April 22nd: The day my father was born 69 years ago. Also, Earth Day. So there have been quite a few emotions flying through my heart this weekend and I needed to channel them by spending time with mother nature and teaching my children all about her. 

This weekend we planted flowers and a blueberry plant (and have no idea if she will even grow in a planter since I have zero green thumbs and seem to kill every plant and vegetable ever entrusted to me to thrive). 

We also had water gun fights, looked for lady bugs and spiders, and made tambourines out of cheerios, quinoa, paper plates, and washable paint. 

We took a walk down to the neighborhood pond and looked for ducks and other birds. We saw a piece of trash in the pond and talked about "pollution" and how it's bad for the Earth. Veda kept picking up branches and sticks and asking me if it was "part of the environment" so she could leave it as opposed to picking it up and putting it in the trash. She also told me that she loved this one tree and couldn't stop hugging it. 

We needed to plant some wildflowers on our hill and of course kids love dirt so we let them go to town. 

We ended our day with some sidewalk chalk, a walk down to another neighbor's house for a quick hang out, then grilled salmon and snow peas. I thought about my dad a lot, how I wanted to so badly go buy a package of oreos and eat them with the kids, taping the whole thing to send to him. I thought about how much he loved nature, his pond, his property....how my most favorite memories as a child involved dirt, and climbing trees, and running in the yard for hours pretending I was a super hero or a "prairie girl" (think "Little House on The Prairie"). These are the memories I want for my children. 

I hope you all had a great Earth Day, that you did something with/for Mother Nature, whether it was March for Science, or mowed your grass, picked up trash, or enjoyed a simple walk in your neighborhood. May we strive to remember that every day is Earth Day and we need to give back to that which sustains and provides for us. 

Andrea