Watch out world… there’s a new “Nice Kid” in town, and her name is Peyton!  Always ready for her closeup, Peyton was caught flashing her adorable smile while relaxing with one of her favorite books.  On any given day, you can catch little miss Peyton laughing, playing, and making new friends.  Mom and dad have also noticed Peyton’s love of great music, including some of their old favorites.  With such a pleasant disposition, Peyton is definitely singing our tune!

Have a wonderful Mother’s Day and definitely let us know what you think about Le Petit Marche!

Before I became a mother, I had lots of preconceived notions of how motherhood would be.  I’m the oldest of four children and have always been the mother hen.  Almost every mother will get a chuckle out of this (or perhaps a full belly laugh), but I mistakenly thought that I had… wait for it… helped “raise” my brothers, simply because I helped my parents with babysitting and potty-training.  I now know that my logic was anything but logical.  This probably explains why I wasn’t nervous during my first pregnancy – ignorance is always bliss.  I had so many expectations of myself and others.  The schedule, the organization, the discipline, the perfectly groomed children… well, most of you know how this story ends.  We were discharged from the hospital, and rubber met the road.  Friendships changed or were lost completely, spare time was equally as elusive as sleep, my body was replaced by that of someone I didn’t even know, and to top it off – I became the lady with the screaming baby in the grocery store that I once judged with every ounce of my single, childless wisdom.

Whether you stay at home or work outside of the home, being a mother is hard work.  Is it possible to create an atmosphere with plenty of structure, organization, discipline, and great grooming habits?  Absolutely, but it is indeed hard work!  Before a mom, single or married, can make any of those things happen, the vision must be there.  Who the heck has time to focus on a vision?  But that’s the thing about mothers, we’re so busy ‘doing’ that we don’t realize that the vision is always there driving us to do the best for our children.  Yes, fathers are great and an indispensible part of the family unit, but their day is in June… so, we’ll get back to them later. 

Believe it or not, I have gained my footing, and have grown more comfortable in my mommy-skin.  However, I still consider it a major victory on the days when everyone in the house has bathed.  As we begin our countdown to Mother’s Day, reflect on all the mothers in your life and appreciate them.  Some moms make greatness look easy, but in their case, perception is surely not reality.

Once upon a time, when companies were focused on green, you could be sure they were intent on growing their bottom line.  These days, the bottom line is still important, but the social responsibility of preserving the earth’s resources has now provided a greener layer of depth.

Bella Flowers Books is committed to maintaining a reciprocal relationship with the Earth, by only taking what we need and replenishing what we’ve taken.  Our first book, Nice to be Nice^©, features many vibrant colors, but green may be the most important shown in our array.  The books are printed using vegetable-based ink on 30% recycled paper, PLUS we’ve planted a tree for every book printed through a partnership with environmental group Eco-Libris. 

As creator and Executive Editor of the Bella Flowers Books imprint, I am certainly proud to offer something rooted in goodness to inspire just that.  Our books are a gift to the universe, as we are so grateful for what we have received.   We hope that you will enjoy our books for many years to come! 

Happy Earth Day!

Tamika Jones Longino

This week, we’re celebrating Earth Day by continuing to grow environmental awareness and preserve our most precious natural resources.  With that in mind, it’s never too late (or early) to introduce your children to the concept of going green, so we’ve provided a few simple Dos and Don’ts to help you get started:

1. Don’t be intimidated. You don’t have to know everything about saving the environment in order to get involved.  Get your children started by doing something simple yet helpful, like discarding their trash appropriately in public places.
2. Do make it a family affair. Take on a fun family project, like planting an indoor herb garden, refurbishing an old piece of furniture, or collecting old magazines from around the house and donating them to a home for seniors.  For craft project ideas, we like http://www.countryliving.com/crafts/projects/green-crafts-0309.
3. Don’t take the all or nothing approach.  So, you drive an SUV.  Don’t abandon green efforts, because of the size of your gas tank.  Stay on top of your vehicle’s emissions and find other ways to give back to the earth, like buying sustainable books and products.

My husband is a pretty nice guy, and I, seeker of all things kind and mutually respectful, find ‘nice’ as more of a mission than an adjective.  So by simple equation, nice guy + nice girl = nice kids should compute… right?  Isn’t the fruit supposed to fall close to the tree?  I can’t be the only one that grew up thinking the children of teachers and preachers were supposed to be a shiny reflection of their parents.  Of course, that myth was dispelled many moons ago, along with tales of dragons, unicorns, and pots of gold at the end of rainbows. 

Name-calling is definitely a no-no around our house, so I was a little shocked to learn of my daughter’s unfortunate behavior.  The thought of my child being responsible for hurting someone else is a very hard pill to swallow.  So, to get to the bottom of what drove my daughter to take leave of her senses, I was forced to get over myself and have a meaningful conversation with my daughter.  I’m still not sure she really gets it, but at least the seed has been planted.  I’ll just have to do my best to continue cultivating the message.  My kids are pretty good kids, so I don’t want to make them out to be schoolyard bullies.  However, at 5 and 2, they’re still learning the ins and outs of the Golden Rule.  It’s just a shame that this time came at the expense of another.  Luckily in this case, the kids were able to move on pretty quickly.  Crisis averted, I hope.

Picture it… my friend and I, on a beach in Somewhere, USA sneaking a margarita while checking out a couple of hot guys, hoping not to be discovered (well, only the margaritas).  Right on cue, a half-naked boy runs up and gets sand all over us, and he’s laughing!  I think, “Where are his parents? This kid is out of control!”.  Then I remember, this kid belongs to me and one of those hot guys I was checking out.  Though I’m sitting next to my best friend from high school, this is certainly different from any kind of spring break from our past.  There are a few similarities, sneaking drinks on the beach and checking out hot guys.  But now,  we don’t finish our drinks or our conversations.  Next to our weakly spiked margaritas are juice boxes, crackers, cheese, and shrimp.   Those hot guys… our husbands, are having an exciting conversation about amortization schedules, interest rates, and taxes.  The only seniors on this private beach are well past needing a parent’s permission to indulge in a “wild” getaway with friends.  My, how times have changed. 

Each morning, we plan our day, which we promise will end with exhausted children and laughing adults.  Of course, the day actually ends with laughing children and deliriously exhausted adults.  How’d that happen?  Gluttons for punishment, we return to the beach, earlier each day.  The kids have sand EVERYWHERE, eyes, hair, you name it… they’ve got sand in, on, or around it.  My daughter announces, “I never want to leave, I want to live on the beach forever!”.  To say the kids are happy is an understatement.  As they argue over their favorite bucket and/or shovel and hide shells from one another, the kids are downright jubilant.  And our husbands couldn’t be more content discussing ways to save and grow our money.  When my friend and I were high school sophomores, I doubt this was the type of spring break that either of us ever imagined, which literally makes me laugh out loud.  We dole out snacks and referee fights over hidden sea shells, as our drinks and conversations continue to be interrupted.  I can’t help but think that this is spring break… new and improved.

Is there a better way to honor the Emerald Isle than to do something that will help preserve our environment?  I’ll be the first to admit that I am no Leo DiCaprio, but I do what I can.  So, if we’re measuring our collective environmental conscience in shades of green, then maybe you’re light green… so light that you’re barely green, greenish if you will.  Even the most overzealous St. Patty’s Day pincher will tell you that light green still counts.

 In the world of crayons, lots of light green equals lots of light green.  Lucky for us, lots of light green or greenish efforts equal lots of benefits, from more money in your pockets to better air to breathe for us all.  For more information on our green efforts, as well as simple ways to go green as a family read a few of my earlier posts, just go to http://bellaflowersbooks.com/?cat=1.

Being the great mom that I am, I forgot to order my daughter’s lunch for February and March.  Today was pizza day, and I kept imagining my daughter eating a turkey sandwich while drooling over everyone else’s lunch.  So, to make up for my “greatness”, I decided to pick up pizza and have lunch with my daughter and her class.  On my way to pick up the pizza, I… wait for it… ran out of gas.  Before you judge me, the fuel gage in my car stopped working recently, so I wasn’t trying to eek by on fumes. 

Anyway, it was cloudy and raining, and the nearest gas station was about 3-4 blocks away.  We have roadside assistance, but time was of the essence… I could see the drool slowly falling from my daughter’s lips, the tears starting to pool in her eyes, and the pizza guy tossing my order in the trash while blackballing me from their customer registry.  So, I did what any frustrated, delusional mother would do in my situation, I decided to take matters into my own hands.  Luckily, my car stopped in front of an auto parts store, so I was able to pick up a gas can.  Then, I embarked on my journey to the gas station.  I didn’t start out cold, but certainly ended up that way, as I wasn’t really wearing a coat and the rain didn’t help.  Right now, you’re probably thinking, “I thought she mentioned something about a ray of sunshine”.  Well, if you know me, then you also know there’s always a story. 

Almost on cue, a seemingly nice stranger pulled up in a non-descript white van and offered me a ride.  Awww, how sweet of him!  Well, that’s not exactly what I thought.  Actually, I thought about Adam Walsh and Lacey Peterson, as well as my own children, and declined his very generous offer.  Before you applaud my sense of safety, I did accept a ride from another stranger, a woman.  I was a lot colder and discovered that my boots weren’t really made for walkin’, so I said a quick prayer and took a leap of faith.  Obviously, I lived to tell about it.  Heather, a real-life good samaritan, was so sweet and normal (thank God!).  Turns out, a stranger had helped her when she found herself in the same situation recently, so she was just paying it forward.  I missed lunch with my daughter, but was blessed all the same.  In a world where it seems that no one can be trusted, it was shockingly refreshing to be able to trust a stranger… perhaps for the first time since I was about 8 years old.  Thanks Heather!  The moral of the story is not that it’s ok to talk to strangers (usually not a very smart or safe choice), but rather that blessings can be found in the most unlikely places, like the hearts of our neighbors.