Every Age and Every Stage

This morning I was watching Bee as she sat in a chair, reading a library book, and it really hit me that she's growing up. She's all long legs (90th percentile for height!), and thick, wavy hair, and enormous brown eyes. With her adorable, shorter haircut, she really looks like a young lady.


But you see in my heart, she is still, and will forever be, a baby. My first baby. And while I'm so proud of the kind, compassionate, intelligent girl she is becoming, I sometimes long for the days when she pranced around the backyard in her Snow White dress all day. I recently discovered this video footage of 4-year-old Bee and my husband (and a darling little BabyCakes in her swing), and I watched it with a huge lump in my throat, and tears threatening to spill over.

I still so vividly remember the Snow White obsession, and it seems impossible to me that the little girl in that video, with the tiny little voice, is no longer here. She's been replaced by a big girl who nearly reaches my shoulders, who reads a book a day, and writes about her life in a diary (which I'm not allowed to read), and does Google research (with supervision, of course) on subjects she's interested in. Example:

Bee: "Mom, how come people don't like fruitcake?"
Me: "Well, because it's dense and heavy and too rich for most people."
Bee: "Then why did somebody invent it if nobody likes it?"
Me: "I have no idea."
Bee: "Who invented the fruitcake anyway?"
Me: "I seriously don't know, honey."

Bee goes to the computer in the kitchen, and types something. Two minutes later, she's back. "It's believed that the fruitcake was originally invented by the Romans."

You see what I mean.

Now, I've only been a mother for 8 years, and I'm certainly no parenting expert, but if I could give young mothers one piece of advice, it would be this...

Treasure every age, and every stage. They all pass by too quickly.

The Reading Road Trip, 2010

It's hot. And you know how I hate the heat (see I'm Melting!) I don't feel like doing anything when it's this hot...including blogging. But perhaps I'm just saying this because I spent my entire day fighting road construction in a van with three kids - two bickering because they were hot and sticky and hungry, and the third whimpering because he was hot and sticky and tired.

I chose to venture out into the heat with my children today (we've been holed up in the house for days) because I wanted to get back-to-school haircuts for the girls, and do a bit of school shopping at Younkers (I had a gift card, and they have their summer stuff clearanced at 70% off right now!) But mainly we wanted to go to The Reading Road Trip!

This is the third year we've attended this event (see The Reading Road Trip, 2008), which is sponsored by our public television station. The kids love the host, who is fun, friendly, and a very high-energy performer. Amazingly, he always seems to remember us, which is astonishing to me, given all the libraries he visits every summer. He's a great ambassador for public TV.

DJ was such a sweet boy, but he wasn't thrilled with all the noise and carrying on (the kids get pretty wound up).

I wasn't thrilled to come home to a messy house. The kitchen looks like a tornado went through, and nothing discourages me more than a messy kitchen. I'm going to spend the next half hour straightening up so I can start dinner. Tonight I'm going to do nothing except hang out with my husband, who has been so busy that I hardly get to see or talk to him anymore, and savor the coolness of my living room (as opposed to the sweltering, sweaty stinkiness of the van, where I spent far too much time today).

God bless air conditioning.

My Price Benchmarks for School Supplies

A reader asks,

"I know you said you buy extra school supplies when they're cheap, but how do you know when to buy? What do you think is a good price?"

To answer this question, here are my price benchmarks for bulk purchasing the most commonly needed school supplies, including the very best clearance prices I've ever seen:

-Elmer's school glue sticks, 2-ct - 25 cents
-Elmer's liquid school glue, 4-ounce bottle - 25 cents. Best clearance sale - 10 cents
-Spiral notebooks, wide ruled, 70-sheet - 15-25 cents. Best clearance sale - 5 cents
-Crayola crayons, 24-ct - 25 cents. Best clearance sale - 20 cents
-Crayola crayons, 64 ct - $1.50
-Crayola washable markers, 8-ct (we don't buy any other brand because they dry out right away) - $2.00
-Crayola markers, regular, 10-ct - $1.00
-Crayola 12-ct colored pencils - $1.00
-Yellow #2 pencils, 10 or 12 ct - 50 cents. Best clearance sale - 25 cents
-Plastic school supply boxes - 25-50 cents. (NEVER pay full price for these. Wal-Mart always stocks way too many and clearances them at 4 for $1)
-Kid scissors - 50-75 cents (I got 6 pairs for 50 cents each last year at Staples with a 2 for 1 rebate)
-2-pocket folders - 10 cents
-Expo 4-pack dry erase markers - $2.00-$2.50
-Looseleaf filler paper, 150-sheet - 50 cents

These are good sale prices in my area. Prices vary geographically, but I hope this gives you an idea of what to look for so you can stock up with confidence!