Amelia is four today. Four is serious kid stuff, isn’t it? She’s a kid now, not a toddler, not a little kid, but a full-fledged kid. Amelia is a fabulous combination of thoughtfulness, boldness, curiosity and love This is what I have learned from her over the past several years:

•When you hug someone, really hug them. Let them you  know you mean it.

One of the joys of having raised our children in one place throughout the course of their school years is that they have lifelong friends– young men and women with whom they literally grew up and are still close. A few weeks ago, several of these families had the honor of hosting a bridal shower for one of our dear, young friends.

My assignment was to create the party favors. With my youngest daughter as a consultant, we decided upon a Mason Jar food product of some sort. These old, classic jars are experiencing a strong comeback, with Pinterest and food bloggers leading the rejuvenation effort.

We finally settled upon making White Almond Wedding Cupcakes (recipe here) topped with The Best Chocolate Buttercream for Cupcakes Frosting (recipe here.) The recipes were both easy to execute, even for me. After cooking and cooling the cupcakes, I split them in half, stuck the bottoms in the Mason Jar, hit them with a swirl of frosting, put the other halves into the jar and then topped them all off with more frosting. Using the Nordic Ware Ultimate Decorating Tool  (only $29.95 at Williams-Sonoma and well worth the price) made this process much prettier than if I would have tried to frost the cupcakes and then insert them into the jar.

To top it all off, I wrapped the jars with twine, added a fork (should a culinary emergency occur), and used the wedding colors to make small tags that each contained a different quotation about love. This was not an expensive or terribly time-consuming party favor, and I think they were well-recieved by the shower attendees. Love to you both, Courtney and Stuart. We can’t wait to celebrate your big day!

The world of literature being written for children and young adults is just exploding with fabulous works these days. Or, maybe I’m just getting lucky at finding the motherlode of excellence.

Wonder by R. J. Palacio is the sweetest story I’ve read in quite a while. August Pullman, a fifth grader with a badly malformed face, begins fifth grade at Beecher Prep Academy after being home schooled all his life. Obviously, his family (and first line of defense from the real world) has very mixed feelings about the whole thing. Auggie’s ups and downs are told by a variety of narrators, and each character is fleshed out quite nicely. The main themes of the story are the “power of one’s friendship, the strength of one’s courage, the test of one’s character” and “being a little kinder than is necessary.”

I dare you not to cry as you read it.

Today is Caroline’s second birthday. The very thought of her makes me smile. In the past two years, Caroline has taught me the following things:

•Always ask for more, please.

•At least once a day, be sure to throw your head back, open your mouth, close your eyes, and have a really good belly laugh. 

•Be a follower every now and then.

•Go off and do your own thing from time to time.

•Let your hair fly wildly about your head.

•Love your bed.

•Enjoy your bath.

•Snuggle with the people you love when they very least expect it.

•Read dozens of good books every single day.

Happy birthday, Caroline (CareBear, Chunkoline, Chompobar, the list of your nicknames goes on and on). We love you more than you can even imagine.

After two high school observations, one in the city and one in far, far south county (think Illinois), I got into the car at noon. A happy camper, as I’d seen two new, young teachers create and execute very strong lesson plans, my day got even better when I heard Mike Shannon and John Rooney announce a starting lineup.

What it is about baseball that the sound of even a spring training game lifts my spirits? I come by it naturally, I suppose, as both my Mom and Grandma are/were huge Cardinals fans. My 89 year old Mom knows not only the current players, but the young’uns down on the farm, as well. This picture was taken last year on Mother’s Day, when Jim and I roasted each of our baseball loving Moms in the hot afternoon sun. It was a great day–the Birds won, we all consumed ballpark dogs, and I could swear Albert hit one, although MLB does not confirm that memory. Can’t wait to get back into Busch this spring!

Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain is really a tough book to read after you’ve lost a good and faithful dog, but it’s strangely cathartic, too. Our Gracie dog succumbed to a brain tumor in December of 2011. There is nothing like being greeted with a wagging tale, wet nose, and unconditional love after a long day away from the nest. We still miss her every single day. Stein uses Enzo the terrier, loyal companion to race car driver Denny, as the narrator for his story. The book chronicles Denny’s charmed and troubled life through Enzo’s eyes. If you are a dog person, you will love this book. Enzo is a character who will linger in your mind, and when you pet your dog, I bet you’ll hear his voice.

After finishing Cutting for Stone, I wanted to plunge in to another book that would be engaging from chapter one and take me to a new place in the world. Almost with panic in my voice, I asked my dear friend Nancy for a recommendation. She immediately responded by suggesting The Sisters Brothers, which sounded intriguing to me until she mentioned that it was a western. I can honestly say that I’ve never, even once in my life, read a western. But Nancy was right (she always is); this is a great story.

Author Patrick deWitt uses an extremely intriguing voice for the narrator, and I was drawn in from the get go . Though the brothers are tough, murderous types, there is an awful lot of philosophical ruminating going on in the brain of brother Eli as he rides from job to job. deWitt analyzes some pretty heady topics with beautiful prose all of which is set against an expansive backdrop of the wild west during the Gold Rush. You won’t be sorry you read this one!

When Pacah was out of town last week, I went a bit crazy on the crafts. Well, not crazy for creative Pinterest types, but surely crazy for me. Inspired by the many design blogs I peruse, and emboldened by the fact that our refrigerator doesn’t do magnets, I felt a need to have a place to post pretty invitations, special notes, pictures, and keepsakes. These pinboards (I believe we used to call them bulletin boards) were incredibly easy to make. Open picture frames, a little chicken wire, some poster board, a yard of cute fabric and you’re done.

The bunny dance flashcards are an homage to the bunnies in front of the board who for years have looked to me like they are disco dancing. Some of the vintage Easter postcards are over a hundred years old, so I’m hesitant to take them out of their plastic slips. Is that like leaving cellophane on a brand new lampshade or covering your best sofa with plastic? What do you think? Should the plastic stay or go?

Doesn’t that sound like a drag of a book? I though so, too. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese was published in 2008, and though many friends raved about it at the time, I passed. The book synopsis often begins with, “Well, the story opens in an Ethiopian operating room in 1954…” and with that, many eyes glaze over. Verghese’s debut novel (he has authored two prior works of non-fiction) is anything but boring. It’s one of those well-written books that sweeps you into another world and causes you to lose sleep. I admit to reading at stoplights during certain segments of this one. I say parts of the novel captivated me more than others because there were stumbling blocks–saggy, overly wordy interludes describing medical procedure and bits of historical information that could have been presented more crisply. However, it was just what the doctor ordered for a gloomy week of reading in February.

 Social media is the new black, isn’t it? Even those who onced looked down their noses at these new forms of communication or perhaps harbored a fear of the unknown now embrace the power of this medium. Revolutions are started and overnight marketing sensations begin with one little Tweet or post on Facebook.

School districts wrestle with the impact of social media that comes along with open, BYOD policies. Several years ago, the school at which I taught stopped trying to ban cell phone use during the school day. I can’t begin to tell you what a difference it made to do hall duty and not have to nag at cell phone users to put away their devices. Casual hallway interactions with students became about 100% more positive. For the most part, students embrace the rule that it is okay to use their phones in the hallways, at lunch or during study periods, but not during a class. It is an authentic lesson taught and learned.

Many technology directors mourn the good old days when they had control over “the network.” Back then, they dictated  content on every machine in a bulding, adding software via a CD, entering a registration code and creating a school-wide standard. Now, many educators use Twitter and other web-based social media sites to communicate with students and parents, as well as for their own personalized professional development.. However, these sites are often blocked at school by the almighty filter.

Here is what I don’t understand–why is the filter used for a second grade classroom the same used for a tenth grade classroom? Should one size fit all? Why should a teacher have to ask permission to access any website on his or her computer? This happens all the time.

The filtering effort is obviously an attempt to keep students “safe” online.  The hazards of social media sites loom large. However, students are walking into classrooms with more computing power on their phones than an entire hallway of classrooms had only a few years ago. Isn’t this the ultimate teachable moment? Shouldn’t we teach teenagers to be both responsible and appropriate consumers and producers of digital infomation? Instead, we hide them behind a filter. What sense does that make when the filter can be  easily skirted by smartphones that reside in the majority of student backpacks?