• Saturday, 5 of us joined lots of other great folks and families at the Second Saturday Spruce-Up event at White RockLake (i.e. Mommy Manders, Ellie and MJ Manders, Drew, my teenage helper, and one loving grandmother!) God smiled on us with cloudy, misty, cooler weather, and it was a delightful morning. My kids were super-excited about the free T-shirts, donuts, and chocolate milk, which they enjoyed while
  

  MJ's trash treasures

  perusing the shelves of interesting “treasures” found over the years at the lake. I was thankful for some outdoor time with the kids for a change. I explained how important the de-littering work was to protect the animals in and around the lake, and MJ obviously got the message, as he kept saying that the ducks were quacking their thanks to him. Ellie helped me spot trash with her “sharp eyes” from up in Mommy’s great Ergo backpack.  Both enjoyed a little break at a playground where MJ found some very special Christmas treasures which he has

  

  enjoying popsicles at the park

  proudly displayed on his own shelf. That afternoon we drove across town to Preston Hollow Park to collect “Pennies for Parks”, and raised $36 and change for the

  

  dry ice experiment

  Dallas Parks Foundation (hey, that’s enough to fix a swing or paint a bench!)  Nobody showed up for the event, but MJ got the folks who were at the park anyway to donate, and we shared popsicles with them in return. He certainly got lots of salesmanship and leadership training through these activities! Then, we had scientific fun at home with the dry ice from the cooler. 

• Sunday, Daddy and Michael James cooked a delicious shrimp dinner and a chocolate cake for GareBear’s birthday dinner! MJ had selected and studied this particular Julia Child recipe from her DVD for
  

  Julia Child's "Queen of Sheba Chocolate Cake"

  several days in preparation. We made enough of the meal to take some to our neighbors down the street, too. (Their 2-year-old son was headed to the hospital Monday for his monthly chemo treatment, so we knew they’d appreciate the meal.) Michael James also created his own “chocolate broth” recipe on the stove which he was eager for all of us to taste at the table. It included a wide variety of distinct flavors like cocoa powder, lime zest, sea salt, vanilla, almond extract, water, honey, though somehow NOT the shrimp shells (Thank God!). Needless to say, the chocolate broth was not the best part of the meal from a taste perspective, but still a good learning/ giving/ sharing experience.

• Monday was the Lemonade Stand for Alex’s Lemonade (Childhood Cancer Research). Michelle Chase of “Wee Volunteer” and her two lovely assistants (daughters Mae and Marie Claire) set up a beautiful stand Monday evening at Northaven Gardens in North Dallas. Michael James and I set up a stand just down the street during what had to have been the hottest part of the day, 4:30-6:30, and God sent no clouds or rain this time….nor did God send an afternoon nap for MJ in preparation for our task. Oh well, we did our hot and tired best. Just when I thought we wouldn’t be able to handle the task alone (sleepy MJ more interested in playing in the dirt in the shade than flagging down cars in the sun, and drivers not quite compelled to stop for a grown woman’s lemonade stand), a faithful Mommy showed up with her 2 sons to help. Julian, an energetic 5-year-old even brought his own homemade poster and lemonade, and baby Conor smiled and waved from his stroller! Then neighbor Sam (4) came along to assist, and with yellow balloon hats, posters, charming smiles, and shouting voices, these 3 big boys persuaded many drivers to slow down or even turn around and stop. (They also were excellent “quality control” taste-testers, and later were just a little distracted by a new game – toss the lemons up into the tree and see if we can knock any branches down!) Later, Sam’s little brother Cooper (2) came out to enjoy some lemonade, not understanding we had dedicated our stand to him, to honor his brave and ongoing fight against leukemia.  We raised a total of $231 at our 2 stands in Dallas, and $110 online.

Sam and Cooper

• “Turn off the lights Tuesday” NO DRIVING+NO LIGHTS+NO BATH=FUN AT HOME FOR THE EARTH!
  Who’s idea was this to stay home with the kids ALL day???  (Okay, so D cheated a little and ran an errand with MJ to get him out of the house a bit.) But we did keep the lights off all day, cooking in the dark, discovering just how much natural light we get by opening all of the blinds, dining by candlelight. The kids liked it so much that it might just become a tradition. (At least it will help us think more about energy conservation every day.) One HP family spent part of the day boxing up some old clothes to give away, and also returned a lost dog to the neighbors in the spirit of “Good Deeds Week”. Here’s what another mommy had to say on Facebook about the day:

Ok. So, we had to drive to pick up our organic co-op produce this morning, but I figure the fact that we buy and use organic fruits and veggies off-sets the fuel emissions. We spent the rest of the day painting, studying viscosity with water and corn syrup (thank you Lab at Lakewood!!) and eating cookies and popsicles (and of course, our organic fruits and veggies!). We turned our thermostats to 78 degrees, but have used lights tonight:( But NO BATHS!! until tomorrow!:)