We moved into "the most wonderful house in the world" just about a year ago and although we made some minor improvements on the inside, the outside has been untouched. The previous owner was a local principal and lived in the house for sixty years; needless to say, those last few years of his life the yard was severely neglected.

We are taking babysteps to revive it back to it's glory days.

This was the back of our garage last week. It's detached. I thought I would hate having a detached garage after years of being spoiled but in reality we buy less (because it's a pain to trek to the house in rain/snow/heat) and the kids adore hanging out in the alley. Anyways. The back of our garage was a clean slate and begging for an updo.

We started with some black shutters and a window box I found on freecyle that we painted in our trim color. The window box even came with a copper liner! I planted Feenie's kindergarten flowers that she grew from seeds and some sweet potato vines from my mother. Hope they all fill in.

We found some slate rocks that someone was giving away for free on craigslist and "splurged" on left-over lavender that was purchased at 50% because it needed some TLC from our local hardware store.

Finally we added some mulch and replanted some beautiful hostas (that we "rescued" from the builder next door that was going to level the land - never hurts to ask!) alongside our fence.

The results of a little bargain "shopping" and a lot of sweat are worth it. Our backyard landscaping is coming along beautifully and we have the entire summer to sit back and enjoy "the most wonderful house in the world".

Well, we can relax and enjoy the yard until the husband is ready to tackle Grandma's memorial garden in the corner of our lot that includes a pond liner that we found left out on garbage day (the kiddos were amazed at why anyone would throw it out in perfect condition!) and finally plant the tree the Sawyer family bought us to remember her by. It's going to be beautiful!

Babysteps and lots of bargains. Insert happy outdoor landscaping smiles *here*.

Jesse and I first "met" when my eldest and her youngest were in kindergarten. I say "met" loosely because I had a preschooler attached to my knee and an infant attached to my hip that year. I was in survival mode and don't remember "meeting" many people. The first time I really connected with Jesse was when our children were in first grade. One night while waiting for the elementary school's open house to begin, I stood sheepishly in the corner of the hallway and Jesse waved hello. Surely she wasn't waving to me (I knew no one) so I looked behind to see who she was waving to. Only there was no one there. She waved again. I lifted my hand and pointed to myself in the awkward are-you-waving-to-me motion. The rest is history.

I never told this to Jesse but her simple hello and conversation afterwards were a turning point in my life. Jesse taught me (that one lonely evening at open house that seems like years ago) how easy it was to befriend someone. It couldn't have come from a better teacher too because Jesse has a beautiful soul. I not only admire her but I inspire to be more like her. Sure, everyone knows a "Jesse"- the confident mom of older then your own children whom runs a tight ship and has amazing kiddos. But Jesse is so much more. There's something about her - something extraordinary. I briefly mentioned on my blog last week about sitting around a bonfire with Jesse. I always adore my time with her as she is a wealth of knowledge. What I didn't mention is that I begged her to write a parenting book because I would be the first in line to read it.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that not only is a book in the works; but, she has a good start online with her "Internet Safety Courses".

I'm honored to hand over the microphone to my beautiful friend.

Jesse:

I was recently sitting around a bonfire with a blogger we all know and love (guess who?) and the conversation turned as it often does to the question of whether or not to allow our children to own a mobile phone. Or at a minimum; what age seemed appropriate, blah, blah, blah.

Our favorite blogger (aka Pauline) wanted to know what I thought about devices and age. I have the benefit of two extra streams of experience: I have a teenage son AND I teach Internet Safety to tweens and teens.  Double yikes!

Whenever I get this question, I answer with a question:  Why does your child at ___ years old require a phone? At times, there are perfectly legitimate reasons like: travel between mom’s house and dad’s house, a long commute home on public transport, or they’ve begun driving.  Check, check, and check.

On the other hand I have heard some of these answers over the years (not kidding):

• ·         She’s the last one of her friends without a phone – and I felt badly
• ·         She loves pink and I couldn’t think of anything else in pink to buy her
• ·         I ran out of Christmas gift ideas
• ·         He wants to play Words with Friends and he was messing up my score

Here’s the thing – our children at 8-14 years old are rather dim-witted. And I mean that in the nicest, kindest way. My son is a straight A’s honor student, but he’s dim as a busted bulb when it comes to emotional and behavioral self-awareness. This is developmentally appropriate; they’re not supposed to completely understand emotional context or behavioral consequences at say, 11 years old.

And yet, we hand them these devices (let’s add laptops, tablets, and gaming devices to the mix) which are wi-fi enabled and then we walk away. The fact that they’re “playing” in their bedrooms give us some warped sense of security.

These children have no idea what they’re doing. They don’t understand that if they drop their pants, and take a photo of their bits and send it along on SnapChat that they can be charged with “creation of child pornography”, once it’s sent out they can be charged with “distribution of child pornography”. Seriously.

Why would children know that? As their parent did YOU tell them that? You probably didn’t even know it yourself until just now. This is the point dear gentle readers; we must become educated. We must know the answer to the question they haven’t yet asked before they ask it.

Soooo, I’ve developed a series of Internet Safety courses which are all online. All you have to do is dial in on a particular day and time, and you’ll see my mug on your screen. We’ll chat live via phone conference number and I’ll break it all down for you.  The good, the bad, and the genital, I mean - ugly. 

Use the code BLOG13 to get $5 off the cost of each Internet Safety course, making each one just $15. It really is a bargain. 

So come join me, and we can get nauseous together! But don’t worry, I’ll hold the barf bag, and in true besties fashion Pauline will hold your hair back. Because we love you, we really do – you just need to WAKE THE HELL UP.

I’m Jesse Cruz –

• ·         I blog at  Do Your Job Blog
• ·         I’m a social media strategist and instructor at OvernightGeek University
• ·         Check out all of the Internet Safety Courses

Feenie has been enrolled in a progressive half-day kindergarten program this entire year. Like all the progressive schools in Chicago there are no report cards and kindergarten is entirely "play based", meaning all they really do is play. When asked what she did at school all day, her answers vary from "playing cats" to "building wedding cakes in the sand" and even "built an air conditioner from recyclables".  They received little to no reading and writing instruction. There was a deemphasis for workbooks, textbooks and worksheets. This. Is a HUGE change from our old school in Ohio. The older two were in a full-day program that was very heavy in reading and writing and pushing of worksheets. Both of them were expert readers/writers by the end of kindergarten.

This was Lola after one month of kindergarten:

This is Feenie after nine months of kindergarten:

I'm very aware that I shouldn't compare and I'm told that first grade in our progressive school is when everyone catches up and takes off because the focus is purely on reading/writing, so I'm not that worried. Besides that, we absolutely adore our school and the kiddos are extremely happy there. The blessing of a progressive school is that it's the epitome of "no child left behind" and their entire curriculum is rooted in learning by doing, at an individual pace. They have year long thematic units that focus on critical thinking and problem solving. This is where I see a huge difference. It's been an incredible year for my fourth grader - whom for years, on this blog, I've been chronicling our struggles with school even publicly noting in 2011... that I felt that my child was left behind. We are in a very good place, even though my kindergarten can't read very well LOL.

So my kindergartner might not be able to read/write like her siblings did back in kindergarten; but, boy can she figure things out fast and have a million ways to execute things. Maybe it's because she is the third child and has always been in a position to figure things out on her own but her progressive education has fueled this special trait even moreso.

"I KOT A RAKON."

"I caught a raccoon."

If you can read Polish, you understood this post. Zlapalismy Raccoon, zroblismy zdjecia i zawiezlismy do lasu.

"I LAT GO RAKON"

"I let go raccoon."

"I LAT GO RAKON AT SOKELGS"

"I let go racoon at Skokie lagoons."

"AT RUN FAST AD WE WOCH BABBY BIRD"

"And we run fast and we watch baby bird."

Feenie wrote this journal entry at school the day that my father and her "kot a rakon" (my father set up a trap overnight, per her request, to see what would foolishly walk in). In the morning they stood above the raccoon wondering how to let it go and Feenie came up with many solutions but encouraged my father to drive to Skokie Lagoons and let it out so it could be reunited with nature. The two of them drove in his car with the caged raccoon down to the lagoons to set it free and "had to run fast" home to watch the baby birds in my parent's backyard because she loves to see them grow.

Her journal entry, however mangled, will be framed and presented to my father for father's day. It's the first journal entry that really captures her love of nature and her special relationship with her grandfather that is like-minded. I think it's adorable and a treasure.