs to keep food on the table for himself and his brother.  I had the opportunity to meet her and she was spectacular.  He lived in a pretty rough part of Boston and was surrounded by some negative stuff in his community and school. 

The beautiful part of this story is that in his tween years he was lifted up and taken care of by some very positive role models from his church.  They loved him, taught him and helped him become the incredibly strong person and leader that he is.  He has gone to college and  served a two-year service mission for his church.  He has recently  married a beautiful girl and paved the way for the success of so many young men around him to rise above their circumstances and achieve their potential.

His success story is first of all, because he had something wonderful inside of himself.   Then, that was accentuated by amazing men and women  who took him under their wing.  They  helped him to see (in himself) all that he was capable of and all the things the world has to offer.  Now …he has his whole life ahead of him to continue his education, raise a family and be an incredible leader is his community.  All of that because of good influences who took a little time and invested that in him, invited him into their homes and loved him.  Now…look at what that good influence has created!!!!!  An incredibly spectacular human being and person!!

*On a side note, our very own Brynn Reese (a Mom talk blogger over at Tummy Time) helped this same young man while she lived in Boston in a program called Books To Basketball.

*The picture above is of this young man on his wedding day with some of those positive influences in his life and some of his friends from Boston who have followed in his footsteps……..

Since we all live on the eastern shore, it makes sense that we spend a lot of time at the beach.  I personally prefer Topsail Beach because the waves seem to be a bit more gentle than anywhere else locally.  On top of that the water is a little more shallow and I don’t have to be right on top of the kids every single second.  However, there are certain dangers that we need to look out for. 

I think the most important thing to remember is rip currents.  It’s important to explain to your kids that they cannot fight them.  I tell the girls to just hold their breath and let the current carry them.  Fighting a rip will just tire you (it doesn’t matter if you’re an Olympic swimmer).  I also encourage them to stay closer to the shore since they are still young, in hope that we’ll never have to deal with such a serious threat. 

I know it sounds lame, but I also make Mal and Vannah wear swimming shoes.  Why?  There are some really nasty types of bacteria in the ocean and if you cut yourself on a shell or other sharp object, the results could be ugly.  When I was stationed in Beaufort, our shop was a short hop to the water.  On our lunch break, we’d frequently go jet skiing.  One friend, Ryan, cut his foot on a shell and spent all of our 4th of July ’96 in the hospital on IV antibiotics.  Not a fun proposition. 

Finally, it’s important that you keep your kids protected from the sun.  Last year (and this one was completely my fault), I got burned to the point that my whole body was a blister.  Not only does this increase skin cancer risk, it’s just plain uncomfortable. 

What precautions does your family take in preparation for the beach season?  Are there any other special precautions you take?   How do you explain rip currents to your kids?

Our old patio set was looking a little worse for the wear after eight years so last weekend I decided we needed to have a yard sale. I ran off to post it on LeJeune Yard sales and realized I needed to come up with a a few more items to make it worth my while to get up at 6AM on a Saturday to haggle with people.

We have had yard sales before and we have made a few dollars but it is not high on my list of things to do each spring. Taking the time to find items, price them, advertise and then man the “shop” for 3 or 4 hours is not my idea of a really fun day. That said, we did have some other items we could do without and I took it as a chance to teach the boys another money lesson.

I helped Jake and Sam go through their toys so they could set aside some items to sell. I told them they could have a share of the profits if they were able to part with some of those items they had not used but kept telling me they needed. Once they heard they could earn some cash, they quickly came up with a bag each. They were even willing to sell some favorites and I had to stop them to explain that was not the idea.

In the end, each of the boys walked away with $15 and a less cluttered room. They were happy to put the money in their Share, Save and Spend Smart jars. (You can watch the video I made about that on our YouTube channel.)

I was happy to bag up what was left and take it to school for our yard sale there in a couple of weeks. Even with our success, I am not sure you’ll see me listing another sale next spring. Maybe a lesson on coupon cutting or sale hunting instead for the boys.

Have you had a yard sale recently? What do you like about them? What do you dislike?