We recently went on vacation. With three children under the age of ten. With a twelve hour drive—both ways.

This seemed like a good idea at the time, but as we closed in on the actual date, thinking about the drive made me think I’d had a major lapse in judgement. In order to ensure we all made it to the beach (and back), I was going to have to put a plan into place.

So we checked out 20 DVDs from the library. And downloaded a slew of free apps to our phones and iPads. But (weirdly) our kids get a bit sick of media after a while, so I needed to hatch a secondary plan.

Part two of my plan was to bring out one new entertaining thing every hour of the drive. Each hour I would unveil some thing they could fiddle with for at least fifteen minutes.

This seemed like a really great plan until I did a quick calculation of everything in my cart at Target, and I had a small heart attack. So part 2B of my plan was a challenge myself to find one thing to entertain three children each hour for a twelve hour drive, both ways, for under $100. (That’s 24 things, if you’re counting.)

I am proud to announce my victory, thanks to Target, Michael’s, and United Arts & Education. We’re back home, safe and sound, sanity intact.

Chris snapped this picture of me with his new iPhone 4. This is the photo, with not a bit of retouching, which only added fuel to the fire to my current internal debate. My point and shoot that I keep in my bag at all times bit the dust, so I was contemplating a new pocket camera. But with the new 5 megapixel camera, it makes me think maybe one device can serve two purposes. I’m all about having less stuff. But maybe I’m rationalizing.

See what all that fresh air does to a person?

When the very talented Erin of Inky Winke agreed to do a one week course, we happily jumped on board.

I’ll share a few photos of our classmate John putting his work on the press, and when we’ve had a chance to breathe, Tom and I will share what we’ve cobbled together.

If this is you, you’re not alone! We constantly have friends and family asking us how to adjust for low light or take a better-than-average portrait. A little know-how can get you a long way, so we’ve decided to put together a workshop for the person who’s ready to take the next step and start fiddling with the settings on their cameras.

In our three hours, we’ll cover:
- how your camera operates, including ISO, shutter speed and aperture
- composition and shooting techniques
- an overview of post-processing using Photoshop Elements

In order to ensure the quality of the experience, we’ll be limiting the class to 12 participants. We ask that you bring your camera and the accompanying manual to the workshop. Feel free to bring a laptop if you’d like to follow along during the Photoshop portion, but it is not required.

Saturday, June 26th, 1–4pm
The Wire & Twine Studio (Oxford, OH)
$30/person

Register online to reserve your spot. Hope to see you there!

In an informal poll of my teacher friends, they say you can’t miss with a gift card, so I tend to stick with that, but I feel it’s a bit underwhelming to simply hand over an envelope. So this year, I bought some inexpensive flowering plants and potted them in simple plastic containers. I used these envelopes (purchased at my local craft sore) to write a nice note, taped them to a colorful straw, and tucked a gift card in the envelope. For less than a dollar per gift, plus the cost of the card, I had gifts for all the fantastic educators in our lives.

Hooray for simple solutions!

Between the new chicks, the tadpoles we’re raising, the seedlings that are peeking their heads out of the soil, and the blossoms on the apple trees, it’s impossible to deny: spring has sprung.

Some interesting tidbits about chicks:

1. Much like human babies, they move in a continual cycle that is something like this: eat, sleep, poop, and peep. They seem to do each of these things for about 4.6 seconds at a time.

2. If you look closely at the second photo, the white dot on the chick’s beak is its “egg tooth” which helps it break through the egg shell when it hatches. As of this morning, most of them had already fallen off.

3. Baby chicks seem to have a bit of narcolepsy. They’ll be doing something, and then all of a sudden they sink to the ground and fall sound asleep. Apparently, this is quite normal, and is extremely entertaining to watch.

We’d like to think she’s resting somewhere peaceful now, in a perfect spot of sunshine, with a belly full of something delicious she just stole off the counter.

But the other thing we couldn’t live without? Our local library.

When the recession hit, it made most of us examine how we were living. As the headlines got gloomier, I looked around at our house, full of far too many things. I began to think how we could have the same rich experiences, but without acquiring as much and spending far less.

Which made me think about our library, which we frequented for story hour and occasional borrowing, but never really fully utilized. It’s just a tiny building, your standard red brick fare. No impressive columns or historical significance, it’s a bit like a geode. Rather unassuming on the outside, but you should really crack it open and see what’s inside.

We have three children. They often grow tired of things in short order. There are their cherished toys, books, and movies, but most other items are relegated to a dark corner after a few play sessions. But at the library there are countless books and DVDs to borrow. There’s even a huge selection of puzzles, stuffed animals, and puppets to check out. And after a week or so, when we’ve grown tired of them, we return them for someone else to use.

The inter-library loan is another phenomenon I find nearly as magical as the internet. If our library doesn’t have an item you need, another branch likely does. And if another branch doesn’t have it, they have connections to other bigger library systems. A few clicks and several days later, a bundle of things are waiting for me on the hold shelf, ready to be checked out. The other day I left the library with an 18″ mammoth puppet, a comprehensive book on felting, an obscure Japanese children’s movie, and the complete set of Elephant and Piggie books.

And once we find that perfect microscope for the kids this summer (suggestions welcome), I’ve heard rumors that I can check out slides of tissues and cells for study and examination.

So that little red basket that sits in our hallway? Quite possibly the best used real estate in our house these days. Hooray for the library!