Doing for a Friend

Last June a good friend of mine lost her baby boy on his two week birthday.  There are no answers to what went wrong, and nothing that could possibly make this easier for her and her family, but yesterday we gave her a gift of love that hopefully helps.

Jocelyn and I and many of our friends created a beautiful butterfly garden in her yard, in memory of her baby boy.  It was a lot of work, but we are so happy with how it came out.  It is full of butterfly attracting plants, and it has a kid painted butterfly house, a memorial stone and a butterfly shaped stone that my friend made with her son.  It's full of memories and beautiful things.  I hope it brings her joy for many years to come.

We had a few surprises.  First Jocelyn and I got caterpillars that we watched become butterflies.  We planned to release them once the garden was finished, and it turned out to be the perfect plan!

In their crystalis

Feeding them sugar water

The kids came over a couple weeks ago to paint the butterfly house.

Anxious for freedom!

The garden took lots of helpers, including the kids.  We discovered that pulling out grass, dealing with good old Maryland clay, and lots and lots of rock, was hard work!  It took longer than we thought, but we went from this...

To this...






To this...

Notice the giant pile of rocks we dug out

To the final, beautiful product.

Jocelyn and I had a long talk last night about charity.  Each week when she gets her allowance $1 of her money gets saved for charity.  It's important to me that she understands that charity is about doing for others.  Often it's about giving to the less fortunate, but yesterday it was about making a good friend smile.  I feel really good about what we did yesterday.  It was something good that could be made from something so sad.  In memory of a precious little boy.

More School Fun

The Co-op preschool set up is so much fun.  I continue to love how much I can be involved with Jocelyn at school and here are a few reasons why.

Last week I went with Jocelyn on her very first bus ride.  The kids all got to go to the Science Center, but the real event was the trip.  I loved being able to share Jocelyn's first bus riding experience with her.

Then came the springtime Easter Egg Fun!  Now we can't call it Easter, so it's just an Egg Hunt, but who cares.  The kids had fun!

In class they made their own Bunny buckets, and then they tore around the playground to collect eggs.  So much fun!  And yes, again, I got to be a part of it.

The last few weeks of preschool are ticking down.  It's over the 3rd week in May and I can't believe it!  The time has gone by so fast!!  Jocelyn has learned so much, it's amazing to see the changes in her.  I think we will both be very sad when the year is over and we have to say goodbye.  I don't want to think about it.  I plan to enjoy every last minute of these last weeks, and celebrate Jocelyn's accomplishments every step of the way.