Spring Cleaning?

As I sit at my desk at one end of our two-bedroom apartment, I can see straight through to the other end. And between me and the windows at the far end lies what seems to be every toy my children own. My office has Hot Wheels, dolls and bicycle helmets, the laundry room is currently home to Willa's collection of "stuff", and the dining room floor is a mess of markers, coloring books and the entire contents of another laundry basket of toys that we filled during our bi-weekly "panic tidy" just before the cleaning lady arrives. Don't even get me started on the kids' bedroom!

We are constantly after them about dropping and leaving things on the floor, not putting things away, taking care of their toys. We have bins for each child's different toys, larger hampers for collections of blocks and Lego to make it easier. And yet, it would seem "neat and tidy" are words foreign to them. Or are they?

As I picked my way through the debris, I discovered the coffee table in the living room. All three kids were playing with the little, bobble-headed pets they've collected. I found them lined up neatly around the perimeter of the table, organized by species and color.

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

Spring is in the Air ...

Although the first day of spring was almost a month ago, we're finally getting our first spring days. And the kids are loving every second of it. The first day we topped 50°F, heavy snow boots and winter coats were quickly eschewed in favor of more seasonal wear. Willa, who was thrilled to finally to be able to wear the new shoes she received for her 4th birthday, was out in a flash. Neva and Milo, who seemed to have grown out of their outdoor shoes over the winter, dug out sandals. Sandals that were also quickly abandoned to run barefoot through the still winter-brown grass.

Before I let them in for supper, I brought out a bucket of warm water and old towels for them to wash their dirty feet. After Neva and Milo made the water almost black, Willa came up the steps and began taking off her shoes and socks to clean her feet.

"Wait!," I warned, "Your feet are already clean."

She ran down off the porch, around the yard and into the sandbox.

"Where are you going?" I called after her.

"I'm going to get my feet dirty!"

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

Spell Check

My 8-year-old's spelling has really needed quite a bit of attention this year. So when I was quizzing Neva on her dictation the other night and she spelled everything correctly, including the 6 bonus words, I was really impressed and happy for her.

Today I found that paper with her correctly spelled words. Clearly proud of her accomplishment, she had printed "exelinte!" underneath.

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

Ladybug, Ladybuy, Fly Away Home ...

They spent a good portion of a cold, spring afternoon looking under rocks and behind lifeless plants. Their mission: to find hibernating ladybugs. Bob needed some for his seedlings that had attracted a few aphids and Milo was along for the adventure.

Bob spent the time explaining the different kinds of ladybugs, why they are good for plants and flowers, how they eat only the bugs and not the plants, and how he learned that the multicolored Asian ladybugs do indeed bite, although not very hard, but the South American varieties don't.

After a few hours, they had found only one South American ladybug but Bob was thrilled to have it and carefully set it under the grow lights with his transplants, checking every once in a while to make sure it was still there.

Milo was the first one awake the next morning and was playing in the dining room. Soon afterwards, our sleep was disturbed as Milo, having quietly sneaked into our room, whispered, "Daddy, I had to kill your ladybug. It was on the floor and I didn't want it to bite me."

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com