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A Literary Loss: Jan Berenstain

On Friday, the literary world lost one of the twentieth century's best-loved children's authors: sadly, ?Jan Berenstain, co-creator of the Berenstain Bears with her husband Stan, died on February 24th at the age of 88?(story here).??

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We grew up on the Berenstain Bears.... ?The Spooky Old Tree?creeped me out as a child, yet I couldn't put it down -?oh! the delicious, electrifying,?terrifyingexcitement!?And that silly Papa Bear, he couldn't get a?thing right in?The Bike Lesson... or in?The Bears' Picnic... or in?The Bears' Vacation.... in fact, did he ever do?anything?right???

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Inside, Outside, Upside Down?was one of the first books I read to my boys. I remember sitting each?of them on my lap as I turned the pages and read it aloud - they loved the rhythm of the story. In fact,?Berenstain Bears books are as much a go-to favorite for my children as they were for me & my brother when we were kids. In addition to my favourites listed above, my boys also like?The Berenstain Bears and the Missing Dinosaur Bone?- that sneaky ol' pup!

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I would be shocked -?shocked - READ MORE:?http://stjohnsmom.blogspot.com/2012/02/literary-loss-jan-berenstain.html?showComment=1330444609087#c4955960708653471982

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On Friday it started snowing and snowing and snowing! On Saturday, we cancelled all of our plans and decided it was going to be a snow day. Here's a photo journal of how we made the most of a very snowy day....

http://thedeliberatemom.blogspot.com/2012/02/snowed-in.html

When you think of qualities you would like to see in your child you may think of empathy, kindness, gentleness, or politeness. But there are some attributes that are often underappreciated or even discouraged. I thought I would share a few of these qualities with hopes to dispel some of the negative attitudes surrounding them....

http://thedeliberatemom.blogspot.com/2012/02/characteristics-in-children-that-are.html

1.  I hate feet!

2. I love Pickles with a passion, and not just cuz I am prego! I love them all the time and all different kinds, except olives!

3. I honestly have a potty mouth also, like Kat! 

Before you think I'm being clever or funny, I just want to clarify, this posting really is all about poop. So if the topic disgusts you or you're just about to eat meatloaf covered with brown gravy, perhaps this isn't the best posting for you to be reading right now.

Since that's out of the way, let's talk poop....

http://thedeliberatemom.blogspot.com/2012/02/this-posting-is-all-about-poop.html

100 postcards... 100 invitations to send a message. What message would you share if you had the chance to have your voice heard... anonymously? 

http://thedeliberatemom.blogspot.com/2012/02/postcard-5.html 
 

Because hair doesn’t grow on steel.

Obviously.

It’s a well known fact that I would drop Shawn in a heartbeat if Chuck Norris said:

“Hey Kim, there’s an open spot on my beard. It has your name on it.”

Don't question our awesomeness or my photoshop skills. We will kill you for a cookie.

I love the shit out of that man.

Want to know how the obsession came about?

You’ll just have to head on over to Alison’s blog Mama Wants This to find out.

I know that you’re dying to know.

I see her looking out the window.

The glass fogs up with every exhale.

I'm watching her... as I so often do.

She is my daughter yet she's so much more. She is my window to youth, to mystery, to seeing the world in a different light.

How could such a little person teach me so much?

http://thedeliberatemom.blogspot.com/2012/02/snowflakes.html

The scene is not new. I'm standing in the front entrance watching my four-year-old daughter struggle with her winter boots.

"I can't do it!"

I offer to help.

"NO!" she shouts at me, "I want to do it myself!"

"But you just said you can't do it." I retort, hoping that this little verbal nudge will motivate her to put her boots on.

She might be tired, or perhaps she's frustrated, or maybe she's looking for some control. Regardless, the issue is not that she can't put her boots on. She actually can. She's done it over one hundred times before....

http://thedeliberatemom.blogspot.com/2012/02/giving-boot-to-you-can-do-it.html

I bawled my eyes out while handing in Chunky’s Junior Kindergarten registration forms.

“Are you ready?” Shawn asked when the car came to a halt in the parking lot.

I looked down at my hands that had a firm hold on the forms I procrastinated to fill then gave Shawn a nod.

“I don’t want to go in there!” Chunky shouted from the backseat.

“But it’ll be so much fun,” Shawn reassured him.

He huffed as his feet hit the wet pavement and Shawn grabbed his hand tightly.

I just stood there watching them walk to the big blue doors that held a new world for Chunky.

My boy.

My baby.

My little shadow.

Is growing up.

You can read more at All Work And No Play Makes Mommy Go Something Something