National Garden Month

By Diane Forrest

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells, and cockle shells,

And pretty maids all in a row.

I have a friend who loves spending time in the yard.  She is always outside either cleaning or planting or doing something in the yard.  She is always complaining if it rains, because she can't get outside.  I am just the opposite.  I love to see it rain, it gives me an excuse to stay out of the yard.

I have never been much of a yard person; I prefer air conditioning to the hot humid days of Mississippi, and all the bugs that go along with it.   I do like for my yard to look nice, but.... getting it that way is certainly not my favorite thing. 

According to Nationalgardenmonth.org, every April communities, organizations, and individuals nationwide celebrate gardening during National Garden Month. Gardeners know, and research confirms, that nurturing plants is good for us: attitudes toward health and nutrition improve, kids perform better at school, and community spirit grows. Join the celebration and help to make America a greener, healthier, more livable place.

TLC offers some ways to help celebrate this month.  They include:

• Plant a row for the hungry
• Organize a yard share in your community
• Garden with a friend or neighbor
• clean out your garden storage area and inventory your stuff
• Organize a flower brigade and take fresh flowers to the local nursing home or hospitals.

Not only is it the time for planting fresh flowers and plants, but also fresh fruits and vegetables.  My father has already put out his tomato plants, and his neighbor has put out squash, zucchini, peppers and beans.   Not only do they grow enough for their families, but also have plenty to share.

For more gardening ideas, click on this site, and start planting your garden today!  http://www.nationalgardenmonth.org/

(All images from Google) 

Sing with your Children

(Google Image) 

By Diane Forrest

I have grown up singing.  I love music, all kinds, from opera to rap, well some rap anyway. When I was in kindergarten I sang my first solo at our end of the year program.  The song was "A tisket a tasket a green and yellow basket, I wrote a letter to my love, and on the way I dropped it."

For as long as I can remember I have always been in a choir.  I started in church choirs, then school choirs, and then back to the adult choir at church.  It probably won't come as a shock when I tell you when my son was born I would always sing to him too.  As he got older, he learned the words to the songs and sing with me.  It is a wonderful thing to spend time with your children and sing and have fun.  I guess that is why March is Sing with your Child Month.

Some people may not think they can sing, or don't like to sing, but starting your child off with music is not only a great bonding experience, you could be planting the seeds for the next American Idol. To quote the song by the Carpenters, "Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear just sing, sing a song."

Below are a few songs to get you started:

(Google Image)  

The Wheels on the Bus

The wheels on the bus go round and round

Round and round, round and round

The wheels on the bus go round and round

All through the town.

The wipers on the bus go "Swish, swish, swish,

Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish"

The wipers on the bus go "Swish, swish, swish"

All through the town.

The door on the bus goes open and shut

Open and shut, open and shut

The door on the bus goes open and shut

All through the town.

The horn on the bus goes "Beep, beep, beep

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep"

The horn on the bus goes "Beep, beep, beep"

All through the town.

The gas on the bus goes "Glug, glug, glug

Glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug"

The gas on the bus goes "Glug, glug, glug"

All through the town.

The money on the bus goes "Clink, clink, clink,

Clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink"

The money on the bus goes "Clink, clink, clink"

All through the town.

The baby on the bus says, "Wah, wah, wah!

Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah!"

The baby on the bus says, "Wah, wah, wah!"

All through the town.

The people on the bus say, "Shh, shh, shh,

Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh"

The people on the bus say, "Shh, shh, shh"

All through the town.

The mommy on the bus says, "I love you,

I love you, I love you"

The daddy on the bus says, "I love you, too"

All through the town.

(Google Image)  

Mary Had a Little Lamb

Mary had a little lamb,

Little lamb, little lamb,

Mary had a little lamb,

Its fleece was white as snow

Everywhere that Mary went,

Mary went, Mary went,

Everywhere that Mary went

The lamb was sure to go

It followed her to school one day

School one day, school one day

It followed her to school one day

Which was against the rules.

It made the children laugh and play,

Laugh and play, laugh and play,

It made the children laugh and play

To see a lamb at school

(Google Image)  

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are.

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

(Google Image)  

This Old Man

This old man, he played one,

He played knick-knack on my thumb;

Knick-knack paddy whack,

Give a dog a bone,

This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played two,

He played knick-knack on my shoe;

Knick-knack paddy whack,

Give a dog a bone,

This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played three,

He played knick-knack on my knee;

Knick-knack paddy whack,

Give a dog a bone,

This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played four,

He played knick-knack on my door;

Knick-knack paddy whack,

Give a dog a bone,

This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played five,

He played knick-knack on my hive;

Knick-knack paddy whack,

Give a dog a bone,

This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played six,

He played knick-knack on my sticks;

Knick-knack paddy whack,

Give a dog a bone,

This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played seven,

He played knick-knack up in Heaven;

Knick-knack paddy whack,

Give a dog a bone,

This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played eight,

He played knick-knack on my gate;

Knick-knack paddy whack,

Give a dog a bone,

This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played nine,

He played knick-knack on my spine;

Knick-knack paddy whack,

Give a dog a bone,

This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played ten,

He played knick-knack once again;

Knick-knack paddy whack,

Give a dog a bone,

This old man came rolling home.

(Google Image)  

Old MacDonald had a farm

Old MacDonald had a farm,

Ee i ee i oh!

And on that farm he had some chickens,

Ee i ee i oh!

With a cluck-cluck here,

And a cluck-cluck there

Here a cluck, there a cluck,

Everywhere a cluck-cluck

Old MacDonald had a farm

Ee i ee i oh!

Old MacDonald had a farm,

Ee i ee i oh!

And on that farm he had some dogs,

Ee i ee i oh!

With a woof-woof here,

And a woof-woof-woof there

Here a woof, there a woof,

Everywhere a woof-woof

Old MacDonald had a farm

Ee i ee i oh!

Old MacDonald had a farm,

Ee i ee i oh!

And on that farm he had some turkeys,

Ee i ee i oh!

With a gobble-gobble gobble-gobble here,

And a gobble-gobble gobble-gobble there

Here a gobble-gobble, there a gobble-gobble,

Everywhere a gobble-gobble-gobble

Old MacDonald had a farm

Ee i ee i oh!

Old MacDonald had a farm,

Ee i ee i oh!

And on that farm he had some cows,

Ee i ee i oh!

With a moo-moo here,

And a moo-moo there

Here a moo, there a moo,

Everywhere a moo-ooo

Old MacDonald had a farm,

Ee i ee i oh!

(Google Image)  

The itsy bitsy spider

The itsy bitsy spider

Climbed up the waterspout

Down came the rain

And washed the spider out.

Out came the sun

And dried up all the rain

So the itsy-bitsy spider

Climbed up the spout again!