Maria's Mélange

Today my youngest went on his very first Boy Scout outing. They took a day hike through Valley Forge. Last night we spent a feverish hour or so making sure he had everything he needed. We went through the items on the emailed list and laid it all out on the table one by one. Daypack found?  -- Check Camelback bladder? -- Check Compass? -- Check Brand new, spotless Boy Scout book so he can get signatures for the things he'll complete? -- Check! Wait! We need to make a first aid kit so he can get checked off the list? -- umm.... *digging through random medicine cabinets to locate all the items* -- Check! His older brother walked by occasionally and chuckled. As an "old hand" at this process, he felt like he knew exactly what he had to stash in his pack, and only put a few extra items in under protest. When I picked them up after the hike today, I knew it had been a success. Both looked wiped out but content. They claim that "almost everyone...

Two thirds of the way through the Slice Challenge! It's time to take a few minutes to focus on some of the little things that bring a smile to my face.  -- My older son has taken to coming directly over to me first thing in the morning and giving me a long hug. While it still feels weird that HE is leaning down to hug ME... it makes me smile every day. -- My younger son still enjoys (mostly) nightly read-alouds. We've also taken to sharing a quick "smiling mind" meditation each night to help him sleep. He likes the time together and the deep breaths and stillness help me, too. -- My husband has decided to start trying some new recipes. We'd gotten into a rut (mostly due to my lack of adventure in cooking) and hadn't been eating together very often at all. With these new delicious and quick recipes, we've taken more evenings to eat as a family and share more smiles. Sometimes I forget to stop and reflect on the little things. Life really is good...

The Arrow of Light It's the highest award a Cub Scout can earn, and it was my honor to work on (along with my co-leader) putting together these arrows for the boys who have been in my den in elementary school. A completed arrow traces the journey the scouts have taken over the course of their early years in school. Black for the first step along the journey - the Bobcat badge. The boys learn the Cub Scout pledge and motto. They promise to always do their best. They promise to follow the wisdom of their "akela" as they continue along the path. Orange is for the Tiger year. Orange is often associated with chaos - and I can vouch for the fact that managing a den of tigers often felt like trying to capture lightning in a jar. Red and Aqua represent the Wolf and Bear years. Over the course of second and third grade, we expect to see the boys begin to make more of their own choices about their learning. They also get the chance to learn how to use a pocketknife dur...

It's quiet in my house. Too quiet. No, it's not the scary quiet of toddlers who may be playing in the toilet. Or the dreaded middle of the night quiet when you are startled awake by a random noise but then can't hear a thing. There is the soft tapping of the keyboard, of course. There is also the soothing hum of the dryer that should have run this morning and now my husband didn't have a second pair of jeans to take camping and I know he's really annoyed. (Wow, my high school English teacher would have an aneurism even thinking about that sentence. I apologize to all the editors in the crowd.) No, the silence that has fallen is not the kind I won't remember, forcing me to draw tally marks on my arms and face to keep track of when I've seen them. (Further apologies are now bestowed upon those of you who have no idea that these creepy bad guys are from Doctor Who but will now have nightmares because EEEEK they are creepy!) The silence is that...

Boys are very loud No, seriously, quite loud A sleepy haiku #walkmyworld #fourthgradersknowhowtoparty — Maria Selke (@mselke01) March 8, 2014 My younger son has been attempting to get some friends together for a Doctor Who themed sleepover for several months now. We tried a date in January - snowed out. We tried a date in February - snowed out. FINALLY, we were able to get a date that Mother Nature didn't dump all over... last Friday night. There was extensive planning that went into this event. They created elaborate games like "Hide the Dalek". One boy decided to bring some episodes of the Fourth Doctor and his Doctor Who themed Monopoly game. My son and I planned to have a fiesta of Whovian themed foods. As it turned out, the food went over fairly well. Pizza was shaped into TARDIS forms before baking. Jammie Dodgers and Jelly Babies were acquired. Dalek and TARDIS cookies were decorated. Only a few brave souls tried fish fingers and custard, but no o...

Rites of Passage The bridge for the Crossing Over ceremony for Cub Scouts As a child, the path  to adulthood is a         long, confusing trail. Negotiating bedtimes Bartering for allowance Adding that "half" to each age. Walking home from the bus alone Makeup, dating, driving... Each step, big or small, Takes forever to navigate As a parent, I blink and up they shoot 6 inches taller, on to a new school. Rites of passage Dot the landscape of our lives. Mile-markers and memories; Nudges to remind me to Step back, Let go, Let them grow. I’m participating in a writing community at Two Writing Teachers . We write about a little "slice of our life" each Tuesday. In March - we attempt to write a slice EVERY day! Head over to their blog for the link up. If you stop by and have written your own slice, please leave the link in the comments so I can easily find your post!

It's MARCH! That means I'm going to try to post as many little "slices of my life" as I can. The goal is every day in March. I've managed that for the past two years... let's see how this month goes! Every once in a while, a memory from my teen years pops up. Recently, I had a hankering to watch Bill & Ted again. I looked in stores, I looked on Netflix, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Duh. It took a librarian friend of mine to poke me and say, "How about the library?" Yep - they had it. So of COURSE I had to inflict the movie on my family! I've had my younger son watch a few movies I remembered fondly from childhood that were seriously disappointing. I guess I'd blocked out just how slowly paced movies from the 80s were (I'm looking at YOU "Neverending Story"). It was a huge success. The humor was perfect for my nine year old. His giggles filled me with glee. The older one was a bit more skeptical, but eve...

Parenting is a complicated dance. Some days are full of fun and energy      Harlem Shakin' all around. Other days I'm out of step,       I twist when he bends,       he shimmies when I shake. Each day dancing farther apart      (Except the days he needs my lift, though it angers him to admit) Relegated to the role of     Spotter     Sideline Support Expected to always be ready to      jump back into the fray      for an unexpected waltz. It's been a rough few weeks at my house. I'm trying so hard to find the right balance of support for my sons while backing away so they can become more independent. There have been poor scores, forgotten tasks, and tears. I dart back in briefly to bolster each one, helping set up backpacks and binders to be more efficient. I want to become obsolescent, but the days of holding their hands are still so close in my memory. Mi...

I'm not the adventurous type. I like to know, ahead of time, what the plan will be. I like to follow a GPS so I don't fall off the beaten trail. Younger reading Planet Kindergarten Every once in a while, though, I try to push the envelope. I attempt something on my own that might be a little uncomfortable. So when my building librarian, @readerroberts, encouraged me to head into the city for the ALA Midwinter convention, I knew this would be the perfect opportunity. I planned a Cub Scout trip into Philly on the train just a few months ago, so I felt almost ready to strike out on my own. Little steps, right? Chris, my younger son, and I ventured out into the brisk January air on Saturday morning and headed to the train station. We had empty bags, a little cash, and excitement about finding some new books to devour. That's all we really needed, right? Getting from East Market Street station to the Convention Center proved smashingly easy. We didn't even need to...

This post is part of TWO marvelous blogging events!  Sci-Fi Month is brought to you by Rinn Reads. Check out the full schedule of Sci-Fi Month posts! There are reviews, discussions, give aways, and more! Doctor Who Week is a joint venture between my blog and Teen Librarian Toolbox . We have a full week of fun posts to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. Deciding on the perfect Halloween costume is generally a “Big Deal” in my house. My boys often end up picking pre-made costumes, but it’s never an easy process. So when they decreed that this would be the “Year of The Doctor”, I have to admit to getting a wee bit excited. I may have even hollered... I started my Doctor Who journey just this past January, and I was hooked from the very first episode. Not only would it be fun (and easy) to dress up as Nine, I see Christopher Eccleston as “my Doctor”. I already own the perfect leather jacket, too! No go. My older son called dibs on being N...

What do you get when you take a sixth grade boy and put him in charge of a little crew of younger scouts? That was exactly what we decided to discover when my older son took on the job of Den Chief for a den of wolves (2nd graders) this year. He has done a great job helping the den leader during meetings so far this year, but the true test of his leadership skills came when we ventured out on a camping trip with our Pack. He sprang into action, wrangling the boys as they played in the trees near our campsite and helping out on our day hike at Hawk Mountain. I knew he would take his job seriously, but I was still surprised to see just how much of his heart he plunged into looking after the younger boys. He'd get frustrated when they didn't listen to him, and was exhausted by the end of our hike. You see, even though EACH child in our group had a parent present on the hike, he still took personal responsibility for keeping them safe. He counted them each time we left a new ...

It's impossible to do it all - at least to do it all WELL. People all around me share delicious (and time consuming) recipes that delight their families. They show photos of the lovely newly painted rooms they've decorated for their children. They tweet photos of amazing outfits they have painstakingly crafted for their children for Halloween. Yeah... I'm not there. Instead, every once in a while, I chuckle over some new evidence that I just must cut corners from time to time. Sometimes it is letting my children fix their own "breakfast for dinner"... on a regular basis. Sometimes it is realizing that I forgot - again - to send in a particular piece of paperwork. Or to volunteer for a "mom" committee. Or to make sure my boys don't leave the house in ratty T-shirts. At least all of their shirts are clean, right? If you are like me, come join the #CrapMom guild on Twitter. Really, it started as a way for Kathleen (aka @gilkatgil ) and I to c...

Be Brave This is it - my theme for the year. Last year I focused on the "Choose Kind" motto. Choosing to be a little kinder than necessary is still vital, and it takes a special kind of bravery to stand up for yourself and others. It takes bravery to risk failure, which is the only way to really learn. It takes bravery to speak up in class and share your thoughts, questions, or ideas. Last year, before I'd even thought of using this as my classroom theme, I started working on a display. "Boldly Go...." in big bold letters sits at the top of the board. I'd begun to add photos of the ISS team, Sally Ride, and other space related images. I think I'll leave lots of empty spots for now, and ask students to contribute. We'll focus on how people in the stories we read and the history we learn exemplified the idea of bravery. We'll collect quotes and anecdotes about standing up for what is right. While I also plan to teach the Sixteen Habit...

I love my sister. We shared a room growing up, and I'm pretty sure both of us wish we'd had more space to ourselves back then. Now? Now I'm positive we'd agree that we wish there were less space between us. She's done so well for herself, my darling baby sister. She met "the one" for her ( that is an amazing story of miraculous meetings all its own) and married into a wonderful family. Her own little family consists of a man I'm proud to call my brother-in-law, a darling little cherub of a toddler, and another wee one on the way. We only get to see each other a few times a year, and that's one of the reasons I'm so thankful for the extra time summer grants. This past week we've gotten time to just hang out. Time by the pool, time playing games, and time making and eating delicious food. Rediscovering his love for toddler car sets. My sons are so sweet with their little cousin, and it's adorable watching them play with to...

It's my younger son's ninth birthday today. Since my Doctor Who obsession has also infected him, I thought we'd take the time to make a special treat for his birthday. He hasn't seen the episode where the Eleventh Doctor eats "fish fingers and custard" yet, but he was still excited to give the recipe a try once I explained the idea to him. I assured him that we wouldn't REALLY be dipping fish sticks into vanilla pudding, since a lovely blogger had written up a recipe for sugar cookies that just look like fish sticks. Nice, huh?  (I linked to her post at the bottom of this post, in case you'd like to try it!) We started with the frustration of not being able to locate the mixing blades for our hand mixer. I got the butter nice and creamy with just my spoon - and then we found them. Score one point for teaching the geekling about how to roll with the punches, and another point for actually finding the blades to finish up the batch. Too bad we cou...

Ack! Spoiler Alert! (I kept this post spoiler free, for those of you who are on the beginning legs of this journey with me.) As a new Whovian, joining the fold when the seventh season is already underway, it is hard to complain about spoilers. After all, if I really wanted to be completely surprised by the way the story progresses I should have started in 2005 with the rest of you, right? It's pretty hard to avoid being spoiled. I follow many people on Pinterest, Tumblr, and Facebook who are all caught up. Between that and my sons who insist on reading their Character Encyclopedia AND reading the plot synopsis before watching the episodes, I've had a few peeks around the bend of the road for some major twists and turns. I knew how long Nine would be with us, knew when Ten would leave, knew what would happen to Donna, and even found out ahead of time what the amazing insight about the origin of the Face of Boe would be (I've linked a video down at the BOTTOM of this po...