Meredith Carson... Across the Pond and Back Again...

This little peanut, who came into the world calmly and peacefully on a Tuesday afternoon, is now a girl of eight !  She has blossomed into a charming and clever little person who entertains us with witty anecdotes, astute impersonations, and lively dance moves. Her baby sister, who refers to her as, 'my friend Sophie' finds her enchanting and yearns for her return anytime she is out. To her older sister, she is often best friend and playmate (except when she is 'worst enemy' and 'the meanest girl in the world').  Let's keep it real here. Sophia, we love watching you become more and more YOU everyday. You have a magnetic personality, and you seem to find friends everywhere you go. We like being around you because you love us just the way we are; We like the way you make us feel about ourselves, and THAT is some gift! You bring your own sunshine, your own creative and energetic solutions to problems, and your own sensible approach to life's ...

No, I am certainly not talking politics for heaven's sake.  We had the kind of tea party with little cakes and tea sandwiches and pots filled with lemonade (since my daughter Sophia correctly assumed that her eight-year-old friends would want nothing to do with proper hot tea).  The last big birthday party we had for Sophie happened when she turned five.  It was a pirate-themed party .  There were lots of boys and girls there, and it was energetic and wonderful.  There was plenty of energy at today's party also, but the guests were all female and slightly older and wiser.  Prior to the party the guest of honor and her big sister were supremely helpful, and that was a very pleasant change! First thing this morning we made two full trays of chocolate-dipped strawberries, and when we sat down to tea, these were devoured almost instantly by the eight little girls sitting round the table.  I managed to snag one of them, and it was perfectly wonderf...

None of us knows what happens before we become conscious on this earth.  I will be the first to admit that I know very little about anything.  All of the girls at my house, however, like to believe that we come from the same place to which we will return when we leave this earth.  My little girls like to imagine that they were all friends in a different realm before they met on Earth as sisters.  We like to collectively tell the story of how the three of them looked down from heaven where they were probably seated on a cloud and surveyed life on the earth below. "Look," one of them says, "Those two are going to be our parents.  They seem nice."  The other two agree.  Emma, being the dominant, adventurous type, decides that she should be the firstborn child in our family.  We pause to reflect on what a stubborn, grouchy, and serious baby our beautiful Emma was, and she reminds me that she was obviously just missing the sisters that she left...

PawPaw and Uncle David arrived yesterday, and there were two little girls at my house who were none too excited about having to go to school this morning.  They sucked it up, however, and climbed onto the bus bright and early this morning.  To ease the ache just a bit, I picked them up a little early this afternoon.  School didn't seem all that awful when I got there.  Sophia's class was in the middle of a Christmas party with a very strong sugar-theme, and all of the kids in Emma's class were seated in the floor, eating popcorn and watching Ice Age on a big screen at the front of the classroom.  Emma's teacher suggested that this animated feature somehow tied into their science unit on prehistoric creatures, but I didn't require an explanation.  I used to be a teacher myself and know that on the last day of school before Christmas vacation, we teachers are allowed to use any means necessary to keep the peace. Lili made herself right at home in Emma's cl...

In case you  hadn't noticed, I am one of those moms.  I am the mom who pulls out her camera in order to document "Baby's First Dental Appointment" or "Baby's First Meatball."  I have numerous photos taken of my children when they have fallen asleep in unusual places or in comical positions.  Heaven help you, if you are a child of mine.  Your mama will take photos upon photos of you in the bathtub, pictures of you pretending to decorate the Christmas tree, and she will require you to pose and reenact the really cute thing you did just a second ago when she wasn't ready with the camera. My adoring two year old has picked up on the fact that we should document every moment of our lives through photography.  Lately she has really been getting involved.  She has such confidence and passion.   "I'm gonna getchew, Sophia!" "Beautiful!  Beautiful!  Show me 'Exuberant'!" "SAY CHEESE!!" "...

I had been noticing over the past week or so that our resident toddler's hairdo was becoming a bit wacky and unmanageable.  On yesterday she agreed and declared, "I want Kasey to take my haircut!!"  Kasey is a good friend who also happens to be pretty great cutter of hair.  We were really in luck because it turned out that Kasey was working an had an appointment free just for Lili.  Hooray! "I am ready, Kasey!  Take my haircut!" There at the salon, the little person who terrorizes me night and day, sat and behaved like a perfect angel throughout the entire haircut.  The little person who, ten minutes before her appointment, had been standing atop a chair in my kitchen, waving a magic wand and commanding, "YOU MAKE ME EGGS!" stayed still and on her bottom with a perfectly cherubic look of innocence on her face like this... Of course I am not complaining.  I am glad that she is able to exhibit self control and that she doesn't ...

I am always a little sad to see summer go, but this past weekend upon returning from a wonderful getaway to Charleston, SC (more on that later), we had the best of fall and summer.  Summer-like temperatures accompanied beautiful fall foliage.  Sophia pulled the rake out of the garage and started making a pile of leaves simply because it sounded like a fun idea.  Lili quickly joined in, of course. I am envious of the way that my youngest daughter is always ready to fully embrace a new experience.  Last weekend there weren't leaves all over the ground, but now they are every where.  Did she approach the strange new leaf pile that her sister had created tentatively and on cautious tiptoes?  She certainly did not. Happy Fall, Friends! Love, Meredith

I recently picked up this book ( The Family Dinner by Laurie David) at a friend's house while we were in Kentucky.  I casually began to flip through the pages, then found myself, moments later, curled around it as my brain purred and began to devour little morsels if inspiration that lay on each page.  When we got home, I immediately ordered a copy for myself.  This book merely confirmed things that I already believe about the importance of dining together as a family.  It is also full of recipes and suggestions for making family meal time more fun, healthful and meaningful for kids and their parents. Although this particular suggestion was not in the book, I have begun writing the evening's "menu" on a white board in our kitchen, and my children find this incredibly exciting (especially when a dessert is listed).  Anticipation creates excitement. Last night we also played a couple of dinner table conversation games, which kept my husband and his short atte...

When Sophie was a toddler/ pre-schooler, she seemed to always be getting into some sort of trouble.  She drew on her bare chest with permanent markers, cut her own hair, cut holes in her clothes, colored her furniture, scrubbed a variety of random beauty products into her hair, etc.  You get the idea.  Being the sensible parents that we were, we would scold her appropriately and then go and get the camera and take a few photos.  Let's face it, sometimes naughty toddler high jinks are completely hilarious.   As previously noted, since we were such wise parents, we would always explain that we were taking her picture for "The Naughty Book."  This proved to be highly effective until she was about three years old.  Then one afternoon she came to us with something horrible all over her face and my camera in her hand.  She presented the camera to me, grinned enormously and said, "Here you go, Mum.  I very, very naughty!!"  I expect I to...

Since it is my job to look after our home and mother my children, every day is "Take Your Daughter to Work Day" at my house.  My daughter Sophia has always been particularly interested in the work that I do in the kitchen.  She is also very interested in this blog, which saves my sanity and makes me a better mother.  Today she decided she wanted to help me with both... My oldest daughter Emma and her Dad were having a special Daddy and daughter day out*, so that left me and the other two girls to get on with the everyday business of grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning.  After the majority of the chores were done, we decided to finish off yesterday's blueberries by making our favorite fruit crisp recipe.  Sophia thought it would be fun to document the entire affair with my camera.  So here it is for your viewing and baking pleasure.  I have a feeling, I've shared this recipe before,  but here it is again fully illustrated. Apple, Berry, Peac...

The jig is up. We were making cupcakes a few days ago, and I sent Sophie to look for the food coloring.  We were pretty sure that Dad had stashed it with the camping gear for some reason.  After sifting through the still-unpacked remains of last weekend's camping trip in our garage for several minutes, she returned with a fiercely annoyed look on her face and something hidden behind her back. "What's up?" I asked, "Did you find the food coloring?" "No!" she snarled, "But I did find MY TOOTH!"  she whipped her hand out from behind her back to reveal the paper Dixie cup which housed the tooth she lost on our camping trip. "So...what does that mean?" I asked.  Seven years old is a good a time as any to have one's illusions crushed. "It means that Dad took it, and I am FURIOUS!!" "Ok... so what does it mean that Dad took it?"  I asked again. "It means that DAD gave me the dollar." she ...

Yesterday at the eleven o’clock church service I sat sandwiched between my two eldest daughters.  It was lovely.  Emma’s arm was linked through mine as we sang the processional hymn, Onward Christian Soldiers , together.  My heart filled with mirth as the little girl to my right sang out so loudly and joyfully even though the tune of this song was lost on her.  Standing there listening to Emma sing took me back to other occasions when I’ve stood beside a beautifully off-key singing loved one.  My late grandfather Lewis’s hymn singing resembled the sounds a tortured cat might make, but I always smiled inside when I stood next to him in church.  Even though the music was like an unknown foreign language to him, the lyrics were stitched into his heart.  Any person who stood by his side while he softly squealed along with How Great Thou Art could clearly discern the depth of his sentiment. I have equally fond memories of listening to my late grandmother ...

Holy Week and Easter Weekend have been a flurry of emotions and activities.  I have enjoyed spending lots of time at church this week in musical and reflective pursuits, and I have also enjoyed time with my family at home.  My Sophia constantly pushes me to engage in crafty ventures.  I am easily persuaded but spend most of the time grumbling, "I HATE crafts!" Dear Sophie, please know that I love you dearly.  I force myself out of my comfort zone so that I can glue, stick, cut and color with you... all so that we may have this sought after thing called "quality time" together.  See my crafty specimens below... Specimen A: the chocolate molded/ dipped pretzel rods.   Heaven help me. Specimen B: The colorfully painted Easter eggs.   Hush your mouth!  Don't think this is a real craft?  My stained finger tips beg to differ. Specimen C: the flower-covered Easter bonnet Behold the craftiness of it all!  There was lots of holdin...

This little girl is not a complainer.  She's one tough cookie.  That is why when she was crying and doubled over in pain on Saturday afternoon, I suspected something might be up.  Early Sunday morning we were off to our local Urgent Care center.  None of the simple, easy to fix ailments seemed to fit the bill.  (I had really been pulling for a bladder infection.)  The doctor ruminated.  I ruminated.  We both decided I should take her home and watch her while checking in with my Mommy Instincts on occasion.  That wonderful doctor also uttered the word "appendicitis" more than once, so after I got home, I ruminated on appendicitis.  Then I Googled "appendicitis."  Then I started to worry. After all of this ruminating, I scooped up the young'uns and went over to the ER where Sophia proceeded to baffle more nurses and a couple of doctors.  To complicate matters a bit further, my husband was on a plane somewhere over the Atlantic ...

Sophia got something very special for her birthday this year: A new doorknob. The previous hardware on her door was one of those fashionable French door handles, and that simply would not do.  You see, Lili has mastered the art of opening a French door handle, and therefore Sophia could frequently be heard screaming, "OH NO!!!" upon discovering what that little monster had done in her bedroom whilst she was away at school.  The logical request came about consequently... "Dad!!  Can I puh-lease have a new doorknob for my birthday so that I can keep Lili OUT?!" Sophia is obviously pleased with the alteration. Lili, on the other hand... Not so much. "If you don't understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child."  ~Linda Sunshine

We were all geared up for sun and fun in Florida last week.  What we actually got was lots of rain... painful, dumping, drenching, relentless rain...and some fun.  We did enjoy celebrating Sophia's birthday with family, and we managed to catch one sunny day at Universal's Islands of Adventure theme park where we took in Harry Potter's magical world and sampled some of the Three Broomsticks' Butterbeer.  (Curious friends, it was much like a caramely, vanilla-ish, frothy cream soda.  Tasty, sweet and a little sticky.) Pictured above is Hogwarts and the ride which required nearly an hour long wait.  Since we were in good company and had sunshine, it was worth it. Traveling and "theme parking" with a toddler was no picnic, but I did very much enjoy seeing things from her diminutive perspective.  The aquariums at Sea World elicited such squeals of excitement from her, that we all spent more time watching her than we did observing the aquatic life.  At Uni...