Everyday Dinosaur

Like our blog title suggests, we do talk dinosaur.  Everyday in fact.  I know that my posts sometimes have nothing to do with the once plentiful animals that are now extinct (or are they?).  Rest assured though, everyday of our exciting lives is filled with dinosaurs in one way or another.

The "jet pack"

Take the mornings, for example, we wake up and eat breakfast.  Okay, nothing really dinosaur-like about that.  We get dressed and out comes the first dinosaur.  Today Isaac donned a stegosaurus tee.  He sure loves those dino tees.  I've pretty much given up trying to get him to wear non-dino tees with the exception being on Sundays.  Other dino things we do in the morning: watch The Dinosaur Train on PBS and put on our dinosaur "jet pack".

After taking Isaac to school, you would think that us two girls would put all that dinosaur stuff behind us.  Not so.  We frequent the local library and just because we love our boys so much, we make sure that we hunt down a few good books about dinosaurs.  Finding dinosaur books in the picture book section can be tricky.  Here are the last names of some authors that write books about dinosaurs: Barton, Most, Strickland, and Yolen.  The non-fiction section is also a great and easy place to find books about dinosaurs since they are typically all lumped together.

On to lunch.  We eat dinosaur shaped sandwiches!  Now, I should say that I'm really baffled by the power of the DinoBytes sandwich crust cutter.  If you give one of my kids a regular sandwich that's been cut neatly down the middle chances are they will pull it apart and leave at least one element untouched, typically the bread.  But if you cut that same sandwich with the DinoBytes cutter, the sandwich will be completely devoured.  I should also give you fair warning, this is a crust cutter.  You will have crusts left over, which, if you are like me, you will not want to go to waste.  Therefore you will end up eating crust sandwiches for your own lunch.

Our afternoons are also filled with dinosaurs.  Isaac really loves putting together dinosaur puzzles and he is quickly amassing a large collection of them.  I've found that Melissa & Doug make some nice quality wooden and cardboard dinosaur puzzles.  But the toy snob in me should tell you that they aren't very scientifically accurate.  Some of the dinos pictured together in the puzzles weren't alive at the same time.  But the mom in me will tell you that they satisfy the need to see all the famous dinosaurs together on one puzzle.

Our evenings are filled with books about dinosaurs.  And the boys' dreams (and maybe Annie's too) just might be filled with dinosaurs as well.  And I know that some of you might be thinking that a lot of the dinosaur loving is coming from Isaac.  But I assure you all that Orry is on that bandwagon as well.  He's got a class assignment due in about 5 weeks where he will have to give a small presentation about what he wants to be when he grows up.  His answer, a paleontologist.  He will dress the part and give a speech about what a paleontologist is, what kind of education he has to have, what kind of tools he uses, and what contributions he makes to the community.  This really has the potential for being a life-making lesson.  We'll see how it goes and we'll be sure to post some photos.

In the meantime, I hope your days are filled with the things that you love!  Life is too short to not be doing the things that you enjoy.

Leading by Example

Actions speak louder than words.  Its true.  So if we want our kids to explore their passions, what is the logical thing to do?  That's right.  We must explore our own passions!  Now I know what a lot of people think.  There isn't enough time to work, eat, and relax, let alone find the time to have a hobby.  And herein lies the challenge.  Oh, how I love a good challenge!

I am a stay-at-home mom.  I know, I know.  Loads of time on my hands!  But not so.  Besides having all three of my kids home with me all day, I am also responsible for the upkeep of the house, the meals, and the planning of day to day activities.  That's right.  I keep track of our library books, our prescription meds, our menu and grocery lists, the plants outside, the dinosaurs inside, and the list could go on and on.  So we are all in the same boat.  And we all have the same amount of time in a day.

So I'll go first.  I recently discovered a love for something.  And that thing is crafts.  But more specifically (and at the same time, much more vague), I love to make things.  Sewn things.  There, that's more specific.  And I recently combined my love for making things with necessity.  The necessity that our home creates.  Wanting new things and needing new things around our home can be solved with my love for making things.  I've found a goal!  To be a homemaker.  When someone walks into my home, I want them to see and feel the love that I've put into our home.  Into each and every item that was thoughtfully planned, carefully sewn by me.  And this, in turn, solves my desire to have unique things.  Not things that are cookie cutter, sold at every store items.

Finding the time to do these things is a challenge.  Some days I don't even make progress.  But its a goal I have and I am quite determined to keep it up.  I am even more determined now though, when I think about the impact that it will have on my kids' lives; seeing their mom care about something, love something, do something that she believes in.

I didn't grow up in a crafty family.  But when I think back, I second guess that.  My father always loved to work with wood.  He carved decoys, wall hangings, and animals.  He carves still to this day, mainly working on his own fishing lures.  My mother used to sewn.  I wore many a dress made by her and by my grandmother.  I even have my old dresses that she made, waiting for Annie to get big enough to fit into them.  I still receive a dress for Annie from time to time.  My brother is a musician.  My grandfather used to love raising orchids.  My other grandmother made all the grandkids Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls.  My great-great grandfather (on my Japanese side) was an artist who painted silk and pottery.  All these things influenced me, even if subconsciously.  I have an appreciation for their hard work and craftsmanship.  It showed me that nothing that you desired to do is silly or frivolous.  Nurturing your hobby or your passion in life is a valid thing to want to do.  In some cases it keeps us going!

My hope is that my kids will see me spending time doing things (other than what I do for "work") that I love and that they will also value the things that interest them.  Value them enough to take time, find time, to continue their pursuit of those things.   There should always be time to enrich our lives.  I hope that you will find time to enrich yours and that of your children.