Category: Children
Blogger Bouquet #47
Kristine over at candidkay is a journalist, marketing exec and mother of two.
From her About page:
“I write about life as I know it. Sometimes happy, sometimes sad, sometimes hilarious. But always interesting.”
Kristine recently shared “one small slice of life on a Sunday afternoon that deserves a bit of limelight.” And I wholeheartedly agree. When you are part of a two-household family and you realize that an important lesson in values – namely, kindness to others – has gotten through to your child, it gives you pause to be thankful for good role models.
“Oh, waitress”
Comments are closed here but you can leave a comment on the blogger’s page.
Have a great week, everyone.
❤
“Took Brain to the Beach”
One summer day, when my son Brian was just a little boy, his Aunt Sherry came to babysit him.
When I got home from work, I found a note stuck to the fridge. It read: “Took Brain to the beach. Sherry.” We all had a great laugh over the funny spelling. (Yes, my boy is smart, but that’s beside the point.)
Fast forward to the present. Last week, he had some time off, so he came to visit for a couple of days. The weather was perfect and off we went. We took Brain Brian to Lumsden North beach for some practice on his golf swing.
This is one of his favourite pastimes when he visits. I’ve blogged about beach golf here before, when they used the beach right next to our house as a driving range and the sandbar as a target. Check out the photos here.
The next morning was even warmer and more beautiful, so for a change, we headed out to the beach at Cape Freels.
Momma got bored watching, so she went for a walk.
Too bad she didn’t bring her own brain to the beach. She forgot to turn her iPhone the proper way for the following video! Oh well, if you watch it on your phone, it’s fine. And black bars or not, it’s still pretty, and the sounds of the wind and waves will help you feel the warm sun and the gentle sea breeze on your face.
Happy Friday, everyone!
Will you be going to the beach this weekend?
Here Comes Peter Cottontail…
…hopping down the bunny trail – but I hope Maisie and Vivian don’t scare him away!
With family visiting this weekend,
we are expecting the Easter Bunny to visit Perry’s Point as well.
I will be taking a short break from blogging to spend time away with these two little people.
See you later, and
Happy Easter, everyone!
Wonderful Yellow
About this time every winter, I begin to yearn for an injection of more colour in my world. So when I saw that Yellow was this morning’s one-word prompt from The Daily Post, I felt compelled to take part.
The following photos were previously shared on my blog over the years, but I thought it fitting – as well as worthy – to give them a second look.
These last two photos are from my Instagram account:
Last but not least, something to wake up the taste buds:
***
“How wonderful yellow is. It stands for the sun.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh
Making Memories That Will Last Forever
Google ImageHave you ever looked at your children when they are teenagers – or beyond – and wished you could go back in time to enjoy a day when they were little? I certainly have.
Children grow up so incredibly fast! It’s almost like you blink and they are grown. All the way through childhood they are making firsts: Their first word, their first steps, their first day of school. There is so much to relish and celebrate about these milestones that you almost forget about the time whizzing past.
Kids need a solid grounding and good examples to learn from, therefore conscientious parents want their kids to remember their childhood fondly, and with love. Their formative years are important because they’re going to remember certain things forever, so if you do fun things together as a family, they will remember these events fondly for the rest of their days. Here are some ideas on how to make memories that will last a lifetime.
Play with paint
It’s a great idea to teach a child creativity from a very young age. If they learn not to be afraid of a blank page, they will probably go on to create great things. (As a writer, I have faced that blank page many times.) One of the most imaginative and artistic things you can do with your children is to create and paint together. Let them go wild with crayons, colouring pencils, acrylic and water paint, and glue. They will feel proud of their results in the moment, and it will be fun to look back on their creations together in the future.
Pose for a picture
The wonderful thing about smartphones is that you have a camera almost always at hand. This give you the chance to capture as many candid photos of your children as possible. And don’t forget taking videos of them. If you would like something a bit more professional, a photographer can give you great results. A professional family photo is something that everyone loves to look back on because it perfectly captures a moment in time you can cherish forever. Not only will you have the physical photos, but you’ll have great memories of the actual day as well.
Read stories together
My girl’s favourite: The Owl & The Pussycat
This was a big one for me when I raised my kids. When your children are little, it’s a great idea to get into the habit of reading them a book every evening. This not only calms them before they sleep, but it also helps them learn. The stories that you first read them will probably stay with them forever. Almost everyone can remember the first book that they loved to have read to them. It’s a child’s way of really using their imagination to form the pictures in their mind. Keep a couple of their favorite books for you to show them when they are grown up.
Cook together
If you can teach your children a family recipe that has been passed down through the ages, they’ll remember it forever. A cherished recipe can be pulled out and enjoyed again and again, and it will strengthen the memory for your child of when you first made it together.
Our boy making muffins!
Notice the recurring theme here? Creative endeavors seem to be the best way to make memories for you and your family!
What do you and your children do to make memories that will last a lifetime?
Fun, Sun, Sand and Smiles
After nine days, the children have gone home.
Our house yawns astonishingly quiet and empty. The beaches here on Sandy-Feet Avenue and Perry’s Point look abandoned, lonely and forlorn; bereft of the three little beach bums that ran across them countless times a day.
A myriad of reminders surround me: empty sand pails, tiny mementos in the form of sea glass and shells from the beach, our grandson’s toy army tank left behind, a day pass from Windmill Bight Park, a box of our granddaughter’s favourite crackers in the cupboard, a candy wrapper under the bed. There is even a folder of GoPro videos they made saved on my PC desktop.
And I’m amazed at how much longer it takes for the dishwasher and the washing machine to fill up in their absence.
We miss our two grandchildren – plus one little friend – but we had an incredible time together filled with sweet summer memories and photos to look back on.
And there is always next year, God willing!
Here are a few captures from last week.
During one of these lazy afternoons, our girl decided she wanted to write a story. So while her friend and our boy continued playing on the beach, she sat down nearby with a pad of lined paper and a pencil. When I asked her what her story was about, she said with a shy grin, “Cats.”
I guess the (grand)apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
*All photos taken with iPhone 6
Weekly Photo Challenge: Fun
One-Word Prompt: Mask
My grandson loved having his face painted, but he couldn’t stay awake long enough for his mom to wash it off. 🙂
Daily Post One-Word Prompt: Mask
Never Again
“Daily Post Prompt: Never Again – Have you ever gone to a new place or tried a new experience and thought to yourself, “I’m never doing that again!” Tell us about it.”
On Saturday, I saw this photo on Facebook that brought back a memory for me. Also on that day, I read the above prompt from the Daily Post. So I couldn’t resist sharing said event from my childhood.
My friend Nancy, my younger sister Lynn and I were walking home from school one late afternoon in St. John’s, when we noticed from the Boulevard the many ice pans on the surface of Quidi Vidi Lake. I think it might have been spring thaw.
Quicker than you can say “last one in is a rotten egg,” the three of us ran down to the lake’s edge, dropped our book-bags on the shore, and proceeded to jump from ice pan to ice pan across the surface of the deep water. Not once did either of us think anything could go wrong. I guess we were so young and naive, we had no fear of the risk we were taking.
Luckily, Nancy’s father happened to drive along the Boulevard while we were playing there. Before we knew it, we were swiftly ordered into his car and driven home. At the time, we didn’t feel so lucky, but I shudder at the thought of what could have gone down if he hadn’t. Perhaps all of us!
Of course, our parents were outraged and we all received our punishment. The next time I saw my friend Nancy, she told me that her father gave her a good spanking.
“And that was it?” I asked, incredulous. My parents didn’t give spankings as discipline. They knew what really hurt: grounding my sister and me for a full week. No outdoors for seven days except to go to school.
I remember thinking at the time that Nancy had gotten off easy compared to us. Yes, she’d endured a spanking, but at least her suffering was “behind” her. 😉
Now I realize Mom and Dad had wanted us to appreciate how dangerous our activity was, by giving us a whole week to think about it. Never again did we dare to risk drowning by “copying pans.”
*copy: To jump from one floating pan of ice to another in a children’s game of following or copying a leader when the ice is breaking up in spring in a cove or harbour. A game of follow-my-leader over the broken ice, every cake of which, it may be, sinks under the weight of a lad. It is a training for the perilous work of seal hunting, which came later in the life of Newfoundlanders. You will see the merry young lads ‘copying’ as they call it—jumping from pan to pan till far out in the Cove in fearless rivalry. ~ Dictionary of Newfoundland English
Did you ever jump on ice pans when you were a kid?
Have you ever done something new and regretted it?
Kids Say the Darndest Things – 2
My granddaughter is ten years old now, though in some ways she will always be my baby girl. 
When she was three and her brother was one, I took care of them for about a year and a half when my daughter returned to her nursing position at the Janeway Children’s Hospital. This was just before Paul and I moved to Newtown.
During the routine of caring for them, I would jot down anything our little girl said that made me smile.
At three years old:
“Nanny, I’m ‘boring’!”
“Oh, you are, are you? How about we go for a walk then?”
“Can’t we do something ‘funner’?”
Padmé was the name of her first cat. While she stroked her head gently: “I love Padmé even when she scratches me.”
While we were making cookies: “You’re going to Lead Cove this weekend, are you?”
“Yes, Nanny, so you’re going to miss us for a while.”
Her baby brother fell, bumped his head and cried. When he finally calmed down, she looked at me sadly and said, “I don’t like when that happens to my brother. It makes me scared.” (How well she articulates her feelings at such a tender age.)
“Nanny, it’s raining. Can I go outdoors with my ‘amp-brella’?”
“Your mac and cheese is ready, sweetie.”
“How come you didn’t say ‘roni’, Nanny?”
“I don’t want to grow up, Nanny.”
“Everybody grows up, honey. Why don’t you want to grow up?”
“Because I want you to always babysit me.”
She and her brother were fighting over something. “I’m so disappointed in him!”
(And continuing to build her vocabulary:) “This is so frustrating!”
(In reply to something I said to her:) “Apparently!”
This one floored me: “Oh, Nanny, I don’t know what to do with my life!”
She was telling me that she saw a cowboy when she was out with her mommy.
“He had a real cowboy hat and cowboy boots!”
“Where did you see him?”
“At the booze store.”
“When I grow up, I’m going to get married.”
“And who are you going to marry?”
Matter-of-factly, she said, “My brother.”
Four years old:
Holding her brother’s face in her hands: “His eyes are so beautiful, I could cry!”
Talking about her bad dream from the night before: “My dreams are broken.”
“What did you dream about last night, Nanny?” (I think she’s the only person who ever asked me that!)
“Nanny, you’re so sweet.”
“Why am I sweet?”
“Because you do so many things for us.”
She was telling me about the dead, mangled shrew that her cat Ginger had brought home recently. “Nanny, you could see inside it. It looked like old wires, like inside my very old couch.”
I commented on the cut on her leg.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said fearfully. The next day she announced out of the blue: “I’m ready to talk about my ‘owie’ now.”
We were out for a walk around the block when she pointed at a little girl across the street. “That’s my friend!”
“What is her name?”
“I don’t know…”
She told me about one day when another relative came to babysit. “When I saw it wasn’t you, I screeched!”
“Why, sweetheart?”
“I wanted you, Nanny, because I love you so much. I’ll love you till the stars fall from the sky…but that will never happen, so I’ll always love you.”
*Only last three photos were taken by yours truly. All others taken by the children’s Mommy and Daddy.
What cute things did your children or grandchildren say?
Please share below!
Further Reading: Kids Do Say The Darndest Things
Jennifer's Journal 