Captain’s Log, May 2, 2013—Mother Nature, we are willing to meet your demands. Please just stop with all the snow.

I admit that sometimes I wish Tim were more of an all-singing, all-dancing kind of Dad. “Okay, gang! Let’s train for a 5K !” or “Let’s form a family band—get out your instruments!” or “It’s Game Night!”

But the truth is that such enthusiastic planning from him would probably wear me out. And, anyway, his strengths come from a quieter place, which I’m often reminded of in unexpected ways.

Like last week. After the horrible events in Boston, I did my best to answer the kids’ questions. I wanted to be honest, but mostly I didn’t want them to know that the world can be like that.

Later in the week, I picked Lily up from school and saw her bouncing out of last year’s classroom followed by her old teacher. Mrs. J told me that Lily was explaining how we all have a good wolf and a bad wolf inside us, and the one that wins is the one we feed. Lily looked quite pleased, although I’m not sure if that was because it felt good to share wisdom or because she got some Skittles out of the deal. Probably both.

I realized that Tim must have shared the wolf story, hoping to help the kids make sense of why some people behave the way they do. He might not be flashy, but he’s awfully wise.

Here’s the full story, in case you haven’t heard it.

One day a Cherokee chief was talking to his grandson. “We all have a great battle going on inside us,” he told the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

One wolf is evil. Inside him lives anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego. The other wolf is good. Inside him lives joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.”

The elder went on and told the boy that this fight was going on inside him right now. And it would continue all his life. The little boy sat thoughtfully for a moment then turned to ask his grandfather a question.

“Which wolf will win?” he said.

The Cherokee chief smiled at him and said simply, “The one you feed.”

After what happened at Toy Story 3, I wasn’t about to watch Les Miserables in a theater with people. I kept putting off renting the movie because who goes around looking for reasons to cry? But Lexie finally said enough and tossed the DVD into our cart at the grocery store. Fine, I said, but I’m going to ease into it.

So I watched just the end with Lexie, noting that she was a sobbing mess, but I was fine. And then I watched some bits in the middle—again, fine, no big deal. And then I watched the entire thing and was a sobbing mess. Oh, that Hugh Jackman. I read somewhere that he could play Jean Valjean with his eyes alone, and it’s so true. He breaks your heart.

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My friend Mary shared this video the other day, and it still has me thinking. Have you seen it?

Thank you to my friend Ruth for sharing this.

They’ve been popping up everywhere, these small masterpieces by my smallest child. Lily found Lexie’s old loom one day, and she’s been cranking out potholders ever since. My little organizer even made a checklist to be sure everyone she loves gets one.

Lily took such care in choosing the colors for mine. She told me she wanted it to be cheerful. I told her it’s the most cheerful thing I’ve ever seen. It even fits perfectly under my favorite coffee mug.

I know these potholder days won’t last forever. So I ignore the to-do list and curl up on the sofa with Lily. I read while she weaves, her head bent solemnly over her work. When she finishes a potholder, she crosses the recipient’s name off the list, and starts another one. Or flounces off to the next thing.

I go back to my to-do list and that’s just fine because I’m pretty sure that some of her eight-year-old enthusiastic/can-do/of-course-everyone-loves-a-potholder spirit has rubbed off on me.

Easter to me has always meant trumpets and a congregation of joyful souls singing “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” at the top of their lungs. And now it also means a boy and a duckling singing “Here Comes Peter Cottontail.” Best duet ever.

I hope you and yours have a day filled with all the joy, renewal, and hope that Easter brings.

Yesterday, those of us who weren’t working or at baseball practice went for a walk in the woods to find signs of spring.

At the bottom of the hill, we found our first sign: the temporary creek that always appears as the snow begins to melt. It’s trickling along ever-so-slowly now, but we predict that it will be much higher and gushing as the weather warms. (Note to weather: please feel free to warm up any time now.)

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The kids have a few days off for Easter Break, so this morning Lily and I got busy with bunnies. To get started, we used the Bunny Template to trace and cut out a bunch of bunnies from the most spring-ish card stock we had around.

The first project was Bunny Cards. They were super easy to make, and I love how Lily added a pom-pom tail to her bunny to add some dimension.

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