Contents of my purse

I just cleaned out my purse, looking for a scrap of paper with a phone number on it. Of course I didn't find what I needed. I did find lots of interesting things that tell about me:
- Lots of receipts for groceries, gas, clothes, and two from gardening centers
- Lots of pens- that's where they all went!
- A purple plastic "locker" that was a kid's meal surprise when we were in California
- Fruit snacks and fruit leather wrappers, and one fruit leather for emergencies (hungry child and/or mom)
- Gift certificates for various local businesses from the summer reading program
-Book lists on "Fractured Fairytales" and "Historical Fiction" with books starred for me to get next time I'm at the library
- Notes from an awesome workshop that I went to today by the Storycrafters- professional storytellers. I love storytelling!! I wish I could have gone to their free show tonight at the library.
- Half of a broken tea cup
- My BYU contract
- Business cards from people I have met as Utah Young Mother of the Year.

That's all I can remember right now. I did find my wallet down there, too, and that lost chapstick I'm always trying to find. : >

What can you tell about me from this list?

A typical day

I just can't seem to keep up with keeping the house clean and taking care of the yard these days. I've never been a great fan of housework, but my house is a mess now. I wanted to write about what I did today, which seems like a fairly typical day, to see what I'm doing. I know I could get up earlier or stay up later (or not work on my blog) to clean the house, but I just don't have it in me.
Here's my day:

• Got to sleep in until 7:30. Was woken by a little girl climbing in bed with me and saying "Mamma, I'm hungry". Stretched it out to about 5 more minutes snuggling, then got out of bed to fix her breakfast.

• Did dishes, cleaned up kitchen with plan to mop and vacuum floors today.

• Read stories to Ginny instead

• Helped her do her "Rusty and Rosy" reading program on computer while cinnamon rolls baked (I love the Mrs.Rhodes frozen cinnamon rolls- take them out of the freezer, put a few on a pan, put in oven, turn on oven to 350, bake for 30 minutes. Yum!)

• Watched G jump on neighbor's tramp, got to know neighbor's Mom better as we talked

• Went grocery shopping with my little helper. On the way, she wanted me to read her a book about fish. She would say "What's this, Mama", then hold up the book so I could look at the page in the rearview mirror. Learned about frogfish. Talked about different kinds of camouflage with fish, animals and people (we've read a book the other day about a little girl's mother who was in the military and we started talking about camouflage then)

• Was Horton the Elephant's voice as we drove home. Had to respond to Ginny's questions and comments as she held her little stuffed Horton in the back. Got a lot of mileage with Horton putting his trunk in G's water bottle and pretending to squirt himself and G because they were hot.
• Unloaded groceries. Had to clean out fridge of old food to make room for new food. G kept begging me to cut up watermelon we had jsut bought. She cried when I told her we were saving it for dinner
• Made french bread sandwiches for dinner and snacked on bread and lunchmeat as we went. Finished lunch outside on porch.
• Weeded the flowerbeds as Ginny and friends played in the pool.
  
• Caught up on e-mails and registered for a class while G played with friends inside. I also worked on my Laptime on bugs for my storytime at the library tomorrow. Tried to ignore the mess they were making in her room, and checked on them when I heard large thumps coming from room. No one was damaged or injured, though.
  
• Coaxed children outside with Otter Pops. Love those!!! Watched Ginny play a bit while I talked with neighbors
• Delivered dinner to another neighbor
• Finally cut up watermelon. Ginny ate it as fast as I could cut it and shared it with several neighborhood children as far as I could tell. She kept coming in claiming that her friends needed a little taste
• Had a picnic on the lawn with Ginny and Matt
• Got to lie in Matt's lap and relax briefly. We reminisced how we used to do that for hours when we were dating and gaze into each other's eyes. Matt fed me chips and watermelon. Then Ginny plopped down on my stomach, leaned back and opened her mouth. Matt fed her, too.
• Had to have Matt help me up from prone position. Not as young and spry as I was when we were dating. : >
• Cleared up picnic, managed to knock down three things in kitchen after only taking 10 steps into the room.
  
• My dear husband took pity on me. He put Ginny in the bath, made the bed ( I took the sheets off to wash this morning, but never got around to making the bed up again), and bustled around. I sat on the couch, ate mint and brownie ice cream and left a message for my sister.
• Read 1st chapter of Glenn Latham's "Power of Positive Parenting" in preparation for my parenting group that I am starting. 1st meeting is Thursday at my house. I'm excited to learn from awesome parents!
• Snuggled with G, ignored her insistence that she can't sleep. Turned on quiet music, she was out in about 5 minutes.
• Phew! Now here I am. I still need to finalize my laptime presentation tomorrow (anyone know the words to "Ugly Bug Ball"?) . I should mop floor and clean kitchen. Should, not sure if I'll make it, though

This is a fairly typical day, too!

Daddy and Daughter bonding

I'm still here. Just been spending so much time outside lately, getting my yard and garden going, that I haven't had much time to blog. But I had to write about this.
My husband loves to play games- especially Magic, the Gathering, and computer games of world domination like Civilization. A year ago, he came home with some cards for Ginny. They were cards of horses for the game "BellaSera". You buy the cards that unlock games you can play on their website. You can take care of your horses, play games, earn points, and "buy" things for your horses.
This is one of their bonding things they do together. Last night I had to go somewhere, and Matt was supposed to put Ginny to bed early since she was grumpy from not having enough sleep the night before. As I was leaving, I heard him say "We have to play "Magic Match" one more time". I came downstairs to say goodbye and found G sitting on her Daddy's lap, playing on the computer with him.
"Magic Match" is a game where there are about 10 differently wrapped presents on the screen. When you click on a present, a little toy appears. You have 5 tries to find the three toys that are the same.
Apparently Ginny is really good at it. She seems to know which presents have the matches in them. Matt claims she wins often, and he never does! He's a proud father!
Anyway, I just think it's cute to watch them playing their special game together.

Ace of Cakes

Ginny has been in a creative mood lately. She had been making cakes in many different forms and with different ingredients. She usually makes them when I'm busy doing something else, though. I try to look past the mess and focus on the relationship. That means not sending her to time out like I want to. Instead, I check out her creation and her excitement, then help her clean up the mess. Children, clothes, and kitchens can be cleaned. and cleaned, and cleaned. : >




I came upstairs to find she had gotten into the flour. She had flour, water and an egg in here, all stirred up. I wish I were a good enough cook to take what she had and make a real cake. But we just got out a cake mix and made a chocolate cake to eat.














Her sweeping skills are really improving. : >

















This week she has been into making mud cakes. Here is one of her masterpieces in her toy wheelbarrow. At least she ses the finest ingredients. The dirt is prime "Black Gold" soil from our city compost which we spread all over our flower beds and garden.
Any tips on getting mud out of clothes?


Nothing like a bubble bath to get all cleaned up. Especially after eating a chocolate ice cream cone.

Som Tum

Not sure if that's how you spell it, but we made it. This is my husband's favorite Thai dish and he decided to make it. He bought all the ingredients and special tools. It is a spicy shredded papaya salad. He made it with only 5 peppers instead of the 8 it called for. He claims it was too mild, but I thought it was plenty hot. Had to capture my hubby and daughter in the kitchen, cooking together. Here are some pictures.

Matt checks out the papaya to make sure it is good. We discovered we need the green unripe papayas instead of the huge pink ones.














Ginny took this picture of the garlic and peppers being smashed together. I wish you could smell it. Yum!


















Ginny helps shred the papaya.






M and G add the finishing touches to the salad.

I was on the news!!

I got a call from my brother-in-law Aaron on Sunday night. He said he got a call from a local news channel wanting to interview me as Utah Young Mother of the Year. I contacted Channel 4 news, and they sent a reporter and camera man to Provo. Luckily I was at my sister-in-law, Keli's, house, so they filmed me and Ginny and a niece and nephew in her beautiful backyard. I was impressed that they finished interviewing me at about 8:30, then turned around and had a piece ready for the 10:00 news that night. I'm excited that they focused on the adoption angle. Maybe this will help us find our next child!

Newspaper Article

There was an article in the Daily Herald newspaper about me and my family on Mother's Day. Here's a copy of the text. They sent a photographer over who took lots of pictures. I am trying to get my scanner to work so I can post the pictures that were in the paper. This article is about Karmel Larsen, the President of our American Mothers Chapter, who was just crowned Mrs. Utah and Dixie Clifford, the Utah Mother of the Year. Here's the part about me:

¬

Danielle Kennington -- Utah Young Mother of the Year

Age: 37

Lives in: Provo

Married to: Matthew

Hobbies: Singing, reading, teaching, volunteer storyteller at Orem Public Library

Recently read: "My Antonia" by Willa Cather

Don't get your mother a box of chocolates or an heirloom sewing table for Mother's Day. Not that those are bad gifts. Danielle Kennington, a mother of one child (4-year-old Ginny), just thinks that there are more meaningful ways to let Mom know that you care about her. "I don't think you need to buy fancy presents," she said. "Mothers just want you to spend time with them."

Kennington, who has degrees from Brigham Young University (in education) and Utah State University (special needs education), suggested a letter or phone call if your mother lives too far away to be visited. And you should feel free to share the love.

Kennington, who was born in Massachusetts, said that you can also use Mother's Day to recognize women who have had a "good mothering influence on you" -- on a recent Mother's Day, she did that herself, writing letters to two of the mother figures in her life.

Kennington's parents divorced when she was young, and she said that she mostly learned about mothering from the example of her stepmother. "I think she taught me that being a mother is enjoyable," Kennington said. "To enjoy the little moments and different stages of your child's life."

Since becoming a mother herself through adoption, Kennington said, the hardest thing about motherhood has been learning how to manage her time. "You have to give up your time and give up some of the things that you want to do right now to take care of your children," she said. "I love to read to my daughter, but sometimes I just want to read my novels. I've had to learn that during the day is her reading time."

Kennington said she thinks a mother's most important role is to teach her children, including being aware of what your children are picking up from your example. "It's just amazing to me," she said, "how much my daughter is always asking questions and remembering what I say."

One of her favorite Mother's Day experiences is something she wishes she could share with other young mothers. Being the Utah Young Mother of the Year, she said, has made her whole life feel like Mother's Day for a couple of months now. "I wish every mother could have that kind of affirmation," she said.