Community Service

Each year, every advisory at MMU spends a half of a day doing community service.  One of my senior advisory members has invited us to help her family out at the dairy farm they have in Jericho.  It's one of the only working dairy farms in Jericho and they are a family that has gone through a lot of hardships in the last year and a half.  Clarissa lost her brother to a car accident and months later her dad was diagnosed with cancer.

We went to the farm last year and it was clear to me that many high school students have no understanding of what it means to help others in their community.  We stacked about four cords of wood for the family (they go through 25 cords a winter) and I was also shocked by how little some of my students do in terms of physical labor.  There were strong boys who appeared to have never lifted more than a pen or a computer.

I want Cally and Hazen to understand how important it is to be a part of a community and give to it.

We had a great time stacking wood, weeding, and feeding the baby cows.  The big kids were so nice to the kids, including Zac, who is a 20 year old boy with down syndrome who participates in my advisory.

It seems fitting to add Auntie Cara's birthday to our post about community service.  Cara and Tom are amazing people who do wonderful things for the world through their work.  They make the world a better place.  Here's to role models and opportunities that give these guys a sense of worth and helpfulness.

Mother's Day

This year I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend.  It began with John and me taking another "personal day" to mountain bike in the Northeast Kingdom.  This is our favorite place to ride and where we got engaged, so it was an extra special day.

It was a truly perfect day of riding.  I think it got up to 80 degrees, the trails were bone dry, and there weren't all that many people there.

The rest of the weekend was spent doing yard work with the kids, getting alpaca poop for the garden, and planting some seeds.

And, of course, John treated me to a lovely morning with eggs benedict, fresh donuts from Poor House Pies, and even some lovely gifts (even this cutie dress).

Being a mother is such a blast.  These guys are more and more fun every day.  They certainly aren't "easy", but they warm me with love every single day.  Most importantly, they make me so, so proud.  to be their mama.  They are funny, smart, thoughtful, and pretty darn adorable.  On this mother's day I feel so incredibly lucky.

May!

Every year when we get back from spring break, John jumps right into the end of year count down.  Our favorite event is the end of year picnic for the Outing Club at High Meadow.  It's so fun to see the kids interact with the college kids and wonderful to see everyone appreciating such a gorgeous spot.

This year the kids were super fired up to collect frog eggs.

We are very lucky to have so many wonderful role models for our kids.  They are so spirited, kind and fun-loving with our kids.

And it's always fun to have friends over for dinner and smores afterwards.

Hosting the Outing Club end of year picnic at High Meadow, gives us an excuse to go back the next day for some more adventures.  After picking up, we went for a hike and found an owl pellet which was fun to dissect.