We were taking the twins on vacation and I was franticly making lists, organizing items, and wondering how I could best recreate their near-to-perfect nighttime routine so far away from home. For at home, we were blessed with an easy and tear-free bedtime, at the same time, seven-thirty every night.

For our (Ok, my own) survival the first years, I constructed a veritable fortress of routines, schedules, familiar items, playlists, flavors, aromas and sceneries. Their lives were choreographed like a Disney sponsored Broadway play, and even in that script, storms raged and meltdowns ensued. But I had a scaffold of sameness that I held us up with and leaned on when times got tough. Sameness was a shelter, a shell that kept us humming happily down to nod at the end of every day.

Still in cribs, but destined to stay in big beds on this trip, their crib toys had one by one gone the way of burned out motors. I’d utilized them to create a sense of familiarity when we stayed at my mothers, the only other place they had spent a night. I searched the internet for something similar, something fun that would last as they got a little older, and there it was, Twilight Turtle.

Turtles seem protected to me, self-sufficient, and calm. Perhaps that is why I have always been drawn to them, a totem of my youth, constantly telling myself to “slow down” while I carried a satchel filled with whatever I would need if I became lost to my home, adrift in the world on some grand adventure.

This little guy (I haven’t asked my kids what gender it is, so I will just defer to the masculine since he seems like a “little guy” to me), casts a starry night sky with eight constellations onto the ceiling, in a choice of three colors: orange, blue or green. He shuts off after 45 minutes, and he makes three AAA batteries feel like it’s the good old days when batteries actually lasted, or perhaps I was just young then and time seemed like it lasted a lot longer.

The first night we had him, we asked what color they wanted the stars to be. Favorite colors are a big deal when you are two, so we negotiated orange for him one night, green for her the next. We made it through the vacation, granted we ate dinner listening to them howl on a baby monitor before rushing back down to get them settled again. But eventually Star Turtle, as he came to be named, settled in to a constant shade of green. So much so that we started a game of asking, “orange?” to screams of “NO!!!”, “blue?” again the “NOOOO!” and always laughing back to green and a good night, sleep tight, and we promised to stop saying anything about those nasty bedbugs, love you g’night.

Strangely, it only occurred to me as I sat down to write this, that when asked what my favorite color was by my children, I decided on green. Mommy’s favorite color from then on has been green; green playing pieces in games, green cups if there is a selection, and my daughter is usually the one who makes certain I have my color. She is specific like that. Personally, I like all of the colors, but when you are dealing with the concrete minds of children, sometimes it’s easier to just pick a lane.

Last night my daughter told her Daddy that she’s older now and she doesn’t really need the stars anymore, but brother likes them so they can stay for awhile. They have a divided room with a wall that doesn’t go all the way up to the ceiling, so we balance the Star turtle on the dividing wall and they can both see the stars at night. He has a scratched shell, the casing around the green button has fallen into the body and rattles around and you have to really poke your finger in there to turn him on. But for four years he has given us our own night sky, dependable, familiar, and green. And I will probably save him and turn the stars on long after my children have grown.

My local writing group has formed a new literary website. Six mothers, all writers, sharing their take on a weekly theme. I expect some excellent writing exploring motherhood and creativity. Please check us out on (m)other voices
Happy day after Mother's Day!
- Jen

I feel like I am a living example of what parenting can do to creative output!

Fortunately, The Word Cellar is offering 30 days of writing prompts starting this Monday. My writing group and I are giving it a go, in the hopes that a daily exercises will lead to better writing habits and a more artistically fertile end to Winter.

If you feel like you could use a creative nudge, please join us!

February 19 and 20, online tickets can be purchased for admission to Adventure Aquarium for only $15, and can be used through April 10th.
Good deal!

Ok, I first discovered Zumba at Gold's Gym when it was in marchwood. And I LOVED it. My husband asked if I would wear the funny pants, and I asked him how he knew about the pants? He was referring to the chef's pants popularized in the, what was it, the 90's?

Anyway, I admit, I bore easily. Sculpt classes find me watching the clock. But I really need to be active, it helps my mind as much as my body. And now that I have broached the mid life marker of forty (gasp), I saw that the slope to a larger pant size was getting slippery.

So after a fall of trying to save money and work out on my own (HA!), I did a search and realized that my favorite Zumba instructor has her own studio on 113 in Chester SPrings, pretty close to where I live.

Love 2 Be Fit

I dropped in for a class and the magic was back. It is the best workout I know of, and so much fun. I always get a feeling of complete acceptance and empowerment, even when I am flailing around, missing steps and just keeping up with a new routine. And the endorphins are absolutely the best. I came home, my husband went out, and I still rode cheerfully through two Kindergarten post holiday melt downs and settled everyone in enough for a reading of When We Were Six.

They have 6pm classes most weeknights, and are adding more morning classes as well. Seriously - it is worth a try. Here's to a fun and healthier 2011!!

Have you checked out the Tumblebooks page on the Chester County Library site? Interactive books and games for kids, free and easy!

This week we're heading up to Koziar's Christmas Village. I have never been, but five-year-olds love lights.

Last week we went to Hershey Park's Christmas Village - that was really nice, we caught a not-to-cold day... still, all kiddie rides are open, as well as the skylift and monorail where you can check out their wonderful light displays... and who can resist Santa's REAL reindeer?

Yesterday, my Mom and I took the kids up to NYC, my daughter checked out the American Girl Doll Store and then it was off to Top of the Rock, Lego land and lunch at Mars 2112... a space themed eatery on Broadway... however, be warned, the ambiance is Kindergarten fabulous but the food is pretty awful! We finally found the only Mac n' cheese my son refuses to eat.

It was tough being in New York, being a food lover, and having to dine on unpalettable overpriced fare, but my kids loved it, and it was their first trip to the big apple.

Parenting, right? I never knew I'd do the things I do!